After a long night of switching drivers and allowing each other to sleep (except me) we finally made it to Grand Marais MN. It was about 6AM, and nothing was open. We had to wait for a couple of hours for the Ranger Station to open so we could watch the video and get everything finalized. We decided to eat at the South of the Border Cafe as soon as it opened. After breakfast we quickly made it back to the Ranger Station, when they finally opened we went in, watched our video and were on our way. About an hour or so later of driving up the Gunflint Trail we made it to Seagull Outfitters where we had rented canoes. Slick being the penny pincher he is rented us the heaviest aluminum canoes that Seagull offered, since they were also the cheapest. After a short wait at Seagull, we loaded up and launched at Saganaga Lake with a tow to American Point. Slick and Jones had done this trip last year and were confident in their map reading skills. We borrowed a map from Josh on the way up, and just prior to us leaving my house I had found the map that I bought on my trip in 8th grade. Each canoe had a map, Slick and I started in one canoe and Jones and Craig in the other. As soon as we were dropped off the argument ensued, Slick and I wanted to launch our canoe from where the motor boat dropped us off at (east side of American point) and the other two wanted to walk their canoe to the other side and launch in the more protected west side. As it turned out we met up with each other at the same point so it really didn't matter. After what seemed like an hour or two of paddling in some heavy wind and waves we reached what we thought was the small channel that goes from Saganaga to Swamp Lake. Craig and Jones being the quicker paddlers decided to go ahead of us and make sure that our map reading had been right. Much to our dismay they came back and shouted "it's not back here, maybe its over there". For the next 3-4 hours we paddled all across every point, island, and inlet on the west side of Saganaga Lake not finding our correct opening. We finally decided to paddle to a campsite and get our bearings on our map again. After studying and cussing a bit, we finally decided to go back to where we originally thought it was. After another paddle back to the first spot, we paddled further in and discovered that indeed we had gone to the correct place in the first spot. Finally our first portage was 5 rods all we did was lift our canoes up and over a small rocky area and we were in Swamp Lake. We stopped for a group photo op here at this portage. At Swamp Lake I immediately recognized the surrounding terrain from my trip there about 12 years ago. After a short paddle across Swamp Lake we were at Monument Portage. Our first real portage (90 rods) of the trip, and my first test of my bad back which had been ailing me for the week prior (I found out a week after the trip that I have a herniated disk and a pinched nerve). We double portaged our canoes and equipment through this portage after seeing a couple of Snapping Turtles on the Canadian side of the dock and were quickly on our way. We stopped at the monuments for a picture op, and then set sail on Ottertrack Lake for a short Journey before we hit our next portage (the worst of the trip) to get to Ester Lake. We quickly made it to this portage which was nearly straight up hill and was 80 rods. It was a real test of my physical limits, however after fighting this portage twice, we had made it to Ester Lake. We decided that Ester is where we would set up our first camp, hoping to get one of the campsites on the Island on the South side of the lake, we quickly realized that it had already been taken. We were all wore out after a long day of paddling and arguing that we would take the first campsite to the left. It wasn't a great campsite, but it sure was great to be able to set up camp, build a fire and get some food down. We set up our tent and unloaded our canoes. A short time later Slick and I had the fire going and Jones (the designated trip cook) started our hamburgers that we had packed in a cooler. After eating, we decided to try our luck fishing, Slick and I fished the east side of the lake while Jones and Craig fished the west side of the lake. Slick and I immediately began catching Smallies. We threw them all back since we still had hotdogs in the cooler. We fished until dark and then returned to camp, drank some vodka, reflected on our day, and called it a night.

Totals: 4 Lakes (Saganaga, Swamp, Ottertrack, Ester) - 175 rods