BOUNDARY WATERS ELY, MN
DATE PADDLED: July 22-27, 2021
WEATHER: Cool and rainy as we put in with clearing skies as we neared Cummings Lake. Two full days in, a biblical storm lashed our camp before the ensuing windy and low humidity days dried everything back up. The moon was full and the skies were smoky. Hard to believe how beautiful it all was....
DISTANCE: about 7 miles in as the crow flies, with a 420 rod portage to kick things off.
DIFFICULTY: Challenging. Sleeping on the ground rated "Extremely Difficult." Withstanding a storm with 70 MPH winds while alongside some of your best friends in the world? Priceless.
A FAMILIAR PLACE: I had only been to the BWCA one other time, more than 20 years ago. Until we returned to the far western end of Cummings Lake, little of it looked familiar. But when we came to that campsite perched on a rocky outcropping high above the water, I turned to face the long expanse of lake toward the eastern horizon. Everything returned.
TIME FLIES: Maybe we'll try one more time in another 20 years.
YOUNG YOUTHS PROVE USEFUL: Highly recommend the use of "runners" to secure a campsite, preferably those who are among the younger in the group. Important: you'll want to have a clear plan in place before sending said runners off at full speed.
Around 4:30 p.m on Day 3., we received a severe storm alert that would soon prove to be illustrative to all camp Luddites that smart phones are indeed useful.
By 6:00 p.m., things began to shift and lightning appeared on the western horizon. After one last feeble attempt to convince ourselves that maybe it wouldn't be all that bad, the wind picked up and we settled in to our respective corners of the camp to wait it out.
The storm delivered everything Dark Skies suggested it would except, thankfully, hail. We got winds big enough (70 MPH) to create oceanic waves on Cummings while lifting a canoe completely off the rockface where it previously had been "securely" wedged between two boulders and a tree. A tree fell across the trail to the latrine and the rain soaked camp (but failed to penetrate my 25 year old Northface tent, thank you very much).
Never seen anything quite like that.
