Tuesday Morning I

     Since I retired, the sun has become my friend and alarm clock.  A tad before Sol breaks the horizon my internal light sensor tells me it's time to get up.  Usually my unconscious hits the snooze button for an additional ten minutes but this morning we had places to go, things to do, odds and ends to dread and water to make (yup, there it is again), so I rose to face the day.  A few minutes later Brian began to stir.  Figured the rangers were still sawing wood, no need for us to hurry.  Breakfast was first on our list right after coffee at the Mocha Moose.
     Grand Marais is not your average small town.  In fact, one of the travel services rated it as the coolest small town in the galaxy.  Not sure what they meant by coolest since the average summer temperature along the big lake is about the same as the average winter temperature anywhere else in the country.  Regardless, the town boasts a dozen or so restaurants, upscale lodging, a micro-brewery, gourmet coffee shop, couple of bakeries, gift shops galore and a harbor chuck filled with fancy boats.  In other words, it puts a civilized spin on the end of the earth.
     Don't know why but the idea of a lumberjack breakfast held no appeal for either of us.  Oatmeal with a side of bacon at the Bluewater Cafe did the job just fine.  After the damage of last night's pizza, a soothed bowel was at the top of our list of things to do today (right after coffee of course).  Having time to kill we headed to the Ranger Station where we gave the front door the stink eye with hopes our combined mojo could spring the lock.  No luck.  Instead we sat in Brian's truck honing our patience.
     Slowly the parking lot came alive.  Through the windshield we watched several trays of food pass in the arms of non-uniformed women.  Down below the hill, to the rear of the station, we could see green clad, official looking people sneaking in the back door.  Why not the front door?  Struck me as suspicious.  A sign of the times?  Could be motherly types bearing hot dishes gave the government office a warm spin.  Made you want to say, "Gosh, I was wrong.  The government is all soft and cuddly.  Reminds me of my mom.  Darn, I think I'll giver her a call.  Tell her that I miss and love her and be sure to pay her taxes on time."  Or maybe the reason was the large building out back from which the rangers seemed to be emerging.
     The video was as exciting as it's ever been.  Could be longer as far as I'm concerned.  And could have dialog.  Or maybe a little slapstick humor.  Bears in clown makeup rolling over the portages on tiny bicycles.  The followup quiz was simple enough.  Boiled down to camping in designated places and not making a mess.  The Boundary Waters is a wilderness and at the the same time, it's not.  A quarter million people pass over those portages in less than five months.  The one heading into East Pike has worn a couple of inches into the earth.  That's a lot of boots.  Guess it pays to be neat and remind everyone to mind their manners no matter how repetitious and mundane the video.
     Fifteen minutes later we escaped but still had plenty of time to kill.  Though there were plenty of sleeping bags to be had in town not a one was available before nine.  We roamed the streets in search of inspiration and came upon an outfitter we hadn't known existed.  Brian pulled to a stop in their parking lot.  The place was wood and glass new and looked hi-tec modern.  Don't know why we waited but it worked.  Could be our need conjured up the clerks.  Not only were they early but they also let us in.  Brian found the perfect bag, pulled out the plastic and we were finally on the road. (after spending ten minutes discussing the merits of locally made, freeze dried food).
     Now nothing stood between us and the access at Little John Lake.  Passed a pair of Road Work Ahead signs and came to a stop behind a MNDOT tractor-trailer blocking the right lane for no obvious reason.  Appeared abandoned.  After a brief discussion of what to do, Brian crossed the double yellow line and passed.  'Bout then, a gremlin in the guise of a yellow-clad road guard popped out from behind the truck, screamed us to a stop and began to spit fury at us.  Seems we'd violated four traffic laws including not stopping for an unseen road guard.  Damnation.  We just couldn't catch a break this morning.  Immediately we put on our best please and thank you manners.  Easier to swallow the ego then spend the night in the hoosegow.
     Hovland's one of those towns that's larger on the map than it is in person.  Good thing they've got a sign.  However, for me it's big in memories.  A mile before town the Brule River rumbles its way into Lake Superior.  Once in town, the smaller Flute Reed River does the same but with a more poetic name.  Decades earlier the outdoorsman Calvin Rutstrom owned property on the Flute Reed.  Immediately past the bridge, the Arrowhead Trail turns inland and climbs the Sawtooth Mountains.  Gotta forgive us Minnesotans, if you can't see the top of a hill from the bottom, we call it a mountain.  Brian almost shifted into a lower gear for the climb and no doubt would have had we been in a brand new, 1,100,000,015 BC Toyota 4-Runner (they sure don't make 'em like they used to).
     About twelve miles up road in 1965, my fictitious Uncle Emil built a cabin alongside a trout stream.  Might even have met Calvin Rutstrom (hadn't thought of that till now).  If he had, Emil wouldn't have known Rutstrom from Adam.  'Course, unlike Rutstrom, Emil wouldn't have thought of himself as an outdoorsman.  If asked he'd have stroked his chin and said something like, "Well, I do like being outdoors and I am a man.  But an outdoorsman?  No, I don't think so."
