For my second paddling trip to the boundary waters, I wanted to go further and stay longer than the first time. I also wanted to enter on the Ely side and hopefully catch some walleyes for dinner. For this trip, I would leave my sons at home.
With the pandemic in mind, the group was kept small. It was just me and my longest standing paddling friend, Sergey. It was his first trip to the boundary waters. He wanted to do a loop trip. I proposed the Sioux Hustler Loop (14-2 from the Beymer book), which is listed as a six day loop.
This trip is named “A Walk In The Woods” because of all the walking in the woods we did. When taking into account the double portaging and all the paddling, we traveled a total of 67 miles in six days (tracked via GPS watch). (21 of those miles were on portage trails calculated from Fisher F16).
We stayed the night before at Motel Ely. I bought a pound of leeches and kept them in the motel fridge over night. After a quick stop at the Holiday gas station the next morning, we started the drive to the Echo Trail and entry point 14 at 7:01 am. We reached Little Indian Sioux North after about an hour of driving along a mostly gravel road.
The trip starts with a portage to the water’s edge. As we launched we noticed a group setting down an Alumacraft canoe beside the landing.
We proceeded down the river under sunny skies. We passed a few groups of canoeists making their exit. They were all pleasant and many encouraged us to enjoy our trip.
We reflected on our paddling history together as we were under way. It had started exactly four years prior on a father’s day trip that was led by the local forest preserve district. Since that time we had paddled several day trips on local rivers and done at least four overnight trips on the Lower Wisconsin River. Now, here we were, answering the call and visiting the canoeist’s mecca.
The paddling continued with minimal obstacles until reaching the 160 rod portage out of Lower Pauness Lake. This would be the longest and last portage of the day. This trail passes by a rapids known as Devil’s Cascade. There is a camp site just off the portage near the rapids. It was occupied as we passed by.
As we proceeded north up the Little Indian Sioux River, we came to a beaver dam. There was no obvious way through the dam. We pulled over to the rocky shore on our left and unloaded the boat. Using the uneven footing of mostly wet rocks we pulled the canoe and heavy packs over the beaver dam and continued on our way.
The river opens up into a large border lake that allows motor boats, Loon Lake. About the time we passed the third camp site on Loon Lake, we noticed the clouds darkening. Then it began to rain gently. We donned our rain jackets and kept paddling. Then thunder was heard and we decided we could not be on the lake in an electrical storm.
We made a hard right turn for a sandy beach on the shore. We landed the canoe and quickly got out onto shore. I pulled out my tarp and began looking for a place to string up a ridge line. By this time the rain began to let up. The shower passed over. I estimate it rained for about 15 minutes.
We pushed on to Little Loon Lake where motors are once again banned. We noticed that the southern camp site was open as we headed for our intended camp sit on the north shore of the lake. The camp site was open. We decided to name this camp site “Beach Resort” because there was a sandy beach area that would make a nice place to go swimming.
After setting up camp, I started to fish from shore using a slip bobber and leech. I got a bite fairly soon, it turned out to be a small mouth bass that was too small to eat. Not that I wanted to clean a fish anyway. I was tired because I usually don’t paddle so far in one day.
I baited up again and cast the rig back out. Eventually, I noticed my slip bobber take a decided right turn in a way that could not have been caused by the wave action of the lake. I decided to check my line. The fish immediately began pulling drag. I knew I had something big on the line because I had set the drag after catching the first fish.
This was bigger. In fact, it was the biggest small mouth bass, or biggest bass of any kind, that I have ever caught in my life. I don’t know exactly how big or long it was because I left my scale and measuring tape at home. There was plenty of room in its gaping maw for me to use my needle nose pliers to release the fish back into the lake to fight another day.
The first fish was too small to eat. The second fish was too big to eat. Would we find just the right size eater fish on this trip?
My trip partner was able to process fire wood using his saw and hatchet from a log that was already in camp. This site was not picked over with plenty of birch bark within easy reach of the camp site. We sat by a nice campfire as we enjoyed the quietness of the lake that had no other people on it. The only noises were the crackling of the fire and the singing of the birds.
The night ended toasting to father’s day around a camp fire on a quiet lake. If I could do anything I wanted on a father’s day, this year I chose paddling and fishing.
This day’s travel started with what we named the “Good Morning Portage.” This is the 173 rod portage from Little Loon Lake to Slim Lake. It has a bit of a reputation. We found out that it deserves this reputation. This was now our longest portage of the trip and after crossing it we found ourselves in a bug laden swamp. We did a map check (Fisher F-16) and it looked like smooth paddling all the way to the portage into South Lake.
