I awakened to my alarm at 4:30 on Monday after a restful night under the stars. Time to get up and moving. My goal was to be on the water by 6:30 and slowly make my way back to the entry point by about 9:30. The journey would only be 4.4 miles with just a couple of shorter portages, so I would have plenty of time to soak up the morning sunshine while plying the mirror-like surface of Cross Bay Lake and up into Ham. Pretty little stretch of the Cross River through here, with some nice little rapids along the way at the two portages. I had a beaver swimming alongside me for a while, and I tried to take his picture at the exact moment he slapped his tail on the water and slipped below the surface. When I got home and looked at the picture all I could see was a little ripple of water where he had dove. Too slow of a shutter speed! I arrived at the entry point on time, and loaded my gear into my truck. I stood on the forest service dock and enjoyed one last cup of coffee before traveling back to Rockwood. I vowed to come back to this same place, as this part of the BWCA definitely deserves to be further explored by me. I still need to catch a Lake Trout on Tuscarora! I pulled into Rockwood and was greeted by the two friendly faces of Mike and Carl, who are great canoe country hosts. These two guys really made me feel welcome and gave me as much, and more, attention as I needed. Rockwood is definitely a class act.

The compass story: I bought a little silva compass back in 1982, prior to my first trip to the Quetico with my Boy Scout troop. I've had that same compass for 36 years and it's been with me on every trip I've ever taken anywhere. This past winter I decided I should have two compasses, as it made sense to have a backup. So I bought a second silva compass and used it on this canoe trip while my trusty old compass waited in my portage pack in case it needed to be called into action. On the final morning of my trip I pushed away from the landing at the campsite and proceeded to fiddle around with my map and compass to get them situated properly in front of me, as I do each time I push away from a landing. It happened so fast that I barely caught a glimpse of the yellow lanyard on my new compass as it slipped off the map and fell into Cross Bay lake, sinking like a stone. I paddled back to shore and retrieved my old compass from storage, where it had been patiently waiting to be needed. I'm now a one-compass household again, as I had been for 36 years, and I also inadvertently Left A Trace.

Final notes:

This trip was 43.2 miles, according to Paddle Planner. Of this, 27.5 miles were spent paddling and 15.7 miles were spent portaging.

Along with several miles of the Frost River, my trip took me through 24 lakes: Ham, Cross Bay, Rib, Lower George, Karl, Long Island, Gordon, Unload, Frost, Octopus, Chase, Pencil, Afton, Fente, Whipped, Mora, Tarry, Crooked, Owl, Tuscarora, Howl, Hubbub, Copper, Snipe, and back through Cross Bay and Ham.

I used two Ursacks for food storage, after having used a BearVault500 for the past several years. They seem to be a quality product and the YouTube videos of bears trying to get into them are impressive. Plus, the Ursack gets smaller as it empties, unlike the canister method of food carrying.

I used a Helinox Cot Lite rather than an inflatable sleeping pad. What an amazing product! Super comfortable, ultralight, and user friendly. With temps as low as they were some nights I maybe should have had an insulated mat with as well, but I didn't freeze to death and rather am here to tell about it.

I tried some freeze-dried meals from Pack It Gourmet out of Austin, Texas. Excellent products, especially their Austintacious Tortilla Soup, Banana Pudding, and Poblano Corn Chowder.

I can't say enough good things about the Northstar Magic solo canoe. I've been using a Wenonah Prism for years, and I still feel this is a great canoe, but my canoe of choice is now the Magic.

Happy Paddling Everyone!