Ever since I took a trip with her brothers to Amber Lake, Auralee had wanted to go to that spot and see for herself why we liked it so much. We planned to go in the Wednesday before Memorial Day, paddle to Amber, and base camp there until we came out on Monday.
Wednesday, May 25
The day started cool, but not cold, and overcast - perfect for paddling. We started out on Kawishiwi Lake at sunrise. As always, I had the exhilaration of starting out on another canoe trip. We were also planning on going to one of my favorite spots - Amber Lake. It had taken Auralee's brothers and me 8 hours to get to Amber, so we were expecting a long paddling day.
Kawishiwi Entry Point
We went through Kawishiwi, Square, and Kawasachong. At the end of Kawasachong right by the portage, we were greeted with quite a treat - a bald eagle. The eagle let us get right below it and all around it taking pictures. The reason it didn't fly was it was protecting its spot from another eagle that was nearby. I took two trips across the portage, and it was still there when I came back to get the second load. We were also fortunate to see some wildlife on the portage - this time a spruce grouse.
Bald Eagle
Spruce Grouse on Portage
We didn't see anyone at all until we got to Polly. A group was leaving. I talked to them for a little bit. They had stayed on Malberg fishing the entire week. We asked them if they had seen anyone else, and they hadn't. This made us excited since we would probably be able to get the campsite we wanted. They also gave us some fishing tips for Malberg.
At the end of the portage into Malberg, I snapped a photo of the rapids. It certainly looked like a good fishing hole, but we didn't want to take the time to try. We agreed to think about returning a different day. For now, we just wanted to get to camp and set up.
Malberg Rapids
The portage out of Malberg on the northwest end of the lake was interesting. There was a beaver pond in the middle that we had to wade through. By the time we finished with that last portage, we were pretty tired. We only had about a 45-minute paddle left, though, so we were in good spirits. We still hadn't seen anyone except for the group on Polly.
We were excited to get to the campsite on Amber. When we came around the corner, though, we were disappointed to see that it was taken. We hadn't seen anyone at any other campsite, but the one we wanted was taken! We were, by this time, exhausted, but we had to keep moving. We had been traveling for a little over 6 hours (2 hours less than it took her brothers and me a 2 years ago). We stopped at a campsite on the Kawishiwi River to eat lunch and decide where to go.
We decided to head east past the short portage to the section of the Kawishiwi directly north of Malberg. I had never been to that area, so it was an adventure for both of us. The portage didn't look very maintained. A few trees had fallen over the trail, so getting to the other side of the short portage was still a lot of work. Since we were tired, we just stopped at the first campsite after the portage.
The campsite was small. The most prominent "feature" of the site was the latrine. It sat up on top of a hill. The view from the latrine was spectacular. However, the campsite also had a nice view of the latrine. No privacy at this campsite... Good thing we are married and don't have anything (or at least much) to hide from each other. After setting up camp, we made dinner and relaxed that evening. The next day we decided to try our hand at fishing.
Kawishiwi Camp
Kawishiwi Camp
Kawishiwi Camp Tent Pad
Kawishiwi Camp
Thursday, May 26
The morning was beautiful and calm. We fished in the bays around camp. We didn't catch much, but we at least got enough for dinner.
Calm Morning on Kawishiwi
Walleye for Dinner
In the afternoon, we mostly relaxed and read. The walleye tasted good for dinner. After supper, we talked about moving the next day. Normally, we like to base camp. Neither of us really likes to take down and set up camp, so we typically just find a campsite and stay there. However, we decided that the campsite to the east of us might be better and it would be worth moving.
Friday, May 27
Despite our plan to move, we decided to take it easy in the morning. We had a nice pancake breakfast and then leisurely packed up camp. We were on the water by 9:30 AM heading east. The weather was great - sunny and very little wind. It only took 30 minutes to paddle to the other campsite. From the water it looked nice and (even better) unoccupied. We landed and took a look around. We decided to make this our home for the next couple of nights.
