Day 1

It’s one day into the overnight permit allowance for the Boundary Waters since the fires sprung up about three weeks ago. I’m in Ely and heading into the Boundary Waters tomorrow. Serendipitous timing. In many ways, Ely feels like a derelict ghost town, but in certain places like the Insula restaurant, it was bustling. I could hardly hear myself think as I enjoyed my burger and chips and an old-fashioned. I made it to the Voyageur North Outfitters, and the AC unit in the bunkhouse room had been pumping in heat all day along with the room instead of out the window. The town of Ely was already pretty humid, sitting at about 90° with high humidity. But inside my room, it easily felt over 100°. So I decided to go out and about the town and get some ice cream to cool down. As I sat there, a large group of firefighters pulled up. Everyone in the ice cream place cheered, insisting on buying them ice cream. Most of these guys couldn’t have been 20, maybe 25. They were covered in soot but still had smiles. As I finished the day sitting on the stairs outside the bunkhouse waiting for my room to cool down, I saw Ely descending it to nighttime with one or two random firefighters walking the sidewalks with snacks from the Circle K heading back to whatever housing they have available to them. Thank you, firefighters, for all you do!

Day 2

It was easy to get up bright and early because the bunkhouse room was very hot. I did finally cool down after I wet a towel and used that as a blanket. Started the day at 5 a.m. with a quick breakfast and then loaded up the car. The canoe was already strapped to the top and permit in hand from the Outfitters the night before, which was super handy. Left the Voyageur North bunkhouse and drove down Highway One towards Little Gabbro entry point. Just right out of town I saw the situational location for the firefighter activity. It was a massive operation. Kudos to those people for the amazing work. Made it to the entry point, parked, and was surprised to see 5 to 6 cars in the parking lot. Loaded up the portage pack and put the canoe on my shoulders and began the 200-rod single portage. I made it in good time, about 20 minutes, and was assaulted by mosquitoes most of the time. But once down by the water, they dissipated. I loaded up the canoe and stepped in shin deep muck that I thought was a rock. The water is very low, so there are lots of rocks and low shoreline to contend with. But once I got out a bit it became a lovely paddle on Little Gabbro. Pretty uneventful paddle on a very calm day with glass-light conditions on the water. Didn’t see anybody until I got to the campsite that I was eyeing on Gabbro Lake. A family seemed to be settled in there already. I was fine to keep going on to Bald Eagle; it was a beautiful day, very still, and I was curious to see what it was like on Bald Eagle. I paddled pretty quickly across Gabbro since it was so still and found my way to the very short nine-rod portage from Gabbro and the Bald Eagle. Did I mention the water was very low? I was able to see the moving water that leads from Bald Eagle into Gabbro. But I took the portage, took the opportunity to get some water to drink, and made my way into Bald Eagle only to stop very quickly in a boulder field of shallow water, where then I decided it was way easier just to walk the canoe out and into deeper water. I made it into Bald Eagle and again had lovely conditions. I made my way across the lake at about halfway down to my desired camp spot. A very boulder approach to the canoe landing. Again, I had to get out and just walk the canoe in, it was easier that way. I walked my way around the campsite. Scoping out all the different hammock opportunities, finally settled on two beautiful cedars close to the fire pit. Since I knew the fire pit wasn’t going to be in use due to the fire ban and I wanted to get a good view of the lake. The site is tucked back into a grove of cedars, which is lovely, but you don’t get a good view of the lake unless you sit close to the fire pit. I took my time doing camp chores and explored the campsite. A lovely breeze picked up in the afternoon. Not much in the way of wildlife. Saw some otters on the way. Lots of loon, geese, and gulls. A bald eagle seems to be taking advantage of other birds’ nests, and I heard them fighting that out. That was interesting. Made myself some lunch and settled in to try and get a little nap. Only to hear what I thought was a motorboat. Which I knew it couldn’t be, so I just assumed it was the wind or my imagination, but it kept getting louder. Sure enough, a floatplane came flying overhead. I’m assuming it’s part of rangers keeping an eye on who’s coming in and who’s where, maybe. Perhaps part of the fire operations? A little unsettling to not know what’s happening. But the weather looks good, and the report seemed optimistic in town, and there was nothing on my Garmin, so assuming the best. Now for some theology reading. Many books to go before classes start in September. This campsite is a perfect setting for Psalm 29.: “The voice of the Lord is over the waters.” “The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.” … Not that I want these cedars to break. But as I walk around camp and hear the wind blowing over the waters and stroll past these massive cedars, it’s hard not to think of Psalm 29. Tried to nap. I didn’t have any luck. The rest of the day was just enjoying camp. Reading books, eating food, exploring. Finished the day with an amazing sunset view from my camp chair, as enjoyed coffee and chocolate. Saw a few swans and a lot of gulls. All in all the mosquitoes weren’t too bad, and I enjoyed the evening and slept well in the hammock.

