Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Larch Creek to Gneiss Lake 7/29-8/1
by BecomingMinnesotan

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 07/28/2019
Entry & Exit Point: Larch Creek (EP 80)
Number of Days: 5
Group Size: 6
Day 3 of 5
Tuesday, July 30, 2019 After a long night of rain and heavy wind, everything calmed down about 4am. I was ok temperature wise...I had a 30 degree sleeping bag. two other guys said they were ok as well because they had sleeping bags, but the other two had a miserable night. Looking back at reports it had dropped to about 36 degrees and none of us had underquilts. So both these guys FROZE!

On a side note, two years ago I went and it was so hot that I couldn't take off enough layers so I didn't realize how cold it could get - but I did purchase a portable sleeping pad, which I ended up not being able to use because I was trying to help the two guys who literally only had light blankets. Actually...they were literally the blankets you get when flying delta!

So after a brutal morning we made breakfast and then I went fishing. I caught a good size norther pike and a smallmouth bass while the other guys I was with caught a pike. Those three were enough to feed the six of us for our late lunch/early dinner. All of those fish were caught at the small section that empties into Devil's Elbow. We caught NO FISH the whole trip on Gneiss Lake, but it should be said that we only tried shore fishing on Gniess Lake. ~Gneiss Lake