8 August 2017, Tuesday
Entry #14, Little Indian Sioux to Shell Lake
By 6:40 this morning we have eaten our breakfast pie and have returned to Piragis in Vincent so that we, our gear, and our rental canoe can be shuttled to our put-in at entry point #14. After several variations we have finally determined how to pack everything into our Granite Gear pack and our LL Bean Hunters’ Pack. Our food, in bear barrels, sea to summit bag, and ursack, is piled into the Hunter Pack. The only issue yet to be resolved is how to keep the top food sack from sliding sideways. We are ready to push off at Little Indian Sioux River entry point around 9 am. Just as we are taking our first paddle strokes, a man and a woman appear at water’s edge, camera in hand. They happily snap our picture. The man calls out, “You’re not exactly the age range we expected to see out here!” O and I both chuckle. “I guess we look too young?” The photographers seem about as happy to capture a photo of two geezers heading into the Boundary Waters as they would have been to photograph a moose. The woman, however, is very concerned. “How do you know where to go? What do you eat? Where do you camp?”
Soon we are on our way having reassured them that we have maps and compass and know how to use them. We have that wonderful feeling of leaving the world behind as we set out for ten days off the grid. As we travel, we pass several parties leaving the Boundary Waters, but we see no one entering. Our first day is a challenge, but we meet it happily. We have rocky and mucky take-outs and put-ins at the portages. As we walk our longest portage into Shell Lake, today’s destination, we hear thunder rumbling in the distance. This portage is interrupted midway by a beaver pond so we have to load and unload the canoe an extra time. Of course, as we are on our second carry to the pond, the skies open and we are soaked by a cold rain. Our rain gear is already at the end of the portage. By the time we reunite with our Goretex suits, the sun is breaking through the clouds, and we are soaked.
We finally arrive at Shell Lake. There is only one couple camped there – another geezer couple. The man has been coming to the Boundary Waters for more than 50 years. They ask if we are OK having been caught in the storm. We assure them we are fine. Camp is set up. We are warm, if still somewhat damp, and we are well-fed.