Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Camping Cousins
by BonzSF

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 08/21/2020
Entry & Exit Point: Moose Lake (EP 25)
Number of Days: 7
Group Size: 4
Day 2 of 7
Saturday, August 22, 2020 Woke up in the morning and got right up. The skies are still cloudy but temperatures are very comfy. There wasn’t much room in the tent but at least I didn’t roll off the sleeping pad. I was firmly wedged between the two cots. Being the first morning, we had fresh eggs for a leisurely breakfast and coffee. So we made it out of camp by the crack of 11. We headed east and onto the South Arm. We didn’t have a final destination, just a better campsite that the night before. We passed a couple that were occupied and others that were not highly rated. Then we came up on one that the outfitter had marked 4 stars. It was # 1446 and we figured that it had to be checked out. LUCY, I’M HOME. It is an awesome site with great fire pit with lots of shelf space for cooking. Logs set up to sit around the fire. Three large tent sites and the latrine wasn’t full! There was also an upper terrace on the point that had a awesome view of the lake. Even though we hadn’t gone far, we decided to stay.
We set up and figured out the shelter situation. Or namely MY shelter situation. Part of the supplies was a lean-to tarp. So I found a flat spot between two trees with no rocks. I strung a rope low enough to the ground and used the poles from the partial tent kit to set up a shelter. Not too bad, Close to the fire and a view of the lake. Luckily it was the first day of no bugs for the rest of the trip! We settled in and relaxed. There were a lot of bold chipmunks and we practiced throwing things at them to scare them away. They seemed to just sneer at us to say "That missed me by a whole inch!”
  A group of people came by fishing along the shoreline. They had been out couple of days and said that it had hailed two days before that left an inch of hail on the ground. We asked about the fishing and they said it sucked! However the day before they had gone to Bonnie Lake and caught about 30 pike. That sounded fun and it was quickly decided that we would day trip there tomorrow. We got the food hang set up and began preparing for fishing the next day.