Neil, Charlotte, Mark, Marsha, Ruth and Bill in the BWCA, 8,17-21, 2011

We battled fierce winds for an hour before we decided that enough was enough.  Neil and Charlotte struggled with boat control and after some load adjustments were able to make some headway. We snuck into a sheltered bay and were glad to find a home out of the wind.  We spent the afternoon playing cribbage and fishing.  Coops trolled for northerns and Neil and Charlotte fished from shore around the small bay we were camped at.  In the morning we headed out early hoping for calm water.  It was good paddling.  We did the six portages and ten miles to Lake Insula arriving at my favorite campsite and finding it free.   Our first activity was swimming.  The cool waters of Lake Insula were very relaxing.   The next day was a layover and we had a pancake feast for breakfast.  This was followed by yoga on the beach.  It was good goofy fun, but felt great.  In the afternoon Ruth and I went fishing for bass.  After trial and error we located them off a point not far from camp.  Ruth caught several, a couple of them quite big.  I only caught one.  Coopers caught a couple Northerns by trolling.  Mark cooked all the fish over an open fire.  They were served with rice and all was delicious.  During the fantastic sunset Neil taught us about "Jumping."  While jumping in front of the sunset we would take  pictures trying to catch the Jumper air born with the lake and sky in the background. It was so much fun and the photos were really neat.  The remainder of the cool evening was spent around the campfire.  In  the morning our travels took us back across the long portage and 3 shorter ones to a very nice point in the middle of Lake Four.  The afternoon heat made a swim feel great.  Neil and I fished for 2 1/2 hours during the evening.  We caught only a couple small walleyes.  We cherished the evening campfire knowing that it would be our last for a while.  As we paddled out in the morning we realized that it was a good idea to stay on Lake Four because all the others were very crowded.  The sky was beautiful blue with a few white clouds. The breezes were gentle. It was a perfect day of paddling that made you sad to be leaving such a magnificent landscape of trees, rocks, and water.