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BWCA Entry Point, Route, and Trip Report Blog

March 19 2024

Entry Point 66 - Crocodile River

Crocodile River entry point allows overnight paddle only. This entry point is supported by Gunflint Ranger Station near the city of Grand Marais, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 26 miles. No trip option. Must spend all nights on Crocodile Lake. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.

Number of Permits per Day: 1
Elevation: 1824 feet
Latitude: 48.0347
Longitude: -90.2731
Crocodile River - 66

Ruby's First Trip

by adludwig
Trip Report

Entry Date: September 04, 2015
Entry Point: Crocodile River
Number of Days: 3
Group Size: 2

Trip Introduction:
I snuck in a Labor Day weekend trip with my oldest daughter. She had been paddling with me throughout the summer, so we decided she was ready to brave the wilderness.

Day 1 of 3


Friday, September 04, 2015

I peeled out of work at around 2:30pm on Friday to scoop up Ruby, my seven year old daughter. We loaded up the canoe and the rest of the gear and stopped for a quick pre-trip picture.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] We headed onward to Duluth and stopped in the Duluth Pack store to get our permit. I was excited for Ruby to watch the L.N.T. video and I made her take the test all by herself. She got every question right! We then looked around the store for a few minutes and she found a souvenir she wanted to get. I let her pick out a BWCA patch for her backpack.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] We then went back to my brother's place in Duluth to spend the night.

 



Day 2 of 3


Saturday, September 05, 2015

I had set the alarm clock for 4:45am to get an early start on our trip up to Grand Marais. We rolled into town at around 7:00, and stopped in at South of the Border Cafe for a hearty breakfast. Ruby gobbled up her pancakes, bacon, and eggs in anticipation of the work ahead of us today.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] We finished up breakfast and headed up the Gunflint Trail. The drive went quickly and was familiar, since my Dad and I had just been this way a few weeks earlier for a day trip. We pulled into the East Bearskin Lake access and began to unload our gear into the canoe. There was a group of 4 getting ready to leave and they were heading towards Caribou Lake. After we finished loading up the canoe, we parked the car and made one last potty stop. The group of 4 was already on the lake as we prepared to push off. Just before we did, we were greeted by 2 guys rolling into the access. I asked them where they were coming from and they said "Crocodile". My follow-up question was which site they had stayed on. They were on the second site on the south shore. I told them that they had just made my day! I was really hoping that site would be open, since it looked like a spot I could shore fish with Ruby. Before we pushed off, they were gracious enough to take a picture of us in the canoe.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] We quickly made our way across East Bearskin Lake. The morning was just beautiful! I had been a little worried on the drive up from Duluth this morning, as I saw plenty of rain and lightning. We found the portage and unloaded the canoe once. I had packed 2 bigger packs and Ruby had a small backpack. I knew we would be taking 2 trips, so I grabbed the big pack, the paddles, and the fishing poles on the first trip.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] Ruby was a trooper on the portage! The portage was very slick this morning and she delicately took her time past the rocks and hills to get up the portage. It took a lot longer than I had remembered from a few weeks ago, but I should have known Ruby and her short legs would be slower. We made it to the lake after only having her ask "Are we there yet?" a half dozen times. I then asked her if she was ready to head back for the rest of the gear. She shrugged her shoulders and headed back. After the second trip we loaded up the canoe and I introduced her to Crocodile Lake. She was afraid we were going to have miles more paddling to do, but I pointed out where we were headed. We pulled up and found the site empty. The ground was still dry from where the previous tenants had their tent, so we got to work setting up camp. Ruby helped put things in various piles and was a great help with the tent.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] After camp was set, we did a little exploring around the site. We found the latrine, of which Ruby was just fascinated with. She was very curious how it was going to work if she had to go potty in the middle of the night. We went down all the trails around the site and found about 4 different ways to get down to the water. It was already getting near lunch when I heard activity near the water. I looked down to see a canoe right off shore on the eastern side of our site. I greeted them from the hill and they asked if we were staying the night, I replied that we had just arrived this morning and setup camp. I was a little confused on another group entering today, since we had the only permit for the day. They went back to the first southern site, because I had told them I knew there was a large group of 4 canoes on one of the eastern sites (information I had picked up from the guys coming off Crocodile earlier today). We had a wonderful lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on flatbread with some beef jerky and granola bars. Ruby was full, content, and happy! [paragraph break] [paragraph break] After lunch, we decided to do a little paddling, exploring, and fishing. We went down the lake a ways, heading east. We found a nice little batch of rocks to pull the canoe up and do some fishing. Ruby played near the water and I contently fished.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] After a couple minutes of daydreaming, I realized my bobber was no where in sight! I set the hook and reeled in our first fish of the trip, a small walleye we snapped a picture of a released.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] Ruby then got a little energy to fish. I was sure hoping she could catch her first walleye ever on this trip. After a bit longer, she decided we should head back to camp. So, we made our way back and fished for a while right on the rocks. I caught a few more small walleyes and perch. Ruby explored more than she fished. At one point she decided to put her feet in the water, and before I could warn her of how slippery the rocks were going to be be "sploosh" in she went! She looked at me with bewilderment and for just a brief second thought she was going to drown! I scooped her out of the lake, and after a few tears, we got her into drier clothes.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] After hanging out down by the lake for a while, Ruby started getting quiet again. She was missing her mom a little bit. I pulled her close and gave her a hug. Then I declared it was dinner time! We had been gathering fire wood all day, so we would have enough for cooking hotdogs over a fire tonight. I got a good blaze going, then we cooked up some hotdogs. She nearly ate 2 all by herself, and along with some chips, it was quite a feast![paragraph break] [paragraph break] We cleaned up dishes, packed away the food, and prepared camp for the rain we were supposed to get overnight. Then, we headed back down to the lake to snap some pictures of the sunset and do some more fishing.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] I asked Ruby if she wanted to fish with lighted bobbers as it got dark and she thought that sounded like a pretty cool idea. During this time I started catching a few more fish. All you have to do is be distracted tying another fishing line and you are bound to get bites![paragraph break] [paragraph break] I let Ruby take my phone and snap some pictures of her own. It was during this time that she took my favorite picture of the trip. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do![paragraph break] [paragraph break] We started getting a lot of bites, but Ruby had been unsuccessful at getting a fish in yet. I caught a couple of really big perch during this time.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] As I was letting one of the perch go, I looked up and Ruby's bobber was no where to be found. I told her to reel up the slack and jerk! She had a pretty good fighting fish on and soon I landed her first ever walleye! Then the real test came! I coached her on how to hold it so I could get a picture of it. She was very unwilling and soon it wriggled free of her grip and swam back to its home. Oh well! We will always have the memories. We fished for a while longer before Ruby told me she was ready to go to bed.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] We went to the bathroom one last time and snuggled into the tent. Ruby was very aware of all the sounds of the forest and asked "What was that noise?" dozens of times. The camp had a very large population of red squirrels and chipmunks, which both sound like elephants moving through the forest after dark. We also heard plenty of loon calls, that she was convinced had to be wolves. She finally dozed off and I just sat enjoying this day in the wilderness with her. It was very hot, so I slept on top of my sleeping bag for more than half of the night. When I finally cooled down enough to climb into my sleeping bag, I noticed it had just started to rain. Then the rain, wind and lightning started. I figured Ruby would awake any minute to climb in my sleeping bag, but she slept right through it. The wind got fierce for a few minutes and a branch fell on the tent. Then the rain intensified and I knew my mediocre tent would soon be harboring plenty of rain water. Ruby did wake up around 4:00am to go to the bathroom. We made our way through the rainy woods and she didn't get too concerned about the process. She went back to her sleeping bag and went right to sleep.