Day 3

Had a good night’s sleep and I woke to lovely bird songs and used the Merlin app to identify the birds. Meditated on Psalm 104. Somehow, I botched my food hanging system and the bags were caught in the pulley so I had to cut them down. Guess I’ll be spending the day practicing my knots. But first, breakfast from the hammock! Enjoyed a relaxing morning in the hammock with a morning constitutional as well. Practice a couple of knots, enjoyed breakfast, and then got out on the water about 9:30. Paddled over to the eastern side of Bald Eagle Lake and worked my way down that side, joining up with Isabella River after that. Slowly made my way down the river to see where the Snake River joins. Then made my way to the portage that goes past some moving water with rocks on Isabella. Stayed in that lovely spot for quite a while and enjoyed a snack looking at the river run, thinking how it just does that all the time. That’s its job, just forever run. Decided it was getting towards lunchtime and starting to get a little windy, so I turned to head back up the river only to be met with a headwind. Then hunkered down with my kayak paddle and just made the distance, enjoying the lovely day with clouds dotting the sky and warm sunshine with a high of about 78 or so. On this journey around Bald Eagle, I saw a few groups of people: one group paddling by, another group camped at the campsite just south of me. A large group — I have no idea when these people came in or from which direction, because I don’t know that I saw anybody yesterday at all. But today I saw four different groups of people. I must say I’m surprised. I assumed with me grabbing one of the first permits in the area that I was not likely to see too many people. But I was happy to be wrong. Also, another plane flying by ~2 p.m. Had a huge lunch, and took a nap and had a slow afternoon catching up on reading and enjoying the weather, high 70s, sunny, with a lovely breeze. I’m surprised how much two days of paddling and being out in the sun took it out of me. I’m finding new-to-me places to be sore. My afternoon coffee and chocolate, however, was a new expression of worship. ?? Finish the evening with a decent instant Indian meal from Garage Grown Gear. Enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies as I watch the sunset.

