Taking a Dump in the Boundary Waters

We've done the Boundary Waters twice now being led by others. We decided it was time for us to take the lead ourselves. So we invited Bozo's sister and her sister's friend Lisa to check it out with us over a weekend. Just one night out and 2 days of canoeing. Easy breezy!

We did great in our planning! Really. We gave good advice to Bozo's sister... including not bringing nice smelling lotions, you don't need traveler's checks in the woods, and bring gloves. When we got to Ely on Friday night, Bozo's sister and Lisa were already there so we dumped some stuff off and went to pick up the bits of gear we needed to rent and then headed out for food.

Back in the hotel, we had them dump everything out of their bags and removed anything that seemed unnecessary. Bozo's sister had an unmatched set of gloves, which worked great. Funny part that one of them had rhinestones! heheh Otherwise everything was pretty good... just too much. We all know that I am very guilty of that myself so I cannot judge.

We got a good night's sleep and woke up bright and early to meet our shuttle to the lake. The plan was to put in at Lake One then tour through the numbered lakes until we found a campsite, preferably on an island, for the night. However, Lisa woke up with a migraine and was not feel well at all. So we had to slow down the plan to see if she would be able to go. Our options were to go without her and leave her to sleep in the dark in the hotel all day, none of us go, or we all go and hope the headache subsides. We compromised on not going out for the night but just for the day instead and that we would all go.This is where our lack of experience came into play...

We didn't need all the stuff we had packed up on Friday night so we started removing things and replacing things so that we had one Duluth pack to carry with everything we would need in it. Somehow in the rush of everything, we didn't use the proper waterproof bags and forgot to bring some basic gear... matches. Of course we didn't know that until we were about to get on the water and a nice couple gave us a couple of the matches and some fire starters. Phew!

We got the canoes on the water just fine. Canoeing was great! Neither we nor the Outfitter could figure out if there was an opening along the Canadian Border into Lake Two so we checked that out first. Nope! So back we went past where had put in and toward our first short portage. Angie and I were in a canoe together and Bozo was with Lisa. The portage was so short that we just lugged the canoes with the stuff in them. In Lake Two we spent some time trying to find the correct portage. There were two and they were pretty close together and also close to some small rapids. I finally spotted the one we needed, which was on the other side of some small rapids and sortof hidden away. Angie and I got near it but were at an awkward angle so we went back to try again. Bozo and Lisa went upstream and made it to the portage. I decided to just cut across the last little bit of the rapids and off we went. And then we were in the water! The water was moving pretty fast and carried me away from the canoe and everyone else... though I held on to my seat pad Nalgene bottle, and the map! Once I took a deep breath and calmed myself, I was able to swim toward the canoe and just rested on that. Of course we all had our life jackets on. That made it much more comfortable. BUT... we were surrounded by cut rock and no way to get out of the water. The canoe was slowly sinking a little deeper into the water with all our stuff attached underneath.

So we kicked and Bozo and the friend tried to push with their paddles. Eventually (read: 40 minutes later) we were able to get out of the water on a small ledge. There was just enough foot space to be able to stand pretty sturdily. I was able to get the bag out of the canoe and hand it to Bozo and Lisa. In retrospect, that wasn't a very good choice as the weight of the bag as I handed it to her could have capsized them as well. Thankfully that didn't happen.

Then Angie and I spent several minutes working on getting our canoe righted. We'd get some water out and then it was slide back down. Eventually we were able to get it to a point that we could lift it. The water had made it too heavy to lift. So we lifted it and flipped it right side up. We got back in and began heading to a portage site that would take us back toward home. Angie started shivering pretty quickly so we needed to get her dry and warm and also try to get me dry and warm before I started shivering too. She had gotten her hair wet while somehow, much to Angie's chagrin, I was able to keep my hair dry and not lose my sunglasses in the whole process. On our way to the portage site, Angie and I took a detour to pick up a Nalgene bottle that was floating nearby, which Bozo had just given to her yesterday. That was funny!

After portaging a half mile or so, we were back in the water heading to a campsite we'd seen on our way out. We stopped there, got a fire going eventually, and started removing clothing. I ended up in just a rain jacket and someone else's shorts, Angie had a sweatshirt and some dry shorts. Another learning experience... we should have been more adamant about fast drying clothing. I think because it was such a short trip, we were lazy and wore too much cotton.

Finally dry enough to get moving while still wearing our strange outfits, we took off again to the last portage before the put in. All went without incident. But we were very early in our return. So we asked some people who were returning to Ely if they would stop at Voyageur and let them know we were there in case they could come early. They did! Voyageur has cold beer and cold soda in a cooler for people when they return to civilization! We hadn't been gone that long but the coke still tasted good! It started to rain a bit while we were waiting for the shuttle but rained even harder once we were in the vehicle. Phew again!

Back at the hotel, they didn't have our room available anymore but we got a suite with 2 bedrooms and a separate bathroom. That worked out well so we had more space to spread our wet clothes and things away. Lisa went to sleep while Bozo, Angie, and I went to get some food... and drink.The next day we were tourists in Ely, which I had always wanted to do. That was fun! Did some great shopping and then headed home at a reasonable hour.

Items damaged by my dump into the water included my cell phone and solar radio and charger. I was able to get them both replaced free because I had insurance on them. (= My Spot was under water for a little while and it turned out just fine. What I learned from that was I should have it on ME not on the pack! I'd rather Search and Rescue find me than my stuff! Especially if it's at the bottom of a lake! lolI'm glad we all made it home safe and sound! Bozo and I learned some really good lessons. The main being that if plans change and equipment needs to be rearranged, take our time and do it right for the environment. Doing that could have made things a whole lot less stressful! Though it wouldn't have kept us from capsizing... that was mainly just lack of experience on my part.

Canoeing the Blue Earth

Got up early to get prepared for our canoe trip down the Blue Earth River in Mankato. Lorrie's friend Daryl rented a canoe for us from MSU Mankato so we didn't have to worry about that. Got into town around 10:00am as scheduled to pick up the canoe. Lorrie and I ran a couple errands while Daryl took care of some business and because we had to wait for Jeanie to finish her chiropractic appointments. We ended up waiting until about 12:30pm before getting on the water. Not a big deal except that I was hungry. Aww! Poor me! Daryl and we drove our cars to the put in while Jeanie left hers where we would take out. She didn't have a canoe on her vehicle so that makes sense eh?!

Lorrie and I had decided that I would steer as I seem to do a little better in that area. She had told me beforehand that there were 3 or 4 small rapids to go through. She had to tell me this because I was scared! I've never canoed on a river before and it seemed a little daunting to me. Everyone else seemed so nonchalant about it. That never caught on with me! There were rapids almost immediately and regularly thereafter. Many more than 3 or 4 so Lorrie was apologizing for misinforming me. Too late! Already there! lol But they were small... level 1 or maybe even 0 on whatever that scale of rapids is. But for me, rocks are rocks and I know how rapids are formed. So it was scary. We did pretty well with Lorrie calling out the direction I needed to steer and where the rocks were and where the "V" that I needed to head toward was. It was good!

We stopped after awhile in a gorge for lunch. I don't really consider myself a wuss. Usually. But a river. Rapids. And now a slit in the rocks where water goes when it overflows. I didn't like that and it made me nervous. Even though I knew it was unlikely that the gorge would ever fill up *that* quickly. I spent a little time figuring out my escape route if something were to happen. There were some good roots and rocks that I could have climbed. Sounds like a panic attack, which it wasn't. I was just preparing. (= There was no increased heart rate or breathing. Awareness. That's what it was. But I was able to eat lunch and enjoy most of the time in there. Lots of cairns, which I love! Jeanie and Daryl had brought 3 bottles of wine so they all got started on that at lunch. One bottle down. I'm not a teatottler (is that right?) but alcohol with a river, rapids, and an inexperienced canoeist don't seem like a great combination. That just made me more aware of what I was doing since I felt like I was the clearest in head.

Next stop was Triple Falls, which is now just a trickle. Lorrie and Daryl talked a lot about how beautiful it is when it's actually falling. It was beautiful as a trickle so I imagine it's incredible when it's really going! And it was so cool in there... the trickle was freezing! Nice! Another bottle of wine down there. So things got a little more goofy after that. And I got a little more alert. Despite my fears, I was having a pretty good time and the scenery was beautiful! It's just one of those things that when I'm not used to it, I'm more alert to the rapids and such than the beauty around me. I have to say I got a little more comfortable with each rapid that we did. Lorrie was doing such a good job getting me to the right spot that I started trusting her ability more. Not a reflection of her that I didn't trust her at first. Totally about my fear of water! We bottomed out on one rock and went sideways over one rock. That was it. Pretty good!

