I awoke before dawn and climbed out of the tent (a Mountain EXO at the time) to air so fresh I could hardly believe it. Everything was calm. After an hour or two Matt and Gopher awoke and we set about having breakfast (oatmeal and breakfast bars) while looking out over Big Sag.

With breakfast done we packed up camp with the idea that we would head around American Point (Rocky Point on my map) and go into Swamp Lake for our next campsite. As we pushed off I was in charge of reading the map and letting Gopher steer us as Matt provided mid-ship power.

We paddled between Munker Island and Long Island and pointed the bow toward Rocky Point; or, what I thought was Rocky Point. We crossed a very large chunk of Big Sag to an unnamed island in waves that were not really large (large enough for three guys in an unfamiliar canoe), but big enough to make us extra cautious. Once we reached the unnamed island I decided that we had to go straight ahead (unknown to me that it was the Canadian shore of Big Sag) to another island.

We stopped on a small horseshoe shaped island about two-miles north of Cache Bay and wandered for a bit, marveling at the depth of the moss; which was well over ankle deep. Climbing up proved easy but unstable and as I climbed up a large chunk of rock fell down and slammed into Matt’s foot, cutting him in multiple spots and giving him quite a bruise. He would end up having to wear an ACE bandage for the remainder of the trip but was otherwise unhurt.

After we left the island we headed north on Big Sag, unknown to me that we were going in the wrong direction; and into a pretty good headwind. Every point I saw I would declare, “That’s Rocky Point!” only to find out that, no, it was not. We traveled up the lake for hours into the wind before coming to another small island off of a point. We stopped to get our bearings and discovered that we were actually at a point off of Eagles Nest Island; a very, very long way from Rocky Point. Well into the Canadian side of Big Sag. We still make jokes about my mistake.

With my mistake figured out, and a lunch of MRE’s in our bellies, we hit the water once again and made our way back to where we were intending to go; Rocky Point. We had the luck of the wind being at our backs for the return trip so it took no time at all. We followed the Canadian shore and crossed the opening to Cache Bay with no problems before heading into the Swamp Lake area.

As we rounded a bend in a narrow part of the lake (right before the 5 rod portage into Swamp Lake proper) we were fortunate to come across a Bull Moose munching away at some grass in the lake. Only his head was above the water. I looked down to see that the water itself was only about a foot deep and was amazed at the depth of the muck on the bottom; deep enough to submerge a bull moose! We took a chance after we realized how deep the water was and paddled to within 15 yards of him so I could take copious amounts of pictures.

After a bit the moose got fed up with us being too close to him and he trotted off into the woods and we kept on our merry way. We had by this time started to notice that most of the campsites were packed. Not with a tent or two, but with dozens. We were informed, by Seagull Outfitters, that there was a fire in the area (to be later named the Cavity Lake Fire) but we were not aware that there was supposed to be this many firefighters camped out on all of the sites.

We checked out all of the sites on Swamp Lake; they were full. We backtracked a bit (back to the area where the moose was) to find a site; there was none. Concerned because it was starting to get late in the day at this point, we started searching around for a place to camp. We checked multiple islands in that area only to find them fully covered with red ants. Our prospects were not looking good and we knew it. All of the sites taken, and no where else to go, we ended up setting up our tent on the portage into Ashdick Lake and camping there for the night. A no-no by BWCA rules but there was nowhere else for us (a group of newbie’s) to go. It was an uncomfortable night but we managed.