Sunday, January 19, 2025 The next day, we headed for a group adventure starting at the waterfall on the south shore and up to the beaver pond. It's a decent climb in the snow. It turns out that this small pond at the base of a rock face is where the moose have been spending their winters! We followed the valley along the babbling creek until Tremble Lake. Wow, what an amazing place that's so very different from what I expected! It has steep topography, evidence of a somewhat recent fire, and dense forests of White Pine. We headed southward for a marsh and, once again, struggled to find good footing. We headed up the valley, the wrong valley it turned out, getting ourselves all the way to the creek flowing between Red Eye and Tremble before realizing our error. Using a compass is sure helpful in these moments. We headed south, finally, to Whitaker. A few of us decided to hike down the long and beautiful lake while the others lingered on the western end. Whitaker is a uniquely stunning, slim lake. I had read its praises written by Dan Cooke on this forum, and it certainly lived up to the description. The burn on the north shore and dense forest on the south were an intriguing contrast. At the far end, I agonized over having to turn around. You see, Red Eye Lake is in my top-most desired BWCAW lakes to visit. It's the highest elevation lake in the wilderness area, and one of the top five in Minnesota. When else would I have a better opportunity? However, I didn't have a map (the group at the west end held onto it as a "safety precaution" to keep us adventurous types from getting carried away), and the day was growing long. With painful reluctance, I turned back with my two compatriots and rejoined the group at the west end. We took a more direct route back into Tremble and followed our tracks there all the way back to Winchell. It was nearly dark when we arrived, and we hiked beneath the twinkling stars all the way back to camp, where more firewood cutting and dinner prep bookended another day.~Winchell Lake, Tremble Lake, Whitaker Lake

Lakes Traveled:   Winchell Lake, Tremble Lake, Whitaker Lake,