2019 10-Day Family Trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness

Seeking solitude and a large dose of vitamin N, our family decided to enter the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) from a relatively unpopular entry point, #4 Crab Lake. There are no pictographs or big waterfalls to see from this entry point. The trip starts with a long paddle across Burntside Lake or the hiring of a tow. Once at the portage, the entry into the Boundary Waters kicks off with a once 370 rod portage, now 408 rod portage to Crab Lake.




The portage into Crab Lake has been rerouted thanks to previous paddlers who left garbage on a privately owned section of the portage. This 408 rods is only about one and a quarter miles, an easy hike. But wait, it is done with portage packs and canoes, and often in multiple trips to get copious quantities of gear from one end to another. Once entered, if one wants to do some real travelling beyond Cummings, which is a beautiful lake but not all that deep into the wilderness, one must be ready for some dandy portages on the longer side, and fairly overgrown.

Want to go from Cummings to Buck Lake and Beyond? 470 rods. Want to go to Big Moose Lake from Cummings? The portage is 622 rods (1.9 miles) long. Would you double portage your canoes and all your gear to Big Moose with a smile. Perhaps, if you were dreaming of the solitude you might find on the other side of the portage.

Although you may have already surmised, if this is your first time taking kids into the Boundary Waters, this is not your entry point. You will have a mutiny on your hands. Our daughter has been going since she was small, and we have gradually over time eased her into longer trips and longer portages.

Please note: I will update this post to add links to videos of the trip in the future as they become available.

Day 1

My husband heard horror stories about people having bad paddling experiences across Burntside Lake in storms. Being that entry permits are good only for one entry date, there is no waiting for a less windy day. So he opted to hire a tow across Burntside Lake from Voyageur North. We are not in anyway affiliated with this business other than as a customer, but I do want to say, Voyageur North is a very good outfitter, and we would highly recommend Voyageur North for anyone needing any level of outfitting for a BWCA trip.

Day 1 Video - EP#4 Crab Lake to Campsite #309

My husband's back had been in very bad shape for a couple weeks before our trip, and I worried about his back going out. Approaching this trip, we would start out slow and let his back rest at any sign of trouble. I said that if worse came to worse, I could always do more than our usual double portage and let him rest. It would be a laughable bit, as I would have to actually unpack the food barrel and carry it in portions. At the start of a 10-Day, 3-Person trip, it is too full and too heavy for me to lift on my own.

Campsite 309 on Crab Lake - Day 1

Not to worry, my husband made it across that first big portage. It began to rain while we portaged. As we paddled across Crab Lake, the wind whipped itself into a fury and we dug in hard. The rain fell harder and we started to talk about stopping right there on Crab Lake. We took campsite 309 and about the time we got camp fully set up, the sun came out and it felt like a brand new day.

Map to our first campsite on Chad Lake

Being camped on an entry point lake, we found the usual treasure trove of trash to pick up on the campsite, including a frisbee which our daughter Ams took a liking to. We went from cold wind and rain to the kind of day where snakes stretch out on the rocks to sun themselves, which is exactly what we saw in camp. Perfect weather to take that frisbee out for a spin. For lunch, Ams chose Knorr Stroganoff with dehydrated ground beef and dehydrated peas for lunch, served with a side of dehydrated applesauce.

On the lake a few boats came by, it being a Sunday, headed towards the entry point. We also saw one or two parties looking for campsites. After this, the lake became quiet and we began to feel alone at our campsite. After many games of frisbee, cards and dice, my husband built a fire. We baked blueberry muffins in the reflector oven, and prepared dehydrated butter chicken for dinner. We had a tough time finishing the meal, but there is no throwing away food on a BWCA trip! So I choked down the remaining chicken and saved the excess rice for morning. After dinner some people paddled up to the campsite across from ours, and loud happy voices and laughter carried on throughout the evening until I fell to sleep. That alone feeling faded quickly, but they sure sounded like they were having a wonderful time.

Sunset on Crab Lake - Day 1

Day 2

With gusty winds in the forecast, we decided to stay in camp on day two. This would allow my husband's back some rest, and with sun in the forecast it would allow us to charge some devices. For breakfast I buttered our skillet and cooked the leftover rice. I sprinkled banana chips and pecans on top and gave it a try. Not much different than morning oatmeal! I noticed mice on the campsite in the early morning, but they disappeared later in the day. I enjoyed some time at the water's edge until my family woke.

