rainy day fun

After sleeping well & Micah taking a turn for the better, we ate, puzzled, got back into the tech world, got our canoes back from the landing, had lunch and then went to Ely to watch the new Jurassic World movie in a very busy movie theater. Dinner at the Boat House and then we took the boat back to the cabin in a steady rain. It’s been mostly raining all afternoon and evening…the mosquitoes are going to take over this place! Off to bed after updating. It’s been an amazing time with the Weaver-Olsons for sure. 

day 3 final push

We were watching the forecast and saw that the weather was looking icky for Tuesday and Wednesday. We also didn’t want to repeat the nasty portaging and big whitecaps of Snowbank from Day 1. 

We decided to pack up and head to Moose Lake and hopefully call Adam from Snowbank Lodge to help us by picking us up and bringing Brad back to Snowbank. 

I got up to see a glorious sunrise, pump some fresh water

for our planned paddle, scare Nate into thinking there was a bear in our camp & enjoy some delicious service berry pancakes and reconstituted maple syrup. 

We got everything packed up and noticed Micah was not feeling well so got him some Benadryl and pain meds. We paddled the rest of Ensign to a super simple portage around a little rapids are we didn’t even have to use portage pads. We got to a second portage into Newfound Lake that was only about 40 rods… we felt invincible! Micah quickly started looking worse so we stopped for a

break to let him rest. He slept about an hour in the hammock. Brad got a hold of Adam at Snowbank and our plan worked! 

We paddled the last bit of Newfound Lake and got into Moose Lake. We saw lots of loons, eagles, geese and beautiful trees. We landed our canoes and portaged them up the hill. Then we waited for Adam who happened to have canoe trailer and hauled our 4 canoes, Brad and Nate back to Snowbank! What a gift. The kids and I hung out at the Moose Lake landing and were silly. Osten, Natalie and Micah are pretty amazing kids. 

It started raining and we were happy to get back to the cabin. We went to bed early and heard a pretty strong storm while safely in a home—thankful we weren’t camping in a tent. 

day 2 rest day

After our day where I walked and paddled a total of 31,286 steps/strokes, we woke late and took it easy. Natalie and I went for a short paddle, the kids and I played cards, Brad made yummy Outdoor Boys bread with honey butter, Nate made yummy rice and refried beans with taco seasoning and jalapeño and tortillas, Natalie and Micah made a smoky campfire & then we all retreated when the mosquitoes descended. 

We named our campsite the red spider & berry camp. We enjoyed hammocking and lovely views of Ensign. I only got 7,117 steps in total…I didn’t even care! 

up and at em day 1

We got up early and waited for the rain to die down on Saturday morning. We started across Snowbank, had a little lunch and then portaged to a beaver pond and then to Boot Lake. We paddled across Boot and then met a formidable portage from Boot to Ensign Lake. On each portage, I did three rounds—one with a canoe on my shoulders and two with gear. 

The first two were pretty fun, but the third was horrible! It said it was 220 rods, but I measured it as 1.3 miles. I slipped twice in the nasty mud and got many mosquito bites. We are an amazing group to get through that day!

After that three hour portage, we paddled Ensign. We had our sites set on one site, but then we saw lightening so had to stop at the closest campsite. We quickly set up camp, Nate and kids made Indian food and we all collapsed into our tents to dodge the mounting mosquito population. 

27…bye bye Batstone’s and hello Weaver-Olsons

Here we go…Brad and I celebrated our 27 years of marriage today! We took Erin, Ella and Judah back to the landing and then spent the day in Ely meeting up with Nathan, Natalie and Micah. I did some laundry and a little shopping and also got my steps in for the day. 

We’ve been away from home for nearly ten days now…seems like it hasn’t been that long. We’re heading into the BWCAW tomorrow morning, so I will likely be incommunicado until a week from today. It will be great to unplug.