I'm finally writing a trip report for the 71-mile (almost) loop a group of four of us paddled in early September this year. It was a fabulous trip completed by my 75-year-old father-in-law, 60-year-old female friend, my 46-year-old wife and me (50-year-old male). We are an experienced group having completed a few week-long or longer paddling trips together and numerous backpacking trips from a weekend to 10 days long. This trip would include about 32 total portages with the longest being about 1/2 mile. We generally found the portages easy to navigate and well-traveled. Typically, the portages were a welcome opportunity to stretch out legs and do a little fishing from the bank.
9/2/23
We left the Cleveland area around noon. I had just returned home late the night before from a business trip to Lake Tahoe, so my packing happened the morning we left. We made the trip with all 4 participants and gear in one vehicle. It was tight! We drove through to the upper peninsula of Michigan. I had previously scouted a place to hike in and camp for the evening along the North Country Trail about 15 miles NW of the straits. It was Labor Day weekend and none of us were interested in staying in a hotel room or a noisy and full campground. We arrived at the trailhead about 45 minutes before sunset and hiked a mile in from the parking area to a delightful backcountry campsite. We use our backpacks when canoe tripping, so it was simple to remove some gear for an overnighter on the North Country Trail. It was a gorgeous moonlit evening that cooled off into the 50's. We shared some wine and watched the stars getting to bed about 11:00.
9/3/23
We were up with the sun and quickly packed up our tents. For this trip, my wife and I shared our Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 3, my father-in-law soloed in his Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2 and our friend Heather enjoyed her gigantic REI 3-person tent solo. We hiked out, loaded up and hit the road again. We would drive straight through to our outfitter in Ely, River Point Outfitters. We stopped a couple of places along the way for fresh fruit, pasties and beer. We made the outiftter's a bit before dark and tent camped in their grounds. We were the only tent campers there and a quiet night was had. We took advantage of the shower, shared a bit of our wine and went to bed about 10:30 to the loons calling.
9/4/23
We met with the outfitter at daybreak to settle up and get our canoes, identical 17' Kevlar Souris River canoes. The outfitter trailered the boats and loaded us and our gear. We stopped for fishing tackle in Ely and put in at Moose Lake (25) by 10:00. I had warned our group that our start would be a bit unpleasant. We had opted not to be taxied off of this lake, instead paddling its length. Moose Lake allows motorized boats and it was busy. It was also unseasonably warm with temperatures approaching 90 degrees. Stable flies (at least that's what I call the spawn of Satan, hard to kill, elusive little b*st*rds) harassed us as we paddled our first day. We did enjoy the loons, eagles and beaver lodges as we entered Sucker Lake, completed our first short portage and made it onto Knife Lake on the Canadian border. We completed one of our longer portages and made camp just southwest of Isles of Pine. We kind of rushed our campsite selection here as the weather made a sudden change with a stiff eastern wind whipping up white caps and bringing some ominous clouds. I thought we were in for a thunderstorm, but it never materialized. We made camp at 4:45. It was the longest day of the entire trip, aided by having only a couple of portages. We traveled a bit more than 12 miles. It would set us up very nicely for the rest of the trip.
We had already settled into our portage routine. I would carry a canoe with food pack on the first trip over. My wife would carry the other canoe. We would both go back for whatever gear our other two companions were unable to carry on their trip over. My wife and I didn't mind doubling the portages as the leg stretching was welcome. Later in the trip, we did manage a few single carries. In addition to the two canoes, we carried 5 paddles, 3 fishing rods, 4 backpacks and a large food pack with 3 of the bear canisters. The 4th bear canister was in my pack.
We switched around in the boats quite frequently. However, I was most often in the stern of one canoe while my father-in-law (JD) handled the stern of the other.
Our campsite was a very nice one. I was a bit nervous that we'd have some trouble finding unoccupied sites this early in the trip and this close to the holiday. While Moose Lake was busy, once we got a couple of portages away from it, canoe traffic decreased significantly, and finding good campsites was not difficult. We had a lovely evening, finishing our wine, enjoying a refreshing swim and having a wonderful dinner of dehydrated tofu vermicelli. We caught a few smallmouth bass in the evening but released all of them. The stars made it difficult to go off to bed, but we did by 10:30.
