To break up the drive north, we drove to Minneapolis and stayed with Will on the 24th. Alas, Sandy was traveling, so we weren't able to enjoy her company, but Will did a fine job of seeing to it that we had a bed for the night. The next morning, after wishing him farewell, we went to an old favorite--Steamworks--for coffee and waffles with lingonberries. Then we got ourselves back to I35 and headed to Duluth and points further north.
For lunch, we stopped at Betty's Pies, just north of Two Harbors. This place became a favorite of mine years ago.We stayed at the Bluefin Bay Resort that evening. Many of you will remember this as the delightful place we stayed for the several days surrounding Will and Sandy's wedding. One of our motivations for staying here, rather than at the campground at Sawbill was the chance to go up to Grand Marais, including another dining experience, this one being Swen & Ole's. Given that Mike and Jessica are culinary students, we felt they needed the Betty's and Swen & Ole's experiences. Here are some shots near the Bluefin and at Swen & Ole's. (I obviously need to lose more weight and/or improve my posture!) The one of Josey has her fascinated by the waves in Lake Superior as viewed from our second floor window. A gorgeous mountain ash was just outside the window.
We drove to Sawbill bright and early and had breakfast at the outfitters, after which we began to pack up for the trip. We entered the BWCA at Sawbill. The trip we planned was similar to the Cherokee Loop that SCO has listed as one of its suggested routes. We did the trip over four nights and the better part of five days, staying at Cherokee an extra night.
The portages up to Cherokee are not too bad, and I found out that though I'm older and not as strong as I used to be, I can still do this!! It was good to be back out after many years not being able to revisit the wilderness. We found a great camp site at Cherokee, one with a very well-placed, if not perfectly flat rock, situated by the fire and useful as a "table." There was also a nice flat rock for sun bathing, staring at sunsets, and canoe landings.
It was interesting to have Josey along for the trip. She took to the canoe well, and except for having to watch first out of one side and then the other, thus tipping the canoe awkwardly back and forth, she was fine. She took to the portage travels naturally, blazing the way for us and beating us to the end every time. Of course, these busy days left her without her usual quota of naps, so she crashed at the campsite without fail. She always stayed nearby when we were in camp, and she took to sleeping with us in the tent quite well. One evening she sat staring at a brushy area for the longest time. We knew she had spotted some little critter. Eventually, she pounced on and killed a mouse that was unfortunate enough to have attracted this attention.
For entertainment one day, Kathie decided we needed to make boats out of natural materials. The results were interesting to say the least. From left to right in the picture, you see Kathie's entry, mine, Mike's, and Jessica's. Kathie's turned out to be the best sailing vessel and won the race (last seen heading far across Cherokee). I cheated and tried to use a rubber band to make a paddle--I thought this marvelous invention would surely win, but the paddle got caught in the opening and only spun a few times. Good design, bad engineering. Mike probably did the most work, soaking bark to make ties to lash together twigs. His was the Kon Tiki entry, but it did not want to sit upright very well once the sail was attached. Jessica's boat looked like something out of Kevin Costner's Waterworld movie, and it also tended not to want to stay upright.
We left Cherokee on the third day out and traveled to the north end of Kelley Lake. The fourth day, we traveled to Smoke Lake. The final morning, we did our single final portage back to Sawbill, paddled back to SCO, took those much-wanted showers, bought the mandatory new T-shirts and sweatshirts, visited with the Hansons, and then started our drive home. Lunchtime occurred with our arrival in Duluth, so we had a first serious non-freeze-dried meal at Grandma's. It was a great trip.
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