#BWCA 2016 Camp on South Arm Knife Lake Part 4

After a tiring day canoeing about 12 miles and walking trails at least 20,000 steps carrying our canoe and packs we made it to South Arm Knife Lake. It is a big lake with lots of campsites to choose from. We had seen a lot of campsites on our way and decided that the ratings at Paddleplanner.com were pretty accurate. A camp rated one or two was usually pretty worn down with all nearby trees down, a minimal campfire pit and possibly exposed to more winds. We liked to have a woodsy campsite that had the fire pit furniture of logs placed so that we could sit at the fire and see the sunset out on the lake. The first night we had a campfire that faced inland and our backs were to the water which we didn't really care for. 

 

 

South Arm Knife lake camp was our 2nd evening out in the BWCA and it was rated a 4, and it was a great camp. The overcast evening cooled everything down, and made for some good fishing along the rock walls across the water. We caught walleye every time we went fishing on this trip. We just got one each day for dinner, to supplement our noodles and vegetables.

 

I  made a little cairn of stacked rocks to serve as a landmark for the campsite with a few flat rocks. I know some people don't care for them as a reminder that some human was out here in the undisturbed wilderness before them, but I think they're cute. Besides the

We brought along the fish grilling basket and cooked the fish whole over the fire. When it was done and blackened the meat just fell away from the bones and you could just pull out the whole spine. We had brought a couple extra hamburger buns and we made our own tarter sauce from mayo and relish packets.

If you remember last year we had way to much food, like 20 lbs or something. We never ate lunches and we had brought lots of lunch food that we carried around our whole trip. This year our meal planning was spot on. We carried only what we knew we would eat. For dinners we brought a pack of Knorr Pasta Roni, a 3oz pack of cooked chicken, a little baggie of dehydrated veggies (peas, carrots, onions, green peppers) that we dried ourselves prior to the trip. Last minute we threw in a couple ears of that wonderful Minnesota sweet corn and some hamburger buns left over from a family picnic.

For breakfast we had a package of Oscar Mayer precooked bacon that we simply reheated on a piece of foil on a morning fire. We had Hungry Jack dehydrated hash brown potatoes in the little milk carton package where you can just add warm water to rehydrate and then pan fry. We actually brought real eggs in the carton for each morning and we supplemented those eggs with dried powder eggs and another baggie of dehydrated veggies (onions, green peppers, mushrooms).  You can see the veggies in the pan picture below.

The food was packed in larger ziplocks by the day. So each day had all the condiments, food and snacks proportioned out. We did pack a reserve of ramen noodles for each day in case we got hungry, but we just burned it if we didn't eat it each day rather than carrying it around. Next time we'll skip the extra ramen because we burned all of it.

For snacks and a lunch each day we had a powerbar, homemade beef jerky, trail mix nuts and fruit, homemade dried apple chips and a string cheese stick.

We boiled lake water in evening for our next day,  usually making 2 gallons so we had some for the next morning breakfast beverages (coffee, hot chocolate and emergenC) and then to refill our water bottles for the days journey.

In case you're just joining our adventure, please visit the previous excerpts of our trip at the links below https://goo.gl/photos/35Mj9spf1XEVTTm88

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3