I was crossing Bearskin Lake for the 4th time since Christmas. Six students, one chaperone and myself were on our way to Duncan Lake, famous for the Stairway Portage. The previous 3 trips were with toboggans and a dog crossing on 18" of ice. I hadn't been on Bearskin and Duncan for several years when the ice was out so this trip was triggering many memories of past camp outs on Duncan. Two of the boys paddled stern with girls in the bow. The chaperone paddled stern in the 3rd boat with an inexperienced boy in the bow. The trip into Duncan went well but everyone thought the 70 rod portage was too long and difficult. Everyone did very well putting up their tents and getting camp set. We were all glad to be in the BWCA and in a good mood. I reviewed safety precautions and guidelines for a great experience while we ate lunch. We fished and paddled from 2:30 till 4. During that time Kincaid caught a real nice one. We covered the hot spot several times with no luck. I'm getting used to not catching fish, but it was nice to be on the lake with the others. The wind had died down and it had warmed up very nicely. Supper was steak, potatoes and salad. Only 3 of us had salad. The boys commented later in their journals what a good supper it was. Liz and I did all the cooking and washed dishes afterwards. The boys kept the fire going. After supper all the kids went for a walk back in the woods. I cleaned camp and prepared for night fall, had a cup of decaf tea and couple cookies. The boys tried to set the bear bag and succeeded after several tries. The rope was over a branch 20 feet up the tree providing us with a bear safe camp. Campfire conversations finished off the evening.
Friday, May 23rd, Crawled out of my ultra light Sierra Designs tent at 6:30. I slept very well and was ready for the new day. I had a couple hours before everyone was awake and spent the time reading, eating breakfast and watching woodpeckers and other birds fly through camp. The woodpeckers weren't Piliated woodpeckers but large like them. It was a cool 49 degrees with a little breeze. There was a canoe from RK's group fishing on the hot spot. I wondered how they're doing.
Everyone was out of their tent and ready for the photo tour by 9:30. First we headed for the Partridge Lake portage. The girls paddled one canoe and the boys paddled the other. The wind blew us down the bay to the portage. We pulled the canoes up into the trees and headed down the trail looking for things of beauty and interest. We discovered that it was very warm in the woods compared to paddleing on an ice cold lake in the wind. We met 5 paddlers portaging out from Partridge. They said the Lake Trout fishing was excellent. They were portaging 85 pound Discovery 174's. They were men. Then we paddled to the Moss Lake portage with hopes of going up to the Caribou Hiking trail and it's overlook of Moss and Duncan. When we got to the place to scramble to the top it was very overgrown and full of dead falls. So we had lunch on the shores of Moss lake and headed back to the canoes. After coffee with Kincaid in our camp we went fishing. The afternoon weather was very pleasant. We fished for 2 hours with only a couple bites that we couldn't get into the boat. However, this was the best spot to be in America as far as I was concerned. Supper was chicken and noodle casserole. It was the girls turn to clean up after supper and they did a very good job. For our evening treats we fried donuts using Pillsbury refridgerated bread dough. We covered them with cinnamon sugar and they were as good as Dunkin' Donuts. The evening was cooling down so to keep warm one of the students would put his sitting log on the fire grate for a couple minutes, then take it off before it started fire and sit on it. He ohhed and ahhed a lot as the hot log warmed his posterior. Other students tried it as well. Later the sounds of the night forest lulled us to sleep.
Saturday, May 24. It was a beautiful morning, the lake was smooth as a mirror and just as reflective. The sun rise was a quiet explosion of light and color. The sky was blue without a cloud from horizon to horizon. Birds were singing the praises for another beautful day. My group is exceptionally well adapted to life in the wilderness. They had perfected their canoeing skills and travel efficiently and quietly. Camp life had been great too. All chores are done without complaint and fire wood was always at the ready. At 8 am everyone was sleeping except Liz, who went fishing with Nick. At 10 am my group was headed for Kincaid's camp to go with him to the Stairway portage. Kincaid's group arrived at my camp a few minutes later. I talked about Brandenberg and wilderness photography. I emphasized capturing the memories and images of the BWCA. We went to Partridge Lake via the 230 rod portage. We stopped about half way for a rest but all did the portage in good fashion. We had lunch at a campsite and then 2 boats went fishing. One of the students who had been fishless caught 2 nice Lake Trout making the long portage in here well worth it. We left a little early and Nick waited at the portage for the other boat. One of the boys carried my canoe and got off the trail at the end of the portage. We ended up bush wacking. We waited for the others and then headed back to camp. After a little coffee two of the boys and I went fishing, our last chance of the weekend. We trolled for a couple miles trying to stay out of the strong wind. After a while the winds calmed we worked our way into the bay south of camp. Still no luck. From a distance we saw Kincaid flag us over to his camp. Once there he offered us the 2 fish his boys caught on Partridge. We accepted them greatfully. Supper was potatoe soup, which Liz made, fried fish and later cini mini's. The reciepe for cini minis is - on a tortilla spread squeeze margerine, sugar and cinnamon. Then roll it up and slice into miniature cinnamon rolls. We made several this way and then decided to just fry whole tortillas folded in half with sugar and cinnamon in the middle. This was much more efficient, and just as good. Everyone loved them. Cribbage was next. It was a great time. After some open hands to teach the rules we got serious. Liz and Nathan soon had a huge lead, Sam and I struggled with many small hands. The real fun was all the jokes and teasing, we especially enjoyed teasing Nathan about his gastrointestinal problems. That night Nathan and Sam slept under the tarp. It rained but they stayed dry and slept well inspite of the the rain and mosquitos. Early the next morning I got camp packed and had a squirt of coffee. Kincaid's group went by at 6:30, they broke camp with out breakfast. We were on the water 20 minutes later. Although it had rained most of the night it let up enough to paddle out and get across the portage comfortably. It was a great trip!