Third stop, "the rock." It's in the middle of another rapid. So we had to pass the rock with the flow of the water and then turn around quickly to go against the flow on the other side of the rock to park. Daryl walked out and climbed up on the huge rock with the third bottle of wine. Jeanie has a back problem and pulled her hamstring and Lorrie has a sore knee from the Boundary Waters. They couldn't get up on the big rock. I have no soreness and I couldn't get up on the rock either. They all ended up drinking the third bottle between the big rock and another rock where the water seemed pretty calm. I stayed on the other side to take photos and play in the water. I liked it there. I could float in my life jacket to cool off. (= We stayed there for quite awhile until Daryl realized how late it was and that people were meeting us at The Wine Cafe at a certain time, including his wife. So after dumping all the water from our canoes from the water fight, we took off again. There were a couple more rapids before the end. Jeanie turned around backwards in their canoe at one point. Apparently Daryl does all the paddling when he takes these women out! lol Lorrie said she rarely paddles with him either. Sounds like a good guy to do Boundary Waters with! (=

We made it safe and sound to the exit point, which was under a bridge and a sharp left turn fighting the current. I think we did alright with that one too. (= Carrying the canoe up to the parking area Lorrie stepped into a hole and twisted (broke?) her ankle pretty severely. She said she almost passed out from the pain. So we got her into the shade and let her rest with her ankle up and her head down while we got everything up top. Then we *hopped* her up to the top to wait while we got the cars to bring back. I think the weight of the canoe contributed to how hard she went down. This one was much heavier than the Kevlar we used in the Boundary Waters. Egads!

It took a little while for us to get the canoes all settled. Well, the one on D'Azul anyway. I didn't really know how Daryl had gotten it up there so he did it pretty quickly for us. We had passed the time limit so we couldn't drop it off at the school and had to leave it at Daryl's. It was crooked on the roof, which made me pretty nervous. It also moved around a little. I couldn't see how it would fall off. But I didn't want to risk it so I took my time driving. Lorrie was in the passenger seat with an ice pack from the cooler on her foot. In pain.

In the Wine Cafe she put her foot up and a new bartender got her some ice in a ziploc. Perfect! She was a good sport! I know she was in great pain but also wanted to spend some time with her friends.

Despite how it ended, it was a good day! Beautiful scenery that I need to go back and see more of! And we, for the most part, made it back safely. (=

BWCA II - Epilogue

We are four tough women 40-years and older! We worked awesome as a team and as individuals! I think each of us challenged ourselves and exceeded those challenges with flying colors! I was thinking that I'm relatively confident in my physical abilities and I've usually been able to accomplish what I set my mind to. But some of those portages, especially carrying the food pack and mosquitoes, tested my stamina. I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing, but on the hardest day on the 2nd portage (Day 4, 220r) I chose to pick up a day pack to carry on my front while carrying the food pack. There was logic behind it too, regarding the number of trips we'd have to take. But it was still a lot. I closed my mind to everything but an occasional prayer and "1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4" steps. I was proud of us that day!

Another thing... lessons. My lesson for that day was not to do two long portages like that in 1 day. But if I have to, I can! (= I was a little surprised that we didn't bond more as a group. I thought part of that could be that we couldn't spend much time around the fire or together at night because of the bugs. But usually intense experiences like these bond people more. The other thing I thought was that Sue and Terry have been friends for 22 years and Lorrie and I are a couple. So pairing off made sense or was just easier. Not a big deal, just an observation.

I liked doing a week out there. Two night and 3 days isn't enough time to shut out the world. Six nights and seven days gave me time to shut down from electronics and really commune with nature... especially those mosquitoes! We definitely became one! That part I could have done without! I need the strongest repellent known to man!

Another thing I recognized was my irritability with Lorrie early on. I think it was my nervousness about what we were doing. It's something I need to be aware of at times when I'm doing something new. Neither of us liked how we talked to each other for short periods of time during the first couple days. But we talked about it and took care of it right away. A good learning experience!

I can't wait for next time! (=


Gadgets we Need

• Orange emergency flag
• Hammock (A must have!!)
• Tree hugger gadget holder
• Bag for pots and pans
• Two-burner stove
• Triangle stools ($10 each)
• Canoe chairs
• Deet spray (or nuclear bug spray if available!)
• Water filter bag (Ketadyne)
• Nu-skin for my scar (Hey! It's my list! I can be gross if I want! heheh)
• Ibuprofin
• Tea kettle
• Head lamp (for Lorrie)
• A new camping hat for Lorrie )=
  

BWCA II - Day 6

Travel - Heritage Lake > 40r portage > Shell Lake > 216r portage > Little Pauness Lake > 40r portage > Upper Pauness Lake > Little Indian Sioux River > waterfall portage > Little Indian Sioux River

Exit day. We were all awake by about 5:30am and couldn't sleep anymore. Terry got up to use the privy and saw a moose across the cove from us. So we all got up to see that and take photos. At some point Sue or Terry saw the snapping turtle sitting toward the edge of our site. S/He just sat there and watched us get packed up. Just as we started working on our tent, it started to sprinkle, which it continued to do most of the time we packed. The turtle was still there when we pushed off. We had just been stepping around him/her the entire time but s/he kept a close eye on us without moving at all. A blink every once in awhile let us know it was still alive! (=

Once we were all on the water, it started raining. It felt refreshing at first. And usually it would stop after a short time. But this time it didn't. It just kept coming and coming. We made it across Heritage Lake with no problems and got to our first portage, 40r to Shell Lake. We saw a few more people there. Campsites with people hunkered down in the rain. And there we were on the water in the rain with mosquito nets over our faces. I'm sure we looked silly! But I was definitely beyond caring about that! Eventually we got to our long portage, 216r. Thankfully it was rather flat. There were some muddy sections, of course, and a section where we crossed a pond on little half tree bridges. At first one 1/2 log and then two 1/2 logs (not 2 and a half, 2 half) so that we could put a foot on each. No incidents there. Lorrie took the canoe and I carried the still very heavy food pack. That took us into Lower Pauness Lake, where we began to see still more people. These lower lakes also seem to have more campsites on them. So it makes sense. Still raining. Still buggy. We paddled a short distance to the next portage, a 40r into Upper Pauness Lake. We started crossing several people at this portage. Not something we'd experienced much of previously. But most people are kind and courteous so it wasn't a big deal. There were 2 young men portaging the same direction we were who looked SO clean. One was wearing Tevas and shorts. I was very curious about where they'd been. It was starting to rain a bit harder. But it seemed pointless to put on our rain gear at this point. So we just kept trudging.

What I noticed was that we started becoming more mechanical the closer we got to the end. We didn't canoe as close together as before and we talked less. It probably gets that way toward the end anyway. But with the rain and bugs, it seems totally natural. The Upper Pauness flowed into the Little Indian Sioux River, which after a portage past the falls would take us to the entry point portage. The river has a "roadway" of clear water between the reeds on each side. A little difficult to navigate but I have gotten much better at keeping us on track. We saw lots of people on the portage past the falls. Several were in shorts and sandals. One woman looked rady for a nice stroll in the park! I can't imagine what they thought of us in our "hair nets," dirty pants, wet clothes, and tired faces. Ha! Terry said later that she had suggested pants and shoes to some of them. (= We ran into the clean young guys again who were behind us. And we caught up with 3 fishermen who were also heading out. Seemed to go okay with all of us on the portage though. This one we had done at the beginning as well. The falls were very pretty! Honestly I didn't stand and look for very long because of the bugs. Poor me! )= As we canoed the last leg, we met several groups just coming in to the Boundary Waters. I must say that with the rainy weather, I'm glad we were leaving and not entering today! After one group passed us, Lorrie and I heard a man say with concern,"They have mosquito nets," which sounded to us like maybe they hadn't brought them. It was SUCH a relief when we saw that final portage. However, the fishermen that were in front of us had left their canoes and blocked the entrance. Rude! Lorrie and I squeezed in next to them. I got out in the water up to my thighs so that we could get in. Not a big deal at this point to get that wet. But it was rather rude of those guys when they knew we had been on their tails the whole last 2 legs. Lorrie got the canoe up and out. Actually that was the first time we lifted it up and over us the way we had learned last summer. Ha! Took us awhile but we finally figured it out! (= I stayed back for a bit and tried to get Terry and Sue into the same spot. But I don't even know how we did it. So I wasn't much help. They got in far enough for Terry to get out but there were too many rocks and it was very deep where Sue was so they had to wait for the rude fishermen to get back to their canoes. I took one of our packs up and Lorrie was already coming down. Wow! There were a lot, actually one huge, slippery rock to contend with here. I didn't remember that part. Actually, I didn't remember much! (= Our stuff was finally all up at the parking area, including the food pack, which Lorrie carried against MY better judgment. I went to get D'Azul, who I was very happy to see intact where I left her. I had to change from my very wet pants into pj bottoms so I wouldn't soak the seats. The mosquitoes there were awful still! I'm sure my bare butt was a happy sight for them! We left our mosquito nets on even while packing up the car and putting the canoe on the roof. Took us awhile to figure out how they had attached it at the outfitters. But eventually, with all four of us fiddling with it, we figured it out... or... we got something to work even if it wasn't how they had done it. So at this point it had been 6 hours of continuous exercise. We'd had breakfast bars before leaving camp and each had another bar at around noon. So we were HUNGRY! It was 2pm when we got to the car... and it finally stopped raining! lol

The drive back to Ely was a gravel windy road. Same one we'd taken out. I was tired and hungry so I needed to be careful. But we made it safe and sound within an hour. AND the canoe stayed attached! A very good thing! At Voyageur North Outfitters, they took the canoe, life jackets, and paddles right away. They were also ready to check us out right away and I got $39 back for bringing the canoe back a day earlier than my original reservation. So we picked out a "tree hugger" and some gifts for my parents and Darshi for taking care of the pups.

