I was sopping wet, but I felt relieved. We were all safe, and we were back on the water. I shot up another prayer of thanksgiving. “We’re finally back on the water,” I said to Grandpa. “Now we just have to get back on track.” “Yeah, that was pretty bad,” Grandpa echoed. “Are you wet?” I asked. “A little. I had my raincoat on when we landed so it wasn’t too bad. How are you?” “I’m wet, but I’m not cold. I’m used to it.”

We continued to work our way southwest, with Jared and Amy in the lead. I continued to scan the islands and shoreline to try to identify where we were, but I was yet unsuccessful. I then noticed something that blew me away. “Look at the lake, Grandpa!” I said. The lake was glassy smooth. Just two hours before, the waves had been rearing their white heads, and now there wasn’t even a ripple. It was still overcast above, so I had the sensation of paddling between two layers of clouds. “That’s incredible,” he responded. “See how fast things can change up here?” “You’re not kidding!” I laughed. “Jared really was incredible back there on the island. He probably saved us.” “Jared really has emerged as the leader,” Grandpa commented, watching him study his map up ahead.

We approached a large bank of land, which I assumed was the far shore of the lake. All of sudden Grandpa spoke. “I think I see something familiar up ahead.” Hurrying forward, we informed Jared about our discovery. “You paddle ahead and check it out,” he told us. We got closer, paddling carefully due to the rocks that loomed just below the surface. Grandpa studied the shore line intently. “No, that’s not it,” he said. “I don’t see a fire grate. There’s not a campsite there.” We regretfully paddled back and informed Jared of our discovery. Jared examined his watch. “It’s three o’clock now, Tom. We have to find a campsite soon,” he said.

We continued to paddle along. The wind began to blow a little again but nowhere near as bad as the time before. As I looked first at the lake and then at my map, I suddenly saw that I could pick out where we were. Looking far ahead, I saw a small island sitting right off the shoreline. “Grandpa, I think that’s it!” I said excitedly, glancing at my map. All of a sudden, we saw a motorboat speeding across the lake. Mike, bringing up the rear, was closest to it. Waving his paddle in the air, he flagged it down. After consulting with the driver of the boat for a minute, Mike began paddling towards us as the boat sped off in the other direction. Reaching us, he pointed ahead at the spot I had just noticed on my map. “That’s American Point right there,” he shouted to Jared and us. “I was right!” I rejoiced. Mike pointed out and named a couple of other islands. I shot up another prayer of thanks. We now had our bearings, and we would reach our intended destination that night. For that I was grateful.

Now I could relax, and I started to enjoy myself once again. We rounded the tip of the point and began to head down the south shore, carefully identifying the campsites on the map, so we wouldn’t get lost again or overshoot our campsite. “See that campsite right there?” Grandpa said pointing to a spot on shore. “That’s the one we always stayed at when we passed through here. There’s a little bay right through that little inlet there that holds some great fishing.” “I think we’re aiming for that one that Deb recommended,” I replied. We continued to work our way down the shoreline. Suddenly, something caught my eye high up on shore. It was a fire grate. “I think that’s it!” I said. “Go in and check it out!” the others called from the water. Grandpa and I paddled in, and I climbed out of the canoe and hopped up on the rocky shoreline. A worn trail wove through the trees, so I followed it. Reaching the top of the hill, I saw several tent sites and a fire grate.

“This is it!” I called. “I’ll go look for the latrine.” I looked around, knowing the trail would be obvious. At the far end of camp, I found it. My sturdy sandals treaded over the rough trail of pine needles. I smelled the latrine before I saw it. Heading back to camp, I informed the others of my discovery. “It’s now four o’clock,” Becky said glancing at her watch. “Let’s get everything on shore and eat some lunch before we set up camp and start dinner.” Working together, we unloaded the canoes and carried all of our packs and the bear barrels up to the area where we would be setting up camp. Becky broke open one of the bear barrels, and after a quick prayer, we all dove into our turkey sandwiches. I ate like a starved man. “Can I have another sandwich?” I asked. “Absolutely. We have way more food than we need,” Becky stated looking at the incredible assortment of food we had. “Anyone want some more bread?” Ryan quipped, looking at our incredible stash of nine loaves. We all got a kick out of that.

“Hey, guys, I have an announcement,” I said dryly. “I’m resigning as navigator.” Everyone got a kick out of that, but I was serious. I wasn’t ready yet, and I did not want to get lost…..I mean bewildered…..again.