Friday, May 23rd, Crawled out of my ultra light Sierra Designs tent at 6:30. I slept very well and was ready for the new day. I had a couple hours before everyone was awake and spent the time reading, eating breakfast and watching woodpeckers and other birds fly through camp. The woodpeckers weren't Piliated woodpeckers but large like them. It was a cool 49 degrees with a little breeze. There was a canoe from RK's group fishing on the hot spot. I wondered how they're doing.
Everyone was out of their tent and ready for the photo tour by 9:30. First we headed for the Partridge Lake portage. The girls paddled one canoe and the boys paddled the other. The wind blew us down the bay to the portage. We pulled the canoes up into the trees and headed down the trail looking for things of beauty and interest. We discovered that it was very warm in the woods compared to paddleing on an ice cold lake in the wind. We met 5 paddlers portaging out from Partridge. They said the Lake Trout fishing was excellent. They were portaging 85 pound Discovery 174's. They were men. Then we paddled to the Moss Lake portage with hopes of going up to the Caribou Hiking trail and it's overlook of Moss and Duncan. When we got to the place to scramble to the top it was very overgrown and full of dead falls. So we had lunch on the shores of Moss lake and headed back to the canoes. After coffee with Kincaid in our camp we went fishing. The afternoon weather was very pleasant. We fished for 2 hours with only a couple bites that we couldn't get into the boat. However, this was the best spot to be in America as far as I was concerned. Supper was chicken and noodle casserole. It was the girls turn to clean up after supper and they did a very good job. For our evening treats we fried donuts using Pillsbury refridgerated bread dough. We covered them with cinnamon sugar and they were as good as Dunkin' Donuts. The evening was cooling down so to keep warm one of the students would put his sitting log on the fire grate for a couple minutes, then take it off before it started fire and sit on it. He ohhed and ahhed a lot as the hot log warmed his posterior. Other students tried it as well. Later the sounds of the night forest lulled us to sleep.
Saturday, May 24. It was a beautiful morning, the lake was smooth as a mirror and just as reflective. The sun rise was a quiet explosion of light and color. The sky was blue without a cloud from horizon to horizon. Birds were singing the praises for another beautful day. My group is exceptionally well adapted to life in the wilderness. They had perfected their canoeing skills and travel efficiently and quietly. Camp life had been great too. All chores are done without complaint and fire wood was always at the ready. At 8 am everyone was sleeping except Liz, who went fishing with Nick. At 10 am my group was headed for Kincaid's camp to go with him to the Stairway portage. Kincaid's group arrived at my camp a few minutes later. I talked about Brandenberg and wilderness photography. I emphasized capturing the memories and images of the BWCA. We went to Partridge Lake via the 230 rod portage. We stopped about half way for a rest but all did the portage in good fashion. We had lunch at a campsite and then 2 boats went fishing. One of the students who had been fishless caught 2 nice Lake Trout making the long portage in here well worth it. We left a little early and Nick waited at the portage for the other boat. One of the boys carried my canoe and got off the trail at the end of the portage. We ended up bush wacking. We waited for the others and then headed back to camp. After a little coffee two of the boys and I went fishing, our last chance of the weekend. We trolled for a couple miles trying to stay out of the strong wind. After a while the winds calmed we worked our way into the bay south of camp. Still no luck. From a distance we saw Kincaid flag us over to his camp. Once there he offered us the 2 fish his boys caught on Partridge. We accepted them greatfully. Supper was potatoe soup, which Liz made, fried fish and later cini mini's. The reciepe for cini minis is - on a tortilla spread squeeze margerine, sugar and cinnamon. Then roll it up and slice into miniature cinnamon rolls. We made several this way and then decided to just fry whole tortillas folded in half with sugar and cinnamon in the middle. This was much more efficient, and just as good. Everyone loved them. Cribbage was next. It was a great time. After some open hands to teach the rules we got serious. Liz and Nathan soon had a huge lead, Sam and I struggled with many small hands. The real fun was all the jokes and teasing, we especially enjoyed teasing Nathan about his gastrointestinal problems. That night Nathan and Sam slept under the tarp. It rained but they stayed dry and slept well inspite of the the rain and mosquitos. Early the next morning I got camp packed and had a squirt of coffee. Kincaid's group went by at 6:30, they broke camp with out breakfast. We were on the water 20 minutes later. Although it had rained most of the night it let up enough to paddle out and get across the portage comfortably. It was a great trip!
