Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

LIS Loop 2019 - Rivers and Storms
by Gichimon

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 07/14/2019
Entry & Exit Point: Little Indian Sioux River (north) (EP 14)
Number of Days: 12
Group Size: 2
Day 2 of 12
Monday, July 15, 2019 I am a very early riser, so once again we got a nice early start with the sun rising over Loon Lake. We whipped up breakfast, wolfed it down, and began the journey up to Lac LaCroix via the Beatty portage. This would be our only portage of the day and we were both beat from our long entry day. As we paddled up to the Beatty Portage, a thousand questions bounced through my head. At first I thought, maybe we need to pay to use the portage. There were train tracks on it for crying out loud. Then we read the sign that said it was $10. We were instantly confused. We didn't have any money on us. But, as we were way up on Loon Lake, and it was the only road in front of us, we decided to just start carrying our gear across.

We both began carrying our canoes across and we were back to the Loon Lake side of the portage when we heard a four wheeler coming toward us. We both thought, uh oh, now we are in trouble! The complete opposite was true. The nicest gentleman pulled up and we both confessed right away that we had no money. He said it didn't matter, and began grabbing our grossly heavy packs and loading them on the four wheeler. He wheeled them across the portage for us and we thanked him profusely. What a lovely encounter. Neither Krystal nor I have ever figured out if we were actually supposed to pay or if it was only if we opted to have someone take our gear across. But we were so very grateful that he did.

Lac LaCroix instantly wowed us. The many islands and vastness of it whispered of endless opportunities of exploration. Admittedly, it felt off hearing motor boats constantly while in the BWCA, but this lake was one of our bucket list lakes, so we wrote off the sounds of motors as just another part of the experience. When we hit the water, we instantly dropped our lines and began trolling toward a campsite. The bluebird skies prevailed as we dipped our paddles through the blue waters. That all changed in a heartbeat.

We rounded the northwest corner of Lac La Croix and started heading across an island filled bay when we started hearing rumbles way in the distance. We looked toward Canada and some ominous looking clouds were growling and rolling toward us. In the same moment we noticed the storm, Krystal hooked a nice pike. While she worked the fish into her canoe, I paddled on a way to see if there were any campsites ahead. The ones nearest to our easterly path were taken.

I waited on the lee side of an island for Krystal. And then I waited some more. No Krystal. I paddled back a bit and still no Krystal. After about ten minutes and the sky growing angrier by the moment, she finally appeared on the opposite side of an island. Come to find out, she had hooked two fish back to back. One stayed on the stringer for a fish dinner. We both recognized the impending doom sky, and began paddling with due haste. The map showed a site down one tiny bay so we headed down the bay. Unless the site was higher up in the woods, we could not find it anywhere. Meanwhile, the storm was growing. We pushed on as the electric pulse in the sky grew nearer. We passed over one site as we knew there were a few more up ahead and then finally found one. We had just enough time to unload the boats, throw up a tarp, and climb underneath as the storm charged through.


Sitting under that tarp while lightning flashed all around us was probably the scariest storm moment we have had in the Boundary Waters. Rain ran under us like a river, and in one moment we could feel the lightning hit the ground on a point about 50 yards off the island on which we were hunkered down. Krystal performed her usual miracles of keeping me calm throughout. The wind was gusting so hard at one point we just had to hold the tarp around us like a blanket. It didn't matter in the end because I ended up soaked. The storm finally passed after about an hour it seemed. I was glad to see it go, but was once again overwhelmed by the power and beauty of mother nature. She does what she wants to do!

The sun emerged from the trailing storm clouds, and we quickly began to set up camp. Though I have seen this site rated as a one star site, in that moment, it was a 5 star safe haven with a lovely tent pad and breathtaking cove from which to view the sunsets. We were in heaven. We fried up fish for dinner and settled in for a little cribbage and sunset viewing. Our plan was to take a duff day on Tuesday and fish as much as we could.