Our family adventure this year was a “wild” one! 😛 Our crew consisted of 5 adults, 3 small humans, and 1 furbutt. And only 2 of our crew were BWCA experienced! The rest of us have camped, but not-like-this-camped!
So thank goodness we had our 2, my brother and sister-in-law who pretty much planned, prepped, and instructed us in the whole trip! Amazing!
Backup
On our way up, we picked up 3 canoes and our food barrel from Sawtooth Outfitters. This was great because you could rent just what you needed, and their canoes were awesomely light!
I drove up Turkato, the camper van, as a backup. We were camping, but with the unpredictability of my pup and cause you just never know…it was nice to know we had a camper van back at the lot if things went sideways.
The great news is we never used it other than transport to and from!
The Start! Homer Lake!
We ventured in on Homer Lake, so weren’t technically in the BWCA when we started. So it was kind of fun to paddle ourselves into the official wilderness! It was a bit breezy on our first day so we were fighting some wind, but nothing crazy. It was beautiful and sun-shiny and breath-taking!
And Joey?
Haha, yes, the big question mark! My 9-year-old pup Joey has been kayaking with me before. At moments he seems to really enjoy it, but most of the time I think he is tolerating it. So never having been in a canoe, I was a little worried. My theory (and hope) was that he would pretty much be chaos the first day, and then be so exhausted that he’d settle in nicely.
First day was just as I anticipated! 😀 My sister-in-law and I were in a 2-person canoe together. She had a great idea for me and Joey to sit in the very front as that would limit his side-to-side movement – wise! And it worked! I had brought along a yoga mat – dual purpose to give him some grip and comfort in the canoe and also for him to sleep on. But despite the efforts, he was pretty chaotic, as I had figured. My poor SIL was working really hard to paddle us as I was mostly trying to hold and calm Joey.
Here we have Joey in his you-must-hold-me mode! And so unsettled that he’d sometimes step his hind foot right out of the canoe! That gave him a good surprise!
So from then on out, Joey and I were in a 3-person canoe! Ha!
First Campsite
We found our first campsite on Homer Lake. It was a lovely campsite with tons of space for our 3 tents! There was so much room to roam about, hang a hammock, and enjoy a fire. It even had a picnic table! We decided that was maybe due to it being a high traffic day tripper site, as the rest of the sites did not have picnic tables.
We soaked up the sun, made some dinner, and relaxed into our first little adventure of the trip. So far so good!
Joey was asking…wait, what? How long are we doing this??
Second Campsite
We decided to spend only 1 night there to move further in and make a loop around rather than simply an out and back trip. So we packed up and headed out via Whack Lake. Great name, right? Haha! It was a quick little trek before getting to Vern Lake, which was a long and skinny lake that runs next to Vern River.
Both of those lakes required portages, but neither was very long. The canoes, so amazingly light, were able to be carried by a single person! Then the rest of us hauled packs and bags and food barrels! My dog was a slacker and took nothing. 😀 But he was a trooper and loved romping through the woods to the next lake!
We also learned that Joey needed to be the leader of the pack and keep an eye on everyone. Since he was manning (dogging??) the bow of the boat, he was our scout and kept a lookout for us! Haha! If anyone got too far away or in front of him, he would bark and let them know to get back and join the safety of the pack! 😀
It was a lovely, peaceful day for a paddle. We found our resting place at the north end of Vern Lake and had our own little peninsula surrounded by calm waters and beautiful woods. I could’ve sat on the rock slab for hours just taking it all in! Well, I guess we kind of did! 😉
Joey enjoyed a little swim in the pristine waters, and my nephews were eager volunteers to throw sticks for him to fetch! He was also getting extremely tired at this point! Reminder, he is 9, and tends to nap for much of the day. So this level of adventure and activity was A LOT!
My SIL had made and dehydrated meals for us, which was just incredible of her! Feeding that many people for 5 days is a lot of food and to have it all light and compact with dehydration was amazing!
Campsite 3 – What? Already?!
We had planned to stay at our second campsite for 2 nights. So when the question arose in the morning, “Should we move today?” It was met with very mixed, yet equally emphatic Yes’s and No’s! Haha! While the initial plan was to stay, the thought was that today was supposed to be a nicer day with a greater potential for rain the following day. (So the weather said when we checked prior to leaving civilization.) 😛 It would be much more pleasant to pack up and move in sunshine versus rain.
Reluctant agreement.
So we began to pack…and the clouds rolled in… Are you kidding me?! Well, we’re packed up now! Let’s go! So we headed out onto Juno Lake, which feels more like a river than a lake. It was beautiful!
The clouds were moving in and the wind was picking up. It was only a matter of time until the raindrops came… But we embraced it. My brother joked, “It’s not a Boundary Waters trip unless you get rained on!” And it wasn’t a crazy storm or anything, so all good. Just take it in!
While the rain came down and Joey scouted at the front of our pack, I noticed a dark spot, a rock maybe, in the river ahead. It was moving! “Guys! A moose!!” Then my nephews started yelling “Moose!! Moose!!” to make sure everyone knew! As my brother made a hard turn away from it and my sister-in-law started paddling backwards, I’m sure our noise scared the poor creature as we could see his head and antlers turn around in the river and head back to shore.
