"Through the river, through the woods, to the beaver dams we go"
On Saturday September 21, Alex and I headed out on the Powwow Trail in the BWCA. We started approximately 7:20am with a goal of completing the entire trail in one day. Based on previous reports from attempts on this route, we decided to go counter clockwise on the trail. Our attempt was unsupported and we carried our own supplies - water, food, GPS navigation on watch and on phone as back-up.
The first few miles of the trail were runnable - we held a pretty decent pace for the first six miles. We encounter our first beaver dam/marsh situation, and got a little off course during this first encounter, which turned in to a theme as we continued.
Around mile 7 or mile 8, we encountered our first flooded area, thanks to beavers. After several attempts of trying to find a dry-ish way through, we accepted our fate and plunged our way through the flooded area.
The majority of this trail included a large amount of rock scrambling, going over trees, and relying on the cairns and blue blazes tied on to trees. We stopped around Mile 9 to eat a more solid meal, as well as around Mile 17 (and to replenish water using a water filter that Alex brought with her).
About a third of the way through the trail, Heidi rolled her ankle and that did slow our progress down. Initially we had assumed that we would be able to get done before dark, but between the injury, the beaver dams, the marsh, and needing to correct our course on the trail, we did end up finishing the trail in the dark.
Luckily, the last 5-6 miles of the trail are also relatively runnable, and we were able to pick up the pace and run a good part of the last few miles, albeit in the dark.
We exited the trail and we were greeted by the moon coming up behind some clouds, which made the sky look like it was on fire. Coupling that with the clear night sky and abundance of stars, it was a beautiful way to end an epic adventure.