Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Clearwater --> Hungry Jack 2020
by backpackingZombie

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 07/10/2020
Entry Point: Clearwater Lake (EP 62)
Exit Point: Other  
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 4
Trip Introduction:
Like all of our BWCA adventures I put the plan together for our group. My aim is to see a few sites, generally do a loop, but make sure there's a challenge in there somewhere, something that feels like an accomplishment. For this trip that accomplishment was Portage #843, the two mile portage. Sadly there was a fire ban in place before we came up, so I didn't bring any fishing gear, but the night prior our outfitter let us know it was lifted, so though I didn't have the gear, it meant we could have fires :)
Day 1 of 4
Friday, July 10, 2020

We stayed the night before at Hungry Jack Outfitters. The place was nice, David (the propietor) was funny and a good spirit and there was a nice fire ring we could hang out at and a dock to have a cigar.

In the morning they took our canoes to our entry point (62 - Clearwater) and we came in another car due to Covid. We parked and headed in. Myself and my friend Ian went in first and as we were a few dozen feet out our companions decided it was a good time to test the water temp and flipped their canoe right at the EP. At least the weather was good.

Our plan was to head up Clearwater and grab campsite 682, since that was right next to the portage for the next day, but that site was already taken and so were the previous ones. Ian and I paddled our hearts out down to the next site while our companions portaged over to Mountain Lake to check if site 678 was open. If it wasn't we were in for some fun times since that meant making the choice of heading east on Mountain or heading west towards Rose and the 2 mile portage. 683, the one we were checking had just been grabbed, so we headed back to the portage and popped on over

I don't remember much of that portage besides it was a good elevation change from Clearwater to Mountain and certainly made me think "is it over yet?"

When we reached Mountain our friends were sitting there. They said that someone had just told them the site was open, but apparently hadn't bothered to pack up to go check themselves *eye roll*. We packed up and headed out.

The site was indeed open and was a pretty nice site for a first night. Easy canoe landing, good open area. Nice view. We made camp.

~Clearwater Lake, Mountain Lake