Day 4

Had another good night’s sleep! I often don’t sleep this well when I’m out in the wilderness. Especially not on the first night. I woke up very early to a bald eagle on Bald Eagle Lake, oh the irony. Not sure what it’s doing. There must be a nest here somewhere, but it is very vocal, which is a wonderful thing to hear. Slowly started the day serenaded by all the different birds in the area and, of course, started my day with a morning, constitutional, and breakfast from the hammock. Slowly making my way towards my books this morning as a rabbit came thundering into the camp at about 7:30. I caught a flash of something out of the corner of my eye, just assumed it was another bird moving around, but it was loud and you could hear it thumping through the camp. Then it came bolting close towards me, stopped, looked me over, and then thundered off into the woods. No sign of other people on the lake this morning. But I do hear some dogs barking in the distance. Makes me wonder how my dog would do on a camping trip, probably not great. But maybe someday I should find out. Lots of lollygagging in the hammock on a very breezy Sunday morning. My lazy morning was spiked with excitement to see a large group of three canoes filled with three passengers in each (people and pets). I sat on the shoreline and watched them head towards the portage back in Gabbro with binoculars from the shoreline. So fascinated as to when did they come in and where did they come from? Something for me to wonder about where people are coming from, where they’re going, how they get here, what they’re doing. Just a fun little mystery. I figured I relaxed long enough. It was time to get out on an adventure. So I packed up my small backpack with water, snacks, anything I might need for an emergency, and decided to see if I could walk to the portage that goes to Gull Lake. I slowly made my way across the rocky shoreline, spotted a snake, but nothing too out of the ordinary, saw where a little stream came out to Bald Eagle and slowly fumbled my way over to the portage. Once on the portage, it was pretty straightforward. Close to 200 rods L8. But with no canoe and no pack, it just seemed like hiking any other boundary waters trail like the Snowbank Trail, the Angleworm Trail, etc. It was a lovely hike through the woods, felt familiar. Didn’t take me too long to get to where the portage ended. About 15 minutes later, I came to a lovely little lily pad-filled creek. I assume according to the map there was a little bit of paddling that would happen to go to a short little portage that would get you to Gull Lake, so I knew this was as far as I could go without a canoe. I climbed up on a rock and enjoyed my water while I looked at the lovely scene complete with a high cliff overview that was quite impressive to see trees hanging on the edge of. I sat there for about half an hour just enjoying the moment, wondering if anybody even been this way in a while. Deciding it was time to head back, I packed up and made my trek back, pausing in a lovely grove of aspens, only to realize a humongous white pine had long ago been likely burnt up in the 2006 Turtle fire to make way for these beautiful groves of aspens. Back at the other end of the portage into Bald Eagle, I stumbled my way back across the boulders, pausing briefly to see where the little creek that was near my camp came out, only to find a lovely open field area filled with tall grass. Seems like a ripe opportunity to spot a moose there. No luck. Getting back to camp. I had leftovers for lunch and just enjoyed the breeze off of Bald Eagle Lake. The southern breeze blew straight into camp, making it hard not to keep crawling back into the hammock to enjoy the views of the lake from the hammock. I busied my time with catching up on reading, coffee, and chocolate, and strolls around camp until I got too chilly and had to crawl back into the hammock again. It’s not cold. The temperature seems to be in the high 70s, but the breeze makes it all too easy to crawl in the hammock. Dinner was delicious scrambled eggs, fried in butter. Much of the afternoon and early evening I just enjoying time going by watching the turbulent lake on a windy afternoon, stalking a family of geese to just see what they’re up to, exploring new nooks and crannies of the camp and adjacent area. Occasionally, I look at my watch and go “well, dinner is in three hours”, and then just sit back and enjoy the afternoon going by; reading books, drifting into thought, getting out the binoculars and seeing if there is anything interesting on the other shore, sitting in the breeze, getting chores ready for the evening. The past few nights the mosquitoes really haven’t been awful. I sit and watch the sunset. Make sure everything‘s ready beforehand and then as soon as the sun sets, and I see what I need to see, I get up and make my way to put away my evening snack, brush my teeth, quickly hang the food bag, pee, jump in the hammock before the mosquitoes can swarm it. They make a bunch of noise for a couple of hours, but by the time I finish my evening movie, they’re nowhere to be found. It’s been a joy and not have to worry about mosquitoes all during the day and hardly any during the evening.

