Clearwater to Fowl loop
by skywalker_128
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
07/21/2005
Entry & Exit Point:
Clearwater Lake (EP 62)
Number of Days:
6
Group Size:
2
Trip Introduction:
I went on the trip with my girlfriend Alicia. We're both crazy about the BW. We had a great time up there. Planning the trip out together was a big help.
We spent the night traveling and ended up in Grand Marias about 6 a.m. After the 8.5 hour drive from my place we packed all of our food up that we had purchased at the Wal-Mart in Albert Lea into individual meals (ziplocks). I know, I despise Wally World as much as you do but it's so cheap. We bought groceries for our 6 day trip for about sixty dollars. That's pretty affordable at $5 per day/person.
One tip for putting the meals together: Every meal in it's own ziplock, gallons bags work great for a group of two or three people. Then get a larger bag to put each day's food in. Alicia and I also had a bag for "daily necessities". Such as: Crisco, fish breading, spices, and drink mix (the stuff you always need but is hard to separate out) We had mostly hot breakfasts. I don't mind the wait in the morning, the fire helps me wake up.
Day 1 of 6
Thursday, July 21, 2005
First day out was amazing. There was a brisk westerly wind that put us right across Clearwater lake to our first portage. One hundred rods up and back down brought us to Mountain Lake. That wasn't bad. First portage down, we double portaged the entire trip. I was hoping that we could pull off at least some single portages when planning the trip, but the fishing equipment came along and crushed those hopes. Once I realized we would have to double, everything that was cool came along: Thermarest pad, bigger sleeping bags, fire starters, and extra pot, and the rain gear. The fishing equipment opened up the packing floodgates. I understand many people think those are necessities, but when I was planning light there was nothing like that coming.
We found a campsite on Mountain and spent the night. I didn't like the site much due to it's very poor landing and no place to hang the food bag.
First day out was amazing. There was a brisk westerly wind that put us right across Clearwater lake to our first portage. One hundred rods up and back down brought us to Mountain Lake. That wasn't bad. First portage down, we double portaged the entire trip. I was hoping that we could pull off at least some single portages when planning the trip, but the fishing equipment came along and crushed those hopes. Once I realized we would have to double, everything that was cool came along: Thermarest pad, bigger sleeping bags, fire starters, and extra pot, and the rain gear. The fishing equipment opened up the packing floodgates. I understand many people think those are necessities, but when I was planning light there was nothing like that coming.
We found a campsite on Mountain and spent the night. I didn't like the site much due to it's very poor landing and no place to hang the food bag.
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