Beginning of the Canoe Trip

Beautiful wild lupines bloomed in purple, pink and cream on the roadsides north of Duluth.

Our cozy abode on a foggy morning.

The day before my trip, I learned that we were not meeting at the ranger station in Ely but in Tofte instead.  The difference between Ely and Tofte is substantial so I changed my course of action to head north east. On the way up I stopped at Gooseberry Falls to watch the water pour over the falls.  Some of the water looked clear, some was light yellow and some was the color of root beer - it looked like a girl's hair that had been recently foiled.  I met our group at the ranger station.  There were three staff; Max, Leah and Kathleen plus an ASL (American Sign Language) interpreter named Kathy.  The two other campers, Jennifer and Greg, needed the interpreter.  The National Park Service had us watch a video and then quizzed us orally to see if we knew how to "Leave No Trace."  We were not allowed to use soap in the lake.  Any soapy water had to be dumped far from shore.  No paper could be burned in the campfire and the fire must be contained under the grate.  Is this the same outfit that thinks it would okay to mine copper in the boundary waters?  Wouldn't that be worse than a little biodegradable soap in the water?  The National Park Service people are serious about their jobs and it's best not to question them too much before we get our permit.  Our destination was Brule Lake - a 26 mile drive on the Caribou Trail.  Brule is the largest lake in the BWCA.  We loaded our canoes, Duluth packs, bear proof barrels and other supplies into three canoes. One person had to ride "Duff" (sitting in the middle without a paddle).  We paddled for a couple hours looking for a good campsite - one large enough for four tents.  We paddles past black spruce, white spruce, red cedar, white pine, red pine, birch, rocks and water.  All the shores are rocky here.  Getting in and out of the canoe was treacherous because some of the rocks are slimy with moss.  We picked a site about 6 p.m., set up camp, and made dinner of pasta with pesto sauce.  I shared a tent with Kathy.  It was an intimate tent and I am very grateful that Kathy was easy going and humorous because it would have been terrible if we didn't like each other.  We were packed in tight.  I had my Duluth pack at my head and my feet touched the bottom of the tent.  If we both laid on our backs we were fine but if we both curled on our sides and had our knees touching the tent, our backs touched as well. The little yellow tent was one way to get to know someone really well, really fast.