Just back from a 4 day trip into the BWCA with 17’ sea kayaks. We got a tow through Canoe Country Outfitters that took the 2 kayaks and us from Moose Lake up to Indian Portage. We carried over into Birch, paddle around and found a nice campsite about 2 miles east . Got the tent and tarp up and then the clouds opened up for about an hour. The skies cleared in the early evening and we had gorgeous weather for the next 3 days. On Friday we paddled and portaged to Knife Lake and had lunch on Dorothy Molter’s Isle of Pines. Then we paddled and portaged back to our campsite on Birch. Portaging the kayaks was not the way to do this trip! 10 portages with 70+ lb boats was too much. The kayaks are great to travel in, but not to portage – we had to attach and remove the portage yokes at each end of each portage which added up to extra time. Somewhere between Knife and Birch I lost my GoPro camera. Bummer. Had some great footage of the trip and of my wife making her very first portages. All portages were busy. Saturday we paddled over to Prairie Portage and checked out the falls, portages and Canadian. Enjoyed the rest of the day in camp relaxing, reading, watching other trippers go past the campsite on their way mostly to Knife and listening to the loons. Took one last paddle around the Canadian Islands across from camp. In a shallow channel between 2 islands, I paddled up to a loon that dove down and swam right under my kayak! In the clear, shallow water I could easily see it swimming gracefully swimming about 8 feet down. Really cool! On Sunday, we packed up and paddled thru to the Sucker Lake side of Indian Portage for our pickup. Great trip, but next year we’ll be taking the canoe!
