Grand Portage

In short:

• ~265 miles

• 8 Wilderness Guides

• 10 days

• Ending with a 8.9 mile portage

In long:

Pre-Trip

This all started in the summer of 2019 when my brigade brother, Haakon, and I planned a trip to put in a couple miles before Grand Portage and do it in a day. Unfortunately, our work schedule was changed, and we had to cancel our trip. Haakon had the idea to make bigger, better plans for the future, a “super trip” if you will. I happily agreed but didn’t think much of it at the time.  Over the years the Northwoods had formed a bond between Haakon and I, and we were brothers in every aspect but blood. We had both grown since our first summer. We were more confident, stronger, and wilder. The summer of 2019 came and went without us paddling together again. During the off-season, Haakon started the preliminary plans to make this super trip a reality and I couldn’t be more grateful. Over time we got more and more people to join us. Sadly, we couldn’t get Connor Kooistra, Haakon’s interpreter, to join due to a conflict with school. We got THE Chrissy Turk, an easy include. Josh joined early on as well. He wasn’t going to work that summer at Northern Tier but was more than down for the trip. That was the core. We asked Amos early on, but he didn’t lock in until Leave No Trace Training was officially canceled in the middle of the season. One day at the Arts n’ Crafts pavilion I casually mentioned to Elijah that he could come, didn’t give it much though. He’s a quiet guy with a good head on his shoulders I didn’t need to think twice about offering him a spot even though I wasn’t that well acquainted with him. I didn’t think about him joining the trip until the next time I saw he had changed his end date and was fully down to clown. Hunter joined late, seemed like only a few days before. He couldn’t change his end date though, so we devised a half-baked plan to pick him up half way through our journey. He would have to be paddled 7 miles up the Moose chain by a couple friends to a spot near Prairie Portage where we, after paddling ~150 miles, would pick him up. Oh, and we would have no communication with him for the 5 days prior. What could go wrong? Allen joined last minute. I didn’t know he was coming until the day before the trip. Allen is a huge part of my Northern Tier experience. I’ve paddled more miles with him than anyone else and I can always convince him to do the stupid shit with me others are too smart to agree to. More than glad I shared this trip with him.

Day 0

We assembled the dream team, well all but Hunter, he would come later. Haakon Colwell, Allen Lowenstein Amos Kolodji, Chrissy Turk, Elijah Greiner, Josh Lambert, and myself got everything together and met at the Public Landing near Northern Tier. Then we were off to the Kolodji’s house. Amos’s parents are about as into paddling as you can be. They are also saints. They lent us all the gear we needed: three canoes, paddles, packs, and more. They also offered to shuttle us on both ends. On top of all that when we got to their place, they had a canoe made into a table with fresh fruit, pizza, snacks, and drinks for us. We drove to International Falls Minnesota and arrived at 10:30pm on August 3rd, 2020. Our original plan was to hit Rainy Lake during the night and avoid the mid-day winds. Rainy was no normal Lake. At over 40 miles long, this wasn’t Basswood even, this was a different beast. We took a look at the water conditions. As we were looking, men from a local bar came out to see what we were up to. The conditions weren’t great. It was fairly windy, and we could tell there were rolling waves. We reasoned that we could wait at least a couple hours, the forecast had the wind dying down by then. I wasn’t a fan. I knew Haakon wanted to get going too. Chrissy is always the voice of reason and sensibility, but we came to the conclusion that we would press on and put boats in the water. Haakon and I paddled as Chrissy navigated in the Kevlar canoe. Amos and Elijah were in the carbon fiber Seliga canoe. Allen and Josh were in the aluminum canoe. The small breeze on Rainy’s vast surface created 4-foot rollers. These were conditions none of us had encountered before. It was thrilling and took us out of our comfort zone. Then we saw the Northern Lights, which for many of us, this was our first time. They were small curtains of green, it’s not like you see on TV, but very cool none the less. Now is when things a bit wild. Josh and Allen’s boat swamped. My boat paddled them to shore. Amos jumped out of his boat to “help” but there was nothing to help with at that point. There was tension once we all got to shore. Josh surely had to be concerned that he might have gotten in over his head. The rest of us had a season of paddling under our belts and were conditioned. I know he wouldn’t want to feel as though he was holding us back or anything of the sort. We collected ourselves and the waters seemed to calm down a bit too. We were off again in not much time. Haakon and I took over the aluminum. We continued to paddle until dawn was about to break. Chrissy had successfully, without fault, navigated us through a lake the size of which we had never been on before. At this point, the lack of sleep was getting to us. I would fall asleep in a matter of seconds whenever we stopped. We found an island to eat breakfast and pass out.

