Sunday, September 19, 2021
Day 2 – ‘Doomsday from the Weather Radio’ – The forecast for the day called for wind and rain in the late afternoon with storms overnight. Our original plan was to bushwhack over to Fat Lake and end the day on Beartrack Lake. We changed our plan to take the ‘longer’ route because it was a known quantity. We were afraid the bushwhack would take longer than expected and we would get stranded in bad weather.
We forgot the Eggs! Our first breakfast was going to be eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and coffee but we forgot to pick up eggs in Ely. Whoops! We were up by 7:00 and on the water by 9:00. It was unusual for me to know the time. When my dad introduced me to the boundary waters, his tradition was ‘no watches’. In fairness… I didn’t have a watch, so I kept his tradition. But I also decided to use my phone for pictures and video and it’s pretty much impossible to get the camera open and not notice the time. It was something new for me, but I didn’t mind it. Especially on a day where we had to race the weather.
We headed north towards three-section pond and found a tree that looked like it was levitating over the water! The portage to three section pond was much longer than the 35 rods posted because of the water level. Once we found a put-in, we still had 15min of paddling and dragging our canoe through the small channel. The portage to North Lake was hard to find because it was much farther north than what our Fischer map indicated. Here we met a 6-person group of three couples who were also happy to know they could have a fire that night. The put-in on North Lake was super muddy. I took my first step, and my Chaco sandal came off! We ended up barefooting it out until the canoe would float.
A couple of park rangers got a kick out of watching navigate the muddy put-in. They didn’t ask for our permit but asked when we came in to make sure that we knew the fire ban had been lifted. They saw us head south towards the Steep Lake portage and warned us that the portage is… well… steep. They weren’t lying! That portage was one of the most exhausting I’ve ever encountered. By this time we were 1 ½ portaging so that made the load a little lighter. It’s only 112 rods but I was damn proud I didn’t have to put down our heavy bag! If I ever want to do this loop again, I will probably go in the opposite direction so I can walk this one downhill.
Took a short fishing break on Steep lake to rest after the portage but didn’t have any luck. We still had clear skies and the sun was cooking. It felt like it was almost 80 and despite the wind, it was humid. We could tell the next day would be a rainout (as the forecast predicted). The put-ins to Little Beartrack and Beartrack were all really rocky. You could see water lines almost 2 feet higher than the current water level so maybe they wouldn’t be as bad in a normal year. Took a short swim break on Little Beartrack to cool down.
By the time we put in on Beartrack, the wind was really starting to pick up. We should have scouted the campsites online because we would have known that the easternmost site was the best option and paddle straight there with the wind at our back. Instead, we paddled north to check the other sites and ended up fighting some serious crosswind from the SE to make it from the northernmost site over to the eastern site. By the time we got ashore the wind was blowing hard and gusting harder. The good news was the sky was clear (for now).
This was the first time my new CCS Tarp & Ridgeline stuff sack was put to a true test. As I got the ridgeline tight, the tarp was flapping like crazy. My buddy told me “There’s no way this tarp will stay in place or hold up to this much wind”. It was definitely a challenge getting everything tied down, but once we did, the tarp performed like a champ. I am glad I did some research on this tarp and got everything set up in advance. I watched this video and set up everything just like he did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqlFP8C_z10.
We also found some bones in our site that I wasn't sure about. I'm interested in hearing opinions on what animal they are from. To me, it almost looks like a shoulder blade... let me know what you think.
That night we got our weather radio out and picked up an eyebrow-raising weather alert. “Strong to severe thunderstorms. Capable of erratic and gusty winds up to 70 mph. Large hail up to half dollar size and frequent cloud to ground lightning and heavy rainfall with flash flooding. Prepare to protect yourself from large hail using sleeping bags or other padded items.” Needless to say, we battened down the hatches and prepared for a wild night.
~ Lakes Visited: Section Pond, South Lake, Steep Lake, Eugene Lake, Little Beartrack Lake, Beartrack Lake