Ever since I was a student in middle school and beyond I thought and dreamed of the north wood's Boundary Waters. While making a kit canoe from my paper route earnings, writing an 8th grade term paper on canoe methods and technique (the teacher was amazed when she read this book length term paper), reading Sigurd Olson and Calvin Rutstrum's wilderness essays, I've dreamed of canoe travel in the Boundary Waters wilderness. Looking back it seemed as though my youthful paddling was all in preparation to that dream of paddling in the boreal forest's north woods.
As I was out paddling, camping and hiking the Michigan woods and waters I looked at these areas as degraded and less complete than the wilderness Boundary Waters. It seemed as though I was training prior to going into the real thing - the stretch of land from Minnesota's Superior National Forest clear up to Hudson Bay. The boreal canoe country of the Canadian shield was untrammeled compared to the mostly roaded and fragmented Michigan landscape.
Without the means as a kid and with my sights set solely on Alaska as a young man, the time never came when that Boundary Waters canoe trip wish was fulfilled.
I remember reading the Wilderness Society's Living Wilderness periodical about the long fight to save the Superior Quetico Wilderness from a host of resort owners, mining companies, loggers, fly-in fishing operators and motor sport operators. This fight became big in my wilderness-minded heart, and it was good to hear that in the end the forces of good wilderness management mostly won. The tranquility and primitive values of the Wilderness Act of 1964 were upheld.
After working as a dog sled guide in and around the Boundary Waters for the last few years I still hadn't paddled there and never seemed to have the time with a family and guiding sea kayak trips in the summer. Then a friend who I guided with at Wintergreen Dog Sled Lodge, Steve Eisenminger, knowing that I had long wanted to paddle there, invited me to go up on the Knife Lake region to scout out a possible guided spring trip for Lake Trout that he wanted to get together. Steve has guided for many years on fishing trips, through a lot of Quetico-Superior. With his experience I had little doubt that the trip would be fun.
Our trip started on May 13. The weather was cloudy and threatening rain as we left the landing in Steve's loaded 17 foot Bell "Northwoods" Royalex canoe. The ice had just gone out on the lakes a week previously on this cold spring of 2008. There was definitely some activity at the boat landing parking lot and we saw 4 motorboats on the duration of moose Lake. One was a shuttle boat that was on its way to transport canoeists back to the landing, probably from a portage at the end of the motorized route on Moose.
The rain began soon after we left the landing and it wasn't long afterward that we passed two paddlers who had been out a week previous, who were weary of getting snowed on in the stormy weather of that past week; they were heading home.
Our route was to go from Moose to New Found Lake to Sucker to Birch Lake to Melon Lake to Knife Lake.It rained intermittently most of the way to the Knife. The rivers between the lakes were roaring over their banks and the five portages had overflow from the rivers running in them, some of it calf deep, the remnants of the winter's snow were still present. I was glad to have on my knee high Extra-Tuf rubber boots. I learned a lot about the paddling in the Boundary Waters; on the way up to the Knife; why the best canoes to have are also the lightest. I thought that a durable Royalex canoe was the way to go there, but I learned that whenever you run into rocks and rapids that there is a portage trail so light gear for the portages is more important than heavy and bomb proof.
It didn't take long on the Moose to get into the team paddling that would become synchronized for the whole trip. Steve, in his good natured way told me twice to quit trying to steer from the bow. I was so used to paddling solo or in the stern, and always steering that it took me awhile to let him steer and to just paddle steadily and keep an eye peeled for rocks and other obstructions.
I was glad I could set the paddling pace and keep it because,on the portages, I was definitely the lightweight on load bearing. Steve had a huge waterproof portage pack that carried all of his and his dog Brook's gear. Usually I helped him put it on as it was too heavy to slip into unless it was up at torso height. I brought my gear in a medium size Duluth pack and a medium size waterproof portage pack. We would do each portage in 2 trips. Steve talked about Aaron Chick, who is a jack of all woods trades around Ely. Aaron disdains doing 2 trips on a portage trail and will pack a canoe as well as his pack on one trip. My back can't take the strain any longer, hence ultra light is the way to go for me. I remember portaging my Grumman 19 foot freight canoe when I had to, on the Yukon. That and numerous other youthful excesses all helped to create wear on my backbone discs.
Steve surveyed campsites that would be good for an early spring fishing trip that he may offer next spring that would base out of the area that we stayed in.
Even though the trip was soon after ice-out, there were perhaps 3 parties of people who were paddling and camping in the area we were in already. I was glad that my first paddle trip in the boundary Waters was in early spring so as to avoid the summer crowds.
We ended up paddling back to the Moose Lake entry point with skies threatening rain with a bit of sun. When we were a couple of miles from the parking lot, rain backed by northwest wind made us paddle more vigorously for our takeout point.
