Wednesday, August 17, 2011. Sadly, we awoke to our departure from this wonderful campsite, but the sunrise couldn't have been better. We packed up our gear and sadly left our perfect campsite, heading to east bearskin for one more night, and then on the road back to Chicago. Once in the canoes, we noticed the winds were picking up, A LOT. Fortunate for us, we had a lot of tree cover, and our desired campsite was available and painless to get to. Upon arriving at this campsite, it wasn't great, but suitable for one night. Once we set up shop, the winds picked up. White caps and no condition for anyone to be in a boat. We were 3 miles from the East Bearskin Lodge. Apparently, 7 of their guests rented three canoes and decided it would be a good idea to venture out in these hazardous conditions. We witnessed one of the canoes flip both passengers into the water. Eventually, we played host to all 7 stranded guests after assisting them to our site(we got kinda wet). Two of them attempted to paddle back to get help. Failing miserably at first, they were eventually able to get to help. After a couple of hours of entertaining our new friends(they loved Delphi), a motor boat from the lodge arrived to rescue them. The guy in the motor boat was astounded by the fact that they got to our campsite, he turned out to be the owner. He thanked us and offered us a free shower in his lodge's bath house once we exited the next day. After all of the excitement for the day, we made dinner and hit the hay, planning on an early start the next day. Sure enough, Geoffrey woke me up at 5:00am. We packed up and got to our exit point at 8:30am. We then headed to the lodge for our free shower. it was AWESOME! We thanked the lodge and they thanked us, and then we got in the car and headed home. About 3 hours into the drive back home we stopped for a burger and a beer in Minong. The beer was good, but the burger was mediocre. After another 9 hours(Juice forgot he was suppose to follow the GPS, and set us a little off course), we made it back home. I think we were all ready to get away from each other, but as i look back on it, a connection grew between the four of us(even the dog). The BWCA is an amazing place that that cannot be appreciated until visited. Sure there are bloodsucking bird-size mosquitoes and flies, but there are also amazing experiences to be had here.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011. Today, Minong wanted to go to a Lake that was one portage north of us. He said it is full of fish because no one heads there due to the big portage. Geoffrey and I had no desire to do another portage like that and try to catch fish with a nervous pit bull in the boat. We sent them on their way and put some camp chairs in the water and proceded to fish from shore. Lazy, yes, comfortable, yes, bugs, no, perfect! After about 6 hours of lounging in our camp chairs perched in the water, we caught 4 decent size smallies. We both decided that leeches were the best bait up here, and those crap jigs we got at the beaver house were a waste of money. Juice and Minong were gone, so it was just Geoffrey, Delphi, and I. so quiet, so perfect, time for a nap. I awake to hearing Minong and Juice struggling to aim the bow of their canoe towards our site. It was obnoxious at first, but i couldn't help but laugh at their inability to work together. Geoffrey and I help them land their boat as they proudly boast their string of bass. One was friggin huge. We all respected our collective catches and proceeded onto what we called the "Bass Genocide"(it's on YOUTUBE). I had never filleted a fish before, but Minong had. Geoffrey has served as a head chef at several 5 star restaurants on the west coast, so he had the best technique. Minong, Geoffrey, and I all cleaned the fish while Juice made some juice. Needless to say, we ate fish for dinner, and a lot of it. We fried some, and grilled some. Geoffrey brought some OLD BAY seasoning, and it was perfect. What wasn't perfect was that a storm was brewing. It came and went quickly, but dropped a LOT of water on us. Luckily we erected a communal shelter a waited it out. At one point, we all decided to go to bed, but i wasn't done yet as this was our last night on "the point". From my tent I asked if anyone was up for a night cap, and we all agreed. We spent a couple more hours enjoying our last night at this campsite with some of Juice's juice, cigars, and Geoffrey's ipod. We had so much fun talking about all of the crap we went through to get here, the fishing, and simply making fun of each other. The plan for tomorrow was to portage back to East Bearskin and get the campsite that is located just off of the portage. After a few more jokes and a shot of whiskey, we all headed to bed.

Side or end note: As I look at pictures and reflect our most recent excursions into the wild I have come to see Gods hands in my life more clearly. An odd thing or God thing, whatever one likes to call it seems to have occurred on these 2 trips. The hearts displayed in nature were of abundance. Aurora noticed and made comment about a portion of a root system that had an area shaped like a heart, she found a small stone shaped like a heart, I found a jagged heart shaped rock with what appears to have a faint cross in the center and then on the trail to the waterfall head…I did not notice it while there, I should have as this was the area the was enthralling me (pic in part 2/3 in report), but looking at pictures it stands out loud to me. Someone carved a heart into the tree trunk. At first notice, I was saddened that someone would harm this tree. Now, I see all of these “heart” sightings as a sign that I am loved and this place is where I was meant to be. God has given Aurora and I so much and it is through him and in him we can do all things. He gave me the strength, knowledge, wisdom and courage to embark on this journey and in these journeys I also come to some life understandings. And that is a very good thing. I am so very blessed to have ever had the opportunity to experience the BWCA and then to be given a thoughtful, caring strong daughter who loves the wilderness as she does....

Happy paddling folks from Aurora and I.