Then it was SHOWER time! The outfitter has 3 shower rooms available for people who rent from them. Not the nicest bathroom but the hot water certainly felt wonderful! We had left some clean outfits behind to change into. That felt great! And clean hair! Wow! Though I must say that the lake water and rain made my hair very soft! After showering we met Sue and Terry at The Ely Steakhouse where we ate huge meals of red meat. No names! They all had ice cold beer, which they'd been talking about for days! (= At the outfitters, they give renters a free beer or soda when they return. So Lorrie had a can of Hamms in the car waiting for the right moment. She didn't want to ruin her craving for a good beer with that! ha! I had an ice cold Pepsi there. So my craving was taken care of already. When the bill came, I had to run out to D'Azul for my credit card... and it was raining again! I said out loud to myself, "Holy shit!" Funny how resistant I was to getting wet again after I'd been wet all week and thought nothing of it. Got to the car where I had left the windows partially open to let the smell of Lilacs in. Oops!

After dinner we parted ways. Lorrie and I headed back to Northfield while Sue and Terry got a room for the night with intentions of checking out Ely tomorrow morning. It took us about 5 hours to get home with the rain and all. Home at about 10:30pm, which is about 1-1/2 hours past our bedtime of the past week! Ha!

BWCA II - Day 5

Travel - None. Stayed on Heritage Lake.

Lorrie woke up in the middle of the night and saw the North Star. Then she woke up again to a very bright moon that lit up our whole tent. I wish she had woken me up to see them. But I'd had a difficult time falling asleep so I understand. Before that, we'd heard the most incredible 2 loon calls. I'm going to try and video tape those tomorrow night!

We got up pretty leisurely. Sue and Terry went fishing while we made breakfast - egg and hash brown scramble. Sue and Terry caught "Freddie," who we decided to eat for dinner. Yes, I'm a little uncomfortable naming my food. But that wasn't my choice! lol Anyway, breakfast was great!

Lorrie and I then decided to go explore the lake a little. We saw 2 deer pretty close up, checked out the other campsite on the lake, saw a loon, and basically just glided around. Nice pace. We wet our shirts to stay cool in the breeze. It was nice. "Nice" seems to be the key word. Terry and Sue went out exploring more so when we got back, we had camp to ourselves. Lunch was summer sausage wraps with cheese. Terry and Sue came back and we lounged around for the afternoon. Eventually Terry and Lorrie were in their tents, Sue was in her hammock, and I kept shifting around trying to get comfortable. I never really did. Too hot! I read some while sitting by the water. Then finally decided to go to the tent with Lorrie to get away from the bugs. She was reading and said it was comfortable (Mediterranean women!) I was burning up! I complained that I would never be able to sleep. Eventually she opened the bottom of the door a bit to let more breeze in and she laughs that I immediately fell asleep. For about an hour. lol Then it was "cocktail hour." Terry and Sue had a head start. Ha! So I mixed some propel and vodka into my water. Not bad! Lorrie and I made mac and cheese while Sue took Terry across the lake to clean Freddie for dinner. He tasted very good! We all said a blessing on him for being our sustenance for the evening. Still wasn't really comfortable with that. But really, he did taste good.

We have gotten along very well as a foursome. I can see why Sue limits her trips to 4 as I could see 6 potentially being a problem. Ya never know! Terry is hilarious with her little quips! She works as "the lunch lady" for an elementary school in Wisconsin. Sue has funny sarcasm that I can appreciate! She's done a great job organizing this trip. And I've definitely learned from her about some gadgets that we need to get (hammock from Sportsmans' Warehouse). No conflicts among us. That I know of anyway! Maybe *I'm* the problem! lol Just easy going and hard working! I would definitely do another trip as this foursome again. Preferably later in the summer and without the amount of portaging we did in one day yesterday! Just a preference! (=

So now the dishes are done, Terry and Sue are fishing some more, and we are watching the sunset on our last night deep within the Boundary Waters. Still beautiful! Even after all these hard days and millions of mosquitoes, gnats, and ticks. And even wearing a damn babushka. Ha! Tomorrow will be a hard day... 5 portages, 2 times each. But on the other end are hot or cold showers, cold beers for them and a cold coke for me. I am ready!

Fish caught and eaten - Freddie (RIP)
Fish caught and released - Helga, Gunther, and Isis

BWCA II - Day 4

Travel - Slim Lake > 173r portage > Little Loon Lake > East Loon Lake > 220r portage > Heritage Creek > Heritage Lake

Woke up a little chilly at sunrise to see an incredible pink/orange (Tequila) sky and it's reflection in the still water. Wow! I only vaguely remember it. (= Back to sleep until about 8am. We all started stirring and then a mini-thunderstorm rolled through. That was nice! After the short storm, it was time to move. I like this pace. We have a mission. We all know we have a mission. And we're all working toward that mission. But there is not a rush or any pressure. We leave when we're all ready. Breakfast was bagels with peanut butter and we took oatmeal bars for a snack later. We had packed our boats at different sides of the point so Sue and Terry went and got theirs. They came around the bend just as Lorrie and I were pushing off. But I got us hung up on a rock and SPLASH! - in the water we went! We only tipped so our bags didn't really go in. But we had to pull everything out, including the canoe, and start over. Damn! Good thing we can laugh at ourselves! I slammed my hand on a rock so I have a pretty good bruise and some swelling. Otherwise all was well. We got going again after a lesson learned about not trying to get in a canoe when the tip is still on the rocks! That was just the beginning of our adventure. We went back on Slim Lake the way we had come on Day 2. We did the 173 rod portage back to Little Loon Lake. It was still long, hot, mucky, rocky, and buggy. Lorrie and I dressed in pants today, which made the spill even more entertaining. They certainly helped on this portage though! I wore a tank top and a long-sleeved shirt also with my mosquito head net. Two trips and my shoulders were eaten up. Those mosquitoes will work twice as hard to get my blood rather than moving on to easier skin to find. I don't know what it is about my blood that they love so much! Sue has gotten only a couple bits still! At least one of those is on her ass from the privy! heheh Paddled Little Loon Lake back to East Loon Bay where we camped the first night. Motorized boats are allowed on this lake. We passed up our site and landed on a beautiful beach across the cove from it. There was a group of 16 from Chicago finishing up there. They were swimming and having fun. Looked like 2 adults, 3 girls, and 13 boys. Huge!

We ate our lunch and prepared for the 220r portage we were about to do. The kids had described it as "beastly." Sue had done it before and said it was difficult but not *that* bad. Well, it was worse! I added a loose layer over my other 2 layers to keep the bugs away. But that was SO hot! Better than the bits though! We started out Sue with canoe, Terry with pack, Lorrie with canoe, and me with a pack. Seemed nice at first with grass on each side. But it turned brutal quickly. About 1/4 of the way, Sue put down her canoe and was going to go back and bring packs up to give her shoulders a rest. Lorrie did the same. Terry and I continued on with our packs. We helped each other over and under 4 fallen trees. Clamored over pretty big rocks, navigated rocks among the muck, and very eventually made it to a tiny pond at the end. I was worried about Lorrie and Sue trying to crawl over those trees with canoes so I headed back right away. We also had 3 more packs to bring through. I got to Sue who had one pack and she said Lorrie was still bringing packs to the canoe. I was glad about that since we were on a motorized lake. Someone could easily come along and take the stuff and motor away. When I got to Lorrie, she had a pack on her back and a day pack on her front. I gave her some water and she asked me to take the day pack. So off we went with those. We eventually ran into Terry. We left my orange pack and gave the day pack to Terry to keep walking back. Lorrie and I went back to get a canoe and the couch food pack. That thing is SO HEAVY! So over and under the trees I went, helping Lorrie with a couple of the higher ones getting the canoe over. Wow! Ran into Sue and Terry who were returning for the other canoe. We were all so hot and sweating buckets! Water was getting short and my body was SO tired!

I can't really describe the feelings, physical and emotional. On the first run I was getting pinch hickeys from the pack and my waist pack moving together. The fatigue was incredible! At some point I'm sure I was pissed. lol I know I experienced relief numerous times. And through it all, I had to pee! When we got to where we'd left our orange pack, I grabbed the day pack to save on a trip. Holy crap! I got all that stuff to the end then went back to help Lorrie get down one of the rocky areas with the canoe. We carried it together a few steps then she brought it in with it on her shoulders. Terry showed up a moment before with the orange pack we'd left. And we were done with that portage! What an incredible accomplishment!

No time for pats on the back. Time for a couple photos and then we were off again. We took Heritage Creek to Heritage Lake where we nabbed the first campsite. Everything on shore, we all jumped in the water for a much deserved swim. Tents up... nap time! Nice breeze but lots of gnats, mosquitoes, and ticks! Lorrie is ANAL about the bugs, especially the ticks. I basically have to undress before getting into the tent. And anything that is passed to the inside must be thoroughly checked several times. I have never ever seen her so aware of and attentive to one thing! Finally! (-; Because of the bugs, it is clear that June is probably not the best month for me to be in the Boundary Waters. They just love me too much! It's like paparazzi or something! They follow me everywhere! My adoring bloodsucking fans!

Dinner at 7pm. Chicken and wild rice soup. Yum! We sat together and ate and chatted. Another turtle was eyeing the site and we wondered if she had heard about our midwife services from the turtle on the other site. (= Things put away. Dishes washed. Time for bed... 8:30pm. Still light. Not it's getting dark and there are many more "nature sounds" than we've heard before. Should be nice to sleep to. Though I think we are all so exhausted that it just doesn't matter.