A spring-clear morning for paddling on the Knife. All ice is newly off the lake system and the warblers are back and singing.As I was out paddling, camping and hiking the Michigan woods and waters I looked at these areas as degraded and less complete than the wilderness Boundary Waters. It seemed as though I was training prior to going into the real thing - the stretch of land from Minnesota's Superior National Forest clear up to Hudson Bay. The boreal canoe country of the Canadian shield was untrammeled compared to the mostly roaded and fragmented Michigan landscape.
Without the means as a kid and with my sights set solely on Alaska as a young man, the time never came when that Boundary Waters canoe trip wish was fulfilled.
I remember reading the Wilderness Society's Living Wilderness periodical about the long fight to save the Superior Quetico Wilderness from a host of resort owners, mining companies, loggers, fly-in fishing operators and motor sport operators. This fight became big in my wilderness-minded heart, and it was good to hear that in the end the forces of good wilderness management mostly won. The tranquility and primitive values of the Wilderness Act of 1964 were upheld.
After working as a dog sled guide in and around the Boundary Waters for the last few years I still hadn't paddled there and never seemed to have the time with a family and guiding sea kayak trips in the summer. Then a friend who I guided with at Wintergreen Dog Sled Lodge, Steve Eisenminger, knowing that I had long wanted to paddle there, invited me to go up on the Knife Lake region to scout out a possible guided spring trip for Lake Trout that he wanted to get together. Steve has guided for many years on fishing trips, through a lot of Quetico-Superior. With his experience I had little doubt that the trip would be fun.
Our trip started on May 13. The weather was cloudy and threatening rain as we left the landing in Steve's loaded 17 foot Bell "Northwoods" Royalex canoe. The ice had just gone out on the lakes a week previously on this cold spring of 2008. There was definitely some activity at the boat landing parking lot and we saw 4 motorboats on the duration of moose Lake. One was a shuttle boat that was on its way to transport canoeists back to the landing, probably from a portage at the end of the motorized route on Moose.
The rain began soon after we left the landing and it wasn't long afterward that we passed two paddlers who had been out a week previous, who were weary of getting snowed on in the stormy weather of that past week; they were heading home.
Our route was to go from Moose to New Found Lake to Sucker to Birch Lake to Melon Lake to Knife Lake.It rained intermittently most of the way to the Knife. The rivers between the lakes were roaring over their banks and the five portages had overflow from the rivers running in them, some of it calf deep, the remnants of the winter's snow were still present. I was glad to have on my knee high Extra-Tuf rubber boots. I learned a lot about the paddling in the Boundary Waters; on the way up to the Knife; why the best canoes to have are also the lightest. I thought that a durable Royalex canoe was the way to go there, but I learned that whenever you run into rocks and rapids that there is a portage trail so light gear for the portages is more important than heavy and bomb proof.
It didn't take long on the Moose to get into the team paddling that would become synchronized for the whole trip. Steve, in his good natured way told me twice to quit trying to steer from the bow. I was so used to paddling solo or in the stern, and always steering that it took me awhile to let him steer and to just paddle steadily and keep an eye peeled for rocks and other obstructions.
I was glad I could set the paddling pace and keep it because,on the portages, I was definitely the lightweight on load bearing. Steve had a huge waterproof portage pack that carried all of his and his dog Brook's gear. Usually I helped him put it on as it was too heavy to slip into unless it was up at torso height. I brought my gear in a medium size Duluth pack and a medium size waterproof portage pack. We would do each portage in 2 trips. Steve talked about Aaron Chick, who is a jack of all woods trades around Ely. Aaron disdains doing 2 trips on a portage trail and will pack a canoe as well as his pack on one trip. My back can't take the strain any longer, hence ultra light is the way to go for me. I remember portaging my Grumman 19 foot freight canoe when I had to, on the Yukon. That and numerous other youthful excesses all helped to create wear on my backbone discs.
Steve surveyed campsites that would be good for an early spring fishing trip that he may offer next spring that would base out of the area that we stayed in.
Even though the trip was soon after ice-out, there were perhaps 3 parties of people who were paddling and camping in the area we were in already. I was glad that my first paddle trip in the boundary Waters was in early spring so as to avoid the summer crowds.
We ended up paddling back to the Moose Lake entry point with skies threatening rain with a bit of sun. When we were a couple of miles from the parking lot, rain backed by northwest wind made us paddle more vigorously for our takeout point.
Morning light just returning as Steve and his setter Brook enjoy breakfast and a misty sunrise. With the fire rings and plentiful "beaver pile" wood, we were enjoying campfires morning asnd night. Much different than most national park wilderness areas where gas pack stoves are mostly used.
Don with our Lake Trout dinner. We portaged into Topaz Lake and caught 2 Lakers in short order.
This is a portage trail up by the Knife River while we were on our way back. The running water was down to a trickle with puddles left from a few days before. The snow was all melted out due to the warm rains that we had on our way in... The rivers between the lakes were roaring over their banks and the five portages had overflow from the rivers running in them, some of it calf deep, the remnants of the winter's snow were still present.
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