I was up again at 6:15, this time to a foggy morning. REALLY foggy!

Neil built a warming fire, and I enjoyed my hot chocolate while the guys savored their coffee by the fire.

I made a batch of pancakes for Neil and me, and just a few eggs to go with them. At 9 A. M. I was doing dishes, and Bill said we needed to make a decision about what our plans were for the rest of the trip. That is when I surprised my husband.

I said I thought we should go to Frost Lake! Neil was amazed, as he knew how much it meant to me to stay at “THE” campsite on Cherokee, which was in view just across the way, and he figured I would want to just camp there the entire time until it became vacant and then move over to occupy it. And that is what I had initially thought that I would want to do, too. But here I was, out in the BWCA with “portage monkeys”, ready to go on a real canoe trip with me! Neil felt well and was able to make the trip. I had had a day to rest. I remembered Gordon Lake and Frost Lake so fondly. . . .it just seemed like the thing to do. So I said, “Let’s go. Let’s make it a canoe trip!”

Bill and David said they were agreeable to whatever we wanted to do, so we packed up and made ready for travel. There were high clouds overhead, and it looked like blue sky beyond. There was a light breeze. The day looked promising! Well, at first, anyway!

Just as we got packed up it started to rain. Not a few sprinkles, but big-time rain! Neil said "This will be an all-dayer." That was discouraging for me, since he is the optimist in the family, but I still believed that I didn't want to base-camp,and we had our gear ready to go.

Our gear:

Their gear:

So we shoved off on our trip in the rain. Fortunately, not a rain that lasted all that long, and we ended up paddling the length of Cherokee in good conditions, with a tailwind, and gray skies overhead. There were a few sprinkles at the portage to Gordon, and then our paddle on Gordon was on calm, misty water. I didn’t want to get my good camera out because of the rainy conditions, and later I regretted it, as I missed some nice photos of Bill and David ahead of us, paddling through the mist. The little waterproof point-and-shoot that I carry around my neck in the canoe just doesn’t do justice to a shot like this.

The portage to Gordon is only 13 rods and easy.

We stopped for lunch at the southern site on Gordon. Not a great campsite, but certainly adequate for a lunchroom.

And then we were back on Gordon, in the mist again, on a narrow lake that almost gives the feel of a river. We came to what I have always referred to as the “smiley rock” (David says it looks like a rabbit), and I photographed it, as I did in 1992, and again in 2002.

I heard a loon call. I had mentioned to Neil earlier that one of my favorite loon photos from 2002 was my “Gordon Lake Loon”, and I wondered if this loon was a relative. In my mind, I was hoping that perhaps we would see a loon now on Gordon, just for old times’ sake. And sure enough, just as we were approaching the portage out of the lake, we spotted it. By then it was sprinkling, so I didn’t reach for my Canon, figuring that if I did, the loon would just dive anyway.

But this loon wanted to pose for me. And we paddled closer and closer, while I was missing some fabulous loon photos because I was shooting with a little bitty pocket camera instead of my big IS L-series lens! And it is OK. This is the best I could do, but the memory is in my mind’s eye; and if I choose to think that this is the great-great-great-granddaughter of the Gordon Lake loon that has his/her photo hanging on my bathroom wall. . . .well, that is OK, too. Why else would it have posed for me, right??

The portage to Unload Lake is muddy, but very narrow and pretty. (I can say pretty now, I am just walking along with my poles and one light backpack.) And this portage, while not that difficult, really has it all!

Rocks:

mud:

flat trail:

rocks AND mud:

leaves and roots:

some lovely big cedar trees at the end:

and rain at the end at Unload Lake (or pond, or whatever.) A nice spot to wait for the guys to complete the 140-rod portage.

There is an interesting intrusion in the rock at the landing at Unload. This would be prettier in sunshine. (Most everything is.)

We paddled through from Unload to Frost, with some help over the beaver dam.

And we camped on Frost at the same site that Neil and I enjoyed in 1992, the second site as you enter the lake. It is a nice campsite with a far-off view of the big rock that is the iconic Frost Lake “view”, and it has a lovely curving sand beach in a shallow bay off to the side.

When we camped here in 1992 there was a big bull moose walking on the beach shortly after our arrival. I remember sitting on the rocks in the early morning the next day waiting for him to appear again. (Of course, he didn’t.) There was no moose this time. None at all.

It was about 3:30 when we made camp, on a cold, breezy, damp day with a totally gray sky. It occurred to me that I would really enjoy a warmup and some blue skies, but there was such a sense of joy to be back at Frost again, and to have traveled through Gordon. This is one of my favorite areas in the Boundary Waters.

The site has large cedar trees, and plenty of room for our tents.

The sun was actually peeking through at 5:30, a nice accompaniment for our dinner.

Neil and I enjoyed a Mountain House Sweet and Sour Pork, with some Packit Gourmet sweet corn as a side dish. Bill and David provided a yummy chocolate bar to share for dessert with our coffee.

We had a very nice fire here. Not a cooking fire, but a little campfire to gather around and to enhance the friendly conversation. I have been surprised that Piwi doesn’t join us for the campfires. Usually by early evening she is asleep in the tent. Probably a good thing, as it keeps her from taking off in the night after little (or big) creatures. We watched the sun go down behind the trees and saw the last of the glow leave the surface of the lake, savoring our libations and exploring all sorts of topics as we chatted together.

I slept well on this night. I wasn’t cold on Frost.