Day 1 of 4
Thursday, August 31, 2023
We left Duluth around 830 (after my night shift) and started heading up the shore. I napped most of the way while my buddy Casey drove. I had already done the grocery shopping, gotten bait, and got our permit, so we didn't need to stop until Grand Marias. There was a few items we needed there, so after a couple of quick stops and the last toilet use for a few days, we were off up the gunflint. There was some construction in Grand Marais, which through us for a loop back down to HWY 61, but after 15-20 minutes of confusion, we found the Gunflint.
East Bearskin was a short trip up the trail, and the landing was ready for us. It was noon, and we only had one portage to do, so we were in a great spot. The weather was BEAUTIFUL; it was sunny and we even had a tail wind in our favor. We ran into a couple guys leaving crocodile after fishing for the morning and catching a TON of very large perch. Excited for the fishing, we reached the portage. The portage from East Bearskin to Crocodile consisted of some serious elevation. It was not fun. Maybe we aren't in the best shape, but at our midlife age portaging up this hills is not something we had on our bucket list, but I guess we will check it off!
Our targeted site on Crocodile was taken, so we chose to journey to the East side of the lake and took the first of two on that end. A super nice site, but a shallower and weedier side of the lake. We set up camp quick, gathered some firewood, made a cocktail (our typical vodka + crystal light), and headed out fishing. It was immediately obvious what most of the fishing would be like for us, as we caught an endless amount of little perch and very small walleye. We ate tacos for dinner (our tradition despite the amount of food we have to pack for it), and fished off shore as the sun set. We were ill-prepared with light up bobbers, but It wasn't long before Casey had a nice walleye hooked. He got it close to shore before the hook was spit out, but we both got a look at the guessing 20+ walleye. We fished for awhile longer, but just caught more small perch. After a nice fire and a sighting of Elon Musk's Starlink, we slept well. 
Day 2 of 4
Friday, September 01, 2023 We both slept in until about 830/9, which is unusual for us. We did a little morning fishing and easily found the little perch again, but nothing more than that. It started to get warm early, and we knew it would be a hot couple of days. We had a big breakfast of bacon and eggs, and lounged for a bit with some coffee. We had some visitors from the other side of lake come fish our side, and they showed us a stringer full of 15-18 inch walleye. We knew we had to go venture to the west side of the lake, but first we napped (hammock napping is one of my favorite things to do, especially when three kids and a dog rarely let me nap at all). We did some more wood gathering and cutting, made some Mac and cheese, and set out for an evening/night fish on the west side of the lake. We fished for a few hours, and caught larger perch and small walleye, but nothing to write home about. We fished until dark, watched the enormous moon come out, and headed back to camp. To get to the campsite, we had to cross over a small beaver dam (don't even need to get out of the vessel). As I was waiting my turn, something rammed (yes rammed) the side of my Kayak. After a loud bang, and a splash, I was dripping with water. I immediately turned on my headlamp only to get a face full of moths/bugs. Beaver? Loon? Fish? Your guess is as good as mine. I'm assuming it was a beaver since we were next to the Dam, but we will never know for sure. We saw some shooting stars in the sky and the magnificent northern lights. We cooked our steaks right over the fire, sauteed an onion, and enjoyed a meal made for kings. We had a few cocktails that night, and discussed aliens, religion, and other common campfire topics.
Day 3 of 4
Saturday, September 02, 2023 I woke up early and did some fishing on the west side of the lake again. I saw Mr. Beaver, and he slapped is tail at me a few times when I paddled past his lodge. Some bigger perch again, but nothing amazing. We then made a monster breakfast (ice was melted and needed to eat up what we could). We then noticed it was going to be a hot one. Weather report before we left said 90, and it definitely felt that. Our site was not ideal for swimming, but we took a few dips as we needed to cool off somehow. Casey did some sun tanning in the kayak, but I stayed in the shade for the most part that day. Of course we had our afternoon naps in the hammocks again as well, and fished the evening and finally caught some decent walleye (13-14 inches). We had just ate dinner, so we chose not to cook them up, but it was nice to finally find a couple. After the hot hot hot day, our plan for meals the next day were destroyed as the brats and sausage were now warm in the cooler. We had planned to spend two more nights here, but decided this would be our last. I slept under the starts in my hammock that night, which was delightful.
Day 4 of 4
Sunday, September 03, 2023 Packing up was fairly uneventful. We were on the lake paddling by 900. After an easy paddle, and a downhill portage (a million times easier going out), we made it to the landing. Another hot day made the nice rock landing an inviting swim. There were a couple vehicles loading up their large group of canoes, so we swam in the nice cool water which was perfect. We had no food that morning, so by the time we made it to Grand Marais, we found My Sisters Place and ate dynamite burgers with a cold beer. I highly recommend this place if you like burgers, a great way to end the trip. Another successful BWCA trip for us (guessing our 15th or so trip now), and we will see you again next year.