Kawishiwi Camp
Kawishiwi Camp
Kawishiwi Camp
We set up camp, had lunch, and decided to try fishing. I wanted to go see Malberg and take pictures of some of the campsites there. The portage to Malberg was pretty easy. I tried fishing at the portage with no luck. There was a canoe fishing on the Malberg side of the portage.
We visited a couple of campsites on Malberg. One was very nice; the other was one I would not want to stay at. We caught a couple of fish, but nothing very big. We fished on the way back to the portage, only catching a couple of rocks. Fishing on the Kawishiwi next to the campsite was better. We were able to catch a nice northern and a walleye for dinner.
We were treated to some views of wildlife near our campsite. Loons and eagles are always spectacular, and I love seeing them.
Loon
Eagle in Flight
I wanted to try fishing at sunset, so we fished around the island in front of the campsite. We caught a few smallmouth, but the bugs were horrendous, even with our headnets on. We went back to the campsite before we went crazy.
Saturday, May 28
It was rainy in the morning, so we stayed in the tent and read. We were both reading Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games series. Over the course of the trip, we both finished the books that we had. It slightly cleared up in later in the morning, so we decided to go fishing and exploring. We went north to Kivaniva Lake. The fishing was actually really good. We caught a lot of northerns and a few walleyes. We went back to camp for lunch.
It was raining on and off in the early afternoon. At one point it looked like it was going to clear up, and I wanted to explore north of Kivaniva, so we went back out. When we got to the north end of Kivaniva, we looked back and saw a black bank of clouds. We knew that it didn't look good, so we paddled as hard as we could back to camp. We made it just in time. We were able to secure the canoe and camp before the storm came.
There were a couple of canoes trying to get to the Malberg portage, one a couple of minutes ahead of the other. Just as the second canoe rounded the corner (so I couldn't see it anymore), the wind hit. I've never had wind like that in the BWCA. It must have been 50 MPH. The stakes on our tent and tarp were ripped up and tossed into the woods. One of the tent stake lines on the tent snapped. The tarp was flapping free in the wind, in danger of ripping off the rope completely. We had to shout to each other to be heard above the wind. We were able to secure the rest of our gear and waited for the wind to subside, which it did in a few minutes. Then it was eerily calm... The sun came out, and the sunlight hitting the trees against the backdrop of the dark storm clouds was breathtaking.
After the Storm
I was really worried about the canoes that had passed by. I knew that the last canoe would not have made it to the portage before the wind came. I grabbed the first aid kit (just in case) and our paddles, and we jumped in the canoe. I expected to see havoc when we made it around the corner. Instead, we found two fishermen calmly casting from their canoe towards shore. I was a bit perplexed, so we went and talked to them. Apparently, they were the first canoe. The second canoe that went by did capsize, but they were OK. They had snapped a paddle and were wet, but they were on the portage now and were fine.
The two guys did give us a fishing tip. They told us that there were usually big northerns at the bottom of the rapids by the Malberg portage. I was excited to try, so we went back to camp and got our fishing gear. We paddled to the portage and tried fishing both from shore and from the canoe. We had no luck, but we were able to get a nice picture of the rapids.
Scenic Rapids
After dinner we discussed what we wanted to do the next day. We weren't planning on going back home until Monday, but we decided to actually leave tomorrow (Sunday). A big part of the decision to leave was because we had run out of reading material. I really enjoy fishing, but Auralee likes to have a book along, so we decided to head back on Sunday and spend Monday playing pickleball with my family.
Saturday, May 30
We woke up early and packed up camp. We paddled through all of the same lakes as on the way in. Usually we can cut of 25% of the time on the way back, and this trip was no exception. It had taken us about 6 hours to get to camp on the first day. It only took us 4 1/2 hours to get out. We were able to single portage a couple of the longer portages, so that helped a lot. We drove back and stayed at my parents' house that night and had fun relating all of our experiences on the trip.