BWCA II - Day 3

Travel - None. Stayed at the Campsite on Slim Lake

The ultimate in relaxation! Lorrie and I lounged around the camp most of the day. Sue and Terry went out fishing and exploring for most of the morning. We all got up and had breakfast together then they left and we commenced our lounging. Lorrie made a nude beach of our rock and I laid in the hammock most of the day. I read, slept, and tried to stay in the breeze and out of the sun. Lorrie meditated, read, and sunned herself. At some point we noticed Terry and Sue's canoe was parked across the lake (Slim Lake) where there is an unused and somewhat hidden portage. We figured they were exploring the portage. We ate lunch on our "food rock." Summer sausage on tortillas, pringles, cheese and some trail mix. Pretty good! Terry and Sue made it back around 2pm or so. They said the unused portage was beautiful... though long. They suggested we go check it out. But we felt lazy. We all took naps after their return. lol All that lounging made us tired! We started with a cool tent and a nice breeze. Then it rained a little so we had to put the fly down, which made it a tad warm. Eventually we were all up and ready for dinner. Sweet and sour chicken stir fry. We are definitely eating well! It tasted good but my stomach was starting to react to some of the food. Just because it was all mixed up. Sometimes I do better with meat here and the rest there. Nothing major. Just don't like going back to the privy! (= I am SO bit up already! It's not even funny! My recovery from all those bits and a little sunburn was partially the reason we stayed at camp today. Yeah, it's all my fault! (=

After dinner we all loaded into canoes to explore the other campsite on the lake. From our site, it looked so much nicer because it was high on a rock and we assumed had nice breezes. But really it was not nearly as nice and the tent sites were out of the breeze area. So we were happy with ours. Sue and Terry did more fishing and we cruised around the lake while I practiced my steering, which seems to be getting better by the way. Back at camp I started an awesome fire! Lorrie organized the test. We all just did our own thing until we ended up by the fire. At some point we all joked that we weren't as tired and could make it past 9pm tonight! Sue said it was already 9:30pm! Wow! We eventually petered out and got sick of the bugs. So to our tents we went. We chatted and joked some back and forth and were waiting for A STAR! (= I finally saw the first star of the week. Once everyone saw it, we could go to sleep. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to since I had slept and relaxed so much. That ended up not being a problem! We started again with the rain fly open to get the breeze. That lasted all night this time!

BWCA II - Day 2

Travel - East Loon Bay through a very tiny opening > Little Loon Lake (no more motors!) > portage 173r > Slim Lake

Awake pretty early, around 6am. But went back to sleep until about 8am. I had woken up once in the middle of night because my hands were swollen and asleep. I hate that! But they have lots of mosquito bits and a bit of sunburn on them. Ouch! I had oatmeal for breakfast and the others had oatmeal bars and coffee. We got packed up pretty quickly and were off heading away from the motors and toward Little Loon Lake. Which actually was quite little. Paddling was SO much easier with less wind. Steering seemed a little easier for Lorrie too! We made it to our first and only portage in no time. The portage was FROM HELL! 173 rods into Slim Lake. Tons of muck and mosquitoes. A lot of uphill with rocks and logs to balance on. It was my turn to take the food pack, so I did that one first. I was pretty sure I would just fall over and die with that thing on my back. It is SO freaking heavy! Lorrie did great with the canoe!! We all stopped at one point because there was too much muck to balance the canoes through. So Sue and Terry took their and we took ours about 3 rods holding them by the handles on the ends. I'm sure there's a name for them. I don't know it! Then we resumed our positions. I hated putting that pack on my back again! lol We ended up having to straddle and climb over two downed trees. Lorrie got a little gash on her leg from one that had little branches poking out. Then we got to go back and do it again! We still had our two packs and 1 of Terry and Sue's plus some paddles and misc. stuff. I cannot describe well enough in words how the mosquitoes were for me. I seem to be their main dish while everyone else is just hors d'oeuvres. I hate that! I need better bug spray! Or, I heard before we left that taking a B Complex regularly repels them. That would be good! As soon as we got to the end, Lorrie and I put the canoe in the water so we could get away from the swamp asap. Turns out the campsite we were aiming for is right around the corner on Slim Lake so we didn't go very far. The only other site on the lake was taken. The other looked like it might have more of a breeze but ours seemed okay too. Right on a point with views all around. There were a few good spots for our tents. So we are set!

We got settled in and it was time for lunch. Bagels with peanut butter and/or cream cheese, chips, trail mix, some kind of nuts, and candy for dessert. By this time a nice breeze kicked up and it felt really good! We all decided to take a swim to cool down and clean off some of the muck. Then Lorrie and I decided to go exploring. We took the canoe and headed toward the other portage on this lake. We did the 52r portage with the canoe and day pack. It too was quite swampy and buggy. At the other side was Section 3 Pond. At first it was like a very small river with reeds along both sides. Very pretty! I was steering at this point and it had to be pretty precise with the small width. I think I did okay. And, for some reason, we bickered less with me steering. Hmm! We came out onto this very tiny pond. It feels so secluded! We started working on a Horror screenplay. (= There was one campsite there that we stopped to check out. It was tiny, just like the pond. Our little tent would have fit, but that's about it. I imagine it being pretty buggy right now. It was also a pretty sketchy climb up to the site. At the end of the pond was another little portage to South Lake. We parked the canoe out of the way and did the 52r portage carrying nothing. That was nice! But it was still buggy. Lorrie twisted her ankle looking around at scenery. We usually don't get to do that with all our stuff on our backs. We usually have to be aware of every step. I guess we should be anyway! (= At the end it was very mucky and, YES!, buggy! So we turned around quickly. But we did notice that it looked like it had been flooded. I'm not sure how far we'd have to walk in to get going with a canoe. The walk back was uneventful. Back in the canoe with Lorrie steering. She wanted to do a quick video for her family. Cute!

Everything was going great until we got back to the portage. We'd put on our mosquito nets in preparation. I planned on carrying the canoe this time. We had some trouble getting it up on my shoulders. We'd also left our Nalgene bottles dangling, which posed some problems in my balance. Also, my hands were exposed and were on the canoe so I was really being bitten. I would look up and there would be 4 or 5 mosquitoes on each hand. I need to do something to prevent that next time! Then the water bag came lose and was going to drag (sorry Sue!) but Lorrie went to take it off the canoe. In the process she accidentally pushed the canoe forward and down, which rammed my neck with the yoke. Ouch! So then I just wanted to get out of there quickly. Which I did, though not very gracefully. We snapped at each other a few times and then, once in the canoe, away from the bugs, talked about it. No one's fault, we just wanted to get out of there fast and weren't working very well together at the moment. We got the video made and headed the short way back. We had to stop in the middle of the lake to fill up with water. Then came in to a PAR-TAY! The girls had brought out the hooch and were a little tipsy. Vodka and raspberry schnapps. Guess that's what they went to when the water ran out! (= We drank a little and then had some dinner. Pork and noodles. Yum! Can you tell I get very excited about the food!? lol

After dinner, we went swimming again to cool off. I, so far, am always the last person in the water. They all step out onto a rock and then basically sit back into the water and float with their life jackets. I don't like the idea of going backwards into the water... partly because it's water and partly because I don't want to ram my ass into a rock. lol Where that fear came from I have no idea. So I stand there, then squat down, whine a little, then finally glide into the water... screaming the whole way. It's very relaxing! lol After swimming it's time for our evening-wear. Pants! (= Sue started a fire, Terry did some fishing, and we just hung out. At some point, Lorrie, I think it was Lorrie, discovered a turtle digging a very deep hole with both of her back feet. Seems like she dug for almost an hour. Lorrie watched her most of the time and yelled when she started dropping eggs. Five total! Amazing! Then she had to cover them up again. Imagine if we had to do all that work while in labor! We were all fascinated. It is still not dark and we are all ready for bed. Lorrie and I decided to leave the rainfly pulled back to get some air. We'll see how that works!

BWCA II - Day 1

Travel - Entry Point 14 > Little Indian Sioux River > portage *60r past rapids > portage 40r > Upper Pauness Lake > portage 40r > Lower Pauness Lake > portage 160r > Little Indian Sioux River > East Loon Bay.

Sometimes I get lazy and just make a list for the day. This is one of those days...

• Got up to wet
• Sue was packing the food into her new toy food barrels
• We took awhile to get organized
• Me = irritable
• Lorrie = Angry face at me that I did not like at all!
• Lots of mosquitoes at entry and during portages
• Lots of zig zagging in the canoe while Lorrie learns to steer we get used to paddling
• Lorrie lost her had in the first river )=
• Lorrie slipped while walking to the waterfall
• Some guys from Youth for Christ helped haul our stuff on the long (160r) portage
• Lunch on some rocks - salami & cheese on tortillas (yum!)
• 4 portages total, 5 if you include the entry. Which I should. 5 portages total
• Got the campsite that Sue wanted, overlooking the river
• Hamburger with green peppers, potatoes, carrots, and onions over the fire for dinner.
• Tired!
• We all sat in front of the fire waiting to go to sleep... at 9pm.
• It's still bright out
• Spotted 3 deer
• No moose yet
• Lorrie and I did lots of bickering this morning (nerves?) but we got much better in the afternoon.
• We swam after we got to our campsite, which was COLD! But felt great!
  

r = rod, which is basically the length of a canoe (e.g. 40 rods = 40 canoe lengths)

BWCA II - Day 0

Happy Summer Solstice!

