Slim lake

the days preceding our arrival in the bwca were unique. Wild fire at the > end of the gunflint closed access to seagull, our favorite choice for the spring opener. Undaunted we rebounded with a permit to duncan, That was closed > a day later, so we rebounded again with a permit to sawbill, and that was > closed friday morning. so doug became the man in charge.... he had the > day off and we were all working... he went on line and found Slim Lake. > he got 2 permits. one for my group and one for him and mark e. he went > in that afternoon..... we would follow in the morning. we were very > happy to have a Boundary Waters lake to go to. We got to the trailhead > about 10am saturday. I was concerned about the length and difficulty of > the trail. It was labeled as 140 rods, but to our relief we discovered > the first 100 rods were the driveway to the trailhead. It took me 3 trips > to get all my stuff across but wasn't bad. so at 10:45 were at the lake > with all our gear and we aren't sure> which way doug and mark were camped. The lake runs north and south > with 1/4 to the south and 3/4's to the nnorth. It seemed prudent to go > south...That end of the lake was beautiful and inviting, but there were no > campers in the solitary cammpsite. I turned my solo canoe and headed > north while coop and pfohl assembled their fishing tackle. I'd gone a > mile north when i saw a tandem headed south. I waved and sure enough it > was doug and mark. we talked and i told them how gratefull we were that > we got a permit for the bwca. then i headed for camp which was the first > camp on the west as you headed north from the portage. A wind had been > brewing but hadn't been a problem on the way here. However it was very > windy shortly after we got camp set up. couldn';t fish allafternoon > because of the wind. Coop and Pfohl did venture out for several hours. > but came back fishless. While they were gone doug and mark shared > stories and jokes. It was a good time.> Sunday morning we awoke to the east wind again. And it was no 7mph > wind like predicted. It was a knock you off your balance, cold wind. We > huddled under the tarp about 1/2 out of the wind. We ate breakfast, drank > coffee and talked mmore. At about 1 pm we paddled to a nearby island to > get out of the east wind. It was good. I took an hours nap on a thick > bed of pine needles, Pfohl paddled over to join us. The bugs got bad and > it was too warm in the sun so we moved to a breezier part of the island. > we made mid afternnoon coffee. As usuall the conversation was great. WE > all related well to each other's perspectives on family, and other > accounts of old times, and dnr conservation officers.> We cooked supper early in hopes the wind would die down so we could > go fishing. The wind did die down and we all went fishing for an hour or > 2 before dark. It was so good to be out of camp and paddling after 26 > hours of being wind bound. We were all fishless except for mark. He > caught a 10 inch bass but threw it back. I got back early and took a > very short swim. It was thoroughly refreshing. We sat under the tarp > long after dark with more conversation. Later i read Betsy and Saganaga. > Very good book.. inspiring.> Monday morning doug and mark made pancakes. mark and pfohl returned > from fishing empty handed. It had rained a little during the night but > the wind had died down. WE helped doug and mark break camp as they had > responsibilities in town. soon coop and pfohl and i were on our way to > the rice lake prortage in hopes of northerns. the portage was labeled as > 75 rods but seemed much easier.. Rice lake was as beautiful as slim lake > but turned out o be only 5 feet deep. Much to our dissappointment we > caught no fish.. not even a bite. I had lunch at the only camsite on > the lake and soon left with coop and pfohl.> Back on slim lake, which doug renamed Slim chance lake, i took a > leisurely paddle around a nearby bay. In camp later we ate a little, and > talked. i read and journaled while the other guys took a nap. The wind > had now moved to the north and the black flies came out of the woods. I > had taken another swim and didn't want to put on bug dope. so after > moving to several spots in camp and not finding any breeze or bug > relief i paddled over to the island again.....this is where i sit now with > an occasional puff of breeze to keep the bugs away. coop and pfohl fished > from 7 to 10:15 with no luck. they decided to rename the lake again. It > is now referred to as No Chance lake.> tuesday morning we got up early and spent an hour having a leisurely > breakfast while looking at the misty lake... it was cool but not windy. > the paddle out was savored because we knew it would be weeks before we > were up north again.>>