Boundary Waters, Here We Come

It seems like we just got unpacked from our last trip, and now we are off again. Life is good.

This morning we will depart for our annual pilgrimage to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota.

"Great glaciers carved the physical features of what is today known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) by scraping and gouging rock. The glaciers left behind rugged cliffs and crags, canyons, gentle hills, towering rock formations, rocky shores, sandy beaches and several thousand lakes and streams, interspersed with islands and surrounded by forest.

The BWCAW is a unique area located in the northern third of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota. Approximately 1.3 million acres in size, it extends nearly 150 miles along the International Boundary adjacent to Canada's Quetico Provincial Park and bordered on the west by Voyageurs National Park. The BWCAW contains over 1200 miles of canoe routes, 15 hiking trails and approximately 2000 designated campsites. Wilderness offers freedom to those who wish to pursue an experience of expansive solitude, challenge and personal integration with nature. Because this area was set aside in 1926 to preserve its primitive character and made a part of the National Wilderness Preservation System in 1964, it allows visitors to canoe, portage and camp in the spirit of the French Voyageurs of 200 years ago."

We will put in on Lake One about 15 miles east of Ely, MN on Sunday August 26 and take out at the same place on Friday September 7. Normally we would move almost every day and execute about 4-6 portages each day, in which we must carry our boats and gear from lake to lake. Portages range in length from about 100' to over half a mile. This year we are taking some Boundary Waters virgins with us and have planned an easier, more leisurely trip. We will lay over in the same campsite about every other day, and the route has relatively few portages. This will allow a little more time for fishing and just plain taking it easy, and hopefully, not kill the rookies. Unfortunately, there is currently a total prohibition on open fires, due to extremely dry conditions. This is inconvenient because we usually do about half of our cooking on an open fire. We have packed extra fuel for our camp stoves, but hopefully we will get some rain and the ban will be lifted. As my friend Wayne frequently says when anyone remarks about the great weather we've had on any particular trip: "I've never been on a [fill in the number] day long trip yet, when it didn't rain". This time I hope he's right.

After we put in on Sunday, we will have no internet access until we take out thirteen days later, so it may be a while before there is another post to this site.

Bon voyage.

The Heart Rock Sweepstakes Winner IS .....

The heart rock weighed in at 13 lbs 13 ounces. The winner of the Heart Rock Sweepstakes is Ann M. with an entry of 15 lbs. Congrats Ann on your winning guess. I wish there was a prize.

The heart rock has been placed on Izaak's grave, along with the other mementos gathered on the trip.

Izaak Memorial Westward Ho Summer Adventure 2007 - wrap up

All in all it was a very enjoyable and satisfying trip. We had been worried that we would want to come home before we had planned to do so, but that never happened. When the time came to head for home we weren't ready; we wanted to stay even longer and go to even more places.

The best part of the trip, besides the obvious thing of seeing so many interesting places and things, is that we did it at our own pace. Except for the bookends, the Katy Trail bike trip and Bob Marshall backpack, we had no set schedule and could stay as long as we wanted at any particular place. Consequently, on several occasions we stayed a week or more in one place. We stayed 11 days in Glacier National Park alone. RETIREMENT IS GOOD! The worst parts of the trip were the record-breaking heat and the summer crowds in the national parks. Normally we wouldn't have planned such a trip for the middle of the summer, but with the bike trip in late May and the backpack in August, it made sense.

Trip Statistics:

• Duration: 86 days or a little more than 12 weeks.
• Distance: 6512 miles (not counting miles driven in the Honda, which would probably add another ~1200 miles.
• States Visited: TN, AL, MS, AR, TX, NM, AZ, UT, ID, MT, SD, WY, IA, MO, IL, and KY. Additionally we came within a few miles of, but did not enter, CO, NE, OK and Canada.
• Diesel Fuel Consumed: 786 gallon gallons ($2191) includes fuel for generator and hot water.
• Camping Costs: $461 Average cost = $5.42/night.

