BWCA: Day 3

On Saturday morning we weathered another little shower. The clouds released the sun, we strung up the tents, and settled down around the stove to eat pancakes. Fires were not allowed because of the smoldering forest fire between Alpine Lake and Seagull Lake. By late morning we shoved off for Big Sag. Peeps ran the first rapids, but as a novice in the canoe I opted for the driest strategy: tie nylon rope to the stern of the canoe and walk it down. The canoeing in the Boundary Waters is very intimate and very nice. Marye and I successfully ran some easy rapids, walked the canoe at the Granite Portage point, and ran the rapids at the Gneiss Lake Portage point. We lunched at Gneiss Lake Island. Peeps were tired but we had a long way to go; we weren’t even to the long straightaway leading to Big Sag, a more-exposed straightaway into the strong northwest wind we had already been struggling against. Onward. Monotonous, strenuous paddling. No enjoyment of pristine surroundings. General disenchantment with romantic ideas of simplicity and wilderness. After I navigated the canoes through Blowdown Portage, we sat motorless at the beginning of the straightaway. Eventually we made it to the rocky Horsetail Portage. We walked the canoes on a nylon leash and carried the kayak. Finally, we portaged at Saganaga Falls and paddled out onto Saganaga Lake, affectionately known as the Big Sag. We decided to call it a day and we stopped at a campsite on Conner's Island. We dined on pasta mixes, of which the Nacho Cheese got mixed reviews and caused concerns about tent gas. We sat around the flameless campfire, drained the box of red wine, and ate smores. Joe Crookston sang Fall Down As the Rain again on Grand Marais community radio. A big moon was rising in the east.