Kawishiwi Falls, Ely Minnesota

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With our son Adam and some friends we headed into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness this last week. One of the members of our group had never been in the BWCAW before so it was going to be a new experience for her. You have to get your permit well in advance so you never know what kind of weather you are going to experience.

The weather for this trip was about the best we could have asked for. The water was like glass when we got to Wood Lake, our entry point into the BWCAW. We travelled four portages and about 10 miles to get to our destination, Norway Island located in Basswood Lake.

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We found a beautiful campsite overlooking Wind Bay. The loons also liked it. Five loons hung out every day in front of our campsite. One of my favorite pastimes in the BWCAW is listening to the call of the loon. Even though loons are on most Minnesota lakes there is just something about the haunting call of the loon that stirs up that wilderness feeling inside of me. We also encountered one loon with its baby.

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The baby was almost as big as the adult. They approached our canoe so close that one time the baby came up out of the water and splashed my lens.

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The next morning we woke to one of the most beautiful sunrises. Canoeing over the lake towards the rising sun is a memory that will never be forgotten.

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Basswood Lake has hundreds of campsites to choose from. We spent part of the afternoon at one that has a beautiful sand beach. Between swimming, catching crayfish and just sitting on the beach it was a fun afternoon.

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On our way back to our campsite we discovered a huge white cedar along the shore. Adam and I together could just reach around it making it’s circumference about 11 feet. Researchers have been studying some of these cedars on Basswood and think that they are about 1,000 years old.

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Saturday night we knew that the Perseid Meteor Shower was going to put on a show. We laid down on the rocky shoreline and watched the show for two hours after dark. All I can say is it was amazing. At times we saw a meteor about every 5 minutes. Some were so bright that the light from their passing reflected in the waters of Basswood Lake.

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On the way back home we decided to take a different route and follow a beaver channel out of Wind Bay. We saw beaver, bittern and turtles but no moose. It was a beautiful one mile stretch of water.

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We came across this one turtle that I think was laughing at us. What we didn’t know is that the beaver channel ahead of us was a little lacking of water. For the last hundred yards or so we had to pull and push our canoes over logs and muck. But like our newest member to the BWCAW crew said, “This just added to the adventure”.

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