After missing our Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) trip the last 4 years, I was excited to go back! Granddaughters Brianna (26) and Grace (soon to be 22), daughter Kara and I went up the Gunflint Trail to explore the east side of the wilderness area to explore Sea Gull Lake.
To prepare for the trip, son-in-law Jed patched the crack in my Kevlar canoe.
We decided to bring the big 18.6′ Mad River pack canoe, the solo 15′ Wenonah and the 12′ Kayak Wilderness Pungo. We borrowed Jed’s trailer – it worked great!
Thursday August 21, 2025
After picking up Kara in Marshfield, we headed towards Menomonie to pick up Grace (a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Stout) and Brianna who drove over from her home in Minneapolis.
Just outside of Owen WI, I felt the truck wobbling, and I pulled off the divided highway just as the drivers side rear wheel fell off and rolled into the ditch!
Slowing down right away and pulling the trailer likely helped avoid serious damage. A very nice man named Gerard Kaiser (from Halder WI, just a couple miles from our house) stopped to help. I called the Ford dealership in Abbottsford and they recommended a tow service in Owen, who was at the scene in 10 minutes. He pulled the truck onto the flatbed and hitched the trailer to the back of the tow truck.
Kara and I climbed into the tow truck and he took us to Abby Ford. Parked the trailer and backed right into an open service bay. The guys at Abby Ford put in new studs and lug nuts, new brake rotors, mounted my spare tire and found a used tire and rim to use as my spare. They were done in less than 2 hours!
Linda drove over to Menomonie to pick up the girls and we met for lunch in Chippewa Falls. We were back on the road just 2.5 hours behind schedule!
Stopped for gas in Grand Marais and the girls had dinner at the Hungry Hippie Taco shop. We arrived at Tuscarora Lodge & Canoe Outfitters after the office was closed, but they had a sign directing us the our bunkhouse for the night. Relieved that we made it, we shared a few drinks and many laughs.
Friday August 22, 2025
Up early for breakfast at the dining hall. French Toast, sausage, fruit, orange juice and coffee – very tasty! Walked to the office to pay for our BWCA camping permit, the bunkhouse and breakfast as well as the girls finding a few things in the gift shop. We loaded up the truck and headed to access point 54A on Sea Gull Lake. There are some nice homes on Sea Gull Lake near the Gunflint Trail and 10 hp boat motors are allowed in the east side of the lake. A very nice landing!
On a beautiful day with calm winds, comfortable temperatures and a mix of clouds and sun, we loaded the canoes and took off.
After getting to the sign designating the canoe area wilderness, I realized that I forgot to turn on my GPS. We stopped for a few minutes to get organized, and we headed west to look for a campsite. With Brianna taking the lead and following her map, we looked for a couple campsites noted on the map but didn’t see anything. We finally found a beautiful campsite on an island with a sandy area to land the boats, but also a big rock with a nice fire pit.
A nice spot on the top of the island for the girls to hang their hammocks with a nice North-westerly view.
Two good spots for our tents. Kara’s tent has a screened in “lanai”, they made it into a “dorm room”.
Found a good tree to hang our food pack.
After camp was setup, Brianna and Grace were reading their books in the hammocks while Kara and I read near the fire pit. As the number of people reading books has fallen dramatically over the past several years, I am so pleased that the girls all share my love of reading. I read a book written by Nikki Rajala, a good friend of my late Mother called Uncharted Waters that tells a story of the Voyageurs. The Boundary Waters seemed like an appropriate place to read this book.
Grace took a nap in her hammock. Kara and I watched an eagle soar in the wind above the trees and we had a nice long talk.
A band of dark clouds rolled in, bringing a burst of rain that chased us into the tents for more reading and a nap. The storm passed through as quickly as it arrived and I prepared the kitchen for dinner. Pizza at camp is always a tasty treat. After dinner, the wind died down and Kara went out for an evening paddle in the kayak.
Brianna Built an Inukshuk, a collection of stones balanced upon each other.
The girls gathered firewood, and Brianna used the axe to purge some pent-up stress.
Brianna made a nice fire and the girls made S’mores’ for dessert.
Beautiful night, but we could see storm clouds building in the west.
