One campsite had several cool stone totems.

Our third Boundary Waters wilderness camping trip, in July and August, was more of an adventure than the prior two, mainly because we went in with a much more ambitious itinerary which didn’t quite work out.

Looking southeast from our campsite on Pine Lake.

The plan was a circuit of eight lakes in the northeast BW Canoe Area Wilderness, close to the Canadian border. We planned to travel west through four lakes, turn north and work our way back east.

Two factors threw our grand design off the rails. Lakes which we chose for their remoteness turned out to be unexpectedly popular, and we ended up paddling against the waves for the first three days because we didn’t set out early enough, before the winds rose. A good learning experience, but challenging.

Caribou Lake sunset, with the moon’s reflection.

The tough part, besides fighting waves which toiled against us, was the unexpected difficulty of finding available campsites. On our second and third days, we had to paddle much further, and later, than intended, in order to find a site. On Day 3, it forced us off course and we only found a campsite on the second lake in.

Facing west from our final campsite, Pine Lake.

It worked out in the end, but three long days of fighting the wind and waves, and worrying if we were going to find a campsite at all, was defeating the purpose. This was supposed to be a vacation!

Early morning, Caribou Lake.

So we set aside our ambition, which would have entailed moving camp almost every day, and stayed on Moon Lake for four days. Then we simply returned to our entry point, along the route we had taken in. We allowed an extra day for this, remembering well the unpredictability of weather (and, being off the grid, we had no access to forecasts).With the wind at our backs, the return leg was much easier and more enjoyable.

Chipmunk Thug.

As usual, we encountered a nice variety of creatures. The highlights were an eagle, a hummingbird, a hare, lots of beavers and loons, and … Chipmunk Thug, our constant companion at the Moon Lake campsite.

Stepping stones at our campsite, Caribou Lake.

Gorgeous sunrises and sunsets can almost be taken for granted in the wilderness, as well as a wonderful bright moon and breathtaking starscapes. This is all part of the mode-of-goodness attraction of being out in nature. Getting away from all the noise of city life, slowing down, relaxing and listening to nature, getting grounded in body and mind – all of this feeds the soul like nothing else.

Caribou Lake campsite.

As usual, it’s a severe austerity to return to the city after the joys of a wilderness trip. Hopefully we’ll be able to relocate to Minnesota, near the Boundary Waters, one of these years. My dream music studio is a forest cabin’s screened porch overlooking a lake.