Day 2 Video - A Windy Day in Camp

Now it was time to make pancakes and ready-cooked bacon. Pancakes in camp is a bit of a luxury. They're cooked slow on low, one-by-one. Ams loves pancakes, and it's a very filling meal. A perfect start to a day set aside for laying in a hammock near the water, which is exactly where Ams and my husband parked themselves while I wandered the game trails around camp.

Morning moon - Day 2

We spent the afternoon napping, looking at the water, playing frisbee and swimming. The campsite across the lake cleared out and things became very quiet. Again we began to feel alone. We made dehydrated chili with Fritos and a side of applesauce for dinner, and watched what we could see of the sunset. A nice relaxing Day 2 in the BWCA drew to a close. With Dad's back feeling a little better, we decided to move camp in the morning.

Crab Lake sunset - Day 2

Day 3

Although the east was behind the trees, the clouds and colors made the early morning sky quite spectacular on Day 3. Spectacular in sort of a spooky "the weather could do anything" kind of way, that is. We rose early preparing to leave camp, when a thunderstorm rolled in. We waited a couple hours for the storm to pass before waking our daughter, and left campsite 309 around 11:00 am.

Day 3 Video - Paddling from Crab Lake to Cummings Lake

Ready to leave Crab Lake and head to Cummings Lake - Day 3

Korb River on the way to Cummings Lake - Day 3

We paddled towards Cummings Lake. First, we took an easy 19 rod portage into Little Crab Lake, then we paddled the Korb River to Korb Lake. After that, we portaged an easy 78 rods into Cummings and began to look for a campsite. Although we did not see anyone else travelling, the first handful of campsites we wanted were taken, and a few canoes were out fishing on the water. Eventually we found campsite 288 open, and decided to take it. This campsite is relatively large in the sense that it has enough flat potential tent pads that it could hold a larger group.

Map from our campsite on Chad Lake to our campsite on Cummings Lake

In Camp looking south on Cummings Lake - Day 3

Evening comes to Cummings Lake - DAy 3

After sunset on Cummings Lake - Day 3

After we set up camp, we made home-cooked dehydrated beef stroganoff for lunch. This campsite had a nice big corridor for playing frisbee, and our daughter Ams could not get enough. We also followed some trails out of camp and did some exploring.

Soon it was time to make mashed potatoes with cheese and bacon bits. My husband asked, did I want to stay in camp an extra day? I said "no". We'd enjoyed the campsite thoroughly and there was not much left to explore. This part of the lake was busy and we watched people fish, listened to a barking dog, and could see the next campers each time they went out to the water's edge for a leg stretch. I was glad the people were there, and it is for all of us to share. If no one loved the BWCA, the area wouldn't be conserved. Yet, I longed to go in deeper from the entry point, to experience some true quiet, so I told him let's move on to a less popular lake.

Day 4

On day 4 we rose to a beautiful, sunny day and packed our things. Early morning mice dashed back and forth across our campsite, and I wondered if a more remote campsite could be mouse-free. The wind picked up as we paddled, and we dug in. We felt the burn as we paddled across Cummings Lake to the 470 rod (1.5 mile) portage into Buck Lake.

Day 4 Video: Paddling from Cummings Lake to Buck Lake

Cummings Lake on our long paddle into a still headwind towards to the portage - Day 4

We found parts of the portage very overgrown, making it easy to lose track of the trail. Although the portage appeared to be maintained, a large number of trees laid fallen across the portage which perhaps speaks to its low usage. We did see moose tracks and scat on this portage which allowed us to appeal to our daughter's imagination, and added to my feeling that perhaps we were now entering the wilderness.

Cummings Lake at the portage into Buck Lake - Day 4

What do you mean, we have to go back and do that portage all over again?

