ELY!

We departed camp Sam's Club and headed to the great north woods near Ely.  Along the way we crossed the Laurentian Divide, where falling water will flow south or east to the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico or the St. Lawrence seaway, or north to the Hudson Bay or the Arctic Ocean.

I always like to show off a nice picture of the coach!

 

Ely is one of my favorite places, a true canoe town.  It is a primary jumping off place for folks entering the western part of the Boundary Waters, and has dozens of wilderness canoe.outfitters.  A car driving through town looks naked if it doesn't have a canoe on top.

 

Canoes Galore

We headed for Fall Lake Campground a unit of the Superior National Forest, about 8 miles north of Ely.  We have stayed at Fall Lake many years.  It is a wonderful camp ground on the shores of Fall Lake and is a major entry point into the Boundary Waters.  They have a huge paved and lighted parking lot, overseen by the on-site concessionaire, where we can leave the coach while we are in Boundary Waters.  Such safe and secure facilities are rare at Boundary Waters entry points, and we will leave the coach here, even if we enter the Boundary Waters at different entry point.

We needed a space for 6 nights until we put-in on August 19.  However, when we made our reservation about two months ago, we could only get one night, due to the park being full over the weekend.  Our plan was to get there early and snag a non-reserveable site for the duration of our stay.  Unfortunately all the non-reserveable sites were also filled.  Setback!  We got parked on our reserved site, and the next morning we were able to move to a vacated non-reserveable site, for the remainder of our stay.

Happy hour at Fall Lake

I couldn't let the tomato and leftover bacon go to waste, so I made a "Dagwood". 

While in Ely we kicked back and enjoyed some down time.  We also did some chores.   Upon arriving in Ely we stopped at the Spirit of the Wilderness, our favorite outfitter, and dropped the boat off for some hull repairs. We also rechecked and repacked our gear in preparation for the put in.  One night we visited a new restaurant we have never been to.  Stony Ridge Cafe is on the banks of Shagawa Lake and has the biggest hamburger I have ever seen.  It was delicious, but later I regretted not eating only half.

I can't believe I ate the whole thing!

Yesterday we paddled on the Dead River, not far from camp. We put on in a bay on the east end of Burntside Lake.  We paddled north up the Dead River to Twin Lakes and explored the western arm of Twin Lakes.  It was very scenic, although, not being in the Boundary Waters, there were some motor boats and some private property with some houses.

Paddling the Dead River

Wayne and Lynda on the Dead River

Our route on the Dead River

Today, our last full day in camp, we went to town and picked up our permit, bought fishing licenses, and perishable groceries for our trip.  Tomorrow we will put in at the Little Indian Sioux entry point, up on the Echo Trail.  We will take out on September 1 if all goes well.

Adios!