Future Major Trips:

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness - Aug 24-Sep 9 (without the motorcoach)
• Adirondacks and New England - Sep 11 - ~Oct 15
• NC Outer Banks ~one week sometime in Nov
• Florida - ~Dec 15 - ~Feb 15

The Franklin Reunion, Linville Falls, NC

August 10-13

This weekend we attended the reunion of the descendants of Samuel and Dorcas Franklin in Linville Falls. Samuel Franklin is my great, great, great, great grandfather. This year is the 150th anniversary of his death and the 75th anniversary of the Franklin reunion. Samuel Franklin's father was James Franklin, Ben Franklin's older brother. Therefor the guy on the $100 bill is my great, great, great, great, great uncle. Dorcas (Whitley, not Franklin) has always been very popular at this reunion. She is the only Dorcas I have found in the family, since great grandma Dorcas Franklin. I find this odd, since many family names have been recycled heavily. Ironically, my maternal great grandmother was May Delilah Greene Franklin, descended from Nathanial Greene of Revolutionary War fame, thus joining the Franklin and Greene lines.

On Monday afternoon, August 13, we arrived at home thus ending the Izaak Memorial Westward Ho Summer Adventure 2007. The homeplace was in great shape, excepting some tall weeds in the natural beds. We spent the next several days unpacking and getting accustomed the the southern humidity.

Heading Home: North Carolina!!!!!

We were on the road again this morning by 7:00 after a 2.5 hour nap. We parked the coach at the Holiday Inn in Morganton and took the Honda to the Charlotte airport (which is where we are for this writing) to meet my mother's noon arrival. We will take her back to Morganton then take the coach to the Linville Falls Campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway this afternoon. We will attend a family reunion at Linville Falls this weekend, take my mother back to Charlotte on Monday morning and be home by Monday afternoon.

Whew!!!!!

Heading Home: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee

Thursday August 9

We woke early and I was in the Lowe's when they opened at 7:00. It only took two trips into the store to get everything I needed, but it only cost $1.01. I replaced the broken water line pretty quickly, but I didn't attempt to replace the broken shut-off valve since it had that funky heat-shrink connector and it wasn't currently leaking. If I had tried to replace the valve, we would probably still be there, and there would be water all over the Lowe's parking lot. I will work on it when we get home. We were on the road by 7:45. We bought diesel in central Missouri and set another personal record: 125.5 gallons. The gauge still wasn't dead on "E", but since the tank only holds 135 gallons, that's probably as far as we will ever push it. Dorcas drove a few stretches today, but every time she got behind the wheel, we hit a construction zone. She said she wanted to drive through St. Louis, but chickened out at the last minute when she hit heavy traffic and construction. We hit our only really big pile-up about 9:00 near Lebanon, TN. Of course Dorcas was driving. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to go one mile. During our "stop" we took advantage of the time by taking showers, napping and catching up on the journal. I think Dorcas flashed a family in a Subaru when she came out of the shower. I'm thankful nobody knocked on the door wanting to use the bathroom. We pulled over for a short nap near Sevierville, TN about 4:00 AM.

Headed home: South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri

Wednesday August 8

Today was another big travel day. Technically the western portion of our vacation is now over. We are headed to Charlotte as quickly as we can to meet my mother at the airport at noon on Friday and then will double back to Linville Falls for a family reunion this weekend. We will be home on Monday. We left Wind River NP about 7:00 and headed east across the plains of South Dakota. The day was largely uneventful, except that Dorcas drove a couple of hours. She hasn't driven enough to become comfortable yet, but she will get plenty of practice in the next few days. We had planned to stop at Wall Drug and the Mitchell Corn Palace, just for some diversions, but figured each stop would cost us over an hour, so we kept going. We did stop at the Minuteman Missile National Historical Site east of Rapid City. You can see an actual missile bunker, one of 150 that used to cover the South Dakota plains. There were films and exhibits describing how the missiles were used as deterrents during the cold war with the Soviet Union.