Finding a nice rock chair on the portage - Day 4

Map from our campsite on Cummings Lake to our Campsite on Buck Lake

We encountered no one on the portage and found both campsites on a  now very windy Buck Lake empty. We chose to stay at campsite 277. The campsite is small with a rocky hill, but provided the solitude we were looking for, and many opportunities for loon watching. We cooked chicken flavored Knorr pasta with dehydrated chicken on the camp stove. My husband built a nice fire, which took good care of the mosquitoes and allowed us to make a side of cornbread.

At last we are done with the 470 rod double portage into Buck, let's paddle!

Given the small size of the campsite, I imagine we terrorized a family of mice by unwittingly walking over it's den time and again. Later in the day, we watched a mama mouse pull her baby out of a hole in the ground below a tree located alongside the camp kitchen. The mouse ran off into the woods with her baby presumably to relocate to a safer home. So, yes, even on the remote site we found mice living on the campsite.

Sunset time on Buck Lake - Day 4

No travelers passed through Buck Lake and we had the lake to ourselves for the evening. The loons swam close to camp and put on a show. This was the solitude we had been looking for. Before long, the sun fell and we slept soundly.

Day 5

Day 5 started with sprinkling rain which dissipated as we prepared to head out towards Pine Lake. We decided to try taking Buck Creek to Pine Lake.  We learned by trying, that the creek was open only seasonally and not currently passable, so we backtracked to the 250 rod portage from Buck Lake into Chad Lake.

Day 5 Video: Paddling from Buck Lake to Chad Lake

The overgrown parts of the portage from Buck Lake into Chad Lake gave the impression that this was not a high usage portage. More than halfway across, there is a split in the portage trail which makes getting briefly lost a very good possibility.

When my daughter and I headed back across the portage trail for our second load of gear, we were walking fairly quietly. As we neared the Buck Lake end of the portage, we were very surprised to hear wolves howling. A very special moment for the two of us, and my daughter's first time hearing wolves in the wild.

The beaver dam along the portage from Buck Lake to Chad Lake - Day 5

Don't get excited, it's not the lake, it's a beaver pond along the portage - Day 5

Wildflowers - Day 5

Wildflower - Day 5

Map from our campsite on Buck Lake to our Campsite on Chad Lake

When we entered Chad Lake, the water sat still like glass, making perfect reflections of the clouds, trees, and islands. It was so beautiful, I told my husband I would love to camp on Chad Lake and not even go on to Pine Lake. We checked out both campsites, and chose to stay at campsite 276. Both campsites had more room to roam than our previous site, and some nice views of the water. The other campsite, number 275, was further from a portage and had a nice pile of logs in the camp kitchen, but I didn't see a great spot for swimming, and we needed baths.

So we took number 276. Unfortunately we found much trash on the campsite and we picked up used cotton swabs, coins, paper towels, ties, wrappers, tape, clothespins, fishing line, and even partially burnt socks. While we were glad to pack those items out, we did not have room in our packs for the skillet, grill, fishing equipment and bucket someone left on the site. The way it was stacked as if intentionally, I wondered if someone would be coming back for it.

Water like a mirror on beautiful Chad Lake - Day 5

Lake afternoon light show over Chad Lake - Day 5

Directly on the best tent pad, Ams found bear scat, let your imagination run wild with that thought. We did...but we decided to chance it and stay. We could always move to the other site if a problem arose. We ate dehydrated sweet and sour rice with beef. The rocks below the water being slippery-slimy, I scoped out the shore and found a good spot to jump into the water.  I took a cold swim and said goodbye to 5 days of grime.

Sunset over Chad Lake - Day 5

We saw no other paddlers on Chad Lake on Day 5, and enjoyed the lake to ourselves. We shared the lake only with the loons, frogs, hummingbirds, fish and snakes we saw on and off all day. The sunset looked amazing. We planned to spend the next day relaxing and charging electronics in camp, so we stayed up late to watch the stars, then headed off for a good night's sleep.

Watching the sunset on Chad Lake - Day 5

Day 6

We woke to a cold, crisp morning with fog moving over the lake. I love a cold, foggy morning and watching the fog dissipate as the sun comes up, warming the day. And yes, the sun came up eventually drying up the fog, turning up a beautiful day. I loved my time watching small animals - frogs, snakes, squirrels, turtles, hummingbirds and loons to name a few.