At the narrows on the north end of Slim we came to a beaver dam with about a 4 foot drop. My partner got out of the canoe to scout the situation. We started to prepare and unload the boat to pull over the dam. However, something didn’t look right. I consulted the GPS app on my phone. It showed a portage on the left. I checked the True North map of the area. It also shows a portage to the left.
While we were contemplating our next move, a black animal scampered across the beaver dam. It scurried along the shore and disappeared into the woods. I can’t say why for certain but this creature seemed to have a cheerful attitude. I am pretty sure it was a pine marten.
Back in the canoe, we found the portage of about 47 rods and put back into the narrows and crossed South Lake and found the hardest portage of the trip. This portage was 120 rods, shorter than the good morning portage. It is more than length that makes a portage difficult. This portage also had a reputation. According to the reputation, we were about to cross it in the wrong direction. Wrong because in our direction the narrow trail was almost directly up hill for the entire 120 rods. At the end of this portage, I opened my portage pack and set up my camp chair. We stopped for a 30 minute break. I dipped my bandanna in the lake and wiped my face
In contrast to the first day we had not seen anyone all day. We continued what we called “lake hopping” and we saw what we thought was a green tarp at a camp site on Eugene Lake. On the portage to Little Beartrack Lake, I started to feel a second wind. We paddled and portaged until reaching Beartrack Lake.
We found a camp site on Beartrack Lake. The camp site was over grown and looked like it had not been used recently. Although it had a substandard fire grate, it was good enough for the night. We were exhausted at this point anyway. We didn’t really have the energy for a campfire. We each had a dehydrated meal for dinner.
We both agreed that this was the farthest from civilization that we had been. Three days out into the wilderness in either direction with no cell phone service to call somebody if things went wrong.
The clouds looked threatening. We set up a tarp and it started to rain before the sun was fully set. We decided to call it and go to bed early and get some rest. It was clear we needed an easier day tomorrow.
We had camped on Beartrack Lake in order to hit the 200 rod portage to Thumb Lake on fresh legs. It was another good morning portage. The camp site on Thumb Lake was occupied as we paddled passed.
The strongest head wind of the trip awaited us after the up and over to Finger Lake. As we got out into the more open section of the lake it was time to cinch down my hat and face the waves. We dug hard into the water and made slow inch worm like progress. I could see some white caps on the lake. Looking at the wave action was a little unsettling. However, our ride was dry and the boat felt steady. We were paddling straight ahead into the waves. The bow of the Kevlar Canadienne was cutting the on coming waves like a sharp knife, as if Ralph Frese had designed it for this express purpose.
We considered stopping on Finger Lake to get some more rest. To that end, we checked out an elevated site on an island. It made a good lunch spot but ultimately it didn’t feel like the right site.
We decided to move on. The wind had abated and the rest of the lake was somewhat less exposed. It felt good to make steady progress with every paddle stroke. It is nice when the boat moves in response to your efforts instead of feeling like you are at a stand still.
The 90 rod portage into Pocket Lake was rather scenic. We were in for a treat as we paddled Finger Creek. After awhile, I caught the strong scent of the north woods. People asked me after my first trip if I remember the smell of the pine forest. All I could say was that the air smelled fresh. Somewhere in the middle of Finger Creek, the smell hit me full force. It seemed to me to be a mixture of cedar and pine, the kind of scent that you pay extra for to have in your soap.
Almost immediately after reaching the second site on our left on Pocket Lake, we decided to take our first swim of the trip. I am not much of a swimmer but I got my head under the cool water a couple of times and rinsed myself in the lake. It was very refreshing.
Gray clouds blew in and we started setting up a tarp next to the fire grate. This required some rock and stick work because there were no close trees by the exposed fire pit area. As we were busy with this, a group of four in two Alumacraft canoes paddled by. I exchanged a hand wave with one of the canoes.
We later saw this group leave Pocket Lake via Pocket Creek and surmised that they had been the group that put in after us on day one of our trip. In the end our efforts with the tarp served to ward off the clouds because it didn’t end up raining that night. Although, we did have a handful of rain drops from the gray clouds before they blew over entirely.
With camp set up, it was time to make use of the leeches I had been toting along. I had carried this live bait over 14 portages so far. I refreshed the water in the leech locker after almost every one of those portages. “Take care of your bait and it will take care of you” is the motto of the bait fisherman.
