Boundary Water Blow-out

We have survived our Boundary Waters adventure. We arrived at Hungry Jack Outfitters on Friday afternoon to get organized and prepare for our trip. We went back to the same outfitter we used about 14 years ago. David and Nancy, the owners, are still there and doing a great job. They are centrally located about a half hour drive north of Grand Marais in a beautiful area surrounded by lakes which offer lots of trip options. They have top notch equipment and great facilities to base from. Check out their web site if you are ever interested in making a trip: www.hjo.com

We had originally planned to paddle a big loop of lakes right along the Canadian boarder, but shortly after setting out we realized this would involve a lot more effort than we were really up for. The scale of the lakes up here are not what we're used too - even the smallest lakes seem considerably larger than the lakes we typically go to in the Adirondacks. So, we modified plans and decided to base ourselves on Clearwater Lake, make some shorter excursions and loop back to Hungry Jack's a shorter way.

This option allowed us to explore some of the local attractions such as Johnson Falls, located only three lakes and portages away from our campsite. It was a bit of work to get there, but definitely worth it.

The next day we headed over to, Gagebic Lake, a nice small lake where we had the fortune to get the only campsite on it. This whole area of the boundary waters is known for its beautiful cliffs and dramatic terrain, making it an interesting place to explore, but also makes for some challenging portages over the steep trails between lakes. Moving the boat was actually the easier part of the portages - those packs we're just too heavy - maybe we should have opted for the one liter wine box instead of the three liter!

Our second night out the wind began to blow - and that pretty much defined the rest of the trip. We portaged back over to one of the larger lakes the next morning, hoping to do some paddling, but nearly got blown out of the boat. We went to the side of the lake to see if it would calm down, but it just kept blowing. Finally, we gritted our teeth and paddled directly into the wind, fighting for every yard of forward progress.

We finally made it back to a campsite on Clearwater Lake and set up out of the wind as much as possible. We figured the wind would have to die down sometime , so we would just wait it out. The next morning it was still blowing hard, but we set out anyway, hoping it would be calmer on some of the other lakes... it was not! We spent nine hours of fierce paddling though several chains of lakes. We were totally exhausted and eventually got blown on shore while trying to round a point. Fortunately, there was a campsite nearby, so we didn't hesitate to stop for the day.

We still had three lakes to cross to get out, but the weather still had not improved by morning. We just did not have it in us to get back in the boat. As luck would have it, the campsite was located on a trail that would lead us to a road where we could call to get picked up. Looking at the whitecaps on the water we decided this was the safer option. We carried the boat and all the gear out in one trip (the wine was gone by this point), found a phone, and David was there to get us within an hour. We were quite relieved to be out of the woods. It was not the most relaxing of trips, but quite the adventure.

After cleaning up, we packed up the car and headed south to the Twin Cities to visit old friends from Peace Corps days. It was really great to catch up after 21 years. Thanks Sonja and Jim for your great hospitality... not to mention, food, bed, shower, washing machine, and internet.

The next stop is Calgary and the Canadian Rockies, stay posted.