This was to be our last day in the BWCA, so we had a big day ahead of us. The forecast for this day called for a good chance of rain. The morning began cloudy, but to our delight it was dry. Very dry as a matter of fact - no dampness, no dew! This was truly a blessing since we now had the opportunity to lay everything out, including tents, sleeping bags and other personal gear, and pack it all up as efficiently as possible. Plus, there would be no need to dry things out once we got home!
We gathered for breakfast, then we all began tearing down camp, personal gear first, then organizing and packing the group gear. The Frig still had 2 plastic jugs of ice that had to be cut open to remove the ice so we wouldn't be packing that out. Also, we had to release the remaining leeches and crawlers that we had. Run, run, you're free...until a northern or bass eats ya. This all took 2-3 hours, and by 10 am we were finally ready to set the canoes in the water and load them up. And we were off to cloudy skies, not much wind, and no rain just yet.
It only took us a couple minutes to paddle to our first short portage, then deal with the muck to unload, portage the gear 40 rods, then deal with the muck on the other end to load the canoes back up for the short river ride to the major portage a short way away. Not much to say about the following big portage - it's all a blur of humping and obstacles. Sometime during this portage it began to drizzle, and at the other end of the portage was the big Bald Eagle Lake, where there was some wind to contend with.
As we stood on the shoreline ready to launch, I tried to use the GPS to give the bandits a landmark to shoot for across the big lake so we would all end up at the short walk-over portage into Gabbro. I had taken a waypoint on the GPS when we did that little portage for this very reason - so that we could quickly find our way back across Bald Eagle Lake. However, the GPS was acting up, not giving me a clear direction heading. Joe and Chuck were packed and ready to head out, and wanted to get a head start because their canoe was the one that never went in a straight line, so we sent them off in a particular direction. After a bit more loading the other two canoes were launched, and as soon as we started heading out the GPS gave me a clear direction to the far shoreline...about 35 degrees to the right of the direction we had sent Joe and Chuck. Plus, with the drizzle and wind, I was barely able to see them because of their head start. Gary and I paddled hard to overtake Jeff and Steve so that we could lead them in the right direction. But as for Joe and Chuck, we'd just have to hope that they could see us and work their way at the different angle.
The wind was favorable in this direction, and we worked our way in between some islands to the exact spot from a few days ago where we could lift the full canoes over the rocks and into Gabbro. But as we entered the channel and lost sight of the big lake behind us, it was clear that Joe and Chuck couldn't see us, and therefore didn't correct course. Having led Jeff and Steve to this spot, Gary and I quickly unloaded most of our canoe so that we could paddle faster back out onto the big lake and look for the other two. Gary was kicking himself for letting us get split up like this, but I was more annoyed about the setback in time. Annoyance quickly changed to concern as we hit the big lake with a side wind across our canoe. The angle was such that we'd be fighting wind to work our way at an angle to find Chuck and Joe. It was extremely hard to see with the grey sky and wind (rain had let up), but I thought I had spotted them a long way away. Sure enough they were angling along the shoreline at about 90 degrees to us, so Gary and I made a beeline for an intercepting course. At one point we could make out the other canoe clearly, but we didn't know who it was. We flashed a paddle high in the air, and when they responded in kind, we knew it was them.
Both canoes were tired from the extra paddling against the wind, so we pulled up along the nearest shoreline to take a small break before heading back to the others. The spot happened to be a nice campsite that we investigated while stretching our legs and giving our arms and back a rest. After a break, we headed out on the lake along the shoreline with a bit of a headwind, once again reaching the calm bay leading in to where Jeff and Steve awaited.
Once we were together, we all lifted one canoe after another out of the water, walking the few feet to the other side, then hand-over-handing the canoes into the water. At one point Jeff tried to maneuver himself along some submerged rocks while setting the canoe in, and accidentally plunged in about chest deep. Whoa there cowboy, take it easy!! That BWCA water will cool you off in a hurry!
We pressed on across Gabbro, with a very favorable wind and no rain. We encountered a couple island campsites along the way and found them occupied, leading us to believe that Gabbro is a popular lake. With its nice, relatively easy portage into it from the parking area, I could see myself back here someday.
After traversing the long Gabbro Lake, we came upon the slight spillway into Little Gabbro. A few days ago we had to paddle up this flow, but now the water seemed to be flowing much harder than before! Luckily we only had to glide straight through and keep from turning sideways. Looking back at the others coming through, I wonder what we would have done a few days ago had the water been this strong? I am not convinced we could have paddled through.
To make a point of how lousy their canoe was at going in a straight line, Chuck and Joe coasted through the flow into Little Gabbro and immediately turned sideways at the end. See? This PROVES that it's not them, that it's the canoe that was causing them to zigzag all over the lake. Or, was it just user error? The jury is still out on that one (except for Chuck and Joe of course!).
As small as Little Gabbro was, it still challenged us with small islands and inlets that made it difficult to locate the put-in spot. The GPS was working pretty well since we were on the move, so I used it to guide the bandits into the spot where we put in a few days ago. Upon arrival, we emptied the 3 canoes as quickly as possible to allow the canoes themselves to be hauled up the trail to the cars first, followed by three other bandits loaded with baggage. After that tough portage over on Bald Eagle Lake, this well-groomed 200-rod portage was quite welcome (even though it was primarily up hill). By this time we were a well-oiled portaging machine, and we were done pretty quickly. The two vehicles were pulled up, and we shared a few well-deserved beers left in the car while we loaded gear and canoes.
So, who's hungry for some real food and beers at the Boathouse Brewpub in Ely? (It was hard to say this because we had been eating and drinking like kings the whole time, but there's nothing like eating when someone else does the cooking!) First things first though, we headed back to town to drop off the canoes and other rental gear at the outfitter. We regaled them with tales of.....well, the lack of bass and walleye. But we didn't care. Next stop, the local grocery store which sold home-made smoked meats that we had in the BWCA, and some of the bandits wanted to stock up with more for home.
On to The Boathouse Brewpub for burgers and beers. Once we settled in with our craft beers (a regular IPA, and an even better Rye IPA were bandit favorites), Joe attempted to settle the score on our fish contest. Let's see, 3 days fishing, everyone contributes a buck per day, and the payoff each day was $2 each for first fish, most fish, biggest fish. We debated this for, oh, the better part of 38 seconds, then went about drinking our beers and continuing the bandit banter. In truth, we really didn't keep track, and Joe just wanted to make sure we were all OK with it because the fish pool was his idea, and he clearly owed money. We agreed that Lazer generally came out on top most of the time, but he didn't care. To compensate, I gave him a pat on the back and said, "Way to go!" There, we're square. Steve-O was quite content with fond memories of fishing hard for 3 days straight, bandit brotherhood, and a future that contained a greasy burger and a couple of beers lining his belly.
We still had a 4-hour drive back to the Cities, and now that rush hour had died down in Ely ;-), we could safely get on the road to home. Outside, the bandits bade each other farewell with handshakes and hugs, then jumped in the vehicles for the trip home to our wives, families, jobs, and reality.