Friday July 16 to Tuesday July 20th, 2010

We hit the water at 4:15 heading North on Sawbill Lake. The 9 of us arrived at a campsite in a bay on the west side of the lake at 6pm. Camp was made and an easy one pot meal was prepared due to the lateness of the hour. The evening went by quickly. In the morning the kids slept in and after a breakfast of eggs and bacon we hit the water at 11am. Our days journey took us to Cherokee Lake where we found a sand beach campsite at about 6pm. We all went for a swim before making camp and starting supper. We grilled hamburgers and a few side dishes. I told a bear story while preparing the meal. Sunday morning found us travelling North and then East to Town Lake. We visited with other canoeists for a few minutes before tackling a long portage into the primitive area of Cam Lake. The portages were extremely difficult due to the boulders we had to constantly step over and around. We entered beautiful Brule Lake and went directly to a large camp on the Southern shore of the West end. We all went swimming as soon as camp was made. It was a beautiful evening and the lake was iridescent long after sunset. Hannah and Camilla got up at 3 the next morning to go fishing and watch the sunrise. I stayed up for a while just to monitor the situation. After about 45 minutes I went back to bed and slept till 6am. I sat in my chair waiting for their return and they did at about 6:40am. They were soon back in their tent sleeping. The reason they got up so early was their watch was off by an hour. I packed up my kit and went to start coffee. Everyone slept in again and it wasn't until after breakfast and a swim that we hit the water at 11am. Our journey to Burnt Lake crossed several portages covering 615 rods total. Once again we arrived in camp at 6pm. Camp was pitched and I went for a swim. After I had changed clothes I walked into the main camp area to discover that Lene had started supper and had everything under control. The spaghetti was delicious and after a quick clean up we all went to the west side of camp to watch the sunset and take photos. As darkness settled in the forest we gathered around the campfire and I read entries from my journal. The next morning, in the rain, we portaged 190 rods back to Sawbill Lake and paddled the East shore to the Landing. It was great to camp and canoe with this group, they were real troopers. We covered 25 miles of paddling and 1567 rods of portaging.

The following is journal passages made by the participants.

Hannah

The simplistic living of paddling, portaging and finding a new home every night stirs up some deep emotions and thoughts of home, family, and life. Being surrounded by lovely, fun people and sharing their spirits makes the air and water even more beautiful. Slowing down the pace with no alarm clock buzzing, phone or email to check makes me realize how complicated we make life. A 3am paddle with Camilla, fail at fishing and then just sit in silence and watch the sunrise and having the sounds of the lake life waking up for a brand new day is something I have never seen or heard before. These simple pleasures happen everyday throughout our lives. Yet, we are too busy to enjoy them. The stunning landscape has "no trace" of man across the landscape. Lets hope it lasts for more to see.

Daniel

This whole experience has just been wonderful. I am glad I had the opportunity to spend these few days with everyone in this group and to discover this beautiful natural area. I believe that I have learned a lot about living in the outdoors, canoeing and just relaxing outside the Twin Cities. I hope that the Boundary Waters Area would remain like this forever and also hope to be able to come here again.

Francisca

Here we are far away from everyone, maybe in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Here, Bill taught me how to paddle and gave me a beautiful flower. (water lily) I will never forget this trip and the people traveling with me. Thank you for everything including the great meals.

Florianne

I find myself writing this while having the most amazing view of Brule Lake in the morning sun. This is the most amazing and beautiful trip I have ever made. Just with the nine dumplings of us paddling and portaging from place to place. I will never forget this amazing trip with Bald Eagles, Loon calls, and you in your chair, pipe in your mouth telling us the bear stories. Thank you very much for guiding on this wonderful trip. I enjoyed it till the very last minute.

Lene

Dear Bill, I have now gone from being your kitchen assistant on the first night to stunning you just now by taking charge of Monday's dinner. It's been a great couple of days and your charismatic presence has been a huge part of that. A campfire will never be the same without a bear tale and a whiff of tobacco. Thank you for being our canoe-companion and keeping us safe and well fed. And good job today with the 600 rods, it sure feels good to relax in this campsite now. Have a great summer.

Emilie

Most of the things I would tell you have already been told, but imagine that I would tell you with my French accent, that makes all the difference. What would have been this trip without you, with out your coffee and especially your cowboy coffee. I'm really happy to have shared all those unique and wonderful moments with you. I will remember this trip for a long time. Thank you so much.

Camilla

Dear Coffee-aholic, (yes- you should seriously consider getting some professional help against that addiction) Your excuse for getting us to write here in your book, was that you hadn't had time to write in your journal. So to help you I'm going to summarise the last days with us. Here's a typical day: 1) Being awaken at 2:30 am because two crazy girls wanted to watch the sunrise. 2) Make coffee, relaxed mode again. 3)Cooking breakfast for your hungry children. 4) Getting your gear down in the green kayak and paddle and paddle and paddle and portage and paddle and portage and mosquitoes and lunch and pipe and paddle and long portage. 5)Find a home for the night. 6) Coffee. 7) Make dinner for your hungry kids. 8) Bear Stories.

Lene thought that the following excerpts from a song would be good now.

All that I have is a river, the river is always my home, Lord take me away for I just cannot stay

Please help me build a small boat, one that will ride on the flow where the river runs deep and the larger fish creep, I'm glad of what keeps me afloat.

Now the land that I knew is a dream and the light on the distance grows thin, So wide is my river the artist has run out of ink, Where the blue of the sea meets the sky and the big yellow sun leads me home.

And each night brings the stars and a song in my heart, it's a tune for the journey mans tale.

