This was the 4th year that the church my wife and I attend (Cross of Glory) has gone to the BWCA as a men’s group; for the first 2 years the Church entered via Fall Lake and camped near New York Island on Basswood Lake (Pipestone Bay). The prior year and this year the church entered via Moose Lake and camped on Ensign Lake.

Pre-Trip

Normally, prior to a BWCA trip I feel like I am more prepared – for this trip I was less prepared (…as if this trip almost snuck up on me); I think that might relate to my previous trip to the BWCA this year and the mental planning I was putting into my Superior Hiking Trail trip in the first part of October and the camping trip I am planning with my preschooler son at Tettegouche at the end of October.

The other interesting parts of this trip was that most of the guys on this trip have been on the trip for the previous 4 years, and the men in the group that I was one were all well seasoned and arguably had enough gear available to outfit multiple groups themselves.

Essentially, for this trip I brought my normal personal year (ENO Hammock, 20 Degree Sleeping Bag, Clark Rain Fly, Lunches, and Snacks, …). While the group planned Lunches and [some] snacks together, I wanted to try to maintain some semblance of the ketogenic diet while on this trip. We also prepped breakfasts (Oatmeal and Bannock) together in vacuum packed bags — I swapped my breakfasts out for Mountain House’s Biscuits and Gravy freeze dried breakfast.

I installed my 2″x4″x6.5′ wooden roof rack extender to allow me to carry my canoe and a 2nd canoe on the 2004 Ford Explorer, removed the 3 car seats, and dropped the 3rd row seat down to maximize the amount of storage available in the truck.

Day 0 (Wednesday)

I drove 3 men + myself up to the BWCA, the first day of this trip the tradition has been to stay at campground at Fall Lake. First, met Dan at my house, then picked up Jeff at his house with his canoe, and then picked up Ross (Dan’s friend) at his house. We ended up running out of room in the truck and ended up putting my dry bag on top of the truck under my canoe and strapping it across the roof of the truck.

The drive to Ely, Minnesota was uneventful.

In Ely, we picked up our permit from the Kawishiwi Ranger Station, doubled back into town and visited the Spirit of the Wilderness Outfitter. I picked up a pair clamp on canoe yoke pads (They were $70, which was the best price I have found for the aluminum clamp on style of yoke pads).

Jeff received a call from a group of 3 men that were already in the BWCA camping on Ensign Lake from Monday of the same week; who encountered a pretty strong storm earlier that week. Apparently, that storm claimed their toilet paper, they also had ran out of coffee, and the younger guy in their group had forgotten deodorant. We swung into a department store (Shopko) in Ely and purchased them toilet paper and coffee; we also found the deodorant …women’s “Sweet Pea & Violet” deodorant, the cheapest we could find (LOL!).

After setting up at Fall Lake campground, we headed back into Ely and had dinner at the Boathouse (…which is always good).

The first night I slept pretty good in a tent with the same group that I drove up with; I had brought a Thermarest NeoAir sleeping pad which is about the size of a 1L Nalgene bottle, I left that sleeping pad in the truck after we headed into the BWCA as I was using my ENO hammock with underquilt once in the BWCA.

I have found that when sleeping in close proximity to anyone on a trip like this; ear plugs are a must, I have been using the Hearos ultra soft ear plugs, which have never caused me any pain the next morning like some of the industrial ear plugs have in the past.

Day 1 (Thursday)

Thursday morning after waking up, I immediately started packing down my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and the limited gear I had taken out of my pack.

Our tradition has been to bring a microwave to the Fall Lake campground and use the microwave to cook frozen Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches (high protein, high fat …lots of energy, quick to cook).

After completing breakfast and packing up the tents & gear, we headed out to the Moose Lake entry point.

We made good time from the Moose Lake Entry Point, and were rapidly unpacked and on the water.

There were 6 total men in our group with 3 canoes, we all had kevlar canoes which made portaging and paddling even easier compared to previous years.

One of the Canoes in our group that was borrowed ended up having the front seat have a bolt shear, and then the wooden cross member on the back of the seat cracking. This was a Northwind 17 Canoe by Northstar Canoes (designed by Ted Bell) that was borrowed, I think it was the first generation of the Northwind canoe, and the manufacturer must have had complaints about this design (wood attached to gunnel, dropping down to the wooden seat) as in the second generation of the Northwind 17 canoe the seats were riveted through the hull of the canoe.

Moose Lake and Newfound Lake are a descent paddle, there is then an easy portage into Splash lake, and a small rapids (going into Ensign, you can pull the canoe through the rapids easily; going out of Ensign you can shoot through the rapids easily even with a Kevlar canoe) from Splash lake into Ensign Lake.

We were targeting campsite #1224 (48.03556588 ,-91.3479767) on Ensign Lake, as in the previous year a group from our Church group had ended up at that campsite and we remembered it to be amazing, there is a nice mature tree in the middle of the campsite and 2-3 great tent pads on the campsite; along with it being up from the shore and having access to a descent slate beach area.

In the evening I ended up using one of my chem lights on one of the corners of my tarp to mark where my hammock was to avoid having people trip over my guy out lines. I have been impressed with the “Cyalume SnapLight Red Glow Sticks” I have had them last beyond 48 hours in warm weather, and the one I put out on Thursday evening was still glowing Sunday morning on this trip.

