I returned on Monday from my first trip into the BWCAW for 2001. We entered the park at Angleworm Lake, doing the 2.5 mile portage in just under 2.5 hours. This entire trip was built around the goal of finding solitude -- we went early in the season, entered the park mid-week, and chose an infrequently used entry point. Despite that, we saw people on every lake and faced a "crowd" on the portage trail into Gull Lake.

We had fabulous weather -- high's in the 80's each day -- until the day of our departure when we ran into a 30 mph headwind as we made the long paddle down Fourtown Lake. We also had great fishing, catching lots of pike, some really big smallmouth (I caught a pre-spawn female on Moosecamp that I estimated at 7 pounds)and enough walleye to provide two fish dinners.

We also got some great route advice and fishing pointers from Piragis Outfitters the day before we entered the park. At their suggestion we made the paddle down the Moosecamp river into Fourtown, which was a real highlight of the trip. Apparently it's too low to paddle through most of the summer.

Hope you all have as much fun as we did. Now I've gotta figure out a way to get the wife to say "yes" to a fall trip!

Posted by Illini John on May 24, 2001 at 22:54