BWCA 2018 - 10 years & 480 rods

10 years and 480 rods...

EP 19 Stuart River to EP 16 Moose River

My wife and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary in January and had been planning a BWCA trip to celebrate, so why not enter the Boundary Waters Canoe Area starting with a 480 rod portage just 2 days after running a marathon?

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area is a federally protected area in the Northeast corner of Minnesota that is comprised of over 1 million acres, 1100 lakes, and extends along 150 miles of the Candadian border.  The area was carved out by glaciers over 17,000 years ago and in 1978 became protected under the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act. Motorboats are restricted to only a handful of lakes and aircraft are not able to fly under 4,000 feet.  This is truly a special place we have to enjoy, share, and protect.

Our annual trip to Minnesota with our 5 and 9 year old kids started with a 20 hour drive from South Carolina.  Grandma and Grandpa were happy to see the kids and we were happy to enjoy a few days of peace and quiet without them. (Thanks Mom & Dad!!).

Loaded up and ready to leave South Carolina!

Day (-2) was the 42nd annual running of Grandma's Marathon from Two Harbors to Duluth, MN.  This would be our 8th year of coming for the event and the weather was almost perfect as we ran with temps in the low 60's and a cool east breeze off Lake Superior.  Anne ran an impressive 3:30 Boston qualifying time and I also set a personal best with 3:55.  We celebrated that evening with beer at Bent Paddle, dinner at O.M.C., and a cocktail at Vikre.  My cousin Justin, his g/f Tiff, and Anne's sister Liz all joined us for the day.  We had lots of laughs and it was great to spend time with them.

A little fun on the evening before Grandma's Marathon

Day (-1) was Father's Day which we celebrated with a day trip to Ely with my parents and the kids.  It was a nice day to enjoy a beer at the Boathouse and pick up our permit from the Kawishiwi Ranger Station.  We stopped by Piragis Northwoods to procure a couple last items before we left town.  We got back and spent the evening packing and repacking our gear to make sure we had everything for the trip.  My parent's house looked like an outfitter at one point and we thank them for their patience as we laid our gear out around the house.

Kawishiwi Ranger Station - Official Permit for EP19!

Day 1 - June 18, 2018  EP19 to Stuart Lake

It was finally the day we had been permitted to enter the BWCA for way back in January!  We got up early and left my parents by 5:30 am to drive to Ely, which is less than an hour away.  As we drove up we listened to the weather report on WELY which was followed by, "It looks like this will be the sunshine week of the summer here in Ely."  With the weather on our side for the week we stopped at Britton's Cafe for a huge breakfast and coffee before hitting the Echo Trail.  Britton's Cafe was as usual packed with groups enjoying a good meal before hitting the BWCA.  The place was filled with lots of smiles and laughs thinking ahead to paddling, fishing, and being in the Boundary Waters.

 We arrived to Entry Point 19 parking lot at Stuart River by 8:45 am and unpacked the truck.  The plan was for my wife to drive the truck to Entry Point 16 parking lot at Moose River while I portaged the first of the gear in.  She would then take an old bike of mine and ride it 6.5 miles back to EP19.  This would leave my truck conveniently parked for our exit later in the week.

Entry Point 19 at Stuart River only allows for 1 entry permit each day and thus receives light traffic.  A 480 rod (1.5 mile) portage to the river tends to keep most people away as well- this is considered long for a portage but being distance runners we weren't put off bu that distance!  The portage is followed by 6 miles of river paddling and another 4 portages before reaching Stuart Lake.

It had rained heavily all weekend and the 480 rod portage was standing in water and mud- in some spots it was up to our calves!  I portaged our Duluth Pack in with the majority of our gear and food out to the river and left it in the shade.  I made it there and back to the parking lot in just under an hour and expected to see Anne cruising in on the old mountain bike.  Instead shortly after arriving she came back in my truck!!  I immediately figured something was wrong but she says "you left your tackle box in the truck."  Unfortunately I had taken the lures I needed in a smaller case and it was already sitting alongside the Stuart River, the tackle in my truck I hadn't planned to carry with on this trip.  We laughed about it as it was the only thing we could do and she headed back to EP16 to drop the truck.  I waited for her return patiently and by 10:45 am she had returned.  We locked the bike to a tree and headed down the trail by 11.  I portaged the canoe while Anne carried her gear in backpack for the 480 rods back to the Stuart River.  Due to the heavy rains we had one tricky creek crossing at about 400 rods and at 450 rods we floated the canoe across the creek to the actual designated entry point to the Stuart River.  We could have also taken this creek (Swamp Creek) out to Stuart River.