Day 5

Awoke in the night from what I thought was thunder. It wasn’t. I suppose I’m anxious about the coming storm tonight. I awoke from a funny dream about discovering Shug was having a comeback tour. In my dream I went into a grocery store to discover his clowned face on different products like cereal, coffee, and even his own branded circus candy peanuts. So weird. I wonder how his cancer treatment is going. Sending prayers your way buddy! It’s just me and the mosquitoes awake in the middle of the night. Wish I hadn’t said anything about the mosquitoes not being bad. Spent the rest of the morning in and out of sleep since I was up for quite a while in the night. A very windy and overcast morning. I can’t imagine I’ll be doing any adventuring out on the water today. Probably spend most of the day just getting ready for the storms that are supposed to come through tonight, reading, napping, eating, drinking coffee, lollygagging. I found myself thinking of my friends, real friends, first of all. Ones who I’d like to have out here with me. The ones that I know when I think of them, they make me smile and they bring good things into my life like music, laughter, hobbies, etc. I also think of my pretend friends, the ones I see on YouTube that I admire. Of course, anytime I do breakfast from the hammock, I think of Shug. In real life I met him a couple of times, we’ve had a few conversations, but he doesn’t know me and I only know him from his videos. But I know he’s going through a lot right now, so I’m thinking about him. Praying about him. I also think about John from Lost Lakes, especially on a day like today where it’s windy and I’m not going out on the water. I think of all the times I’ve seen him in his videos get out on the water, make distance, hunker down, film all that he sees, all with a positive disposition. I paddle in three hours to one campsite and just tootle around here for a handful of days, and then I think of what John does and am amazed. Well, the wind seemed to let up, and I thought now was a good time as I needed to get out for an adventure. I knew if I sat around all day, I’d lose my mind come afternoon. So I tidied up camp, hopped in the canoe, and had a nice leisurely row to the eastern side of Bald Eagle. I saw on the map that there was a trail that seemed to be a snow/dogsled trail into Bald Eagle, so I thought I’d discover that, check out some of the campsites on the eastern side and then just see where the day took me. Mostly just tooled along the eastern shore, but finally found where the snow trail would come in, but it was very reedy low water, so I didn’t go very far. Then I came out of that cove and thought that I saw beaches, so I made my way towards them to find out that those were two of the campsites on the eastern side; one was not nice looking, but the other one was pretty nice and had a nice beach access stairs up to the fire pit. Probably good for tenting, but I didn’t get out to poke around. At this point, the wind started to pick up, and I was hopeful that I would have it to my back, so I stopped and had a snack in the canoe. Just enjoyed floating along. Decided it was getting more and more windy, and the longer I waited, the harder it was to get back. I cut towards my campsite and hoped I would ride the waves in, but instead, I kinda ended up having to go parallel to the waves, which was not great. There were moments in that solo canoe that were a little white-knuckle. But all in all, it was a fun adventure, and I made it into my campsite unscathed. Spent the afternoon cleaning up and battening down the hatches for tonight‘s storm. I think for the first time ever I used all the tie-outs and cords for the Superior Gear shelter. Once I got that ready, I then put it back into porch mode and opened up all my food to see where we stood on how much is left and then settled in with a book. Trying my best not to get in the hammock, because I’m pretty sure I’ll fall asleep if I do. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Yup, I napped. I couldn’t resist the lull of the hammock any longer and crawled in only to take a quick 45-minute snooze. I woke after that to have some very late lunch around 3 o’clock with some coffee and chocolate to follow. Had some excitement as seen in a couple of different groups come through Bald Eagle. One group looked like they stopped at one of the beaches on the other side of the lake that I had visited earlier this morning. Another group looked like they’re heading towards the portage and to Gull Lake with aluminum canoes. Brave folks. Welp, they didn’t do the portage and started heading back south. Enjoyed dinner, handled all the chores around camp, got the hammock set up for the storm, put everything away, and settled in for another beautiful sunset. Overall, the weather has been really great these past few days, breezy but not too terribly windy. Humid but not ridiculous. Tonight has been probably the most sticky night. And I feel like the storm is going to bring in some dryer air after it rains. All in all, pretty perfect weather. Thank you, Lord.

