Saturday, May 18, 2024

Sean and I woke up around 5am because the wind whipping through camp was intense. We managed to avoid thunderstorms the night before, but the skies on Saturday didn’t look promising. We decided to roll out of bed around 5:30 for bathroom breaks and to get a glimpse of the water to see how bad the wind was. Surprisingly, the waves didn’t look horrible, so we decided to start the packing process. Unfortunately, it started raining, so we had the fun task of packing up in the rain. We had most of our gear laid out under a tarp, so we were able to stay dry over there, but all of the tents were wet. I hate packing up wet tents, it’s just not enjoyable. We all had Clif Bars and some Mio Energy while packing and decided to head out while the wind was still at a tolerable paddling level.

We left our campsite on Polly around 7:45 and as we rounded peninsula toward the first portage of the day, we were hit with very dark skies. We managed to get our gear unloaded and Brock and Sean took off with canoes and then the rain and thunder started. It didn’t seem too severe, so Bianca, Amanda and I gathered packs and headed on our way. Portaging in a thunderstorm was a fun experience, but it passed by us quickly and the rain stopped about a half hour after it started. We paddled through Townline before hitting our last long portage of the day. The men took the canoes across, and Amanda and I took Sean and Brock’s packs to the halfway point, while Bianca took off with her pack. I forgot how uphill the portage from Townline to Kawaschong is and doing the beginning twice was exhausting. I was already moving pretty slow when I arrived at Kawaschong to very windy conditions.
The waves on Kawaschong didn’t look too intimidating, but we knew we’d be paddling hard to make headway in the wind. We’re guessing it was about 20mph winds. We mustered up the courage, loaded the canoes and started paddling hard. Unlike other windy trips, I was never scared of the waves, but the paddling was definitely exhausting. The first portion of the river into square didn’t provide any paddling relief as we were fighting wind and current. We reached the first beaver dam, unloaded our gear, carried it up the small, rocky hillside, reloaded and started out again. The second beaver dam allowed us to unload people and pull over, but with the wind it was a big challenge to point the canoe straight and get moving again. Sean, Bianca and I managed okay, but Brock and Amanda couldn’t quite get their canoe straight and they shot across the river broadside to the dam. Amanda eventually connected her paddle with a stump and was able to straighten them out. After the fact, she said a few times that she was sure that was the spot they were going to tip the canoe. Thankfully, that didn’t happen and the next portion of the river was a little more sheltered from the wind. The current was still strong, but we were able to take the paddling a little bit easier and rest our arms.
The paddle through the remainder of the river and Square Lake was uneventful. We were able to just stand on the dam between Square and Kawishiwi and float the canoe over. Sean and I were amazed at the growth in lily pads on the river between Wednesday and Saturday. On Wednesday, most of the lily pads were under the water, but Saturday they had started to approach the top and were visible all around us. The difference between spring and summer through the river is amazing. I enjoy seeing it both seasons, it’s surprising how quickly plants emerge in spring. We reached Kawishiwi Lake a little after 10am and started the paddle toward the launch. Thankfully, the wind had receded a bit, so our paddling could be a bit more relaxed. We were all pretty tired by this point, and travel was slow, but we reached the launch without too much trouble around 10:45am. The launch was busy with 2 other groups packing out, so we moved our gear off to the side and waited for an opening to bring the cars down. Brock and Amanda were headed to a wedding Saturday afternoon, so after grabbing what they needed from the wet packs, they headed toward the cities. Sean, Bianca and I got the remaining gear into the truck, tied the canoes to the roof rack, and changed into clean clothes for the journey home. We ended up pulling off into Sugarloaf Cove to get one of our foam blocks reset under the canoe and hoped that was the last of the mishaps. Lunch was McDonalds in Two Harbors which we ate in the car. The wind on 35W was insane, and we ended up losing a foam block just before Pine City. At that point, we decided to get off 35W and take the back roads and slower roads to home, just hoping to prevent any more wind issues with the canoes. We arrived at my parents house around 4:30 to pick up our little guy who was very excited to see us. He can’t wait to join us in August when we head in again, this time through Sawbill. We had a good time on this trip and enjoyed the opportunity to bring in some BWCA newbies. Until next time.