DAY 1 – SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2014:

Everyone was up early, gear on landing to be loaded to van,

and having a hearty breakfast of pancakes and bacon prepared by the outfitter at 7:00am. Van was loaded and we were on the road by about 7:45am with a few sprinkles starting our 1-1/2 drive to our put-in #16 on Nina Moose River. About 15 minutes into the drive we realized we had forgotten our hamburger…… Now it was pouring down rain… HARD. We all decided to go back to get it….. “Old virgin portage-shocked man farting with wolves” ran in to the dining hall where the employees all stared at him like he had two heads. No hamburger to be found. THIS turnaround cost us about 1 hour or so on our put-in start. Good point was that it had stopped raining before we got to our 160R (1/2 mile) downhill portage.

The portage proved to be a bit slippery and we were able to complete with 2 passes, taking it easy but hurrying to try to get back on schedule. Honestly, all portages on our route were probably the easiest “footing-wise” that I have done up in the BWCA, but still proved to be a little rough for a couple of us. “Old virgin portage-shocked man farting with wolves” knew he was going to rough it but had no clue as to what portaging was all about or meant… poor guy! HIs quote, "people who want to carry canoes over their heads for a mile are crazy, I thought this was a canoe trip". I, too, was a bit shocked at the number of people putting in and taking out on a Sunday! It seemed the trail etiquette needed a little to be desired. People putting in the same time as us were climbing our backs most of the day (and we were hauling butt!).

So, we paddled down river just a "few feet", it seemed, to our first 20R portage. Not so bad after that 160R, we thought. Next portage (we barely paddled any water) was a man-made portage around a downed tree, guessing about 10-15R, and again paddling only another few feet, a 25R portage. At this point we all were mentally DONE portaging already and the skeeters were insane! I believe that "Young virgin boy with many knives chopping wood" referred to carrying a canoe over his head as the "mosquito hive".

Looking at the map, we had quite a ways to go until our next “planned” portage, so we relaxed in and paddled on. Upon getting closer to Nina Moose Lake, the wind picked up tremendously.

Our solo paddler (“Young virgin boy with many knives chopping wood”) was getting extremely tired. We all grouped up at the mouth of Nina Moose Lake. We had carried spars with us for a catamaran but we had put them in the bottom of the canoes and all the gear on top of them (nice plan), and there was no landing “marsh land” in which to unload. “One-eyed girl carries picture box stalking critters” and “Crazy portage man dances in canoe” paddled on ahead of us to a campsite just to the east of where we were sitting.

"Old virgin portage-shocked man farting with wolves" and I, "Girl wearing hoops, hate 'em skeeters", took a GIANT “twisty tie” and tied our canoe to the solo canoe at mid thwart (carry yoke), and for lack of anything else, I stuck my left leg out to keep the bows of the canoes apart leaning over the right side of the bow to paddle - as we paddled east on Nina Moose Lake to the first campsite available across white caps, grab a quick snack and dig out our catamaran poles. Needless to say by the time we got to that landing we were spent. A couple of us grabbed a quick peanut butter cracker snack, gorp, and once the catamaran was set, we paddled on (only making it across the lake to the first campsite on the other side (the waves and wind were pretty tough and we managed to break two of the cat poles going across the lake). The decision was made to make camp there for the night. We were all exhausted and disappointed that we did not make it to at least Lake Agnes. We agreed (at this point) that the trip would go on but we would probably not get a layover day as planned.

With the decision to stay where we were (in marsh land with more mosquitos than I care to ever deal with again…..), we unloaded and started making camp.

Tents were set up and gear needed drying out (as we took in a ton of water coming across the lake), and water filtered. Upon hanging the two gravity water filtration bags, it immediately became apparent that NEITHER FILTRATION SYSTEMS were working properly. Very slow drips. Back flushing did not work. Everyone was just shaking their heads, stating they had checked them before packing them and thinking what else could go wrong. The Pur hand pump was taken out as our backup and what else could go wrong DID - it did not work either. Water became a major topic of discussion for the evening. We had purification tablets and could always boil. We were able to drip and pump (with GREAT effort) enough water to fill everyone’s water bottles and three 10L dromedary bags by morning. We ended up carrying the dromedary bags full of water the next two days (NOT fun on portages).

This is a really cool picture of a tent silhouette on sunset with the water our first night out:

We were all so tired this first evening, that I think everyone just fended for themselves for dinner. We were still disappointed that we didn’t have hamburger but I honestly believe we were too tired to cook it anyway. Not sure what everyone else ate, but I just had peanut butter on crackers….

(My sister, PinkCanoe, will tell you she recognizes this facial expression.....something about me when I am hungry...)

The mosquitos were EVIL!!! I am sure that I ate at least 4-5 and inhaled a few. “Young virgin boy with many knives chopping wood” made us a great campfire and some of the crew actually enjoyed it… I called it an evening early. It rained during the night.

Talking Shoe Video

Some additional Day 1 photos:

Looking through birch bark