Into the Wild - BWCAW 2009

It's been a slow news week here at Fall Lake Campground. Our friends Wayne and Lynda arrived Wednesday afternoon. We scavenged enough firewood abandoned at vacant camp sites to have several nice camp fires, so we made a big fire and had a party. It was good to see friends from home, and talk with other folks who didn't talk funny.

On Thursday we all went into town for shopping and chores. We went to the post office to mail some letters and pick up our mail forwarded from home; we did some shopping at the downtown shops; and we bought our last groceries, mainly bread for our BWCAW trip. We acquired our entry permit, bought fishing licenses and picked up the boat, which was in for some hull repairs. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing final packing for our wilderness trip.

This morning we will put into the BWCAW for 13 nights and 14 days. We will put in on Moose Lake, about 15 miles east of Ely. From there we will head primarily north and east and eventually loop back to Snowbank Lake, where we will park a second car. This is an area we have not visited in a long time. It is in the heart of the 1999 blowdown area. In most years since the blowdown, the forest service has restricted camp fires in that area, due to high fuel loads on the ground. This year it has been a little wetter, and there are no burning restrictions, so we decided to visit that area. We expect to see a lot of boats, including motor boats on Moose Lake; it is a very busy lake. However, by this evening or tomorrow, we will have traveled far enough that the traffic will have thinned out considerably. In a day or so, we will be well back into the wilderness. A cool front is coming through as I write, and there was a little rain last night and this morning. For the next few days the temperatures will range highs in the mid 50s and lows in the upper 30s. BRRRR!!!! It should be dry, however, at least for the first week, and after a few days, it looks like it will warm a bit. On a trip such as this, we are prepared for pretty much any kind of weather.

We plan to take out about Thursday Sept 10, so it will be a while before there is another post to this journal. Bon voyage!