The Fire Tour

In June of 07 I took a tour of the recent fire areas in and around Saganaga, Red Rock, Alpine and Seagull. My companions were from the Kenyon area. the fires had swept through this area in 05, 06, 07 and 1975. We were able to view the various stages of regrowth and rebirth of a forest.
We left the seagull river landing late in the morning. we made our way across the main part of sag quite easily. However the last mile was was windy and wavy and rough. The good news is we stayed on course and arrived at our camp on long island in 3 hours. The wind was cool but dehydrated us. It was nice to be in camp with a refreshing drink and some snacks and a fabulous view to the west on sag. After putting up camp i made some coffee and talked about tomorrow. Our plan is to move to Alpine and camp tomorrow and then go to seagull the day after. This will make our layover day at a favorite campsite on seagull.
We slept late and weren't out of camp till 10am. It was a good day to travel, cool, and cloudy but no rain. Jenny did the navigating today. Quite a challenge as we wove our way through many islands. It was refreshing to walk and pull our canoes through a shallow channel that lead to red rock lake. Once on the other side we stopped for a short break and along came a moose cow and calf. They were not afraid of us and walked through the deep water eating aquatic plants. they walked up on shore and didn't run into the woods. We got many photos and videos as the ambled along the shore and then into t he woods. My companions walked back up stream and watched the pair of moose go into Saganaga and start swimming again. It was a wilderness vision for all of us, even Chloe the Cocker Spaniel didn't bark.
WE paddled on feeling the wonderfulness of this place in our hearts. About a mile farther down the lake we we found 4 loons swimming in the middle of the lake, we got real close and took more pictures. Now we were totally jazzed up. At the beginning of the portage into Alpine we met 9 boy scouts. We managed to come and go on the small landing. I made 3 trips and everyone else made 2 trips. The girls carried the Grumman as a team and did very well. It was a 50 rod portage, short by BWCA standards but it was up hill and very muddy. At the Alpine end to the portage we had lunch. the cheese, sausage, crackers, gorp and crystal light were delicious. From our lunch stop we could see that most of alpine was burned. The campsite we were aiming for was taken. Interestingly enough it wasn't burned. So after a little discussion we decided to head onto the Seagull Hilton campsite. WE made our way through Alpine efficiently with Jenny still navigating.
We decided to run the rapids between alpine and seagull. Pam and i went first in the Souris River canoe, no problem and a lot of fun. Jenny and Molly took photos and videos, which we later enjoyed. The girls decided they didn't want to run the rapids so Pam and i ran it again in the Grumman. Now we were getting good at it. Totally fun. I love whitewater and should do more of it.
The trip across the western 1/2 of seagull was quick but consumed our last reserves of energy. We got to the Seagull Hilton campsite and someone was already there. They said they were leaving in the morning. Our second choice campsite was also taken so that left us with our last choice which was empty. By now it was 6:30 ... we made camp and swam. It was a great day but it was a relief to be in camp. For supper we had mac and cheese with garlic bread. We went to bed without putting up the tarp or hanging the food pack.
At 6am the next morning it started to sprinkle and thunder causing us to get up and cover the packs with tarps. We went right back to bed. I listened to the radio and didn't sleep much. At 9am the tent was too hot to sleep in any longer. My back and shoulders were very achy from the previous days efforts. It was a good morning. The girls went for a hike and i put up t he tarp and drank coffee. someone else had already moved in on the campsite we wanted yesterday. In the afternoon we went exploring in the canoes. Now Molly was navigator. We stopped at a nearby campsite and swam. Next we headed for the palisade and the thunder started. Getting nervous, we checked out one more campsite and didn't go to the palisade. Back home and under the tarp before it started raining hard. I drank coffee and started the spaghetti supper. It was good, everyone liked it. We spent most of the evening on the rock talking , watching the clouds and finally the sunset and approaching evening. When the bugs got bad the girls went to their tent and played Catch Phrase. I journaled and listened to the radio in my tent. Tomorrow promises more exploring and fun.
Had my usual coffee and bagel for breakfast. Then we broke camp and went to see if the people at the Seagull Hilton were going to leave... they weren't ...So we headed for the palisade camp which was open. Dropped off our gear packs.. We had some lunch and headed for the palisade. We pulled into the mini harbor and secured our boats . We climbed the hill.. at the top the view was fantastic. for an hour and a 1/2 we took photo's, talked, ate lunch and watched the groups paddle below us. We could see for several miles east , south and west.. Back on the water we headed into the islands for more exploring. Molly still navigating. AS we wandered through the islands I thought I knew where we were, but I didn't... molly did tho. I was very proud of her. We stopped at a campsite I had paddled by many times but never explored it. As we checked it out we found a blueberry patch high on a rock behind camp. We picked and ate a lot of blueberries. The sun was shining and it was a great day. We also wandered around camp and found several kinds of flowers including a wild iris. On the way back to camp we toured around several more islands. One island had a campsite with about 14 scouts, When we got there the 4 leaders were sitting in chairs looking at the lake, a couple boys were experimenting with righting an overturned canoe. We continued our way back to camp and went by the palisade again seeing some great flowers growing in a crack on the wall. took some more photos. The last 1/4 mile to camp was real tough fighting the wind. Back at camp ;we popped up the tents but not t he tarp. the girls went for a hike and I made coffee. While drinking my coffee I saw two moose swimming down the channel and didn't know what t hey were at first. What a treat. I watched until they swam to shore and disappeared into t he woods. Supper was New Orleans beans and rice with onion and hamburger. for dessert we had a fire and made smores. At 9:45 it started to rain again. we went to our tents.
In the morning we paddled out... it took us about an hour and a half. It was a beautiful morning and once again Molly did a great job navigating. the joy of canoe country travel is strong in this group. It was a good time.