We were up early enough this morning to be treated to a couple of neat circumstances. First of all it was cold enough that there was a brief snow shower. Secondly, as I was eating breakfast I noticed a large object swimming across the narrows of Jasper Lake. At first I thought it might be a moose but, as it crawled ashore at the northern peninsula it proved to be a large bear! Vickie figured it was heading for us and immediately put Aurora’s bells on. Thankfully that would be the last we saw of it.

As I was about to sit down and put my portage boots on; per usual, there were a couple of Clif bars already lying on the chair. It’s these little things that I so easily take for granted, yet they are absolutely at the heart of what makes Vickie such a great tripping partner.

The portage into Alpine Lake also boasts a scenic waterfall, so we lingered here awhile. It was a crisp paddle across Alpine to the Rog Lake portage. There was a large sloping shelf of rock serving as a landing to this straight forward trail. While still cool, we were finally able to shed a few layers after completing this portage.

Normally I don’t fish with a fully loaded canoe, but since we were heading out today & Rog Lake was where we had originally planned on staying; I couldn’t resist giving this crystal clear brook trout lake a try as we passed through. Fishing didn’t pan out, but it was a pleasant paddle none the less.[paragraph break]

Fittingly, the last portage of the trip was short but very rocky before dropping down to a tight landing on Sea Gull Lake. On my last trip across I took one last photo of Rog Lake, savoring the experience of this portage & the trip as a whole.

Travel would be by water the rest of the way, still we had our work cut out for us. We traced the southern shoreline eastward before eventually angling north towards the boat landing. The waves we encountered when exposing ourselves to a few of the large open water crossings got the blood pumping but, all in all, it wasn’t really too bad of a paddle back. The northern most site on Wolf Point served as our last rest stop before finishing up at Blankenburg Landing. While we had felt Aurora was nearing her limit, perhaps the most enduring, reassuring comments that she made on this trip was when I was loading the canoe onto the van. “Daddy, why are you putting the canoe up there?” “Because we have to go home.” “AWWWW!!! But, I still want to canoe & camp!”

Those comments notwithstanding, Aurora was still very happy to be reunited with her toys & yellow blankie. Needless to say, it was quite the finish to an amazingly memorable trip.

Before motoring off to Trail Center for burgers and (most importantly) ice cream, we stopped off at Gunflint Northwood’s Outfitters. Our friend Jodi had taken a summer job there & we stopped in to see how things were going for her. It wasn’t too long after leaving Trail Center when Aurora passed out. If an indicator for having lived life to the fullest (on our trip) is exhaustion, I think the meter bottomed out, because she slept the whole way back to my parents’ house (over 2 hours away).

Considering how important it had been to her on this trip; after returning home, I took Aurora's walking stick and etched Paulson Lake on it, slathered it with some Watco oil, then ran a loop of CCS cordage through it and hung it on her headboard. Currently she hasn't paid a lot of attention to it, but, perhaps one day she will look at it with the fondness that Vickie & I do.

As I wrote this trip report, I must admit that (per usual) I worry too much about including the negative aspects of our adventure. Thus, conveying the sense that the trip was somehow an unsatisfactory experience. Well, certainly there were some unfortunate circumstances that we encountered all along the way. Of course it’s always nice when some things go to plan; but, in a lot of ways, it’s these less desirable occurrences that help us grow in our outdoor acumen and make the trip memorable. The bottom line is that at the end of the day, we all felt this was an extraordinary adventure for all the right reasons.

Of course having Aurora catch her first fish was a notable checkpoint, but watching her help build a fire & begin to learn the necessary skills was (and is) equally as inspiring. Also, I particularly savored the scenery, as I believe most of the overlooks that we passed by will soon become obstructed by the ever growing forest. It really is amazing how quickly the forest has regenerated.

By BWCA standards, this is an aggressive route, with several portages providing a substantial challenge. But, the tradeoff is, we really didn’t run across many people. As I recall, only once did we have to briefly share a portage (Agamok – Mueller) or pass closely by another canoe. We had to work for it but, for the most part, we kind of had the place to ourselves; which was incredibly rewarding.

Jasper Lake, Alpine Lake, Rog Lake, Sea Gull Lake

Daily travels, 3 portages totaling 141 rods.