8/2/2025 – This was my first canoe trip of the season. Two friends and I took a Wenonah Minnesota 3 canoe. Our route plan was to leave from Sawbill and get up to Wine Lake to base camp for two nights. This was both of my friend’s first canoe trip.
7/22 – We pushed off from the Sawbill dock at 9am. We opted to take the north western portage from Sawbill into Kelso River. Getting onto Kelso River went great for our first portage. We were carrying 2 Duluth Packs and a 20L day pack. The mosquitoes at the end of this portage were out but as soon as we were on the water they disappeared. Our first sighting of people was on Kelso Lake where a crew of ladies was base camping on one of the northern sites on Kelso Lake. The northern section of Kelso River is very beautiful.
The lily pads were blooming despite the overcast weather for the day. We continued to navigate up into Lujenida Lake. Finding the portage to Zenith Lake was slightly tricky to see from a distance. We unloaded our gear from the boat and prepared for the 480 rods that we were about to embark on. At this point it was 11:30 a.m. and the rain had just begun to fall. As we trucked on, we came upon many rocks we had to climb over, trees we had to work around, and mud puddles that wanted to swallow us whole. We finally reached the end and set out onto Zenith Lake aiming south west towards Frederick Lake. On some maps, it is shown that portaging is not necessary between these two lakes. However, with some recent dam development with the local beavers, there is now a 15 rod portage.
The portage from Fredreick to Wine is quite steep and leeches were very attached to us at the landing. Wine lake has three campsites on it. Our goal was to stay on either the island site or the eastern site near the portage. We ended up choosing the island site. We rolled up to camp at 5:00 p.m. Our view from camp was quite rewarding after a busy day of travel.
We set up camp and made some chicken pasta for dinner. Notice how I have not mentioned that the rain stopped? That is because it did not. We were hoping to have some clear skies overnight. Exhausted, we all went to bed at 8:00 p.m.
7/23 – Well the rain never did quit. I’m very confident that a thunder cloud thought it was its personal mission to sing us a bedtime story all night long. When we woke up to assess the weather situation, we found all our gear to be wet. The tent floor, the food bag, even the life jackets under our tarp were soaked. To make the most of the day, we played cards in the tent, read, and went for an afternoon paddle around Wine Lake. We swam, made dinner, and again went to bed early.
7/24 – Of course our final day is the day that the rain finally stops. As we packed up camp, we did get a glimpse of the sun peaking through the clouds. At 9:30, we pushed off after a breakfast of peanut butter tortillas. As we retraced our steps back through Wine and Fredrick, we noticed the significant increase in the water level. The portage from Fredrick to Zenith had tons of water flowing over the beaver dam. When we reached the Lujenida portage, we were very determined to be successful getting across in one piece. However, the portage had other plans. Both my friends broke their shoes. Remember those mud puddles I talked about earlier? Well some of them go mid thigh deep on 5’1” women.
After some tactile duck tape application, we huffed on. Seeing Lujenida lake was such a relief. To enjoy the sunshine on the last bit of our trip, we stopped for lunch on Kelso Lake. We docked back at Sawbill at 5:00p.m.
Overall, this trip was a crazy rollercoaster. From duct taping shoes to tromping through torrential rain to trying to find a dry place in the tent. However, when you have good friends who are willing to put up with your crazy ideas, it makes for lasting memories.
-Lauren