Trail crossing at ~400 rods due to heavy rains

As we got to the end of the portage we arrived on two families of four just getting off the river.  The kids were all ages 5-11 and were excited to come up and tell us about their time on Stuart Lake since the previous Thursday.  They had been rained in all weekend but caught lots of fish, I was excited to hear their stories, unfortunately we wouldn't be as lucky with our fishing poles.  They told us about the campsite they just left (#1828) and that it was 5-stars with a great view, I knew then where we planned to head once on Stuart Lake.  They would be the last people we would talk to until two days later.

Stuart River is a beautiful river with long sweeping turns and wide areas of marsh laid out to the tree-lined shores.  We saw lots of beavers hard at work on their dams to maintain the water levels for the river.  When the beavers would spot us they would let go of the branch or log they were swimming with, flap their tail in the water, and with a big splash disappear under the water surface.  Closer to Stuart Lake we flushed quite a few ducks and even saw a loon couple calling to us.

A happy couple arriving to Stuart Lake!

After arriving to Stuart Lake we watched the falls for a bit where the river enters.  I had watched several YouTube trip reports where people walk through the falls to cool down but it would not be the case today as the heavy rains over the weekend had the falls flowing violently today.

We paddled off onto the lake and made the ~1 mile trip over to the campsite that the previous group had told us about.  At around 4:30 pm we landed and unpacked our gear, it was definitely a 5-star site!  We setup the tent and made a Mountain House meal of pasta for supper.  We filtered water and re-hydrated after the long trip.  We retired early to the tent and laid there to relax and read our books.  I read Sigurd Olson's book "Reflections from North Country" which he wrote just a few years before his death.  Sigurd Olson was a environmentalist and champion for many places in the North.  He helped draft the Wilderness Act for Congress which would protect the BWCA and also helped getting the Arctic Wildlife Refugee designated for protection.  He spent much of his life in the BWCA and you can still go visit his cabin if you are in the Ely area.  Reading his words while relaxing in the BWCA filled them with much more meaning for me.

We later sat on the shore and watched a spectacular Boundary Waters sunset on a clear summer evening, it surely had been a great day!  We spent the night listening to all the loons on the lake calling each other, there is nothing better!  It brought back many memories from being a kid laying in my Grandparent's cabin on Lake Vermillion with the windows open and enjoying the loon music all night.

Anne takes in sunset on Stuart Lake

Day 2 - June 19, 2018 Stuart Lake

We had planned to spend the day on Stuart Lake relaxing and exploring the area.  It had been a long day yesterday and it was nice to rest physically and mentally.  Our sunrise was 5:06 am for the week with sunset at 8:47 pm. We certainly had lots of sun at almost 17-1/2 hours of visible daylight.  We awoke by 6:00 am to temps in the 40's and the sun beating in the tent and calling us up.  We got a campfire going and made a delicious breakfast of farm fresh eggs, english muffins, and of course MN's own SPAM!  Anne will never admit it, but she did enjoy the fire cooked SPAM that morning.  We sipped our coffee and watched the wildlife activity around us.  One other campsite had been occupied by a young family and we watched them paddle over to the portage to Fox Lake, we were now the only ones on the lake and it would stay that way for the day.  It was exciting and at the same time unnerving to have a 250 acre lake and surrounding forest all to ourselves, only the BWCA can provide this.

Anne enjoys the best cup of coffee, one in the BWCA

Early morning on Stuart Lake

Around 9:30 am with full bellies of coffee and breakfast we set the canoe in the water and headed for the Western shore of the lake.  It was a 1 mile paddle across the lake, which was as smooth as glass, and we watched the ripples flow as the canoe cut through the surface.  Ahead of us a couple of trumpeter swans floated across our bow, they were beautiful to watch and we would see many more pairs on this trip.

Anne paddles across Stuart Lake

Arrival at the Dahlgren River portage entry

We planned to hike the portage from Stuart Lake to Dahlgren River, which has a nice set of falls on the river side.  Some people have said this to be the nicest portage in all the BWCA with the falls, old growth pine trees towering overhead, and a soft bed of pine needles to walk on.  After enjoying this hike with Anne, I don't disagree.

