Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Brule and Winchell Lakes
by DrBobDerrig

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 07/21/2012
Entry & Exit Point: Brule Lake (EP 41)
Number of Days: 7
Group Size: 6
Part 8 of 10
Day 7 Friday July 27 It was a quiet night with no rain or wind. It looked to be a beautiful sunny day. Jeff and Dr Z went fishing while the rest of us did little as possible. I brought some 5 minute grits and prepared them along instant oatmeal for breakfast. Being a northerner I don’t know much about them but with pancake syrup, cinnamon sugar, and butter they aren’t half bad. Add hot water to them, stir, and cozy them up for a time to get stiffened up. I see they have flavored instant stuff that one can get in southern stores and plan to check them out. They may work along with oat meal and cream of wheat for a hot quick breakfast. Watching Undercover Boss we found the Cream of Wheat is made with Cinnabon flavor so we plan to try that out for next year. After Jeff and Dr Z returned we broke camp and loaded up the canoes. As we were leaving paddlers showed up and claimed the site. This Friday seems to be a lot busier than last weekend. These guys were paddling serious heavy weight canoes, multiple coolers filled with ice, and stuff one sees in car camping. It looked like this was a far as they planned to go. With those coolers, I wondered if their mission was to fill them with fillets adding to the piles of carcasses strewn in the back. By 11 AM we were back at the Brule Lake EP. There were a whole lot more people here today…. It reminded me of Lake One EP.  We got vehicles loaded up and drove to Sawbill Campground. Jeff, Austin, and Alex took showers, visited the store, and said goodbye as they headed back home. Dr Z, Lark, and I picked a nice site close to the lake with nice large pines and tent pads. We got the feed bag opened up and did lunch. After we got the tents set up we went out to paddle around Sawbill Lake. Dr Z fished while we looked for wildlife along the shore. By 5 PM we were back and took showers before they got turned off for the day. After visiting the store we went back to our site and made a dinner of rice brocolli and chicken. I had the batter ring baker in the car and used it to make cheese garlic bread. It turned out decent. Dr Z procured some beer at the store which tasted way good. There were quite a few people in the campground but quiet, clean, and well maintained. The sites are so that one doesn’t feel like he is in a KOA campground. This is a great place for families or just folk that may want to day trip. Tomorrow we want to try the Kelso River toward Kelso Lake. Lark and I had seen a moose there a few years ago and got some great pictures and were hoping for a repeat.