I have taken many canoe trips in the BWCA over the years with groups ranging from 2 to 5 people. About 10 years ago I built a Merlin 38 Special wood strip canoe designed by Bruce Kunz with the intention a maybe doing a solo at some point. I had used this canoe for a couple of short trips with others in past years. I finally attempted my first solo trip in August of 2010 but I cut it short because I had left one of my connecting maps back in the truck. I had been looking over the map the night before I was to enter and had neglected to put it back into my pack. In early 2011 I decided to attempt this same route again with a couple of changes in itinerary so I reserved a permit to enter on June 15, 2011 at entry point 25 Moose Lake.