Day 1: Tuesday, June 11, 2024 -Drove to Ely from Minneapolis on Tuesday evening, spent the night in the Ely Outfitter bunkhouses. Plan for the trip was to paddle in on Wednesday, stay 4 days on Lac La Croix, targeting a couple different sites, paddle out on Sunday, drive home Monday.
Left Minneapolis around 7pm and arrived in Ely around 11pm.
Day 2: Wednesday, June 12, 2024 -Woke up around 0700, organized gear and went to the outfitter to get the canoes and permit. Canoes and gear were loaded and ready to go around 0830 and we headed out for the drive to the entry point, which took about 45 minutes. We hit the parking lot about 0930 and started getting the gear ready. Our entry into the park started with an immediate 176 rod portage, #815 into the Moose River. Once we hit water, around 1015, it was a quick paddle to the next portage, #46 (25 rods), and then into a 20 minute stretch of paddling up the Moose River. We came to our third portage, #44 (26 rods), which was a pretty flat portage along the river bank. From there, it was a nearly 4 mile paddle up the rest of the Moose River (with a couple pop-up portages here and there due to rocks), across Nina Moose Lake, from south to north, and up to our next portage. We reached portage #273 (71 rods) around 1200, which was relatively flat an took about 10 minutes with unloading/loading. Continuing up the river for about a half mile, we came to portage #266 (92 rods), which had little elevation change, and took about 10 minutes. A 25 minute paddple brought us into the south end of Lake Agnes. We paddled northeast for about 3 miles, in just under an hour to portage #14 (23 rods). This portage was was a quick, flat entry into the south end of Lac La Croix. From here we decided to target portage #248 (69 rods) into Agnes instead of paddling through the channel. The paddle would have taken about 75 minutes, compared to a 17 minute paddle from #14 to #248 and 5 minute portage into Lac La Croix. It was worth the effort. We got into Lac La Croix right around 1445. From there we checked the map and set out to target a couple different sites. Our first choice was island site #177, so we paddled north about 35 minutes. Once we came around the point we could see that 177 was occupied, so we opted to check our second choice, site #179, which was just to our west tucked back in a small bay. That site was open and looked like a great option. From there we could keep an eye out on site #177 over the next couple of days to see if it was vacated.
Site #179 turned out to be a great site, with an open kitchen area and plenty of space. We spent the rest of the afternoon evening setting up camp, choring, fishing, and staying dry with some isolated drizzle coming through every so often. The rest of the night was warm and clear, but considering the season, we did have to fend of the mosquitos, especially at dusk. Evening was mostly dry and warm.
Day 3: Thursday, June 13, 2024 -Woke up early to enjoy the weather. Skies were clear and dry, sun was shining. Our plan was to spend the day fishing, relaxing, exploring the lake around our site bit. This day was pretty laid back, with no plans for a day trip. We wanted to maximize the nice weather and really focus on catching fish. We had some luck around lunchtime and were able to supplement our meals that afternoon. There were some isolated showers here and there, but nothing the kept us from enjoying the day. Despite having to fight more bugs during the season, we did enjoy the longer days, with the sun setting after 2130 every day. The night was warm and clear, with some bugs to contend with, but overall a pleasant night around the fire.
Day 4: Friday, June 14, 2024 -Woke up before 0800 to enjoy the warm, clear morning. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the water was glass. We wanted to move sites this day, so we broke camp around 10am and packed into the canoes. We wanted to target site #177 on the island about a 10 minute paddle away, so we did a quick scout around the corner to see if we could see anyone at the site. It looked open, so we made a dash for it. We landed right around 1030 and started setting up camp. This site was great. It had a large, open kitchen with a ton of space behind it for tents. There was also a large, flat granite outcropping on the northwest end of the island, just off the kitchen, that gradually sloped 30-40 feet into the water. It provided a great front porch view of the sunset and a great entry/exit point for swimming and shore fishing. It was one of the best sites, if not, the best site we've had in the park.
Once we had camp established and got some food in us, we decided to make a trip north to see the pictographs on Lac La Croix. We launched about 1400 and paddled 2 miles north. Around 1430 we were able to get a good view of the pictographs just under a cliff overhang on the Canadian side of the lake. While we were up in the area, we made a quick stop on a nearby island to rest, fish, and explore before heading back. Eventually, we headed back to camp for fishing and dinner. We cuaght more fish to supplement our meals and spent the clear night hanging out around the fire. During the sunset we all pulled our chairs out to the granite and watched the sunset as a group. After closing the night out around the fire, we all headed to bed.
Day 5: Saturday, June 15, 2024 -Our last full day in the park. Woke up around 0515 to catch the sunrise. Got a few great pics and then headed back to bed for a bit more rest. The morning was pretty relaxed as we enjoyed the weather, fished and talked about our day. We decided that we wanted to check out a couple islands in the area to fish and eat lunch. We headed out just before noon and went direct east to the large island shaped like a bat. On the north side we fished a small cove, landed the canoes and ate lunch. This is also where we took our group photo for the year. From there we headed northeast to a smaller group of islands speparated by a small channel to check out the fishing opportunities. We landed on the larger island and fished and explored around the island for an hour or so. While we were on the north side of the island we noticed some Canadian outfitter boats going back and forth. Eventually, they pulled up to our island and asked if we had seen a group of canoes. It seemed like they had been searching for a group that they weren't able to locate.Unfortunately, we hadn't seen anyone nearby, so we weren't much help. It also turns out this island was a great place to catch a mid afternoon nap (more on that later...). The island had some 15-20 cliff faces on the northeast side as well which offered some pretty amazing views over the lake to the west.
After a couple hours we headed back to camp to unwind, fish and cook dinner. The rest of the evening was warm, clear and dry and was a great last night in the park.
Day 6: Sunday, June 16, 2024 -woke up early again and got ready for our last day in the park. We estimated roughly a 4-5 hour trip out, but without a hard exit time, we took things a bit slower. After eating breakfast and breaking down camp, we launched around 1030. This time we decided to stay east and target portage #252 (113 rods) out of Lac La Croix in the interest of some new scenery on our way out. The 3.5 mile paddle took just over an hour to reach the portage. It was pretty flat and easy to navigate into Lake Agnes. Once into the lake, it was a 2 mile, 40 minute paddle to the mouth of Moose River. We continued down the river, the same way we came on our first day. Heading back south through portage #266 and #273 we made our way into Nina Moose Lake after about 90 minutes. After a 1 mile, 15 minute paddle across Nina Moose and we were back into the final stretch of Moose River. This final stretch took about 90 minutes, including a quick stop at the Top of the World overlook.
After a solid paddle we reached the entry to our last portage, #815. One last portage to the parking lot where we packed up the gear and canoes and headed back to the outfitter. After dropping off the canoes, we headed to the Grand Superior Lodge to shower, hit the hot tub, and grab a cold beer and hot meal.
Day 7: Monday, June 17, 2024 -Woke up and drove back to Minneapolis after a lunch break at Gordy's Hi-Hat in Cloquet.
Post-trip Note:Several of us noticed during this trip that we weren't feeling 100%. Some of us worse than others. We took more midday naps than usual and a few of us had some sinus stuff going on. We attributed it to pollen, allergies, etc. Once we got back, most of us tested positive for Covid. Turns out we brought it up with us and spread it through the group over the course of the trip.
