Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Sawbill to Cherokee Washout
by rharjes

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 06/19/2012
Entry & Exit Point: Sawbill Lake (EP 38)
Number of Days: 2
Group Size: 2
Day 2 of 2
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 We woke up early and listened to more rain. I checked my weather/fm radio and couldn't seem to raise any stations. I thought maybe the radio had got wet overnight, so I quit playing with it and fell back asleep until about 9am. The rain slowed to a drizzle so we decided to get out and see what happened overnight with all the water. Lots of puddles, and all the other tent pads on the site we were on were pretty well submersed in a few inches of water. Fortunately our pad faired well, and only had a little bit of pooling towards our feet. We went down to check out our tart shelter, it pooled up a good share of water in the middle of, a few gallons worth were suspended in the air. The lake looked higher, the boulder we saw a few hundred yards out from our site was gone under the water (I'd guess 5-6" the lake rose overnight) We noticed a group of paddlers heading towards the portage, and we decided to cook up some breakfast while we had some non-raining weather for a short time. We saw another group of paddlers leaving. We tried the radio again. No NOAA, no FM radio out of Duluth, but we were barely able to hear a station out of Grand Marais. The first thing we heard it talking about was something about phone blocks and what number to use since 911 was down. Then they started talking about how 61 was closed, 35 was closed, and Duluth was a wreck because of the rain. We had a good idea that the rains were substantial, but never thought it was enough water to be so destructive. With all the talk about the destruction, we had no idea what was in store for us the next few days to dry out. We saw more rain approaching and heard thunder in the distance and decided right then and there, we weren't going to sit in the tent again for almost a day to let it all pass through again. We packed up everything and headed back to the 180 rod portage. It started heavily raining halfway down Cherokee Creek. Fortunately the lightning and thunder seemed like a good distance away through the duration of the creek, but once we landed at the portage the sky opened up the faucet, and dumped rain so heavy we could barely see 10 yards in front of us. The lighting and thunder was in full force. We started along the portage trail and mud wasn't the issue, it was the 1+ foot of water flowing down the trail, making you unsure of every step along the 180 rod portage We did the portage twice, not trying to leap frog this time, just being safe and together. We reached Skoop lake and not more than a a minute or two on the lake, the sun came out in full force. It felt so wonderful feeling the rain gear dry out and seeing things in the canoe dry out. We made it to the Skoop to Ada portage, which was a lot higher than the day before. The water was pretty well over the rock landing that was there the day before. I was a little concerned with the beaver dam on Ada Creek with the new water levels in the lake. I assumed the dam might be slightly difficult to pass through safely. We reached it and the water level was up and it was flowing good over the top, but there was still a little bit of room on the side of it to maneuver the canoe by it and eliminate the portage. Ada Creek was flowing very quickly and it took us next to nothing to paddle through it. The last portage into Sawbill was also under a few inches of water. Ada Creek into Sawbill was roaring next to the portage trail, I didn't want to find out if we could eliminate the last portage.

Once on Sawbill, a heavy fog set it, I hastily misplaced my compass the day before in the heavy rains, so we were paddling blind...quite literally. We had to keep the eastern shore in sight, since visibility was around 20-30 yards tops in the fog. We ran into a group of fisherman fishing the north end between the islands that weren't having much luck. It took us around an hour to make it back to the EP and we were exhausted. Another group of two guys were on Phoebe the night of the rain, and were hoping to layover on Beth, but they decided to leave early too and paddle and portage over to Sawbill after the surreal rain and the portages that turned into rivers overnight.

My girlfriend and I both decided Cherokee was too far to push, and the conditions that night made it even worse coming back the next day - defeated by the rain. This was probably the least fun BWCA trip I have done, but it is the most memorable with the natural events from the night before. Going back to our land on Wilson, many roads along the way were washed out or under water. I had to walk the road first numerous times to make sure it was passable before trying to get my Corolla through it. We made it, and decided to shoot up to Sven & Oles for a warm meal shortly before they closed for the night. The next day we were blessed with sunshine, and started drying out. The next trip is in August, except we're going west, with more people!