I setup the rain fly to keep the chairs and the kitchen mostly dry. The rain chased us into the tents again for more reading and sleep. Heavy rain overnight, with some thunder and lightning in the distance. No leaks in the tents!
Saturday August 23, 2025
Cloudy skies, cooler, light rain and strong winds – no reason to get up early. I couldn’t get the coffee pot to boil in the strong wind, so we moved the kitchen from the open rock on top down to a more protected area by the boat landing. Made oatmeal to warm up Kara and Brianna and we enjoyed hot coffee as Grace slept in. Made the girls favorite, biscuits and gravy for breakfast. The food warmed us up on a cool morning.
Rain started as Kara was doing dishes. We moved into the screen lanai as the storm blew quickly past. Studied the maps to find a place where we could paddle as say out of the wind. I pushed out Grace in the kayak without incident. Kara and Brianna were a little tippy in the empty tandem canoe as I pushed them out. I said, “if you are going to tip over, this would be a good spot close to camp.” As I started to back out the solo canoe, I heard Grace scream and the splash as Kara and Brianna fell into the lake. Brianna’s training kicked in and she pushed the water filled canoe towards shore. Kara kept up. Nothing lost and no injuries.
The girls decided to go swimming before changing into warm dry clothes.
I tied a rope between a couple trees to dry the wet clothes. With the strong wind, we decided to skip trying to paddle anywhere. Brianna braided Grace’s hair and added a colorful hair wrap.
A guy in a solo canoe pulled into the landing and asked for help with directions. He didn’t know where he was. We went to the top the hill and looked at my compass and his map to get him oriented properly. He was heading back to his car parked at Entry 54A, I told him to follow the south side of 3 Mile Island to stay out of the wind. He jumped into his canoe and paddled away, now in the right direction.
Another band of storms rolled in and we moved to the tent. Kara taught Brianna how to play cribbage while Grace braided Brianna’s hair. Nobody tried to braid my hair!
After the rain quit and the sun came out, I bushwhacked my way to the other side of the island to get a better idea on how we can get back to the truck in the morning. Kara joined me on the big rock on the south side of the island. Beautiful view over the protected bay.
The dark clouds quickly moved in again with some more rain and wind, but passed in time for dinner. Freeze dried Lasagna with fudge brownie bites.
With our firewood safely stored under the rain fly, Brianna was able to get another nice fire going. S’more’s before bed. Brianna preferred the axe to the saw.
Sunset was a mix of sun and clouds.
Sunday, August 24, 2025
More rain overnight. I was up early listening to the wind blow. Cold (45), cloudy and windy. Gray skies, but no rain at the moment. I organized my gear in the tent, packed my sleeping bag, pad and clothes. I dropped the north side of the rain fly to the ground to block the wind and started a pot of coffee.
I watched the skies and the clouds were moving fast. The wind often picks up as the day progresses, this might be as calm as the wind is going to get. The girls soon woke up and joined me for coffee.
We decided to skip breakfast, and we packed up our gear and wet tents. It started the rain again as we loaded the canoes, good time to put on our rain gear. The big canoe was much more stable when it is packed full. We pushed off from our beautiful campsite.
We followed the protected side of 3 Mile Island and Fishhook Island. The wind swirled in every open bay. There are 3 entry points on Seagull Lake. I knew that we were in the one furthest South. We paddled past the two entry points to the North and then saw a clearing with a nice beach, so we paddled with the wind behind us to the beach. It was in the right location and the bathroom looked familiar, but we remembered having a dock and concrete pads where people could back in a boat and trailer. Maybe one of the other landings was where we parked the truck? Rather than paddling back into the wind, Kara and I decided to walk and find the truck. As we walked past the bathroom, we saw my truck and trailer. Turns out we landed at the public beach, just around the point from Entry Point 54A.
We unloaded the canoes, packed the truck, and we strapped the boats on the trailer.
We celebrated an unusual, but fun trip.
Put on some dry clothes, socks and shoes and we were off. Stopped for lunch at Voyageur Brewing Company in Grand Marais. Modest traffic on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Dropped off Grace and Brianna in Menomonie. Kara helped me unload everything in the storage building and put the canoes on the rack. The next day was cool, dry and breezy, a good day to dry out our wet gear.
We overcame adversity and had a fun trip!
Steve Pelton 