The next morning, we decided to head to La Croix for lake trout since the walleyes were not biting well. After several hours we were on La Croix and paddling north. There was no one on the lake. We trolled with spoons, but only caught one pike. Camp was made on an island across from the pictographs. Not ten minutes after camp was made, a strong wind and steady rain kicked in from the south. It pretty much blew us out of camp. With no protection, we decided to head to fish stake narrows and camp on the islands there. At this point, there were white caps and the rain was coming in sheets. Some of the first timers were feeling a little awkward on the water. At the last point before turning west toward our proposed camp, we ran into ice again. For several hundred yards, it was broken into ice cube sized pieces and made an eerie sound. I started to wonder what we had gotten ourselves into. We had to get around the point to get to camp, but there was 30 feet of four inch thick iced to break. It was slow going, very slow, indeed. I grabbed a large stick to break the ice rather than lose a paddle, but it still was difficult. Finally, we all made it around the point only to see the rest of fish steak narrows completely frozen. Plan C at this point. We all were cold, weary, tired, and starting to get frustrated. I found a new protected camp two miles back, but it was against the wind and rain to reach it. Out of options, we retreated. As we tuned around to go back through our path through the ice, it had completely closed off!!!! This was not good. More ice breaking to come…As we started going through the gap, the ice started to pinch our canoe. Then I saw the side of our Kevlar canoe starting to buckle in at the sides!!! It was time to get out…..The shoreline next to us was really steep, but I managed to get out of the canoe and pull it while my partner climbed out as well. All three canoes had to be pulled along the rugged shoreline! Thirty yards later we were back in and paddled to the new campsite. Tarps and tents were set up in the rain and the task of warming up started.