Phocal Adventures

Finally got around to picking up some of the knee pads for my Fjall Raven pants. Kneeling to photograph birds will be much more comfortable now.

I need some time before I can share the complete story of my trip. It was an experience that taught me a lot about what I did right and what I didn’t. I also realized that I made some unusual preparations, which ultimately saved me from a terrible situation. You might be wondering why I'm back home a day early. A brief recap will clarify that.

On Day 1, my phone stopped working, and by Day 2, I may have left a piece of my right pinky finger in the Boundary Waters. I then planned to paddle out on Day 3, but the wind picked up, and the lake was white-capping and flooding the bow of my canoe. I made my way close to the shoreline and found the first open campsite to call it a night.

Today, on Day 4, I woke up to a beautiful day with calm waters that looked like glass. I captured a fantastic photo of Henry enjoying the stunning sunrise.

I have hours of video documenting the entire trip. In a few weeks, I hope to release my first documentary about what to do when s**t don’t go right.

Disclaimer: I am fine.

Well, going to get a later start than I wanted. I’m starving since I didn’t have dinner last night, nothing was open when I got into town. No fast food in town, so at a dinner to get a good breakfast to fuel me for the long day.

Well, those rain storms are encroaching on my trip. Looks like I will probably see some rain on my last day. That’s ok, I’ll be in my last lake with no portages left when it hits and I don’t mind fishing in the rain.

The unit I’m in is right by the main road. Didn’t feel comfortable leaving the boat on the car even though it was locked to it. So brought it inside.

I got to Ely about 2035 and all the restaurants closed at 2100. Didn’t want to be that guy coming in just before closing. So hit up the local Circle K for some donuts and a strawberry milk. Dinner of champions.

Cute little cabin. The bed in the room with the boat isn’t very comfortable. The other bed is really comfortable.

In a few hours I’ll be heading north…

I couldn’t have asked for better weather. I’m good with Saturday being cooler since it’s a long day on the water tomorrow. Hoping that rain on Thursday doesn’t arrive early.

Initially I wasn’t going to bring shorts for swimming because the water is going to be cold, the ice just came off this week. But since the weather is going to be so hot, I threw a pair into the bag.

I managed to get all my stuff treated with permethrin and packed up. The orange bag weighs 48 lbs, and the black one weighs 26 lbs, so it's not bad at all.

Tomorrow, I will pick up my portage yoke—it finally arrived. I will also do my final shopping for some food items and fishing gear that I need. After that, I will organize and pack the fishing gear.

I don't plan on doing any fishing on the way in. I have a long paddle on day one, so I can't mess around. Therefore, I will put the fishing gear into the orange bag. If it is hard to get to, it will stop me from getting it out. Afraid that if I start fishing, I will lose track of time and not reach my destination. If all goes as planned, I will have an hour or two to fish that first evening.

Going to try something new...

I have always used Garmin's Map Share for my trips so people can follow me. They have a new thing called Live Track, which is much simpler for people but doesn't have all the features of Map Share. It will not share my routes (my planned trip); it will show a map of where I have been. I will try this and see what it looks like when I get back. Here is the link to my Live Track: https://live.garmin.com/Phocal

The attached photo is my planned trip. The red line is my route in, from west to east. The blue line is my intended route to visit the pictographs. The green line is an exploration route I want to do. Not sure which route I will do on day 2, will make that decision when I wake up.

Sometimes, finding the portages can be a chore. So, I have marked all of them with a waypoint so I can easily navigate to them. I will see how well it works and how well I positioned the waypoint.

Will pin this post for people to easily find while I am in the BWCA

Well, it looks a mess but progress is being made.

On the right is my 110L Seal Line waterproof backpack. It’s currently sitting at 49lbs. I still have a few things to pick up, so it will probably be 50-52lbs when I’m done. I’m hoping to do a lot GoPro video and photography and going to need a solar panel to recharge my power banks. Was going to bring my 20 watt panel (in my other bag), but when I saw my main bag was only at 43lbs, decided to bring the 50 watt panel in my main bag. I’ll be doing double portages and most are really short with my longest at 1/4 mile. So, carrying a 50lbs pack will not be problem. My last trip I was at 60lbs and had a lot of long and hilly portages. So I feel pretty comfortable at 50lbs.

On the left is my 40L Exped waterproof backpack, which I refer to as my electronics bag. On top of it is the 50 watt panel that will go in the big yellow bag. This pack is sitting at 27lbs and will probably end up around 30lbs after adding my fishing gear. I’m probably bringing too many battery banks, but I would rather be safe. I will carry this pack when Im portaging the kayak.

The grocery bag in the middle has stuff I’m wearing when i launch. My paddling boots and socks, hat, knife, and I’m sure a few other things I cant think of ar the moment. There are also some stuff sacks I’ll probably use when i actually pack in front of the bag.

I cant fully pack my main bag until tomorrow night. I’m washing some clothes today and tomorrow will be treating those clothes (pants), tent, sleeping quilt, socks, shirts, and base layer (what i sleep in) with permethrin. I don’t want no ticks or Lyme disease.

My kayak weighs 25.5lbs and with everything attached for the portage (paddles, fishing poles, PFD) it will probably come in at 30lbs.

When I portage the kayak I’ll be at 60lbs with boat and pack, I’m a little concerned about that. But I’m pretty sure I’ll be good. My first two portages are .1 miles each and that is followed by a .06 and .075 portages. The 5th portage I’ll definitely spend more time loading/unloading the boat since it’s only .03 miles. It’s the last portage that’s the longest at .30 miles. But even that isn’t bad.

Now, the difficulty could be a lot harder because of the terrain. That’s what concerns me when portaging the boat with a 30lbs pack. We will see what it’s like when I get there. Besides I’m not so macho that I won’t just say F**k It and triple portage each one.

Just looked on Paddle Planner and they have info on the portages. All but the last one are flat and easy. Some issues landing and launching, but that don’t bother me. The last one has a nice path, but has some elevation gain/loss. Doesn’t look to bad though.

Ok, I’m excited and ready to go…

I’ve been watching the 10 day forecast since May 1st. As of today, the first 4 days are looking perfect. There is still plenty of time for that to change, but I’m staying hopeful.

The aurora has been pretty active the last week. I’m really hoping for some at least KP4 activity during my trip. That would give me a good chance of getting some photos while I’m up there.

With the weather looking like it’s going to cooperate, I’ll get some amazing Milky Way photos and hopefully some aurora as well.