After a night at Rockwood bunkhouse, we headed out from the outfitter approximately 7:30AM. Our goal was to hit the only campsite on Allen via Lizz/Caribou/Horseshoe. We've done this so many times it almost feels like second nature to paddle and portage this beautiful wilderness. No breeze and a little bit of sun with temps in the upper 60's/low 70's. It had been mostly dry off the Gunflint the week previous - so a decision was made to go without a fire for the week. Relative humidities were uncommonly low - roughly 20 percent - which is pretty unusual. Traffic was very light. As we paddled through Caribou and Horseshoe, all the campsites we could see were empty - an experience we've never witnessed in such a high traffic EP area. Our back up plan if Allen was occupied was to head down to Vista. As we pushed off from the Horseshoe to Allen portage and paddled into the main part of the lake, we could see our home for the next week was available. Landed at 11:30AM. A little over 4 miles of paddling and just under 2 miles of double portaging.

We quickly set up most of our camp - gravity water system is always first. Tent, table, chairs, camp kitchen, and bear bag rope system. We knew rain was unlikely for a couple of days, so we waited on our rain tarp.

Once rehydrated, James set up the fishing rods. We headed out mid afternoon to fish. Allen is a cool little lake. Plenty of submerged boulders and downed logs for northern and bass. However, our main goal this week was walleye dinner!

While paddling and casting we found two significant holes that dropped off to roughly 15'. Wind had picked up, so James fished while I held the canoe in place. No luck on this particular afternoon, but our plan for fishing this gem of a lake was agreed upon.