     My fears rose with the climb.  Wasn't so much I was scared, more that I was extraordinarily apprehensive.  I knew for certain what the portage would be like, knew it well.  Also knew we'd survive it.  Also knew loading a canoe with two hundred pounds of gear and paddling off in the opposite direction of the nearest hospital was no longer the mindless thrill it'd once been.  Nope, unexpected stuff can happen faster than you can snap a bone.  This wasn't northwest Manitoba but it sure wasn't Lake Nokomis back in south Minneapolis.  Also, 'bout a half mile down the cedar lined shore of Little John a stretch of rapids runs that'd once turned me backwards as I exited.  Then there was the portage.  A hundred eighty rods up and over a fair sized hill paved with rock, root, mud and huffing, puffing, wheezing pain every labored step of the way.  Back in the nineties this little carry had been no more than forty-five minutes of sweat.  Not so anymore.
     And then there was what awaited us at the end of the portage.  Would there be any open campsites on East Pike Lake or would we have to push on?  Plod and paddle till we ran out of daylight and were forced rollup in a tarp, bodies coated with leeches, on a hummock in the middle of some God-forsaken swamp.  And if we did find a campsite, would we be greeted by clouds of back flies and mosquitoes?  I'm not making this stuff up, those thoughts were up there dancing in my head where the visions of sugar plums should have been.
     So, why in the hell was I on this trip?  Good question.  Last winter a trip to the Boundary Waters  sounded like fun.  Also might have to do with my failing memory which blanks out the bad till it's too late and finds us tooling up the Arrowhead Trail on our way to adventure or, more likely, self-inflicted torture.
     First stop was Portage Brook.  Called it Aspen Brook in "Emil's Cabin."  Spent a lot of time last winter looking at the stream from the satellite and she looked to be a friendly valley with a meandering stream that'd easily lend itself to building a forestry road, two track driveway and a cabin.  One look from the Trail told another story.  As did the cloud of black flies we drew (see comments above and why my fears now rose to a boil).  The brook was a beauty as it tumbled over and about a boulder field twenty feet beneath our boots.  Weeks earlier, in my mind's eye, Brian and I were going to ease ourselves down a gentle descent, amble along the inevitable trout fisherman's stream-side path and shoot a few photos.  Give me a picture to describe in the Cabin story.  Well, if there was a path, I couldn't see it.  And if there had been, it'd be one we'd have to slide down on our butts.  And if there was a stream-side path, it'd be an up and down, over boulder and around bush or tree, acrobat act along the steep sided bank.  Not happening today Roy.  I made do by firing off a few from where we stood.
     Those few minutes won't leave me alone.  Could be they're trying to tell me something.  I wrote "Emil's Cabin" driven by ease.  Liked the general gist of it but realized it lacked any kind of spark.  No life in it.  The Portage Brook Brian and I saw was definitely alive and had been since the last ice age.  It was scary alive.  Raw and real.  Time for a rewrite.
     A pair of men paddled into the access while we unloaded canoe and gear.  They'd been camping and fishing on John Lake.  They gave us a thumb's up as to their luck and confirmed what the ranger back in Grand Marais had said, "Yup, there were bugs."  However, they made no fuss over the numbers and my hopes were raised a little.  'Course they may have been ex-Marines who found clouds of black flies as nothing more than seasoning on their morning's bacon and eggs.  We continued our off-load.  Brian pulled his truck into the little parking area while I stood beside the empty canoe scratching my head.  I knew for a fact the gear had to go in the canoe.  Exactly how that would happen was a mystery I hoped would solve itself as we threw in the packs.
     My mind's not as sharp as it once was.  All the necessities of decision making are still there but float around in a cloud.  Willy-nilly.  I don't envision like I once did.  The picture in my head needs a helping hand from reality.  However, once step one was solved all the fuzzy corners crisped up.  Stove under front seat, food pack next, cooler, big packs in tandem, tight to the rear thwart, rod tubes and spare paddle jammed between and Brian's waist pack behind the stern seat.  Trim, tied off and balanced.  We paddled onto Little John.
     We floated in my amber colored Wenonah Spirit II.  The Spirit was Wenonah's first design and okay in every respect, compromised to the point of being able to do everything in an adequate manner.  She's neither as fast as a flat water canoe nor as maneuverable as a river boat.  But she's deep and good on big water with a heavy load.  Never shipped a drop and I hoped it'd stay that way.  Turn the Spirit over and the history of every Canadian Shield rock I'd ripped her on is written like glacial carvings in greenstone.  Put those scratches together and you'd have the story of each trip she's floated.  Could kevlar be translated into English, I'd have sent the boat in for publication.  All afterthought of course.  At the moment I was happy the floor was dry and we were moving easily.
     