We finished up our meal, and Grandpa began to delegate duties. Becky and Rachel spread out a tarp and began to organize our utensils, getting ready for dinner. Grandpa and I stretched a clothesline between two trees and we all hung up our wet things. I took off my coat and hat and hung them up. My pants were already dry. “I’m sure glad that I have these pants!” I thought. Jared messed around in his pack for a minute and came back with a blue bag. “This is a gravity filter that I bought when I thought the world was ending a few years ago,” Jared laughed. “You just fill it up and the water comes out. No pumping.” “Man, you’ve got all the gadgets,” I said. “Now I’m really glad we brought you.” We needed more water than that bag would hold, so we filled up the two filter bags that Seagull Outfitters had sent us with. Jesse was put on duty filling up all of our water bottles. He immediately got the hang of using the filters and kept us all well hydrated as we worked.

“Ryan, let’s take a look at these tents,” I said. Breaking a tent out of the tent pack, we removed it from its bag and spread out the ground cloth. I assembled all of the stakes with no effort at all. “Now what?” I said. We tried as best as we could to put it together by intuition, but it just wasn’t working out. “Is that how you set up a tent?” Amy asked, looking on. “Uh, no,” Ryan responded. “Grandpa, do you have a second? We need a little help,” I called. Grandpa finished putting up his tent, and then came over and worked with us for a while. We finally decided to check out the directions and were able to get it up so it wouldn’t fall down. After that, Grandpa helped us assemble the other two tents. Ryan, Jesse and I would be in one tent, and Jared and Grandpa in another. Rachel, Becky, and Amy would be in a third tent, and Mike had a two person tent all to himself. The minute we had his tent up, Mike immediately entered it, and emerged shortly clad in his bug suit.

With all the tents up and our beds all ready for the night, Ryan and I walked down the latrine trail to find some firewood. We had to walk a little ways into the woods behind the latrine before we found something dead and burnable. Filling our arms, we walked back to camp. Jared began to build a fire with our findings and some firewood that had been left at our camp. Becky, in the meantime, had begun to make dinner. “We’re eating the steak tonight,” she stated, “and the potatoes too. I don’t want to portage all those potatoes.” “Good thinking!” Jared agreed. We put some water to boil over the fire. After that, Becky and Jared began to fuss with the stoves. We only got one of them started that night (our fault entirely, not the outfitter’s), and Becky began to cook the steak and potatoes. I volunteered to make the instant pudding. Walking over to our gravity water filter, I measured out the correct amount of water, and began to mix the instant pudding into it. I got a little dirt in it. “Gross!” Rachel stated. “Aw, who cares? We’re in the wilderness,” I commented to the observers. "Just wait until you see my wilderness manners at dinner this evening."

It was really difficult cooking for nine people in the size pan that we had, and poor Becky got a little frustrated with it, but we eventually had dinner ready, although it took us several hours. I filled up my plate with two steaks and a generous helping of fried potatoes. We sat down on some fallen logs around the fireplace and dug in. “Delicious!” I hollered over to our beautiful chef, who was still bending over the stoves making food for the others. “Everything tastes so fantastic! I love fried potatoes, by the way.” “I didn’t do the cut of steak justice,” she responded. “It was a good one, too.” “It tastes great!” I encouraged. “It really hits the spot after a hard day!” I cleaned off my plate and went back for a second. “I’m not getting hungry out here, I know that for sure,” I thought as I washed down my steak with some fresh filtered water from the lake.

Jared sat down on his camp chair near me. “Isn’t this great?” I asked him. “It sure is,” he said. “That storm was pretty rough, though. I’m glad that it’s over and we can enjoy ourselves a little bit. You need a little air?” At this, Jared handed me a hand held battery run fan. I shook my head in amazement. “You were worth bringing along just for the gadgets, man!” I stated. “Like I said before, we all appreciated your calm temperament during the stressful situation we had this afternoon.” “I’m a fourth grade teacher. I’m used to stressful situations, Joe.” We both chuckled.

