This was my son's first true Boundary Water's trip and without him, Dad (me) might not have made it in or out. Our three-quarter-mile portage (#827) was uphill, wet, rocky, mucky, slippery, and about the hardest portage I've ever done. Because it was so hard, it took way longer than expected and it grew dark, which made finding a campsite difficult. We ended up having to set up on a trail for the night and I told my son, I hope a moose doesn't run us over. The next morning, we were visited by a black bear that sniffed at the tent and walked off. He probably didn't enjoy the smell of our dried sweat from the portage, which we lovingly now call The Guantlet. We finally got site #690 on Caribou, which is a very roomy site across from a little island. The next day our two friends joined us. Fishing was good for our stay, and we only had rainy weather one night, but the last couple of days were heavy clouds and low temperatures. When we left, we wanted to avoid The Guantlet, so we took Portage #57 to Clearwater Lake. As far as #57 goes, it was a gradual hill at the beginning, but then turned into a steep hill down to Clearwater at the end. Thankfully we were headed downhill and didn't have to climb it.
