I awoke groggily on day 3 to the final sounds of rain on the tent fly. The lightning had abated and left us with a pleasant night of rain that helped lull me into a deep slumber. Eventually though the bladder decided that it was time to see what the storm had left us with and so I meandered out and off to the latrine. I was greeted with a nice clear morning sky, with the only water hitting the tent from a nearby pine tree (very much alive… not a widow maker).

We all slowly rose and started our morning routines with breakfast and packing up. Unfortunately, Mike and Beth’s tent got a bit of water on the bottom of it, and so they had to dry things out a bit before we moved on. We took the opportunity to get our fly and footprint a bit drier before packing them away as well.

As we were having breakfast we saw that the wind was picking up, and with a lake as large as Phoebe that meant some pretty good current. We had to start strategizing how we were going to launch on the complicated landing at the bottom of the hill. We decided that the best strategy (thanks Lisa) was to do a fireman’s carry to get both canoes into the water, with both sets of packs and then we launch one at a time, while keeping everything within arms reach.

Everything went really well and Lisa and I got into our canoe first. We then had to make a choice between staying close to help Mike and Beth, or moving to get out of their way. In the end Mike decided that having us move a away would make things easier for them, and we wouldn’t need to worry about too much banging of the canoes into one another. It was the most difficult launching we had, but it ended up going incredibly smoothly. Before we knew it we were out on the lake, fighting a vicious cross-wind on our way to our first portage of the day.

Today would be a much lower mileage day, only around 4 miles, but it included a ton of tiny river portages as we went upstream. That meant that for the 90 minutes we were paddling a short distance, getting out of the canoe, walking a tenth of a mile or less, getting back into the canoe, paddling another ten minutes… etc. The river final portage, although short, was one of the most overgrown and buggy portages we had encountered. When we got to the end of that one we all stopped to take a snack break and get ourselves into a better head space. Our final challenge of the day was a 0.9 mile portage that would take us over the Laurentian Divide and onto our final lake of the day, Beth Lake.

For those curious, the Laurentian Divide is the line where water flows north to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. Our portage would take us over the geological line that would put us on the St. Lawrence side where water flows to the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. What struck us immediately when we arrived was how different the trees, water, and wildlife was after just one short walk through the woods. Suddenly we were surrounded by more north shore pine trees, and the birds we noticed were of different species that we had seen prior. I’m getting ahead of myself though, first we had to get there.

This final portage of the day was the portage that we had been mentally preparing for and after a short paddle across a section of Grace Lake we arrived at the landing. Lisa and I decided on a strategy of trading off carrying the canoe every 0.2 miles, or until one of us needed a break. We loaded up our packs and I took the first shift. To my delight this trail was in surprisingly good shape. It was slightly flooded at times (probably from the storm overnight), but it was nothing too difficult. Lisa dutifully followed behind at let me know when I was getting close to the switching point. Then she took over and I did the same for her. After our second round of this I took the canoe one last time… only to find that we only had one small rise to go before we were at the end. I claimed victory and we stopped to rest and re-group to begin the hunt for our campsite.

At this landing we started seeing more people. As we were arriving from the portage, a group of guys was just landing to head back the other way. We chatted a bit and they gave us a heads up that they thought there was only one more spot available on Beth Lake. We thanked them for the intel, and after a breather we loaded up and headed into the channel that would drop us into the lake. As we paddled we saw two loons following another solo canoeist who was approaching the landing. Suddenly one of them dove underwater and came up with a small northern in its beak. The loons were using the canoe paddling as a way to stir up fish and make it easier for them to hunt!

Sure enough as we made our way through the channel one of the loons came along side our boat and followed us, looking expectantly as I paddled. The bird came incredibly close to us, but before I could get my phone camera out they dove underwater and nabbed another snack. The sense of awe as we floated next to these beautiful (and larger than you imagine) birds was overwhelming. The loons had learned to take advantage of the humans to benefit their fishing, and we had simply become a part of the natural environment around them. Native peoples have been canoeing these waters for centuries, and the symbiosis continued with us. All it took was a simple boat, with a paddle causing waves under the surface of the water. This wasn’t “technology”, it wasn’t “mechanization”, it was humans living in connection with the nature around them. Not conquering it, not subduing it, just simply being a participant in it.

Once the delight had subsided we followed Mike and Beth on to Beth Lake, and sure enough there was only one campsite left. However, I’m not sure if there’s a bad site on this lake. We pulled in and started setting up, awestruck at the unobstructed view across the lake from the camp kitchen area. As we looked to the east we saw more and more paddlers heading out on their journey, much as we had done days prior. It was also a reminder that we were getting closer and closer to needing to re-join civilization.

But not yet… The shorter mileage day meant that we arrived at our campsite by lunch time. That meant we could make our meals leisurely and enjoy a full day of soaking in what the BWCA had to offer. After food and a bit of a nap, we decided that it was time to use the swimsuits we had brought with us. We tepidly entered the cool lake water, and with some egging on from Mike (who had swam while we were napping) we launched off into the water. It was delightful to float and feel the different eddies that alternated between warm and cold water. The lake was clean and clear, untouched by the pollution of machines and modern civilization. Let us hope it stays that way.

After experiencing a bucket list item (swimming in the BWCA) we headed back to shore to get back to the very important task of relaxing. It was Lisa’s turn for a nap and some quiet alone time, so I hung out at the camp kitchen for a while and enjoyed the beautiful day. Mike wanted to take a canoe out solo for a bit and so we watched from shore as he learned to navigate around the small bay we were in. At a certain point though it was time for our last dinner and so we all gathered around and made our dehydrated meals for the evening.

We broke out the cards again and played some more Hearts before deciding to settle in to our tents for a quiet night of reading. I managed to finish the Sigurd Olson book Reflections from the North Country on our final night. The book is a collection of essays from the later years of Olson’s life and reflections on his lifetime of being a protector of nature. I ended up leaving the book sad though because he had such hope for mankind’s future, having written this book shortly after the founding of the BWCA and the establishment of Earth Day and the modern environmental movement. Yet, just this week we saw the backwards momentum our current political culture continue, making us the laughing stock of the global conservation movement. I’m glad Mr. Olson is not alive today to see what we’re fighting.

After putting the book down I closed my eyes and had a moderately restful night of sleep before awaking on our final day, just a simple paddle with two portages and then we’re done…

Oh… and our final bear hang was not our finest moment… so no pic of that this time.