Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

First Solo: Seagull to Ogish
by DeterminedOrange

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 09/06/2014
Entry & Exit Point: Seagull Lake (EP 54)
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 1
Day 3 of 4
Monday, September 08, 2014

Monday morning finally came after a restless night spent mostly sitting up as laying down was impossible. It was 5:30 and the wind was perfect, time to pack and go, I could still paddle.

Hit the water at 6:30 with an angry morning sky and headed for Sea Gull. It actually wasn’t a bad paddle, nice breeze toward my back and I was able to manage it just fine. Crossing Jasper with a south wind required a zig-zag approach but that was good also. It helped that I knew the way and zipped right through it. Once on Alpine I made a decision to take the route through Rog and get myself more toward the east so I wouldn’t end up in the middle of Sea Gull. If all else failed I could stay on Rog and still be close. Alpine to Rog is an easy portage but Rog to Sea Gull is pretty nasty, wet, steep and a terrible landing on the Rog side. Of course there was someone at the site and the wind starting picking up. Had I to do it over again, I would have turned around and headed back into Alpine.

It was really nice on Sea Gull out of the wind, all I needed to do was hug the shore and get to a campsite. It was so windy around the first long finger I could not get south back to the shore and was pushed out into the main lake. Working with all I had I made it to the island with two campsites on it, crossing in the open where I had no right to be but could not get myself back south. The little island south site was impossible to land at and there were people at the other site. I tried to get around to the protected side of that island and ask the people if I could stay for a while but was unable to turn at all. I have to admit I was getting scared but the canoe would handle the waves beautifully as long as kept it into the waves. There is a fair amount of flare at the ends and it performed exactly as expected. I turned to the east and made it into the long east west bay and found quiet conditions where I rested and thought. No place to pull off and make an illegal site even if I wanted to.

No choice but to head back out and turn the corner north around an odd kidney shaped point. Doing so blasted me way out into the lake and I was unable to get to the campsite on the point close by. Working with all I had, I worked my way east and landed on the shore of the double island with a campsite on each. I headed out to the west island and the wind was murder so I turned around. If I missed the site I would be pushed right into the middle of the lake. Why are all the sites facing south on this side of the lake? The east island has a long point extending south that would require too much paddling south to get around to the site. I could see the narrow point between the islands was very small and I decided to try and cross it. My prayers were answered when I got there to find someone has moved the rocks and made a single canoe width channel between them, it was a sandy bottom and I shot right through!

From this quiet windless area I decided to head for one side of Threemile Island or the other and follow it north. My east side plan would allow me to stop at the Blankenburg landing and hitch a ride. Looking at the conditions, the white caps were far worse on the east side so I went west. It was pretty nice most of the way, a nice tail wind but no big waves and a chance to hug the shore. One of the bays was filled with geese and my presence made them explode into the air. There is a nice osprey nest close to shore where two adults were feeding some young. I stopped at the south campsite on the west side of Threemile Island and kissed the ground. I ate my first meal of the day at 1:00 and was very happy. The wind continued to pick up and at 6:00 gave up on continuing and set up camp. This site is an ugly loose rocky pile and not good for much except for the great views.