We put in at Fall Lake Recreation Area on Wednesday August 24 for a 13 day adventure in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Dorcas and I have been going to the BWCAW since we met in 1997. We have taken a dog with us each time, first Izaak, then Matilda and now Ginger, on her first trip. Ginger was 11 1/2 weeks old when we put in and had never been in the water or in a canoe. She had never slept outdoors and had barely any obedience training. It was sure to be a true adventure! Not to mention my new left knee is only about 2 weeks older than Ginger.
Our plan was to put in at the boat ramp at Fall Lake, do the 80 rod portage into Newton Lake and then the 90 rod portage into Basswood Lake. We would take several nights to get to Basswood Lake, then spend most of our nights there. So that's what we did.
We spent the first 2 nights on Mile Island in Fall Lake, thereby delaying our first portage by 2 days, allowing us to lighten our food load a bit. We found a nice site on an isthmus where you could land the boat from both sides of the island. The site featured a lot of blowdown which were useful as tables and furniture. It rained in the evening and a bit overnight, but we stayed dry under the rain tarp.
We try to eat some fresh food the first few days because we know we will be eating dried food, pouch meat and cured pork products for the remainder of the trip.
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| First dinner: steak and onions with mixed veggies and scalloped potatoes |
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| Lots of timber on Camp 1 |
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| Corned beef hash and eggs are traditional first morning breakfast |
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| Camp 1 on Fall Lake featured a flat-topped log that made a great buffet table |
For about ten minutes, shortly after landing at Camp 1, we tethered Ginger with a leash. She immediately gnawed it in two. We didn't bother to tether her again. She always stayed close to camp. She's a bright dog, and she knows where her meal ticket is.
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| A water knot is a good knot to tie two pieces of webbing together. |
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| Sunset at Camp 1 on Fall Lake |
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| Newton Falls |
All three lakes we were on allowed motor boats. Consequently they also allowed wheeled dollies to transport either a motor boat or a canoe across the portage. These portage paths are relatively smooth and flat as to accommodate a wheeled dolly. So this trip I used wheels to move the boat and some of the gear. It was not as easy as I thought it would be, and I'm not sure I would do it again, were we to do this route again.
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| A nice Northern pike on Newton Lake |
We camped the next 2 nights on Newton Lake following the 80 rod portage. Again we were able to lighten our food load before doing the second portage into Basswood Lake. There are only 2 campsites in Newton. The first one was open so we took it.
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| Canada geese on Newton Lake |
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| This guy just jumped right in the boat! Honest!!! |
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| Sunset over Newton Lake |
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| Pancakes and country ham are a regular breakfast staple |
We have never allowed a dog to sleep in our tent. Izaak and Matilda always slept on the ground under the vestibule outside the tent, or made a nest in the brush nearby. Ginger spent the first few nights outside as well. Initially she wanted to come in the tent, but we said no, and she accepted that. A few nights into our trip we had a thunderstorm overnight and Dorcas let Ginger into the tent, and that was that. I'm not sure now we will ever be able to get her to sleep outside.
I had assumed all dogs instinctively knew how to swim, but our vet said that was not necessarily so. While they may learn to swim pretty quickly, they may also sink to the bottom and swallow some water before they figure it out. So in Ely we bought a puppy PFD, which none of our other dogs ever had. It turns out Ginger had no intention of jumping out of the boat. While paddling she mostly laid down and slept, occasionally looking up if anything was going on. When on shore she would wade a short distance into the water, but never any deeper than her belly. I kinda hoped she would jump out of the boat, so we could see what happened, but she never did. Perhaps we should have just dunked her to find out. So, we still don't know if she can swim.
Just minutes after leaving Camp 2 on Newton Lake we saw a bear and a cub in a tree near the shore. Unfortunately we were unable to get photos. DANG!
Finally on Day 5 we portaged into Pipestone Bay on Basswood Lake, our home for the duration of the trip. We found a nice site in a cove that was off the beaten path. Few motor boats ventured into the cove, and it had the feel of being on a smaller lake.
