Saturday, August 15, 2020 Malberg, Trapline, Beaver, Smite, Adams, Boulder Morning arrived clear, and our canoe pointed itself west toward Beaver Lake. Near the end of the Kawishiwi River section a bass went for the good ol’ Whopper Plopper. The short portage from Kawishiwi River into Trapline Lake dropped us into an especially lovely channel. Once in Beaver Lake we stopped at the first campsite -- on the eastern point -- to cook the fish and relax for lunch. This is a fantastic site! The fire ring is up on a rock, which has a perfect 10-15’ high jumping spot into the lake.

After jumping, swimming, cooking and eating, we headed toward Boulder. Wondering about the western route up through Smite -- which we had forgotten to ask the outfitters about -- we were called to explore it. Libby’s Voyageur map didn’t even show a portage into Smite from Beaver, but our other McKenzie maps did. And we soon found out why. The portage was by far the most primitive we had experienced -- completely possible, just tight with some difficult footing in spots.

Smite was pretty, and felt very secluded. We didn’t find the portage into Adams -- just paddled down the channel and lifted over some rocks and we were there. On the way we spotted a group of 5 ducks -- maybe Golden Eye, and a red-breasted Merganser.

We didn’t find the first portage on the way from Adams to Boulder -- went through the marshy area, following the stream flow, where we lifted over our *first* beaver dam of the trip. Then another. Libby noticed areas of sedge/grasses that looked mowed. Beaver? But after seeing a huge, fresh moose track at the second portage, we wondered if the mowing was the work of a moose.

Although it was getting late, our concerns about finding an open site on Adams were unfounded, as we paddled out to the empty island site and had the entire lake to ourselves. The site was beautiful, and previous campers had laid out a textbook array of materials to create a fire, from split kindling to cut logs. We didn’t have a fire but were happy to leave it all for the next group. Even the sitting logs around the fire ring were perfectly notched.

Watching the sun go down I threw out the yellow Whopper Plooper and BAM, bass for dinner on the first cast. It was a lovely evening for swimming, eating and watching the sunset.

For the day: 7 portages, about 300 rods, about 7.9 miles paddling