Two Generations in the BWCA, 6-14-10

My Uncle John, his wife Diana, Ruth and I were completely delighted to get the best campsite on the lake after 3 hours of paddling and portaging. It was threatening rain so we put up the tarp and were soon enjoying our afternoon snack. Our steaks were still frozen so we went to plan "B" and fixed Macaroni, boiled hot dogs and salads for supper. At sunset we gathered on the west rock to watch the colors, photograph and visit. We enjoyed our time together. In the morning Ruth and I fixed spam and egg beaters. Very good eatting, but this kind of food weighs down the packs coming across the portages as did a lot of our delicious but heavy food. John and Diana had very light packs because of their careful packing and freeze dried food. We were impressed by how well they camped with a minimum of gear. While fishing in the afternoon we found a campsite with a huge supply of firewood. We spent an hour of our precious fishing time shuttling a load of it back to our camp. Our fishing adventure continued with me using a slip bobber and leech while Ruth used a cisco, large hook and large regular bobber. I learned these methods from Frank and Mark, respectfully. It was great fishing with Ruth but we didn't catch anything. Upon returning to camp I took a quick swim. The cool water is extremely rejuvinating. Supper was fire grilled steaks and baked potatoes. Ruth made delicious salads. The steaks were perfect and once again worth their weight crossing the portages. There was a heavy cloud cover and no sunset so we played cribbage. The girls won 2-1. We started the next beautiful day with Sturdiwheat pancakes. It pleased us greatly to know that we had enough mix for a second breakfast of pancakes. Later that morning all of us headed for the eastern bay of the lake for some serious fishing. It was great to be paddling around on such a fine day. It was cloudy but the sun peaked through every once in a while. We checked out an O.K. campsite on the eastern shore but found it just a little too small. Next we headed for "Dangerous Waters". We had lunch on a large rock overlooking the first rapids, followed by hiking the portage. We marveled at the many flowers, moss and ferns. Diana saw her first real live Pink Showy Lady Slipper. We had to cross several downed trees, they were challenging but fun. Back at camp we all immersed ourselves in the wilderness experience of swimming in a cool Boundary Waters lake. It rinsed our bodies and minds. Ruth built a fire and roasted hot dogs for supper. We went fishing again and after an hour of no luck stopped to photograph a rock wall and it's reflection on the calm waters. Ruth set her pole down without reeling it in and spent several minutes composing many images of the beautiful scene. When she picked up her pole she realized she might have a fish on. Then she thought it was snagged. Then the snag moved about 10 feet. Now she was sure she had a fish. She had trouble getting the Northern close to the boat but I finally netted it for her. It was a nice sized eatter. We cleaned it on a nearby rock and headed back to our wonderful campsite. The magic of this super day continued with an outstanding sunset that was an extravaganza of color for about 45 minutes. In the morning, after listening to the weather report we decided we should head out. The forcast was for high winds the next day. But, before we left we fried the Northern and made pancakes. A superior last breakfast. The paddle out that afternoon was full of northwoods beauty and wonder even though the portages were congested. It was great spending time with John and Diana and we're looking forward to another trip soon.

Old Friends in the Boundary Waters, 6-4-10

We paddled away from the portage and entered a steady shower of soaking rain. We passed 7 campsites before we found an empty one. Ruth and I erected our lean-to tarp quickly. As we sat there relaxing and glad to be out of the rain we realized we were soaked to the bone. Our rain gear had failed us. We changed into dry clothes, put on a pot of coffee and we were warm again. After supper the rain and wind stopped and Mark started a fire. It took him a while but his patience and skill urged a crackling fire out of the wet wood. Marsha and Ruth went to the tents early and Mark and I sat by the warm fire late into the night. We talked about life and other things. In the morning I crawled out of our tent at 10am to find out that everyone had been awake for hours. Mark had gone fishing and the rest of us enjoyed a warm and dry morning in high contrast to the wind and rain of yesterday. That afternoon we all hiked the Snowbank Lake backpacking trail that passed our camp in the woods. While walking we found a threesome of Pink Showy Lady Slippers, the Minnesota state flower. We also crossed a gurgling stream twice, once out and once on the return. About a half mile from camp Mark pointed out a huge pile of bear droppings. The 3 dogs we had along enjoyed the walk and were quiet and contented for the remainder of the day. Ruth and I had venison sticks, cheese, and salsa wrapped in a tortilla for our afternoon snack. Ruth and I played cribbage and I won, much to her suprise. I got to count first, and went out, she was left holding a 20 point hand that she didn't get to count. Coopers went fishing and I went for a swim. It felt wonderful to be clean and refreshed by the cool waters of a northern lake. Around the campfire that evening we shared stories about bears, children and camping trips from long ago. It had been a good day with only a couple sprinkles and occasional sunshine. In the morning Coopers went on a day long trip to a nearby lake while Ruth and I went fishing in bays close to camp. I used a Mepps and Dare Devil with no luck. I switched to a Rapala but soon lost it. It was great to be paddling on such a nice day, but no luck fishing. We played cribbage and quit when it was 1-1. We sat by the beach during whole late afternoon drinking coffee and absorbing the beauty of the lake before us. Coopers caught a Northern off the rock across the bay. He cleaned it a couple hundred yards down the shore and to our delight we watched an Eagle fly off with the remains. Ruth and I fished that evening and it was a wonderfull couple hours out on the water, but, alas, we caught no fish. Cribbage however was rewarding for the guys. We won the BWCA Invitational Cribbage Tournament 3-1. All of us, the 3 dogs and 4 adults spent the last hours of our days in the BWCA gathered around a wonderful fire. We knew this was a special place and knew we would return.