In awe, we watched this magnificent creature climb up onto the shore so we could see just how massive he was! It was absolutely incredible!! We all just sat and floated and took in the moment for a bit. And swapped stories of brief panic when we first spotted it to make sure we stayed clear of its path!
As my parents caught up in their canoe, they shared the sad truth that they completely missed the whole event!! What?! We just terrified a moose with our yelling to make sure you saw it! How did you not hear us?! But between the wind and rain and digging for their ponchos, they didn’t hear our announcement and missed the moose completely! Quite possibly the saddest part of the trip!
The rain cleared and we stopped at an empty and beautiful campsite for some lunch before paddling on. We were headed toward Brule Lake and had two possible campsite options for the night. As we portaged over to Brule and loaded back into the canoes, we realized the wind was having much more of an effect on this lake as it was far bigger than any of the lakes we had been on. So a long family discussion ensued at the shore…
There was a campsite off to the west that was along the shore and a much safer paddle as far as surviving the waves. However, there was a campsite off to the east that was the sole campsite on an entire island! How fun! And a trip goal for my youngest nephew – to stay on an island! However, that trek was very open water and some treacherous looking waves. Even with our binoculars, we could not tell if it was already occupied. So if we braved the waves, we risked having to fight them all the way back if it is taken! With lots of back and forth, Fred Grandpa (what my nephews named him) made an executive decision that we’re heading to the island!
Okay!! We ventured into the waves! We became pretty separated as the waves sloshed us around and each of our boat “captains” had their own plan for attacking the waves. With my brother at the back of my canoe and one of my nephews in the middle, I had confidence in them, but with the crazy waves and my dog growing more anxious by the minute, I was thinking this was going to be where we go in.
Surprisingly, we all made it to shore!! With much relief!!! A couple of the nephews had been quite alarmed in their canoes, but kept their cool and made it in! What adventures these young kiddos are having already! And extra bonus – the island was ours!!!
As we explored our new home for the next couple nights, we realized there were a plethora of campsites to choose from to set up camp! So Grandma and Grandpa stayed down in the sheltered area of the site by the campfire, while the rest of us ventured up to the much windier, but more epic water views area of the island.
There was a perfect rock outcropping where we spent the next two evenings taking in the sunset. Well, the nephews mostly played in the water, threw rocks and sticks, and pretended to shoot birds, but ya know. The rest of us took in the scene.
The next morning after a granola and oatmeal breakfast, we packed up some water and snacks to explore our island. There were quite a few worn paths around the campsite areas, but they quickly disappeared, and we were truly out there bushwacking! It was an adventure, and we may have taken a few branches to the face, but it was also great fun! Not often do you get to explore an uninhabited island! And Joey was in his element as he loves hiking around and sniffing everything!
I was a little worried about my pants as we ventured through the island forest. I pretty much lived in my Stio CFS board pants! I had purchased them and some Shady Rays UV long sleeve shirts for the trip. The pants are crazy lightweight and comfortable! They are stretchy so you don’t feel them tugging anywhere when you’re sitting low in a canoe or kayak. And they’re super fun, bright colors! (And they are super on sale right now! Use my besties’ code DOGSANDDETOURS for a discount on full-priced goods.) So I didn’t want my new fav pants getting ripped up by all the branches we were trudging through. When we got back to camp, I looked them over and was quite surprised that they came through unscathed! Light, stretchy, and tough?! Whoop! Obsessed!
But through all this, lil Joey was definitely wearing out! So much to sniff and explore, and very little time for napping! Every time we walked by the tent, he would pull me toward it to go in to sleep! Haha!
Departure Day!
As we all still laid in our tents our final morning, we hear the rain start…ugh! Of course. When we need to pack up! So no one bothered getting up since it was raining anyway. We had two quick bouts of rain, but then it cleared up pretty quickly! By the time we got around to packing up, everything was dry again! Amazing! It did look like we’d be battling a bit of wind as we paddled to our exit, though.
It was a little bittersweet leaving our island. It was such a neat place! And just the Boundary Waters as a whole, obviously was incredible. I’m not used to spending time in such a peaceful, pure wilderness! While I was eager to have the comforts of home, and mostly a shower, it was also sad to be saying goodbye to such a deeply, powerful experience.
We loaded up the canoes for the final time and headed out! Joey was so completely exhausted by this point, that he just totally flopped down into the bottom of the canoe! What a contrast from our first day! Once out on the water, the wind wasn’t nearly as bad as it had appeared on land. It was quite a pleasant day for our final paddle. And more beautiful scenery to enjoy!
Final Thoughts
I would have never attempted this trip on my own, so I’m very grateful my brother and sister-in-law invited us along! They pretty much planned and prepped the entire thing! Overall, I’m not sure it could have gone any better! We had very little rain! The mosquitos and bugs were not nearly as awful as we had prepared for! We got to see a moose!!!! None of us tipped a canoe! And we all survived and made it out as scheduled! What more could we ask for?!
If you are up for this type of adventure, I would highly recommend it. It’s definitely work and some inconveniences, but man, there’s nothing like it! Do I need to go back every year? Nope, definitely not. Haha! But am I so glad I got to experience it? Hell yes!
I’m so blessed to have a family that is up for adventures and traveling together. They are so incredible, and we’ve made tons of memories on our travels. It’s what this crazy life thing is all about! 😉
Final Final Thought
Upon arriving home: the best shower of my life!!!!! 😀