We did well getting everything prepared. Yesterday we drove all over Southern Minnesota dropping Tori off in Mankato and Emma with my parents in Geneva. Darshi fed us lunch and my parents fed us dinner. That was nice! But we got home a little late and still had to pack and shave. Got to bed around midnight. We were up by 8am and on the move. But with all the stops we had to make, it was a long day! Grocery store for hard candy (necessary when paddling near lunchtime!), gas station, The Tavern for breakfast. Then on the road we had a major detour to deal with. That was after stopping at REI to return my aluminum Sigg bottle and picking up mosquito head covers. Once on the interstate, after the detour, I decided I wanted an iced coffee and Lorrie needed a computer to use so we stopped at a Dunn Bros. That taken care of, we went into the grocery store to get some lunch. But it was stacked with samples! So we filled up on those! lol That was a fun meal! Back on the road. Again. Finally off the interstate and more on the back roads or county highways. We stopped in Virginia for gas then got into an argument about where to eat. That sucked! We got that cleared up pretty quickly then found a Mom & Pop place to eat. A couple burgers in us and we felt great! A little while later, we were in Ely, MN. We had a canoe on the roof of my SUV in no time. The magic of Ely I suppose! You pull into town and a canoe appears on your roof. (= We got our paddles, life preservers, permit, and Sue's food barrels. Ready to rock and roll! Another hour down Echo Trail, which is mainly gravel, and we are at Jeanette Lake Campground for the night. Lorrie and I did okay building a fire with lots of wet wood. Actually, the credit goes to Lorrie! Sue and Terry, our travel companions for the week, showed up a couple hours later. Terry'd had a wedding to attend so they got a later start than we did. Now everyone has gone to bed. Sue is in the back seat of my car collecting "hair of Emma Blue" for the trip and Terry is in Sue's pick up. They didn't want to set up their tent for a such a short period of time. Early morning tomorrow! "Hey Lorrie! We're in the Boundary Waters again!!"

Boundary Waters (Day 5 - August 11, 2007)

Got up at the hotel around 8am and took our time getting ready to go. We went down and grabbed some food from the continental breakfast and brought it back to the room. By the time we left, I think we'd taken 6 bananas! Not sure why! lol Got back on the interstate and took I-94 over to Hwy 52 then to Hwy 19. That seemed a little faster since we avoided Mpls traffic. We got to the vet between 12 and 12:30. Perfect! I'm not sure I mentioned before that the reason we left the camp Friday night instead of today was because I had to pick up the dogs by 1pm today or they'd be there all weekend. I didn't want that so we needed to head out early. The only thing I regretted about that is that it would have been incredible to see the people who have been in the wilderness for a month or over to return. Anyway, the dogs were extremely happy to see us. I was very glad to see them too! We went to my house and unloaded then Lorrie went home to shower and get organized. I took a nap! lol I was exhausted for some reason. She came over later to watch a movie and relax more. Next we head back up to the North Shore for the Gitchi-Gami bike ride and camping.

Another aside that I didn't mention much was the fact that my friend Candace and her girlfriend were supposed to go on this trip with us. I met Candace when I was in Michigan but she now lives in North Carolina. They'd paid their deposit and bought their plane tickets. Then something happened at the hospital where Candace works and they took away her vacation time. It would definitely have been a different experience with them there. Good I'm sure! But I think we did okay for just the two of us with a guide! (=

Boundary Waters (Day 4 - August 10, 2007)

Well, we survived! And I would say that we thrived! I woke up again before it was light and then dozed until it started to get light. Then I realized we were supposed to watch sunrise from the waterfall and that it must be getting close. Same thing as yesterday. Lorrie saw that I was awake so she crawled over me to get up. I followed a little later. I was sitting outside by the non-existent fire and Lorrie called me down to the lake. The sun was just rising over the bluff on the other side of the lake. It was gorgeous! Amy got up a little later, actually a lot later, and apologized for not waking up in time for sunrise at the waterfall. Said either her alarm didn't go off or we didn't hear it. We decided that she was already starting her crash from the summer since we were so much easier to lead than 12-year-olds. lol She was sleeping at least 10 hours a night! I doubt she was doing that with the kids. It was interesting how we developed a routine so quickly, just 2 days. Since Amy was always the last one awake, she got all her bedding and such packed up and taken care of before she came out of the tent. We would be outside milling around and then would start taking the food down from the tree branch and start untying the bags of food. She would come out and start working on breakfast. I would go into the tent and pack up Lorrie's and my bedding then Lorrie and I would start taking down the tent. We basically packed everything up and put it together but then left it next to the Duluth Packs for Amy to pack. This morning breakfast was egpocheese, which I'm sure you can guess was eggs, potatoes, and cheese. I liked it, Lorrie thought it was okay. Nothing special but I'm easy to please when it comes to food! Breakfast done, Lorrie did dishes and I piddled around getting things packed up. We all put off as long as possible getting back into our wet clothes. Brrr! But once they were on it wasn't too bad. It's true about wool, it stays wet forever but it still keeps you warm. My socks never dried but my feet were always warm. Next time maybe I'll just wear wool all over! (= Got everything down the stairs to the canoe, which was a little challenging with the Duluth Packs. Going up seems to have been easier yesterday. You can see in the photo, not only the lovely cyclist's tan, but also a bit of the Duluth Pack and the steps I had to walk down. We paddled about a mile to the next portage, which would take us up to the waterfall we missed this morning and then on into Rose Lake. The plan was to take every up up up, then down to the other side, then to come back up to see the waterfall. I think it was an 80 Rod portage but what I do know is that there were gazillions of stairs, rocks, and roots. There was one step that was about 2 feet high. No big deal... unless you have an 85 pound canoe on your shoulders or a 50 pound Duluth Pack on your back! We elected Amy canoe carrier for this one and Lorrie and I took the rest. It was humid and sticky, my clothes were still wet, and we climbed. FUN!!! lol It was definitely difficult! But it's why we were there. There were several different groups on this particular portage. Probably the most people we had seen at one time the whole trip. One of the groups was a Menogyn group with 2 male leaders, 2 12-yr-olds, and a 13-yr-old. One of the kids was coming down where we were getting ready to go up. He had a Duluth Pack on his back, which was more than half his height. He was bent over at the waist... and he was flying with the force of gravity!! lol It was so funny. But he did it! And that was cool! Another kid came down with his pack and the guides sent them both back up to help out the third boy. Once their packs were off, they walked with this cocky swagger! I assumed that the successed they were experiencing was increasing their confidence and I thought that was great. Hell, I felt the same way! But I can control my 12-year-old swagger... usually! (= I don't think Lorrie enjoyed this portage as much as I did. But she finished it and then was fine. As we were walking up toward the waterfall, Amy was coming back down and asked if we wanted to earn some trail karma. To do so, we had to walk back where we had just come and help others portage their gear. Lorrie and I just looked at each other and followed her... with Lorrie flipping her off, with both hands!, for a few feet. lol Doesn't she know we're old!!?? Anyway, we did offer to help but they had everything carried already. Phew! (= So back up toward the waterfall. Finally! If I hadn't heard them, I could have begun to think they didn't really exist since we seemed to keep avoiding them. But there they were! It was really beautiful! A little smaller than I expected... though why should I expect anything!? There were quite a few people in there so we waited a bit for it to clear out then jumped in. I'm not good at not showering. I can do it and I can handle it. But if there's an opportunity, I'm likely going to take it. We didn't use soap or anything but just to stand under "running" water felt so cleansing! I sat there for a long time just letting it run through my hair and over me. Lorrie used the taller stream.... she's a little smarter than me! lol But the photo was too dark. )= Stupid disposables. She was naked too. So, unless you were there, you missed out! (-; Afterwards, we climbed up above the waterfall and laid in the sun on a rock to dry out a little. What a view of Rose Lake! Wow! Neither Lorrie nor I wanted to be right on the edge so we found a big flat rock a little away from the edge to hang out. It must have been about 45 minutes that we sat there. I actually felt a little bored at first and just wanted to keep moving. But I took a couple breaths and realized I was there to slow down too. So I laid back and ended up falling asleep! Amy showed up eventually and off we went. I was feeling a little groggy! Good thing we weren't near the edge. Once we got down by the canoe, we decided to eat there rather than canoe to another campsite and unpack again. So we sat there and ate what was left of our lunch compilation. Actually we didn't even finish everything! Lorrie preferred the pemmican and Matt food. I tried to eat the dried fruit but it was much too hard. So I went back to hummus and salami or tortillas. The food that we didn't eat goes into a "seconds" bin, which Menogyn staff can use on their personal trips. I thought we should have gotten it since we paid for it! (= Back in the canoe to cross Duncan lake to our final portage into Bearskin Lake. As we were leaving the portage area, Amy spotted another moose! This one had antler though was apparently also quite young. It's in the photo... I swear! Toward the middle you can see the brown. They do blend well. Next time I will have my own camera so I can zoom. ::sigh:: That was very frustrating. And it was our last photo! Anyway, I did get to see my second moose and I seem to be graduating in size. Maybe I'll see an adult next time! Crossing Duncan Lake was uneventful and we got to the portage with no difficulty. My only thing was that I still can't really see the portage openings when I'm out in the water. I don't see the breaks in the landscape. They're on the maps too but I can see myself missing them periodically. Even Amy mentioned several that they had missed on various trips. Something to work on! Lorrie decided to take the canoe on this last portage. Amy had said it was much easier than the others. Ha! It was still 80 Rods and the terrain was certainly not even. I guess they're all hard right now since we're so new to the whole thing. We were both tired so we had agreed that she would "bridge" about halfway so that I could take it the rest of the way. She ended up carrying it the whole way! (= I took one of the packs and some misc stuff. At the end she bridged and I took it and helped her lay it down. Then we decided to just take it into the water right side up with both of us at an end. We agree that Amy was not far behind and was just hanging back so we could do that on our own. I thought that was pretty good guiding. I'm glad she felt comfortable doing that stuff with us as adults. As she came out into the open, she said we were doing a good job and then walked into the water to dump her pack into the canoe. It was cute. I guess that's how it should work. One person carries the canoe into the water, flips it right side up and the rest follow behind with packs to dump right in rather than having to set them on the ground. Smooth! Anyway, we got everything in. Lorrie had thought about trying to steer again but we all decided it would be bad for her hand. So I decided to give it a shot. It was only about 2 miles so I figured I could handle it. Steering is HARD!! No wonder Amy was so tired! lol It's constant J- and C-strokes to turn left or right. I couldn't quite get the J-stroke at first but started to get the hang of it eventually. The C-stroke was easy but I couldn't just keep doing that or we'd go in circles. We did a LOT of weaving at first but then I got better at it. The funny thing to me was that Lorrie had such strong strokes that whatever I did was exaggerated. So a C-stroke on the right side should turn us left. But we would go WAY left because I didn't know how to adapt to her strength. We figured it out eventually. Basically, I told her to be a little weaker. lol So I finished up the trip in stern with Lorrie at bow. Apparently that's a tradition at Menogyn as well. The guide starts the trip at stern but by the time they come back, they should either be at bow or a duffer. I think that's a good tradition. I had to maneuver around an outcropping and then into the "harbor" where the dock is. Then I had to avoid a rock that sticks out of the water, which they call Kilaminjaro. But I gently got us to the dock... and we were done.