There was a path down the shore from our camp site that led to a nice drop off. I grabbed my camp chair and fished it for awhile with no bites. I returned to camp to fish from shore. Eventually, I noticed some action on my slip bobber. Picking up my rod and reeling, I had hooked into an eater size small mouth bass.
This bass would become Ukha (Russian Fish Soup). This traditional soup has been made for thousands of years and makes use of almost the entire fish. It starts with simmering, over the camp fire, the head and tail (leaving some meat on the tail) into a fish stock. My partner had carried out fresh carrot, onion and potato to add to the soup as well as a dried seasoning packet. He had memorized the recipe. All in the hopes of fishing success. The planning and preparation was rewarded.
The stock was simmered, sliced carrots and potatoes were added at the right time. The sliced onion was sauteed in a frying pan and added to the soup. Two teaspoons of seasoning were added. Finally, the fish fillets were cut into bite size pieces and added in the last five minutes
We toasted to what we deemed a perfect day in the boundary waters. As we enjoyed the traditional before dinner drink, we sat looking out over our camp fire to see a spectacular view of an empty Pocket Lake.
Made with fresh ingredients and the freshest fish, this was the best meal I ever had in the boundary waters.
Pocket Lake to Oyster Lake (~9.4 miles avg 2.3mph src:Garmin GPS Watch)
Weather Sunny during the day rained at night 53 to 76 F
Group Size 2 people in one canoe: Rand and Sergey Old Town Canadienne
Start Time ~8:30 am End Time ~2 pm
Today started with a flooded portage that we could paddle across to reach Pocket Creek. As we paddled down the small channel next to abundant lily pads we passed a solo canoeist who was going the other way.
As we approached the portage in to Gebeonequet we could hear rushing water and we pulled up short in an excess of caution, not wanting to miss the portage. Our pause allowed another solo canoeist to pass by and show the way to the portage. We were happy to let him cross first. He told us that he had already been camping for a week and planned to spend another week. He regaled us with tales of catching lake trout on Fat Lake and Gun Lake, planting a seed of hope for success at our destination lake for the day, Oyster.
We paddled and portaged down Green and Rocky Lakes passing a couple of groups headed north as we made our way to Oyster. Once on Oyster we stopped to check out the peninsula site. This was the first site we came to. It had the kind of landing we came to prefer, a sloping granite rock that we could land parallel to. There was so much space available at the site we named it “Tent City.
After setting up camp it was time to rest up for awhile. Before long the inescapable thought came to my mind that we were on a lake with a lake trout population and we would regret not attempting to catch some. After the previous night’s fish stew, we were in the mood for another fish dinner. A plan was formed to troll for lake trout. If that didn’t work out we would fish the evening bite for smallies using a slip bobber and leech.
I rigged my pole with a purple descent deep diving tail dancer from Rapala rated to go 20 feet deep. My trip partner rigged a large spoon. For this trolling session, I would be in the stern and he would be in the bow. As we launched on the shallow side of the peninsula we immediately noticed how differently the unloaded canoe handled. It seemed twitchy and tippy after all those miles under load.
We trolled down the peninsula and as we made the sweeping left turn around the point, I reeled in my lure not wanting to risk a snag. We then trolled down the deep side of the peninsula keeping our distance from shore. As we neared the end of the lake, we decided to make a large U turn and head back. The trolling continued. My feet started to cramp as I stuck to paddling one side without switching to maintain my lure on one side of the canoe. We started to discuss heading back to camp. To get there we would make a sweeping right turn around the point of the peninsula. As we were making the turn, my partner noticed the tell tale twitch in the end of his rod. FISH ON!
I can only describe what happened next as several minutes of canoe country chaos. How many minutes? I don’t know because I was completely absorbed by the events unfolding in front of me. We had let out a lot of line to troll this deep lake. My bow man definitely had a fish on but my line had gone under the boat and was causing problems. My partner tried to move my line out of his way and it got snagged on his life jacket. I was waiting for him to reel in while thinking that it was probable that our lines were tangled because I was getting weird action on my line corresponding to his efforts to reel in.
In actuality, though I didn’t realize it, we had a double. Based on the location, depth, and lures we were using we had each hooked into a lake trout. My friend continued to reel in as the fish pulled on his line and put a bend in his rod. Finally, his fish bit off the line and was lost. Whatever it was, it proved stronger than the six pound mono filament my friend had been using to hide his line from keen sighted lake trout.