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| Ginger likes Camp 3 |
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| We think this is a Northern flicker |
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| A pair of trumpeter swans visited our camp |
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| Ginger wants to carry the food pack |
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| This is about as far as Ginger ever went into the water |
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| The gals chillin' at Camp 3 |
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| Chocolate chip pancake with extra chips! |
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| You can't buy country ham up here. We bring it from home. |
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| This is a magical musical pan! Click on video below to see the magic: |
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| A common loon stretching its wings |
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| This is the deepest Ginger ever got into the water |
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| A perfect day to paddle |
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| A misty morning on Basswood Lake |
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| A perfect bear line |
We discovered a new bug this year; they were swarming everywhere. They looked like a midget yellow jacket or a sweat bee on steroids. However, they didn't sting, and they were not annoying. We discovered they were"
hover flies"
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| Ginger learned quickly that she liked people furniture |
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| Only one time did she mount with excess lateral speed and tip the chair |
Most people don't ever read food product labels. They should. There's some weird stuff out there.
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| Will you die if you eat it in Feb 2048??? |
Ok, 2 servings, 90 calories each should equal 180 calories. Right? So where did the extra 10 calories come from???
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| Bonus calories |
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| Camp 3 on Basswood Lake |
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| I love a pup with a grab handle |
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| Pooped pup! |
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| My two favorite gals |
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| Robbing a beaver lodge for firewood |
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| Ginger guarding the food pack |
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| A little rain at Camp 3 |
One day we decided to weigh Ginger using a fish scale. She did not enjoy the procedure.
The woods were full of red squirrels. They would spend half the day gnawing pine cones from the branches and throwing them down on defenseless campers. The rest of the day they would collect their booty from the ground and scurry into the woods to their secret stash.
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| A red squirrel munching on a pine cone |
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| The portages into both Newton and Basswood Lakes are very busy. Take a number. |
For those who never had a puppy, let me tell you this. A puppy is the Devil, with razor teeth and claws.
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| The Devil said: "But Daddy, its not my fault" |
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| Then she's an angel |
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| Ginger playing with a stick |
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| Ginger sleeping with a stick |
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| Mergansers at camp on Basswood Lake |
We had some river otters near our camp. They weren't close enough to get good photos, but hopefully you can tell they are otters. We also saw a few beavers.
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| I think this is an otter, but it could be a beaver. What do you think? |
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| So cute! |
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| Ginger guarding our gear at the portage |
On Day 13, our last day in the wilderness, we departed our camp on Basswood Lake, negotiated the 2 portages into Newton and Fall Lakes and returned to civilization. We always worry about leaving the motor home unattended in a public parking lot for this long, but when we arrived all was well. We have a residential style refrigerator in the coach that uses 120 VAC to run. The batteries and the inverter, along with a little help from the 400W solar array will keep the fridge running a few days, but cannot likely keep up for a longer duration. The coach is equipped with an automatic generator start function that kicks in when the batteries are low. I have the system programmed to start the generator when the batteries are discharged to 12.2 V, and then run for 2 hours. The generator ran for a total of 24.0 hours, averaging 1.8 hours per day.
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| Day 13. Arriving back at Fall Lake boat ramp |
All in all it was another great trip. The weather was generally mild. Typically temperatures ranged from highs in the mid-70s to lows in the mid-50s. Our single lowest overnight temperature was 40 degrees. We had a few rain events, but they were short-lived, and we were able to stay dry at camp. Most days were pretty windy which hindered us from venturing out from camp and fishing. When we did fish, we did pretty well. On one night we saw the aurora borealis i.e. Northern lights. I expect we would have seen it more if we had gotten up during the night and looked in the right direction. None of our camps had a particularly clear view to the north.
This trip totaled 22.57 miles of paddling and portaging. At ages 68 and 67 Dorcas and I are no longer physically able to all the things we could do when we were younger. Consequently we try to do shorter and easier trips each year. We do fewer and shorter portages and fewer moves during each trip. Hopefully we have a few more such trips left in us.