Day 1

When we awoke from our 2 hours of well-deserved rest, day 0 was over and day 1 had started. The paddle to lunch was eventful, but long. There were huge house boats with a wake that wasn’t canoe friendly. Lunch was a cheese block shared between us, half a summer sausage, and a pita. This was always our lunch. It wasn’t much food, but at dinner we always feasted. We paddled another 7-8 miles to our campsite which we had to reserve in advance. It made the Wisini Hilton look like a Motel 6. There was a 30-foot dock, bear boxes, structured tent pads, picnic tables, an outhouse with TP, and a fire ring. We had 2 tents. It was myself, Chrissy, Allen, and Elijah in one and everyone else in the other. After we got camp set up, we all passed out on the dock for a nap.

Day 2

It was a wild realization that Rainy Lake is so long that you can’t see the horizon on the other side, only water, and we had to paddle that. Wake up was at 5:00am. A bit earlier than I would like, but it was alright. Breakfast was always either oatmeal or granola with dried craisins and beef sticks. I usually got the meals out and ready, while the portage packs were being packed. I physically couldn’t paddle as hard as I did the day before. We did 35 miles yesterday, which was more miles than most of us had ever done in a day. My stroke wasn’t weak by any means, however. I had injured my thumb on a pervious trip, and I wrecked my ankle tussling with Allen. An injured ankle wouldn’t have stopped me from doing this trip, but it was all but healed by now. This day wasn’t as eventful as the last, but it was a really enjoyable day. I was in the aluminum with Chrissy and we had some good conversation. First portage was by a hotel and the second was grassy portage. On grassy Chrissy got stuck and I took the canoe and kept going. She actually had to dig her boot out of the mud. We stopped at the first campsite on Little Vermillion. Dinner was 2/3 of a massive bag of dried potatoes, 3 bags of dried sausage, 3 cups of dried green beans, spices, and almost 1/2 a cup of garlic powder. Our options for dinner every day were rice, pasta, or potatoes with sausage or chicken. Dinners were always stacked. I usually finished off the pot. Elijah was also a big eater. This night it was a FULL 8-quart pot.

Day 3

Hot damn Elijah and I crushed this day. That man can paddle. He was using one heck of a heavy paddle he borrowed from the Kolodjis too. The wake up was at 4:30am today. Loon River was very pretty. On Loon Lake I made a wrong turn that put us half a mile out of the way. Everyone started bitching and it was kind of funny. Josh complained that I’m too focused on going hard and not considerate of the pace that everyone wants to go at. Amos threw shade at Haakon, Josh, and Chrissy’s boat for being slow though. The boats weren’t balanced. In my eyes if I go faster the other boats will go faster to keep up and we’ll be moving. I also just like to really push myself. Lunch was at a beautiful spot East of Sandbar Island. Both portages we did this day had railways for motorboats to be portaged across. At one point I paddled while Elijah turned around and sang for 1.5 miles. This day I was feeling fantastic. I wasn’t tired or swore. I wanted to go all the way to Iron Lake today, but we didn’t. Amos said one day we should go until my heart was content, but that never happened.  We got to the first campsite on Coleman Island.

Day 4

This day was heckin’ solid. I was in the kevlar with Allen and Elijah. This was the day of cool things. Rebecca Falls, Curtain Falls, the Ranger’s Tomb, and the pictographs on Lac La Croix. People were playing at the fact that I would always say “We’re basically there”. I would start saying this when we were about 10 miles from stopping. We also saw the car and the crashed plane. I started to wonder about the effort I saw people putting in. Amos and I did most of the crew tasks such as cooking and packing bags. It’s not that I mind putting in more work but I wonder what went through the others minds. For me I need to be task oriented and make sure people can count of me. I can’t be a burden or slow the group down or else that would eat at me. I doubt other’s really see it that way. We got into a rhythm of things that seemed to work. I don’t want to put words in others mouths, make them seem lazy, or advocate that a group of 8 Hagans would be better. A group of all Hagans would surely lead to a MUCH less exciting and fun trip. These are the pinacol of outdoor guides and solid people. I also realize this is only my point of view. I can see how others might view my actions as rushed or unthoughtful at times. The weather up until this point had been unbelievable. Bottle portage would have been MUDDY if it had rained. I found size 11 Nikes that I still wear to this day. We ended the day at table rock, another point of historical significance.

Day 5

This morning we woke up at 5:00am. I literally carried all five packs down to the shore and put every boat in the water, but people still seemed to want to just stay in camp and talk. We saw the oldest cider in Minnesota in Rice Bay. This was the day we picked up Hunter near Prairie Portage and it couldn’t have gone any smoother. We got to camp at 3:45pm and he had only been waiting there for 30 minutes. Basswood was a bit windy, but nothing we hadn’t all experienced before. This night was one of spirits and celebration.

