Day 8, Thursday, June 15 - Tuscarora Lake

Heidi and I are up at 7:00AM this morning to more sun and clear skies. We feast on a big breakfast of potatoes and eggs before digging into camp chores. The weather radio suggests that we might be in for some rain and storms later tonight or tomorrow, so our decision to exit via the more direct route through Missing Link Lake remains a sound one.

There are two portages out of Tuscarora Lake to the east. At the northeast corner is the over one mile long (360 rod) portage to Missing Link Lake which exits the boundary waters by way of a 140 rod portage to Round Lake. Round Lake has a public boat launch with a road that leads back past our original entry point about a mile away. The other portage out of Tuscarora heads straight out to the east, and is just around a point to the north of our campsite. This lengthy 250 rod portage travels through Howl Swamp and leads to Hubbub, Copper, Snipe and eventually Cross Bay Lake, where our trip loop joins back up with our initial day one route. This latter course includes a total of seven portages and would require a much longer day of travel, especially in bad weather.

Our original trip plans had us exiting by way of the Howl Swamp portage and included a one night stay on Snipe Lake. I had really wanted to see this area after reading about it in trip reports, but our journey through the Frost River has taken its toll on us. We are both tired and do not feel like playing chicken with the weather, so the decision was made to take the route through Missing Link Lake instead. Unfortunately, there is only so much one can fit into a single boundary waters trip, and a visit to Snipe Lake will have to wait for a future one.

Heidi and I spend most of the afternoon taking pictures, fishing and napping. I manage to get caught up on my journal while Heidi catches up on some rest. Late in the afternoon, clouds move in and we get a few light showers. We retreat to the tent to keep dry, and before long the rain stops and the clouds begin to break. We devote some time preparing for tomorrow's trip out, and after a final freeze dried dinner of macaroni and cheese, buttery herb pasta and Nick's Couch Potatoes, we retire for our last night's sleep inside the BWCAW.