Aug 15: Sawbill, Ada, Skoop, Cherokee Creek, Cherokee Lake.
Duluth packs were packed the night before with everything we might need. We are up bright and early, 5:45 AM and excited to get going.
By 7:45 we are on the water. Kent is comfortably settled in the driver’s seat, the back of the canoe. I take the motor seat up front. It is a smooth start for a day of beautiful shorelines and clear lakes. It is a bit of work though and we are pretty pooped by the time we reach our fist overnight stop, a campsite on an open rocky point on Cherokee Lake.
We take a quick dip to cool off—-I mean quick—Cherokee is really cold then relax to watch the many loons.
We are just laying there and then, Ack, what is that? There is blood just running out of Kent’s toe. In a mad flurry we check it out. It’s no injury, its leeches. They have attached to his toe and he is bleeding like a stuck pig. SO GROSS. In my slightly creeped out state I still managed to find a salt packet and we dispatched with the little devils. We cleaned up and bandaged and composed ourselves, no biggie, right!
Eagles and gulls loudly debated ownership of a fish kill floating out in the lake. There was squawking and dive bombing each other. It was all quite entertaining. Eventually an eagle won out and stole the fish off to his feeding perch.
Thank goodness for a breezy evening and the open rocky point. It kept the mighty swarms of mosquitoes comfortably at bay. We feel asleep with there mighty buzzing just outside of tent screen.
Aug 16: CherokeeLake
A clear cool morning with a tinge of color in the sunrise. We listened to the world wake up to the caress of the warm morning sun.
A boulder was our breakfast table as we fried pancakes and sipped coffee. We were up a couple hours before we heard the first sounds of other people on the lake. We spend all day on Cherokee. It is a welcome lazy day especially since it is pretty windy making paddling a bit more difficult. We explore a bit. Watch a pair of loons teaching their half grown young ones how to fish.
Ack, Kent has another leech. It is dispatched with hand sanitizer this time. We are getting a little wary stepping into and out of the lake’s edge. We do a lot of foot rinsing and inspection.
Hummus on pita for lunch and a quiet afternoon in camp.
A huge swarm of bees seems to like our finest shade pine. They don’t bother us so we don’t bother them. We listen to the buzzzz as we drift off to sleep.
Aug 17: Sitka, North Temperance, South Temperance lakes
We have a pretty big day planned so it’s up at 6:15 and on the water by 7:55. We are on smaller, shallower lakes and on the lookout for moose. Alas, no luck there. Of course, the fingernails on chalkboard-like sound made by 17 feet of Kevlar canoe scrapping on portage underbush couldn’t possibly have affected that! Tracks along the portage are the only proof they actually live out here. We did see a beaver out for a swim and a woodpecker feeding its little ones high in an old pine above the portage. People are fewer, lakes are calm, and the quiet is absolutely amazing. We settle into a secluded site on South Temperance….a bit of a mistake. 
With the sun low in the sky the mosquitoes become unbearable. We take refuge in the tent by 7PM. The mournful call of a loon drifts across the lake. He repeats and repeats. At last, a reply. I fall off to sleep.
Oh yeah, Kent found leeches again; on the very same toe. He is taking it all pretty well. I’m still leech free….thankfully.
Aug 18: Unnamed lake, Weird, Jack, & Kelly.
Woke to light rain around 5AM so we delayed breakfast a bit but soon leave the mosquitoes behind and are on the water by 8AM. The first portage is long and difficult. There see more moose tracks, this time a cow and at least one calf, but no still moose. We portage around a pretty waterfall on the way to JackLake. By 1:30 we are on Kelly Lake and both ready to call it a day. 
We set up camp on the south end of the lake and take a cooling dip. And settle in for another relaxing afternoon. Alright, no leeches for Kent today!
After diner we paddle back to the lily pad end of Kelly to try again to see that illusive moose. No luck with the moose but the beaver were out for diner. There is a huge hut and at least 5 are out lolling around, chatting, and munching away. Very fun to watch. The lake is glass smooth. Reflections of the sunset and shoreline are perfect and magnificent. As we begin our paddle back to camp we get a bit too close to one beaver, the slap of his tail rings like a gunshot across the lake and echoes back and forth. By the time we get home we have heard that sound some 5 or 6 times. There is a cool breeze. We settle in for the night.
Aug 19: Burnt & Flame Lakes
A bit of fog hangs over the lake at 6:30 but it has burned off by the time we are on the water at 8. We have a hard portage first thing as we make our way to Burnt Lake then on to the one private site on Flame for the night, we hope. The portage is long and rugged. We take a break for a few and enjoy a little surprise of wild blueberries along the trail. A really long legged bunny shares the trail too.
Burnt Lake is dotted with many small rugged rock and pine islands. Two eagles call it their home today. It is beautiful but we don’t dally long. We want to try to claim the coveted private site on Flame lake that we very much enjoyed during our last trip.
Luck is with us. The last campers are just shoving off with all their gear as we arrive. The site is ours to spend the last two nights of our trip.
Flame is a small lake. Two loons stop in. maybe we will have a private serenade? The afternoon sun is still hot and we are in and out of the lake.
By evening it has cooled off. We sip coffee and hot orange. It is a perfect evening for a bit of a fire. The fire is small and smoky. Romantic and peaceful and perfect for keeping the mosquitoes away. An osprey makes a short appearance. Time to call it a day.
Aug 20: Flame Lake.
It poured last night. Lightening flashed and thunder rolled and echoed, mostly in the distance but sometimes startlingly near. Our immediate issue is the water in the tent. It seems that the tent pitcher (me) didn’t get the ground cloth just right and we awoke in a bit of a puddle with only the air mattresses saving bedding and ourselves from a soggy start to the day. So, up by 8:30 as the sun is burning through the clouds and everything is out on the line.
The breeze builds and pushes all the clouds away to leave a bright beautiful day. This is our last lazy day out here and we make the most of it. We do nothing except dip in the lake and laze in the sun.
There is a crisp, loud, CRACK, a bit of a delay then a crash as a huge tree is toppled by the continuing gusty wind. We can’t really see exactly what happened but it is amazing how much just the sound tells us. The evening is cool and Kent again manages the perfect fire with a few dancing flames and plenty of smoke to keep our pesky bugs away.
I have never seen so thick a cloud of mosquitoes as the one that followed Kent back from the open air potty today.
As we lay down for the night the squirrels are tearing around camp making lots of racket and frogs are croaking at the waterside just outside our tent. It is a very good last night.
Aug 21: Burnt, Smoke & SawbillLakes
There was a slight sprinkle early in the morning but all had passed in time for an unshowy, simple sunrise. The squirrels are still a bit nutty this morning scrambling everywhere and making lots of noise. By 7:30 a breeze builds and pushes the bright smell of pine into camp. We are up. It is quiet enough that even a few warblers venture out. We enjoy a lazy breakfast and slowly break camp. We head back into the “real” world today. We take a few minutes more to just enjoy the view and the sounds.
We explore Flame a bit; make a big circle in Burnt just to check it out then on the Smoke. Eagles make a showing here and we picnic with PB and J on a nice sunny rock.
All that remains is the swampy portage start back to Sawbill. I remember this one from last time. The mosquitoes about ate us alive then. But not today. I managed not to actually step into the 3 foot deep muck along the narrow boardwalk that creates the first 50 feet or so of the portage. The bugs were nothing worse than we have come to expect. The portage is a short one and it isn’t long before we get our one last chance to glimpse the shimmering lake at the open end of a portage trudge. We paddle Sawbill and by 3PM say farewell to BWCA for now.
