BWCA Trip - August 2014 Part 1
Day 1 (8/16/14)
Got up bright and early for this exciting adventure! My little sister came to pick up the dogs - we hit the road right after!
Actually, we had to gas up the Escape aka Mystic Thunder, and I forgot to get my FitBit then we had to go back so I could submit an assignment (for my Master's degree). Finally we headed out of town on our 5 hour journey! There was tons of construction, several cuts down to one lane and even a detour. Gets a little sketchy with bad cell service. But we made it.
We are staying at Hungry Jack Outfitters. Its a little place right on Hungry Jack Lake, run by a couple, Dave and Nancy. I think they've been here for about 20 years! They are fully outfitting us. Food, gear, and planning. Pretty awesome since this is our 1st time up here.
The place is right off of the Gunflint trail, it used to be a railroad for logging. The trees are so dense and green! Dave and Nancy were really nice, walking us through everything. We really want to see some cool things, so Dave directed us to some cool waterfalls. I'm working on not planning too much as things can change quickly around here and I'm on vacation! I want to see where this adventure takes us!
Day 2 (8/17/14 7am)
Woke up around 6:30 to a chilly, crisp morning. The temp is in the high 40's! Glad we brought long underwear. Last night a bigger group came in and was quite loud, but we managed to get to sleep around 10:30-11:00. HJO has great facilities, so we were able to take a nice warm shower before we embarked on our journey.
Day2 (8/17/14 10pm)
We are beat! we got on the water at around 9am at Clearwater Lake. It's a long narrow lake, running W to NE then E. There were two campsites Dave recommended: one about 3.5 miles in from our West drop point and the other 5 miles to the East end! The morning started out kind of windy, and was quite over cast. We passed the 3.5 mile spot and headed for the last campsite on the lake. But Dave was right, it's the best so it was already taken. So we headed back to the 1st campsite. It was really nice, had a large bluff looking E over the lake. It's quite large too, having 3 good sun spots, a fire pit on top of the ridge, and a couple nice flat spots for our tent. We saw quite a few people as we canoed through Clearwater lake going to all of the different portages to pass to another lake. Since all of the lakes are so close, you can theoretically end up where ever there is a site on any lake! We ate lunch and planned our next moves.
We decided to try our luck going to one of the falls Dave recommended, Johnson Falls. The falls are tucked in W of Pine Lake. To get there from our base camp we needed to travel E on Clearwater, turning S into a bay to portage 200 rods to Caribou Lake then head E to portage 25 rods to Little Caribou Lake continuing to head E until you see a small 80 rod portage on the SE side to get to Pine. Once on Pine its a short 2 minute paddle to the trail. The trail was awesome! A bit muddy but well worth it.
As we followed the creek that was produced by the falls, we zig zagged left and right and up and down. Since we left the canoe, I got to see so much more! Also we only had about 5.5 hours to do it to ensure that we would be back before dark! So we walked or portaged 610 rods and about 320 rods = 1 mile. And we paddled about 4 additional miles! Needless to say we felt rushed, its a lot of paddling in the wind as well but once we got there it was spectacular! Big wide and about 20 feet fall. There was a large pool at its base. I stripped down to my underwear and went for an ice bath! Jess and I ate our snack and then decided to go back.
The way "home" was so much easier! No wind and crystal clear water, what else do you need? No more portages that's what! The 200 rods from Caribou to Clearwater was a PAIN! When we were coming into Caribou we had to stop two times because it was so demanding. But the wilderness rewarded us not with just an awesome waterfall; when we got back on Clearwater making our way to camp, I noticed a large head on some rocks in the middle of the bay, I had no idea what it was until we got closer. Turns out it was a monsterous eagle! Not sure what kind as it was speckled black and white. He flew away after we got some good photos (it was so quiet out there that you could hear his wings as the took off) then right after he was out of sight two loons started hooting and calling thinking two other loons were responding because of their echo coming off of the rocks cutting through the landscape!
What a great day.