Lake Quetico Adventure

One of the pleasures and joy of each summer is making a journey into the remote wilderness area for reclaiming the adventure and creating memories. The cast of characters for this trip are Nate – my middle son, Jenny – Nates’ wife, Larry – Jenny’s dad, Chris – Jenny’s brother, and I. We left White Bear Lake on Sunday afternoon, stopping for needed refreshments and a late lunch in Virginia, MN. We stayed for the night in International Falls, Mn. as our permits for Quetico Provincial Park were issued for entrance the next day. That evening we spent browsing the town, casing out the border crossing, and the many businesses located there. Nate was a little concerned as I pulled over by the river and watched what was happening at the border.

After crossing the border on early Monday, we stopped at the local bait store for bait and then we made a quick 2 hour drive to the launch area. Along the way, there were many rock Cairns on the side of the road. We started our expedition at the Beavertail Lake Portage, on Beavertail Lake – commencing with a ½ mile portage over a rain slick trail from the previous nights rain and then a 3 mile paddle to the ranger cabin for the permits and licenses. After a brief rest, and snacks we then we paddled onto Lake Quetico by portaging around a water fall/rapids. The falls are an old sluice at an area that was used to control logs coming down the river many years ago.

We paddled 20 miles the 1st day with 2 portages, with one being at the falls, where I side slipped in the kayak and took on water, so I was wet for most of the day. I remarked to Larry, my daughter-in-law's dad, that I liked my little kayak better as it was more stable in the water. The place I purchased my sportsman kayak said I would never make it that boat and keep up with canoes and I would need an evacuation helicopter standing by to retrieve me from the wilderness. I needed a longer touring kayak that would carry more gear and travel on lakes faster. The one I borrowed on a trial was a 17’ touring German kayak. However, this one really rolled and pitched with shallow waves, and I had to literally lock my feet into the stirrups, my knees into the knee braces and become "one" with the kayak. It was a real balancing act to maintain ones balance, much like being parking ones butt on a balance beam and trying to paddle while the beam was rocking & rolling back and forth. Larry's one comment was that he would never even get into one and why would someone do something as crazy as that. It just appeared too dangerous, unstable, and difficult to use to really enjoy on a excursion or expedition. The German made kayak weighed in twice as much as a canoe, so any portaging made the kayak a challenge to do alone. The first day, I questioned the wisdom of making this trip with this kayak, as in the past, all I ever did was canoe in, do 1 portage, and set up a campsite for a week. This trip would involve a new campsite almost each night with a lot of paddling and portaging, and the rest of the team would have to carry my gear in their canoes. However I did not know I had “hells portage” ahead of me.

On Tuesday, it rained all day, so we just spent time in our tents reading and napping. Made for a glorious "backache" day, but I did get some good reading accomplished, Karen Casey's newest book, “Change your Mind and Your Life Will Follow,” was a very enjoyable and enlightening read. Even though I napped during the day I actually slept that night well. The sleeping must have been helped with the steady pattering of rain on the tent that finally soothed me to dreamland. The book and reading it, made me realize that I needed to change my mind on this trip and enjoy each day as a new experience.

Wednesday, we awoke to a bright and dry day, and had a quick breakfast of oatmeal as we had territory to cover to get to the next campsite by dark. We had lunch of fruits, trail mix, etc, while paddling and late afternoon we found a nice campsite for the evening. It was on an isthmus between Lake Quetico and Jean Lake. While kayaking the lake, I discovered that the rudder to the kayak was not working properly, and it with any wind at all, the tracking could be challenging. While the canoes could maintain a straight course, I would find myself being blown to new destinations which would require more paddling to keep up. At this campsite, I caught my 1st fish of the trip and then Nate caught the same fish a hour later. We could tell by the same scars on its back. At this point we were practicing catch and release, as our fish dinners were scheduled for Thursday into a remote lake. The beauty of the area, the clean clear crisp air, the clear star lit nights made one feel that we were the 1st to come this way. We did not see a camp squirrel or Canadian Jay the entire trip. We were to remote for even them..

