Friday, July 02, 2010 I awake at 4:15 to the sound of no sound, no wind, no waves, no rain… just a few birds and the ever present squirrel running up and down his log behind our tent. I lay in bed until the alarm goes off at 4:30, and then I awaken Kim and tell her there is no wind and we need to move before it starts back again. We are packed and on the water by 5:35 am. We reach Devil’s Cascade by 7:00 and leap-frog the portage. We then paddle through Lower Pauness and pull through the rapids of the 9 rod portage and keep on going until we reach Elm portage where we meet our first voyagers coming in, headed to Lynx Lake and beyond!

A Forest Service crew and a group of Boy Scouts are working on the portage trail as we cross. We start paddling again and meet two more groups of people coming in. The wind definitely picked up in intensity and at times even on the smaller parts of the Little Indian Sioux River it felt like we were paddling and not moving forward. Particularly the last 200 yards from the final portage. I tell the last group we see entering, be glad the wind is at your back!

We are at V-North by 12:00 with hot showers and cold beverages behind us by 12:30. We finish shopping in town buying t-shirts for the kids and coffee mugs for the parents. Kim finds a real nice dress at the Piragis outlet store. I stop for a little fuel and we are off the drive the north shore home after a quick stop at the harbor at Two Harbors for pictures. Big mistake!! Well not that big, we made it through to Duluth, but it took almost an hour to get through the construction and out of Duluth! We were hungry and wanted to hit Gordy’s Hi Hat at Cloquet again! After two double hamburgers for me, and a large blueberry malt, and another California burger and a chocolate shake for Kim and us sharing a large order of fries we could barely finish we get in the truck and are headed home!

One final note! Kim and I got just what we needed from this trip, peace of mind and total relaxation and some fantastic fishing! It is great when you can spend time like this with your best friend who in this case is also my wife!

It was 2:15 pm Friday afternoon when we left Ely. It was 10:15 am Saturday Morning when we got home after driving the north shore home. Twenty hours straight through other than for fuel or bathroom breaks.

Gear Review:

Ex-officio Bug off shirt - $5.95 off of Steep and Cheap. Best deal I have ever made!! Great shirt, great wear and no bugs!

Bio UD – bug repellant by Bite Blocker: worked great on flies, not so well on mosquitoes.

Ultra Thon – Worked great on mosquitoes.

Teva Avator 2 Water Shoes: Gripped slick rocks great, not so good on slick mud (only slipped once) thought they held up well over all until I took them off and found one of the soles had come apart. They are going back to Teva to be replaced!

Eureka 4XT tent: Held up great to the wind and the rain, vestibule was a great feature!

$7.00 Crocs from Wal-mart: worked great for around camp and fishing without portages.