Last labor day weekend I went to the BWCAW with my dad for a few days of fishing and camping. We decided on Wind Lake for our destination since it is only one portage in, though a long portage, and it is full of smallmouth bass.
We got up there about mid afternoon not counting on it being too busy since a lot of people pass through Wind on their way to other lakes. Once we got to Wind we took our time getting to a campsite fishing along the way and checking every site on the map but one and by that point it was almost dark. With the last site on the map on the other side of the lake we didn't have time to get there safely so we had to scramble to find a place to set up the tent for the night.
It didn't take long to find a rock big enough to set up the tent but thats about all that there was room for. We got set up and started cooking dinner when the wolves started howling and they were close which was really cool. But then they started getting closer and closer until we started hear them in the brush and then we could hear them on the rocks along the shore. I shined my headlamp towards the noise and saw two sets of eyes shining back at me from about 40 yards away. We must have camped right along one of their trails and they were curious as to what was going on.
The rest of the night went by without incident and in the morning we packed up quick and began looking for a campsite. The only site that was available was the one that we didn't make it to the night before and just our luck it looked like it hadn't been used in a week.
The next couple days were filled with the best smallmouth fishing I have ever had and we each managed to land a nice 8 lbs Northern Pike.
Top Photo: the view from our campsite on day two.
Bottom Photo: campsite at night.
