Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Early June 2009 EP #16 First trip for all of us
by live2ski

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 06/04/2009
Entry & Exit Point: Moose/Portage River (north) (EP 16)
Number of Days: 5
Group Size: 4
Day 2 of 5
Friday, June 05, 2009

First BWCA day. I got up early and noticed it was still raining. I was worried about starting out getting wet. I woke the boys up and packed up. We went downstairs to load the canoe and the rest of the rental gear. Headed for breakfast. I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant but I don’t. Anyway, the breakfast huge and really good. Towards the end of breakfast I noticed my middle son looking a uneasy. When asked about it he said he was getting a migraine. I thought if we got back to the bunk house and he laid down for a bit it would pass. While he was sleeping the other boys and I watched TV and walked around the VNO store. The rain had pretty much stopped by 10 am. I woke Ethen up to see how he was feeling. He was still not 100% but said he could go. I was unsure if we should try it or wait until the next day and take a shorter trip. It was decided to go for it. We made it to the EP before noon, unloaded and headed out. The portage in was long and we had to make two trips. For not feeling well Ethen was amazing. On the drive up it was decided that the oldest and the youngest would take the kayaks and Ethen and I would take the canoe. It took some packing and readjusting to get all the gear into the canoe, the kayaks just didn’t have a place to stow anything. The weather changed from drizzle to almost sunshine. As soon as we got our rain gear on it would stop raining, we would take the rain gear off and it would start raining. Oh well, just roll with it. We were still trying to figure out the best way to unload, portage and reload but, we were getting there. VNO recommended that we stop at a huge rock hill on the way to Nina Moose Lake. We stopped there and found the shore very muddy. The youngest (Gaven) was stepping out of his kayak and started to sink in the mud. He jumped out and ran for higher ground forgetting to pull the kayak up with him. Needless to say to started floating down the river. The rest of us were already out of our boats and they were pulled up on shore. We all looked at each other to see who was going to go after the escaped kayak. Brennen ( the oldest) got back in his kayak and rescued the runaway kayak. We made our way up bald rock. It was a heck of a climb but well worth it. The view was great. Back in the boats heading for Nina Moose Lake. Once there we were met by a head wind. Being in the canoe with two paddlers going wasn’t to bad, but the guys in the kayaks had to paddle hard and keep paddling to make head way. Gaven was having a heck of a time. We decided to head up and cross wind to the shore line that was some - what protected. We finally crossed Nina Moose Lake and headed for Lake Agnes. We reached Lake Agnes and we were all tried (out of shape). In my research while planning I had decided on which camp sites to stay at. The wind was still in our faces so we headed to the nearest site. We got close and found it was occupied. Headed for the next one, occupied, we kept heading up the lake into the wind. Being the canoe was quicker we headed out to find a site. The two in the kayaks stayed together and kept paddling. Finding that the next site was also taken we rounded the point to see what was open. Gaven seeing that we weren’t stopping exclaimed "WHAT are they DOING!!!". We found very nice site on the north side of the point (1801) and set up camp for the next three nights. Eat and went to bed early. Nina Moose Lake, Agnes, Lake