We stepped out and unloaded, then got the canoe out of the water to put it on the rack. I couldn't sauna because of the Boba potential and Lorrie chose not to. So we all jumped into the lake to cool off. Some of the Menogyn staff were swimming across the lake from where we had parked my car. Wow! I think they said it was about a mile. That swim was very nice and refreshing! Afterwards we jumped out and started sorting our gear. Lorrie and I did the dishes for the last time. We were laughing because in a normal situation, paying for a guide would mean they take care of those details. We were getting a little snooty! But we went with the YMCA so we got to fend for ourselves! That's okay. We definitely learned a lot. I had take the approach that this was "canoe school" so learning was the whole point. Amy hung the tent and Duluth Packs to dry and air out. The tent looked very cool strung up like that. But I had no more photos left so you just have to imagine it. We got the stuff, our clothes, etc that we'd left behind at camp and went up to the lodge for a proper shower. I couldn't find deodorant or shampoo so I had to use Lorrie's. Thank God she had brought some. She had originally planned to use mine! That would have been awful after looking so forward to being clean. After I got cleaned up, I was out getting some water in the cafeteria when one of the youth workers asked if I was there for the welcome back. I said we'd just gotten in today without finishing that we'd been on trail and they all went on to describe the epic skit they had developed and were planning to perform. At the time, I was surprised that they would do that for us. But Amy had said they always plan some kind of welcome back thing. Lorrie and I had talked about leaving before dinner so we could get closer to or all the way home that night. I went back to the room and told her we had to stay because they were doing some kind of skit for us. Dinner was pasta primavera, corn on the cob, salad, and bread. It was basically just staff there so about 1/4 the number of people as when we first arrived. Much more intimate! Turned out the skit was for the next day when the long trippers come back from their 30-40 days trips. For us coming back... we all got dessert... spice cookies. *That* made much more sense than doing a skit for us. lol Everyone thanked us for coming back so they could have dessert. (= It was cute! After dinner we got our bags together and headed down to the dock for our ride back across the lake. We waited quite awhile because of a potential ice cream run that we were going to catch a ride with. Apparently it wasn't getting organized very quickly! The St. Olaf guy came down while we were talking to the nurse and asked if we were waiting for a ride. So he took us across without the ice cream people.

Back to the car and we decided to stop for our own ice cream at the little stand on Gunflint Trail. Good thing I had my lactaid with me! (= I drove to Grand Marais, about 30 minutes. We stopped there to get Lorrie some coffee so she could drive. I was suddenly exhausted! Sven and Ole's was out of coffee AND cappucino. So she ended up with a diet coke. Yuck! lol She drove to Duluth where we stopped at a Motel 6. Because of the Blues Festival, there were no rooms anywhere! They gave her a couple phone numbers and we ended up with a reservation in Hinckley about an hour further south at Golden something casino. I can't remember. lol All I know is that I was asleep when we pulled into Motel 6, I woke up for approximately 6 minutes, and as soon as she said we were going on I fell asleep again only to wake up once we got to the casino hotel! We were both exhausted so we went inside and collapsed.

Boundary Waters (Day 3 - August 9, 2007

I woke up before sunrise and laid there hoping that I would be able to sleep some more. But I couldn't. I probably got 7 hours of sleep and that was just fine. I couldn't get comfortable anymore and my arms kept falling asleep. My fingers were also extremely swollen! I knew I would be sore this morning because of the new muscle movement. But it still sucked! And no ibuprofin for me. ::sigh:: So I just waited. Lorrie woke up about the same time the sky started to lighten. She gave me a little hug, then crawled over me to get up and out of the tent. She went off to have some alone time. I got up a few moments later and went a different direction to read by the water. The temperature was great for shorts and a sweatshirt, which is perfect! We met up a little later and spent some time together before Amy got up. She slept 'til about 7am! lol We came back up to camp and started getting some of the things together and bringing down the food bags. Amy got up about that time. She made Trail McMuffins this morning. They were awesome.... yes, even with salami. Is salami the same as summer sausage? The Italian would know this but I don't! So I use them interchangeably! I apologize if this offends anyone! lol Basically she mixed bisquick in a bag and then used the bag like a baker's frosting tool. No, I'm sorry, I don't know what that is called either. So you figured out I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen! lol Anyway, that's how she made the muffin part. Then she used powdered eggs and we sliced the salami. Simple as that! And it was awesome! Could be that I was really really hungry! But whatever, it tasted great! We worked together to get the rest of camp taken down and cleaned up and were back on the water by about 9:30am.

Lorrie started out in stern (rear) position steering and Amy was in bow (front). This worked for me since my arms were killing me. Lorrie took us in 2 or 3 circles before we got going forward! heheh We basically had to head straight across the lake to a beach area where there was a little inlet into our next lake, Little Gunflint. We weaved and circled our way over there. Lorrie was trying to decide if she should keep trying to steer. But when we got to the entrance to the inlet, she said, "No way!" lol It was really narrow and windy. I guess she figured we'd be bouncing back and forth from shore to shore like a pinball. I probably would have peed my pants laughing so it was a good choice! lol So Amy went to stern and Lorrie to bow. I stayed at Duffer. Great for sightseeing, I gotta tell ya. Although being in bow is great too because stern does all the steering. So you can just paddle and not worry much about where you're going... unless there's a rock or something in the way. Maybe that's only the case when you have a guide! lol If we were out here alone, we'd both have to be paying close attention! (= Anyway, lots of swampy beauty here. Gazillions of lilypads. Amy and Lorrie had a discussion about which lilypad was edible on top. One they agreed was edible at the root but neither were sure about the top. I just thought they were pretty. I'm pretty unlikely to dive down to the bottom to dig up a root to eat at this point. Maybe that information will come in handy in the future! Little Gunflint was definitely a little lake. Within what seemed like a short time we were heading into our next inlet. This one is extremely narrow and often has too little water to paddle, which would mean our first portage. There seemed to be enough water so they were going for it. One interesting thing was that it was "flowing" like a river against us. Amy gave us the disclaimer that "campers" are not supposed to go on white water at all. This was far from white water but she was covering her ass. She told Lorrie to speed up her strokes so they could paddle against the current. Immediately upon entering the inlet we hit ground. lol It bears mentioning that feeling the rocks on my ass was pretty funny! Perhaps I was just giddy this morning! A definitely possibility! ANYWAY, Amy told Lorrie to get out so they could pull it. I started to get out and she told me I could stay in there! HA! So Princess Jennifer was pulled through this gorgeous inlet by two women in life jackets! The photo shows my view. I did a few "float waves" and then settled down. Like I said... giddy! We made it out of the inlet without issue and were into Little North Lake. We circled around the entrance a little. Apparently there was a train station there at one point. We saw the platform under water but couldn't make out the tracks. That was pretty interesting. Something about our logger history and everything ending up under water once the ice melted. Apparently in the winter, they would build tracks on the ice to transport logs and such. We crossed Little North Lake and it seemed like we were getting more into the wilderness like we wanted. Before we would see people periodically and now it felt like we were totally alone. From Little North Lake to North Lake there was an 80 Rod portage. 1 Rod = 1 canoe. Lorrie decided there was no time like the present to learn how this whole thing works. So we heaved the canoe onto her shoulders and off she went! AWESOME! Amy carried the lighter Duluth Pack and the day pack. I carried the heavier Duluth Pack, a paddle and the Nalgene bottles. I was directly behind Lorrie and I have to say that it was amazing to see her carrying the canoe like that. We had practiced taking steps with it at Camp Menogyn. But that is completely different than carrying it on a trail, with rocks and such. Just amazing! And she just did it. No comment, no question, no whining. Done! lol She did the whole thing then bridged at the water so Amy could put it in. It was extremely rocky there so I would say an excellent choice to let the guide do that part. If it was just us, we would likely have set it down then carried it upright with each of us on one end into the water. Amazing!