   

   

Monday

     Communication's a big part of trip planning.  Like to say I'm good at it but I'm not.  Seems like every boonies trip I plan arrives with its own screw ups, usually mine.  This is my second trip with my nephew Brian.  You'd think on the second go around we'd have it figured out.  Could be he did.  First off, none of our problems were earth shaking.  Brought too much food once again, way too much fishing tackle and half as many sleeping bags as we needed.  Mea culpa.

     Not sure whose fault the bag shortage was but I suspect it was mine.  He said, "pack an extra sleeping bag."  I heard, "pack an extra sleeping pad."  So I packed two Therma-rest self-inflaters.  No problem.  I'd remembered his pad as being close to five pounds heavier than mine, so it kinda came as a surprise on Monday morning when Brian brought along his two and a half pound pad.  A perceptive man would have said something besides, "geez, your pad is much lighter than I remembered."  Also would have figured if we had one too many things for sleeping, we were probably short something else.  Not me, I simply pulled the Therma-rest from the pack and stuffed in Brian's.

     Over the previous week I'd done a serious amount of food shopping.  No way we'd starve if we were weather bound for an extra day.  Or two.  Or three.  Brian knows food so I asked him to pick up a few things he liked to snack on.  And he did.  And it was all good.  And gave us a couple of extra days of munchables.  Good wine, cheese, gorp, dessert snacks, dried apples, cranberries and blueberries.  In addition to what I packed, we might have had an edible forty-five pounds.  Enough for five campers with healthy appetites.  Yeah, we ate well.  In addition to Brian's extras we had steaks, pork chops, apples, New French Bakery bread, iced tea, coffee, two meals of homemade spaghetti, carrots, tomatoes, candy and a variety of bars, two dozen eggs, turkey bacon, twenty potato patties, three sticks of butter, swiss cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches, more gorp, and considered bringing along a live hog and goat but figured they might rile the canoe.  What the hell was I thinking of?  Throw in enough ice to keep the perishables fresh and we had one serious food load.
     Loading the gear on Monday morning was no problem.  Racking the canoe took a little more time.  Brian'd never loaded a boat atop his SUV before but had the racks, straps and stops.  Once we figured it out, the Wenonah was rock solid.  All-in-all our putzing took close to an hour.  The drive was a simple affair in good weather.  Couple of stops along the way for food and making water (Read that phrase in a book of age.  Sure sounds better than urinating or pissing).  Had a room reserved for the night so our only consideration once we made Grand Marais was hitting the Ranger Station for our permit.  Of course they were closed.  Seems like they close earlier with each passing year.  I recall Allan and I squeaking in as the clock struck six back in the nineties.  These days it's four-thirty.  Ah well, tomorrow at eight it would be.
     Don't recall the exact moment when we realized Brian had no sleeping bag.  Do remember going slack-jawed.  Good thing we realized the oversight when we did.  Being the considerate man I am, I'd have felt terrible snuggling into my bag and would've tossed and turned for a minute or two before dropping off.  Mostly I feared Brian's shivering would have kept me awake.  Now eight o'clock at the Ranger Station would be followed by nine o'clock at an outfitter, or maybe the world's best stocked Ben Franklin.  Yup, the B. F. in Grand Marais carries a wide range of quality camping gear.  Truth is I felt embarrassed, guilty and downright bad that Brian would have to shell out cash for something I had sitting at home.
     We ate at Sven and Ole's pizza in town.  Yup, that's the one on the bumper stickers and they do make pretty good pizza.  Their pies taste like they came right out of the sixties or maybe Lake Wobegon.  No twenty-first century organic, gluten free, with a smattering of some kinda rare Italian cheeses and herbs, individual-sized, diet-conscious, almond milk based, fur-fru meals for us.  Nope, their pizza's a slab that goes down good, sticks to your ribs and explodes out in the morning.  Leaves a camper with a full feeling in the evening and a flat-stomached, emptied pleasure as he/she paddles out in the morning.  They even have beer on tap.  I recall we might have had a couple.  Didn't meet either Sven or Ole.  Made me wonder if the names are made up.
