Wednesday, July 13, 2005

We woke up later in the morning, it felt great to sleep in. We all took a lengthy swim in the lagoon before making breakfast. I wanted to take it easy that day, however, the group voted on packing out because Breck was not having a wonderful time. After the day we had had, traveling from Gun Lake to Mudro seemed to fly by. This part of the trip was very busy with the portages being very backed up. I was sad that the group was gunning to get out of the BWCA in such a hurry but all good things must come to an end. We stopped at Chain Saw Sisters for some beers after our haul, nothing has ever tasted quite so good. We all walked around Ely for a few hours before deciding to drive to Hayward, WI to spend the rest of our trip. Kevin and I analyzed the trip in the car ride. We came up with a few things which I wanted to make sure I marked. This trip had been the best we had gone on as far as endurance and really pushing ourselves. We covered 55 miles in 4.5 days which I think is pretty good. This route had been a lot of fun except we were not very impressed with the second half. The first part of the trip had been so scenic but we felt that after leaving Friday Bay, the lakes were not that great except for a few. We sort of wished we would have either traveled into the Quetico around by Wednesday Bay and come back down or that we had turned at lower Basswood Falls toward Wheelbarrown falls and gone down through Basswood Lake...perhaps another time. Kevin and I deduced that the next time that we decide to go on a group trip we need to have some pre-BWCA meetings to prepare. If I ever go with a group again I would want the entire group to gain an overview of the trip, study the map, and discuss what each person individually was hoping to gain from the experience. Also, I would want to ensure that everyone was prepared and mentally and physically. I would want to create a list of supplies and specific responsibilities of each person. Group dynamics can make or break a trip, we were fortunate that they didn't completely ruin this one. I don't know if I would ever go with 6 people again. It was fun to have a big group, however, it was tricky as well. It was harder to find sites with enough tent pads, harder to keep everyone on the same page, harder to get going because everyone was on a different time frame. I also think our group was way to noisey which irritated me because I could not enjoy the landscapes and we did not see as much wildlife as we could have. I prefer a group of four. Next time, however, Kevin and I are thinking maybe we will go it alone with just the two of us. All in all, this was an unforgettable trip. Gun Lake, Fairy Lake, Boot Lake, Fourtown Lake, Mudro Lake

Lakes Traveled:   Gun Lake, Fairy Lake, Boot Lake, Fourtown Lake, Mudro Lake,