Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Family Trip to Insula
by brux

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 08/01/2015
Entry & Exit Point: Lake One (EP 30)
Number of Days: 8
Group Size: 5
Day 2 of 8
Sunday, August 02, 2015

It thunderstormed early in the morning and was still drizzling when my alarm went off at 5:30 am so we decided to sleep a little longer and get a little latter start. After having breakfast we loaded up the canoe and were on the water by 7:00 am (not bad for a bunch of night owls). As we loaded the canoe my youngest just stood back on the beach and when I approached him with his life jacket he started to panic. He didn’t want to get into the canoe.

As some context, earlier in the summer we did a float down the St. Croix river which included a short trip down the Snake River (we stayed overnight at the Snake River campground) and went through a few shallow rapids. The experience was rather scary or him particularly when I made too late a turn in once case and hung our Mad River Explorer on a rock. With the canoe at 45-degree angle all the kids were in a panic and I think poor Silas saw his short life flashing before his eyes. We were able to swing the canoe so that we were on the down river side of the rock and get loose without tipping (the gunnel went all the way to the water, but that beautiful Mad River V hull design righted us without swamping). For the remainder of that float he was always terrified if we even scrapped a rock or said the “R” word. Whenever we reached a portage or campsite Silas was the first one out of the canoe on this trip.

I reassured Silas that we weren’t doing any rapids and that we would always get out of the canoe to walk around any rapids that we might encounter. He was still not happy about being put into the canoe and it took a good 30 minutes of paddling before the poor kid stopped crying.



Our aim today was to at least make it to Lake Four. We had a fairly uneventful paddle (with an occasional rock scrape that immediately sent Silas into a panic and screaming). We decided to have lunch at the campsite just before the first portage into Hudson Lake . It was late morning and Kyliah didn’t like the site and wasn’t ready to stop paddling so we decided to push on to Insula.



By the time we finished the long portage into Insula the wind was much more of an issue so we often had to paddle into the wind and out of our way and than back with the wind to cross some of the open water and not be broadsided by the waves. We aimed to take the unmarked Moose portage which wasn’t hard to find. When we got to the other side it looked like the better sites were mostly taken. I was fairly tired by now and it was getting close to 5:00 pm. We pushed into the area where “The Rock” is located and I prayed that the site to the west of it would be open. We were in luck it was!

It’s a nice site, but small ( Our Campsite on Insula ), which in retrospect wasn’t great for the kids as they didn’t have as much open space to move around in, but it worked. We were able to fit our new family tent the Big Angus Chimney Creek 6 mtnGLO.



It only weights around 15lbs and my only complaints are that the vestibules require being crouched when closed and the built in lights are nice, but really aren’t bright enough for reading. Otherwise, for its weight it worked really well, easily accommodated our family with room to grow and we could stand up inside it!

Overall that day we covered 13 miles of water and 247 rods in seven portages. I was pooped, but really proud of the family.