Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Moose River First Solo
by crumpman

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 09/02/2015
Entry & Exit Point: Moose/Portage River (north) (EP 16)
Number of Days: 8
Group Size: 1
Day 2 of 8
Thursday, September 03, 2015 I wanted to get up early and get away, but I encountered three issues: 1. My old watch alarm didn’t work, I never got it to work, 2. bacon and eggs are always slow, and 3. it takes at least 2x as long to pitch and breakdown camp. I did learn the advantage of frying bacon up at home, thanks to many for that tip. It took me 3 hours to get away; clearly something was not right. I made my way across the portage to Oyster. I felt a twinge in my back on my first trek so I dropped the canoe. I ran into the groups I started with on day 1. I got everything to Oyster and decided I had had enough, I did not get the 1st choice site on the peninsula (the other group did) but I did get the 2nd choice site (1781). It was an excellent site and I had a beautiful night there. I got up during the night and checked out the clear night sky, I do love the night sky. While hanging my food bag I found a nice cedar branch. I cut it up and kept a log for carving, this became my down time project/hobby. I remember some of the solo advise being having something to do during the day/down time, carving became that thing for me.