When we stopped at a rest area I noticed water dripping out the outside vent to the refrigerator mechanicals. When I removed the cover, there was water dripping from the upper area of the fridge. This can't be good. The only water up there is the ice maker feed, but it is past the inlet valve, so it shouldn't be pressurized unless the ice maker is filling, which doesn't happen without AC power. Wherever it was coming from, it would be a bitch to repair, because there is no access. I hoped it was some condensate from the upper area of the fridge (the eternal optimist) and decided to monitor the problem later (procrastinate). We didn't have time for mechanical problems.

That evening there was perhaps the most magnificent thunderstorm I had ever seen. There were low clouds and lightning was flashing in 180 degree arcs all around us. It would flash on one side, travel through the clouds across and above us and end on the other side. I did this for about an hour. It never seemed to strike near us and it never rained on us and the wind never blew very strong. It was just this magnificent light show.

We stopped for the night at a Wal-Mart in St. Joseph, MO after driving about 700 miles. It was next door to a Lowe's hardware (foreshadowing). I checked the fridge cover and water was coming out much more heavily than before. Dang. When I removed the cover I saw that the 1/4" poly supply line for the ice maker was broken. When I had looked previously, it must have been a very small hole and was shooting a fine stream (so fine I didn't see it) into the upper area of the fridge back. Now the break was larger and it was obvious where the water was coming from. When I touched it, the line nearly broke in half and squirted like a geyser. We didn't need Yellowstone after all; we had our own Old Faithful. I cut off the water pump and dried my face and changed my shirt. Luckily the break was just past the cut-off valve. I started to close the valve and the handle broke off in my hand. Dang. Well, as long as the pump was off, we weren't losing water. We couldn't flush the toilet, but whatever. Luckily we were near a Lowe's. The broken line would be relatively easy to repair, but the valve would be more difficult. First, it was an unusual valve; I had never seen one just like it. Second, it was attached to the incoming pipe with some sort of shrink-style one-piece hose clamp that I had no idea how to deal with. Must be an RV thing. Time for bed. I'll consult a plumber at Lowe's.

Wind Cave NP, Hot Springs SD

Tuesday August 7

Today we took two more cave tours, this time at Wind Cave NP. Wind Cave is the 4th largest cave in the world, but is the world's most complex cave system. There are ~125 miles of explored cave under one square mile of surface. Like Jewel Cave it is believed that only about 5% of the cave has been discovered. First we took the Candlelight Tour, which used candles mounted in buckets held sideways to explore unlighted, relatively primitive parts of the cave. The buckets amplified the candlelight, essentially making a primitive flashlight.. It is interesting that the historic light at Wind Cave is a candle bucket and at Jewel Cave it is an oil lantern. It is also interesting that the 2nd and 4th largest caves in the world are located within 30 miles of each other, but are not believed to be connected. Also, both have only one small known natural opening. After the Candlelight Tour we took the Fairgrounds Tour, which explores some of the larger rooms and the has many excellent examples of Wind Cave's signature "boxwork", very delicate calcite honeycomb fins.

The tour ended at about 6:00, so we boogied over to Mt. Rushmore for the evening lighting ceremony. We took the scenic route through Custer State Park and saw bison, turkey, prairie dogs and deer.Other wildlife sightings included about 10,000 bikers attending bike week at Sturgis. The motorcycle rally at Sturgis, located about 20 miles from Mt. Rushmore, has been going on this week and draws about 800,000 bikers. They have all been enjoying the same parks that we have been visiting in the South Dakota Black Hills. Consequently, they have been swarming around us all week. You can't even pull out of a diner without running over 4 bikes.

I visited Mt. Rushmore about 20 years ago, and the facilities have changed significantly since then. They have built a large parking deck and all-new visitor's centers, gift stores and cafes. There is also a huge new amphitheater. When I was there it was fairly small and a quaint place I liked it better before, but I don't know how they could handle all the people that come now with the old facilities. The worst part is that they built the new visitor's center on top of the restaurant used as a setting in Alfred Hitchcock's "North By Northwest". So much for historic preservation by the National Park Service. There oughta be a law. I really like Mt. Rushmore. It appeals to my technical curiosity. I wish we had left more time to see it, but now it is time to go home.