With his line in, I decided to reel in my line. The big Rapala I was using creates a lot of drag so I still wasn’t sure that I had a fish on the end of my line. I eventually reeled in enough line to see the tell tale signs of a fish. I was able to get the fish close to the boat and lift it into the canoe.
We made another trolling pass and tried drifting and letting the wind push us. We eventually called it with one fish on the stringer.
The lake trout was pan fried in clarified butter over a camp fire. It was accompanied by a fresh potato and lemon that had been carried for just such an occasion. We ate the trout skin and all easily picking the bones out of the cooked fish.
That night the skies were clear. We sat around the camp fire late enough to see the stars, past 10:30 pm. We were even able to use my friend’s binoculars to see the craters of the moon through the clear night sky.
Day Five (6-25-20)
Oyster Lake to Little Shell Lake (~10.8 miles avg 2.2mph src:Garmin GPS Watch)
Weather Sunny during the day rained at night 47 to 82 F
Group Size 2 people in one canoe: Rand and Sergey Old Town Canadienne
We had saved the two longest portages on our route for the end of the trip. This allowed us to practice our portaging skills. We were glad we chose this direction of travel. Each portage was close to a mile long.
The first portage listed as 310 rods we named a “Walk in the Park.” We encouraged each other by repeating this phrase as we carried our burdens down the narrow foot path. This portage had a muddy swampy section where prior travelers had laid logs across the mud to provide some relief from the grim possibility of losing a shoe. We also used my friend’s GPS enabled watch to divide the portage in half. That allowed us to each take a turn carrying the canoe.
The second portage listed as 280 rods we name a “Walk in the Woods.” This turned out to be the easier portage (where easier is a relative term). We shared the canoe as before. As I shouldered the load of the food packs along the final stretch of the portage echoes of a past that has been mostly forgotten began to play out in my head. Part of a marching cadence looped in my mind. It goes like this, “I used to drive a Chevrolet, now I’m marching every day. I used to drive a Cadillac, now I pack it on my back.”
We put in on Lynx Lake hoping to grab a site that was on our way back to our entry point. We saw that three of the five camp sites were occupied. As we proceeded to Little Shell we passed a group out for a day of fishing. They informed us they were camped at the far end of the lake. That added up to four of the five sites taken. I inquired about the site on Little Shell and they said it was open.
We took the site on Little Shell. After we unloaded the canoe, I set up my camp chair in the shade. I was sapped of energy and the sun was beating down. No wonder, looking back this turned out to be the hottest day of the trip. After a nice rest, I followed my friend into the lake to refresh myself in the cool lake water.
Something strange happened next. There was a large snake that seemed to live in the rocks around the fire grate. It was kind of freaky and disturbing as it slithered under my legs and straight into the rocks while we were standing around talking. It then hid or ran away when we weren’t looking. We later determined that there are no venomous snakes that occur naturally in the boundary waters. Also, the snake we saw was a garter snake.
I set up a tarp because we saw gray clouds in the distance. As the wind settled down, I wasn’t sure if it was going to rain or not. However, during the night it rained off and on a few times. The tarp kept our gear dry and held up to the winds.
Little Shell Lake to Little Indian Sioux North Entry Point (~12.2 miles avg 2.3mph src:Garmin GPS Watch)
Weather Sunny during the day rained at night 64 to 81 F
Group Size 2 people in one canoe: Rand and Sergey Old Town Canadienne
Start Time ~11 am End Time ~6 pm
We slept in the longest of any day of the trip, until about 9 am I think. After a breakfast of coffee and oatmeal we packed up camp.
We decided to troll on the paddle out. I caught a little small mouth bass on the way across Little Shell. We caught nothing but weeds on the paddle across Shell. We realized we should have checked our lures more often on Shell because they are not going to work correctly trailing weeds behind.
We observed four open camp sites on Shell as we made our way towards the portage. We stopped and had lunch on one of them.
We met a group of father and sons from Missouri on the portage from Shell to Lower Pauness. They were going to look for a site on Shell. I am sure they found one.
We had to load the boat again on the portage due to a beaver pond. It wasn’t too bad to float across. We named this the “Double Feature” portage because it was like two portages in one.
We stopped to fish and had a snack break at the 8 rod portage to Upper Pauness. There is a flow of water into Lower Pauness and the channel gets kind of deep. It looked super fishy to me. Our efforts resulted in no fish and a lost Berkeley Flicker Shad for me.
