Once again, we were up around sunrise and were treated to golden light with the fog slowly burning off of a glassy lake. It was the type of image you imagine when thinking about the Boundary Waters. Quick breakfast of oatmeal/grits and camp was quickly broken down. With one last look around, we left Campsite 563 and headed eastwards. Today’s objective was Omega Lake and we knew we had the hardest portages of the trip ahead of us.

As we paddled around the island, we discovered we hadn’t been alone. Campsite 564 occupies the east side of the island and there were a couple folks and their dog enjoying the morning sun and a cup of coffee. Didn’t even realize they’d been there!

Trip through the east side of Long Island moved swiftly and we soon found ourselves at the rock garden leading to Muskeg. Given the pictures on this site, the portage was fairly easy to identify. We gingerly made our way over the rocks and loaded the canoe using the beaver dam on the other side. Thankfully, it had been dry for the last couple of days, so the rocks weren’t too slippery. We then wove our way through the grass heading towards Muskeg. There were a number of beautiful waterlilies that I wish I would have stopped for a photo of. Kept thinking we’d see more later, but that turned out not to be the case.

Up next was “the wall” over to Kiskadinna. Doing most of our hiking/backpacking in the Appalachians, a 150’ elevation gain isn’t that bad. (We routinely do 1000’ in a single hike.) It also helped that we’d gotten our portaging rhythm down, knowing who was grabbing what each trip. However, there were a few spots were it was a little tricky trying to not bury the prow of the canoe in the hill! After a quick lunch stop at the end of the portage, it was a beautiful cruise down Kiskadinna. Just a beautiful lake with the trees reflecting on the water on both sides. We encountered a couple loons that kept us entertained as we slowly glided along.

Before long, we hit the portage to Omega. To me, this was a more challenging portage, especially the start. Due to the steepness of the grade, you essentially need to climb sideways. However, it’s a fairly short up and over. We soon found ourselves paddling down Omega.

Given that this was Labor Day weekend, I’d been a bit concerned about finding an open campsite on Omega since there are only four 592 was our goal as that site had been recommended as the best site on the lake. I shouldn’t have worried. We first cruised by 2012 and that looked to be a lovely site with a nice south/southeast face. So we knew that one was open as our fallback. As we continued down Omega, we discovered that 592 was available, so we made a beeline to claim it. The only issue with this site is trying to find the pull in initially. On the map, the site is shown on the east side of the peninsula. In reality, the site is on the very tip and the pull in is just around to the west. Took ~10 min of hunting to finally find the pull in, but the good site was ours!

I can see why this site is so popular. Once located, the pull in is really easy as there’s a shallow ledge. The fire grate is at the end of the peninsula up on a little bluff and there are stunning views north and west. We had our choice of tent pads and quickly got settled as this would once again be home for two nights. There are a number of trails running through this site, so we strolled around a bit to see where everything went.

After some strolling and relaxing, we did another homemade dehydrated meal topped off with no-bake cheesecake. We were treated to a beautiful sunset and once again did a touch of stargazing before the siren song of the sleeping bag began. Just a lovely day. Sunny, light breeze, low 60s.

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