Best Friends and The Big Jump: Lake One to Insula
by Jazzywine
We packed the cars and drove from Minneapolis to a cabin outside Ely, to which we had a tenuous family connection. No dogs allowed in the cabin so we set up our tents on the wooden deck. WE ate our defrosting veggie burgers as dusk fell and we had the worst mosquitos of the whole trip.
Monday, July 23, 2018
We woke early and made our way to Kawishiwi Outfitters to collect our permit and get on the water. We were soon paddling on the popular waters of Lake One and a good thing two because our plan was to push all the way through to Insula. We were hoping to snag Williamson island for our week-long base camp.
As we got our bearings we quickly learned how each of our pups (new to canoe tripping) would effect our travel. Kaya, our friend’s 70lb German wirehaired pointer, mostly just slept at her people’s feet. My dog Riley, a 38lb hound mix, needed to watch everything go by. To do this she need a good vantage point; she decided that on top of the gear worked for her, no matter how precarious that seemed to us. From her perch she could let us know whenever she wanted us to be going in some direction other than our current course. Whenever we approached a peninsula, she wanted to get out and explore and she would let us know her desire with whimpers and whines. When we pulled up to a portage, if she didn’t see an easy way to dry shore she would wait, not wanted to get unnecessarily wet (little princess that she is). As we passed by other canoes, she wanted to go over and say hello and would let us know with her hound vocals. If she ever saw our friends’ canoe ahead of us and she saw her friend Kaya, she would persistently insist that we catch up and overtake them. She just had to be the leader of the pack, I suppose.
With all these new quirks that came with our dogs – and some less than pleasant portages with pups pulling – we made our way from Lake One to Two, to Three, to Four, then on to Hudson, and finally to Insula. On Insula, our campsite of choice was taken but we happily landed at 1327, which was quite nice with both some sandy shallows and a rocky drop off for wading and swimming.
~Lake One, Lake Two, Lake Three, Lake Four, Hudson Lake, Lake Insula