We were greated by another one of God's blessed sun rises, enjoyed some hot oatmeal & coffee, and lazily pushed off into glassy waters by 5am. Within 30 minutes we arrived to the short portage from Alpine into Sea Gull...there is a reason few people use this one: first, it begins after the rapids start; second, the vegatation is more narrow than the canoes; third, there is a 12 foot boulder you must scale over half way down (the only time we had to unload our packs and two person carry the canoes the entire trip); and fourth, the portage ends before the rapids end (which made for some fun paddling though). Sea Gull was an awesome sight dotted with numerous islands making navigation fun - in fact, this was the only time we used a compass as we verified which island was which. The winds were about 5 mph out of the SW, but this still put little waves across the main body of the lake...I could not imagine being out here if gusting over 30. A beaver on one of the little rock islands was are only company as we made our way towards Miles Island. The bluffs and channels between Miles and the adjacent islands east were breathtaking in the morning sun! We passed many full campsites beginning to stir with breakfast, and started to see others canoeing as we paddled by the sign marking the BWCA and approached the Sea Gull River. My oldest stopped to fish a little in the river, but our eagerness to see the ladies pushed us onward. We choose to portage through the Trails End Campground from the south boatramp to the north one - simple, but walking on the pavement & seeing vehicles was strange. We reentered the Sea Gull River, passed a few loons, islands, cabins, and spied the docks of VCO. We stopped before exiting and said some prayers of thanks for this amazing time together and safe trip! As we unloaded our canoes and pulled them ashore, we wondered how suprised the girls would be as it was only 9am...we made our way to the cabin and surpsised them as they happened to be walking out breakfast at the main lodge. Hugs were awesome and short due to our wonderful smell but excitement abounded as everyone wanted to hear about each others adventures! The North Shore did not disappoint as they hiked to numerous waterfalls and enjoyed the charming hospitality of Grand Marais. They planned to hike Magnet Rock that morning and my 4 year old insisted we go...so we cleaned up, shared some stories, headed to The Gunflint Lodge for an early lunch, and then hiked Magnet Rock. We returned to the cabin at VCO for a nap, shared stories and laughter with each other (and their staff), played some games, and enjoyed one last beautiful evening/night at the end of the Gunflint! ~Alpine Lake, Sea Gull Lake