We arrived just after a rain storm and right in time to grab a quick dinner and a "before" photo by the lake. We then headed up the Gunflint trail to Hungry Jack Lodge where we spent the night in the campground. It was cold (low 40's) and misty and we were all freezing cold. Definitely not the weather we were expecting for August. We had warm clothes packed for our trip, but decided to tough it out over night rather than digging to the bottom of our perfectly packed packs. In hindsight that might have been a poor decision. . .

With a very cold, early start we quickly packed up our tent and headed to Rockwood Outfitters to pick up our life jackets and paddles and to arrange to have them transport the Northwind 20 we were renting for the week to Round Lake. They were ready when we got there and we had everything loaded in the canoe and were shoving off the landing at Round by 8:30. The kids had pretty much zero canoe experience, so we spent the trip across Round learning to paddle. After a quick paddle we were across Round and ready for our first portage. That would indeed be the theme for the day-quick paddle across the lake and then portage. While the constant in and out of the canoe drove me a little nuts, for my kids that felt more comfortable hiking than canoeing, it was a great intro to the Boundary Waters.

The first portage was a learning lesson, but we quickly figured out how to get everyone and everything out of the canoe, and then get it all loaded on to our shoulders for the trek across the portage. We had many opportunities to practice during the 8 portages of day 1.

We packed light in hopes of being able to single portage. My husband was a rockstar and took both the canoe and a canoe pack in one fell swoop so we were able to do it. The kids also loved the portaging and felt like 100 rods with a pack was nothing compared to the 8 mile hike we took them on last summer on vacation. I guess it's all a matter of perspective (and how much weight you are carrying on your back-we kept their packs pretty light).

In the end all of the portages kind of blurred together into one memory of rocky, hilly and some tough landings. We also came across three other groups which required some waiting for our turn.

We arrived at Gillis at 12:20 and began the hunt for a campsite. When we arrived all but two campsites were taken. We ended up at campsite 509 right next to the portage into Fern. It was a great campsite, our 12 year old declared it his favorite of the entire trip. We have a pretty big tent (we bought it in anticipation of bringing our younger two along on trips in the future) and there were only a few smallish tent pads, but we made it work. The boys loved the rocky point/peninsula they could fish and swim from.

We quickly got camp set up. After a swim to cool off, the boys tried some fishing from the point and the adults took a nap in the hammock. We ended the evening with steak grilled on the fire and roasted veggies with s'mores for dessert. All-in-all a great first day in the BWCA.

~Round Lake, West Round Lake, Edith Lake, Brant Lake, Gotter Lake, Flying Lake, Green Lake, Bat Lake, Gillis Lake

Weak daylight filtered through the walls of the tent, muted orange mixed with a dull brown. Only bright enough to make out the largest of the objects within the tent. One of which was my step son. A soft snore whispered form his lips and I smiled. He had slept pretty good. To be young again. I sat up, my body stiff from the previous day's activities coupled with the nights rest on an unfamiliar Thermarest sleeping pad. A groan escaped into the early dawn as I sat up, barely audible but enough that Joe's snoring abruptly ceased. I sat still for a few moments until his whispering snores resumed. Carefully and quietly I slipped on my clothes and shoes and exited the tent. Joe slept on.

Upon re-entering the world outside of my orange and brown Kelty tent I was greeted with one of the most serene sights in all of nature. A beautiful lake stretched out before me, still as glass while sheer granite walls embraced the water as if it they were the guardians of the night, protecting the dark waters as they slept. Towering evergreens framed the entire backdrop as still as a drop of dew just before it falls from a leaf. They waited silent and patient for the sun to warm the thermals and send them gracefully into their daytime dance recitals.

I slowly made my way to the edge of the precipice that served as boundary to our towering hillside camp. Nothing moved, not a leaf nor a pine needle. Not even an acrobatic dragonfly broke the stillness. I marveled at the unencumbered beauty and I felt my soul begin to re-fill after a year long hiatus.

There are only a few things that I can compare to the sights and wonders of these mornings in the BWCA. The solitude, the quiet stillness and the steaming cup of fresh pressed coffee. One would be my 3 year old's eyes on Christmas morning for a comparison.

Not long after the guys awoke and stumbled from their tents, rubbing their eyes and groaning as I had not long ago. I smiled and boiled up some water on my little pocket stove. I scooped some fresh ground Bigby coffee into their mugs and poured the hot water in. After a few minutes of steeping the screens were pressed down and the world's best cup of coffee was ready. We use French Press thermal travel mugs made by Bodum. They are plastic, lightweight and incredibly easy to use and clean.

We relaxed around camp for the morning. None of us were eager to jump back into the canoe but took our time with coffee and I whipped up a breakfast of fried eggs and bacon on an English muffin.

Soon enough we were eager to be out exploring and fishing. We hit the water with the pan of heading back into Bouder Bay to see if one of the campsites was empty. We still were not sold on our current site and left our options open.

