BWCA

So I had my first Boundary Waters experience! It was quite memorable. Here are some excerpts from the mini journal I kept, as well as a few photos (of course).


Sat, May 30 (hi: 55, lo 42 F in Ely, MN)

I awoke in the bunkhouse of Jordan's Outfitters at 4:40am and it was already light out?!? Slept in, fitfully, until about 6:30. Jordan's provided us a free breakfast, and then we were off (at a max of 40mph, due to the canoe strapped to our roof) to our entry point: Mudro Lake.

Initially steering was a bit rough for us, but we soon got the hang of it. We started off down a small stream, then began alternating small lakes and relatively short portages until we got to Horse Lake (which I decided shall henceforth be known as "Horrible Lake"). There was constant, heavy wind, causing huge whitecaps. I was terrified of capsizing. It was nearly impossible for us to paddle, and at one point the wind was blowing so hard we started literally moving backwards, despite both of us paddling as hard as we possibly could. Eventually we gave up and made our own portage around the last point before the Basswood River.

The river was beautiful (and nicely shielded from the bitter wind)! Lots of little rapids, so plenty of opportunity for very short portages. It was such a relief after Horrible Lake!

Finally, we made it to our preferred campsite on Crooked Lake. It was sunny, but sooooooooo windy - and thus dreadfully cold. After setting up camp, we cooked the steaks we had brought for dinner (they were frozen overnight, and had defrosted throughout the day). Yum!




Later on the wind died down, but it got awfully chilly. Despite the chill, Mike got a little fishing in.

(Note: that's Canada just behind Mike!)


Sun, May 31 (hi: 46, lo 28)

It was a beautiful, calm (cold) morning. We both enjoyed the "Couscous walnut cherry porridge" recipe we had for breakfast. Then we set off to see the Lower Basswood Falls....




...and the pictographs on Crooked Lake...



...which were located on a huge cliff.




When we got back to camp, Mike did some more fishing...


... and also happened to discover this US marker in the woods, which really amused me for some reason.



Mon, Jun 1 (hi: 60, lo 40 F)

"Today, we fish!" Mike said.

We headed back up the Basswood River for a bit, and I thought I was going to die. My arm muscles were sooooo exhausted from all the paddling we had been doing. I freaked out a bit on Mike as I worried that we wouldn't be able to make it home on Wednesday, but he was able to calm me down. He had much better luck with calming me than he did fishing, unfortunately - he only caught one Northern! I blame it on the jerks who started fishing right on top of us - so rude!! We gave up and went "home" so we could both nap. Then Mike wanted to head out again, so he generously offered to do all of the paddling so I could take some pictures! It was a lot of fun.







And the evening was beautiful! Almost, dare I say it, warm. Sheer perfection for a few hours: no bugs, clear sky, tepid temperature. I finally found the appeal of the BWCA!







Tues, Jun 2 (hi: 57, lo 41 F)

The day kept alternating between short bursts of sunshine and longer stretches of cold, drizzling rain. We turned back the way we had come, up the Basswood River. (Here's the route we took, although this assumes we were always paddling in straight lines, which the wind clearly ensured we did not.) We were about to paddle up one small set of rapids, but had to portage (or drag the canoe via rope) around the rest. Finally we made it to Horrible Lake. Earlier in the day Mike had said, "stop calling it Horrible Lake. It's a really nice lake. I'm sure you'll like it once we get back there." But, instead, the wind started howling and the rain began pelting down as soon as we got back to Horrible Lake; even Mike then said that he thought the lake might be cursed. Yet he still wanted to camp there overnight?!?! I completely lost it then, crying that I just wanted to go home, but if I couldn't do that then I at least wanted to get off stupid Horrible Lake! I guess that was convincing (although later I apologized for hurting Mike's feelings, since he had been doing sooo much to make this a pleasant trip for me), because we pushed on to Tin Can Mike Lake. Of course, the only site that was open was on the windy side of the lake. Figures.

Now let's transfer to Mike's recounting of the rest of our trip, which he had originally typed up here.

"I would like to share an interesting experience that I recently had on a trip in the BWCA.

"My wife and I had a 4-night stay where we went up to Crooked Lake. On the day before we were to leave, we staged for an early exit at Mudro on Tin Can Mike Lake. Shortly after we set up camp, someone from across the lake canoed over and said that there was an emergency and his brother needed to be airlifted out due to a severe medical condition and it was very time sensitive (i.e. death within a couple hours). Without much thought, I left my wife at the site and jumped in the other guy's canoe to help him get to help ASAP. Once we got back to Mudro access, the other guy drove to cell phone range and called 911 and the ranger station. In the end, they were able to land a plane in Tin Can Mike Lake and get him the medical attention that he needed and he will recover 100%. But that is not the part of the story that I would like to relay...

"When the other guy contacted the ranger station, he told them that I had left my wife at the campsite and had no way to get back to her and she was stuck out there until I got back to help her break camp and canoe out. The ranger station assured the guy that they would be able to get me back to my wife and would be sending out a pair of rangers immediately with a 3-man canoe. About an hour later, the rangers showed up without a canoe and said that they could not help me due to liability issues and did not offer any sort of help.. With that, I contacted my outfitter, Jordan's Outfitter. By this time, it was close to 7pm and daylight was not on our side. Mark Bland, the owner personally came out with his son and got me back to my site and my wife! They also helped out the other guy by going to his site and packing all their gear that was left behind. They ended up having to double portage all the stuff back in the dark.

"I do not know how the larger outfitters would have handled this situation, but Mark of Jordan's Outfitters acted in a most admirable way- well above what is expected. Mark and his wife only send out one group a day and pay special attention to detail. Above that, Mark really showed what he is made of by personally helping me out in a very unusual situation. My wife and I can not thank Mark and his son, Cody enough for their purely altruist behavior. If you need to be outfitted for a trip out of Ely, I can not recommend these guys more. They would not accept any additional payment for their efforts, so this is the only way that I can pay them back for such an inconvenience."

Now, initially I didn't think twice about Mike helping the guy - of course he would help get the guy the medical attention he needed! But after Mike left, it really hit me how helpless I was out there: (1) I couldn't get across the lake alone to sit with the guy (even though I couldn't have done anything to help him even if I could have gotten there) and (2) all I could do was stare across the lake, knowing there was a guy over there that was dying in front of my eyes and I was absolutely helpless. So, to distract myself, I made tea and read - which just made me feel guilty. Argh!

But in the end, the sea plane medevaced the guy to the local hospital.







After all that excitement, I started worrying about whether Mike would get back, or whether I'd have to spend the night all alone out there. Really, really alone. Thankfully, a few hours later, our outfitter dropped Mike back off. We enjoyed one last BWCA sunset together, then hit the hay.



Wed, Jun 3 (hi: 66, lo 28 F)

It was a beautiful morning, as "Murphy" would have predicted for our last day.





We leisurely broke camp, then slowly made our way out back to the Mudro Lake entry. The hot shower I had back at the outfitter's was one of the best showers I've ever had in my life!

So, in all, I had a great time. Definitely cold, but definitely beautiful. Would I go back? For sure I'd go back to backpack or hike. Would I go back to paddle? Ask me again in a few weeks, once my arms aren't sore any more. I can at least say I would consider it, as long as we set a less ambitious route (with lots of portages - I know most paddlers hate portages, but I loved them since they gave my arms a much-needed break). In the end, it was a great introduction for me to the Boundary Waters experience. Thanks, Mike!