The sun cuts through a newly fallen old growth pine

The force and beauty of nature

The falls into Dahlgren River

After our hike we got back in the canoe and paddled over to a nearby point for a picnic lunch and water break.  I used my Sven saw to gather firewood while Anne hauled it to the canoe.  We got enough for a nice campfire that evening and to leave some extra behind for the next visitors to that campsite.  It tends to be an unspoken rule to leave some cut firewood for the next party in camp so if they arrive late or it is raining, they have one less camp chore to take care of.  We were happy to arrive to our sites with fire wood and then leave some behind.

We paddled back to camp in a nice breeze and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing with reading, paddling around the bay fishing, and just enjoying a silent day on the lake.  That evening I prepared a campfire while Anne tried her luck again at fishing off the point.  A combination of fishing the wrong time of day, clear sunny days, and bad luck yielded us no fish on Stuart Lake.  We should have been out fishing early in the mornings and later in the evenings with the weather.

Lounging around camp

Anne fishes from camp

A perfect canoe landing for a campsite

For dinner I made pizza quesadillas over the fire and Anne made rice with veggies.  We ate more than we needed but didn't regret making the pack lighter to carry the next day.  We cleaned up camp, filtered water, and got ready for an early start on Wednesday.  After all our chores we sat by the campfire as daylight faded away around 10:00 pm.  It had been another great day and we felt rested and ready to explore new areas the next day.

Enjoying the last of daylight on Stuart Lake

Its called fishing, not catching

A garter snake that startled us while we fished

A 5 star view

Dinner by campfire

 Day 3 - June 20, 2018 Stuart Lake to Lake Agnes (via Fox, Dark, Rush, Iron, & Lac La Croix Lakes)

The alarm was set for 5:30 am but we were up before it listening to the birds singing their morning harmony.  We packed up the tent and our gear before enjoying a breakfast of oatmeal and pop tarts.  Anne's father would visit Quetico/BWCA every summer and we enjoyed using his oatmeal recipe for the trip.  He passed away in 2016 of cancer but we knew he was smiling as we enjoyed the Boundary Waters together on this trip.

Saying goodbye to Stuart Lake

Our original plan had been to travel to Iron Lake today and setup camp, but with the good weather we knew that would be easily achieved by lunchtime.  We decided we would go over to Lac La Croix and spend the night in Boulder Bay where fishing might be good and set us up for a nice paddle on Thursday.  In the Boundary Waters you have to be flexible because weather, campsite availability, or gear malfunctions can all affect plans.

The first portage from Stuart to Fox Lake is 280 rods.  Knowing we wanted to push ahead today I decided to try and single portage with both the canoe and Duluth pack on my shoulders.  This really was not easy as our large, aptly named "Paul Bunyan" pack weighed about 75 pounds filled with our gear, and I trudged along slowly.  When I got to 250 rods I came to a big uphill section and decided to drop the canoe and come back for it.  It was a good idea as over the hill was a creek flowing across the trail to the marsh and we had to carefully make our way over a couple of logs.  We got everything to Fox Lake when Anne realized her sunglasses fell off somewhere.  She went back for them and I prepared the canoe.  Fox, Rush, and Dark lakes are all small but were beautiful this morning as the sun came through the trees.  We saw tons of wildlife on this stretch, especially grouse.  One grouse sat on the trail until I was almost on top of it, I had to shout to get it to take off in the woods.

Portaging on a nice morning

Anne crosses the logs on portage to Fox Lake

Fox Lake says Good Morning!

We paddled quickly across Fox and made the 65 rod portage to Rush Lake.  After Rush is a 70 rod portage to Dark Lake.  When we arrived to Dark Lake we saw two loons just off the shore searching for breakfast.  They would dive down every once and a while and come up snacking on fish.  We watched for almost 20 minutes and then decided to get in the canoe and paddle by them.  They were not afraid of us and let us get within a couple hundred feet as we paddled by.  We slowly floated watching them even longer.  I don't think there is a more beautiful bird to watch with the black head highlighted with red eyes, a bright white breast and underbelly, and finally the array of black and white feathers.  I had always believed loons mated for life but recently read they will find a new mate if theirs is lost due to death or territory.  I have also read their closest living relatives are penguins (makes sense why you don't see them in the South)!  Loon pairs also will gain the territory of a smaller lake like Dark Lake and keep others out.  On bigger lakes like Stuart, pairs of them will control the various bays.

