We left the trailhead at 2:30. The snow was frozen and crusted 90% of the way to the campsite. Sadie and I pulled the sled with ease. We made it to the top of the hill on the portage with a couple brief rest stops. Once at the top I took a 10 minute break and sat on my tobaggan. I had been breathing pretty hard. I felt a great sense of accomplishment for Sadie and myself after pulling my 160 pound sled up that hill. Cooper didn't have to help at all. The snow was hard packed, which made pulling the sled much easier. Going down the otherside of the hill was an excersize in control. I had to keep the sled from going off the trail and running over Sadie. The trick was to keep my footing while controlling everything else. I did slip once and was drug down the trail for about 10 feet before I got the sled stopped. Towards the bottom of the hill was a curve and a steeper part that slanted so that the sled went off the trail and sideways into the trees. I worked hard to get it back on the trail and then the sled tipped over. I got it turned back over and was soon at the lake. Coop, meanwhile was waiting at the top while I made my way down. First he walked down with the bait bucket so it wouldn't tip over in the steep parts of the trail. Then he went back up to get the rest of his stuff. Once on the lake he followed a frozen slush trail of a previous winter traveler. Soon his sled tipped and spilled the minnow's water out into the snow. He quickly found some slushy water under the snow crust and put that in the bucket saving the minnows. We were both in camp about 3:30. The wind blew hard all afternoon. It was 24 degrees but felt much colder. After pitching our tents we layered up the clothing and were still chilly around the edges. I hadn't brought ultra warm clothing, however, the temperature was supposed to warm up as the weekend progressed. To warm up more we made a trip into the woods to collect fire wood. We found a downed cedar tree and broke off and sawed a sled full of wood. My new buck saw worked great. It was too windy for a fire so we saved the wood for the next day. Supper was mashed potatoes and tuna. The hot food tasted great and warmed me nicely on such a cold and windy night. We had pitched the tarp vertically as a wind break and sat behind it most of the evening sharing wolf stories from our many travels. I boiled a pot of water to fill my Nalgene and put in my sleeping bag to take the chill off when I crawled in. It was great to be snuggled into my sleeping bag and out of the wind. It was great to be back in the BWCA.
I slept luxuriously till 8am. We had a morning fire with coffee and bagels made over the XGK EX. We were on the ice at 9:30 and found the hotspot with the gps. We drilled several holes and started fishing at 20-25 feet. We fished with no immediate luck. At 10 am a couple teachers from Anoka stopped by to tell us that they had 36 seniors coming to the area to winter camp. We had a very pleasant conversation and told them we were sorry we took their favorite campsite. They traveled to a bay several hundred yards to the west of us and made camp. Later we saw them pass our camp on the way to the Bearskin portage and we didn't see them come back before dark. Bremer showed up about 11am and we all began to fish seriously. At about noon I hooked a big one which took line out as fast as I could reel it in. My pole was bent over and I thought this would be the biggest Lake Trout I had ever caught. I had heard there were some big ones in Duncan. As I reeled in I looked down the hole to see if it were coming through. At the bottom edge of the hole was my lure hooked to the ice and no fish. I don't know if there ever was a fish or if the lure was hooked to the bottom of the hole all along. We fished a dozen holes around the hotspot and would lose bait occasionally. Bremer caught the first one around 1 pm. It was a nice one. We were all energized with the thoughts of now they're now biting. However, we never saw another fish until we moved to spot 100 yards from camp. Cooper caught one shortly after we got there. Then Bremer had a bite but couldn't get him on the ice. Next Cooper had a fish on but all we saw was his nose and he slipped back into the depths of Duncan. At 6:30 I went back to camp to start supper before it got dark. Cooper fried the fish over the campfire and I ate it with mashed potates. The fish was fried to perfection with Shorelunch and lemon pepper. I did camp chores and then sat by the fire with the other two. This afternoon it was above freezing for a few hours with blue sky and sunshine. It was a great day and catching fish was no small part of it. When I went to bed at 10 it was 12 degrees.
The day dawned with blue sky and sunshine. We had coffee and made our way to the new hotspot. Cooper and Bremer caught the first few fish. Around noon gray clouds filled the sky and released an occasional snowflake. By the end of the afternoon I had pulled two trout through the ice. I had finally relearned the technique of hooking a Lake Trout. Cooper and Bremer also pulled 4 trout out of the lake, making our total for the day 6, which is the limit. Snow showers salted the evening while we tended the fire and cooked supper. We decided to take our fish home instead of eatting them. After a pleasant evening of conversation around the campfire we turned in early so we could rise at first light.
Breakfast was a granola bar and a pint of water. We were on the trail at 8am. An inch of fresh snow didn't impede our journey out. Returning to the trailhead on the last day is fun. We soaked all the sights into our minds and hearts too hold us till the next time we could come here. To have a dog and a toboggan carrying all the essentials of life is very satisfying. We were looking forward to the comforts of civilization but I secretly wished I could have spent a couple more days in the Boundary Water's frozen paradise.
