Monday, September 21 /// I put in at the South Kawishiwi entry point. The wind was up. I double portaged from the parking lot. The trail surprised me. It all did. It rivaled the narrow single track trails of Colorado. Loading the canoe into the water was peaceful and easy. The narrow stretch of the river was fairly calm with a nice breeze. The water clear and cool with a visibility of three to four feet. The surface ripples reduced visibility more. I headed in a westerly manner and the river opened up into a wider channel where the wind began picking up to an uncomfortable speed. Wind. Wind, wind, wind. I do not like it and it’s incessant noise. On the drive here the wind was blustery (luckily, it was a tail wind mostly.) But it was whipping the canoe on top of the truck and I had to pull over and reset the brackets and straps. Lord, have mercy. So on the river, I had about a mile paddle before my first portage. The wind began driving me down the channel. Before I knew it, waves began building and it was as if I was surfing the waves down the river. The tallest waves were one to one and a half feet tall. High enough that if I wasn’t careful something bad could happen. My next portage was in a cove, one in a series of coves. It was difficult because 1) there were granite boulders hidden below the water that you couldn’t see until I was right on top of them, 2) My GPS unit that I had worked to install maps of the BWCA did not, in fact, have those maps on it, 3) My paper maps became difficult to use because the water was much bigger than I anticipated. I tried getting into coves to find the portage and in the last cove I was in, the wind kept driving me into the shore with it’s large swells. As I approached the shore, I hopped out and quickly unloaded the canoe and sat the canoe on some boulders on the shore to keep it from bashing against them. I was having an impossible time navigating a reading the map the sam time. Anxiety was high. HIGH. I was pretty defeated at this point. I sat there exhausted,m reading the map trying to get my bearings on this large lake. I thought maybe the portage was in the next cove down, but if I was wrong, with the way the wind was, I would not be able to make my way back up into the wind. Maybe I could hike over and see. so I walked fifty feet in and then I caught out of the corner of my eye, two men in a canoe coming towards me. I walked back down and they identified themselves as wildlife agents. One stepped out and asked me for my fishing license and entry permit. I showed him both. He did not mention the wind. He did not mention the waves that were trying to kill me.
He just got back in the canoe and left like this was everyday life.
Two things happed before he left, 1) I asked him where the portage was. He said it was in the next cove down, and 2) He slipped and fell hard getting back in the canoe. After they left he came back to look for his sunglasses and watch that had slipped off while he fell.
I loaded the canoe and found the portage. The next lake was much more calm. Much smaller water. I paddled across it, found the next portage and camped at a campsite near the portage mouth. Tomorrow I will portage a long ways into Little Gabro. I forgot to mention that I forgot the bring my phone charger. So that means this trip is totally unplugged [no contact with wife]. Which is not what I planned on and is, frankly, terrifying. Good night!