New guy joins "seasoned" veterans in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area
There have been many trips to the BWCA over the years (about 20 or so for me with the first one way back in 1975; Colin joined me once, Donna also joined me on one trip) with the core group being four of us that all grew up in Saint Charles, Illinois - two of us live in Colorado now, and two live in Minnesota. The last decade or so we have added two Minnesotans to the core group. Historically we have gone in September but five years ago George and I started going in May (sometimes also in September too). This May marks the 4th spring trip in five years. Three of the core group were there (Brad, George, and me) joined by newcomer Peter, a friend of Brad's (and now George and my friend too). Peter had never been to the BWCA (don't think he'd even heard of it) but I think I can safely say that he came away very impressed.
He probably was a bit less impressed with the trip planning by the "seasoned" group, as we managed to not bring George's fillet knife (George is the chief fish filleter, I'm his assistant - luckily the assistant brought his fillet knifes), didn't bring salt and pepper (of course we were trying to cut down on our sodium intake), no "Tiger sauce" for the fish and steaks, no aluminum foil for cooking the lake trout over the fire, and perhaps a few other items that I can't remember.
Great paddling weather going in and coming out, generally low winds for all 8 days, pleasant temperatures (although it was 27 degrees our first morning in), only one big day of rain, but it did warm up to 80 the days after the rain and the blackflies and mosquitoes made an appearance - actually broke out the bug shirts - definitely the worst bugs we have had on a trip. Fishing was good, although not quite as great as our previous spring trips have been. Brad, George and Peter all caught five different species (Smallmouth bass, walleye, northern, lake trout and whitefish). I weighed in with three (no lake trout or white fish for me). Still, plenty of big fish and many delicious fish dinners.
A highlight (?) of the trip was Brad and Peter flipping my canoe. We changed fishing partners daily, and this was their day to be together...life jackets performed as they were supposed to, and they were in a protected bay, not too far from shore, but the water is cold this time of year. Wounded pride and lost gear were the casualties - Peter came away almost unscathed, losing only a pair of sunglasses; Brad however lost both fishing poles (amazingly one of his poles was found the next day by the only other person back in this big arm of the lake - a solo guy in a camp a half mile or so away), his camera was toast (although the memory card was ok, so the pics he had taken so far were retrieved), and he lost one of his boots (that is still a bit of a mystery).
As usual it was very quiet, with one or two groups passing by every day on their way to or from the portage into Hanson Lake - otherwise, just us - and we were in over Memorial Day weekend - the long weekenders don't make it back as far in as we were.
So another fine expedition to the BWCA.
He probably was a bit less impressed with the trip planning by the "seasoned" group, as we managed to not bring George's fillet knife (George is the chief fish filleter, I'm his assistant - luckily the assistant brought his fillet knifes), didn't bring salt and pepper (of course we were trying to cut down on our sodium intake), no "Tiger sauce" for the fish and steaks, no aluminum foil for cooking the lake trout over the fire, and perhaps a few other items that I can't remember.
Great paddling weather going in and coming out, generally low winds for all 8 days, pleasant temperatures (although it was 27 degrees our first morning in), only one big day of rain, but it did warm up to 80 the days after the rain and the blackflies and mosquitoes made an appearance - actually broke out the bug shirts - definitely the worst bugs we have had on a trip. Fishing was good, although not quite as great as our previous spring trips have been. Brad, George and Peter all caught five different species (Smallmouth bass, walleye, northern, lake trout and whitefish). I weighed in with three (no lake trout or white fish for me). Still, plenty of big fish and many delicious fish dinners.
A highlight (?) of the trip was Brad and Peter flipping my canoe. We changed fishing partners daily, and this was their day to be together...life jackets performed as they were supposed to, and they were in a protected bay, not too far from shore, but the water is cold this time of year. Wounded pride and lost gear were the casualties - Peter came away almost unscathed, losing only a pair of sunglasses; Brad however lost both fishing poles (amazingly one of his poles was found the next day by the only other person back in this big arm of the lake - a solo guy in a camp a half mile or so away), his camera was toast (although the memory card was ok, so the pics he had taken so far were retrieved), and he lost one of his boots (that is still a bit of a mystery).
As usual it was very quiet, with one or two groups passing by every day on their way to or from the portage into Hanson Lake - otherwise, just us - and we were in over Memorial Day weekend - the long weekenders don't make it back as far in as we were.
So another fine expedition to the BWCA.
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