Loons on Dark Lake

I think we spent almost an hour on Dark Lake enjoying the loon show and slow paddle across.  It was truly a special hour taking in the sights with no place to be except there.  As we approached the portage we saw a man arriving and dropping his gear from the end of the trail.  We paddled up and said Good Morning, it was the first person we had talked with since Monday morning on Stuart River.  Shortly after his Dad came with the canoe.  They had gone in the previous week to Mudro Lake and were going to spend the day on Stuart before leaving down the river on Thursday.  It was enjoyable to listen to their stories as they had been coming for 20 years as Father/Son.  They drove 12 hours to get there but don't miss a summer without getting to the BWCA.  The 2 of them were carrying a 60 litre food barrel which looked impressive compared to our 30 l.  We talked for a bit about camp recipes which they recommended a red lentil they used on this trip.  We said good bye as we set off up the trail and they paddled across Dark Lake.

It was a relatively short 90 rod portage to enter into Iron Lake.  Iron Lake is a large lake at over 1500 acres which borders Canada to the north.  A couple of impressive falls at Curtain and Rebecca flow water north of Iron into Quetico.  Being a larger lake the winds often affect it and can make paddling difficult or not possible some days.  We were amazed as we got to Iron to only see a slight ripple making its way across.  We had about a 1-1/2 mile paddle to our first portage to bypass the more popular route through Bottle River.  We made the paddle in no time and were ready for the 320 and 67 rod portages to get into Lac La Croix and find a campsite.  It was only just after noon and and we looked forward to making camp earlier in the day.

Portage to Iron Lake

The first portage off Iron Lake is a 326 rod beast.  It was getting warm and we were getting tired at this point.  Anne and I again decided we would try and single portage this except I would take her light Superior Wilderness pack with the canoe and she would take the Duluth Pack.  She was one tough cookie and got that Duluth Pack all the way to the beaver swamp.  For the first time in the trip I broke out my mosquito net because the deerflies and mosquitoes were hanging in the swamp areas.  At around 250 rod you come to a large beaver swamp.  It took us a few moments to figure out where we were supposed to cross but finally figured it out.  When you come from Iron instead of going straight to the pond you take a right and there is a trail through the edge of the treeline.  It is rocky but you can see the general path of around 15-20 rods.  This brings you back further along the swamp and there are some logs out into the swamp to avoid the soft mud.  Looking across and to your right there is a beaver house which not far behind it is a couple of large white rocks.  Shoot for behind the beaver house and find the rocks, you should be able to see the portage by now.

As we neared the logs to cross we saw a couple of parties across the pond.  We waited for them to cross in their 2 canoes and helped them get ashore.  It was 3 dads with their Boy Scout sons from Illinois up on a week long trip.  They were doing a day trip from Boulder Bay to see Rebecca Falls on Iron Lake.  We talked for a while about their experiences and they informed us they were staying at 2 of the 3 campsites on Boulder Bay.  The other one they mentioned had a group leaving it this morning.  We now had a little motivation to try and get to Boulder Bay to secure that campsite.

Beaver swamp on Portage from Iron to Boulder Bay

Log dock at beaver swamp

Out of the swamp

Lac la Croix and the Ranger Sation/boathouse, one of few structures in the BWCA

We finished the remainder of the portage from the beaver pond and made it to Lac la Croix for a water break as it was heating up.  We paddled across the small bay and by the ranger station to the last 67 rod portage to Boulder Bay.  Once on Boulder Bay we went past the first campsite that was occupied by the Scouts and saw their hammocks and tents setup.  We paddled to the second campsite which we were told to be open, but unfortunately saw a tent and gear already setup either by the group which didn't leave or another group that paddled in this morning.  Anne and I both looked at each other with a little disappointment and we stopped paddling.  We had previously discussed this situation and had decided on heading down to Lake Agnes.  Lake Agnes has 17+ campsites on spread out across this larger lake.  The only downside is the lake at over 1200 acres, you can spend miles and miles of paddling to find an open campsite if it is busy.  I also didn't mention to Anne that I had read trip reports from Lake Agnes over Memorial Day weekend where every site was occupied.  We paddled on and hit the portage out of Boulder Bay.  Boulder Bay is aptly named with huge boulders sitting just under the water line, and being in the front of the canoe Anne had to be very aware as we crossed carefully.

Portage off Boulder Bay

Saying goodbye to Lac la Croix

The first portage off Lac la Croix heading south is 69 rods.  This is the point in our trip where we went from areas with low traffic to more heavily used areas.  This was first noticeable at this portage where someone left their lifestraw and another left their tackle box.  In the BWCA most things you carry are to help you survive and leaving something like a lifestraw at a portage is very careless.  Luckily the water in the BWCA is for the most part clean enough to drink without filtering, by why put yourself in that situation?  We hung it up on a tree branch in the hopes that the owner would spot it quickly if they came back.