Idiot of the Week

Faithful readers may remember that this trip was dedicated to Izaak and was named the "Izaak Memorial Westward Ho Summer Adventure 2007" in his honor. Accordingly I have been collecting mementos along the way to place on his grave when we return. We have collected many interesting and beautiful rocks from the best places we have been (none are from the national parks, of course; I know that that is illegal!), including a nice red sandstone slab in Utah on which I will carve a message and make a headstone. The red heart-shaped rock pictured here was found just under the water on the banks of Camp Izaak and just had to be a part of the collection of Izaak mementos. The problem was that we were more than 10 miles from the car and had severely overloaded packs to begin with. Fortunately I found a sucker, who wishes to remain anonymous, to haul the heart rock out in his pack. For this kind service this fool is honored as "Idiot of the Week".

Enter the Heart Rock Sweepstakes. Send your guess for the weight of the heart rock. I will weigh it when I get home and post the weight and name the winner. Post your guess, in pounds and ounces, to this blog or send me an e-mail by Monday August 13. The decision of the judge is final.

Jewel Cave NM, Custer SD

Monday August 6
Pronghorn (commonly called antelope) ought to be the state mammal of Wyoming. You can see them in large herds all over the plains of Wyoming. They must be smarter than deer, however, because we never saw them crossing the road and never saw a pronghorn roadkill.

While driving through eastern Wyoming and the western edge of the Black Hills we called ahead to Jewel Cave National Monument and made reservations for some cave tours. Jewel Cave is famous for its calcite crystals that looked like jewels to the Michaud brothers, when they discovered the original 14" opening to the cave. They used dynamite to widen the entrance, but that entrance is still the only known natural entrance to the cave. After rushing to town to stake their mining claim, they realized the crystals were not gems and had no monetary value. So they opened the cave for tourists and explored about 2 miles of the cave. Today almost 140 miles of the cave have been explored and mapped, making Jewel Cave the second longest cave in the world. Based on the volume and patterns of the winds inhaled and exhaled from the cave, it is estimated that only about 5% of the cave has been found.

Our first tour was the Lantern Tour, which enters through the historic entrance. This part of the cave is not lighted and each visitor is issued an oil lantern, our only source of illumination. The park ranger is dressed in a historic uniform, making the tour much like it would have been in the early 1900s during the early years of the cave tours. Since we were at the natural opening, bats and pack rats use this area, and we did find bats flying in the cave. The group was able to choose which section of the cave we wanted to explore and ascended and descended very old and steep wooden stairs along the route. We had to duck-walk through a few very low sections of the cave, but we also entered some large rooms. It was a very exciting and interesting tour. There was only one other family in our group (6 folks total), so it was a very intimate tour.

Our second tour was the Scenic Tour which enters via an elevator from the visitor's center, almost a mile from the historic entrance. This tour route is much more developed, and we had a larger group: 34 people. It is lighted to highlight the scenic features of the cave and follows paved walkways with aluminum stairs and bridges with hand rails. This one should have been called the "Tourist's Tour". It passes through some very large rooms and some of the most scenic and unusual formations in the cave, but is not as intimate and exciting as the Lantern Tour. I'm glad we took both tours. It's sort of a then and now thing.

After the cave tours we drove about 35 miles to Wind Cave NP and made camp there in Elk Mountain CG.

Travel Day into Wyoming

Sunday August 5

Today would be a long travel day. We ate breakfast with our friends at a quaint log cabin restaurant in Columbia Falls. We had planned to eat at the Blue Moon casino, but it turned out that the casino, or at least the casino restaurant, opened late on Sunday mornings. Montana is loaded with small casinos. There is one on about every other corner. No crazy rules here about letting the Native Americans get all the tourist's $$$. After breakfast we made our goodbyes, broke camp and hit the road about 10:00. As we drove south and east towards Missoula, the smoke and haze from the fires got even worse. We saw some evidence of recent burn along I-90 east of Missoula. As we continued eastward, the skies began to clear, and we actually saw some mountain vistas fairly clearly. We had hoped to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, but it was after dark when we passed there so we kept going. We drove until about 11:00 PM and camped at the Wal-Mart in Sheridan, WY, where we did spend $27 on groceries. We made almost 600 miles today.

