Boundary Waters '26

A small group of my friends had been planning a brief trip to the Boundary Waters for some time. Unfortunately, two out of five people had to drop out for health reasons. That did mean, though, that I was invited as a replacement to get back up to four. It was a little last-minute; I didn't get the invite until a week before departure, but I had to say yes. Not only for the chance to see beautiful nature without having to do the planning, but also to get a little more experience camping and using the equipment I got for my bike tour.

Day 1 — June 30

Woke up early in the morning to drive all the way up from the Twin Cities. We got a shuttle service from our outfitter to the boat access at Snowbank Lake and were in the water by about half past noon. Because of the wind, we stuck to the southern side of the lake, going through Pickerel Bay.

Our first portage was 90 rods (.28 mi, .45 km) to Parent Lake. The wind here was pushing us along the north shore, but fortunately that's where we wanted to be to check out the campsites. The first one was free but we decided to carry on to the next lake.

Next was a 91 rod portage to Disappointment Lake (yes, that's what it's called). There are many campsites here, and we figured we'd find one closer by and set up there for the next couple nights. Unfortunately for us, every campsite we found was already occupied. We were pretty exhausted paddling with the wind, and as we worked our way up the lake we were rapidly losing confidence we'd find a suitable place. Eventually we got word that all the campsites at that lake were taken (with the possible exception of one that we couldn't find because it didn't actually appear on our map).

With sunset drawing worryingly near, we did one last 26-rod portage to Ahsub Lake, only to find that the two campsites there were also taken. Out of options, we asked another group if we could share their campsite, which they graciously agreed to. After setting up our camp, we made our dinner. Night fell before we could finish cleaning up, so we had to secure all of our food from bears in the dark, which we did not do a great job at (fortunately, there were no bears to punish our mistakes).

Day 2 — July 1

We were all exhausted from the last day. I was the first one awake, when my regular phone alarm went off at 8 AM. We packed up at a fairly leisurely pace then set back out to Disappointment Lake to look for a vacated campsite. Fortunately, we found one fairly quickly. It was actually located on a small island and we got set up for the rest of the day. We all did our own activities for the rest of the day. I did some sketching, took some photos, and went swimming. It was much less windy; the day started off overcast, and we got some very light drizzles, but by the late afternoon it cleared up.

We cooked our dinner and made a small campfire for smores, but we got everything packed up and put away by dark. I had a little more trouble falling asleep.

Day 3 — July 2

Woke up bright and early. The sound of birds in the early morning was absolutely incredible — there were so many, and so many different species, singing bright and clear. We were awake before 6, and were back in the water by 9. Our pickup was scheduled for 1 PM back at Snowbank Lake, so we got moving. We were not in a huge rush, but kept a steady pace. The weather was stunning, and I tried to soak up as much of the lakeshore view as I could.

We portaged directly back to Snowbank Lake from Disappointment (142r) and set off. We took a fairly direct path across the lake this time, and the wind was definitely noticeable on such a wide stretch of water, but compared to Day 1 we were fine, and we made it back to the access around half an hour ahead of schedule.

Route Map

Missing path data from Day 1

Gallery

A handful of these were taken by William. My camera sadly died at the end of Day 2.