Monday, June 08, 2026
I woke up on Day 5 feeling pretty good. For the second night in a row, I had slept like a rock, and at this point I was starting to think I had discovered the secret to sleeping in the Boundary Waters. Maybe it wasn't the sleeping pad, the tent setup, or some special camping trick. Maybe it was just a little melatonin combined with completely exhausting yourself every day. Either way, I was convinced I had found something that worked.

The plan for the day was to take a day trip over to Johnson Falls. Originally, we thought the falls were on the other side of Caribou Lake, but after spending some time looking at the map, we realized we had been making it more complicated than it needed to be. The trail actually started from the portage near the beginning of Pine Lake, which meant we were hiking toward the falls in less than an hour.

Johnson Falls sits a decent distance back in the woods, but the hike was absolutely worth it. When we first arrived at the lower falls, we were already blown away. The sound of the water crashing over the rocks, the power of the falls, and the fact that we were standing in the middle of the wilderness experiencing it made it feel pretty special. Then we continued farther upstream and found the upper falls, and somehow it got even better. The upper falls were bigger, more powerful, and even more impressive than the first one we had just seen.
We spent a few hours there just taking it all in. It was one of those places where you don't really need to do much. You just sit there, look around, and appreciate how incredible the world is. Eventually, Ryan and I decided we needed a picture in the water. Of course, that quickly turned into much more than just taking a picture. Before long, we were taking turns jumping off a rock into the falls and letting the current carry us downstream a bit.
At some point, I decided a normal picture wasn't good enough. I wanted to get a picture of myself mid-air during the jump, which seemed like a great idea at the time. Unfortunately, before I ever got the picture, I had a little incident that probably looked like it came straight out of a comedy movie. As I was getting ready for the jump, my feet slipped out from under me, and instead of gracefully launching myself into the falls, I slowly slid backward and landed directly on my butt on the rock. There was nothing quick or athletic about it. It was just a slow-motion fall where I had plenty of time to realize exactly what was happening but not enough time to stop it. The best part was that it didn't even end there. After hitting the rock, I slowly continued sliding and eventually rolled right into the water. It was probably hilarious to watch because there was absolutely nothing I could do once it started. I was committed to the fall whether I wanted to be or not. It hurt pretty bad, but luckily it ended up being nothing more than a big bruise. After shaking it off for a few minutes, I was able to laugh about it. Looking back, the funniest part was probably how ridiculous it must have looked. I was trying to create this epic adventure photo and instead gave everyone a front-row seat to me slowly losing a battle with a wet rock. I still got my photo though.

Ryan had his own mishap shortly after when he slipped trying to climb out of the water and bruised his ankle. The timing couldn't have been worse because he was planning to run Grandma's Marathon just a few weeks later. When we got home, he wasn't able to train the way he had hoped and had to deal with that setback heading into the race. The impressive part was that he never let it derail him. Through a combination of determination, stubbornness, and probably a little bit of pain tolerance, Ryan still showed up on race day. Even better, he and his fiancée both finished Grandma's Marathon that year. Looking back, it was another example of the kind of person Ryan is. Things don't always go perfectly, but he finds a way to keep moving forward.

After that, we continued jumping into the falls and floating through the current. It was one of those moments where you feel like a kid again and don't want to stop. Hopefully anyone else who makes the trip out there is willing to take the leap too because it was an absolute blast. On the way back from the falls, we ran into two guys hiking in and stopped to talk for a while. Somehow the conversation turned toward where everyone was from, and when they mentioned Forest Lake, I asked if they happened to know my father-in-law, Bob. Sure enough, one of them knew Bob well. He had been a good friend of his and had even been my wife's boss during her summer job through the Chisago Lakes school district. It was crazy how we could travel hundreds of miles away from home, deep into the wilderness, and still somehow find a connection to our own backyard.

After Johnson Falls, we decided to spend some time fishing Pine Lake. We were hoping to get into some lake trout, but the wind had picked up quite a bit and made things difficult. We gave it a shot, but honestly, we weren't fighting very hard for them. Eventually, we decided to call it and start heading back toward Little Caribou. Once we got back to Little Caribou, we decided to fish the end of the lake for a while. That turned out to be a great decision because John hooked into an absolute brute of a smallmouth from shore. The excitement took over immediately, and I jumped into the water to help him land it. Unfortunately, somewhere between the heat of the moment and trying to get my hands on the fish, I managed to let it slip away.
I felt awful.

It honestly bothered me more than it probably should have, and I still think about that fish from time to time. I felt like I had let John down after he had done the hard part of getting it all the way to shore. The funny thing is, knowing John, he probably forgot about it five minutes later and definitely isn't sitting around thinking about it the way I am. That's just who he is. We continued fishing Little Caribou for a while longer but didn't have much luck. Eventually, we decided to head back toward camp. Kev and I wanted to stop there first, and while we were back, we found something that somehow made our already great campsite even better. We discovered a much better landing. It seems like a small thing, but after fighting with the original landing every time we came and went, this completely upgraded the campsite. What we already thought was a great site had somehow become a five-star site.

Kev and I got back up to camp, filtered some water, and started realizing we were running out of energy. The plan was to keep going over to Caribou Lake, but as we sat there, we realized we were perfectly happy staying put. We gathered enough firewood for the evening, cleaned up around camp, and settled in. We never did make it back over to Caribou, but honestly, I think it ended up being exactly what we needed. Sometimes the best days are the ones where the plan changes. While Kev and I were relaxing at camp, John and Ryan were still out fishing. They were the only two who really committed to it that day, and they came back with another full stringer. Five more fish meant we were having another fish fry. At this point, we were getting pretty spoiled.
Kev got to work cleaning the fish, and I took on my usual role as assistant and wildlife security. This time, the turtles were joined by multiple garter snakes trying to get in on the action. I started calling the turtles Marco and Polo, and since we couldn't tell the snakes apart, they all got the same name: Geves. At one point, Geves lunged toward one of our fresh fillets sitting on a rock. Kev reacted instantly, grabbed the fish, and ended up in a full-on tug-of-war. Thankfully, Kev won the battle. It was pretty funny watching us take our fish protection duties so seriously, but after working that hard for dinner, nobody was letting anything steal our meal. That night we decided it was finally time to have our party night. We pulled out the flasks, poured some whiskey, and settled in for an evening around the fire. It's hard to beat whiskey during a sunset, but whiskey next to a campfire might be even better. We laughed so hard that night we were crying at times. Those are the moments you can't really plan for. They just happen when you're exhausted, comfortable, and surrounded by good friends.

Eventually, we decided to step away from the fire and shut off all our lights to look at the stars. Our campsite wasn't the best place for stargazing because of the trees, but walking down near the water and looking up completely changed the perspective. It has a way of making you realize how small you really are. With almost no light pollution around, the stars were incredible, and looking up at the vastness of space while sitting in the middle of the Boundary Waters was one of those moments that makes you stop and appreciate everything around you. I remember thinking that I would love to come back in the fall someday, when the bugs are gone, and spend a night just sitting by the water watching the sky. Eventually we made our way back to the fire, but it wasn't long before Ryan called it a night. The rest of us followed shortly after. It had been another incredible day, and as we crawled into our tents, we were all feeling incredibly grateful. This place was special, and every day seemed to give us another memory that we knew we would be talking about for years. Tomorrow would be our last full day in the Boundary Waters, and unfortunately, the forecast was calling for a lot of rain.

~Little Caribou Lake, Pine Lake, Caribou Lake