By this time, the wind had completely blown the clouds away and the sun was shining. For the first time, I could now enjoy the virgin forest that we were camped in to the fullest. Most of the trees were evergreen, with pine, fir, and cedar standing thickly around the clearing where we were camped. Walking down to the shoreline, I was awestruck as I looked over the wide blue expanse of Saganaga Lake. As I looked down the far shore, I saw the narrows that we would be paddling through the next day off in the distance. On the other side, I could see the dark timber of the Quetico and the narrow entry to Cache Bay. Taking a deep breath, I smelled the wonderful wilderness scents. The birds were singing sweetly, and I felt completely at home. Going to my pack, I produced my two harmonicas and banjo. Sitting down by the fire, I played for a while, listening to the sweet sound of my harmonica blend with the singing wilderness. It was a beautiful sound-at least to my ears and hopefully to everyone else’s as well.

The adults had a conference down by the water and returned after a thorough studying of the map with a complete understanding of our route for the next day. We decided that only a few of us would go fishing that night, so Rachel, Jesse, and Grandpa went out in one of the canoes and started working their way down the shoreline. They returned with no fish. I volunteered to help Becky and Amy do the dishes. It was quite a task, seeing as we had to filter all of the water. The coffee pots were black from sitting on the fire, so I scrubbed them until they shone. I also scraped the pans and washed them out. It was no small task. “This is pretty hard,” Becky said as we scrubbed away. “I’m used to it. This isn’t the first time that I’ve scrubbed out a pan this bad,” I responded. My dinner duties at home, although sometimes exasperating for me, had prepared me well for this experience. “You’ve really got a knack for that, Joe,” Becky noticed as I produced a spotless pan. “Can you take care of this one too?” “Sure!” I agreed. After about thirty minutes of crouching on the lake shore, we pronounced the dishes complete and put them away.

Six hours had passed since dinner preparations first started. We learned that preparing dinner would consume quite a lot of our time each day. I felt sorry for Becky, who had clearly struggled to get our meal ready, and for that reason made a special point of helping her out and encouraging her. I hoped that things would be better tomorrow. Of course, just because we were working hard didn’t mean that we couldn’t enjoy our surroundings. As we sat down by the lake scrubbing away at our dishes, the sun began to set. The dragonflies darted here and there as they ate the mosquitoes that were just then starting to come out. The lake was calm and still. The yellows of the setting sun contrasted sharply with the dark blue of the sky and the dark shoreline, and reflected brilliantly over the water. At this point dusk had set in and the bugs were beginning to come out. Everyone slowly made their way to their tents to hit the sack. “Are you coming, Joe?” Ryan asked as he and Jesse climbed into our tent. “No, I’m staying out for a while. I want to have a wilderness moment,” I responded. “That’s what I came here for. I’ll put out the fire when I’m done.” “Good night!” everyone called as they entered their tents.

I sat by the fire, which was still crackling. The cool of the evening had now set in, but I was still comfortable, having put on a flannel shirt. The bugs left me alone as well, due to my mosquito spray. I began to listen to the sounds of the forest. The cicadas and crickets began to call through the forest, and the ominous humming of mosquitoes looking for their dinner filled the air. I could hear the ripple of the lake from down below. I listened to the laughter of the loons echoing across the water and off the near and far shores. Once or twice, I thought I heard a wolf howl, from the other shore. I sat there in silence for about ten or fifteen minutes, enjoying myself immensely. “Lord, thank you for bringing us here safely,” I whispered. “Bless this night, and help us to have a wonderful time. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

I walked softly towards my tent. I could hear Becky and the girls giggling about something in their tent, and Jared and Grandpa were engrossed in a conversation of which I heard little. I could see the beams of Mike’s flashlight darting around his tent as he got himself organized. I entered my tent and made myself comfortable in my sleeping bag. Jesse was already sleeping. As I lay there, still listening to the music of the woods, I heard Mike turn on his weather radio in his tent. “For Ely, Minnesota. Thursday, June 27: Slightly overcast skies with a forty percent chance of thundershowers in the afternoon. Friday, June 28: Overcast skies with a fifty percent chance of thundershowers in the afternoon.” I prayed that the weather would hold. Thankfully, according to the radio, the other two days would be nice. Shortly after that, I drifted off to sleep, grateful for my air mattress.

At about three in the morning, my eyes opened, and I realized I had to go to the bathroom. Quietly unzipping my tent, I exited and took a leak in the woods. At the same time, Mike unzipped his tent door and did the same thing kneeling in the doorway. We cracked a couple jokes to each other before I returned to my tent and lost no time falling back to sleep.

Day 1 Lakes Traveled:

Saganaga Lake