Day 6

What a storm! I figured there’d be thunder and lightning, maybe a little bit of wind gusts, but it was beyond what I expected. Starting around 11 PM the winds really picked up, coming out of the south. The forecast said maybe 7 mph with 11mph gusts of wind, but this was more. The tarp hung in there great, and then the rain started a little after midnight, and thunder and lightning rolled through. The wind shifted to the west, northwest, and then it poured. I feel like the wind let up around 1:30 a.m. And then it just kept raining. But thankfully, the next thing I knew, it was 6 a.m. The tarp held wonderfully during all the wind and rain, and most everything stayed dry. Honestly, it was drier than I thought it would with all the wind in the rain. That was a wild ride in the hammock that’s for certain. Definitely felt much cooler this morning. My little thermostat says 60°, but it feels cooler than that with the breeze, that’s for sure. It was an overcast morning. I opened the tarp back up in the porch mode, and I’m excited to spend the morning having breakfast from the hammock. After much lollygagging in the hammock, I got up to clean up camp, dry off things, and do chores. A very cool breeze from the north making waves out on Bald Eagle Lake solidifies for me that I will be staying at camp today. Not also due to the fact that I’m quite tired from being up most of the night due to the storm. I’ll be having refried beans and rice on tortillas for lunch with a hint of Sriracha sauce; it sounds divine. I’m already counting the minutes to my afternoon nap and coffee with chocolate. And I’m looking forward to dinner and dessert; still unsure what that might be, but I think my choices are limited. What a great nap and wouldn’t even be greater day! You can really tell the humidity has gone down today. It’s not nearly as sticky feeling. It’s cooler too with a high about 70, lots of cotton candy clouds floating through the sky helping break up the sun exposure, but all the while, accompanied with a strong breeze out of the west. Picturesque. Got up and did a few more chores, cleared out some more food, and do a little packing to get ready to head out tomorrow. I only wish books got lighter as you read them. Spent the afternoon in worship (I have a saved playlist— happy to share if anyone wants it). It’s hard not to in a place such as this. Even my buddy who I winter camp with once said, “I’m not religious, but if I was, this would be it”. I think he’s onto something. “Is all creation groaning? It is. Is a new creation coming? It is. And is the glory of the Lord to be the light within our midst? It is. Is it good that we remind ourselves of this? It is.“ Is He Worthy? Andrew Peterson After another wonderful sunset, I settled in for a movie. Around 11, I went to the bathroom the last time and, with no mosquitoes around, took the opportunity to go down by the lake and gaze at the stars for a long time. It’s amazing how you can see so much of the night sky with your bare eyes in the Boundary Waters.

Day 7

Pretty uneventful night. Woke up early at 5 a.m. to a chilly start. My thermostat said 50, but I haven’t been trusting it lately. It feels colder, maybe upper 40s, but there’s a lot of humidity, so who knows. At first, I was anxious to get up and get packing but thought better of it. I’m in no rush; I have nowhere to be but home. And I decided to enjoy one last breakfast from the hammock and watch the sunrise over Bald Eagle Lake. Also, I know in about an hour after leaving camp, I’ll be waiting through water. And I don’t really want to do that in 50° weather. The journey back was much faster and I was back in Ely with coffee from Northern Grounds in hand on the road home.

Map of the trip

Bird list from Merlin:

• Pine Siskin
• Barred Owl
• Common Loon
• Canada Goose
• Black-and-white-Warbler
• Bald Eagle
• Red-eyes Vireo
• Common Yellowthroat
• Song Sparrow
• Hermit Thrush
• American Herring Gull

Food:

Mostly just peak refuel meals for dinner, almond butter and honey wraps for lunch, oatmeal, powdered eggs, and peanut butter packs for breakfast, and bars for snacks.

Books read:

• Intersectional Theology
• Saint Augustine, Confessions
• God of the Oppressed
• Why God Became Man
• Jesus and the Disinherited
• A Theology of Liberation

Movies watched:

• Nobody 2
• Accountant 2
• Primal Fear
• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• Stand By Me

Photos: