This forum was established to inform and facilitate discussion about the Boundary Waters
Canoe Area in northeastern Minnesota and the Quetico Park in Ontario, Canada. This forum
was established on October 26th, 1998.
so can we go over this stuff again? I don't want to ever have one of those stories to share. The thought of a Wenonah bouncing on the highway makes me cringe.
I've taken some selected photos from various trips over the last couple years to maybe give young parents some ideas, suggestions or confidence for taking their kids/toddlers on a canoe trip. If you are like us you will hear from family members turned critics but you can have a safe adventure and have lots of family fun doing it. Some of our trips have ended with us saying we wish we had more time and we were not ready to end the trip and this was after 5, 7, and 11 days. IMO this is the sign of a trip well done.
Starting in the upper right is a pic of some essentials: a properly fitted life jacket that has a strap that runs between the legs and its the same one he swims in the pool wearing, its hard to find a good hat for a little kid but Campmore has some really good stuff, in the right hand is the cheerios container - thank God for Honey Nut cherrios - having snacks that travel well are a must. Sometimes it makes all the difference. Its August and the bugs are nearly non existant otherwise there would be a long sleeved shirt worn.
The lower vertical shot is a portage leading out of William Lake to Conmee Lake - not exactly an easy portage on a popular BW route. Mrs TL carries 3 yr old Ben in a Kelty Child Carrier also came from Campmore for about $100 bucks and worth every dime. This is second week in June and we have a mosquito net that cinches tight on the bottom covering Ben for the half mile portage. Bugs were not bad but we used it anyway. Using common sense and avoiding 30 days around July 1 will eliminate much of the problems with mosquitos. I honestly can't recall anything close to our son complaining about a bug bite or real bad situations for him with over 40 days in the CC under our belts, The mosquitos here at home in WI are ten times worse most of the summer.
Question: Does a toddler (3 yrs old) get to make his own smore? Absolutely not.
Does he get to hold a marshmallow on a stick away from the fire? Sure. There of course is the fire danger but bad too would be biting into food that is too hot. A harmless activity like this for adults takes on new meaning around fires and needs absolute supervision but it does not make it any less fun. Big hit last summer.
Ah, the yellow dump truck that went with us to Quetico and a good open camp go together very well. Pictured is Quetico Passage's Birthday Party as QP prepares dinner for all of us but look at the beautiful open campsite with virtually zero underbrush. That yellow dumptruck must have put on ten miles all week crisscrossing the little 3 acre island. Beauty of an unmarked site on Jesse Lake. TL Jr. played himself out during the day on that island and often fell asleep in the canoe when we went out to fish. Lack of underbrush meant even less bugs for August and we could see him at all times on the island. My worst fear canoeing with our little guy is not tipping the canoe but rather having him take off into the woods and losing him. Thats why small island sites are nice and deck the little guy out in reds, yellows and oranges to help you keep an eye on him. We have had no major problems in this area and he knows the limits about staying close and away from the water. By the way, I do believe my arms are slightly longer having carried that dump truck in one hand over numerous portages this summer.
Mrs. TL has a load that is for sure: child and carrier 35 lbs, BWJ guide pack in front 15lbs, plus paddles and life jackets, and sometimes fishing poles.
Hey, how about reposting your bear pics from last summer as the season begins?
Didn't some voyagers bring some Native American women for that purpose (and others) of carrying stuff. No, I carry the canoe and a #4 pack with about 50lbs or less of stuff on the first load then I alone return for the big pack and other stuff in my hands. On out cross quetico trip I had a third carry early in the trip.
I was reading Scott Anderson's, Distant Fires, and he came up with a great solution for lost canoeists: throw a fishing line out back. That way if people see you ambling aimlessly about they will logically conclude you are fishing. Yah, sure.
One of the kids just hollered from the other room "Hey Dad! The Boundary Waters is on TV!" Turned out it was a show called "Kent Hrbek Outdoors" and had a section on Jim Brandenburg. Fascinating individual, and seemed so laid back (imagine that - a calm photographer!). Turns out he also plays the guitar (extremely well). Nice piece, and very interesting. Glad the kids stumbled across it.
Bye all...headed out tomorrow for a week in the Black Hills for turkey hunting and trout fishing.
I started making this trip 6 or 7 years ago and it instantly became an annual tradition. The turkeys are cooperative and the trout fishing is unbelievable. And, it comes at a time when Minnesota is in that in-between time between winter and spring when I'm itching to get out in the woods.
Does anybody else here do this spring thing in the Hills?
I'm in Washington State and our Spring turkey season in the eastern part of the state opens Friday. Went out and patterned the shotgun today and am getting the boat ready. Lake Roosevelt has a trout derby that weekend so I guess we'll try to cover both bases. Great season opener if you have cabin fever. I can't wait!!!
Just got back from MY first paddle of the year, also at Chester Woods. A friend wanted to test paddle a Wenonah Vagabond that I'm selling and he talked me into coming along. It wasn't too hard - I had some prototypes mounted in a CD Solstice GT that needed some water time, so we loaded up & took off. I had left my camera in a friends truck yesterday, so I was photographically challenged - which was too bad, since I made a bee-line for the eagles nest and found them on it already. I thought, "MAN, wish I had called Nibi - he's gonna be sooooo jealous". So I get back & see his post. Ah well - I was ALMOST first on the water.
Sure felt great to be out again. Think the BB will settle down a bit now?
... it was kind of a rush situation yesterday since I ended up working about 3 hours longer than intended. OTOH, I don't see your phone number on my caller id today either :-\
We have a whole summer of paddling in front of us now
It definitely was nice to be out on the water -- even Chester Woods water!
Larry
To really appreciate the wilderness, one must pay attention to the small things as well as the grandiose.
actually, I was termpted to do a main and mizzen on this one. I understand acanoe with two sails can be steered without a rudder. But then I figured I had enough to do with just one sail. Got to KIS.
solo canoes and single blades...the way it should be.
I am finally taking a fly rod to the BWCA. We'll be on our Lake Trout trip and I was hoping someone could tell me which fly patterns they have had success with. I got some good pointers today and a new rod/reel so I have about 6 weeks to get ready for this!
...If you are targeting trout in July or August go with the fastest sinking line you can buy and put on large white or blue/white streamers. Count it down to 30-60 feet (the fish locator will tell you where the trout are)...
As I have mentioned before Scott Lake Lodge is first class and they know their fishing. There is other fly fishing info on their site if you are interested, Rainy.
Last Sunday (April 3), I drove over to Chester Woods County Park -- my usual paddling locale -- and was a bit dismayed to find it was still mostly covered by ice but also heartened by how rotten that ice looked. I knew it wouldn't last for long.
There was plenty of room around the edges for the geese to swim and, if I'd had Becca along, I would have had space to paddle as well.
As it was, I walked around a bit, taking pictures of the lake from different angles.
Olympus Stylus 300, 3.2 MP Digital P&S
Larry
To really appreciate the wilderness, one must pay attention to the small things as well as the grandiose.
Yesterday (April 8), I knew the ice had to be off the lake so, I got Becca out of winter storage and loaded her on my new canoe hauler. They sure look good together
Then, I gathered all my paddling stuff together and soon, Frodo, Becca, and I were on the water!
I wouldn't call it perfect paddling weather since it was quite breezy and partly cloudy but, it didn't matter. I was once again on the water with my favorite canoe and a very fine companion.
While we paddled around the lake, we encountered lots of ducks of various species, Canada Geese, hawks wheeling and screeching overhead, and even a beaver. I wasn't able to get close enough to any of the above to take a picture though.
But, I did put my new Olympus Stylus 500 to good use taking scenics.
Olympus Stylus 500, 5MP Digital P&S
Larry
To really appreciate the wilderness, one must pay attention to the small things as well as the grandiose.
Among the places I visited was the eagle tree off in a back bay. It's the leftmost pine tree in this picture...
Olympus Stylus 500, 5 MP Digital P&S
And, sure enough, the eagles are back and one was sitting on the nest already!
Nikon D70, 6 MP Digital SLR, with 70-300mm lens @ 300mm. ISO 1000, f/4.5, 1/4000 sec.
Because the eagle was sitting low on the nest, I had to shoot from a fairly long distance to get the head in. The above picture is about a 40-50% crop of the original picture.
Larry
To really appreciate the wilderness, one must pay attention to the small things as well as the grandiose.
For the last 2 years, I've been happy with my Olympus Stylus 300, have taken many pictures with it -- many of which I've shared here -- and have recommended the camera or the 400/410 many times. It has produced more than adequate pictures for posting on the internet and printing 8x10's from, and I've even printed a few very nice 11x17's with it. But, as I've been printing more 13x19's from my Nikon, I've been wishing I could print some of my OLY pictures this large as well.
I toyed with the idea of buying a Stylus 400/410 but, I didn't think it was worthwhile for a 1MP bump. I ended up hoping that Olympus would bring out a Stylus 500. Finally, last fall they did. And, I bought mine this week.
It arrived on Thursday so, guess what I did that evening?
While it continues the Stylus name, there are significant changes to the body over the previous cameras in the line -- both 35mm and Digital. 1st of all, the sliding cover is gone. 2nd of all, there is no viewfinder. 3rd of all, the LCD display is huge compared to the 300 and 4xx models and subsequently, the location of the controls has changed as well. The memory card slot is now located in the same compartment as the battery and that door that most everyone has had problems with now only covers the A/V and USB ports and has been redesigned to eliminate the clip that invariably ended up breaking off. The body is now slightly larger but, it's still a very compact unit.
They've now upgraded the battery to one that is supposed to last a bit longer per charge. I used to regularly get 4-5 days off a charge with the old battery... I can't wait to find what I get with the new ones.
The controls have changed slightly but, not so much that I felt lost after using the 300. One thing that's nice is that they've eliminated those fiddly little buttons that I found difficult to press at times. I have no such problems with this camera.
Ok, having looked the exterior over pretty well, it was time to charge up the battery (2 hours), install it, and fire the camera up.
Without the sliding door, the way the camera is turned on now is via a small, recessed push button switch on top. I've found it easy to operate but, it seems to be recessed enough to prevent accidental turn ons. I pressed the switch and was amazed. There was a noticeable improvement in the time it takes for this camera to be ready to shoot! With my Stylus 300 and the 35mm 140 before it, missed shots due to the delay between opening the cover and the lens extending into position, happened all too frequently for me. That delay has now been cut at least in half! This camera is ready to go in a heartbeat. It also doesn't take long to close up again -- important when you're in a canoe in the wind, have just taken a picture, and want to quickly put the camera away and get back to controlling your craft!
Despite having lasik surgery a couple of years ago, I still need reading glasses. With the 300's tiny lcd display, I always had problems composing my shots without my glasses on. That situation has been greatly improved with the 500. I also always had trouble seeing anything on the 300's LCD when I was outside in open sunlight. I'm happy to say that the 500's LCD is very visible even on a very sunny day.
So far, I'm very impressed with the picture quality although I haven't tried printing any 13x19's yet. One thing that was impressive... when I first viewed the picture of the eagle tree...
... on my computer screen and enlarged it to 100%, I could actually see the eagle's head peaking over the top of the nest!
Also, if you look carefully at the center of the picture, you'll see 2 fuzzy dots. These actually resolve into ducks at 100%. Well, not well enough to show you here but, unmistakeable ducks... trust me
I'll know more later obviously but, so far, I'm impressed with the Olympus Stylus 500. I'm really looking forward to putting it through its paces up in canoe country next weekend!
Is the 500 for you? That all depends. The biggest question you have to ask yourself is "what am I going to do with my pictures?" If you're only going to share over the internet, maybe print 4x6's with an occasional 8x10 with minimal cropping, the Stylus 300 is going to be more than adequate. If extreme cropping and/or large print sizes are important to you then strongly consider the Stylus 500.
Larry
To really appreciate the wilderness, one must pay attention to the small things as well as the grandiose.
I just picked one up last week, I am very impressed with it. I was suprised at how cheap the batteries and memory cards are. I found the Oly 512 mem cards for $54 on NewEgg, I see they are 59 now and 1400 mah batteries for under $10 a piece on Ebay.
I'm very happy with my Stylus 500 but I really haven't put it thru its paces yet. It's a stellar improvement over my old Kodak DC 280 and like you, I really like the fast start-up and shutdown time with this camera. Battery life seems quite good, but I'll be getting a spare before my 2 week Quetico trip this May/June. Hope to hear more about your new Stylus at the UIR.
Just got back from a great 2 hour paddle down the Zumbro River! It was great to be out and on the water. I met up with mx901 ( he reads but doesn't post, although some of you have met him on the chat) this morning and we arranged shuttles and hit the water a little before 10:00. The water levels were just perfect. We did rub the bottom on a couple of rocks however, but we will just chalk that up to first paddle jitters. lol
Very calm and welcome waters were briefly interupted by class 1 rapids throughout the trip. These were actually just as welcome because we liked the added attention they required especially when mixed with tight turns and bends in the river. Our first one found us turned almost around as we tried to avoid the outstretched grab of a downed tree, but soon we were off again.
Paddling this time of year has it's own benefits as you can see up the hillsides along the rivers. Because of this benefit, we happened to see deer twice along the route. The first time was three and then later 5 bounding up the hill and out of sight. Other wildlife, though few, was a couple of blue herons, squirrels, a redtailed hawk, plenty of geese, and a few wood duck couples. I think this was the first time I saw the male wood duck up as close as I did. What beautiful birds.
One thing we found along the shore throughout the trip was something neither one of us expected to see. There were a few ice patches on shore here and there. Some areas had quite large chunks of ice waiting for warmer weather before giving in.
If anyone is familiar with the Zumbro, we paddled from Mantorville, MN to Oxbow Park (north of Byron). This is a really nice stretch of river. At a few points there are about 100' bluffs protecting the river while at other places the shore seems to give way to the great plains. MX901 and I are both from Kasson. It's great to find another canoe enthusiast nearby.
Thanks mx for joining me and I really had a good time. Great to be out again!
Oh, sorry there are no pictures. I took my new digital and was excited about taking a few, but alas, my batteries were... DEAD!! Dolt! Lesson learned.
Beemer came out to MN for the week to build a stripper with his friend Steve. I brought them supplies Monday morning, they had the hull stripped by the end of the day Tuesday and 'glassed Thursday. They did a great job...I wish my first hull had looked this good:
Nice work guys!
_____________________________________________
"The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands"
Power tools. Hand held electric planes - belt sanders, orbital sanders, chops saw, table saws - it all goes faster. Thanks to Beaglefur for the coaching and material - Thanks to Home D**** for inventory and late hours. Five days until off the form - we sanded, planed the interior and glassed it yesterday. Now I let it sit for a week while I go back to work to pay for all this and next week I sand the hull, varnish it, install the thwarts, gunwales, decks and seat.
We got there at 9 and boy was it packed!! (It opened at 9). They had a lot of great deal on canoes and in the shed they had tones for great deals inside on gear. There was a Kevlar canoe there about the size of my spirit 2 for 800$. Inside they had bins of gear for 1$ 4$ and 5$!! Rain gear, sleeping pads, free rolex repair kits, all for really cheap! All I got was a pillow (one that normally goes for 20$) for a 1$. They were adding stuff to the bins as they were becoming empty. Lots of Duluth packs for really cheap to. Of course I don't work for them just wanted to let you know about there sale in Princeton right now
under the garage sale section. Also someone from this board that lives near me emailed me to let me know it was coming up. I guess they do it the same time every year. It is in Princeton Mn and it was crowded!
Dropped by at 10:15 didn't see much to buy, just some foam pads and that was about it. They had a few canoes left just the worst seconds or the very slight blems which were close to normal pricing. I just stopped by to see the new factory.
If you've been through Iron Mtn Mich, then you've driven over the Chapin Mine Pits...now big ponds formed when a mine collapsed. One of the pits is ice free this morning and I gotta tell ya, that sparkling water looked mighty fine!
Took a drive north of town with kayaks on top of the van. Badwater is partly open, I will be paddling this afternoon! Took some looking to find a decent put in that was ice free but when I did I'm sure I was grinning ear to ear. Going to try out the Current Designs Kestrels this afternoon. Woohoo!
Looks like most of the lakes around here are still frozen but won't be for long.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. And not find, when it came time to die, that I had not lived." Thoreau
What a cool solo this would be! Exchange the provided double blade for a single, might even double as an 'solar oven'! Does it seem kinda small at 11 feet, 1 inch? I wonder if it would look like in the water in just the right light. LOL Just imagine the fishing out of this too!
Jim
"Down, down in the basement,
We hear the sound of machines"
Would any scratches blend in when it's in the water? Cool! Now how would one go about making one of those? Hmmm.
"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul." --John Muir
yes and watch it not just listen as it slides down the hull scratching as it goes. Interesting and when you make camp fill it full of water and it's a live tank/ aquarium. Though being able to see on a portage might spoil me. oh the possilblities.
that you use your new canoe as a mold. Don't use Kevlar, just regular fiberglass and expoxy. If you couldn't get it off think how protected your strips would be!
Seriously, do you think a fiberglass (not Kevlar) canoe would be strong enough?
I understand that this transparent canoe is made of the same material that is used in fighter jet cockpits.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. And not find, when it came time to die, that I had not lived." Thoreau
Just as you look down through the boat at the fish, the fish look up at you.
In fish terms, are you attractive, or do you scare them away.
I don't think there can be a good answer to this, for either you look good to a fish (which is a sad state of affairs), or you scare away your dinner.
________________________________________
Hour after hour, day after day,
we paddled and sang and slept
under the hot sun on the northern ocean,
wanting never to return.
Hi. My name is Yoda. I’ve never posted here, but seeing the dog pix below, and reading all the trip reports prompted me to write. My erstwhile master is Ed/TN. My mother was a Brittany and dad ….. well, Ed thinks Doberman, and my vet says he thinks German Shorthair Pointer.
Since everyone is so much into trip reports, I thought I’d post MY view of Ed/TN’s last trip. Which for me was just like all of his others.
Early July
Something’s up. The man and woman keep bringing in more groceries and just dumping them in the spare bedroom. This is the room that used to be occupied by a guy they referred to as “Robert” when talking among themselves, but as “the boy” when talking to me about him. I really liked playing with him, but he left a couple of years ago and now only comes over to play with me every few weeks. I don’t know what the deal is with stockpiling the groceries, but somehow I don’t like it.
Monday, July 12
They are up to no good, I know. Now they’ve got all their camping gear strewn about the house, and they are busy re-packing all those groceries and stuffing them into some barrels. The last time this happened, they left me and I thought they’d never come back.
Friday, July 16
This evening some friends of the humans showed up at the house. They’ve been here before, but this time, they helped take all of the camping gear and groceries out of the house. They put me in the back yard while doing this, and I saw that they put all that stuff in the back of a really big car.
Saturday, July 17
@#$*, They did it again! They got up before sunrise and got dressed, then the friends that were over last night showed up again. They put me in the back yard, then stood in the driveway in a circle, holding hands. Ed was talking for a couple of minutes but didn’t seem to be addressing the others. He does that a lot. I don’t know what’s up with that!
Anyway, after that, they got in the cars they had packed last night, and just drove off! A little later “the boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Sunday, July 18
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Monday, July 19
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Tuesday, July 20
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Wednesday, July 21
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Thursday, July 22
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Friday, July 23
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Saturday, July 24
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Sunday, July 25
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Monday, July 26
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Tuesday, July 27
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Wednesday, July 28
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Thursday, July 29
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Friday, July 30
Still no sign of the people. “The boy” came over and fed me, changed my water, and played a little. I spent the rest of the day laying in the shade and occasionally getting up to bark at birds that got in the yard.
Saturday, July 31
Hooray! Today started out like all the others, but about supper time, all the humans drove up and started unloading their gear. They look pretty scruffy and their gear smells really interesting. But the good thing is they are back, and I get to sleep indoors again!
Look pal, it would have been much worse if you had gone with them. You have to sit in a car for hours at a time, never get to smell any of the other dogs you see, then sit forever in a canoe- heck, they don't even let you jump out to go swimming!
Ya gotta carry all your own food, and they even make you carry some of their stuff. Then, they stay at these areas that are just infested with little rat-like creatures. These things will try to get your food, so you must be on constant guard. Would you believe that they actually travel from tree to tree in the air? Then they sit up there and yell at you- Oh, for a lousy Cat to chase after them.
Ya wanna know the absolute worst thing? When you are standing guard around the cooking area, they take perverse pleasure in humiliating you. Let me tell you, I would much rather be sitting in my back yard.
I, for one, have a great time when my people start acting weird with grocies and camping gear. I used to give them this longing "are you going to leave me again?" look, but it never kept them around so I gave it up.
Now, my best friend, Ida Mae moved into my neighborhood just around the corner so when my people leave, I go spend the week or so there and have a blast. Let them get wet, swat mosquitoes and eat a bunch of dry, packed food.
Good riddance!
Yoda, you can come hang with me and Ida Mae anytime.
Quetico-Argo Day 3
It’s the usual routine of breakfast and breaking camp. We are only going to Darky today, so plenty of time for fishing. The sky is partly cloudy with a modest wind that starts to build after awhile. Our group scatters with plans to meet at the portage to Darky at a set time. My canoe heads into a bay a little east of our campsite and we scare up some smallies. The wind is building now and the fishing is slowing. One of our group has just had one of those great hours of fishing, catching a smallie off the east end of the crescent shaped island with every cast. One time, Carl literally had two fish on his crank bait. They pass on the info and we try their spot. We do get a few smaller ones, but nothing like what they describe. That other canoe now heads for the northern end of the easterly basin to try for some lakers. They end up at the portage almost an hour after the agreed on time because they ended up catching a 40” laker! The fight starts with the usual “I’m snagged” comment and they only figure out what’s going on after they realize the “snag” has moved. The laker hit on a #9 silver/black shad rap trolling. Apparently it’s an extended fight until they finally pull the “whale” boat side, get a few pictures, (I have seen the photos, but they are not digital), put the fish on a stringer (with two loops through its mouth) and head for the portage.
The wind has definitely increased, right out of the northwest, the direction we need to paddle. That was the tale of the wind this trip. If you wanted to know which way to go, lick your finger, find the wind direction and head that way.
We caught very little since leaving the other canoe’s hot spot and finally pulled into the portage to await the other canoes.
This is the view of Argo from the portage to Darky.
3 of the 4 canoes arrive close together but our intrepid “whalers” are, of course, delayed.
While waiting, a group of 4 women come through. They had been the ones to direct us the day before to the unmarked campsite. They were day tripping over to Darky and the pictographs. The ever increasing wind limited them to just the closest pictos on the west side near the portage.
Lunch and suppers have been shore lunches but gorp and beef sticks make this a simple meal as we wait.
The portage from Argo to Darky is the longest of the trip at 120 rods. Much is level, just one root strewn down hill stretch.
Finally our long lost “whalers” showed up with a sad tale. About 200 yards from shore, both loops on their stringer let go and they lost their “whale”. They had only taken a few photos because it was so big and thought it was best to get to shore to take the photos.
You can see the wind is starting to roughen up Darky. The eastern cliffs where the other pictos are in the background.
On Darky, the wind has now grown to bothersome levels. We are hugging the cliffs on the east side using what shelter from the wind we can find and debating whether to head back to the portage (only place we can land ) or forge ahead.
While we waited and debated our course, I snapped a few photos including some of flowers for my wife. If you go back to Ho Ho’s trip report and compare the rocks and lichens around this bunch of flowers, you will see we took photos of the same flowers from slightly different angles. I believe Ho Ho was through Darky a week or so later. It was eerie to see those flowers in Ho Ho’s report. I did a lot of double checking.
We don’t see any pictos near us and it’s not the weather to be paddling around looking for them. It is the third week of July and the water is not frigid, so PFD’s are tightened up and we paddle ahead into the wind. The wind starts to drop the further we go. Unfortunately, the campsites are either filled or inadequate in size for our group as we travel up the east side. Two of us decide to paddle ahead to the island in the very north east part of Darky and see what we find while the rest of the group holds a borderline site. The extra paddle is worth it.
These two photos are from the same spot in opposite direction, that's how much room there was. (and no, the one guy is not "taking care of business" that close to the tents, it just looks that way in the photo)
We score on of the nicest campsites I have been to on the southeast corner of the island. It’s like a split level home with multiple bedrooms. It’s nice to space out because there are some of us who can really saw logs.
On the lower level is a nice “kitchen” with a great fire pit and place for stoves. The rest of the group responds to our paddle waving and enjoy an easy paddle as the wind has died.
The view from the island is excellent and it’s a beautiful sunset.
Given the recent wind and now mile high, blue sky, I think our best bet is northern. My canoe mate and I try casting the bay right behind the island, which is weedy, thinking there should be some northern. Most of them have lock jaw but I do hook a good sized one and play him carefully up to the boat. My grab for his back slips and he and my lure are gone, no net along, arggggg... He was not a monster, I am more upset about the lure. We continue to work that bay and around some of the islands to the west but few fish. Most of the other canoes are not doing much better but it turns out the “whalers” finds a walleye spot just out from shore near a fallen tree due south of the campsite a quarter of a mile or so and provide supper. The evening is beautiful. I accompany our fly fisherman for some evening fishing and try his canoe mate’s bent paddle. I had tried one once and had not liked it, but I think it was too short. This bent paddle is just right and now I see why people love them. I put a bent shaft paddle on my want list for my birthday. My wife ended up surprising me with a BB Viper for my 50th! It’s so pretty it’s in my family room. I almost hate to take to the BW and beat it up but it’s begging to hit the water. My wife liked it so much, we end up ordering one for her. Before we left fishing, I had pulled a bag of marshmallows I had brought along for the group for a treat. If I had wanted any, my timing was not good. It was an empty bag when we got back. It was the skinniest guy who did the most damage. Oh well… It was a beautiful day.
Not only did we take the picture of the same flowers, but we camped at the same campsite. Here's a pic of our tent there:
Question: When you were there, had someone taken a hatchet to a bunch of the trees between the lower "kitchen" level and the upper tent level? Sound like maybe that destructive force came in between you guys and us.
It's fun to read your report. By the way, here are the flowers a week later:
And then we even used the same campsite! yes, there were, I think, 2 or 3 small to medium trees that had been chopped down. As I remember, they were to your left as you went down to the lower level. We plead innocence, no one in our group had an axe along-less apt to need the suture kit without one. I had forgotten about that but now remember thinking how sad someone had to cut down the trees, especially right in the campsite. There was plenty of downed timber just up the trail to the "potty" area. I'm going to have to start a trip journal to remember more details like those trees.
I'm enjoying going along, again. Been to Darky Lake 3 times now in the last 12 months. Thanks for all your work. That is quite a laker. So they believe the fish lived? Swam away?
They describe it slowly sinking before they could turn around. They had dragged it several miles from the northern end of Argo, around the peninsula and almost to the portage.
Since I now have a new digital (simple Fuji Finepix A330), I am wondering about keeping condensation out of it.
I'm sure some of you have had this problem too. When I have taken a disposable or even a nice point and shoot with me I tend to have trouble with condensation/fogging on the viewfinder or even the lens. I especially have ran into this when I try to keep my camera handy, like in my chest pocket. In normal activity and my body heat rises, it seems to cause this problem, especially in colder weather. Also, when I try to keep my camera in a ziplock, waterproof container it also seems to develop some condensation inside the bag.
How do I stop that and still keep my camera handy yet protected?
until i submarined my point and shoot 35mm.
that was one of the main reasons that i followed the board members advice and bought an all weather olympus stylus 500.
i think it would have survived the dribble that made it's way into my ziplock.
...both keep a camera protected from immersion and handy at the same time.
As to condensation, I've found it best to keep a camera at ambient temperatures if it is cool out and then protect the camera by putting in in a bag before going in some place warm. Condensation then mostly occurs on the outside of the plastic bag.
Putting a camera in a plastic bag and then laying it in the sun, such as in a canoe (so it is handy) may promote condensation on lenses and viewfinder. It's better to leave the camera out.
I leave my camera out, even when paddling--and pay insurance to protect it against loss. (Except for paddling in even small waves or if I see weather gathering.) Most cameras aren't going to survive immersion even enclosed in a ziplock, I use the justification that it might as well be handy.
Condensation may also occur if the camera cools off and then it's placed inside a coat next to the body. I usually put a camera in my coat pocket. It stays somewhat warmer than if it is just hung around your neck, but cooler than if it is next to the body. Can be a killer on batteries though if they get cold. I keep an extra set in my shirt pocket in cold weather to keep them ready to go and then change them out if needed.
Buy one of those plastic gun cases with the double "O" rings and the postive latch, lined in foam rubber squares. They are outrageously expensive fairly heavy, big and clunky, but are absolutely water and shock proof.
Some of you may know that I went down Rebecca Falls in 2000 and my camera, in one of those cases, went down with me, pin-balling off rocks and being dumped into the water, where it stayed submerged for about 5 hours while I finished vomitting up lake water. When I finally retrieved the case from the water, it was heavily scratched, with some deep scratches and knicks, but bone dry.
Mine had quarter inch foam rubber squares which one removes to form an inset in the exact shape of the camera, so it is a perfect fit. I forget the name of the case, but can get it if ya'all need it.
Regards,
Scooter
"I may be drunk, but you're crazy and I'll be sober tomorrow." WC Fields, Its a Gift 1934.
Gander Mountain has these boxes in a few differnt sizes they all have a o-ring seal and are air and water tight. They run from 12-20 bucks depending on the size. The boxes have 2 latches and open up pretty fast. There is enough air in the midsize one to float my camera if the canoe tipped.
they both make cases or micro cases that should fit closely to the dementions of your camera. they have a thin padding inside. attatch to the thwart ahead of you and one latch and your camera is in hand. both are completely submersible and can be portaged right where they hang.
shane
The earth is being overrun by mankind and his machines. There will always be a need for quiet places that can only be reached by physical effort, skill and endurance. Bill Mason
I have a waterproof bag from LLBean that I carry my camera (in a camera bag) in. Unless it is actually raining out or I am in white water or waves, I usually do not actually have the waterproof bag watertight (ie, rolled and locked). Instead I push the camera bag down in the waterproof bag and fold over the top in a way that if the top of the bag gets splashed, the water will roll off the bag not into it. When I see something that needs to be photographed I reach in the bag and pull out the camera. Then the camera goes back into the bag and the top gets folded over again.
Obviously if I tip that will be the end of the camera, but this protects it well from an inadvertant splash or even a light drizzle. And most importantly, I have fast access to the camera.
"Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the U.S. Ask any Indian"
http://www.aquapac.net/
I picked up one to protect my digital camera. You are supposed to be able to shoot through it, but I primarily wanted a waterproof case that I could open and close quickly. I suppose I might try shooting through it if I really wanted a shot and it was raining hard. With the three levers on my case, I can open it and close in in under 5 seconds. They claim they are waterproof to 15 feet, I'm happy if it floats (should with the air in it when closed) and keeps my camera dry. They aren't cheap, but cheaper than a new camera. You can throw a dessicant sac in, if you want.
If you want a film camera that is weather resistant, my Pentax WR 105 is almost 5 years old, been outside in pouring rain photographing my son in a mt bike race (more like a mud race) and fell over the side of a canoe, luckily lashed on but bobbing in the water, and that's been a few years, still clicking. Did I mention it takes great photos, the best point and shot we have owned?
Looks like a good, more secure, alternative to the ziplock. Looks light and flexible enough to stick in pocket too, am I right?
I was thinking about those dessicant satchets. I thought if I had some of those to stick in my ziplocks it would help with my condensation issues. Then I saw them at this website with the Aqua pacs.
Thanks for the product tip. I will look into these.
Been down this road many times. I had a cheap Plano box that claimed to be waterproof, but after 2 years the seal ring stretched. I make a fishing system thwart for Bell that it attached to, and it worked very well while it lasted. I had a $19 dividend check to burn at REI last weekend, so I set out to replace the box. Came down to a choice between the Pelican, which lays flat, or the Otter which is vertical. Both have a single latch and are easy to open quickly. In the end I chose the Otter, because it has a better tab for mounting to things (I'm experimenting with an under the front-edge-of-the-seat mount), and it had a removeable belt clip. So far, I'm disappointed with the belt clip (it came off of the case when I was running through a rainstorm), but the case bounced off the pavement with no damage to it or the camera & no leak. Case good. Clip bad. In any "case" I went to Otter's website to get a link for you & found the black version on clearance for $11:
For still shots, I have a monopod mount to that fishing thwart. Works very nicely to set the camera timer to 10 seconds and have hands free to "aim" the camera with the canoe.
On the portage trail, I always try to keep the camera in a pocket within easy reach - you never know what might cross your path.
Bottom line is that for the camera to be "safe" you limit accessibility, and to be fully accessible, you risk losing it. Be willing to lose it. (my first digital is in the bottom of Farm lake somewhere, so I know what I speak of first hand).
REI carries both the Aqua pac and the Otterbox. I will have to do some hands on investigating. The dimensions look like it should fit in a roomy pocket as well, or on a belt, etc.
OK, so I gotta confess we live on the edge of flatland here in NW Illinois. Sure, there’s plenty of places to paddle and fish around here, so we don’t have much trouble preparing for the paddling portion of a canoe trip to northern MN or Canada, but it seems like no amount of biking, hiking, weight training, or walking can get me ready for portaging, at least not on the terrain we have here.
One place my family and I visited a couple times last year that offers a good day hike with trails somewhat similar to portage trails is the Maquoketa Caves State Park in eastern Iowa. Sure, I’ve been to places that were described as caves in my local area – hollowed out spaces mostly – these are the real deal, and there’s more than just a couple caves. There’s more than a dozen, ranging in size from the 1100’ long Dancehall to belly crawling size.
Approximately 6 miles of trails connect the caves, with plenty of change in elevation to give a decent workout. A word of caution: when we got out of the truck, we saw some kids that were slimed head to toe with clay-like mud. Oops! A change of clothes would be a good idea. Boots too. Bring your own lighting – headlamps and flashlights would be handy for the more adventurous.
A mapquest search shows Maquoketa to be approx. 180 miles west of Chicago, 330 miles south of the Twin Cities, but only an hour and a half drive for us. There’s a campground at the park and no fees for admission to the caves. Rumor has it that the Maquoketa River upstream from there is similar to the Upper Iowa River with limestone formations, but that will be another posting. Here’s a link for more information:
I now live only 30 minutes from the Caves and am excited to go back. I haven't paddle the Maquoketa River, but have heard from many it's very simular to the UIR with smaller bluffs. The CG at the park is rather small, but it is clean. We had a great time exploring the Caves and getting dirty, great place for kids to learn and have fun!
thanks for reminding me I need to paddle the Maquoketa River this spring
We went there a couple years ago with some friends and took about 10 teenagers with us and they loved it (even the girls) and yes they got dirty. Unfortunately the 1 ten year old we had tried to keep up with the big boys and I had to keep a motherly eye on him. We later went back and took a different group with smaller children and some elderly folks so we didn't get to crawl around and get dirty but it was still a nice hike.
We plan to go back and take headlamps and be more prepared next time.
I don't want to appear as a scrooge here but lets not invite people to start canoeing the Maquoketa. Go ahead and enjoy the caves but the river is probably the crown jewel of eastern Iowa and it is much more fragile than the Upper Iowa river. Many people like myself hold this river in high regard and don't want to see it ruined by a ton of canoe traffic and all that tends to go with it.
Please don't take this as snobbery towards out of staters but this river is one of the few places in eastern Iowa that us locals can enjoy and fish. We are not as blessed as Wisconsin and Minnesota with water resources to play on.
I have never a Minesotaian EVER say "please go somewhere else to paddle and fish"
you do sound very snobish. instead why don't you welcome your local state's people and say, "please come and try our nice river, but please keep care of her" rather than go somewhere else we don't want you.
BTW - it is very much a public space and open to all citizens of this here USA. I am sure the old economy of Maquoketa would love to have a few more tourists.
This is not my attempt to exclude the entire world. I also am aware that I use other states resources and that it is a little hypocritical of me to ask others not to use this river. The maquoketa is only about as wide as a large creek and hold fantastic populations of fish including trout. The water quality on this river is 10x better than the Upper Iowa. we already have a problem with our farming community using practices that are not very environmentally friendly in regard to this river. I have met alot of great people through this site and it is not most of these people that I am concerned about. There are some rivers in Wisconsin and Minnesota that are great but I know better than to advertise them on the net to the entire world. If I could send you some pictures of it and some of the fish that come out of it you would be protective of it also.
but I guess I am proud of the water Iowa has to offer either for canoeing or fishing. I also feel that most if not all of the problems that would be caused to the River would be done by local Iowa folk. You see those are the people who are going to bring huge groups of canoes, coolers of beer and act like they own the place. Most people when traveling out of state travel and act much differently than those in state. Also, as much as I like the River and Caves it is NEVER going to be a big draw.
I guess we just think differently. I grew up paddling the Iowa River and Lake McBride and ALWAYS recommend it to out of staters. Likeyou said, they have many places to paddle why would they even bother to come to Iowa??
I will continue to show off my proud home state so that other can visit and enjoy it (much like I do when I travel to WI and MN). You can keep doing what you are doing and try to keep them from knowing about it and coming...that is fine too.
I know that you are from Iowa City and I am from CR. I really am not trying to keep people out of our state just trying to keep a little for us. Minnesota is the Land Of Ten Thousand Lakes. We are the Land of Five Great Rivers, see my point. I love nothing more than showing off some of these to different people outside of Iowa. I agree that the local dip****s around here do 99 percent of the damage. I just don't want the 3-4 rivers left to end up like the Upper Iowa River.
Quoted from another bulletin board about the Maquoketa:
“One thing about ******** ***** Park: I've paddled that stretch a lot but never on a weekend until this past summer. There are a TON of people there on the weekends due to the fact that ******* Canoe Rentals in ********** does a booming business renting out aluminum canoes and shuttling from ********** to ******** *****s. I saw a couple of pickups with two 10-canoe trailers hooked together, and the place was packed with people waiting for shuttles. So if you want solitude for camping, I would not recommend ******** ***** (although it is a beautiful place).”
The cat may already be out of the bag. FWIW, the members of that board were very happy to answer my questions about combining a canoe trip with a bike trip in that area. They offered up a variety of websites and phone numbers.
Would you agree that farming practices and uneducated users pose a much larger threat than visits by people who access information on this bulletin board? It is my opinion enforcement of existing laws coupled with education in proper camping and canoeing practices would keep litter and pollution from canoeists at least under control. Hey! You unleashed the subject of fishing!
When I drive over the Maquoketa on the way to Bellevue to launch a weekend trip down Ol’ Miss, it sure looks like a muddy old cow. It must pick up plenty of sediment from the watershed cropland upriver. I’ve fished the mouth of the Maquoketa for a number of years from my flatboat. I’ve managed to snag a few that managed to slip past you, never any trout though. E-mail me if you want any information about Pool 13 fishing.
Plenty of folks in the state of Iowa already promote the Maquoketa as a canoeing destination. It certainly didn’t take much time to search and find amore than a half dozen sites devoted to area tourism, including canoe outfitters that service the Maquoketa. Do the outfitters and campgrounds and restaurants and gas stations and countless other businesses along the way only accept Iowa currency?
Are you suggesting Iowa rivers and lakes should be restricted to use only by residents of Iowa? What in particular “tends to go with” the canoeists who exchange information on this bulletin board?
He's only trying to protect a place close to his heart. As a native of northern Minnesota, I remember a time when you could travel all through the BWCA and hardly see another person. I also remember when lake vermilion, a place close to my heart, was a somewhat quiet and semi-wild fishing lake. I'd gladly exchange any of the supposed (mostly imaginary) benefits of tourism for a slightly higher quality of life and less crowded wild places. Don't get me started.............................................
When I have a favored place and its name is mentioned, I always tell stories about how poor the water quality is, the complete lack of fish, the garbage problems, etc. You've got to lie to keep people away. Try this:
I wouldn't recommend the Maquoketa, it's a cesspool, the water is literally half cattle feces and urine. It is barren with no poosible life within except for e Coli. If you insist on going, see your physician first for a complete battery of shots, contact with the water will guarantee you Cholera or Typhoid.
'Common sense is the sum of all prejudices acquired by age 18'
I'm taking my Scouts to the caves tonight for the weekend. I'll scout the river for a future trip for us as well. We always enjoy the trip. The Scouts get muddy and I get a good book read.
Well lets put 100 boats a day on this river. Charge 20 bucks a head and make a mint. Then lets muddy the hell out of the water catch all of the fish, litter the place up put up portage trails to the farm ponds ajacent to it. Start camping charging for camping on the sand bars and ruin the hell out of river that our local DNR has worked there tails off to protect from exactly this.
I can't believe how much people want to protect places like the BWCA( myself included) but can't see how others might feel about their special places in the own backyard. To anyone offended by my views I will give you all my spots on ever river in eastern Iowa if you give up every fishing hole on your local river.
backwater mearly offered some info for those looking to visit the state of Iowa and now you acting like they are going to come in, steal YOUR fish and trash YOUR river.
this will develop into a situation where access will be limited to permit only, with daily quotas and special regulations. You will need to call some place in Maryland months in advance to reserve your slot, pay a fee to go down the river running a couple of miles from your backyard, and then watch helplessly as folks from Omaha, Des Moines, Chicago and Indianapolis all lobby for new and improved rules, including bans on all sorts of things.
Life may be a bitch, but it beats the alternative.
you make an excellent point that i have heard many times--it seems unfair for you to have to pay to walk through the woods not far from your house.
but on the other side of things, population is constantly expanding, which means that people will continue to spread out, which means that eventually all land will be occupied by settlements. by cordoning off certain large, contiguous areas that are very conducive to "wilderness" travel, we can preserve our ability to spend time out there. unfortunately, one of those areas happened to be near where you live. unfortunately, it is far from where i live.
the United States belongs to all Americans and Minnesota belongs to all Minnesotans (and others, of course). that's why we (who don't live nearby) fight to protect those lands--so they will be there in the long term.
like i said, i can see both sides of the issue. i just happen to be one of those people who do not live nearby, so i see it from one side more than the other. maybe if (hopefully i will someday soon) i move farther north in the future, my views will change. i can't say for sure.
history was altered and no restrictions were ever imposed on use of public lands. Or perhaps there were no public lands at all – every acre of land would be privately held. Anyone with the cash could build a cabin or a lakefront vacation home anywhere they pleased. No limits on logging or mining. What would your backyard be like with no restricted uses on adjoining lands?
In a preceding post VitaminE laments the fact Lake Vermillion is no longer “semi-wild.” I’m not a native Minnesotan, but I’ve traveled there off and on over the last 50 years, and I can tell you the landscape has changed dramatically, and that’s with zoning and lakefront development restrictions. VitaminE has an excellent point about overcrowding. My vision of the area, had there been no restrictions on land use, is pretty ugly. Your backyard would be pretty ugly also, maybe not in our lifetimes, but certainly within a few generations. Other folks from Omaha, Des Moines, Chicago and Indianapolis would be your neighbors for a few weeks each summer. No, this is getting too ugly, I'll leave the logging and mining alone.
I suppose if I lived in your area I would probably not be happy with all the restrictions, but I’d be glad they were in place. FWIW, you don’t have the market cornered on rules and regulations, and NIMBY thrives across the country. In my neck of the woods I can cite many examples, some totally perplexing, some painfully obvious, but hopefully, better than the alternative.
at Maquoketa Caves State Parks two weeks ago. It is a nice hike and the caves are interesting. It was the first visit to that park for me and my family and we enjoyed the whole park to ourselves, we didn't see anyone else there the whole day. The lights in Dancehall weren't turned on yet so it was plenty dark with only two mini mags between the three of us. I forgot to bring the fancy LED headlamp I bought for my BW trips. We enjoyed Maquoketa because you can explore the caves without a guide. Check out Hannibel Missouri for Mark Twain's cave also, alot of history there. Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky and Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico are also excellent for you 'underground' types.
we stayed at a hotel in Maquoketa and the locals were very polite and happy to have out of state visitors supporting their local economy. That was my experience anyways.
I am truely sorry if I gave the impression that non locals weren't welcome. That is not the case. Violet is once again correct, I did over-react. There are places in Iowa that mean alot to us residents and for myself and my fishing buddies this is one of them. Marriage proposals and funerals of loved ones are memories of mine in regard to this river and others like it. Some of the best campfires that I have ever sat around and best conversations I have ever heard have happened there. One of my friends is a professional Salmon guide out of Chicago, and now I see where he is offering guided trout fishing in Iowa, using the same campsite that I asked him to be my best man in my wedding as a base camp for this operation. Hopefully this will offer some insight to where I am coming from. Sorry for anyone offended.
What could that possibly have to do with this thread? Well I watched that game in a tavern in Maquoketa as a die hard Twins fan amongst the Redbird supporting locals. A great time was had by all except I had to buy a whole bunch of beers when the Twins lost. And Les Straker was looking so good early.
'Common sense is the sum of all prejudices acquired by age 18'
Camped there a number of years ago. I remember the pines planted all in a row, row after row in the camping area. Great hiking. The spelunking is not really all that spectacular, but provides a good workout. If you do go in, as Adam said bring a change of clothes and lace your boots up tight! I lost mine not once but twice as I leaped up to pull myself onto a ledge. Literally covered from crown to toes in grey clay. Fortunately showers were available then. Boy did I have a great time!
Jim
"Down, down in the basement,
We hear the sound of machines"
"All of the lakes that I have been fishing have lost about 1/2 of their ice and what is left is getting soft. Most of the area rivers have opened up in any areas that have a current. If you are still ice fishing, be very careful out there as the ice is getting bad fast this spring!! Time to get my boat ready for the open water season!"
I myself am staring to feel like one of the many gulls standing on the grey ice of our local lakes - waiting!
I find these to be very convenient for BWCA trips.
They are easily packable and fast to open and use. When done sawing out in the woods, just fold it up and stick in your pocket.
I have a couple that I purchased at my local garden store. They are very high quality and you can buy replacement blades. Look for the Japanese style blades that cut on the back stroke.
If you have a store that specializes in arborist goods you probably can find the best saws for the money.
I also use a folding saw and really like it. Mine is made by a company called Oregon, the blade is about 10 inches. Since I've been using mine around the house for pruning jobs and taken it on about 10 canoe trips, it about time to replace it. I think I bought this one from some mail-order place on the west coast. If I find a link, I'll post it.
I have several of the coghlan sierra saws ( about 6 ounces and $7.50 at fleet farm in Wausau) and also one of those gerbers which slide out (4 ounces and around $10). These are great for small wood cutting chores and I use them all the time and do not go into the woods without one. I have cut down aspen trees up to 8 inches in diameter and quartered out a deer with the sierra saw, although the folding sven saw is better for the larger diameter stuff. I seldom find I need a larger saw for most of the firewood cutting I actually need for a small cooking fire. Without a doubt, one of my favorite tools, and too usefull and cheap not to have one around.
Two different style saws, obviously, and designed for different types/sizes of cutting. For larger logs-6"+ dia.-the Sven or Sven style saw is definitely better. On the smaller wood, I disagree. It's also larger and harder (length wise) to pack. About twice as heavy also. My "Sven style" (probably made before Sven hit the market and looks identical except for the color)saw works great with the larger wood-which I'm not certain you need for a cooking fire but is great for portage clearing (much like the bucksaw is-which in turn is better than the Sven). Fiskars (product no. 93656935) just marketed a 10" 'sliding' saw that is about 11" long overall when stowed and the blade slides down into the handle. In my estimation much more solid 'lock up' than the folding types. With belt clip, it weighs 7.5oz.-definitely lighter and smaller than the Sven. In a heads up contest on the under 6" dia wood it is definitely faster and easier to use. Ace Hardware is the only place I have found on an Internet search that carries these saws since they just hit the market. About $29 so it's not cheap but it is definitely quality. Large enough handle to use it two handed also! Worth looking at if you're looking for a lightweight, compact, fast cutting saw. As in all products, you can find "cheaper" and it usually is! IMHO
I just got done making a homemade, collapsible bucksaw. A couple pieces of oak 1x2s for the handles, a piece of conduit with pinched ends for the middle, and a threaded 1/4" bar for the top, a 21" blade from Fleet Farm, some carriage bolts, wingnuts, a couple of cuts, drilled holes, and voila, nice saw. Maybe a little heavy and bulky in a pack, but it's got to be the meanest, honkin' saw in the B-dub.
just like the old Schmidt bucksaw. True, the cuttinest saw in the backcountry. You can actually cut "FIREWOOD" (as opposed to squaw wood) with this baby!
solo canoes and single blades...the way it should be.
I bring one or two for portage or hiking trail clearing and have given a couple away. The one that I bought is a 30" 'Fast Buck Saw' and the frame of that is maple with a steel rod. I really liked its design but wanted to lighten it up so I made the rest as 21" with oak frame and aluminum rod. I have been using Sven saw blades in the 21" saws. The other store bought blades only last about one day on a busy trail clearing trip. Also, blades without rakers cut better than blades with rakers but are harder to find.
...gotta go with the Sven saw. If it's small enough to cut with a folding saw and dry enough to burn then...you just break it. Sven saw flies through big and medium wood that's worth stacking. I don't even carry an axe or hatchet.
I like how it packs, I like how it cuts. If there's a drawback, it's the potential for losing the wingnut for holding the sawblade in place. So far, however, I haven't done that.
No one ever looks back on their life and regrets the adventures they've had.
______________________________________________________________
Pete
I also had fears of losing the wing nut so I put an extra one in my repair kit. I also drilled a small hole on one side of the wings and and the frame and then threaded a small length of nylon cord to it and tied it to frame with enough slack to turn it on. I plan to add a snap swivel to this but haven't got around to doing it yet. I like the sven saw, but when traveling light I get by with the sierra or gerber saw instead.
We had two (2) of them, different brands, and each snapped last year. Now I know our group is pretty tough on equipment, but to break two of them musta took some real talent or the saws were pieces of C R A P. Since I've never broken an axe or saw before in 20 years of BWCA'ing, I presume they are the saw. They have a welded knib along the tube that holds the blade in place before tightening, and those nibs broke. Go figure.
I like the folding saws. Less moving parts. Lighter. Smaller. We've pretty much over to gas anyway, between the lack of timber in some areas and the fire bans in some months, so its no big deal.
Regards,
Scooter
"I may be drunk, but you're crazy and I'll be sober tomorrow." WC Fields, Its a Gift 1934.
for the last 3 days I have had Cardinal's dive bombing my work window in efforts of smashing through. At first I thought it was funny, but now I want it to stop. Every 5 minutes another one comes full speed at the window and "bonk!" hits and falls to the ground.
I have to give them credit for being determined, but anyone know how to stop this? or am I stuck until they all knock themselves out?
it was a Red-Tailed Hawk. Sat on the pavement for half a minute, saw the stars & little birds circling around his head, & then took off. Kinda cool to see it just 5-6' away like that.
Take a dark colored piece of paper and cut it out in the shape of a flying hawk, then tape it to the window. They might be trying to fight with what they see as another male cardinal or they might not be able to detect that there is a window there...putting something on it will help.
...I was told the outside of the window is reflective!! they can't even see inside. So they must be seeing a relection of themselves and either trying to fight or trying to mate.
either way, being a Cubs fans it proves that Cardinals are stupid!
the daffodils are blooming and the Cubs fans are optimistic. You know the rest of the story...
It's like getting rabies: We all know the progression of the disease, we have little available to cure it although a few lucky ones have survived. By the end of the season all hope will be lost and Cubs fans will utter "Wait until next year." Circle of Life.
I'm not a fan of any Major League Baseball Team since they cancelled the World Series on account of greed. [Oddly enough, the doping scandal that plagues MLB doesn't bother me none...giant freakazoids is where it's at! Go ahead, ruin your body for money and my entertainment!]
My lawn is finally thawed and dry enough so I got my canoe down and put on my "canoe hat" last night and portaged around my yard the equivalent of a quarter mile portage. That and a some overdue raking of downed willow branches have the muscles "talking" a little. Better now than in the BW. Anyone else putting the "canoe hat" on lately?
I dug out my weights about a month and a half ago, and have been working out 4-5 times a week since. The warmth of the last week has allowed me to get out and do some road work on my bike though. My legs have been burning since Monday.
Check out www.maps.google.com and click on "satellite" top right. I was able to get a look at Basswood falls.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. And not find, when it came time to die, that I had not lived." Thoreau
You can enter a place (like "Ely, Minnesota" or "Grand Marais") in the FIND box at the bottom. Then toggle back and forth between "Image" and "Topo" with the THEME drop-down at the top right to switch between satellite photos and USGS topo maps of the same spot.
I think the sat. images will get you closer on this site. Plus it has so many other useful tools like the candy heart maker...
I'm slow getting this done. My 90 year-old Mother is in the hospital with a UTI--just like the Pope said the doctor. She's ok and should be home in a few days. There's no oral antibiotic that will kill her infection so she gets it via IV 3 times a day. The evolution of drug-resistant pathogens is something to worry about. Our 40+ year attempt to wipe them out is nothing compared to the battles they've fought over millions of years.
Here was the scene when I opened my tent the next morning:
Fuel for wet/dry foot debate:
Mark began the trip saying, "Remember in high school how you just got wet and didn't care? That's what I'm going to do." He wore sneakers w/ no socks. I'm a dry-foot guy and had Tingleys over sneakers. After a few days Mark reported that his feet were hurting. What happened was that the constant exposure to water had softened the bottoms of his feet. When some particles of sand or gravel got in the shoes, they pushed right into the soft skin and hurt. So he began to jump from rock to rock. I was much better off in the Tingleys. Except when water went over the top. The angle it takes to drain them directs the cold water directly into your crotch--ouch!
A fairly strong north wind didn't bother us too much as we headed west along a small winding river toward Rheaume L.
(Mark and I have been talking about another trip and we may fly into Rheaume and then head east and then southwest to Fishing L. From there we will try to get to Artery L. in WCPP to see the pictographs. We're still gathering info to see if it is possible. Stay tuned.)
After Rheaume the Poplar river begins. It's well named because instead of the usual spruce it is lined with poplars. I've always loved seeing wind in those unbalanced leaves.
This section was the "usual". Stretches of flat water, short rapids and portages. We worked on being efficient on the portages--not to hurry but to save energy and because we began to have doubts about meeting our plane on Harrop L. We lifted and lined and scraped over many sections. As we got close to Sparrowhawk L., the river flattened out and some type of tall reed began to grow and eventually covered the whole width of the river. We stayed in the middle and continued to paddle. We kept flushing ducks. We are both weak on our duck identification and started calling them UFD's, unidentified flying ducks.
We heard some men's voices up ahead. Soon the vague outline of an aluminum v-hull and 2 green circles above it appeared. We paddled on. The reeds thinned some more and the scene suddenly took shape. There were 3 boats with 5 people; the green circles belonged to a blonde girl in a bikini!
There was a guide who was trying to get weeds out of the motor, 3 young men and the girl. It was still early but they had consumed and continued to consume several beers. Mark was fascinated and couldn't take his eyes off the cans. Mentally he prayed to be offered one. But it was like an encounter of 2 different species. They couldn't believe that we had emerged from the reeds with only paddles. Using the Canadian "eh" they kept saying, "How did you get here? You paddle, eh? Did you paddle, eh?" We told them we'd paddled over 100 miles and hadn't seen anyone else in 6 days. They couldn't take it in--"You paddle, eh?"
Soon we moved on with Mark very disappointed that he had not been offered a beer. We spent much of the time as we made our way down Sparrowhawk discussing this group. What was their relationship? How did the girl fit into things? What did the guide really think of them? (He seemed very quiet as he worked on the motor). Were they really having a good time?
We camped farther down the lake and later saw them come by on their way to the lodge. We stopped a little early and I did some laundry and consolidated trash.
Here's an interesting shot of some rocks on Sparrowhawk (taken by M.):
This turned out to be the greatest distance we covered--26.5 km in 9 hrs.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. And not find, when it came time to die, that I had not lived." Thoreau
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. And not find, when it came time to die, that I had not lived." Thoreau
It's hard to make a generality.
Here's what we did: When we came to a rapid, we'd try to determine its length. (We couldn't depend on the map). Many times we could see to the other end and because of low water we could just carry everything over the exposed rocks. If it looked long, we checked around for a trail. Sometimes the trail was obvious and might go around a series of rapids. I think we couldn't find a trail only once on a long rapid--that was the place where I took a picture from the top of a waterfall. In the beginning we would walk to the end of the trail to see where it went. But later we always carried some gear--why else would there be a trail? If the water had been higher, we would have real trouble coming upstream where all the logs were. We probably would have had to pull the canoes while wading in the shallow water. We saw no trails in those areas. On the big lakes where there were fly-in lodges the trails were very good--some even had signs saying "Portage." But the farther you got from these lakes, the more faint the trails became.
We were basically following a river and unlike the BW there was only one case (previously described) where we headed off through the woods to get to a certain lake. The problem was not finding them, just doing them again and again.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. And not find, when it came time to die, that I had not lived." Thoreau
UIR stands for Upper Iowa River. It is a small river in the NE corner of Iowa. It would get zero play here except that for the past few years folks from the board have spent a weekend playing on moving water in late April getting ready for the paddling season. This year the trip is April 29-May 1.
This is not wilderness paddling by any stretch, but it is fun. You sould expect to see more buzz as the date gets closer.
What about all those wild cows along the way! So far we have over 50 signed up for that weekend--CCBB'ers not cows!
P.S. Reports are that the water level is perfect right now. Anyone ready?
"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul." --John Muir
Oh, and were it not for our 18 month old getting dedicated this weekend and two other small river trips, I would be up for it. It will be 70 in the cities today. Wooo Hooo!
When it came down to it, I wasn't willing to risk the bottom of the Magic on the low water (that ended up being a VERY good decision). I had bought this CD Breeze mostly for the kids to enjoy, but it was the best candidate for scraping over rocks. In the end, it wasn't a very good choice for me - it's tough to fold all 6'5" of me into that small of a kayak, especially when you're getting in & out of it that much. Also got very tired of the evil blade after a long day of paddling/poling with it. This year it's Royalex & a single blade or bust.
Okay, I know everyone rejected this idea yesterday or the day before, but it really does look like a hole has opened up near the far shore north of the island in the view from the Moose Lake webcam. http://www.elyminnesota.com/cams/moose_lake_cam/index.php Check it out.
I doubted it yesterday and apologize to buckeye for doubting his judgement. It looks like a small patch open to me. Must be some current or underground spring there.
"When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known."
Sigurd F. Olson
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. And not find, when it came time to die, that I had not lived." Thoreau
Even though the portage was less than 1/4 mile away, the bay was a welcome reprise from the squall that blew in. The waves and wind would have pounded us at the portage landing and made getting out of our canoes very difficult. It was a nice little break spending time in the bay.
"When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known."
Sigurd F. Olson
Nibi that is a nice picture of Jim. What is your opinion on Gordon posting regular pix. You didn't comment on that thread. I know this board is like for Nibi only pix. rotf.
This is another great example of your skill in taking portraits. You have a gift for bringing the person out in the picture while leaving them in the wilderness setting. As I type this I am looking at my picture from our Baker Lake trip, thinking of your picture of Bogs and Pierre. You have a way of capturing people for which you should be commended.
Tip Kanuski and Jackfish held down a corner of the bar at the Hilltop Pub in Stevens Point last night and shared several stories and had a few laughs.
It was great meeting and getting to know each other a little bit. I definitely think Tip and I need to get together again, though. He has way too many stories to tell of his extended trips, solo and otherwise, into the wilderness.
