Sunday we woke up at 5:00 AM, packed up the minimal amount of gear we had taken out and made the short 20 minute drive from Lake Jeanette to EP 16. The parking lot seemed really full, never a good sign, but not at all unexpected. We unpacked the gear, double portaged to the Moose River and were on the water paddling by 6:45 AM. We always get an early start on travel days. The rain looked like it would hold off for a while, so we pushed hard, hoping to get to Boulder Bay before the rains did.

We had the absolute perfect travel day, which never happens in the BW (at least for us). Everything was in our favor. The 2 short portages on the Moose River were easy and dry. The third (unmarked) portage wasn't needed, as we were able to skip over some logs without unloading. The only beaver dam that slowed us down was a simple pullover. With the current pushing us north and a decent tailwind through the wider sections of the river and all across Nina Moose, we made excellent time. On the first portage between Nina Moose and Agnes, a group headed out grabbed our extra two bags from the portage and turned that portage into a single for us. (Thank you, whoever you were. Thank you more for setting that example for the younger kids you had with you!). We did pass a couple other exiting groups on that portage and the next one as well, and they all said the same thing- fishing had been good but they were all windbound on Agnes on Saturday, and glad to be only paddling out in a slight headwind. At the far end of the second portage towards Agnes, we ran into a MN DNR Conservation Officer, a first for us ever in the BW. He checked our licenses (since he could see our fishing gear) and wished us a good trip. I know these guys (and their Forest Service counterparts) are few and far between, but we were glad to see him out there as we all know how much that is needed.

We passed through Agnes riding what had now become a solid tailwind and took the longer portage into the Boulder River. Curt managed to step off the fully submerged boards on the Boulder River end of the portage, only to sink up to his hip in the mud. Luckily his other leg found solid ground and didn't sink much, and after a few seconds of struggle, he pulled himself back up onto the boards. Note to others: stay on the boards or very close to them- that's some deep stuff and doesn't make your canoeing partner smell so good.

Once we hit Boulder Bay, we checked out all three campsites in amazement. There was no way we thought that entire area would be empty (one site filled later that afternoon). We settled on the northernmost of the three, and it is truly a gem of a site. It had everything we were looking for and more. We also found a wooden replica of Thor's hammer left by the fire grate (someone had a lot of time on their hands...). These type of camp projects by previous visitors don't really bother me, and for me it added to the site's ambiance. The first rain drops ended up being only about 30 minutes behind us unpacking our canoe, so we quickly set up our tents, got our gear under cover, and ate lunch in the light sprinkles. We had made it just in time, and were pretty happy about that.

It was still fairly warm in the rain, somewhere in the mid 60's, and we had lots of energy left due to our easier than expected journey that day, so we decided to go fishing. We did the 65 rod portage SW from our campsite back into the Boulder River, and headed over to the falls coming from Agnes. By that time, the rain had picked up along with the winds, and temps started to fall. We fished for a while, caught a few, and then the unexpected happened. I asked to be done fishing. This was a fishing trip. That's not supposed to happen. I was wet, and had gotten cold, really cold to the core. Temps had dropped into the lower 50's and while I had put on my raincoat, I still had on my nylon pants and Keens, and being wet from the waist down for a couple hours took its toll. I told Curt we needed to go back as I was shaking and not feeling so smart about the way I had dressed, so we headed back to camp against the wind, tired and cold. I climbed into my tent, put on dry clothes, and curled up in my sleeping bag for a couple hours until the rain stopped. By that time I was thankfully plenty warm again.

We finished our camp chores, made dinner, checked out some areas around our camp, and settled in for the evening. There was enough of a breeze making chop of the bigger parts of Boulder Bay that we stayed close to camp fishing during the evening, and caught a couple fish near the islands to the NW of our site. All in all it was a great first day, and we were excited to see what the fishing would bring the next day when we had more time to figure out patterns and be out of the rain.