We had planned to hit the road early and drive up to the entry point the day of our permit. While we don’t live in the arrowhead, I do feel fortunate to be close enough to take extended weekend trips to the Boundary Waters. I am always amazed to hear the locations of other visitors from the discussion forums and how far they travel to visit northern Minnesota.

With the truck packed the night before, we loaded the kids (now 11 and 13) and the pup up around 4:30 and headed for the north shore. Along the way we stopped at Sawtooth Outfitter to grab our permit. The boys were thankfully engaged by the forest service videos as they were quizzed by the outfitter before we could attain our permit. Permit in hand we continued on our way towards Grand Marais.

As we passed through town, we decided it was plenty early enough in the morning to make a coffee stop and take in the harbor view. While in town I ran into Adam, co-host of the Boundary Waters Tumblehome podcast, and spent a few minutes chatting about trips past and present before continuing on our way. I appreciated that he took the time to chat with a stranger/listener that recognized him from the show.

Not far north of Grand Marais, we turned onto the Arrowhead Trail in Hovland and made our way up the dirt road to the put in. Surprisingly, there was more going on at the entry point than I would have expected. The bridge and dock on Little John Lake are both being replaced. After exchanging a few friendly words with the crew cutting the existing dock out, we assured each other there was plenty of room and loaded up the canoes around them as to not impede their work.

The canoes were loaded and off we went paddling towards John Lake. It didn’t take long before we passed the first groups making their way out. They provided precisely the information I was most curious about. They let us know the camp sites on East Pike were full outside of the site they had vacated and John Lake was empty. Admittedly, wilderness travel with the wife and the kids always gives me a touch more anxiety when it comes to campsite availability and how many more miles we may potentially have to travel, which was only heightened by the recent closures.

With those concerns quelled, we made the mile paddle to John Lake where we were able to walk the canoes through the light rapids and begin searching for a camp site. A glance at the first site we passed told us the steep landing was less than ideal and on we went towards site 748 on a rocky point where the Royal River flows out of John Lake. Following a quick walk around camp, the boys decided this was the spot. A brief downpour kept us under the large white pines offering cover and camp was made.

We felt very fortunate the fire ban was lifted just before leaving for this trip. While I would never cancel a trip due to a fire ban as I have experienced it numerous other occasions, I would miss the evening ambiance it provides and not being able to cook over the fire. The boys were also eager to collect wood and try their hand at fire starting. That evening we made brats and mac n cheese over the fire and headed to bed early as the day had started early.

~Little John Lake, John Lake

Day 1: Start at Jordan’s Outfitters and end at Horse Lake camp site:

We woke around 7am and had a great pancake breakfast with Jordan's secret pancake recipe. Then, we piled into Jordan’s vans and headed to EP23.

We arrived at the EP and unloaded our stuff. As the Jordan van pulled away, we realized that we alone in the woods and the trip really was going to happen.

The portage to the entry was easy. We loaded the canoes and pushed off. The paddle down the river was exactly what I expected of the BW: The water was cool, the air was fresh, and the paddling was easy. When the creek opened into Mudro, the feeling continued.

We paddled lazily across Mudro. We found the portage and made the portage to Sandpit Lake. The portage was a tough one to be our first one. It was short but included a pretty good climb and had several ankle-turning rocks.

Once in Sandpit, we decided to fish a bit. Stickman caught the first fish. He doesn’t fish and said something about blind squirrels and acorns. It turned out to be the only fish he caught during the entire trip.

We fished Sandpit for about an hour. We caught several nice smallmouth and largemouth bass. The most successful rig was leaches under slip bobbers.

We started to get concerned about finding a camp site on Horse so we wrapped things up and found the portage. This portage was long but wide with a boardwalk at Tin Can Mike. We paddled quickly across Tin Can Mike, found the next portage, and made our way to Horse.

The first few sites on Horse were full and we were starting to get concerned. We made our way across the lake. We were hoping the island site on the north end of Horse. We assumed it would be full too. We kept checking with binoculars and could not see any signs of tents. So we paddled on. We made it to the camp site and found it vacant. We were pretty excited since it seemed to be a perfect site: away from crowds, open with a nice breeze to control bugs, a nice rock “beach”, several good tent sites, etc.

