We drove up the day before and spent the night at Rockwood Lodge & Outfitters in one of their bunkhouse rooms. Late check-in was super easy and the room basic and clean. Quite a bargain vs a hotel room.

The morning started cloudy and rainy but we were too eager to get started to let that stop us. We had our paper maps, GPS, portage packs, and 2 Bear Vault cannisters (1 large, 1 medium). The folks at Rockwood were very friendly while getting our canoe and paddles ready. My experience is mostly with kayaking so I was a bit nervous about portaging but the nice guy at Rockwood showed me how to get the canoe up on my shoulders (far better than a YouTube video) and watched me do it once to make sure I got the hang of it.

We left the outfitters in a fairly steady rain and made our way to our first portage. We fumbled around a bit at the landing, not yet sure of our division of labor, but we quickly established a rhythm, taking our packs first and going back for the canoe and dry bag with our bear barrels.

After our first successful portage we were into Lizz, the rain had mostly stopped, and we were excited to see the very weathered sign indicating that we were crossing into the BWCAW!

We made our way into Caribou, chatting with another group who said they were heading for Winchell. This was a theme throughout the trip... lots of people heading to or from Winchell. We were also thinking about Winchell but decided to stop at Gaskin for the first night. After many open sites on Caribou and Horseshoe, all the sites on the eastern half of Gaskin were full and we ended up at Site 633 which had a somewhat steep landing but was otherwise beautiful.

We setup our camp, ate dinner, and went to bed with the sound of loons calling.

We were pretty sore from our first day of paddling and somewhat concerned that so many people seemed headed to Winchell so we decided to take Henson over to Omega and find a site there or maybe on Kiskadina. The weather was cool and mostly sunny. The wind picked up a bit in the afternoon, mostly from the W/NW, which made us glad we skipped Winchell that day.

On the Gaskin to Henson portage, we ran into one group day-tripping from their basecamp on Winchell (Winchell again!). All the sites on Henson were empty as we paddled past and we did the 37 rod portage into Omega with no problems. It was getting to be mid-afternoon and we were eager to find a campsite and collect some firewood since the forecast was for lows in the 30s. We headed straight for site 591 in the north bay of Omega and it did not disappoint! It has a proper little marina and a beautiful rock ledge 20-30 feet above the water level which was sheltered by trees and a hill from north winds and got both afternoon and morning sun because it is on a bit of a peninsula. We thought to check another site, just for comparison, but ran into one other group heading into Henson who said it was taken, so we hastily retreated to the north site and made camp.

After a nice dinner and a hot toddy (lemon ginger tea with a splash of scotch), we retreated to our sleeping bags before it got too cold.

As predicted it was cold Friday night but we had appropriate gear and warmed ourselves with a fire during breakfast in the morning. Powdered coconut milk makes a great creamer, by the way.

We decided to stay at site 591 for a second night, have a chill morning, and explore Omega and the surroundings. The map indicated an unmaintained portage at the end of the north bay of Omega leading to a small, unnamed lake and then onto Finn lake. We were intrigued and paddled up to check it out. We found the unmaintained portage, stowed the canoe, and hiked to the unnamed lake, finding evidence of possibly a mountain lion. Some sort of large cat (four toes, no claw marks, probably 4 inches) seemed to be making the old portage a personal highway and there were many tracks in the muddy spots along with a few spots where it seems to have caught and eaten a bird (possibly grouse). There was also moose scat, but no sightings of either moose or mountain lion.

We lunched on the shores of the unnamed lake, hiked back to the canoe, and paddled around Omega to checkout the other sites. Site 592, which has great reviews on this site seems to have been loved a little too much. While it has room for multiple tents, it also has a distinct lack of undergrowth due to firewood gathering and many trees obviously cut down for firewood giving it a somewhat state park campsite sort of feel. I'm glad we ended up where we did for our two nights.

We saw nobody at all on Saturday and, after checking out a couple of the other campsites, I'm pretty sure we had the whole lake to ourselves and the loons. It was a bit warmer, which was nice for sleeping, and I spent some time in the middle of the night stargazing and admiring the Milky Way. A beautiful end to a relaxing day.

Sunday was a travel day and we decided to see Winchell as we started making our way back towards the entry point for our last night in the BWCA. The day was sunny as we portaged into Winchell and got onto some big water. Shortly after we made it into the main part of the lake, the wind picked up but we were heading from west to east towards the Gaskin portage and were able to let the wind push us down the lake with a little paddling and steering. Given the consistent winds out of the west, it seems that entering at Omega and paddling east from there is a pretty good idea for Winchell.

We checked out all the campsites along the way. All of them were empty and we stopped for lunch at the last site before the Gaskin portage in the area burned in the Redeye fire. The stands of aspen were an interesting change from the sites we went to up to that point. It was warm enough that my companion jumped in the lake and did a little sunbathing. Quite a difference from a few nights before!

Looking at our options, we decided to try for the lone site on Allen for our last night. Seeing nobody all Saturday and so far on Sunday, we felt there was a chance it would be free. So we portaged into Gaskin (finally seeing a few people for the first time in a couple days), then directly into Jump (19 rods) and Allen (16 rods). The portages to get into Jump and then Allen were somewhat ridiculous with, essentially, 15 foot ledges/drop-offs to scramble up before getting on a level part of the portage. We managed it though, now having a little bit of experience with portaging.

Sadly, the site on Allen was occupied so we pushed into Horseshoe and took the first site we could find (site 672), which happened to be directly across from the portage to Caribou that we would take the next day. The site had a bit of that overused feeling that some of them get, but not as many trees obviously cut down for firewood which was nice. I was exhausted and ate some mango sticky rice and a chicken packet with a hot toddy and laid on a rock watching the stars come out until I went to bed. We saw the first few mosquitos of the trip but not enough to bother with insect repellent. September seems to be a great time to visit!

It was a great day but a bit more than we had bargained for with that last portage into Horseshoe.

After a solid night sleep, I felt ready to tackle our final day in the BWCAW. A beaver had been slapping the water in the bay next to the site during the night, but I never saw one during the day. I did see some beautiful lily pads turning colors as autumn approaches.

Given how much we paddled the day before, we both felt good and not at all sore. We finally got our paddling arms and portaging legs in time for our last day.

We made our way back into Caribou, Lizz, and Poplar and made it back to Rockwood Lodge a around 4pm so we could go straight to our bunkhouse room and take a shower before driving over to Trail Center for a celebratory dinner.... broiled walleye, grilled broccoli, and a glass of wine followed by a piece of berry pie while we tallied up our miles paddled. Delicious!

Grand total 26.53 miles paddled and 632 rods portaged (or 1,897 rods since we double portaged the whole way). It was exactly the adventure I was hoping for. The absolute quiet, away from any car or train or lawnmower sounds and only the occasional airplane, was magical. Now that I know I can do it, I am looking forward to next time. I think my friend is hooked as well. About halfway through the trip he started saying 'when we come back' rather than 'if we come back.'