Gunflint Trail/Bingshick Lake

Woke up early, made coffee and used the campgrounds shower facility. We stopped at the Ranger Station by 6:30 AM, watched the video, answered the questions, and picked up the permit. Stopped at World’s Best Donuts and had donuts still warm for breakfast as we were racing down the Gunflint with camper door still open swinging back and forth while it was raining. About 20 miles down the Gunflint a moose was in the road and about 40 miles from town is Round Lake where we paddle to the Brant Lake EP. We unloaded, moved the truck to the Cross River EP where we would be taking out and I jogged back to Round Lake while the Warden waited patiently. The rain stopped as we had turned off the Gunflint. We were on the water at 9:15 AM paddling to the 85 r. portage into West Round. We are paddling a Mad River Eclipse I bought in May from the Sawbill Outfitters for $490 with portage pads, and registration. It is green and weighs about 60#s. I had used a canoe like this a couple of years ago and liked it and it would work well on the rivers of Northern Wisconsin if the BWCA does not live up to my idea of fun. Above all the price was right. After the West Round paddle we portaged to Edith and saw our first person since leaving the landing. He must have been solo. Looked like he had been in the bush for a while. I noticed the mosquitoes were not chasing him like they were us. We made Brant Lake and the Warden didn’t realize that we were officially entering the BWCA. The sign gave it away. Brant Lake had 2 canoes and 4 people. We made it into Gotter Lake and a noisy group ahead of us struggled at the Flying Lake portage. We waited patiently and canoed to the end of the lake near the beaver dam about the same time a thunderstorm let loose. The Warden and I waited for the storm clear while swatting mosquitoes. The bug dope I brought was not working. First lesson learned, Skin So Soft is not bug dope. The Warden put her head net on and she was not real chirpy. I found an old portage trail but didn’t want to travel too far off. The Warden was not into exploring at this time. The storm blew by and we went on to conquer the 50 r. portage into Flying Lake. It was a little tricky but we made it.

Our packs consist of two Mason packs we bought at Gander for $70, and a German waterproof army pack I bought cheap at an Army Surplus shop. The Warden would carry her pack, the paddles, and fishing poles. I would take my Mason pack on one trip then race back and get the canoe and the Army pack on the next. The Warden would try to rest and swat mosquitoes. This technique of me doing the double portage and my wife resting seemed to work well.

On Flying Lake the loud group was trying to portage into Green Lake and we continued north towards Bingshick. The Warden doubted my navigation skills as the lake narrows into a small channel not much wider than the canoe. We were surrounded by Pitcher Plants flowering on the bogs. We found the goat path of a portage into Bingshick and the Warden doubted every move and after showing her skid marks on the rocks from previous canoes she let us continue. We made Bingshick about 2:30-3:00 PM. We had the lake to ourselves and took the west campsite after looking over the east site. The mosquitoes and gnats were incredible but of course I played it down. We put camp together and it starts raining and it pours and pours. The Warden makes it to the tent and takes a nap while I fiddled around in my underwear getting eaten alive. Every now and then I would escape the the biting and stinging by standing neck deep in the lake. Skin So Soft washes off quickly. I tried putting a tarp up. It was high enough to keep the equipment dry but useless for me. Of course I put a tarp under the tent instead of inside of tent like I had read about, Lesson #2 put tarp down on the inside of tent like Mr. Jacobson talks about. I searched out some down cedar and had brought some birch bark from home. Split the cedar and some how made a fire last long enough to cook some brats that we brought. I fished for an hour after supper trying to catch a brook trout with no success. Hopefully tomorrow is more enjoyable.