Into Boulder Bay we went, trolling crankbaits the entire time. We picked up a handful of walleye and smallmouth bass. Much to our dismay the sites were still all taken. Although we kept a keen vigil it was our fate to stay in the campsite we had. The traffic in and out of Boulder Bay and down from LLC was more than enough to know that any vacated site would be filled up quite quick. We grew quite fond of our site anyways and we were all happy to be staying there.

As we made our way south towards the short portage into the Boulder River Dad snagged up in about 7 foot of water. We reversed directions and started paddling towards the snag. We could almost always un-snag by reversing over the object. As we neared the site where the line disappeared into the water Dad began to pull up on the rod, putting tension on the line to unfree the snag. It seemed to be stuck pretty good. He gave the rod a couple quick snaps to see if he could jerk it free when all of the sudden his rod tip was pulled into the water and his drag began to scream. All hell broke loose.

What seemed like an hour (more like 15 minute) the fish was close enough that I got my first glimpse. It was a tank! I knew the net would do us no good in this situation so I had Dad gently bring the fish to my right side and very slowly I slid my hand up behind the gill plate ready to pull back at the first sign of rejuvenation of the monster pike. It was tuckered out. Dad was fishing with 8lb test mono and a medium light rod. No leader. It took awhile to get the fish in close. We quickly measured it and took a few photos and then spent the next few minutes reviving the old girl before she/he finally took off of its own accord. We waited around for sometime to make sure it wasn't going to resurface belly up. A magnificent creature and I was worried we may have taken too long. Water temps were still pretty chilly which would explain why it was only in 7' of water. What a great moment we all had together.

We trolled around for awhile longer but the wind began to blow pretty hard. While tucked in the bay it wasn't terrible and we could still effectively troll and keep a heading but as we headed north it was more than we could overcome. We tried to hug the western shoreline with the notion that once we parallelled camp we would turn and let the wind blow us home but we couldn't even do that. We ended up getting blown across the bay and had to power paddle our way up the eastern side. we finally made it back to camp and decided that was it for paddling today. We had kept a few walleye and one small pike so I filetted them up for dinner and we enjoyed a great dinner of cajun fried fish.

We had a small campfire but once again were drove into the tents at dark by the skeeters.

~Little Saganaga Lake, Mora Lake, Tarry Lake, Crooked Lake, Owl Lake, Tuscarora Lake

The rain had stopped by the time we woke up. We packed up the wet/muddy tent, ate the last of our Cliff bars and headed off to conquer the monster portage from Tuscarora to Missing Link that we had been dreading the entire trip. We adjusted a few of the packs before heading out, hoping to take some weight off of my husband's pack since he would also be carrying the canoe. Our hope was to single portage, even if it meant taking some rest breaks.

The portage was quite busy (we passed one group heading the same direction, and one group heading the opposite direction). Thankfully there are quite a few places where it is wide enough to step aside/rest so that wasn't too big of an issue. We made it through single portaging with several stops to rest. Overall it was long, and we were hot, sweaty and muddy when we finished, but it wasn't that awful. It was well maintained and not nearly as treacherous as some of the portages we traveled on the first two days of our trip.

After a quick paddle across Missing Link we hit the final portage of the trip. This was our second longest portage of the trip, but my rockstar hikers were ready and they could taste the Dairy Queen in Grand Marais. . .we knocked it out with one tiny rest break and paddled our last few strokes across Round. It took us 2 hours to get from our campsite to the landing on Round. It wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it was going to be, and definitely much quicker than we thought it would be. We passed a lot of wet campers on Missing Link, making us even more thankful that our tent managed to stay dry. We pulled in to the landing at round hot, tired and dirty, but also proud and happy. We made it!

A quick stop at Rockwood to drop off paddles and life jackets and then off to Grand Marais for some well deserved ice cream. Next a quick trip down to the campground in Silver Bay to be reunited with our littlest two ,who had a fun week filled with their own north shore adventures. A few quick showers and then pizza in Duluth while watching a 1,000 footer go under the lift bridge. A great way to end our north shore vacation.

Overall we canoed across 21 lakes (Round lake X2) and portaged 1,439 rods. It was a strange mix of really hard work and relaxation. We loved the solitude and the quiet, as well as the special time we were able to spend with our oldest boys. It was a bit of an ambitious route for a first time trip for the kids (and my first trip in 20 years), but they handled it like pros and have already claimed the right to plan the route for next year all by themselves. The seven year old has also asked to join in next year, and in hindsight he would have done fine on this trip, so we will probably bring him along as well. Send us your recommendations. . .my 10 year old really wants to catch fish next year so any ideas of places where it's easy to catch fish in August would be great. . .

Thanks to all of you who have posted trip reports and answered questions on the trip planning forum. I spent a lot of time reading through all the posts this summer and it helped us plan and prepare well. The only two items we forgot were chapstick and syrup for our pancakes.

~Tuscarora Lake, Missing Link Lake, Round Lake