The summer of 2007 crawled along. On many a night Matt (my son), Nate, and I would talk about the trip over a tall cool one at Skinner’s (a Brookings, SD Pub). Invariably, Nate and Matt would start the conversation off as “so, old man, is it September yet”? And we would talk, and share a common thread, about the border country.

Water levels in 2006 were not good and 2007 was on track to be wretched. Low water made some passages near impossible and portage trails twice as long. I worried about getting through the meanders north of Kawishiwi Lake if the summer continued dry. Summer went from dry to drought. The BWCA had already seen the Ham Lake fire in May. About mid-August came the fire ban over the entire Superior NF including the BWCA.

I watched the USGS Kawishiwi River gage slowly go down, down, down…. My neighbor, a regular at entry #37, was quick to inform me that he doubted we would get through in September. I started to have doubts about entry #37, but held tight. We bought extra fuel bottles, and figured our nights without fire would be cut short (and cold) if the fire ban stays in effect. Doom and gloom.

September came; I watched the weather record at Sawbill Canoe Outfitters. September 1, 2007, 0.14 inches. September 3, 2007, 0.24 inches. OK baby, you are on a roll. And then September 6, 2007, 4.82 inches. Bang! The flood gates opened. BWCA.com was a-buzz with postings and speculation about lifting the ban. Word that the ban was lifted was posted by a member on September 9 (before Superior NF updated their page). I called Tofte Ranger Station to make sure I got it right. The FIRE BAN WAS LIFTED, alleluia.

The rain continued through September with 9.62 inches recorded at Sawbill. The Kawishiwi River Gage # 05124480 sprang to life going from under 30 cfs to 159 cfs on our entry date (9/9). We had water to float canoes (and a bit more).

The graph is a hydrograph (USGS stream flow gage) of the Kawishiwi River (near Ely) showing the rapid response of the Kawishiwi River to the rains of early September 2007.