Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Swampy but Passable
by wyopaddler

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 09/12/2014
Entry & Exit Point: Quetico
Number of Days: 14
Group Size: 2
Part 2 of 7
Day 3 September 14, Jessie Lake

It rained most of the night and with the dawn came the wind. We broke fast with coffee and cornmeal pancakes under the tarp and decided if we were going to spend the day hunkered down we better reorganize camp. First we moved the tarp to a more sheltered location behind some nearby trees and then we shifted our tent down a narrow path to a pad in the forest. The wind had lessened some at this point so we packed a lunch with the plan to go fishing. As we prepared to launch we watched a wall of wind and rain approach us from the southwest. With the expedition aborted due to whitecaps we fished from shore for an hour or so and then huddled under the tarp with a tea and quesadilla lunch while avoiding the horizontal rain. After that we were forced into a nap. We woke up to a dying wind and sun peeking into camp.

Hoping it wasn’t just a sucker hole we grabbed our fishing gear and cruised out onto the water toward the midlake islands. The GPS warned us it “was a poor day for fishing” but the best of the bad was intended to be 445-545pm. Uh-huh. Just about then Tony trolled up a couple walleye on his double secret “walleye weapon” and we kept one for dinner.
About 600pm the wind died and the sun warmed us on our way back to camp. As we approached camp we saw our first “other” canoe since Beaverhouse Lake. Looked like we would have neighbors for the night as we could see they had set up camp on the adjacent peninsula. Tony cleaned the fish as the sun was setting and I quickly cooked up some carrots and couscous to add to the main course of pan-fried walleye dredged in milk and Shore Lunch coating. It really hit the spot. We cleaned up in the dark and sat by the shore watching the stars light up the moonless night sky. Our neighbor’s fire glowed brightly lighting up the trees but all was quiet. We hit the tent to read for a while before dreaming of clear skies, warm sun, and plentiful fishing. (Oh ya, and tailwinds for the Cracken.) We head south tomorrow.

Day 4 September 15, Jesse to Elizabeth to Walter to Lonely

It rained most of the night, sometimes very hard but we were snug and dry in our tent in our bags in the trees. I woke up around 230am and couldn’t go back to sleep so I read for awhile and then slept until 630am when the squirrel alarm went off chattering and dropping cones near the tent. The rain had stopped and the sky showed mixed sun and clouds (46 degrees at 7am).

We had coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, eating while we broke camp. The tent and fly dried quickly in the breeze. We launched at 930am and headed across the longish but pleasant portage into Elizabeth. We stroked across to the opposite shore and moved quickly into Walter where we were greeted by a strong but manageable head wind. We took a break at the island camp. It’s kinda exposed but has an awesome view with nice ledges for swimming. Ya know, if it were warm enough. We agreed it would be an excellent summer camp if lightning storms didn’t kill you. We did a loop around island and headed to the portage were we met Dan from Connecticut who now lives in New York. Come to find out Dan and I used to work together thirty years ago for Outward Bound. The people you meet in the Quetico? Dan said we were the first people he had seen in eight days. An eagle soared overhead targeting Dan’s trout as we paddled our separate ways. We had a little trouble finding the portage into Lonely. The GPS and McKenzie map had it wrong but we pulled out the Chrismar and found it.
We had lunch between the two short portages and headed eagerly out onto Lonely only to be thwarted by beavers once again. We had to negotiate two dams to reach the lake. The first was accomplished by a little reorganization to widen a sluiceway so we could run the “rapids” (about a 2 foot drop.)
A second effort to clear a path a few minutes later and we found ourselves out on Lonely Lake with a wind blowing broadside from the west.
We paddled to a mid-lake ledge camp with great views, marginal cover, and mediocre tent spots. In hindsight we should have stayed there but we decided to troll our way to the 4* campsite at the end of the lake. I’m not sure who rated this one but I would give it a 2* at best. There isn’t a level tent spot to be found, though the view up the lake is very nice. I guess opinions vary. We quickly set up camp and returned to the boat to try to rustle up a few fish but nary a bite was to be had. I heard fall fishing was thin but I haven’t caught a fish in four days and Tony has only caught three. We returned to camp and had an excellent dinner of Thai Green Curry with a small bass Tony harvested and double chocolate cheesecake for dessert. We drank tea around the fire, under starry skies with owls hooting at us in the distance. Not too rough. We retired to the tent after a while and listened to the beavers slapping at the shore. Stinking beavers.