We settled in. We set up camp, pumped water, fished a bit, and relaxed. It was great to be in the woods….

We had a nice swim off our rock beach and put on dry clothes. The water was perfect: clear and not to warm, not too cold.

We had steak for dinner that night. They were cooked right on the grate and tasted great.

After a few Maker’s Marks and BW water, we called it a night…

Today I was not the first out of bed which I blame on my hammock. One of the only negatives I’ve discovered since switching to hammock camping is my increased comfort causes me to sleep in. Another fog covered lake without any wind was a treat to wake up to. I got the coffee rolling and breakfast pulled for the kids so I could sneak out onto the water in my solo for some fishing on the glassy surface. It didn’t take long to get into the pike. There wasn’t much size and it didn’t seem to matter what lure I cast or trolled with; they bit nonstop.

At this point I knew the boys were missing out so I returned to camp with plans to take them right back out in the Northwind and get them on the fish. Once I pulled on shore, I realized the canoe was missing and my wife was enjoying a nice quiet fire by herself. While John is not a large lake, I hadn’t realized one of the other canoes out on the water was my boys who were also eager to fish had grabbed their rods and decided to take the canoe out on their own. I paddled their way to find them both with a fish on and in need of some assistance unhooking their catches.

They were absolutely thrilled they had managed to get around on their own and catch their own fish without my help. Their faces said it all and if they weren’t hooked on fishing before they sure are now. After catching another dozen pike (with a few smallmouth and perch mixed in) we kept enough to bring back to camp for a fish taco lunch and to show mom their catch. Most of the pike were small but we did find a couple around 28” that gave a nice fight.

As this was our last full day my wife had stated she wanted to explore to the south as well. With our camp sitting at the opening to the Royal River it was an easy turn through the rocks to take a look at the water levels going down the river. We quickly realized it wasn’t an adventure we wanted to tackle and instead opted for the 60-rod portage around the rapids. The paddle through this section of the Royal River is very scenic with cliffs in all directions. Heading southeast down the river offers a great view of the Pigeon River Cliffs.

I had read that Royal Lake can be filled with wild rice but I wasn’t exactly expecting the entire lake to be a sea of manoomin. It may have been difficult to paddle through but there was a path to follow as those going to and from the North Fowl Lake entry point pass this way. After spending some time discussing how wild rice is harvested with the kids we turned for camp. Naturally, the boys had to wet a line in the river and managed to find a couple more small pike.

Our last night in the Boundary Waters was filled with another nice sunset, hot chocolate, tea and plenty of smores. They boys had done a fine job collecting and processing fire wood and wanted to stay up a bit later to enjoy the fire. With the camp tidied up, the barrel pack hung back in the tree and total darkness settling in it was time to call it a night. The overnight temperatures had been perfect for sleeping and with rain forecasted to bookend both days of our trip we had hit the window just right.

~John Lake, Royal Lake

Today was the last morning of our trip which meant the joys of breaking camp and making our way towards the truck were upon us. One last morning of fog covering the shorelines with a quick coffee and hot chocolate were not to be missed. With only a short paddle to the exit it felt odd to approach a crane and work trucks that we had not noticed any sound from during our time away that were working on the bridge. By Sunday, the remainder of the dock at the landing had been removed and the crews were gone.

With the truck and family packed up we traveled down the Arrowhead trail to get back on 61. As soon as I hit the tar, I could feel the truck pulling and knew our trip wasn’t done with us just yet. The boys got a crash course in changing a tire that must’ve occurred somewhere along the Arrowhead Trail. It didn’t take long before we were on our way with a stop planned in Grand Marais to assess the spare and grab some lunch.

Without further issue and some treats enjoyed out along Artist’s Point it was time get back home. Gear cleaning and getting back to the office and school would be waiting for us. We may not have gone far on this adventure, but we had accomplished everything I had hoped for. The boys are starting to take on larger tasks without prompting and getting out exploring the wilderness on their own. It made me proud to see they had grabbed a canoe to explore (with pfds), took ownership of collecting firewood, setup their own tent/hammock and were the first to hop in the water to guide the canoes around shallow obstacles when needed. They’re already planning their next trip back.