The rain had stopped by the time we woke up. We packed up the wet/muddy tent, ate the last of our Cliff bars and headed off to conquer the monster portage from Tuscarora to Missing Link that we had been dreading the entire trip. We adjusted a few of the packs before heading out, hoping to take some weight off of my husband's pack since he would also be carrying the canoe. Our hope was to single portage, even if it meant taking some rest breaks.

The portage was quite busy (we passed one group heading the same direction, and one group heading the opposite direction). Thankfully there are quite a few places where it is wide enough to step aside/rest so that wasn't too big of an issue. We made it through single portaging with several stops to rest. Overall it was long, and we were hot, sweaty and muddy when we finished, but it wasn't that awful. It was well maintained and not nearly as treacherous as some of the portages we traveled on the first two days of our trip.

After a quick paddle across Missing Link we hit the final portage of the trip. This was our second longest portage of the trip, but my rockstar hikers were ready and they could taste the Dairy Queen in Grand Marais. . .we knocked it out with one tiny rest break and paddled our last few strokes across Round. It took us 2 hours to get from our campsite to the landing on Round. It wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it was going to be, and definitely much quicker than we thought it would be. We passed a lot of wet campers on Missing Link, making us even more thankful that our tent managed to stay dry. We pulled in to the landing at round hot, tired and dirty, but also proud and happy. We made it!

A quick stop at Rockwood to drop off paddles and life jackets and then off to Grand Marais for some well deserved ice cream. Next a quick trip down to the campground in Silver Bay to be reunited with our littlest two ,who had a fun week filled with their own north shore adventures. A few quick showers and then pizza in Duluth while watching a 1,000 footer go under the lift bridge. A great way to end our north shore vacation.

Overall we canoed across 21 lakes (Round lake X2) and portaged 1,439 rods. It was a strange mix of really hard work and relaxation. We loved the solitude and the quiet, as well as the special time we were able to spend with our oldest boys. It was a bit of an ambitious route for a first time trip for the kids (and my first trip in 20 years), but they handled it like pros and have already claimed the right to plan the route for next year all by themselves. The seven year old has also asked to join in next year, and in hindsight he would have done fine on this trip, so we will probably bring him along as well. Send us your recommendations. . .my 10 year old really wants to catch fish next year so any ideas of places where it's easy to catch fish in August would be great. . .

Thanks to all of you who have posted trip reports and answered questions on the trip planning forum. I spent a lot of time reading through all the posts this summer and it helped us plan and prepare well. The only two items we forgot were chapstick and syrup for our pancakes.

~Tuscarora Lake, Missing Link Lake, Round Lake