     Back at the Thomsonite Beach Resort we found an envelope taped to the door.  Inside was a note and a key.  Seems the proprietors had gone out para-sailing on the big lake.  While riding the waves a gust of wind had carried one of them into an eagle's aerie where he was devoured by the younguns.  Those things happen in the Arrowhead more frequently than you'd imagine.  'Course, that it happened once is more than any sane person would imagine.  Anyhow, it turned out an eagle feather was imbedded in the man's remains and the cadaver was arrested.  Yeah, the State of Minnesota takes its eagle feather laws seriously.  At the moment, the widow was trying to raise bail money so she could free her husband and give what was left of him, less the feather, a proper burial.
     In short, we saw neither of the owners while we were there.  Did talk to a guy standing beneath a spruce tree that drizzly evening.  He and Brian hit it off as they both knew the ins and outs of esoteric photography.  Don't recall exactly what or how he was shooting from his tripod with a high buck digital camera but it involved a whole bunch of pictures.  Maybe thousands for all I know.
     We slept well that night knowing the weather was going to improve.

     

Home Again

     I remember how I felt last year when we returned from the Boundary Waters, why should it be any better this year?  Feels like I've been pummeled with a sand-filled sock and am too tired to care.  Can't even squeak out a "that the best you can do?"
     We ate well, drank enough water, got enough rest, bugs weren't bad, only did two demanding portages; what could it be?  Maybe the beauty overwhelmed me?  Or the clean air and water?  'Spose it could be that I'm 68 but I doubt it.  Last night I had to use a lighter fork and knife when I ate dinner.  Our usual stainless felt like dumbbells.  Could be my problem up north was choice of socks.  I've gotten used to short cotton ones and the pairs I wore in the BWCA were full length and fairly heavy.  That half ounce no doubt was night and day.  Lucky I'm still alive.
     Once again a four day trip took eight.  Planning, gathering and packing sucked up two, travel one, cleanup one and the canoe trip four.  Toughest part is the cleanup.  Not that I mind the work.  After all, it's necessary.  Keeps stuff from rotting.  Glass half full person would say drying, organizing and putting camping gear away is actually preparation for next year's trip.  Interesting I just wrote that.  Till my fingers started pecking away I'd never given maintenance a positive spin.  Kind of scary, seeing as how I'm a 'glass is always full unless you're in a complete vacuum' kinda guy.  Maybe it'd be best if you forget I ever wrote the above.  Go with the idea cleanup was pure misery.
     Regardless, the trip is done.  All that remains is the writing (and editing and trying like hell to remember what Brian and I did.  Best part is knowing I can fill in the blanks with anything that comes to mind.  Things like that make me a happy camper, wilderness style).

BWCA III

     Oh yeah, remembered hat and gloves.  Lows in the mid-40s.  Good to keep the bugs and my ear temperature down.
     As usual I'm apprehensive, jittery.  I get this way before every trip and know for sure it's gonna suck big time.  But it never does.  When we hit the road it all changes.  'Spose that's not a forever thing but I hope fortune has at least one more run.
     Hardest part at the end is choosing a hat.  It's gotta say 'I've been here before' without looking too much like Joe Northwoods.  My old school, waxed Filson?  Great hat but it's not all that comfortable.  One of the hats Allan had a hand in designing?  Maybe, brings in family but it's seen better days.  Then there's my Dollar Store Jeff Foxworthy ball cap.  Got his name on it in four place and it's sky blue so my head blends in with the background a smallmouth would see.  Camo, baby, camo.  What to do, what to do?