Thursday morning, we headed out from Jean Lake to Your Lake, and that had some short portages and 5 beaver dams to cross over plus the added joy of1 long portage. At one of the lakes, while I was paddling, Nate yelled at me to be careful as there was a moose with calf in the water just around the bend from me, and my course would take me right onto them. They did skedaddled by the time I made it there and I never saw them. All I heard was the splashing of their hasty exit. Being surrounded by the forest, the blue sky, the silence except for our paddles breaking water, and no other human contact the whole trip made me realize what explorers may have feeling when the area was 1st discovered. I did not miss work, the hustle, the stress, phones, etc while there. The main item that I became aware of, is that in a one man kayak, one is pretty much alone, and that means all of the work of paddling is solo. Another item is the lack of being able to share discoveries with some one significant, the “ahah” moments, etc.as they are encountered. By the time we got to Your Lake, my socks were black from the mud of portages, and my pants were black to the knees. At all of the portages, we wore our Buzz Off shirts and hats, as they kept the mosquitoes, ticks, and flies at bay. The bugs would fly/hover around our legs and feet, but would stay away from our upper bodies. The ticks were also out at the portages, and it would be common to remove 30 to 40 from our clothes, and the lead person would often find in excess of 50 -70 friends. At the end of the day, we found an island that faced west and we nicknamed it Turtle Island. AS we paddled to the island, the sun was just starting to set. There was deer along the shore, and the high cirrus clouds were turning oranges and purple from the setting sun.

The turtles were out in numbers laying eggs, and where we were camped, was evidently a major place for laying. We even had a large snapping turtle come up and visit us. We stayed at this campsite for 2 days, and the rest to the group went out the next day, Friday, for more fishing. I decided to stay in camp, to read, do some journaling, and fish from shore. I caught more fish, all large walleyes, than the rest of the group did, and I stayed dry and even napped once. Nate, my son, actually swamped the canoe and was quite soaked and disgruntled. They had to do some major portaging again over beaver dams, and he was all muddy from it. For myself - I was happy, I fished from shore caught more walleye than they did, and even though I broke my pole it was worth it. I even finished the Casey book and started another book.

The next day, being Saturday, we were up early and had 9 portages to do, plus a lot of lake to cover to make it back to our vehicles. I had seen the high cirrus clouds coming in on Friday, and told everyone we had better high tail it, or face some wet weather. So we pushed our limits and I encountered what is called "Hell's portage." That is a 1 miler that is challenging for everyone to do, going over hills, thru swamps and bogs across corduroy logs trails, and more of the same just repeated over. I miss-stepped at one point thru the logs and fell with the kayak on top of me landing on my back in a small stream. I kept thinking as I lay there that I was hearing someone run towards me, but after a minute or two, figured out it was my heartbeat pounding instead of some running thru the woods. It was a day of trials, gifts, opportunities, and this was just another high point to the day. We had to make 2 to 3 trips with canoes, kayak, and backpacks and when we got done with this portage, I was beat, exhausted, and sore.

Then we put in and continued across Badwater Lake. The wind started to pick up, and since my rudder on the kayak had broken earlier in the trip, I found I had little control unless I was going into the wind or vice versa. At one point, I was being tossed around by the waves in the middle of the lake, and finally decided to head for shore with the wind at my back. This was to be repeated later on Beavertail Lake with more wind. On Beavertail Lake and the final leg of the trip we had decided to cut across the middle of the lake. By this time, the wind had picked up some more, and the kayak was a concern to me after almost making it to the middle of the lake. After being tossed around as I was trying to run at right angles to the wind, I had fear get involved, and yelled at Larry that I was changing my tactics, and making a run with the wind toward shore. Larry, looked at me, and said that the waves would be worse along the shore, and I replied that it was now all psychological battles and mind set now. I would feel better being closer to shore battling the waves, than be out in the middle of a big lake. At least, I could wet exit and swim for shore if need be. But, when I got there, that also turned into a challenge, but with the shore line on my right about 30 – 40 feet away, I just gritted my teeth and went for it with the thinking that what will be - will be, and that I was in my right and perfect place, and reminding myself that we are never given anything that we can not handle. As Caleb, my youngest son has said, if it is time to go, he will face it head on, and off I went to face a fear of mine. After about 20 -30 minutes of battling the surf, I made it around the corner of an isthmus and found a calm spot to regain my wits, sanity, and calmness..

After that it was a quick run with the wind at my back and onto the final portage and our trucks on solid ground. It was awesome to finally land on solid ground, as we had been paddling for almost 10 hours and had accomplished some long portages. That night the storms moved in and we were happy to be in civilization at a motel with showers, a comfortable mattress, AC and someone else cooking for us- The Moose Restaurant.