 



Day 3 of 3


Sunday, September 06, 2015

We stayed in the tent until about 8:00am. Ruby was a little raspy this morning as all the fresh air and hard work had really taken their toll on her. I found some allergy medicine in the first aid kit and she took that as we got up to make breakfast. As I started the camp stove to get some water boiling, I could tell Ruby just wasn't herself this morning.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] I made us a big breakfast of bacon, oatmeal, coffee, and hot chocolate (for Ruby). We devoured our food and just relaxed. I soon got some water ready for the dished and Ruby just didn't want to do much. I also opened up the tent to towel out some of the water from the night before. Camp was soaked this morning. I had put everything under tarps, etc., but it was going to be a muddy, gross day.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] I got things all tidied up and we went down to the lake to enjoy the sun and hang some wet clothes on the clothesline. The sun snuck out for a few minutes, but we could tell it wasn't going to last long. The wind was pretty strong today and I knew we would probably be bound to camp all day. Ruby just wasn't feeling herself though.[paragraph break] [paragraph break] At this point it was around 9:30am. I told Ruby we should decide in the next hour if we were going to stay or just leave today and cut our trip a day short. I did not want her to be miserable all day. Shortly thereafter, she said she wanted to go. I told her we could do that, but we were going to be in for a hard paddle back. The wind was pretty strong out of the southwest. I packed up a wet and muddy camp and we brought everything down to the canoe. As soon as we got to the shoreline, the heavens opened up and started raining! At this point I told Ruby, we made our decision and soon we would be on the portage where the rain wouldn't be so bad. We pushed off from camp and the wind pushed us straight across the lake to the north shoreline. I was a little worried at this point, because the wind was strong. We hugged the shoreline and soon we saw the portage. Two trips up and down that muddy portage went quick. Ruby did a great job navigating around the puddles and mud. The wind seemed a little more easier to deal with on East Bearskin. We hugged the south shoreline and made great time down the lake. At the little islands where the lake turns, we got the brunt of the wind and again got pushed to the northern shoreline. We slowly made our way along the north shore now and soon found the access we had left just yesterday. I could tell Ruby was glad to be back and off the water. She was worried I was going to be disappointed about leaving early, but I reassured her I was not. We had a great time on this short trip. Ruby experienced many firsts, including her first portage, her first night of wilderness camping, and catching her first walleye. I asked her on the drive home if she wanted to go again next year, she hesitated and said, "Maybe in a couple years." It brought great joy to my heart to share this trip with her. I can't wait to get my other kids up there and show them this amazing wilderness. Thanks for reading!

 


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