I had the most amazing trip to the Boundary Waters this past September. The weather was absolutely perfect and even warm enough to swim in the cold lakes of upper Minnesota. I traveled back to an area that I used to be familiar with nearly twenty years ago when I worked for Gunflint Outfitters. We entered at Bearskin Lake and took a portage to Duncan Lake where we set up our base camp for 3 nights. I took a friend and her 17 year old son who had never been to the Boundary Waters and they loved it! We took day trips to Rose Lake to hike and see the falls which you can hear rushing as you approach them. Water cascades over a fifty foot drop as the elevation plummets between Duncan and Rose Lake. At night we listened to loons calling their eerie song and looked up at a night sky filled with beautiful twinkling stars.
With no technology for distraction, we entertained each other around the camp fire. When darkness and exhaustion announced bedtime we slept on top of down filled sleeping bags in the near balmy evenings. The mornings brought beautiful sunny skies and the constant chatter of a red squirrel we named Joey.
The went by far too quickly and soon enough it was time to pack up and head back to the portage and call Gunflint for the pickup. The long 10 hour drive was more than worth the experience!
