Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Vento Unit in Early October (Clearwater/Pine/West Pike)
by blankspacesam

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 10/01/2020
Entry & Exit Point: Clearwater Lake (EP 62)
Number of Days: 4
Group Size: 4
Day 3 of 4
Saturday, October 03, 2020

Morning 3 felt warmer than the rest of the trip. We packed up camp and paddled north across Pine to the portage to West Pike. Thankfully, the lake was almost glass during this crossing. Winds could easily have made this short paddle a pretty hairy adventure. The portage was every bit as grueling as you'd expect from a mile long North-South trail in the Vento Unit. Not as steep as the trek up to Vale, but the climb seemed to never end. If I remember right, once you cross the Border Route trail you are about two-thirds of the way to the top. Then there is a long, steady descent. Be careful not to make a wrong turn towards the end or you will end up at East Pike instead. I forget how long this took us, but by the time we finished we were all sweating. This was bad news, as the weather had turned. Snow started to fall and the wind started to pick up. Not sure if the temperature dropped dramatically or if that was the result of breaking a sweat on the portage. It felt COLD making our way along the north shore of West Pike looking for a campsite. The portage can be seen in the video mentioned in Day 2 of this report.

Exhausted, we made it to the very nice site just north of the island site. Wood was pretty scarce here this late into the year, but there were plenty of spots to try shore fishing. Andy got on the board with a smallmouth. This left me as the only one shutout for the trip. If you were able to get bites consistently during this cold spell, tell me your secrets! The funniest part of this site was the enormous tree that had fallen and been caught on another tree directly above the latrine. Would not have wanted to be back there when that happened!

This was taco night, a trip favorite of mine. Mike does a great job dehydrating and rehydrating these. Or maybe its a favorite because of the margaritas that go with it, who is to say. The winds calmed down in the evening. Somehow our radio picked up an AM station from Cedar Falls and we were able to listen to the 4th quarter of Iowa State beating Oklahoma. That was awesome to be able to combine two of my favorite things (the BWCA and the Cyclones).

~Pine Lake, West Pike Lake