Day One: Travel Day

We were up at 6 AM and had a good breakfast at Journey's End Café in Ely. A quick trip to the grocery, a checkout at the bunkhouse, a stop at the Ranger Station for the obligatory video and our permit; and we were off down the Fernberg Trail toward Lake One! We planned a ten-day trip from Lake One to Adams Lake and back. The weather was beautiful, and that seemed to bode well for the first day.

When we were about halfway, Spartan1 suddenly said "Uh-oh!" "What?" "I left my hat at the restaurant!" So we turned around. This isn't just any hat. It is a 1969 U. S. Army jungle hat with the Vietnamese equivalent of First Lieutenant rank pinned on the front. It has been on every canoe trip since our first one in 1971. There was nothing to do but return for it. And, fortunately, it was easily retrieved from the restaurant.

Back on the Fernberg Trail, this time without incident, and we were soon ready to launch another trip at Lake One Landing. This was the first time in many years that we had planned a trip in the Ely area.

When unloading the car we realized that we had forgotten to fill our water bottles at the bunkhouse, so we emptied out the water bottle we had along with us in the car and hoped we wouldn't get too thirsty or have to travel too far on the first day. We were on the water at 9:50. We took a little "side trip" due to some map-reading confusion, but it was a warm, sunny, beautiful day and we didn't really mind a little extra paddling. Then "Oops, there goes my hat!" So we turned around and paddled back to retrieve the recalcitrant hat yet again, with more regard for the breeze and a chuckle of remembrance: when we took our only family canoe trip with the kids in 1988, it too had started with a trip back to Ely to pick up that hat, left at the outfitter's when we rented the second canoe. As I said: this isn't just any hat!

At noon we portaged into Lake Two, after eating a bite of lunch first. We paddled on in bright sun, with puffy white clouds and a brisk breeze in our faces. We were not expecting to make a long first day of it, what with very little water along, so we took a campsite on Lake Three about 2:15. It isn't a site that is particularly wonderful, but the area was looking pretty busy and when you are on the "highway" you need to consider all of the options. This site had very little shelter on a sunny day, and the hillside was littered with what appeared to be well-weathered (and broken) moose bones. The water was still looking fairly calm, the sky was gorgeous, and we were hearing thunder 'way off in the distance. It certainly didn't look like a storm was imminent, but Neil set up camp quickly just in case. By 2:50 the storm was heading in swiftly, and we were thankful that the tent was nearly ready for occupancy.

There was a light rain at 3:00, lasting just a few minutes and leaving everything very humid and still afterwards. A loon was calling in the distance and that made us feel like we had "arrived".

The sun came and went for the rest of the afternoon, and the thunder continued to rumble. He rested in the tent and I walked to the point, enjoying the huge rocks, a rather shy red squirrel, and the much-needed silence, which is one of my reasons for coming to the BWCA.

At 5:00 the weather was noticeably cooler and it did sound like a storm was coming in earnest. I began to prepare BPP* chicken and rice, with MH* green peas and extra rice cooked in a little water first. We hurried through supper with dark clouds gathering, and just as I began doing the dishes it started to rain, with enough thunder and lightning to make me think perhaps I didn't want to be out on a rock with my hands in dishwater. I took refuge in the tent for a while. It was 66 degrees there, and probably a bit cooler outside. Eventually I did go out and finish the dishes, a big gray jay visited briefly while we were packing things up for the evening, and we got the packs hung in a tree. We were in the tent at about 8:30, and settled down in our sleeping bags, tired from the day's activities; content to wait for more rainfall and hope that those lightning bolts wouldn't hit too close to home.

* Brand names for freeze-dried foods: BPP=Backpacker's Pantry AA=AlpineAire MH=Mountain House NH=Natural High