The Complete Package

Dec. 27 to Dec. 31st.....Mikkel, Cody , Neil and I headed across Bearskin Lake after a 6 hour drive that started early that morning from St. Paul. It was an arduous hike in, first there was the slush and then the trail through the snow and across the ice hadn't been broken...the slush iced up the bottom of the toboggans that we hauled all our camping gear in. we pulled with great difficulty before realizing that we need to scrap the the bottoms of the toboggans. that done it was a little easier. it was 8 degrees above zero but the effort of pulling the toboggans warmed us very nicely. once in camp we shoveled out about a foot of snow to make a place for our tents and cooking area. next we started supper... we cooked individually. the hot food warmed us greatly as it was now approaching zero. we were glad to be in the boundary waters but the previous short night and today's long drive had us all in bed before 9 pm.
after a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee Neil and I went looking for fire wood. the lakes summer visitors usually take all the wood close at had so we ended up going quite a ways to find it. and we did. I was just looking for a tree that would work and Neil spotted one first. it was a cedar about 30 feet long that had broken off about 8 feet up the trunk. we sawed off an 8 foot piece and hauled it back to camp. Mikkel , Cody and Neil went to the Stairway Portage, a scenic overlook about 2 miles away, down the lake and through the woods. I stayed back and dealt with camp chores. When they returned i had coffee going and the fire started. next we drilled holes and checked the depths in preparation for fishing at midnight when the trout opener started. At 7pm we went back to the cedar tree and brought most of it back with us. It was the most wood I've ever seen 4 guys haul out of the woods in a 1/2 hour. We spent the rest of the evening waiting for midnight playing cribbage. when midnight arrived we fished for an hour with no luck... went to bed about 1 am ... it was about zero degrees.
slept till 9:30 am , made some coffee and went back out on the ice to a new spot. Actually the same spot we fished last year and did so well. Fishing was a lot of fun. Neil caught a big one early on and we were all hoping our turn would come too. Cody and Mikkel caught , released and kept several more. I had many bites but couldn't get one on the ice. While fishing we made coffee on my little stove, snacked , talked and walked around, we drilled many holes and moved around from hole to hole. at 4:30, almost dark, Neil and I headed for camp. we cooked supper and started a fire. soon the other guys were in and we built up the fire even more to warm them up. We fried up the lake trout, it was fabulous. and then we played more cribbage. by the end of the evening it was 1 to 1, Mikkel and Cody against Neil and I. It was great to play cards, shoot the bull and sit by the fire. Some of our discussions covered what to bring next year, a couple things for sure would be a second stove, and a bigger pot to boil water on the fire. every evening we would fill our nalgene bottles with boiling water and put in our sleeping bags to warm our feet when we went to bed later.
The next morning I woke up too warm and a little claustrophobic. My minus 40 down bag is a little too warm when it's only zero. We soon headed for the lake taking breakfast and the stove and pots with us. We spent the morning eating, drinking coffee, talking and all the while catching 5 more trout. The Department of Natural Resources snowshoed in and and checked our fishing licenses just like they did yesterday. We fish legal and there were no problems. Just a few hundred yards from our fishing hole there were 2 high school kids camped... yesterday the DNR and forest service were here to check also and the kids didn't have a trout stamp, but because they caught no fish they didn't get a ticket, however the forest service gave them a $120 ticket for not having a permit, the young and dumb learn the hard way. While we were fishing we saw several groups of day trippers ski and snowshoe down the lake towards Stairway Portage. One of them stopped to talk to us.. their leader had stepped on thin ice and broke one foot through and had to walk back to his cabin 2 miles away with a wet foot, it was a heat wave but still only 26 degrees... I'm glad that wasn't me. He wasn't far enough to the left going through the narrows up by the stairway portage. I quit fishing about 3pm and went up to camp to journal, and prepare my stuff as it was the last evening in camp. Neil arrived about 4 and we started supper. I went down to the lake to chop out the old water hole, it had frozen 8 inches of water in 24 hours I couldn't get through. I gave up after 10 minutes of vigorous swinging of the hatchet...so next, Neil tried, he got water in five chops, I shouldn't have given up so soon. I had horded 2 tablespoons of Kenya AA coffee, and made myself a last delicious cup. Cody and Mikkel returned with another fish for a total of 6 for the day. I fried the fish on my stove once again, sat by the fire and talked, life was good. Then Mikkel rehydrated some bean mush... it was really good. We had several rousing games of cribbage and the out come was that,Mikkel and Cody were the 2007 Duncan Lake Cribbage Invitational Champions. Mikkel was off to read his book and Neil, Cody and I continued to play 3 way cribbage. Neil was the winner of that, he had a 20 point crib that hinged on the 7 that I discarded, new rule- never discard a 7. After the card games Mikkel and Cody went to bed and Neil and I went out on the ice. Neil showed me the constellations, some of which I knew others I didn't. It was a very clear night and the stars shown like Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night. The Milky Way glowed, Neil told me, ( he's a relegion major) that ancient peoples believed that the stars were pinholes in the sky where heaven shown tthrough. and that when you went to heaven you went up into the sky and through these pin holes to heaven. Neil went to bed and sat by the fire journaling...sitting in front of the many glowing embers... I was thankful for the kind and good people that I've spent the last few days with, I hope I can take back to town the gifts they have given me - their friendship, camaraderie, sense of humor and enthusiasm for life. The mornings trip out took only 40 minutes, a fraction of the effort and time spent getting here on the previous Thursday. the slush in the trail was frozen and the rest of the way was well travelled and packed, that's all... Bill