Eventually my family emerged from the tent and soon it was time for a family breakfast. I made pancakes and bacon, much to our daughters delight. Then she and I spent some time exploring game trails near the campsite.

Morning fog over the lake - Day 6

Frog - Day 6

Another frog - Day 6

A beautiful morning after the sun dried up the fog - view from the south side of camp - Day 6

View to the west from our campsite on Chad Lake - Day 6

View to the northwest from our campsite on Chad Lake - Day 6

Exploring the trails around camp - Day 6

We spent the day exploring the campsite, swimming, and playing dice and cards. Ams let small pan fish nibble on her fingers. For lunch I made dehydrated spaghetti and meat sauce, and my husband built a nice fire which allowed us to made reflector over biscuits. While we cooked lunch, we saw one group paddle across Chad, and this is the only group we saw while on this lake. The other group took the second campsite and we shared the lake that evening.

Lake afternoon family picture on Chad Lake - Day 6

Badly in need of baths, in the late afternoon our entire family took a refreshing swim. It felt so good to lay on the warm rocks to dry off. We felt clean and good as we planned to put in a big portaging day heading to Lunetta Lake in the morning. Knowing we had a big day ahead, we all turned in around 9:00 pm. We fell to sleep listening to the loons who called throughout the night. 

Sunset over Chad Lake - Day 6

Hiding from the post-sunset mosquitoes - Day 6

Goodnight - Day 6

Day 7

Days like Day 7 put the fun into a trip. Finding obscured portages. Navigating through and around rocks. Lining the shore around shallow waters with mucky bottoms that will sink you to your waist. Deciding how to approach downed trees at the portages. Keeping found, as opposed to getting lost on overgrown portage trails. Marveling at the beauty of empty lakes, lake after lake. We got up early looking forward to our biggest adventure day of the trip.

Pre-sunrise visit from the 6 loons that sang to us all night - Day 7

We pushed off into the early morning quiet and headed to the 250 rod portage from Chad Lake to Buck Lake.  We saw no one on the portage and saw that no one occupied either campsite on Buck Lake. But we knew we weren't entirely alone because we saw leach containers floating on Buck Lake at the end of the portage, and these containers had not been present on Day 5 when we had previously left Buck Lake.

Day 7 Video

We spent a little bit of time looking for the portage from Buck to Western, as it is not as wide like some in the BWCA, and portaged 87 rods to Western Lake. Well, the maps and guides indicate 80 to 87 rods, but we are pretty sure in reality it was over 100. But still, the portage was not particularly long compared to some of the others on this trip. If you are looking for this portage on Buck Lake, look for a spot with a lot of rocks at the edge of a small bay, and you will find the portage nearby in the tall vegetation along the water's edge, just a bit to the southwest of the rocks.

We found Western Lake also empty, and very beautiful under the blue sky and bright sun. We went off in search of the 202 rod portage into Glenmore. There is a bay filled with boulders where the portage lies, but the portage receives low use and is therefore difficult to see until you are on it. Someone had marked it by hanging a small yellow flag in a tree, but with the sun in our eyes we never saw the yellow flag until we were standing under it. To find the portage, my husband ended up leaving the canoe and scouting the shore in the little bay, and we had a good laugh when we saw the flagging. In hindsight, once we were standing on the portage, we saw that the rocks had been arranged to make a small opening in the rock garden just the right size for a canoe. You can see it in the lower left corner of the picture just below.

We found the portage from Western Lake into Glenmore Lake in the rock mine field - Day 7

We found parts of the portage overgrown, and at the other end of the portage we found a family of swans on Glenmore Lake. We looked on in awe at the picturesque scene. Blue skies and swans with young lit by golden sun. On the second leg of the portage we quickly tuned in to the fact that Glenmore Lake was extremely shallow, with the type of mucky bottom that can sink you to your waist. The portage end of the lake was not only mucky and shallow, it was also littered with downed trees. We ended up putting our belongings and our daughter in the boat and lining (dragging) the canoe along the shore a good bit until at last we found water just deep enough to carry us forward.

Shallow and mucky portage from Western Lake into Glenmore Lake, and full of downed trees.
We lined the boat to the point upshore, Day7.

