This page was last updated on: December 23, 2022
Boundary Waters/Quetico Spring Trip for 2007

June 9th - June 17th, 2007
Madnat and KatieB in my front yard, waiting WHILE we load the car.
On the road. This is somewhere outside of the Indy area.........It was a LONG drive, and the girls didn't seem to be too cramped in the last row of seats in the Navigator. This was the start of a FANTASTIC trip.
Gunflint Tavern for lunch...............This is always a GREAT stop, if you have a chance. We've stopped, there, the bluebird, my Sisters Place, and about every other eatery in Grand Marais. I think the Tavern is one of the BEST.
A little final prep the night before at Voyageur Canoe Outfitters. This was the first time I have used VCO. After Superior North was burned out, I was not too sure that this trip would actually happen. BUT Earl and Anita did us RIGHT, and hooked us up with VCO.
Breakfast at VCO. THIS was pretty good..........and we had a special request for Otha, which they were happy to handle.........I will tell you now........THEY are a great outfitter.
The tow out. The tow started on the Seagull river, which was different from other tows. I still don't understand how they were able to navigate the channel, without destroying the boats.
Dave and Katie paddling on Second Bay on Saganaga. Yes, this was the bay that I got LOST in. I still don't understand HOW that happened, especially with the laydown log "pointing the way".
Natalie on First Bay. Man, doesn't she look like she belongs here. I was a little worried about how she would do on this trip. SHE had a GREAT time, and is planning on many, MANY future trips.
Geo and MadNat on Saganaga Lake...........I think this is in Second Bay..........
The CREW at Monument Portage. Left to Right.......Chris, Otha, Dave, Katie, and MadNat.......I'm taking the picture.......
Madnat at Monument Portage.
Dave portaging the canoe at the end of Monument Portage. On this trip, we rented 1 Minnesota II, and Two Boundary Waters 18's. The Boundary Waters paddled like tubs but FISHED GREAT. The Minnesota II is FAST, but probably the poorest fishing platform I've ever used up there.
Katie and Natalie at the END of Monument Portage. THEY actually survived the first one. After this portage, Dave and I realized we packed the girls packs a little too heavy........We would end up having to split the load differently on the rest of the portages.
Christopher, after "shouldering" some of the extra burden on Monument Portage. We ended up calling Dave's big pack the GREEN SOB MONSTER............It was BIG, IT WAS HEAVY...........
Nice pose Katie................Notice the life vests. Dave, Katie, Natalie and I all wore them ALL the time we were in the canoes. I loaned Dave a self inflating vest, which worked out GREAT.
Lunchbreak on OtterTrack Lake. This is the only US campsite on the Eastern end of the lake. Not a GREAT campsite by any means.
Natalie, enjoying Peanut butter and Jelly on a Bagel.
Dave helping out with pancakes for breakfast. We had 2 stoves and 2 frypans, which made cooking the pancakes much easier.
Natalie and Katie on our Ester Lake campsite, enjoying the above pancakes........This was the only cool morning the ENTIRE trip. The rest of the time, it was HOT.
There were NOT many fish caught on this trip..........we caught enough for a couple fish meals, but even then we didn't catch too many. I'm used to 50-60 fish days EVERY day.......on this trip Dave and I had 1 day that was pretty good, but nothing close to 40 or 50 fish........
Katie, helping me make QPassage's famous BWCA Pizzas. THESE were a FANTASTIC hit. We used tortillia shells, mozerrela cheese, Italian seasoning, pepperoni, and pizza sauce. They turned out GREAT.
Geo, Katie, Chris, and Natalie enjoying some cards..............I think we might have been playing BS, but I'm not too sure............I guess that is better than the game the girls were playing.........ERS........figure it out.
Katie was ALWAYS smiling............even if we had a bad day, or portaged for 4 hours........she was STILL smiling.........
Katie and Natalie in camp on Ester. By the way they acted, you'd think they had been lifelong friends. In reality, they only met 3 days prior to this trip. I believe the both had a FANTASTIC time.
Christopher in camp on Ester Lake, tending the fire............Chris and Otha always did a GREAT job around camp. I cannot say enough......You can tell they enjoy this, and have done it a lot, even though this is only there second trip to the BWCA.
Otha in Camp on Ester. We tried to keep the camp clean, but didn't doo too great a job. We did manage to keep most of the foodstuffs in the vittles vaults, which DOES help quite a bit..........
A correctly stowed canoe............Actually if the wind had picked up a little this might have been a problem, but with the weather, I had NO problems leaving the canoe like this............THIS trip was the most STABLE as far as weather is concerned as any trip I've taken.
Natalie and I paddling on Link Lake.
Dave and Katie on Link Lake.
OK, this is COMPLETELY against BWCA etiquette.....but YES, we actually stopped on a portage and ate lunch. NOW, before you jump to any conclusions.....This portage is into a DEAD end lake, and NO one was in there.
Lunching on the Link Lake Portage...........
Cavity Lake BURN area. This is the South side of Fish Lake.