Day 6

I woke up in the middle of the night to cannon fire, or thunder rather. I said, “Zip her up boys”, and Chrissy/Elijah zipped up the ventilation of the tent. We woke up at 4:30am to rain, but by the time we hit water it had stopped. It was Hunter, Josh, and myself in the kevlar. Josh was duff, middle of the canoe who doesn’t typically paddle, until Knife Lake. He informed me that I made tidal waves when I paddle and had soaked him. At the narrow on Knife Lake just before Little Knife Portage, Elijah said his shoulder was hurting and didn’t want to make things worse, so I switched with him and paddled the Seliga with Chrissy. Chrissy insisted that I paddle softer and started to slow the canoe down to keep pace with the other boats. We were now beyond where any of us had been before except Haakon. Monument Portage was very pretty and Sag was nice as well. I started to go a bit loopy with the slow paddling, so I let Chrissy take a nap in the front for three miles as I paddled from Spruce to Blueberry Island. Hunter had brought with him some delights, one of which was corn cobs that we roasted on the fire that night. During dinner we saw a bald eagle go for a snake in the lake.

Day 7

On the Granite River, we saw the shadow of our canoe on the trees from the sun reflecting off the water. We had to walk the canoe four times along the Granite. Each time was super fun with the current being quite strong. I changed my pace to a less physically demanding one than I’m used to and we we’re sticking together better. Gunflint was larger than I imagined. Once, we got to little Gunflint a storm cell was moving in and we booked it to the campsite by the portage. We waited for a while and were very indecisive. about staying or going. We decided to leave and put two boats in the water. Then there was lightning, and we changed our minds and stayed. Allen and I took out a boat to get some water and saw lightning strike. The rest of the crew came running to see if we were okay. With things being wet and cold, we all went in for an early rest.

Day 8

Nothing quite like putting on wet clothes at 5:00 in the morning. After three miles of paddling Haakon did the Height of Land ceremony in French. Rose Lake was absolutely gorgeous and quickly became all of our new favorite lake. The high cliffs with sloping hills on the other side was unlike any terrain we’ve seen in the BWCAW. The 2-mile portage went smoothly. A creek follows the portage for its entirety. We stopped a mile down Mountain Lake and ate lunch. I inhaled my food as I do and went to take a nap. I was feeling hungry and a bit mentally done. I woke up to Amos making two 8-foot poles for sails. There were white caps and 1.5 rollers on the lake. We got onto the water and figured out the proper configuration for optimal sailing. This was the highlight of the whole trip. We FLEW down Mountain Lake for 6 miles. Dinner was on Moose Lake with 10 quarts of potatoes to eat.

Day 9

I woke up at sunrise. We had front loaded the trip and didn’t see any reason to have a set wake up time today. I started filtering water and got breakfast out with hot water going. We were out of camp by 8:30am. This morning was much chillier than normal. We paddled Moose, North/South Fowel Lakes, and stopped for the night at the last campsite on South Fowel. I made cheese quesadillas and Amos/Allen cooked the summer sausage. This was a darn good lunch. While doing the 300 rod (1 rod = 16.5 feet)to the pigeon river we first went up ~40 rods of a hiking trail up the cliff. This portage was the hardest of the trip. Mud, downed trees, and it took up almost 50 minutes. Pigeon River was actually a river with a flow. We had to walk the canoes some, but not a ton. We ended up making camp a mile after Big Rock Portage on a bed of tall grass. We cooked dinner on the overturned aluminum.

Day 10

We only had ~12 miles left, with 8.9 of that being Grand Portage. We were planning to meet Amos’ parents at the fort in the afternoon. We woke up at 4:00am, but there was so much fog on the river, that we thought it would be best to wait for light to be able to better navigate. We soon came across two swans and their three offspring. The parents flew off one by one and left their kids. When we paddled by the children which they swam downstream. We kept coming across one of the parents which kept taking off and landing further upstream. I didn’t realize what huge, powerful birds swans are. Once we got to the start of the Grand, we took everything off and attached paddles to packs. The plan was to portage 30 minutes, take a 5-minute break and then every 3rd break take a 20 minute break. Shortly after our 1st break, the kelvar’s yoke broke. Amos cut some ash supports. I duct tapped them and lashed some paracord on top, which held the rest of the portage. We finished in exactly 4 hours and all jumped into Lake Superior. Amos’ parents had drinks and fresh fruit waiting for us.

Reflection

This trip put me in the happiest place I’ve been in my life. Not only did I get to do and see so much I had never done before, but I got to do it with my Northern Tier family.