Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Knife Lake 2014
by pastorjsackett

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 06/16/2014
Entry & Exit Point: Moose Lake to Prairie Portage (EP G)
Number of Days: 5
Group Size: 4
Trip Introduction:
My brother in law and I have been doing an annual trip with our sons for the past three years. His son, Alex, is my godson, and a wonderful kid. My son, Colin, was born only two days after Alex and is my partner on all adventures. Together the four of us have created a real nice team and the boys (now 17) have just gotten better, stronger and more experienced as we've gone along. We all love to fish, so we usually base camp and then day-trip during mid-day, returning home for dinner and then the night bite. We were super excited for this trip!
Day 1 of 5
Monday, June 16, 2014

Day one--after crashing at the bunkhouse with Latourell's we loaded early at the dock for tow to Indian Portage. This trip was to re-trace the very first trip that Colin and I had ever taken when he was twelve. And this was to mark the first time we had ever returned to a spot, as we always like to try new places. The two went great, and we were so grateful to saw off a large chunk of paddling. We tipped Mindy from the resort and got on our way. Mike had twisted his knee earlier in the month playing racquetball, so we only let him go down each portage once with a small load. The boys handled the rest with ease and I took a small portion too. I strongly suggest to anyone that bringing TWO hearty, healthy 17 year old youth with great attitudes is a great way to trip! I love these two--they pack with out complaint and work hard. The wind was at our back all the way and the portages were muddy but not long at all. With a 630 start and tow, we were to Knife Lake by early afternoon. We chose a spot across from Robbins Island and set up camp...yes, I know there are really nice sites beyond that and we probably could have scored one, That but we wanted to walleye fish around the islands and be close to other spots we knew. That night we caught one fish--a 21 inch walter--but we released it, since the trip was just beginning and we typically eat one meal of fish on the last night. It was a great first day. We ended it with our traditional--no name steaks and red skin potatoes.