We were both up before the sun and with the fire ban on our gas stove was heating up water for some coffee and tea. The brightening sky was partly cloudy and we were revved up to get on our way. When we saw the sun peeking over the trees I got a glimpse at the incredible red and pink and purple the sky was boasting. I turned to Jeff to see if he was catching this beauty too and all that was visible of him was his backside as he was digging into his tent for his camera and tripod. He took shot after shot and each one caught something special whether it be the mist on the lake or the ever deepening colors. After the magical sunrise had faded away we both knew we had seen something special. By not making the effort to get up early we would have missed much of the beauty. It made us wonder what else we had missed by our just not looking for it on this trip.

That start to the day lulled us into thinking it was to be a picture perfect day. Mother Nature was teasing us with a cruel carrot on a stick sense of humor. Traveling the small lakes was simple and uncomplicated. When we faced Disappointment lake we were introduced to much more - whitecaps - and a strong wind right in our face. All the canoes we saw were coming at us, with the wind. Heading right into the wind was a bear but we kept a good angle into the waves and made agonizing progress. Twice we stopped in the lee of islands just to rest and regroup before going on. We figured it took us over twice as long to cross the lake as we had planned. I know we were proud of how we worked together to get across that lake.

Parent Lake - the wind and waves were so much worse! There were times I know the two of us ( 6’5” 240 lbs. and 6’2 ½ 225 lbs) were paddling but the shore was standing still like we were frozen in position. We struggled toward an odd patch of color on the shoreline where we knew the portage to be. We strained our eyes to figure what it was. As it turned out a husband and wife had walked to the end of the portage we were struggling toward and were sitting on some rocks enjoying their lunch. We learned later while chatting that they rent a cabin on Snowbank and liked to walk to that spot. We didn’t dare try to head right at the portage for fear of getting dumped so we went past them and shouted “HI“. They weren’t expecting a canoe with the strong wind apparently and we startled them. Sheepishly we worked past them and allowed ourselves to cautiously turn with the wind. After that it was a simple matter to let the wind blow us into the landing. They both called out “Well done!” and we were very happy to be on land again, dry, and letting someone think we really knew what we were doing! We puffed out our chests a little and managed a smile between our looks of what the heck are we doing out here that were going between us.

We tucked in behind the lee of the island on Snowbank and then made the dash for the pier without any worse trouble. A look at the watch showed we took twice the time planned due to the wind. We were safe and dry though and it didn’t take long to pack and tie down the canoe. For future reference we drove to the Lake One entry point and found the distance walk able but were secretly happy we’d missed the opportunity to do it.

As we drove to Ely and some hot showers we reflected on the trip. We didn’t say a lot out loud because we were still tired from battling the wind, but we’d had a great time together. We’d shared stories neither had heard (when you and your child get to a certain age you start sharing stuff that for one reason or another you know would never have come up before), we knew we could handle a canoe pretty well together and that we want to do this again after the knowledge gained from our experiences. We also felt that we had changed our plan and, still, it turned out memorable. The Boundary Waters had not let us down - it’s worth waiting for.