BWCA II

     Biodegradable soap!
     And scrubbies!
     Oh yeah, also forgot socks and toothbrush and tent!
     And fishing gear!
     'Spose that's why the packs were so light.  I knew something had to be missing.
   

BWCA

     Deep into packing for this year's trip.  Most everything is ready except for that important thing I always seem to forget.  Wonder what it'll be this year?

Last Day (in progress)

     Friday was the day I figured we'd have good fishing.  Been slowly warming for three days.  Enough time for the short strikers to become more active.  No sense wasting what could be a good day.  We were on the road a little after seven intending to hit a pair of lakes and put eight hours on the water.  To my way of thinking, where we fished the afternoon and evening was more important than the morning. Those golden hours near sunset usually proved the best.  Had the four of us lived where we fished, we'd rarely be on the water till after supper.  But we don't and rolled up the highway.
     The two laner we usually drive has a few straight sections.  Mostly it roller coasters and winds its way over glacial moraines and alongside lakes.  This is cabin country.  Not the two and three story McMansions that've become the standard to the south.  Most have been standing for more than fifty years.  Grandpa probably built it himself and also drove the well.  Generally they're known as decent fishing lakes by todays standards.  Fished a fair number of them myself but not for a while.  Once again we were heading for an area of the Chippewa National Forest and down the sand roads off the sand roads.  It's not wilderness in the sense of northern Canada but there are wolves and few cabins.  Depending on where you're standing in this area you might be on National Forest land, Leech Lake Ojibwe Reservation land or even private property.  Had the government treated the Ojibwe fairly this'd all be reservation land.  But the Federal Government didn't and the four of us were off to enjoy the fruits of deceit.
     Figured we'd end the day on Silver Lake.  It hadn't failed us in the last few times on its water and evening had proved excellent each time.  Since morning didn't matter as much, and the choice was mine, we started on a lake named Hovde.  No cabins, definitely out of the way and usually good fishing.  However, today seemed an unsolved mystery.  It's been a few years since we'd really gotten into the bass.  Maybe they're onto our game.  Might also have been the cold water.  For a few minutes Larry and I thought we'd figured them out.  Four healthy bass in ten minutes, then nothing.  All in all we caught a few, maybe even a dozen but for this lake 'twern't nuthin'.
     Evening on Silver Lake found me and Jake in the same canoe.  I think his dad was thinking fish on the line beat boat control by a long shot.  When we pushed off there sat Ryan in the catbird seat, rod in hand, bass in his eye.  Believe he wasn't disappointed.  He and Larry started off on fire, several big bass right off the bat no more than fifty yards from the access.  They called for me to paddle over and join the fun but Jake was having none of that.  He kept saying we should be fishing what he called 'sunny side'.  Took a moment for me to realize where he wanted to go.  Problem was it wasn't sunny in the little bay like it'd been two days earlier.  Didn't matter, to our small group it'll always be Sunnyside.
     Over there next hour me and Jake didn't catch a lot.  He had this bug in his ear about that little bay and didn't want to leave.  Grandpa's supposed to take control somewhere along the line and explain things like 'if they ain't bitin' here, let's try somewhere else' or 'once you've hammered a spot it's time to rest the pool' or the ever popular 'grandpa's gotta pee again and get himself another cup of coffee.'  But I didn't.  Went with the 'patience is a virtue and closely related to procrastination' bit, with the idea Jake would eventually figure out it was time to move on all by himself.  And he did.  His idea of moving was to paddle to the far side of the lake in the direction of the little speck that was Larry and Ryan.    
      Seems the two of them had worn themselves out reeling in bass and bluegills.  Time for Jake to join in the fun.  Me, I continued to take it easy and simply chauffeur.  I've come to enjoy the role of paddler more than angler.  It's what happens when you're sneaking up on seventy.  No revelation there.  I knew it was coming, just didn't know when.  Might have to do with some form of acceptance or maybe just an aversion to handling slimy fish.