First time in the BWCA- 73 mile solo trip - Frost River, Little Sag, Kawishiwi, Alice, Kek, and more
by nlong
5:00 am - I wake up to light rain and decided to wait it out in the tent. Stayed in bed till about 6 am. The rain has now quit and blue skies are starting to show.
P445 20 rods - Easy portage into a small pond.
P108 33 rods - Another easy portage, and it's starting to cloud over.
I'm now at Elton Lake. The rock cliffs along shore are beautiful, as is the entire lake. I make it to the far end of the lake to the next portage.
P485 59 rods - Muddy portage with a tree down on the trail. Mosquitoes are bad here too. Glad to get back to paddling.
10:15 am - Makwa Lake is stunning. The black and white striped cliffs are a sight to behold. I wish it wasn't cloudy but I get some nice pictures anyway.
P505 40 rods P507 22 rods - Steep portage at start up to the top of the hill where beavers have a pond dammed up. P505 and P507 are combined. I get to the end of the portage and notice I have 1 bar of cell signal. I get a text message out to my fiancee to let her know I'm doing good and to let my parents know I'm okay since I haven't had cell service since Saturday morning.
P518 86 rods - 11:30am - The sun is starting to peak out. The portage is long and the loading area is quite muddy at the end of the portage. 12:05pm
P521 56 rods - I paddle to the south end of the lake to where my map indicates the portage should be. I paddle along the shore to the right a ways but don't see the portage. I paddle to the left into the inlet of a small stream but still don't notice a portage. I paddle back to the west and find what looks to be a portage at the very south tip of the lake. I unload my gear into my pack and start hiking the portage as this spot matched what my maps showed. I don't get far and the portage is very overgrown. There is no way I'm going to get my kayak through here as there is downed trees and everything is overgrown. I step through a deep creek as well and follow this very old portage. I finally reach Pan Lake and to my right I see the newer portage. Nice and wide and smooth. I drop my pack and one of my paddles and hike the good portage back to see where it comes out as I still need to get my kayak hauled down to Pan Lake. It comes out way on the southwest end of the lake. No wonder I didn't see it as it was tucked into a cove that wasn't visible from where I paddled from unless i hugged the west side of the lake. With paddle in hand, I hike along the dammed up edge of the lake to where my kayak is and paddle it to the good portage. I then easily portage the kayak to Pan Lake. What a big waste of time that mistake was in taking the old unused portage route at the start. It's almost 1:00pm now by the time I paddle Pan Lake. Pan Lake does have a nice dark sand beach to the south of the portage. I paddle southwest and I'm at the next portage in about 7 minutes.
P525 19 rods - I find the portage easily and hike my gear till I get to a deep stream. It's almost to my waist. It appears that the portage trail continues on, but is quite flooded. I hike a ways but it's muddy, flooded, and there's rotted remains of boardwalk that must have been part of the portage. I decide to turn back and cross the stream again and drop my pack and paddles and go back for the kayak. I get the kayak to the stream and load it up as I'll try to navigate through the tag alders into the small pond and maybe pickup the portage further to the southwest. It's tricky paddling a double-bladed paddle in tight quarters though the trees in the flooded pond, but I manage to make my way to where the next portage is.
P528 11 rods - The beavers have the pond damned up so high that it leave limited room to even unload for the portage. I decide to shoulder the kayak with all the gear and get it the 50 yards down the portage. Lots of weight to carry at once, but I manage. 1:50pm - The paddle across Anit Lake is short.
P532 19 rods - Portage is short and I'm now to Kivaniva Lake and it's another short paddle to the next portage.
P536 50 rods - Portage was a bit steep at the start but make it fine and take a picture of the purple butterflies that I keep seeing at the muddy spots on the portages.
3:00 pm - On the Kawishiwi River now. I paddle for a way and notice my iPhone that I'm using for GPS recording purposes is getting low on battery. I stop at the edge of the river and pull out my solar panel and put the phone in there hooked up to the panel in a waterproof map bag. I clip it onto the back of the deck of the kayak and paddle on. I reach my next portage at 3:40pm
P549 23 rods - I complete the portage and meet 3 guys in a canoe that are heading to the portage. First people I've seen since leaving Frost Lake a couple days ago. Spoke briefly with them and continued on. I hit river lake at about 4:20pm and should have taken the first island campsite there, but instead I continue on, wanting to possibly get to Alice lake yet today. The river is beautiful to paddle, but I get about a mile and a half further and am totally fatigued. I grab the campsite on the right which is C1036. It doesn't look used much and not the flattest spot for a tent, but it will have to do as it's about 5:00pm.
I setup camp and get supper made. Beef and bean burritos with cheese. My shredded cheese is a bit soft, but still good yet and goes great with the burritos. It hits the spot as all I had for lunch was a beef stick and a snickers bar.
I cleaned up camp, washed my hair, face, and arms. The bugs are horrible here. Staying in my tent as much as I can. It's about 7:45pm as I finish my journal entry. I'm going to bed early as I'm so wore out and my back is quite sore from the portaging.
Day 3 Summary
13.88 miles | 8 lakes, 3 ponds | 1 river | 12 portages | 438 rods
Little Saganaga Lake, pond, Elton Lake, Makwa Lake, pond, Panhandle Lake, Pan Lake, pond, Anit Lake, Kivaniva Lake, Kawishiwi River, River Lake, Kawishiwi River
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