3 lakes, 2 portages

This morning I had a very special treat! Neil was awake at 5:50 and I had asked him to wake me for sunrise if he was up. The sky was just coloring and the lake calm when I stepped out, camera in hand. I remarked that it would be awhile before the best shot. He came out and lit the stove to make coffee, and then built a junk fire to keep us warm while we stayed up and enjoyed the dawn of the last day in quiet, and listened to the song of a solitary loon awakening the many songbirds. It was beautiful--a time to remember. This is my favorite picture of my canoeing partner, probably more because of the memories than the actual photograph.

We went back to bed and got up again for a breakfast around 9:00, broke camp 10-ish and were on our way in another complete perfectly-reflected calm. Neil spotted an eagle sitting in a dead tree (photo was unsuccessful). It sat there for a long time and we got the best view we have had (to date) of an eagle. (Had seen one flying over Brule Lake also.) Conditions were lovely, so we did a leisurely paddle around the end of the lake before portaging to Lizz Lake.

The 73-rod portage to Lizz was muddy but otherwise unremarkable. My food pack is so light it is a joke--even with the extra clothing and stuff we have stashed in it!

Lizz is a very small and narrow lake with a high bank on one side. It doesn't take nearly long enough to paddle it and I don't see much, with tears in my eyes and on my cheeks. I am realizing that when we leave here we will leave the BWCA.

The final portage is 51 rods from Lizz back into Poplar, the lake where we began this adventure 22 days ago! At the end of this easy portage we met two men just starting out, and Neil carried their aluminum canoe back across the portage while we made our return trip to collect our packs, therefore saving them a trip. I think they were amazed that he would do that. So was I!

I cried the entire way across this last portage, not wanting it to end. We toasted our adventure by the side of the canoe; using a bit of the blackberry brandy we still had left.

Poplar Lake was so pretty in the sun, and there was no wind. We paddled down to the east end and then stopped to have our lunch at Poplar Lake Lodge [Trail Center]. The hamburger and chocolate malt tasted so good! And finally we couldn't put it off any longer. We paddled back west to Rockwood Lodge, where we ended our trip as we had begun it: a wonderful dinner in the lovely dining room, a night in the bunkhouse (this time they gave us a unit with a BATHTUB!! YEA!!), and breakfast the next morning.

The folks at Rockwood were surprised that we had not come back early due to the weather. Word here is that it was the coldest time in summer in more than 13 years! They had people leaving cabins which were reserved, and trippers ending early from shorter trips. We didn't think we were surviving such a disaster as that! They were also amazed that we paddled out of our way for lunch on the last day of a 22-day trip.

This was a beautiful experience most of the time. We had 13 fair days (almost all cool), 6 rainy days + a couple of nights, and 3 days that were half and half.

[I wanted to resupply, call our son, and then start out all over again!]