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07/21/2024 06:33PM
Not sure this warrants a trip report, so I'll just post it here.
Took my friend to the BWCAW this past weekend! She grew up camping but hasn't done a ton of it lately but has been interested in the BWCA so we stayed at the established Sawbill Campgrounds, and took daytrips into the BWCA on our paddleboards.
We did not just lounge around the lake like I thought we would in a previous post, as the wind was never in our favor.
Day 1 - Took her on the Sawbill/Alton/Kelso Loop. No Bears this year, but still a lovely paddle. Headed north directly to the Alton Portage and paddled against the wind. Alton was less wooped up than in 2021, and I loved its crystal clear waters, and hilly backdrop. Still paddling in a headwind, however. My friend wasn't a HUGE fan of portaging, since we're both short, to put the paddleboards under our arms and carry with the handle, our arms are barely long enough but she still enjoyed the varied scenery of the three lakes. When we got back to Sawbill, the wind changed, and it was another headwind back to camp!
Day 2 - Sawbill Tour
I had never paddled north of the Kelso entrance on Sawbill so I was super excited to explore the northern section of Sawbill. After a pop-up thunderstorm, we entered a much calmer Sawbill Lake, but still a headwind the entire 3 miles north on Sawbill. I loved the northern "bowl" as I called it, with its studded islands, and rocky outcroppings. My heart was COMPLETELY full!
Unfortunately, my friend was developing a migraine so after a quick lunch on an island we headed back and to our disbelief, the wind did a 180 and was blowing right into us heading south! We looked north, and a dark sky loomed with random rumblings. We paddled hard against the waves, which were growing larger and larger into white caps.
It was the kind of paddling you do where you're padding hard, hard hard, on one side, and immediately need to shift to the otherside and backpaddle because despite your padding on the other side your bow won't shift.... it was technical paddling which my friend had none of. She was completely sideways, and I was signaling to her to paddle HARD to the left to get to shore where the water was only slightly calmer but perhaps we could find respite in an open area on shore.
The storm was definitely not a west-to-east or east-to-west storm but one of those more rare north-to-south blowing storms, and as hard as we paddled it was catching us fast. A glance back to make sure my friend was still upright, (we were kneeling in a V shape and paddling into our feet for stronger paddles if that makes sense), and the sky was WHITE behind us.
WHITE! What was that? It was like a pure whiteout. I couldn't even see trees 20 feet behind us, I yelled, OVER HERE! She quickly got over by me, and said HERE, and pointed to an open area on shore as the deluge was upon us. I threw on my rain jacket just in time for freezing rain to hit us.
Paddleboard still attached to my ankle I ran on shore, threw it overhead and by a miracle a tree that had fallen on a diagonal for us to put our paddleboards over to protect us from the storm. I didn't know if it was hail or if the rain was simply that thick but as soon as we were both on shore the sky lit up and instantly a HUGE boom of thunder hit, and we were so thankful to be on land.
We realized we had made the campsite near the Sawbill/Smoke portage just in time, by the grace of God! After a time the storm had passed and we got back on the lake. With the HUGE white puffy clouds pushing against the back of the storm, and the lake like PURE eerie glass.
We were barely paddling, making more time than we had either of the days. It was perfect, but errie paddling.
ps. I lost my black Goodr sunglasses out there during all of the hulla-baloo.
Took my friend to the BWCAW this past weekend! She grew up camping but hasn't done a ton of it lately but has been interested in the BWCA so we stayed at the established Sawbill Campgrounds, and took daytrips into the BWCA on our paddleboards.
We did not just lounge around the lake like I thought we would in a previous post, as the wind was never in our favor.
Day 1 - Took her on the Sawbill/Alton/Kelso Loop. No Bears this year, but still a lovely paddle. Headed north directly to the Alton Portage and paddled against the wind. Alton was less wooped up than in 2021, and I loved its crystal clear waters, and hilly backdrop. Still paddling in a headwind, however. My friend wasn't a HUGE fan of portaging, since we're both short, to put the paddleboards under our arms and carry with the handle, our arms are barely long enough but she still enjoyed the varied scenery of the three lakes. When we got back to Sawbill, the wind changed, and it was another headwind back to camp!
Day 2 - Sawbill Tour
I had never paddled north of the Kelso entrance on Sawbill so I was super excited to explore the northern section of Sawbill. After a pop-up thunderstorm, we entered a much calmer Sawbill Lake, but still a headwind the entire 3 miles north on Sawbill. I loved the northern "bowl" as I called it, with its studded islands, and rocky outcroppings. My heart was COMPLETELY full!
Unfortunately, my friend was developing a migraine so after a quick lunch on an island we headed back and to our disbelief, the wind did a 180 and was blowing right into us heading south! We looked north, and a dark sky loomed with random rumblings. We paddled hard against the waves, which were growing larger and larger into white caps.
It was the kind of paddling you do where you're padding hard, hard hard, on one side, and immediately need to shift to the otherside and backpaddle because despite your padding on the other side your bow won't shift.... it was technical paddling which my friend had none of. She was completely sideways, and I was signaling to her to paddle HARD to the left to get to shore where the water was only slightly calmer but perhaps we could find respite in an open area on shore.
The storm was definitely not a west-to-east or east-to-west storm but one of those more rare north-to-south blowing storms, and as hard as we paddled it was catching us fast. A glance back to make sure my friend was still upright, (we were kneeling in a V shape and paddling into our feet for stronger paddles if that makes sense), and the sky was WHITE behind us.
WHITE! What was that? It was like a pure whiteout. I couldn't even see trees 20 feet behind us, I yelled, OVER HERE! She quickly got over by me, and said HERE, and pointed to an open area on shore as the deluge was upon us. I threw on my rain jacket just in time for freezing rain to hit us.
Paddleboard still attached to my ankle I ran on shore, threw it overhead and by a miracle a tree that had fallen on a diagonal for us to put our paddleboards over to protect us from the storm. I didn't know if it was hail or if the rain was simply that thick but as soon as we were both on shore the sky lit up and instantly a HUGE boom of thunder hit, and we were so thankful to be on land.
We realized we had made the campsite near the Sawbill/Smoke portage just in time, by the grace of God! After a time the storm had passed and we got back on the lake. With the HUGE white puffy clouds pushing against the back of the storm, and the lake like PURE eerie glass.
We were barely paddling, making more time than we had either of the days. It was perfect, but errie paddling.
ps. I lost my black Goodr sunglasses out there during all of the hulla-baloo.
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