Camping

[Archigeek]

I am headed out for 5 days of canoeing in the BWCA tomorrow. Looking forward to being out of range of cell towers and most of humanity. The BWCA is one of those places where you can really get away if you want to.

If anyone is curious, we'll be entering at Baker Lake, and paddling north thru Jack, S Temperance, N Temperance, Sitka, Cherokee, and then looping west and south and exiting on Sawbill. All in all it's about 28 miles of paddling and a hair less than 4 miles of portaging.

[BriarFox]

I am headed out for 5 days of canoeing in the BWCA tomorrow. Looking forward to being out of range of cell towers and most of humanity. The BWCA is one of those places where you can really get away if you want to.

If anyone is curious, we'll be entering at Baker Lake, and paddling north thru Jack, S Temperance, N Temperance, Sitka, Cherokee, and then looping west and south and exiting on Sawbill. All in all it's about 28 miles of paddling and a hair less than 4 miles of portaging.

Sounds like a fantastic trip! Hope you have lightweight canoes for all the portaging.

[Archigeek]

Sounds like a fantastic trip! Hope you have lightweight canoes for all the portaging.

As a teenager, we went up there with 90 pound Alumacraft canoes. Nowadays we use a ~40 pound Winona. The light weight is great, though you sacrifice a keel, so they're a little unwieldy if you end up in high winds. All in all I'll take my chances. I took three newbies up last year, which was my first trip in a while, and they liked it enough to do it again this year.

[Astray]

Nice!

[Taernath]

Have fun!

I try to do some backpacking every year but things are just too crazy right now. Dying for some peace and quiet in the wilderness.

[lexbubba]

I done the bwca a number of times, as well as the Canadian side (quetico). Was supposed to be in quetico again in June but had to cancel due to Canadian border crossing restrictions. Absolutely love that whole Northern Minnesota/Southern Canada area. Take some pics so we can live vicariously through you!

[Archigeek]

I done the bwca a number of times, as well as the Canadian side (quetico). Was supposed to be in quetico again in June but had to cancel due to Canadian border crossing restrictions. Absolutely love that whole Northern Minnesota/Southern Canada area. Take some pics so we can live vicariously through you!

Will do. I've never been to the Canadian side, though I've been within a few hundred yards. Want to give it a try sometime.

[lexbubba]

Canadian side is great 1m+ acres that they only let 20k people per year in without any motorized vehicles. But permits are crazy expensive compared to bwca and hard to get

[Archigeek]

Canadian side is great 1m+ acres that they only let 20k people per year in without any motorized vehicles. But permits are crazy expensive compared to bwca and hard to get

It's not easy to get exactly the BWCA permit you want, but not so bad if you're willing to be flexible on entry points.

[FlayedAngel]

That sounds amazing.

[Archigeek]

Also of note. When we portage from Sitka to Cherokee, we cross the Laurentian divide. I asked our outfitter about the current in about a 4 mile stretch of river on the return part of the trip. I couldn't tell from the map if it was up stream or down. She said there's very little current in that stretch, because of its proximity to the divide.

Need to finish packing...

[Gelston]

I used to go camping/canoing often. Mostly up in Arkansas or Oklahoma. Fun times.

[Tgo01]

My idea of camping is a modern cabin with heat, electricity, and a hot tub.

[Gelston]

My idea of camping is a modern cabin with heat, electricity, and a hot tub.

That is called going to a hotel.

[Tgo01]

That is called going to a hotel.

Exactly.

[Gelston]

Exactly.

Imagine that, the liberal roughing it in the wild, and the conservative cucking it out in a hotel.

[Tgo01]

Imagine that, the liberal roughing it in the wild, and the conservative cucking it out in a hotel.

I also don't hunt and don't like sports.

[Archigeek]

On the drive back home. It was a crazy trip. In spite of falling on a submerged rock and cracking some ribs, I still had a good time. We were about halfway through the trip, and in a place where there was no easy way to cut the trip short, so we decided to push on. I could carry a pack, but not a canoe, so we switched up who was doing what and pressed on. Tightening up a life vest as a jury rigged compression vest was a life saver. Also chomping down all the pain killers we had.

Positive elements of the trip: just about perfect weather except it rained all night on day 4. As a bonus, thunder echoed off the cliffs for a good 20 seconds with each lightning strike. It was spectacular. The wilderness was fantastic.

We had some really brutal portages, but still had a great time. Looking forward to a shower and a normal bed.

[BriarFox]

Jesus, man. I'm sorry to hear about the ribs. I'm glad it was a good trip otherwise!

[Derex]

On the drive back home. It was a crazy trip. In spite of falling on a submerged rock and cracking some ribs, I still had a good time. We were about halfway through the trip, and in a place where there was no easy way to cut the trip short, so we decided to push on. I could carry a pack, but not a canoe, so we switched up who was doing what and pressed on. Tightening up a life vest as a jury rigged compression vest was a life saver. Also chomping down all the pain killers we had.

Positive elements of the trip: just about perfect weather except it rained all night on day 4. As a bonus, thunder echoed off the cliffs for a good 20 seconds with each lightning strike. It was spectacular. The wilderness was fantastic.

We had some really brutal portages, but still had a great time. Looking forward to a shower and a normal bed.

How many pain killers did you have? Lol

[Alashir]

Jesus, man. I'm sorry to hear about the ribs. I'm glad it was a good trip otherwise!

Pain is just weakness leaving the body. That and good excuse to lay around "healing" while duskruin is going on. Very clever timing archigeek. Very clever indeed

[Archigeek]

How many pain killers did you have? Lol

26 or 28 ibuprofen and a dozen acetaminophen. Didn't bring any narcotic ones. It's too difficult to function on those. Thought about it, in case someone had a serious break or something.

[Archigeek]

Pain is just weakness leaving the body. That and good excuse to lay around "healing" while duskruin is going on. Very clever timing archigeek. Very clever indeed

Hmm. I like your line of thought. This could take a couple of weeks to get better...

[Seran]

Did some serious hiking and truck bed camping the other weekend. Really a beautiful time at Lake Tahoe, but still very busy there.

9592

[FlayedAngel]

Damn dude, glad you made it through and had a good time.

[Archigeek]

Had the ribs checked out at Urgent Care yesterday and x-rays came back negative for broken bones. Some internal bruising, but I'll be back to normal in a couple of weeks.

It really was a fun trip, though I think we'll find a route with less portaging next year. We paddled about 27 miles and portaged about 4 miles. My goal for next year is to put together a decent route to Lake Kekekabic that doesn't kill us.

I did catch a decent size Northern Pike at about 7 pounds, and we fried that up for lunch. No luck with the lake trout though.