Friday, August 01, 2014 Day 1 - Lakes paddled - EP 24 Fall Lake, Newton Lake, Pipestone Bay, Basswood Lake Paddled 17 miles, 2 portages/170 rods.

We asked our outfitter to get us on the water at first light and we were not disappointed. Perfect morning. We had limitless energy and were eager to get started. I've read a lot about canoe trips and watched a lot of youtube videos, but this is not the same as doing. We took off from the put in, paddled to the portage, but I didn't see the yellow blaze to mark the portage that I'd seen in the Quetico canoe videos. So we kept paddling. We had no experience regarding our speed and pace in relation to the FISHERS map. or the subtle contours of the map compared to the landscape. We paddles for an hour and managed to go in a full circle on Fall Lake. On our second launch from EP 24, we managed to find the portage and gradually paddle our way thru Pipestone. We looked for the 5-star campsite on Basswood Lake our outfiiter marked, it was occupied so we pushed north (but it was actually North EAST) to the next site (seemed like a 5 star site to me). Sandy beach layup, logs for seating and great views.

Dad Journal Entry

What a beautiful site. Glass lake greeted our entry on Fall lake. We missed the portage and circled the lake for "practice". A few wrong turns and a long day, about 6 hours on the water. 1 mile portage tomorrow.
Daughter Journal Entry
Soooo, not such a great start. We thought we were following the map but ended up going in a huge circle, that took an hour and a half. That was just our warm up lap. Then we finally really start. Going good until we got lost. We thought we went further than we did. Oh and no cute guys passed us. After finally getting directions we got going the right way. After 5 hours of paddling we made it. So xxxxx tired. Oh, and i'm working on a good farmers tan.