Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Adventure trip-Tusc to Little Sag, Gabbi, Peter, Gillis, Brant
by Joshuatree43

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 06/10/2020
Entry Point: Missing Link Lake (EP 51)
Exit Point: Brant Lake (EP 52)  
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 2
Day 2 of 4
Thursday, June 11, 2020

I woke up in my hammock around quarter to 5, I had set my alarm for five...I listened to the wind and the waves and the trees; no calming overnight whatsoever that I could tell. I didn't even bother to look out, I canceled my alarm and went back to sleep. K woke me up maybe closer to 6:30, I got out to find her hammock camp all packed up already. She was thinking we could brave the waves...I looked out at those big ol' rollers coming across and just wasn't ready to take that on. The news of someone drowning on this lake recently weighed heavy on my mind. I new only what was initially on the radio that weekend, but I wondered, did they stay at this site? Did they wonder for a while if they could make it, and finally decide to give it a try only to have it go so badly? I just wasn't ready to take that chance. (I later saw the trip report on this site and it was a bit different scenario) We settled into breakfast and decided we'd wait and see, initial weather reports from before we left were that it'd be just as windy if not more so than the previous day, WTIP was reporting the possibility it could lighten up.

Most of my day was spent exploring the point a bit and gathering quite a bit of firewood. K got plenty of reading in. The clouds were breaking up and the sun felt real good, but the whitecaps on the lake were relentless through the middle of the day. I kept thinking if I could just see someone else brave the waves, I could watch and see if it seemed like something we could do or not. Late morning or early afternoon we got that chance, two tandem boats came around the point and hit the wind. It looked almost like they stopped dead in their tracks, despite digging deep with their paddles they barely made it past the point and quickly gave up and turned back. My guess is they went back to the site near the portage. This helped me feel a little better with our decision, but I was still torn between wanting to stay safe and wanting to move on. Later I saw that the eastern most camp was occupied, I looked in the binoculars and saw either a tent or tarp getting blasted by the wind, clearing receiving the full force of the wind on that side of the lake. If they had come in this morning, I bet they had a bumpy ride.

After lunch some time we decided to bushwhack to the west side of our point to see if we could spot the campsite down the shore. No such luck but we did see 3 new boats giving the waves a try on our way back to camp. Looked like 3 guys in one, 2 women in another, and a solo. The 3 guys yelled, "head straight for the island!" The 2 women seemed less sure, clinging to shore, but eventually went for it. The solo chased behind, barely moving against the wind. We climbed out onto an opening and watched them for the entire voyage to the island. It seemed like it took quite a while, but they did eventually make it. We heard them shout with happiness when they must have discovered the island site unoccupied. This sent my second guessing though the ringer once again...should we go? They made it, why couldn't we? But it sure didn't look easy, or safe. We committed with finality this time, we're staying. As the afternoon approached evening, the lake calmed significantly. Even at mid evening we were still itching to make a little progress, but by then we had a great stack of wood, fire going, dinner cooking; let's just settle in and enjoy the evening. So we did.

I woke up briefly in the middle of the night, around 1am I think, and took a look outside. The stars were as bright as could be, no moon, just exactly the best night sky everyone hopes for in the wilderness. Only the northern lights could have made it better. I could see a fire going across the lake, someone must had made it to that campsite at some point as well. A cold night, maybe bottoming out in the high 30's, but we've got good sleeping bags and I wore pretty much all of the clothes I had brought, only my rain coat was left outside the hammock to dry out. We were warm enough in the hammocks though, minus some chill in the toes despite doubled up socks.

~Tuscarora Lake