After that, we were going to have lunch but decided to cross North Lake first and eat on the other side. I took over the bow position with Amy still at stern. We, by Amy's report, crossed the lake at about 3 mph, which she basically said was unexpected for a couple of old ladies! lol She was more diplomatic than that of course! I felt stiff for just a few moments and then seemed to loosen up pretty quickly. It almost felt better to be moving my arms again than it did for them to be still. We crossed over the lake and went for a little beach in the calmest clearest water I have ever seen in my life. We could see what I think were walleye swimming around near the bottom among huge boulders created by glaciers. Just amazing! We pulled onto the beach then. I should mention that one of the Menogyn rules is that the canoe bottom does not touch the ground. So the person in bow position has to jump out into the water before the canoe gets close enough to touch rocks. Basically our feet are always wet. That's not such a big deal. But it's difficult getting used to jumping onto uneven slippery rocks. The general tendency is to set one foot out and try to stop like that. But there are lots of potential "splitting" injuries that can occur that way. So the best way is to jump out, both feet first, and just grab the canoe. I have NOT perfected this move by this stop! lol So it feels very uncoordinated. But I do get out and I do keep the canoe from hitting anything. I have done my job! (= This beach and campsite and beautiful! I almost wished we were at the end of the day so we could just stay here! We were getting a little loopy by this time. We were all hungry and definitely thirsty. I, for one, should have been drinking more water. Then Amy said we all should have already drank 1 Nalgene bottle. Oops! I don't think any of us had drunk even half. Not good. Dizzy giggly women trying to park a canoe on slippery rocks. Hmm! For lunch we had a conglomeration: Matt food, chunk of chocolate, hummus, pemmican, cheese chunks, tortillas, dried (rock hard) fruit, salami cut on the paddle, and trail bread. The trail bread was given to us, and everyone else going on trail, yesterday. It's a bon voyage tradition. The hummus was fun for me! It was dried so we just had to add water into the plastic bag. Easy right? Ha! Remember... I don't spend much time in the kitchen! lol I dumped what I thought was a little bit of water in the bag. I look up and both Lorrie and Amy are laughing at me. I don't get it! lol Amy said that I had put the exact right amount of water in there but that dumping it in all at once was not recommended. HA! Well if it's right, it's right! (= It actually did need more water. But it was pretty good. That might have been my favorite part of lunch. Lorrie's was the chocolate! lol The bread and cheese were good too. I have to mention that we brought 3 big chunks of cheddar cheese out here. Whoever said that cheese has to be refrigerated!?? lol Not so! It gets a little slimey after a couple days. But still tastes good. Apparently they eat it out on their very long trips as well. I would really like to see that! Amy said if we do that not to touch the cheese because it feels gross and maybe that it does something to the cheese. I can't remember. I'm sure it's extremely slimey! lol ANYWAY, we finished eating and were feeling a little less loopy. Amy was going down to the canoe to get something and she slipped on one of the rocks. She hit her lower back on the point of a rock. Ouch! I know that bruised! I, of course, laughed! What is wrong with me!!?? So then we had to explain to her my "laughing when others fall" disorder. It's from watching too much "Jackass" and "America's Funniest Home Videos!" As we got ready to leave I couldn't find the "biff." In that case, we take a little shovel and dig ourselves a little hole to bury everything in. (= Nice eh?!

The portage from lunch was about 1/2 mile so I paddled over there. Then I carried the canoe on the 60 Rod portage. It was up and down, rocky, and the worst, roots! I hate roots on mountain bike and now I hate them on portages. They get so slippery and there's no rhyme or reason to them. It was pretty difficult. I rarely use my shoulders in that way so I was dying by the end. Even when I work out I am weak on shoulder lifts. But now I know the importance of working harder on them! (= I also need more experience in getting it well balanced. I know it would have hurt less had it been in the "sweet spot." But it wasn't and I still made it. I did the same thing at the end and let Amy portage it into the water. I don't feel sure-footed enough to take that on in the rocks and such.

Lorrie took over paddling duties in the bow position. Poor Amy, she was still in stern. That's why she gets paid the big bucks I guess! (= Just as we were pulling out into the water, Amy or Lorrie saw a moose standing right by the entrance. It was amazing! He was younger and had no antlers. But I could still see his power. He just watched us... seemingly to make sure we kept going away from him. But continued eating and never really flinched. Wow! I believe he was on the Canada side. My first moose!! We also saw a huge number of loons. This is sad since I grew up in Minnesota and they are the state bird... but I did not know that they could dive and swim under water. Amy said they also have some difficulty flying compared to other birds. Hmm! We also came very close to a Blue Heron, who flew away quickly. Lorrie was extremely happy about that one! (= As we paddled along, we ran into another guide from Menogyn who was on a personal trip with friends. We let them pass and they stayed ahead... further and further ahead! lol After crossing North Lake, we had a 4 rod portage into Rose Lake. We tried to just pick up the canoe with everything in it. Futile! LOL It must of have looked funny! So we unloaded most of the stuff and then just hauled the canoe, upright, over to the other side where we re-loaded it and were off. Seems like it would be easy... and I guess it was but it was a pain to take everything out for such a short portage. About that time, clouds started rolling in a little. Nothing too scary but definitely noticeable. Not far off shore and a light sprinkle started. That turned into rain. Then Amy told us to turn around and look back at the black line on the water coming our direction. That was a downpour making it's way toward us! lol They paddled over toward the shore so we weren't out in the open for lightening. Thunder was incredible. It was crazy watching that line come at us and then it hit! Holy crap it hit! It was beautiful! But as duffer, I froze my ass off! It was basically Jennifer soup in the bottom of the canoe. Eventually my body temperature warmed up the water in the bottom on the canoe! lol But my exposed skin was cold and I was started to chatter. We came across a "not so great" site that we decided to pass up. But that was not before Amy ran up to grab more camp booty... 2 towels and a water container. We put the towels, wet, over my legs and I felt 10x better! Back to paddling toward the "best" site. We finally got there and the other Menogyn guide had taken it! Doh! So off we go again. At this point we were on the opposite side of "Bottlecap Mtn," which incidentally looks a lot like a bottle cap! We finally got to the second campsite, which was unoccupied. Thank God!! The rain had stopped some so we got unloaded. I was soaked! Once everything was up at the campsite, we were able to get into our warm clothes. Immediate warmth! What a relief! We got the tent up and started getting things organized for dinner. Amy put up and extra rainfly to cook under in case it started raining again. We didn't end up needing it but it was useful for the clothesline it provided as well. All our wet things were hanging up there... unlikely to dry completely of course. Amy made shepherd's pie for dinner, which was incredible! I am loving trail food on this trip! We were pretty hungry so she made popcorn first as an appetizer. For the shepherd's pie, she used the same bisquick trick, hydrated some dehydrated potatoes, mixed vegetables, and peas. Layered it all and voila! I'm sure Emily (English friend) would not have been very impressed. But for a camping American, it was great! We had hot chocolate afterwards instead of the apple pie, which was on the menu. We were all too full! lol Lorrie and I took care of the dishes and Amy did some organizing and hung the food bag. We watched sunset and spent some time together exploring a little. The view from this campsite is INCREDIBLE! It's elevated above the water and the view is framed perfectly by trees. We didn't see any, but there was evidence of beaver activity. That would have been an interesting animal to see in the wild! We'd seen numerous dams but no beavers. /= We're in bed at 9pm as we plan to get up very early to hike over to Rose Waterfall and watch sunrise from there. Before going to sleep, we talk about our high point and low point! heheh My high point was my successful portage. I was pretty proud of myself!

I'm also supposed to note Lorrie's fall when we were unloading the canoe here. )= I laughed like an idiot. My stupid disorder! It's like Tourette's or something. She was bruised a little but not injured. Phew! Can you imagine if I laughed and she got injured. What a jerk!

Boundary Waters (Day 2 - August 8, 2007)

First day "on trail!" What a busy morning getting ready to get out on the water! I know some of the things we did this morning were supposed to be done last night. So it was our fault for being late that we didn't get them done. /= One of the things we were supposed to do this morning was a swimming test! lol Lorrie said a few times that she didn't think we needed to do that.... since we're grownups! lol Eventually, Amy said we didn't have to do it. I think it was partly because of time that she finally let it go. She may also have asked a supervisor if that would be okay. I don't know why it was such a big deal to us. Both of us can tread water and swim just fine. Oh well. It didn't happen so that was good. (=

This morning the bell rang at 7am. I guess it's the, "Getcher ass out of bed" bell. That seemed the only purpose. So we did. We had an appointment in the food prep cabin at 7:15am. That was interesting! We took each ingredient for each meal and double bagged it. Then we had 3 stuff sacks, one for each meal. There were a ton of ingredients but I'll go into that more later. In the middle of working on the food, the bell rang again. Time for "first word." One of the staff members read a motivational story and then dismissed everyone to get ready for breakfast. The camp is technically a Christian camp. But I liked that they didn't focus on that aspect. My guess is that first word and grace at dinner have evolved over time into positive motivational messages rather than God-centered messages. Don't get me wrong! I'm all for God-centered messages. I just think a lot of the kids that attend now might not be there if there was an in-your-face Christian focus. Just my thoughts. After first word, we headed back to finish our food preparation before breakfast at 8am. Can you believe I was functioning so completely at this hour!?? lol I'm actually quite the morning person when it comes to camping, cycling, and (now) canoeing! Sometimes it's a little strange for people who know me to experience. Lorrie already knew because of TRAM so it wasn't a big shock to her system! ANYWAY... breakfast was at 8am. Coffee cake! lol It was tasty but everything was carbs. They also had canned pears and then canned peaches. I guess that's what you do when feeding 50 kids, eh?

