Day 6: We have vowed to get a very early start to avoid the worst of the wind on Brule, so at first light I’m up making coffee and the blueberry coffeecake I’ve been dreaming of. We pack up our gear and say goodbye to our campsite, and paddle away. Brule is windy but not dangerous looking, at least not from Cone Bay. We start trying to tack across the wind to the island, and then head downwind towards the entrance point...BAD IDEA! The following wind is sloshing into our canoe, and the rollers are pretty scary. We head for a small island and regroup. We head upwind again at a slight angle, towards the south shore by Jock Mock Point. It’s much less scary heading into the wind, just hard work. We get to the far shore and head back towards our take out, feeling pretty light hearted now that the shore is shielding us from the worst of the wind. Finally we’re there...bittersweet. It’s good to be off Brule, but sad to be leaving the BWCA. We pack up the car and drive over to Sawbill Outfitters to shower- man, does that feel good! The Sawbill Trail is in really bad shape, with some of the worst washboarding I’ve seen. Driving is really slow until we hit Hwy 61, then we speed back up again to the pace of modern life. We have a good lunch at the Rustic Inn, and head back to Duluth for another year.

We had essentially nothing planned for the day, so we relaxed on the rock ledge, collected and chopped some firewood, and just enjoyed being on Ima lake on a beautiful sunny day.

Even Copper got into the spirit.  

As the day turned into evening, we prepped our delicious steaks, popped some popcorn and enjoyed another fantastic BWCA sunset. [paragraph break] [paragraph break] [paragraph break] After the sun went down, the mosquitos returned with a vengeance, we tried to fight it, but they were so aggressive that they even bit through the bottom of the hammock! We again had to retreat to our tent. Thankfully we were well rested, so we managed to play a couple games of cribbage before packing it in. At some point in the night, I realized that my 20-year old Gander Mountain brand self-inflating sleeping mat had developed a hole and was completely flat. Unfortunately I did not have a patch kit along. (Mistake #5?) so I ended up using our life jackets for the remainder of the trip. Not ideal, but it could have been worse. In the end, the pad lining had separated completely from the foam, and developed several leaks, so there wouldn’t have been anything that could be done to save it.

After spending some time with our Loon visitor, it was time to finish what we started. We decided to make a day trip to Fraser. We packed our lunch in a single bag and headed out to find the portage to Hatchet Lake. As we crossed Ima, we noticed that most of the sites appeared to be occupied, including both Island sites. The sites on the island both looked really nice. The portage to Hatchet is well marked on the maps, but can be difficult to see, because it is all boulders. 

A quick paddle across hatchet brought us to the ponds and river that leads to Thomas. Another map item to note is that there are 4 short portages between Hatchet and Thomas (not 3 as are shown on several maps). The paddle itself was pretty nice, and had some great views. We took our time, and it was refreshing to single portage, just carrying the canoe!

As we crossed the final portage and caught our first view of Thomas, it took our breath away. The water was as smooth as glass (it turns out that it was the calm before the storm), and the lake goes on for what seems forever.

The wind really started picking up as we crossed Thomas, so I knew that we were going to have limited time on Fraser, but we slowly worked our way northeast towards Fraser. As soon as we hit the narrows, I knew it was worth all of the effort to get there. The narrows between Fraser and Thomas really are something to behold. It instantly moved into a top-5 place for me. [paragraph break]

Sadly the weather continued to develop, so we pulled into an open campsite and cooked up some Zup’s Hot Dogs for our lunch. One little thing that I learned from my Dad was to always leave the fireplace with tinder and sticks set up and shielded from the elements if possible. That way if you get back to camp (or the next person gets to camp) and is in urgent need of a fire, it should be easy to get going very quickly. and loaded back into the canoe just as the rain began to fall. Thankfully we had the forethought to bring our rain gear. 