Once retiring to my hammock I listened to some podcasts and an audio book; this has been a favorite thing of mine to do in the evenings in my hammock while camping since the spring trip while camping with my son at fall lake, and listening to “Ready Player One” — on this trip I was re-listening to John Green’s Fault in Our Stars.

Day 2 (Friday)

Slept good in my hammock, I was too warm in all actuality in my hammock this night; between my ENO Blaze Underquilt and Thermarest Sarros (20 degree) sleeping bag; I ended up going down to a long sleeve t-shirt and a t-shirt and was plenty warm.

Before breakfast there was an otter chasing a rabbit around our campsite, at one point while standing on the shore the rabbit was hiding about 4 feet from two of us; and the otter then ran up behind the rabbit and they both bolted within 1 foot of us. Eventually, the otter caught the rabbit and drug the rabbit out into the lake where the rabbit drowned.

Breakfast was Mountain House Biscuits and Gravy, with Four Sigmatic’s Mushroom Coffee.

I spent most of the day hanging out at the campsite, trying to get the fire going; because of the cooler temperatures coupled with the wet summer we have had in northern Minnesota — all of the fire wood we could find was soaked. Which meant close tending of the fire and using a crank bellows that I brought to keep oxygen moving into the fire; after nursing the fire on for hours – we were able to get a good coal base going.

Lunch was from my snack stash (Epic Venison Bar, Quest S’More Protein Bar); I believe the group had cheese and crackers too — I had some cheese.

After lunch I paddled my canoe around with Ross from the group, he fished — I think he caught a couple Northerns. After fishing we then visited the other group at their campsite #1225 (…which turned out to be amazing). This campsite had rock tables built around the fire grate, poles for tarps over the the fire grate already steadied, and a front yard on a small cliff over the lake with great views. The coordinates of this campsite are: 48.03263982 ,-91.34972529

Dinner was pizza made over the campfire with flatbread, pizza sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. Brad from our group had also caught quite a few fish, I think everyone had their fill of Walleye and Northern that evening in addition to their pizza.

I opened up a green SnapLight this evening and put it up on my tarp’s ridgeline; this green light was so bright that I could have probably read a book or map with that light hanging over my hammock.

Hanging out by the campfire Friday evening was great; if my memory serves correctly we saw quite a few shooting stars.

Retired to my hammock, wore my tshirt and underwear this evening in my sleeping bag, slept at a great temperature. Listened to more of my audiobook.

Day 3 (Saturday)

Once again, Breakfast was Mountain House Biscuits and Gravy, with Four Sigmatic’s Mushroom Coffee.

Saturday seemed like a perfect day for a day trip; we decided to head out to the Isle of Pines where Dorothy Molter (aka “The Rootbeer Lady”) the last living resident of the BWCA lived.

We paddled up to the portage from Ensign Lake to Vera Lake and then from Vera Lake to Knife Lake; the Isle of Pines is visible from where the portage ends at Knife Lake.

We then paddled around the cluster of islands at the Isle of Pines and then located the Ribbon Rock., after taking some pictures at the Ribbon rock we had lunch (Snacks: Protein Bars, Epic Venison Bars, Almonds …The guys I was with had chicken, mayo, and pita bread sandwiches).

We then crashed around the Forrest on the islands some, we found the site of Dorothy’s Point Cabin, and then we found a site where there was quite a bit of trash deposited (steel cans, ancient solid fuel containers, a tire, a big piece of leather, …). We didn’t see any bottle caps from the root beer days, but we were not sure where to look.

Dinner: [I think] It was ChilliMac which was prepared and dehydrated by the trip’s organizer who unfortunately was unable to make it this year.

Deployed my ENO bug net as I started noticing mosquitoes out around dinner time, and didn’t want to get eaten by bugs.

Retired to my hammock, wore my tshirt and underwear this evening in my sleeping bag, slept at a great temperature. Listened to more of my audiobook.

Day 4 (Sunday)

Packing up went quick; had another Mountain House Biscuits and Gravy, with Four Sigmatic’s Mushroom Coffee.

We were on the water early at about 0845 (if memory serves). There was very little wind on our way paddling out with the exception of a short part of Moose Lake.

After packing up at the Moose Lake Entry Point, we headed into Ely Minnesota, to have our “victory meal” at the Boathouse.

I purchased a pair of floating sunglasses from an outfitter, as of the publishing of this article they have made it to the Superior Hiking Trail and back without getting lost. 🙂

Conclusion

I judged my snacks \ breakfasts correctly for this trip; it was a combination of Epic Nutrition’s Salmon and Venison bars, Quest’s S’Mores Protein Bars, prepackaged Almonds, and my standard supplement stack (3x99mg Potassium Chloride, 3xMega Red Krill Oil, Multi Vitamin, and Vitamin C).

I did gain 6lbs of water weight on this trip, I quickly lost it after reducing my carbohydrate intake and settling into my normal ketogenic diet.

My pack was really light this trip (41lbs total weight w\ snacks, lunches, and fuel), though I could have laid off of some of the clothes that I brought, I was prepared for a colder trip then it was in actuality (I deployed my bug net Saturday night with as warm as the weather was).