Woke up before God and the sun to hit the road from the Twin Cities to Ely, unsure of exactly what the week ahead would bring. Five guys who are strangers to three of the other four are getting together for four days and three nights of wilderness fellowship. We're all mutual friends of one group member, having never met the others. We meet up at Piragis around 9am to get our permit, watch our video, and (based on the bug reports we hear) rent a bug-out tent to fill out our gear which has been sourced by each of us via group text. After a scone and a cup of coffee we make our way down the Fernberg trail to the entry point at Lake One.

Its a beautiful July morning and we're happy for sun and stillness after a wet and windy June. Boats go in the water around 10am and we make our way north and east through the channel past Kawishiwi Lodge (I was semi-shocked to see a "billboard" for the lodge in my first 15 minutes of a wilderness trip but the paddle through the river there was beautiful nonetheless).

We make our way fairly swiftly across Lake One till we arrive at the portages into Lake Two. I'm shocked at the "two-lane highway" between the lakes. A wide and relatively smoothed portage took us from Lake One, to a short pond paddle, another moderately painless trek, then Lake Three. These wide and well traveled portages are a novelty to me as most of my trips so far have been further up on less traveled lakes on the "gunflint side". The member of our group who's gone in this EP a number of times calls this portage "Grand Central Station".

Our plan is to make it a fairly leisurely paddle to Lake Three and find a site down on the far south section of the lake. After a pleasant hour of paddling including many loons and bald eagles to accompany us, skies begin to darken quickly and thunder rolls to the west. We commit to finding a site soon. As we paddle through the Islands, points, and channels of the south end of Lake Three, most sites are occupied and rain and wind is starting to pick up. I spot what looks like a site on a small island but is unmarked on our Fisher map. We get out to explore and find it is a fine place to make camp with a nice rocky area with a fire grate on a point and a large erratic boulder that serves as a perfect kitchen table. Many fair spots for tents and hammocks are spread out on the little island and we are very happy to find it.

We set up camp and rain lets up soon afterwards. The south shore of Lake Three was a sad victim of the Pagami Creek fire, but this little Island looks as is it were spared of the fire with many tall mature Red Pine and thick cedars, healthy balsam, a few spruce, and plenty of rocky shelfs and points. I'm very satisfied with camp. Up above a swampy little point on a high rocky ledge I hang my hammock and tarp allowing a nice view of the western sky for sunset. We have a late dinner of carne asada burritos cooked over the fire, admire a sunset, and then all retire early as the bugs come out in earnest around 9:45p.

I've hammock-camped enough to know the first night of a trip always takes some getting used to: you have to find your comfy spot again in the hammock, adjust your "hang" a few times, and fight with your under-quilt to stay in its place. Additionally, a number of bullfrogs call this island home and throughout most of the night they call to each other across the Island using their "outside voices". So I arise in the morning perhaps not as rested as I hoped. Strong black coffee brewed over the fire is a good remedy, followed by a breakfast of pancakes and bacon.

Our crew starts to put together a plan for the day. Originally we were open to perhaps moving on to other nearby lakes, but we're so charmed by the island site we determine to make it our base camp for the trip as the three nights don't make quite enough time for a good loop.

We decide instead to take this day to do some exploring of the area to our south and we come up with a creative plan to explore more territory. We'll paddle down to the portage to Horseshoe lake. This portage actually intersects with the Pow-Wow trail, so we devise the plan that half of our group will then get out and hike the Pow-Wow trail eastward towards North Wilder Lake, while the others will paddle and portage the remote lakes of Horseshoe, Brewis, and Harbor. I'm in the latter crew. These are lakes largely afflicted by the Pagami Creek fire and are not on the beaten path of many travelers, so we have them entirely to ourselves. Almost 15 years since the great fire, this is area thick with short young Jack Pine and hardwoods (speckled with the haunting skeletons of great old white pine sentinels). The lakes are isolated and quiet. The portages between them barely used, narrow, overgrown, and buggy. Horseshoe has a few modest rocky palisades and a small waterfall greets the lake from nearby Brewis. The portage from Brewis to Harbor is very difficult to find and the back half of it is bog that leads to humorous attempts to paddle through or to sink waist deep in mud. A solitary campsite exists on Harbor Lake but it looks like it hasn't been used since the Pagami creek fire (I believe a short jack pine is growing up through the fire grate). We park our canoes at the landing to the portage to North Wilder and hike up to the Pow-Wow trail. We have timed our arrivals almost perfectly, arriving at the intersection within five minutes of each other.

