DB and BH studied all the routes and decided on a few they felt were good. I looked at them and said that I didn't want it to be too easy (don't know what I was thinking). We finally decided on Entry point 14 Little Indian Sioux River North. We booked our dates and got a permit. Next we found an outfitter where we could rent a canoe and a few other things. The first one we called was really rude, but the next, Canoe Country Outfitters in Ely, MN was very nice and helpful.
The three of us also shopped for food to bring along. DB was going to put it all together. She showed us the meal plan and I couldn't believe it! Gourmet meals! I don't come close to eating like that at home. DB purchased a small camping stove and BH purchased a water filter system.
The day finally arrived. We planned to meet at work at 6:00am on 24 August. We finally got on the road at about 7:45am after loading all of our gear and filling up with gas. We arrived in Ely, MN early afternoon going to the outfitter first to rent whatever gear we needed. As we were finishing up I saw some vinyl buckets that folded flat and asked if we needed one. Good thing we bought it as I have no item how we would have gotten water to drink and cook with. We rented 3 packs, the largest was for food and the other two for all of our other gear. I had brought a larger backpack. We also rented a saw (which we never used), a four person tent and therm-a-rests for BH and me, BH rented a sleeping bag and pillow.
We ate our (late) lunch at Rockwood-Bar-and-Grill. I had tomato basil soup that was very good. We then went to the grocery store to pick up a few odds and ends. Now time to pack. We laid everything out on a picnic table and decided what would go in each bag. This is when we realized how heavy our food pack was (took two of us to lift using the handles, probably about 65-70 pounds) and how much we brought. DB assured us that this is how much we needed. We asked Mark from the outfitter about bringing our hiking shoes in the hot weather. He said our sandals would do (wonder when I'll ever use my hiking shoes). We then did a little tourist shopping in town and then went to Ely Steak House for dinner. Had a wonderful dinner and splurged on dessert. We had rented a room at the outfitter which consisted of two bunk beds. None of us slept well that night, but we got up when the alarm rang at 5:30am. After getting dressed we had the canoe put on top of DB's new vehicle and away we went. It was a long drive to our starting destination.
When we arrived we took everything out and locked the vehicle. We put the 49 pound Kevlar canoe on BH and she took off down the trail. DB and I helped each get the medium packs and we took off. We got about a third of the way down the 40 rod portage (1 rod = 16 feet) and there was BH with the canoe on the edge of a large, wet slippery rock that slanted down a steep cliff that had to be crossed. We helped get the canoe back up and DB helped her while I went ahead to find out what the trail was like. Ah, first load down. We all went back up and DB and I helped BH get the food pack on and then each took another pack. We loaded the canoe and took off on the Little Indian Sioux River with me in front, BH in the middle and DB in the back. This day was turning out to be a sunny, hot humid day. After paddling about 1.5 miles we came to our next portage. We now decided that it would be better to take packs first so that we could check out the trail. I got the food pack this time for the 65 rod portage. Wow, that was heavy, but somehow I made it. We set our packs down and then went back for the other pack and the canoe. We then canoed about 2 miles to Upper Pauness Lake and crossed the lake to the next 40 rod portage. This time BH got the food pack (DB has bad knees so we didn't want her to carry it. The other three packs were probably about 45-50 pounds each. When we reached Lower Pauness Lake we decided that there was no way we could portage 216 rods to Shell Lake with our heavy food pack like we had planned. We found a camp site and set everything up. Mosquitos were terrible and BH and DB had been bothered all day with biting black flies. I wore long pants and anklets with my sandals along with a floppy brim hat and of course a shirt. It was so hot and steamy that my glasses were fogged up. We said that we needed to eat a lot of the heavy food so the pack wouldn't be so bad. DB and I canoed out to the middle of the lake to get some water with our new bucket. When we returned DB and BH set up the Platypus water filter (Platty). We ate, Spam, potatoes, fresh green beans and fresh squash for dinner, but were too full and hot for any dessert other than bars that DB's mom had made. Since the mosquitos were so bad we went into our tents, told a few stories and were soon fast asleep.
I must also tell about the latrines... The one at this camp site was located almost a block back from our site through woods and brush. The below picture was not from any of our camp sites, but it is better to see than try to describe. All except for one of ours had a lid. Because of the mosquitoes I kept moving.
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