Lazy day, pinned down by high winds. We wanted to go out fishing but with sore muscles and the wind gusts, we elected to fish from our campsite. Caught 2 beautiful, ~20" Lake trout from shore, and had plenty of food for dinner. Gut them, put butter and fresh dill in their bellies, wrapped them in tinfoil, and cooked them over the fire. Finished with some fresh squeezed lemon juice, and it was a 5 star dinner.

Also caught a 30" beefy pike that put up one heck of a fight.

There were a pair of very friendly loons that hung out with us most of the day. With Thomas being such a clear lake, and our elevated positions while fishing from up on shore, we were able to watch the loons dive and swim underwater. It was incredible, what amazing critters!

We checked the weather forecast that evening, and saw rain starting the next night, and continuing all day on Saturday, which was the day we were supposed to exit. We made the call to leave the next day, and do the majority of the travel, to put ourselves in a better position to exit on Saturday as planned, even if the weather was awful. Our decision ended up being the correct one.

Lazy day, pinned down by high winds. We wanted to go out fishing but with sore muscles and the wind gusts, we elected to fish from our campsite. Caught 2 beautiful, ~20" Lake trout from shore, and had plenty of food for dinner. Gut them, put butter and fresh dill in their bellies, wrapped them in tinfoil, and cooked them over the fire. Finished with some fresh squeezed lemon juice, and it was a 5 star dinner.

Also caught a 30" beefy pike that put up one heck of a fight.

There were a pair of very friendly loons that hung out with us most of the day. With Thomas being such a clear lake, and our elevated positions while fishing from up on shore, we were able to watch the loons dive and swim underwater. It was incredible, what amazing critters!

We checked the weather forecast that evening, and saw rain starting the next night, and continuing all day on Saturday, which was the day we were supposed to exit. We made the call to leave the next day, and do the majority of the travel, to put ourselves in a better position to exit on Saturday as planned, even if the weather was awful. Our decision ended up being the correct one.

Lazy morning, coffee, breakfast, and breaking camp. We departing around noon to begin the trek back out, targeting a campsite on disappointment lake.

A little windy, but tolerable, we headed back out the way we came. The wind gradually picked up as the day wore on. By the time we hit disappointment lake, it was pretty intense. We checked the map, confirmed we had about a mile to paddle, most of which would be straight into the gusts. White caps, a couple close calls, a quick break in a small sheltered bay, and one final push and we arrived at the campsite we wanted. Luckily it was unoccupied, because we didnt have anything left in the tanks to find another one.

We set up a very basic camp, expecting rain all night and the whole next day. My friend cooked up an amazing thai stir fry with loads of fresh produce we had been lugging around. Totally worth it. Then we went to bed after some unsuccessful fishing at dusk. As soon as we turned off the lights in our tent, the woods came alive with critters. So noisy, not sure what it was but there were at least a few of them running all around our tent. Sounded bigger than a squirrel... but nothing bad happened, and I must have been tired from the days travel because I fell asleep almost instantly, even though I was on high alert from all the critter action. Woke up several times throughout the night from loud rain, and a major temperature drop. It was around 72 when we went to bed, and around 37 when we woke up. I was very thankful for my sleeping bag liner that I brought on a whim in case we had some cold weather.

We woke up around 8am to more rain, but it tapered off and was mostly just windy for the rest of the day. We packed up our camp, had a quick cup of coffee, and chose to split a bag of jerky instead of making something more elaborate for breakfast so we didnt have to do any more dishes. We piled into the canoe and set sail around 10:30am, and the paddle across disappointment lake was easy, and gave me a glimmer of hope that snowbank wouldnt be miserable. Just in case, though, we decided to bypass some of snowbank, and instead do an extra portage into Parent Lake. Im very glad we did. Parent was quick and easy, but once we got to snowbank it was a whole different story. Ive heard about it being difficult. It was hell. A monster wind out of the north allowed waves to build over a the majority of the lake before they smashed into the side of our canoe, as we tried to dart across to the west and find some protection behind an island. That 20 minutes is high up on my list of the most scared Ive ever been in a canoe. But we made it to the island, and after another brutal paddle into that same monster, now headwind, we arrive at the dock and collapsed - see below:

Loaded up, and headed back to town for our post-trip tradition: Many handwashings and then a delicious burger from the Boathouse Brewpub. Then back in the car for the drive back down to the cities, and back to reality.

Overall it was an awesome trip. One of the hardest Ive ever done, but in my mind you need to earn your solitude and isolation, which is why we love the bwca. We saw some amazing sights, and not everything went exactly according to the plan, but it rarely does. It fulfilled our need for a yearly reset, away from technology and our normal day to day lives and responsibilities.

THE END! [paragraph break] Lessons learned:

1. the pool noodle trick to cover the metal gunwales is genius

2. the book "the singing wilderness" is wonderful

3. 10 miles a day, while doable for my group, is probably a little too long

4. we always bring too much food, and it pains me to carry it back out

5. Early may trips are not good for my anxiety level, probably wont schedule another this early

6. Permethrin might not be as important right after ice out - we only saw 3 mosquitos, and 2 ticks

7. My new favorite adjectives: "Portagey" "Campsitey" "Moosey" For example, "That looks pretty portagey to me over there."