TO BE CONTINUED
9/2/23
We left the Cleveland area around noon. I had just returned home late the night before from a business trip to Lake Tahoe, so my packing happened the morning we left. We made the trip with all 4 participants and gear in one vehicle. It was tight! We drove through to the upper peninsula of Michigan. I had previously scouted a place to hike in and camp for the evening along the North Country Trail about 15 miles NW of the straits. It was Labor Day weekend and none of us were interested in staying in a hotel room or a noisy and full campground. We arrived at the trailhead about 45 minutes before sunset and hiked a mile in from the parking area to a delightful backcountry campsite. We use our backpacks when canoe tripping, so it was simple to remove some gear for an overnighter on the North Country Trail. It was a gorgeous moonlit evening that cooled off into the 50's. We shared some wine and watched the stars getting to bed about 11:00.
9/3/23
We were up with the sun and quickly packed up our tents. For this trip, my wife and I shared our Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 3, my father-in-law soloed in his Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2 and our friend Heather enjoyed her gigantic REI 3-person tent solo. We hiked out, loaded up and hit the road again. We would drive straight through to our outfitter in Ely, River Point Outfitters. We stopped a couple of places along the way for fresh fruit, pasties and beer. We made the outiftter's a bit before dark and tent camped in their grounds. We were the only tent campers there and a quiet night was had. We took advantage of the shower, shared a bit of our wine and went to bed about 10:30 to the loons calling.
9/4/23
We met with the outfitter at daybreak to settle up and get our canoes, identical 17' Kevlar Souris River canoes. The outfitter trailered the boats and loaded us and our gear. We stopped for fishing tackle in Ely and put in at Moose Lake (25) by 10:00. I had warned our group that our start would be a bit unpleasant. We had opted not to be taxied off of this lake, instead paddling its length. Moose Lake allows motorized boats and it was busy. It was also unseasonably warm with temperatures approaching 90 degrees. Stable flies (at least that's what I call the spawn of Satan, hard to kill, elusive little b*st*rds) harassed us as we paddled our first day. We did enjoy the loons, eagles and beaver lodges as we entered Sucker Lake, completed our first short portage and made it onto Knife Lake on the Canadian border. We completed one of our longer portages and made camp just southwest of Isles of Pine. We kind of rushed our campsite selection here as the weather made a sudden change with a stiff eastern wind whipping up white caps and bringing some ominous clouds. I thought we were in for a thunderstorm, but it never materialized. We made camp at 4:45. It was the longest day of the entire trip, aided by having only a couple of portages. We traveled a bit more than 12 miles. It would set us up very nicely for the rest of the trip.
We had already settled into our portage routine. I would carry a canoe with food pack on the first trip over. My wife would carry the other canoe. We would both go back for whatever gear our other two companions were unable to carry on their trip over. My wife and I didn't mind doubling the portages as the leg stretching was welcome. Later in the trip, we did manage a few single carries. In addition to the two canoes, we carried 5 paddles, 3 fishing rods, 4 backpacks and a large food pack with 3 of the bear canisters. The 4th bear canister was in my pack.
We switched around in the boats quite frequently. However, I was most often in the stern of one canoe while my father-in-law (JD) handled the stern of the other.
Our campsite was a very nice one. I was a bit nervous that we'd have some trouble finding unoccupied sites this early in the trip and this close to the holiday. While Moose Lake was busy, once we got a couple of portages away from it, canoe traffic decreased significantly, and finding good campsites was not difficult. We had a lovely evening, finishing our wine, enjoying a refreshing swim and having a wonderful dinner of dehydrated tofu vermicelli. We caught a few smallmouth bass in the evening but released all of them. The stars made it difficult to go off to bed, but we did by 10:30.
TO BE CONTINUED
