Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Boundary Waters


While Elaine and Owen were home alone last week, I was feeling guilty while canoing in the Boundary Waters up on the Minnesota-Canada border. Seven years ago we went on our first Boundary Waters adventure, finally making good on Dad's promise to relive his boyscout adventures of his youth . This summer we decided to do one more Boundary Waters trip before the old guys were too old to carry a pack on a portage.

After a 14 hour drive to West Branch, IA on Friday, and a nine hour drive to Ely, MN on Saturday, we were towed up Moose Lake to Indian Portage and set our canoes in on Birch Lake early on Saturday morning. We made quick work of the five portages around a series of rapids on the Canadian border to make it to Knife Lake where we would spend most of the trip. Our first campsite was a lovely little spot with a view of Robbin Island, made all the better by the delicious steaks we packed for dinner on our first night.

On day two we paddled up Knife Lake, by Thunder Island, and into South Arm Knife Lake, where we found an amazing campsite that we would make home for the next three days. (Both the picture on this post are views from our base camp, which was on a small island in South Arm Knife Lake. The top picture looks from the big rock at the front of our camp back across a little cove in our island, and the bottom picture looks up the narrows alongside Thunder Island back up towards Knife Lake). From our base camp, we made a little excursion to Eddy Falls on our third day, and that night Thomas and I stayed up for a beautiful view of the night sky (sadly the northern lights weren't out this trip, but we did see the International Space Station, which was considerably brighter than it was seven years ago) . On the fourth day we made a big circuitous loop up to the Canadian border and back with lots of fishing along the way. Thankfully Thomas caught some fish and Cary the wonderful backwoods chef fried up some delicious appetizers. Music was provided by David and Jimmy who egged each other on singing more and more obscure (at least to the ears to someone under 40) songs from the last 70 or so years.

The beauty and serenity of our little island base camp really gave us a wonderful place to enjoy nature and reflect on all the things that bring us to the Boundary Waters. Thomas and I had a wonderful chance to bond with our fathers, while planning the next trip when we will take our sons. (As soon as they can carry a pack we think they'll be ready, although we figured that we might have to break the all guy tradition if we can convince Joe to bring along Gigi, but we figure we'll have to wait and see which parent she takes after to see if she'd be up for the canoe camping experience).

By the fifth day it was time to start the long journey home. We paddled all the way back to Birch Lake putting all of the portages behind us, with a stop to climb thunder point along the way. We made it to our camp on Birch Lake just in time to beat the rain, and after the rain stopped, Thomas put his fire making skills to the test by building a roaring one match fire out of some shockingly wet wood. On the morning of the sixth day we paddled to our pick up point and had a 'tow' back down Moose Lake. After a quick lunch in Ely we drove back down to West Branch. The next day we stayed in Iowa for the Fawcett Sweet Corn Festival, then drove back to D.C. on Sunday.

By Sunday night I was home, and Owen gave me the most amazing welcome home I could ever imagine. He was nearly beside himself with his joyous shouts of "Daddy! Daddy! I Love Daddy!" and the hugs and kisses just didn't stop. And of course I have to thank Elaine for being such a wonderful wife taking care of Owen and the home front while I was away and letting me go on such an exciting adventure.

(Click here to see the highlights from the trip)
(Click here to see all 200 pictures)

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