An early rise gave us time for a nice bacon and egg breakfast cooked right in our motel room at Solbakken Resort. These accommodations worked well for us allowing quick access to the Brule entry less than 30 miles away. We had been warned that there may be delays with construction on the Brule Lake road but it seems the work had been completed and it was smooth sailing for us all of the way to the public access where we were soon unloading the truck and trailer to launch onto the relatively calm waters of Brule.

The weather was going to be a major factor in what direction we traveled as we wanted to do our best to avoid Brule's notorious waves. This morning the conditions were just about perfect with just a slight breeze and warm sunshine. We still chose to head toward the eastern end of the lake deciding that the islands on that part of Brule would give us more variety of scenery, afford more wind protection, if needed and give us the option of staying on Vernon to maybe enjoy the fine campsite on it's north shore and to check out the waterfall near the Brule-Vernon portage.

As we went east on Brule the setting was just about like every brochure you see promoting the BWCA--beautiful blue water with bright sun illuminating the rocks and the emerald-green forest that covers the hills along Brule's shore!

Soon, this pleasant paddle brought us to that portage between Brule and Vernon. Rather than haul all of our gear only to find that our desired campsite on Vernon was already taken, we decided to first walk the portage to see if we could spot the open site from the Vernon end of the portage. This turned out to be a wise move because even though we could not see if the site was open or not, the steepness of this portage convinced us that we were not going to enjoy challenging our no-longer-young bodies with a carry of canoes and heavy packs across this goat path. We had met some folks on our way in who had just left site 971 on Brule and they had pronounced it to be quite nice. Since it was still well before noon, we decided to go back there or to some other nearby site and just basecamp for a few days on Brule. Before returning to Brule we did also decide to check out the waterfall near this portage and it was well worth the side trip to see this charming little wilderness cascade.

When we got to our desired site on Brule, we were pleased to see it was still open and once on shore found that we agreed with the previous party's positive assesment. Soon we had everything ashore and had camp set up, celebrating this accomplshment with a delicious ham-sandwich lunch. The rest of the afternoon was just spent relaxing around camp with a little story telling, shore fishing (no luck) and the soaking in of our splendid suroundings. Come evening our traditional fresh steak and potato/carrot/onion supper was also enjoyed even though just a bit of rain had moved in. Our tarp kept us as dry as needed and when the showers had finished we were treated to a stunning rainbow out over Brule. A campfire and sip or two of bourbon before turning in for the night then completed what had been just about a perfect BWCA day. After such a great start we hit our tents eager to find out what additional Boundary Waters pleasures awaited us the next day.

After a cool night that made for quite comfortable sleeping, we awoke to more sunshine. Today was going to be a bit breezier and we could see some whitecaps building out on the main part of Brule, beyond the protection of our little bay.

After downing some more bacon and eggs for breakfast we wanted to get some fishing in. However, the wind was going to dictate that we either try this again from shore or stay close to camp in our bay. It wasn't long before the breeze was making even the bay fishing a challange from our canoes. Though there wasn't much for waves, there were wind gusts that would move us around and make it hard to hold any kind of position. Even the rocks we had tied on as an anchor had a hard time holding us still as the wind would drag us along to deeper water where the rock was no longer on bottom.

After several hours of this and no bites to show for it, we abandoned this plan to break for lunch. When finished eating we spent some of our wind-bound time exploring the many interesting trails that extended from our site. One of these pathways took us to another part of the lake where we could really see the waves crashing ashore. We were grateful that we had safe haven at our site and that we were not having to navigate to somewhere on Brule in these conditions.

Later in the afternoon we noted that the wind had significantly subsided so we formulated another fishing plan. The day before, when we had been in Brule Bay on the very east end of the lake, we had thought it looked promising for smallmouth bass so we targeted that area to see if any of them wanted to join us for dinner. While the fishing was not fantastic, we were able to boat a few--at least enough to supplement our freeze-dried menu items.

With these fish secured, we returned to camp to start on supper. The bass turned out to be the perfect compliment to our Ready Wise lasagna and Camp Chow corn. As with the previous evening, a pleasant campfire and a bit of burbon finished off what had been quite a different day from the first, but a very enjoyable one just the same.

After an overnight that had been quite chilly, but one on which we were able to stay warm and comfy in our sleeping bags, we awoke to another sunny morning where the winds were completely gone. A beautiful mist hung out over the water as a scenic backdrop to our pancake breakfast. With these nice conditions, we were eager try some more fishing so after cleaning up from our morning meal we packed some mid-day food with us and set off in search of more under-water inhabitants of Brule Lake. This time we headed west towards North Bay with thoughts of checking out Echo Lake. When we got into North Bay the relaxing day had induced a little laziness so we decided to skip the portage into Echo and again just stay on Brule. The rest of the morning proved unproductive for fish but it was still interesting to explore this part of the lake.

Come lunch time, we decided to stop and eat at campsite number 937 on North Bay. This was a pleasant spot and I certainly would not have minded staying here if we wern't already basecamped elsewhere on the lake. Once lunch was over we continued fishing and our luck started to pick up a bit. While we still did not really "slay" them, we did manage to put a nice-enough mix of bass and walleye on our stringers that fish was going to be our main course for the evening meal.

Once we were satisfied with the fishing and exploration of North Bay, it was time to head back to our campsite. By now a bit of a breeze had picked up again and there was going to be some bounce to our return trip to camp. The southerly wind dictated that we quartered a bit into the waves for our easterly travel and that strategy with some windbreak from the islands (again, a fortunate decision we made on entry day) made the paddle not too challenging and we were soon pulling into the welcome protection of the little bay in front of our site. This time for supper it was the freeze dried food that supplemented the fish and a bit of Mountain House stew, Backpacker's Pantry mashed potatoes (excellent, BTW!) and Camp Chow green beans added the perfect touch. Another evening campfire and a couple of pulls from the bourbon flask ended another great day--the last full one in the BWCA for this trip.

Exit day dawned with again some pretty nice sunny weather. After a quick oatmeal breakfast, we struck camp and got loaded up for our paddle back to the Brule Lake public landing. Being only a couple miles from that entry, and with the minimal waves on Brule this early in the day, it was going to be a quick and easy trip out and before we knew it we were pulling up on land to end the canoeing portion of this adventure.

Once the truck and trailer were loaded, a side trip over to Sawbill Outfitters was in order for a nice hot shower before getting on the road for home. This proved to be well worth the extra time and travel! Even though we so enjoy our time out in the woods, feeling clean once again is always one of the best things about having to end the trip.

When we hit the highway, an actual sitdown meal that would be served to us with cold beverages seemed to be pretty appealing so we made one more stop in Beaver Bay for a late lunch along with the now-needed fill of gas. We arrived back in St. Cloud, MN in the early evening with another really successful trip behind us (one with NO portages!)--the kind of adventure that makes it so you just can't wait to do it all over again next time!