It’s Saturday, late morning, and I’m bumming because we’re missing our second market in a row, or is it third? It’s hard to keep track. All these days in quarantine are starting to blur together. I’m hoping that at least Nick will be able to go to market with a few veggies next week, but man do I miss my market peeps. Just under two more weeks to go and the boys and I are in the clear.

It’s been a few weeks since I wrote my last post about our trip to the Boundary Waters. We were on day two and had just unloaded our gear at a campsite before setting out in the canoe to explore the rest of the lake (in case we found a site with better fishing. Spoiler alert. We didn’t. The only two other campsites were taken.). Read about Day 1 here and Day 2, Part 1 here.

Exploring Ham Lake

After we unloaded our gear and loaded ourselves back into the canoe, we set out across the lake to a small section of rapids near the next portage. Ryker wanted to explore the rapids, so Nick pulled the canoe up to the rocks and Ryker and I disembarked to embark on a little adventure of our own while Nick and Townes fished.

We hopped, jumped, and balanced our way across the rocks to the other side of the rapids where we shimmied along the shoreline to discover a still, peaceful area of lake flanked by a tall cliff rock. Now, all of the Boundary Waters is breathtaking, and not to say this was more or less so than the rest, but it was like coming up on a scene in a fantasy movie or novel where you discover this secret, magical place. The water was like glass and the rocky cliff to the left and the woods to the right created this winding channel that widened into a larger section of lake and sky, reflecting one another.

We had reached as far as we could go without taking a swim or boat to explore the rest. So we made our way back across the slippery rocks, Ryker taking less care than before and basically wading through the shallow bits, soaked up to his knees. We met Nick and Townes on the other side and loaded back into the canoe and headed back to camp.

Once we got back to our campsite, the boys explored while Nick and I set up camp. By this time it was only about 11 a.m. Can you believe we did all that before 11 a.m.? To recap, we packed up from our night at the bunkhouse, made our way to an outfitters to rent our canoe, then paddled across three lakes and portaged two trails, unloaded our gear, fished and explored the rapids, then set up camp. It’s 10 a.m. here now and all I’ve done so far is scan my social accounts (which was pretty depressing — as usual), make myself a cup of instant coffee (coincidentally, what was left over from our trip), kiss my hubby, and make my bed, then settle into my favorite rocking chair to write this post.

Catching Dinner

Throughout the day, we snacked on an Italian sub sandwich I bought the day before at a gas station, French bread, a block of cheese, summer sausage, and some Cliff bars. But for dinner, we needed to catch fish. Nick and the boys were able to catch a few fish off a rock cliff from our campsite, but then we headed over to our favorite little channel we camped on the year before, and caught just enough for dinner. I steadied the canoe using a paddle lodged into some rocks, while the boys fished away. When we had what we thought was a enough fish for dinner, we paddled back to the site.

Eating Our Catch of the Day

While tinkering at the campsite (collecting and sawing wood, etc.) Nick and the boys heard a bit of commotion by the canoe. They ran down to see what they described as a giant snapping turtle demolishing off the last bit of one of our five fish. Nick picked up the line of fish and the snapping turtle just hung there for a bit before finally releasing our spoils and dropping back into the water. We were one fish down. It was time to clean them before the turtle came back. Nick cleaned up the fish while I readied the fire. Fried up in cajun batter, drizzled with fresh-squeezed lemon, we ate that deliciously fresh fish (small mouth bass) with a bit of ramen soup, rinsed down with dry red Bota Box wine for Nick and me, and lemonade for the boys (made with a dried powder mix).

Playing in the Rapids

After dinner, the boys wanted to head back to the rapids. This time, they wanted to swim in them. So they changed into their swimming suits. Once they were ready, we headed back over to the rapids. At which point, Townes and Ryker jumped across the rocks fighting to maintain their balance, before deciding to just dive right into the current of water. They slid down a mini waterfall while Nick and I laughed hysterically (something we realized we hadn’t done a lot of lately).

The kids played in the waterfall and rapids for about 45 minutes until they were shivering and chattering. We didn’t bring towels with us, so made a b-line back to camp so the boys could dry off and warm up by the fire. Once they were dry and in their Jammies, they did a bit more catch-and-release fishing from the campsite. Before it got dark, I read from “Little House on the Prairie” by the fire while the kids sipped hot cocoa. Then I made the 100-yard trek into the darkening woods to the latrine with Ryker so he could commence with his nighttime poo routine.

The boys and I got ready for bed, while Nick finished his wine and put out the fire. Three of us slept on a full-size blow-up mattress (Nick, Ryker, and me) and Townes slept on a single sleeping pad at our feet in our Kingdom 6 tent (a heavy and large tent to be bringing into the Boundary Waters). As usual, we were asleep by the time the sun had fully set. Being outdoors all day, and the swarm of mosquitos that come out to feast on you at night, will do that to you.

We knew the next day would likely bring some rain, but we got much more than we bargained for. But that’s for another post. In the meantime, enjoy these adorable pictures of my boys posing on a rock at our campsite.