Bob Marshall Wilderness, Flathead National Forest, MT

July 30 - August 4

There have been fires all over northwestern Montana. Everywhere we have been people have told us that the place, campground, road, etc, we were just at had just been closed or evacuated because of fires. One might have thought that the Whitleys were leaving a trail of sparks and fires and trying to burn down Montana singlehandedly. Later we heard that the governor had declared the whole state a disaster area. Fortunately we were never directly affected. Several areas of the "Bob" were closed due to fires. We stopped at the Hungry Horse Ranger Station and confirmed that the area we planned to backpack in was not yet ablaze. So far so good.. From there we proceeded south about 65 miles along a gravel forest service road that follows the Hungry Horse Reservoir and the South Fork Flathead River to the Meadow Creek Gorge trailhead, our put-in point. There the campground host advised us to raise the hoods on our cars so the pack rats wouldn't move in. About 11:00 we set off on our 6-day adventure in the "Bob". Our plan was to hike pretty hard for the first day and then look for a place to base camp. From there we would hike and fish and loaf as we saw fit. We had been told that the trail followed the South Fork and was flat. For that reason we weren't quite prepared for the steady rise of the trail and the short, but fairly steep, descents and then ascents as we passed side creeks. We also weren't prepared for the heat which peaked in the mid 90s. We hiked about 10 miles and made camp on a large gravel bar on river right near Black Bear Creek. There was an excellent fishing hole just downstream where several cutthroat trouts were caught and released.

The next morning there was a moose in camp, but Dorcas and I missed it. Today we had a choice of fording the river and saving a few miles by shortcutting a large bend in the river or continuing on the same side, climb a bluff and enjoy some views of the river. The group chose, you guessed it, the scenic, but harder and longer route. I think I may have found some potential new inductees into the "Dumb But Tough" club. We hiked about three miles, where we came to the Pack Bridge and a Forest Service work camp and began to look for a good base camp. We ate lunch in a shady spot near the corral while various members of our party set off in different directions at different times looking for a potential base camp. Finally we found a prime site on a bend on river left, about a half mile below the bridge. We christened it "Camp Izaak". During the four nights we spent there, at least a half dozen float parties told us that this was their favorite spot, and that they were disappointed when they came by and it was occupied. It was also an excellent fishing spot. We fished this section of river and had excellent results every day.

One thing we learned on this trip was that we, as hikers, were a very small minority of the area users. Before putting in, Dorcas was in an outfitter store and told the clerk we were hiking into the "Bob". She responded "Are you taking a mule or a horse?" meaning which of the two we intended to use. Hiking and carrying the gear was not a consideration for her. By far the majority of the folks who use this area have their gear hauled in via horse or mule and then float out in rafts. While hiking in and out, we must have met or been passed by a half dozen pack strings each way. These animals apparently need a lot of room to pass, much more room than the mules in the Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon. The wranglers continued to advise us they needed more room to pass, which was a problem on the narrow trail. A few of the wranglers were not particularly polite, resulting in the temptation to startle their animals and watch the stampede. While fishing in front of Camp Izaak, we frequently had to stop fishing and retrieve our lines as float trips drifted by. Most of the guides asked permission before crossing and apologized, but the clients wouldn't make eye contact and kept right on fishing. Low-life bastards. If you didn't duck you were likely to take a hook in the ear. Unfortunately, many caught fish in our hole, which added insult to more insult.

On the last day we hiked out via the shortcut across the large bend and forded the river, a total distance of about 11.5 miles. On the drive out the smoke and haze was so thick you could barely see across Hungry Horse Reservoir, only a mile or so. Dorcas and I returned to the coach in Kalispell were we discovered that we had tripped the breaker in our external power supply, forcing the generator to cycle on and off as the battery discharged. I had set my coach charger to charge at a lower rate specifically to keep that from happening, but I had forgotten to turn off the air conditioners. Duh! No harm. We were down a little diesel, but the fridge was still cold. We showered and dressed and drove to Whitefish to meet our friends and feast on pizza and beer at the Mackenzie River Pizza Company.