Starting to look like fall on the portage from Glenmore Lake to Schramm Lake - Day 7

The moon is looking beautiful this morning - Day 7

Again, we saw no one on this lake, and the campsite was empty. We took the overgrown 195 rod portage from Glenmore Lake to Schramm Lake. Schramm Lake was also a shallow lake, but we didn't have trouble getting ourselves going this time. Once across Schramm Lake, we paddled a creek towards Lunetta Lake. While our map showed 3 portages, we never saw the first and it did not take long to reach the second. The second portage takes paddlers around a beaver dam with a drop off.

On this portage there is a cross-trail, I believe it is an old logging road, and Ams and I took the wrong fork for a time which cost our backs more extra work than we were looking for. Although on the map the portage seemed fairly short at 52 rods, with the diversion and backtrack it felt far longer. After this portage the water was fairly shallow and we really had to push our way through the muck. We climbed over two beaver dams, and in short order we were at a 60 rod portage into Lunetta Lake. I ate a few of the last blueberries of the season along this portage trail and got to thinking it would be good to cook a hot meal soon.

A portage on the creek from Schramm Lake to Lunetta Lake

At the last portage on the creek from Schramm Lake to Lunetta Lake - Day 7

So glad we are nearly done travelling for the day on the portage into Lunetta Lake - Day 7

Lunetta Lake - Day 7

We had done small bursts of paddling with a lot of double portaging between 5 lakes and sections of one creek seeing no travelers and no one on any of the campsites on any of the lakes. By now, Ams was not looking well and was starting to complain she felt sick. With Ams feeling unwell, we decided to take the nearest campsite, and hoped we would find campsite 300 on Lunetta Lake open.

Map from our campsite on Chad Lake to our campsite on Lunetta Lake

A gorgeous bay on the north side of camp - Day 7

We were delighted and relieved to find the campsite 300 on Lunetta Lake available. The first order of business was to get Ams seated in the shade and fill her up with Gatorade. By now it was evening, so I made one of my family's favorite camping meals - Idahoan Baked Potato Soup served with bacon bits. With everyone tired and happy to be in camp, we scrapped our plan of going down to take another small loop and camp on Battle Lake the next day. Instead, we decided to hunker down and let Ams start feeling better for a layover day before moving to our entry point lake.

At our campsite on Lunetta Lake - Day 7

View of Lunetta Lake from camp - Day 7

A gorgeous sunset over Lunetta Lake - Day 7

In the evening we watched turtles around camp peeking up at us from the water, and after dark my husband sat quietly at the water's edge with his headlamp off. A very large snapper about 2 feet across crawled up out of the water and into the campsite. A thrill to behold. We enjoyed having Lunetta Lake to ourselves for the evening.

Day 8

In the morning, I woke at 4:00 am to the sound of distant howling wolves.  I heard them on and off again from 4:00 am to 5:30 am. What a thrill to sit at the water's edge enjoying the peaceful predawn and listening to wolf songs.

Video Day 8

A good day to be a frog - Day 8

Beauty on the creek

When my family woke, I made hash-browns and bacon. Ams felt better, and suggested we all go for a paddle to see if the creek between Little Crab Lake and Lunetta might be open. We easily paddled down the creek as it began to rain. Once on Little Crab we pulled fairly close to a large bald eagle, watching him fly and admiring his majesty. Then we took the creek back to our campsite on Lunetta Lake. On this paddle, we ran into one couple checking out the creek, other than that brief encounter, we continued to be alone on Lunetta Lake.

Frog spent the day in the same spot on the same rock next to our favorite sitting spot - Day 8

Map of our creek paddle

After our paddle we make dehydrated shepherd's pie, cheesy garlic biscuits and a Knorr pasta side. We enjoyed lounging around camp and eating. We noticed many frogs, snakes and turtles around camp but no birds and no loons. Little fish swam near shore to nibble on Ams fingers. Incidentally, this was our first campsite with no mice, perhaps there is something to be said for having reptiles around. This campsite had been a real fur and feather-free kingdom, except for the beaver that swam past from time to time.

Curious visitor to our campsite on Lake Lunetta - Day 8

Ribbitt!