The return trip back to Ima was easy, until we hit Ima. By the time we were back on Ima, the wind had really picked up, and the light rain had turned into a solid rain. We worked our way along the southern shore back to our campsite, and made it in time to adjust our tarp to cover our seating area and fire pit. The rain let up a bit, and I was able to throw my line in the water to see if we could catch some fish.    Alas it was not to be, but to be honest, I wasn’t really trying all that hard. The rain picked up, and I checked the weather radio (another tip, a metal fly swatter handle can double as a weather radio antenna extension). Thankfully the weather wasn’t likely to turn severe, but they were now forecasting rain through the rest of the week.

We pretty much spent the day between checking my fishing pole, playing cribbage, reading, and making sure that we didn’t have to carry out any extra liquid (aka wine).  [paragraph break] We also had what turned out to be our favorite dinner of the trip. Pepperoni and Parmesan Tortellini.   It is pretty easy to make. You need a tube of tomato paste, a packet of McCormick Spaghetti seasoning, a bag of dried tortellini, a stick of pepperoni, and some parmesan cheese. Cut up the pepperoni and fry it a little in a pan, make the spaghetti sauce, boil the tortellini, and combine it all together. Top with Parmesan.

The only problem is when you use your cup for food, you can't have it full of wine! [paragraph break] As evening fell, we had a decision to make. Our original plan was to pack up on Thursday morning and head back to Dissapointment, hoping to find a site for the last night that would be a quick exit on Friday morning. However, taking down wet tents and tarps, and then re-setting up wet tents and tarps are very low on my list of things I’d like to do. We made the decision that if the rain didn’t let up, we would head all the way back. 

The paddle across Ima was uneventful as the wind was pretty calm. We hit the first portage into Jordan, and with our new plan in place it went very smoothly. One less backpack was also a huge plus. [paragraph break] Our progress continued through Cattyman, Adventure, and on to Jitterbug, which seemed to be a very shallow lake, and you had to really look for the portage to Ahsub. It was full of lillypads and reeds. [paragraph break]

Ahsub takes you quickly to Disappointment. All of the portages are much wider than the northern route portages, and I would say easier too.[paragraph break]

As I reviewed the map before pushing off into Disappointment we took stock of our situation, and kept our decision to call it a trip and head all the way out, rather than stopping. The route through the many islands and turns (definitely a good idea to keep your map and compass very close by as you navigate Disappointment) was a beautiful paddle. I could definitely see the lake as a great first trip, or a for a nice trip with younger kids. 

We made it across Disappointment, and landed at the portage. At this point there is a decision to be made. In retrospect, we probably made the wrong one, given the weather. You can either take the southwesterly portage towards Parent Lake, which is shorter, but then you have one additional portage from Parent into Snowbank. If you go that route, you are more shielded from the open water, and can hug the eastern shore of snowbank a little better. When the weather is bad or there is a lot of wind, this is probably the better route to take. However, we had pretty much had our fill of portages by this point. So we opted westerly route, which is the single, longer portage from Disappointment to Snowbank. The portage itself was a little muddy due to the rain, but overall was wide, flat and fast. 

As we surveyed Snowbank Lake, we noticed that there were a few waves, but it didn’t look too bad. We loaded up and pushed off. As we came out into the section of the lake that is open to the north end, the wind was really picking up. We edged along as close as we could to the shore, but we had to ride out some pretty big waves on the way over to the landing. In retrospect, it might have been better to hold off a little while, but we successfully managed the crossing, and landed at the entry point at about 3:30. 

All in all, it was a fantastic adventure. We learned a lot,had a great time, snapped some memorable photos, and of course, took advantage of all the quiet and solitude that the BWCA can offer! As soon as we returned home, we immediately starting talking with our neighbors about joining us on our next trip in 2018 (Report to follow!)

Bonus: If you have time before or after a BWCA trip out of Ely, I would highly recommend the short hiking trail to Kawishiwi Falls. The view is breathtaking.