7/17/24 – The following is a crew member’s trip report of his and a friend’s time going through the Lady Chain.
7/9/24 – 7/11/24
Day 1)
My friend Will and I set off from Kawishiwi both as first timers for the Lady Chain. I have a few trips under my belt so I knew what was ahead of us to an extent, but Will had not been out in the BWCA so he was very excited. The first day flew by fast because of how much there was to converse about. Something about nature brings so much peace and comfortability that enables us to become vulnerable with one another, so it was nice to share deeper conversations with Will not only throughout this day, but throughout the entire trip. Everything was smooth sailing until we came across a few hiccups after the 20 rod portage from Square Lake. We didn’t see the 5 rod portage on the map due to water level, so we went past and eventually ran into a beaver dam. We weren’t sure if we were going the right way because we didn’t see any portages on the map, but it looked like people had portaged around the dam anyway so we followed their footsteps and made it to Kawasachong. After two more longer portages, we were in Polly where we explored several sites before settling for one a bit tucked away but still with a clear view of the lake. We set up camp and enjoyed lunch before alternating between resting in hammocks and going for swims. It was quite an enjoyable site with minimal bugs located directly above the ‘Y’ in Polly on the map. We made it up to Polly in about two hours so it was nice to have a long rest day, but even so we enjoyed the sunset and went to bed early for the long day that awaited us.
Day 2)
Will and I had discussed the general plan for each day, but ultimately it came down to how we felt and how far we wanted to push. This day was a prime example of this. It was a quiet morning for both of us since neither of us are very social in the mornings, but it made for a peaceful start to the day. Over the course of about 4 hours, we hopped over portage after portage through the rivers and smaller lakes between Polly and Phoebe. We tried water from each lake and concluded that the water on Grace Lake was the most clear and best tasting. It was relatively easy-going throughout, but with two people and many portages, the repetitive getting out and back into your canoe each portage eats up a ton of time. Soon enough, we made it to Phoebe where we saw two swans and ate some snacks on the calm water to fuel us for the last leg of the day. We weren’t sure of our plan at this point, so we started looking for sites in Grace but were leaning towards making it closer to Alton. Just to see for ourselves, we checked Ella before Beth and agreed that the sites on Ella weren’t what we were hoping for, so after a 5 ½ hour day, we went on and found the perfect site on Beth next to the Alton portage. It was very spacious with plenty of prime spots for hammocks and an elevated fire pit area. If you paddle out a bit from the site and look out to the West, it almost looked like a sort of stadium where the sun, moon, and stars aligned perfectly for us to watch them. We both agreed that we found one of the best sites we could’ve gotten. After unpacking, we did exactly what we did the last day: ate, swam, and rested until it got dark.
Day 3)
This was the shortest of the days by far. We got to Alton and used that longer paddle time to reflect on the journey a bit. As sad as it was to be returning to civilization, this trip brought us both immense harmony. It showed us the importance of slowing things down for yourself in the busy world we live in. I’ll end this report with a passage from a book I’m reading, Just Passin’ Thru by Winton Porter, that sums up my thoughts nicely:
‘Nature silences a troubled mind because it is so envelopingly slow. Our agitations of mind don’t touch it; our worries pass through it, bounce off it, but can’t disturb it, and eventually they just go away, as though from sheer embarrassment. Without our usual means of winding ourselves into anxiety – the house, the car, the bills, the diet – we simply must find other thoughts, and I think that is why hikers on this Trail speak so often of discovering things they had forgotten and of being reminded of how precious life can be” (Porter 155).
Feliks Vahtra