Between 9am and 2pm we made final preparations for the trip. Like I wrote before, so much more detail than I had expected. We also had to laugh because we were doing most of the work and that's generally why adults hire guides. Right? So they don't have to do all the labor!? It was actually very good for us so that we could learn how to do it all and not need a guide in the future. We got all our gear into the dry bags and then into the Duluth Packs. Amy packed the Duluth Packs so that we'd be able to portage them. Basically they just had to be stuffed evenly. These bags are like old-time backpacks. Very wide, sortof short (for an adult), and no waist or sternum strap. They way they hang is very odd and pretty uncomfortable. But they are only meant to be carried for a short period of time on portages and up to campsites. Anyway, that done we had our canoe lesson. She taught us the stroke, drawing (away from the canoe), pulling (toward the canoe), C-stroke (putting an ear on the canoe), and J-stroke (a line down the side of the canoe and then out). We would remember none of this! LOL We also had to go see the camp nurse. She took our temperatures, checked our feet, and asked about our medical histories. They seemed unsure of how to handle us as adults since they hadn't gotten our forms earlier and we'd had no physicals. But they do women's trips every summer so I was confused by their confusion! (= No biggie, we all just adapted. We picked out our life jackets and paddles (NOT oars!!), and got Lorrie some high top hiking boots to wear. We stuck the stuff we'd be leaving behind in Amy's huge locker. I couldn't believe how much stuff fit in there!

While we were waiting to take off, there were a bunch of other groups also waiting. Some were going to canoe and others were hiking and rock climbing. A bunch of boys were playing rooftop ball on the dock. They were hit the ball onto the roof and the next person in line would have to jump and get it back on the roof when it came down. The only reason that was significant was that no one seemed to care that they were nearly pummeling the people trying to get ready to leave. They played right in the middle of all the preparations! lol No one got hit and the ball stayed out of the water. It was just that easy-going. I wanted to join in the game but figured there was some weird code about it only being teenage boys! lol Anyway, we finally got on the water around 2pm, along with several other groups. We canoed across the Bearskin Lake, Lorrie in front and Amy steering, to the launch we'd gone to yesterday. A shuttle bus with a canoe trailer was there waiting for us. There were 2 groups on the bus. The other were 6-8 boys. Interestingly I felt a little car sick on that ride. I had to close my eyes for a little while. This had happened when I first got on the bus for TRAM as well. Hmm could be some of the Boba/medications I've been taking.

But that was weird! Anyway, they dropped us off first, at Gunflint Lake. It took about 45 minutes to get there. I started having that feeling again... excitement that this trip was actually about to start... and nervousness that this trip was actually about to start! WOW! We, my in front and Amy steering, paddled about 6 miles, which took about 3 hours. That's completely an estimate because neither Lorrie nor I wear a watch! lol I paddled that segment. It was a strange feeling. As you know, my sports are mainly leg sports! I run, hike, and cycle. Arms are used but not intensively. So my arms were revolting a little. Once I got into a groove, they were okay. But I could tell I would be sore the next morning... if not that night! There were 3 islands with potential campsites that we wanted to check out. Amy said she preferred the second but that we would look at all 3 in case that one was being used. The first was occupied so we needed to check out the second anyway. That one was empty... and it was really nice. I've never camped on an island so that was a new experience. I liked it. I liked knowing that we were the only people on that piece of land and especially that we wouldn't have to worry about neighbors. As we set up camp, a bald eagle flew very close overhead. I've never seen one that close before! The "whoooph whooooph" of it's wings was an incredible sound! I can't do justice to any explanation so just know that it was incredible to see, hear and even feel it. There were tons of loons around and they were all chattering. That was nice background noise!

The route we had planned followed the US/Canada Border almost the entire way. On the island where we camped, there was a marker that marked said border. I think you can read it in the photo, but it reads, "Intl Bdry," which means "International Boundary." Of course we had to take sides since Lorrie is one of *those* Canucks and I am American! No, I did not take this opportunity to push her into the water. (= I guess I should have. But I didn't want to jeopardize my chances for migrating! lol

After Lorrie and I set up the tent and Amy did her "booty hunt" around the island, Amy started making dinner. We decided on quesadillas. Torillas, cheese, summer sausage and some Texturized Vegetable Protein (TVP). I liked the TVP! (= For dessert, we had vanilla pudding, with raspberries that I had picked on the island. The mosquitos and black flies were pretty bad here. I'm sure I've said this a million times this summer but for some reason I am being bit and stung like I have never been bit or stung before! I am constantly applying benedryl and spraying myself with repellant. The benedryl works for the itching but nothing seems to keep them off me. I still wanted to explore. So we went walking around everywhere. This was also my first experience with the "biff." I took a photo of it but it turned out too dark with my disposable camera. Suffice to say it is a brown plastic toilet shell placed over a hole in the ground. It also has a stepping stool type thing in front of it so that you can have your feet off the ground. Think "throne!" lol Not bad for being in the middle of the wilderness! We're all just sitting around quietly now, listening to the background noises of loons, crickets, and the occasional bug in the ear. lol Last night we slept in bunk beds. Tonight we sleep in a tent with Amy! heheh She seems relatively oblivious to how we act toward each other and we're not flaunting ourselves. Lorrie almost said something about bringing a second tent. Then neither of us wanted to carry more weight so we're doing as the Romans, so to speak. It's actually kindof fun to be clandestine. I would venture to guess Lorrie disagrees! lol Makes me wonder how things would have been different had Candace and Lori been with us. I do know that we ALL would have been in one tent. Amy said that groups up to 8 will be in the same tent, even if they have squish in together! lol Maybe next year! HA!!

Boundary Waters (Day 1 - August 7, 2007

We left Northfield about an hour late because I had to finish packing and take the dogs to the kennel. MY BAD! /= It was a nice drive but took about an hour longer than expected because the camp is in the middle of nowhere! We thought it was closer to Grand Marais. Another oops! Needless to say, we were later in our arrival than expected. We also stopped in Duluth for some lunch and to take a quick drive through Canal Park. We have driven past the place so many times without Lorrie having the opportunity to show it to me, we just had to stop. It was also the first time I could actually see what it's like coming into Duluth. It has always been night, foggy, or raining like crazy when we've gone up North! lol

When we finally got to the camp, we followed the directions and then the signs along the gravel road. All this time, Lorrie has decided that she isn't going to talk anymore for awhile. If you know her, you will know that this is a significant and very strange thing. I actually handled it very poorly because I'm used to her running commentary on how beautiful everything is. We stopped and took some goofy photos... and still she was quiet. Then I started getting a little irritated, which she found funny. Arrgh! lol She finally did say something once we were on the end on the dock looking at the scenery. And it was back to normal! That was a stressful 5 minutes! lol

We ended up at a boat launch! Weird! So we went back and stopped at the caretaker's house to ask him what to do. He explained that the little boathouse down by the launch had an intercom and that we were to use that to call across the lake to the camp so that someone would come over in a pontoon and pick us up!! Ha! Very interesting! So that's what we did. Then we went up and started getting our stuff out of my SUV so that it would all be down there when the boat arrived. Apparently it's a short trip because our guide, Amy Teadecki, was up by our car in no time! She helped us get our stuff to the pontoon and then across Bear Skin Lake we went! I was so excited at this point. I could not believe that my Boundary Waters trip was actually happening! It seemed unreal. And then it started to settle in and I began getting a little nervous. lol

We got to the camp and went to the room where we'd be staying. Then Amy took us upstairs to the dining hall. We were just in time for dinner. Typical!! lol It was a typical camp-type cafeteria... totally full of teenagers! Ha! The kids at Camp Menogyn go on 8-40 day trips... backpacking, canoeing, and rock climbing. It's an incredible operation!

After dinner we went to see the fleet of canoes. We talked to a guy who graduated from St. Olaf that builds and maintains a lot of the canoes. Very knowledgeable. And now I can't remember his name either! Arrgh! He was recanvassing a wood canoe, which is apparently a pretty detailed process. It was amazing to see how that all works! We picked out our canoe, Amy put her name on it, and we were set. The they had a fireside thing, it had a name but I can't remember what it was. "Last word" or something like that. Afterwards we spent time going through the clothing we had brought to make sure we didn't take too much and that everything would be useful. I took some things out of my pack but actually had done quite well... for a terminal overpacker!! Lorrie and I put all our clothes into 1 dry bag and Amy used a smaller one for her stuff. We left raingear, camp shoes, and some other things out of those bags to be stuffed into the Duluth Packs for easy access. We also carried 1 daypack for raingear, sunscreen, first aid, etc. That together, we got ready for bed, did some reading, and then were asleep by 10:30pm or so. Wow!! We slept on bunkbeds in "Spring Room!" Isn't that cute!?