Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Our family's first BWCA trip, EP 47 Lizz Lake
by cycle003

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 08/16/2014
Entry & Exit Point: Lizz and Swamp Lakes (EP 47)
Number of Days: 6
Group Size: 3
Day 4 of 6
Tuesday, August 19, 2014

I slept another ten hours until nearly 9 am on Tuesday. The morning was wet, dreary and foggy.I had visions of waking up early to go fishing while out here, but I love sleeping so much, and my camp bed is incredibly comfortable. Amber also slept in late, giving Lorraine some time alone to soak in the wilderness. We missed two eagles fishing, although with one nested across from our campsite we had plenty of opportunity to watch it. Still, Lorraine got the best of the show from them. Amber polished off an apple cinnamon and a strawberry oatmeal, but I just wasn't hungry.

We took a day trip to Vista Lake, this time with the boat. Vista is a beautiful lake, and the portage from Horseshoe is not bad, but the landings suck. They are rocky and slippery and getting in and out of the boat is not so pleasant. We overshot the southwest campsite and headed to the southern-most one, which is a very nice site with incredible views. We had a snack-like lunch at the site, then moved onto the other site on the southern part of Vista Lake. This site leaves a lot to be desired and has a very steep landing. After looking around, climbing around and seeing the rusty artifacts, we headed back to camp. Amber earned her second bribe, a chess, checkers and backgammon camping game. Amber and I played in the tent for awhile, even making up some games. We had spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner, then I decided to take the boat out fishing. I spent about half an hour paddling around before I got my first bite, a ~12" walleye. I'm not much of a fisher, but I've taken a little interest for the first time this year. The one fish was enough to satisfy my fishing desire, but now I wish I would have tried for some more. It was my first fish caught from a canoe. Hopefully, I'll have many more. We skipped the fire, and we were all in bed by 9 or 9:30. We traveled about 4.5 miles on Tuesday.