Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Back Again
by 2NDpaddlers

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 08/02/2019
Entry Point: Meeds Lake (EP 48)
Exit Point: Missing Link Lake (EP 51)  
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 2
Day 2 of 4
Saturday, August 03, 2019

Woke up to a beautiful morning and made our breakfast. We enjoy the morning in our Nemo bug-out, staying free of the mosquitoes. We packed camp and hit the water paddling to our next destination. Our goal was Muskeg Lake. We knew there was only one site on that lake and hoped luck was on our side. The fore-noon paddle was amazing, as the sun, the wind, the weather was perfect. We ate lunch on campsite #589 on Kiskadinna Lake following the steep 37 rod portage from Omega to Kiskadinna. The campsite had a large rock along the water that was perfect for lunch, but this would be a campsite I wouldn’t want to stay. Following lunch, we traveled to the famed 185 rod portage, “The Wall”. I had hoped to video a little of this tough, steep portage, but another group was also passing through. This was a large group so we sped by as fast as we could to get out of the way, or slowed by their travels. We witnessed how with just the two of us we can move quite fast compared to a large group with 4 canoes. Once on Muskeg we checked out campsite #587. Very pretty spot, but campsite was just ok to our liking. The group we had met on the portage said they were coming from Long Island Lake and said their site was incredible, so that became our new destination. The only thing in our way was the short 24 rod portage. However, we knew this was not an easy portage, traveling through in 2018, but this year the beavers had added to the mess we encountered last year. This year the entire boulder filled portage is now a running stream. We carefully maneuvered through and made site #585 on Long Island Lake. This site was our favorite not only this year, but favorite of the last 2 years. We set up camp, swam, ate, relaxed and enjoyed the evening. We got some awesome pictures before a little thunderstorm moved in for the night. We spent the night listening to a light rain on our tent.

~Gaskin Lake, Henson Lake, Omega Lake, Kiskadinna Lake, Muskeg Lake, Long Island Lake