All smiles - Day 8

Will we get a sunset over Lunetta Lake tonight?  Day 8

A brief flash of sun lights the trees to the north of camp - Day 8

There's not going to be much of a sunset tonight - Day 8

Sunset over Lunetta Lake - Day 8

Family picture in camp on Lake Lunetta - Day 8

Day 9

On day 9 we woke to a rainy morning and packed up camp. We paddled back through the creek from Lunetta Lake to Little Crab Lake in the rain. We saw no one on Little Crab Lake and the campsite stood empty. We paddled to the easy 19 rod portage into Crab Lake as the rain began to fall harder. We portaged to Crab Lake in the rain.

Video - Days 9 & 10

On Crab  Lake, the rain fell pretty hard. We paddled past many empty campsites and one or two occupied ones on Crab Lake. We found campsite 312 on Crab Lake open and decided to stay.

Last dry view of the day on Lake Lunetta before we paddled over to Crab - Day 9

Pretty fungus on the portage from Little Crab Lake to Crab Lake - Day 9

Map from our campsite on Lunetta Lake to our campsite on Crab Lake

We found two paddles on the campsite, and assumed someone would be back for those. How do you paddle away from camp without your paddles?  I picked up some other trash including an open bar of soap on the fire grate which I found particularly disgusting. We had a bit of a family discussion over where to put the tent and the tarp, and I wanted the tent of high ground. I was pretty unhappy to be outvoted and putting the tent on low ground. I made chicken fried rice for lunch, and we hunkered down under the tarp as it continued to rain.

A break in the rain - view to the west from camp - Day 9

View from our campsite on Crab Lake - Day 9

View to the southeast in camp on Crab Lake - Day 9

Happy to be hunkered down under the tarp - Day 9

The rain fell harder and harder, and I found my self irrationally upset about the tent being on low ground. So I closed my eyes and napped in my chair under the tarp thinking I would feel better after a good snooze. Soon the tent sat in a puddle my husband said looked like a small lake. During a break in the rain my husband kindly woke me up and helped me move the tent to higher ground, after that I felt much better about the night ahead. I made dehydrated Spanish rice with dehydrated ground beef for dinner, and garnished it with crushed Fritos. Dark came early. We spent our last night drifting off to sleep to the calls of distant loons.

Day 10

I woke on day 10 expecting rain and thunderstorms, and feeling delighted to be relatively dry. The clouds had even taken a break, albeit temporary, and I was able to see the moon and stars before the sun rose. There is nothing so joyful as a break in the weather when you are mentally prepared to deal with rain and thunderstorms. We packed our wet gear, loaded up the canoe, and headed back to the 408 rod portage into Burntside Lake.

Stars and moon from our campsite on Crab Lake - Day 10

At sunrise, the rain clouds are back! Day 10

Ready to paddle out to the entry point - Day 10

We left camp an hour earlier than necessary, hoping to beat the thunderstorms that had been forecast. The wind blew and we dug in. We did not have far to paddle. Although it was a bit of an effort, we thoroughly enjoyed it knowing that this was our last paddle of the trip. As we rounded our last peninsula on Crab Lake, dark clouds gathered looking strangely majestic as they were lit by the sun. We saw two beautiful eagles perched in tall trees adjacent to the currently empty campsite 313, and marveled at their size as we passed below.

Resting on the portage from Crab Lake to Burntside Lake - Day 10

Map of our way out of the BWCA

On the portage back to Burntside Lake, we did a lot of talking about lightening up our gear to facilitate single portaging on future trips, and how we'd get our daughter to go much further if we could single portage. It sprinkled a few times as we portaged, but the promised thunderstorms were not unleashed. Our tow showed up early, and we had a dry tow across Burntside and headed over to Voyageur North for some much needed showers. After our showers we enjoyed a bite to eat at Insula, before starting the long roadtrip home. 

Oh yum!

Insula!

Chicken and mashers!

On this trip we felt the glory of getting off the beaten path and the adventure of less used portages and lakes. It only whet our appetites for more. On the way home we promised ourselves to figure out how to lighten our gear, food and cookware to enable ourselves to single portage our way much further on future trips. As we drove out of Ely, the wind picked up and the rain we had expected earlier in the day began to fall. We were on our way home.

That's all for now, let's get outdoors and keep our wild places wild!

Trip Map