Gull Lake

Waking, I still felt the disc-smashing effects of the previous day’s 2-mile portage on my back and Matthias reported a little pain in his shoulder, unsure if it was caused by the paddling or the portage. On this day we decided to day-trip as we assessed our physical conditions. Following a breakfast of oatmeal and dried apricots, Matthias and I set our sights on a paddle to the east, then south. If we got tired or sore, we’d just turn around. Easy-peasy.

The previous day, I had sat in the stern of the canoe and steered it. Matthias was in the bow and provided the power. We switched roles as we crossed Gull Lake so Matthias could have a little practice in the back. We portaged from Gull to Gunn to Fairy Lake where we pulled the canoe up on an island and rested while we ate our sandwiches. The weather this day was just like the day before; the temperature was in the 70’s and an occasional cloud passed in front of the warm sun. As has been typical of my Boundary Waters experiences, we did not see a lot of wildlife. Just the lakes, the rocks, and the trees. I wondered a bit about the fishing in the area…

We turned the canoe around on Fairy Lake and headed back to camp. As we paddled towards our site, we visited another site on Gull that had been occupied the previous evening by other campers. It was situated facing south and on a flat, rocky peninsula that jutted out into the lake. It was beautiful! We decided that we would return to our camp, pack it, and come back here for the evening.

After having camped with Matthias for two weeks already, we had become very efficient at setting up and taking down camp together. We each knew exactly what to do and how to work together. So it didn’t take long to move our camp. We spent the rest of the day reading, eating and taking pictures.