Up with the sun, I was feeling a bit anxious. The weather report called for thunderstorms, some severe. I was anticipating that long paddle across Burntside and not wanting to have any close calls. Let’s just say, after two close calls with lightning (one in the BWCA), I did not want to take any chances. Dave disagreed with my desire to get a move on. He wanted to cook a nice breakfast and leave at a leisurely pace. Since there was only a 30% chance of showers, he wanted to “play the odds”. Tensions were running a bit high – it was the girls against the boy. Despite our protests, Dave started cooking breakfast and insisted that we were being Nervous Nellies. It was one of those moments when I thought to myself, “We’re going to pay for this.” We very quickly ate the hot breakfast and got busy packing up. Despite being up before 6 a.m., we didn’t break camp until after 8 a.m. – all because of that hot breakfast. Argh! The weather held as we retraced our path back to Korb Lake, the Korb River, Little Crab and Crab. As we approached the portage back to Burntside, our paddling urgency increased due to the thunder rumbling. The storm was coming, so we had to kick it into gear and get off the water quickly.

I decided to carry everything I possibly could on the long portage, so I could avoid backtracking or piggy backing. Dave decided to carry “big blue” and the canoe and figured he’d stop and rest along the way. Audrey had agreed to carry a few more things as well. The air was thick and still. Lightning was flashing all around us. Sweat was dripping from my face and the fishing rods I had in hand were just irritating me beyond all belief. We passed several people on the portage carrying canoes and packs into the wilderness. Near the Burntside end of the portage, there’s a pretty decent hill. It was at this point that I lost my patience with the gear I was carrying in my hands and I threw it to the side. I knew I was close to the end. I figured I’d be going back to help Audrey and Dave and I’d pick the stuff up then.

A shuttle boat was parked at the end of the portage. Hmmmm…this could be our lucky day after all! I started back down the trail to help Audrey along. Not long after, a man came toward me carrying “big blue” and encouraging Audrey. He was the boat driver from a local outfitter who had just dropped the two groups off that we saw on the portage. He was kind enough to insist on helping Dave with the pack and coaching Audrey who was out there somewhere in between the two of us. Audrey once again impressed me with her toughness. Dave was not far behind, but we were stuck at the portage. The storm was fully upon us now. We huddled under the canoe, which Dave had propped up between two trees. The shuttle driver was also stuck, so we chatted with him. The storm moved off to the south fairly quickly. Once the rain let up, the shuttle man offered us a ride back to the boat launch. We negotiated a price and away we went.

If we had packed up and gotten an earlier start, we may have missed the storm or made it to the boat landing in the nick of time, or we could have been out on Burntside Lake somewhere. Thankfully, the good Lord was looking out for us and we had some help bringing a happy and safe ending to our trip.