Sunny mid 70’s

Unfortunately due to a previous commitment, I wasn’t able to go to bed untill midnight, still slept light as my alarm got me up right at 5:30 without any snooze bar slams.

I grabbed my marinated steaks from the freezer and headed up north to I-90 and Randall to meet up with Bill and Brian. We load Brian and Bill’s gear in the van on-top of mine and head up to Chippewa Falls for the Liene’s Lounge. For some reason the GPS sent us up north on 39 instead of taking us 90 to 53. I wasn’t paying attention and it cost us 45 minutes. We did get a side trip through Amish country which was interesting.

We hit the Lounge at 12:50 grabbed our free samples and took the tour. We decided to hit the BK before hitting the road, but I think they were out killing the cow first, took a while to get going. We hit 53 and don’t look back. Once we hit Duluth we made the turn towards Grand Marais. The trip along the shore was pleasant. Lots of nice scenery and overlooks. Next time I think we will leave early just so we can stop at some of the scenic spots.

We hit Grand Marais at 6pm and begin to look for Sven and Oley’s. Not a bad place at all. Pizza was a little hotter than I had expected but still good. We hit Rockwood Outfitters at 7:30 and Lynn comes down so I can put my steaks in the freezer. We check out our bunkhouse its basic but surprised as it has a full bathroom with shower. We head up to the Trail Center and grab an Ice Cream and head back. When we get back I made a decision that will affect every BWCA trip I take in the future. I decided to try out a Duluth pack instead of using my internal frame. I grab one from Mike and start to move all of my gear to it from my internal frame. I packed and repacked about 5 times till I got it balanced. I am very skeptical at this point as I start to miss all of the separate compartments, but I know that 3 internal frames will not fit well in our Souris River 3 man Canoe.