Thou Shalt Not Burn

It has been extremely dry in Minnesota. There has been no significant rain since June, when it rained cats and dogs for several days. That was the same event that produced the flooding in Iowa and other parts of the Midwest. Today they imposed a total ban on open fires in the area of the BWCAW where we intended to be next week. This is bad news for several reasons. First, it's just nice to have a fire when you are camping in the wilderness. Not having a fire takes away from the experience. Second, with some of the elaborate meals we cook, a cook-fire is desirable, if not absolutely necessary. A backpacker's stove just doesn't produce enough heat to fry a big pan of walleye. Many of our meals need 4 or 5 burners, and you just don't have those on a stove. Also, it is difficult to carry enough fuel for two weeks when you can't burn wood. Besides all that, it's just nice to keep a pot of coffee or a pot of beans going on the fire during a layover day. Thirdly, a fire ban severely effect our trash management strategy. The BWCAW mandates that all food be in either reusable or burnable containers, suggesting that folks should burn their trash (although Minnesota state law says otherwise). It is not very practical or pleasant to carry your food scraps and other trash for two weeks over 200+ rod portages.

It is unlikely that the ban will be lifted before we put in. There is no significant rain in sight. We are consulting with our traveling partners, who are still in NC, to see if we want to change our trip and go to an area where there is not a fire ban. This would mean forfeiting our permit and the reservation fees, which is not a big deal. However, we may not be able to get a permit into another area, and there is also the chance that the ban could be broadened to include other areas. It would also mean some logistical challenges. We are camped at Fall Lake because that was close to our intended route. Any other route we choose will be further away. We had planned to leave the coach at Fall Lake, which is relatively safe and secure. We will probably do that regardless of where we put in.

On a more positive note, I picked up my boat today at the Spirit of the Wilderness, and I am very pleased with the repairs. The bottom looks great. In fact, the bottom looks much better than the sides of the boat. In order to save weight and expense, they only re-coated the boat on the bottom up to about the water line. Our boat also had a number of superficial scratches on the sides (wonder how that happened?). So now the part of the boat you can't see when it is in the water looks the best. But that's OK. After this trip it will all look the same again anyway. Let's go paddling!!!!