We switch and a few of us head back west on the Pow-Wow trail while the hikers head down to our canoes parked on Harbor Lake. As the trail follows the shore of North Wilder lake it is pleasant, but the afternoon has become quite hot and humid. I have perhaps not packed enough water and as we plan to hike three miles back to Lake Three, I'm realizing that I may not have planned well for how strenuous this outing has become. I begin to ration my water a bit and press on the mostly pleasant hike. A couple miles into the Pow Wow trail we find a great swampy valley with a large beaver lodge and a beaver couple happily at work. Not long after that we summit a vista above Horseshoe lake before descending back down to the the intersection of the Pow-Wow and the portage back to Lake Three. Our canoes remain in their wooded hiding spot among a grove of cedars. A quick paddle brings us home to the Island in the late afternoon.

The long day of hiking , paddling, and portaging in the heat has me wiped. I opt for a nap in the hammock after returning to the island, but wake up less than an hour later not feeling well. I suspect I've not had enough water as my legs cramp and I realize I am very warm but also not at all sweating. As I make my way to the gravity filter I begin to see stars and experience tunnel vision. A moment later I am wondering why I decided to take a nap on the dirt ground? It turns out I've fainted for the first time in 20 years. Fortunately my head missed some nearby granite and instead I landed on a fairly soft bed of pine needles. I spend the next hour or so faithfully nursing a large bottle of water and fighting off the embarrassment of passing out.

We conclude the evening with a dinner of pork-chops and mashed potatoes, followed by a card game played over our large flat glacial erratic that serves as both a good kitchen counter and a card table. We watch a beautiful sunset over the water and once again retreat from the bugs around 9:45. I am quickly asleep and rest hard through the night.

It is a glorious thing to wake up well-rested in the wilderness. A quiet cool morning after a hard nights sleep is a taste of heaven on earth. Coffee and breakfast burritos are on the menu this morning.

After breakfast some in our group are interested in exploring the western shore of Lake Three. We notice a couple of small lakes that direction connected to Lake Three by creeks, and given the rainy spring and high water we've had so far, we wonder if its possible to paddle down them. So we begin our excursion that direction. Today we're also looking to supplement our dinner with some fresh fish. As we paddle down towards the southwest corner of the lake and troll crank baits along a reedy bay, we quickly land a decent sized pike. Soon after a couple of eater walleye. Then a small mouth that puts up a fierce fight and might be the second or third biggest smallie I've ever landed. We proceed up the western shore of the lake but as we head into the bays leading to the creeks, we find that they are still not quite deep enough to paddle and a little too boggy to try and traverse easily. We loop around the cluster of islands and make our way back to camp and catch one more walleye to fill out our stringer for tonight's supper.

We made fairly short work of the limited firewood on the Island the night before, so a couple of guys head across to a nearby island with no campsites and plenty of blowdown. A few large pieces of cedar are acquired that will make for a good stack of firewood. We cut and split more than we need, but are happy to leave a cache for the next paddlers who come to this site.

It is another hot day. Hotter than expected by mid-afternoon. All of us could use a dip to cool off, so we spend the rest of the remaining afternoon swimming off of the campsite. A great number of waterfowl are passing through today. A family of merganzers roosts on a rock in the channel near us. After a few hours more of swimming and relaxing we find ourselves suddenly inundated with a plague of biting flies. We retreat to our bug tent for about 20 minutes, and then as quickly as they arrived, they left.

The temperature begins to finally cool off sometime in the early evening and we begin the work of a fish fry. The feast that follows is very satisfying. Followed by good conversation and another epic boundary waters sunset. A cool front has moved in and we're now glad for our good stock of firewood as we continue conversation around the fire. Around 11p I head back to the hammock and settle in for one of the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. Cool fresh northern air is as good as a sedative.

Despite another night of very vocal bullfrogs, I wake up feeling very well rested after a long day of fun and a belly full of fish. Sadly, it is time to make our way home.

We break down camp slowly. The waters seem very calm today and we expect a fairly easy paddle back to the entry point. After a coffee and some oatmeal we say goodbye to our lovely island home and begin a pleasant paddle back across Three, Two, and One that goes quicker than we remembered the trip out. Along the way I feel immense gratitude for new friendships I've made in these really beautiful 72 hours. The trip has been exceedingly pleasant: mostly sunny and tolerable temperatures, bugs not nearly as bad as advertised, solid fishing, and quality time with a group of good guys. This is why the BWCA is a special place. It turns acquaintences into friends and turns friends into family. Its a place where grace and peace seem to bubble up out of the water and shine down from the sky. I mustn't let too much time pass before I return.