We paddled out of the boundary waters on the Little Indian Sioux River with a tail wind at our backs. It was the second tail wind in as many trips for me. It is only a matter of time before my luck runs out.
When we arrived back at the entry point parking lot, my friend went to pull his car around. I thought I would surely hear his engine start in the quiet of the woods. When I didn’t hear it right away, I had a feeling something must be wrong. Then I saw my partner walking back to where we had staged our gear.
We had a flat tire. Due to the forethought of my trip partner, he had a portable air compressor. The plan was to inflate the flat and see how long the air would hold. His vehicle is equipped with tire pressure sensors. After loading our gear and snapping an after trip picture, we headed down the mostly gravel Echo Trail. We made it about two miles before the low pressure light came on.
We ended up changing the tire out for the spare on the Echo Trail. As we were working, a car came up behind us. They stopped to check on us but we were well on the way to having the tire changed. The portable air compressor came in handy once again because the spare was not at the correct tire pressure.
It was nice to have someone stop because we were still about an hour drive from Ely and had no cell phone reception. We waved them on because we were well on the way to completing the tire change.
We had time to stop in at Britton’s Cafe and have a nice breakfast the next morning because we wanted to get the tire repaired. The tire was repaired by Tony’s in Ely the next morning, which was conveniently located right across the street from Piragis Northwoods Company. This afforded the opportunity to buy souvenirs.
Tony’s found a piece of metal in the tire and repaired it for their standard fee (about $22). We made the drive back to northern Illinois on the repaired tire without incident.
Summary
It was the trip of a life time (aren’t all boundary waters trips?).
The weather exceeded our expectations. We had a passing shower while under way on day one. We had two nights where it rained at night. It was warm enough to swim in the lake but not too hot to make portaging miserable.
The bug activity exceeded our expectations as well. The biting flies were out. The mosquitoes were in the woods. However, we camped at exposed sites near the shore of the lakes and the breeze kept the bugs at bay. Bug spray worked well when needed and was judiciously applied prior to long portages.
We camped on lakes with no other people on the lake four out of five nights. One of the goals of the trip was peace and quiet. We found it. Often the only things we heard were the wind in the trees and the birds singing.
I caught the biggest bass of my life. I caught my first lake trout. We had fish dinner two nights out of five. These were easily the best meals of the trip and made it hard to go back to dehydrated food. It would have been nice to travel less each day and have more time and energy to fish.
We had camp fires most nights. We had one night of clear skies that we stayed up late to see the stars in the epic night sky far from sources of light pollution.
Lessons Learned
A Lucie light is not needed near the solstice.
I brought a solar powered Lucie light for my tent at night. This turned out to be dead weight. I never needed it because the days were so long. We had started our trip on the summer solstice. (Speaking of dead weight I brought an entire roll of duct tape just in case. I need a way to carry a small amount of duct tape. I have seen some people wrap their lighters in duct tape. I may try this.)
Picaridin bug spray worked well.
I decided to try a 20% Picaridin based bug repellent for the trip. I brought a 30% DEET lotion as back up but I never needed it. The Picardin worked fine when needed in the evenings and while portaging in the thick woods.
EP 14 to 16 would have been better to avoid the long portages.
It is often mentioned as an alternative to enter at LIS North and exit at the Nina Moose River. The only catch is you have to do some kind of car shuttle. Unless you are set on doing a loop, I would recommend this. It would have eliminated the two longest portages of the trip.
Six square method of Fisher Map.
We found that our most comfortable day was when we traveled about six squares on the Fisher Map. The further beyond six squares we went, the more fatigued we were in camp. This will come into consideration when planning future trips.
Too many leeches.
I bought way too many leeches that I then had to carry the entirety of the trip. I could have easily brought half the amount of leeches. I did put them in a Ziploc freezer bag and put them in a cooler on ice for the drive home. They survived the long drive home. I changed out the water and now have a bucket of leeches in my garage fridge (that’s completely normal right? right).
I was happy with the performance of my footwear this trip.
I bought Astral TR1 Merge boots for wet footing and portaging. They served me well. I also bought some Adidas water shoes as a camp shoe. These also performed well and could be worn with or without socks.
Prusik Knot and Etowah Outfitters Tarp
I learned the prusik knot since my last trip. I put it to good use setting up a center ridge line for my new Etowah Outfitters 10×10 Tarp. The light weight silnylon tarp saved about a pound compared to my bigger tarp that is made of a heavier grade silnylon. The tarp served us well on the trip.