Otha with a nice northern. Did I say earlier that the Boundary Waters 18 was a FANTASTIC fishing platform. Yes, he is STANDING...........YIKES.
Nice sunset at our Ester Lake Campsite.
Katie and Natalie playing cards again. They played cards a lot, read, wrote in the journals, etc, etc. THIS was a different trip. When they wanted to fish, we took them fishing. There were a couple times, Dave and I went out without them, but that was RARE.
Christophers SUN thingamagig.............
Packing up to leave the Ester campsite. We stayed there for 3 nights.........Now we headed back to 3rd Bay to spend the next couple nights, and to make for an EASY paddle back to American Point.
Me, packing up my new ProPack. This new SealLine pack has a rigid frame, much like some of those EXPENSIVE backpacks. This makes the pack much better for portaging. I liked the pack so much, I will probably sell my old packs and buy at least one more of the new 2006 model ProPacks.
Christopher as the Ester Campsite.
Directly across the lake from our campsite are the "cliffs of Ester". In all the trips I've made to this area, we always try to make in to the top of the cliff. We've had lunch up there many times, and I wanted the group to see the park from this vantage point.
Me, helping Natalie and the others up the back side of the "Cliffs of Ester". There is no real trail, but MANY groups have made this trek.
Dave and Chris, climbing up the cliff. Again, there is no real trail, and you obviously have to BE CAREFUL. If you plan accordingly, this is a GREAT side trip.
I'm not sure I will ever do this again.........but due to all the fire issues they had last spring, there were some cell towers along the Gunflint Trail. Well, Otha had his cell phone, and we were able to make phone calls from the TOP of Ester. It was GREAT........
Katie and Natalie on the top of the "Cliffs of Ester".
Natalie and I at the top of the "Cliffs of Ester".
Dave and Katie at the Top.
Chris and Otha at the top...........The island campsite to the right of Otha is the site we were camped on. We figured we were at least 300-400ft off the water........Maybe more, maybe less.......It is a GRAND site, and if you EVER get a chance to visit Ester Lake, you need to visit this cliff.
Group picture at the top. Not the pic I wanted but it was the best we could do.
A pic from the top again. That island campsite between the trees, is were we were camped. A GREAT site.
Natalie rehydrating. On this trip, I made sure she drank at least 2 quarts of water a day. I tried to get her to drink more..........Sometimes she did, sometimes not. I averaged 5 a day, and on the Portage days, probably 6 or 7.
Back to Monument Portage..............
Swamp Lake again.
Kate and Natalie before the boardwalk into Swamp Lake. The forest service, has built a 100-200ft pier that REALLY keeps you out of the muck on the Swamp side of Monument Portage. Without the boardwalk, the portage would be really UGLY.
The portages on this trip were not too bad. With a "normal crew".......meaning all male and all equal or close to equal in strength, we would leave Ester at 7:00am and be at American Point for a 11:00am pickup......We've done that many times.
The kids goofing off at Monument portage.
Natalie and I saw these loons on Swamp Lake and WE had to get a pic..........
I went for a swim pretty much every day..........I could not convince anyone else..........that is until this MONSTER day of portaging. I convinced Natalie and Katie first, and then Christopher......I even think Otha hit the water, but Dave..........well that was another story.
Natalie and Katie kicking back at Third Bay Campsite.
Natalie kept a pretty thorough journal, and wrote in it at least once a day..........Sometimes, she wrote in it 2 or 3 times a day..........
A special moment shared between father and daughter.................I know how special this time was for Natalie and I..........AND I know the same was for Dave and Katie.
Fantastic sunset on Third Bay. I've seen a lot of them from this area. This is one of my favorite areas of the park. I spent my first 3 or 4 trips here. It is only fitting, that I'd bring my daughter here on her first BWCA trip.
Natalie........writing in her journal again.
A nice sunset from the top of the hill at the 3rd bay Campsite.
Katie and Natalie at 3rd bay campsite.
Is that.................a FISH????? Katie with a smallie caught from the shore at our 3rd bay campsite.
Same fish........but since they were few and far between............Natalie figured she needed to get her pic taken with the fish also.............GOOD IDEA.
This one fought long and HARD, and almost broke Dave's fishing pole...........if finally gave up the ghost, and Dave wrestled it to shore, where it was quickly weighed, measured, tagged, and released.
Prepping the WHITE MAN's FIRE...............No wind, so I didn't have too much issue with this...........On MOST trips, the wind is howling, and this woudl be a bad idea..........
Momma turtle, laying her eggs........DIRECTLY on the path to our tent.
Dave and Katie fishing the back side of Zephyr Lake.
The trip was TAKING a toll...............Both girls DIED after our daytrip to Zephyr............
MadNat..........Sleeping on a comfortable ROCK.
Last night................WHAT a FANTASTIC sunset.
Paddling out the the LAST day.
Paddling somewhere on Saganaga, near American Point.
The THUMBS UP on a GREAT trip................These two girls had a great time, and I hope the pair up again in the future..................
Until NEXT year.................