"Snowbank Lake to Jordan Lake"

Wednesday, June 20:

The day was going to be sunny with temperatures in the mid-80s. I had a big breakfast in the W&H dining room. I didn’t want to leave my car at the Snowbank parking lot for 10 days, so Nate shuttled me and my gear to the landing. Because I had become acquainted with him during a few summer trips out of W&H, I took the opportunity to find out what he had been doing for the last year. I enjoy these kinds of opportunities to have meaningful conversations.

There were lots of vehicles parked in the Snowbank parking lot. I got my gear loaded (one pack weighing 25 pounds including my tripod and fishing gear, a second large pack weighing 55 pounds, a waterproof camera “suitcase”, a fishing rod) into the canoe and left the dock around 8:30 AM after checking the compass direction to the portage. I decided that I would go in through Disappointment Lake rather than Boot and do the loop from south to north. I paddled the boat easily, moving along at 3 miles per hour with little effort. I passed two Common Loons at about 20 feet each: “Welcome to the BWCA,” they seemed to say. It was a beautiful day with a light breeze.

The portage to Disappointment was a tough reintroduction to the wilderness because it was long, the day was already warm and humid, and I was not yet familiar with portaging one pack and the canoe at the same time. It took me just shy of 2 hours from launching at Snowbank until I was paddling again on Disappointment. Today I was aiming for a camp on Jordan Lake, a distance of 7.5 miles from the Snowbank landing.

I met three Boy Scout groups today. All of them consisted of nine people (the maximum allowed). One group from Iowa was unloading at the portage on Ahsub while I rested for about 40 minutes (the day was hot by now) and had some lunch. Their aluminum canoes did not have yokes, so two people had to carry them over portages. They acknowledged that their boats were fine for Iowa but not so good for the BWCA. One of the boys was curious about the weight of my canoe and how I portaged all my gear. I met three other groups on my route, one of which consisted of a middle-aged man and his father at the east end of Jitterbug. The father was talkative and told me that his son thought I looked like Jim Brandenburg, the photographer. Maybe he saw my camera gear. Anyway, I laughed and thanked him for the compliment. I’ve never seen Jim Brandenburg, but I have admired his work.

Later that afternoon I paddled a bit out of my way to see the falls on the north side of Cattyman Lake. One of the Boy Scout groups was already there. The falls are nice, but I crashed through the brush to see them from below. The last part of that portage down to Gibson Lake is really steep and consists mostly of a single, long granite slab.

Cattyman Falls and Rapids

It took me 7.5 hours to get to my camp on Jordan Lake. About an hour and ten minutes of that time was resting or taking pictures at Cattyman falls. Portaging evidently slows me down a lot, especially considering my paddling speed of 3 mph. I had 6 portages today with the longest at the beginning and end. I was worn out and hot. God graciously gave me the northern camp on Jordan; it has a nice sandy beach and landing.

Thursday, June 21:

I decided to stay put for the day so I could recoup somewhat. Yesterday, I had been having trouble with the portage yoke, an aluminum affair that clamps onto the sliding seat bracket. The yoke pads were too far apart for me. I was able to adjust the distance by pulling the pads as far inside as I could and then banging the pads’ suspension brackets with my plastic tent peg hammer to slide them inside, too. I really needed a wrench and a Phillips screwdriver to properly adjust the device, but my adjustments made it more comfortable.

Last night around 6 a warm wind came up out of the south. Today was sunny and quite hot. In the middle of the day I recorded a temperature of 90°F. I heard many White-Throated Sparrows and a few nuthatches. I saw some American Robins and then I heard a mature Bald Eagle before seeing it. I put up my hammock to enjoy some laid-back time in the shade. Several groups passed by: the camp site is not far north of the route between Ima and Cattyman. I took pictures of wild roses in the morning and went swimming in the afternoon. The cool lake water felt wonderful.

Wild Roses and Beach on Jordan Lake (North Campsite)

Some critter was rustling the underbrush when I went back of the campsite to dispose of dish water. It turned out to be a turtle (6-8 inches). After dinner I paddled north to look for the portage into Three Eagle Lake, a lake in the Spider Lake PMA. I also tried casting and trolling, but I caught nothing. After I went to bed, loons made very loud wing-flapping displays and loud calls for about 20 minutes.