After a short paddle there is a very short 19 rod portage to Lake Agnes.  It was a cool rocky trail up over a set of falls.  Anne again took the Duluth Pack so we could single portage and get to Lake Agnes.

Last portage of the day!

Thanks Duluth Pack for making the Paul Bunyan!

We got onto the north end of Lake Agnes and by this time it was well into the 80's and no clouds in the sky.  The sun reflected off the water only making our paddle seem that much warmer.  We had now been paddling or portaging for over 8 hours and were ready to rest.  It was decided to go down the west shoreline to get a campsite with shade from the evening sun on this warmer day.  We inspected the first campsite and it was really in rough shape, we made the joint decision to paddle on.  The next two sites were both occupied and now we were wondering if we made the wrong decision.  The heat had gotten to us both, we had stopped talking and knew we just had to keep paddling.  We arrived to a campsite that was unoccupied and it looked perfect (#1793).  We pulled on shore and got into the shade.  Anne took a break to cool off while I floated out a bit to filter water as alot of debris was washing up on this shoreline.

A perfect campsite open for us!

After setting up camp and relaxing for a while we went out to fish for about an hour and a half, but again no luck with the fish this evening.  We headed back to camp and got a nice campfire going and collected up some more firewood.  For dinner we were starving and I ate an entire potato side, pasta side, and the last pizza quesadilla.  Anne made rice and veggies and we munched on snacks.  Later in the evening we sat by the campfire eating dark chocolate and sipped scotch.  It had been a long day but what a trip it was to reflect on!

Packed away for the night

Our last BWCA campfire on this trip

 Day 4 - June 21, 2018 Lake Agnes to Moose River EP16  (via Nina Moose River, Nina Moose Lake, Moose River)  Summer Solstice

We were up early in anticipation of a cold beer in Ely and getting to my parent's to see them and the kids.  We packed up and took a little extra time with breakfast to enjoy the sun coming up over Lake Agnes.

We paddled off headed to the south end of Lake Agnes and into the Nina Moose River.  The Nina Moose River is also wide with marshes on both sides and a nice set of falls at the first portage.  We took extra time watching the lily pads and the beautiful yellow flowers growing up from the river bed.

Flowers on the Nina Moose River

A great day to be on the river

At the first portage we ran into a group of 4 from Moorehead going up to Boulder Bay after spending the night on Nina Moose.  The group included 3 generations and the oldest of the group who I guess to be in his 80's had been coming to this area twice a summer since he was a teenager.  He was a pleasure to talk to and listen to stories, time slipped away on that portage!  We continued to see groups of 4-6 heading in from Moose River which has a daily permit allotment of 7 groups.  One group was a Dad and his 3 sons from Illinois on a 4-person canoe, that didn't look fun to try and turn on the river.

Portage from Nina Moose

Impressive falls

We had a nice paddle across Nina Moose Lake as the sun continued to rise in the sky and warm up.  Getting onto the Moose River was a nice sight.  It is a narrow and very twisty river.  Anne and I had our work cut out for us getting our longer Wenonah Minnesota II around all the corners.  We continued the portages and saw group #7 coming in right as we left the river.  It was a bittersweet day to leave but we were also excited to see the kids.

After hitting the parking lot and loading the canoe, we drove down the Echo Trail back to Ely where we would stop at the Ely Steakhouse for fish fry, a big burger, and cold beers.  It was well earned and we were grateful for the cold beverages after drinking lake water all week!!  We followed it up with a trip to Save The Boundary Waters headquarters in Ely to make a donation for their fight in the ongoing protection of this wilderness.

We may have eaten it all ;)

It was an amazing trip and went very smoothly.  Proper planning is key to making sure you have all the necessary gear, along with an open mind to adapt as nature throws things your way.  We had a great time reconnecting as a couple after 10 years of marriage and getting away from the kids for a few days, although we missed them much.  Getting away from technology, the daily race, and being around few, if any people does wonders for the mind, and should not be underestimated.  There are not many places you can go anymore without Wi-Fi, this is the most special of them all.

The Boundary Waters is a special place in our world and should be experienced at least once in your life.  I also encourage you to check out Save The Boundary Waters and learn a little more of what we can do to keep this place protected.  For the 17,000+ years it has been around, it has only been protected for 40 years and will also feel pressure for development within and outside its borders.

Happy Paddling and Keep Adventuring!

Andrew & Anne

In Memory of Mike Kelly

for sharing his love of the Boundary Waters with us.