Gordy, I'm glad you made it and we got a chance to chat a bit and tip a couple Spotted Cows. Let's do it again soon!
No one ever looks back on their life and regrets the adventures they've had.
______________________________________________________________
Pete
I got there at 8:00 as I thought I would and found Tip right away. He'd been there for about 45 minutes waiting for someone else to show up. Since it was already 8:00, we didn't bother to even ask around. We just figured something else came up for everyone else.
What a bummer! Sorry about that, guys!
Of course, you know what this means! Central Wisconsin platyfest - take two!
No one ever looks back on their life and regrets the adventures they've had.
______________________________________________________________
Pete
do we need to have some distinguishing, odd-colored hats or something? Maybe anytime you go to a platyfest, wear a baclava on your head so you all recognize each other?
Actually our party of 3 (My wife came to keep me in line), I think she was thinking I was going to come home with another canoe and gear. By the way #3, thanks again for the pack liner. next time we'll plan to meet in a canoe where we are bound to see each other. It was still a good night, good stories, and great company.
The following is taken from a historical compilation put together for the Minnesota Centennial in 1958, and was done by Ely area locals. Quite the interesting tome. This passage is a Letter to the Editor sent to the Ely Miner, which was the paper of record for many years in Ely. I hope you folks enjoy this as much as I did.
Early History is Related
[Editor’s Note: The following letter was received from Mrs. Alice Hall Gregory to correct an erroneous report turned into the Miner Office. The letter contains such an interesting glimpse into the early history of the country, that we decided to print the entire contents]
My dear friend:
As an item in your paper recently erroneously stated that was born in Winton, please allow me correct same.
I came with my father, J. Andrew Hall, mining authority and my mother, Mary E. Hall, to this country about 1882. My father had been here some time before that. He and a Mr. Armstrong (for whom Armstrong Lake was named) came to Ely to give their opinion as the advisability of opening a mine here. Later he settled upon a location for himself near Moose Lake. He acquired his land with soldiers script but fearing for the validity of the title he decided to homestead a part of it. At that time only 12 or 14 months residence was required to obtain title.
My mother agreed to spend the necessary time here with him. They kept my sister, Ella Hall in boarding school, and could only bring me along as I was only 3 years old or so.
We came before the railroad was through to Tower – but I wish I knew just how we got here! There was no settlement this side of Tower excepting an Indian village at Prairie Portage. Only a few houses in Tower and some at Soudan where they were preparing to mine. We must have walked into Tower, or part way.
I wish I could remember the gorgeous virgin forest of those days – none of the great stands of pine on Burntside or in this country had been touched, and of course there was nothing at what is now Ely in the way of a settlement.
We traveled the 40 miles from Tower to Moose Lake, back and forth, by a large birch-bark canoe with oars on it. Old Jasper Jim (Jimmy O’Neil) a well-known person here, who lived well into his eighties and died here, in later years, told me much of our days here. He came into the country with my father and packed for him for three years.
After my sister, Ella Hall, lost her life by drowning in the lake between Fall Lake and Basswood (which is named for her “Ella Hall Lake”) we left the country because of my mother’s great sorrow. That was in 1884, just after the railroad commenced running to Tower. We had been here two winters.
I heard it often said of our family that my mother was the first white woman to come into this territory, and I the first white child. I think it must be so. I shall be 70 years of age this summer. So I was here at least 67 years ago.
My husband and I motored into this country in 1917 on a sightseeing trip, were entranced with Burntside Lake and bought our island where we summered hence forth. Then miraculously we found Jimmy O’Neil!
So you see, instead of having been born in Winton, it had not even been thought of when I first passed through it!
Very sincerely yours,
Alice Hall Gregory
Hall Island, Ely, Minnesota
July 13, 1949
Life may be a bitch, but it beats the alternative.
Thanks for the factual perspective. I was captivated by the story. Would have loved to have met this lady-she certainly had lots of stories to tell. Glad we at least have this one preserved.
"When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known."
Sigurd F. Olson
Before the RR was extended to Ely, and even before it was built between Two Harbors and Tower, the route up was long and hard.
They either traveled North from Duluth over a "winter road" to the south east end of Lake Vermillion and then walked the route cross LV up Mud Creek/Lake crossed the portage to Tamarack Creek and down that to the SW end of Burntside, crossed B and either went down the River to Shag or portaged near the Lodge to the river and then to Shag.
The other option in summer was to canoe up the rivers from Duluth to Lake Vermillion and then that the above route.
Once the mines got the RR in then it was "easy" and many people came every day.
The "Vermilion Trail" was a wagon road which took off from Duluth and then up to Winston City, on Lake Vermilion. I have followed portions of that road, north of Island Lake outside of Duluth. One stretch that I really got a charge out of was corduroy across a spruce bog, which then led to a fairly steep hill. The ruts in the hill were still clearly visible, and from the base of the hill nearly half way up were piles of discarded furniture, various metal objects including wagon wheels/rims. Apparently the hill was more than some of the draft animals could handle.
Life may be a bitch, but it beats the alternative.
That's the trail I was thinking of. Yes, it evolved into a rough wagon trail and maybe more (?) as it got used.
With me reading these history books this winter, I now have my dad also thinking about these early times. (He has even talked about saving resource instead of using it up, ala logging and mining) This from a "died in the wool" Republicain. Quite a shift from his old thinking.
He grew up in Duluth (Woodland) but never did anything outdoors until he had to take his family (us) on vacation. He/we started camping because it was cheap. Anyway, with this new found knowledge, he is planning to follow the Vermillion Trail from Duluth to Lake Vermillion this year, just 'cause.
Way back when, after reading some of the early pioneer accounts (including those of my family), I became intrigued with the Vermilion Trail. That intrigue was finally given something to work with when I was in college, and used free time to explore the country around Duluth.
On one of my partridge hunting expeditions, quite by accident - I stumbled upon what was obviously an old wagon road. At the time, I was hopelessly turned around after walking a dizzying array of logging roads, and had taken off "cross-country" back in the direction of my vehicle. As I reached a flowage, and searched for a way across without swimming, what looked like a natural crossing appeared. Sitting down and taking a break, I realized that there was an old road of sorts, and began following, over the river and through the woods.
The route was perpendicular to where I was going, but I continued to follow, and as I did so realized that this was one OLD thoroughfare, unused for many decades. It reminded me of some the old steamhauler roads. When the coming darkness finally forced me to break off and bushwack my way back to Highway 4, I was pretty well convinced that I had found a section of the old Vermilion Trail.
In the days that followed, I spent some serious time in the St. Louis County Courthouse, pestering the surveyors and land records people, and then some time in the college libraries. My hunch was confirmed, and armed with some maps, directions and accounts, I drew in the route as best I could on a St. Louis County Plat book and commenced to exploring.
Much of the route near Duluth is impossible to find. In several areas between the Airport and Island Lake, it can be located, but is indistinct at best. North of Island Lake things begin to get interesting, in spite of the fact that much of that country has been logged over 2 or more times since the road ceased to be used. Much of the route followed low lands, which due to the fact that they were spruce swamps, may have never been cut.
Once you get up near Highway 135, the trail becomes difficult again, and I lost time, energy and patience trying to follow the thing into the Embarrass River valley.
Your dad has quite an adventure in front of him, and I wish him well. I looked in vain for my notes and maps from my explorations this evening, but have not been able to pin them down. No doubt tucked in a box with Hardy, Bronte, Dickens, and others I haven't visited with in many years.
NOTE: Some time in the woods will get his wool dyed back to the right color, eh?
Life may be a bitch, but it beats the alternative.
I'm going to print out your message and give it to him.
He's not a "woods" guy, and has never really spend any time "in" the woods, ie, not a hunter or hiker, and it's very unlikely he'd do any bushwacking, he'd just follow whatever roads were close.
I'd be interested in learning more about the Indian Settlement at PP. I know that not far from there on Inlet Bay is one of the oldest campsite in the Quetico as I was told once. I beleive it was once a major Trading Post. Is there a conection?
Thanks Pete
qp
OK, here is my first Canoe Country Nature Photography tip. I'll probably only post once every one or two weeks, or whenever I think up something good. Subjects will include primarily plants and animals found in Canoe Country, or that were once found there.
We'll start with one of my all time favorite photos; it's been on this board before so some of you will have already seen it.
I was headed for Alaska on the Cassiar Highway in British Columbia, but was tired and fighting a cold so I couldn't resist stopping early in the evening to rest at a campground on Cotton Lake, especially when I could see their bright red Coleman canoes all lined up on the bank.
I ate a quick dinner and took one of the canoes out for a spin on the calm lake. As I was pushing off, the campground host cast a wary eye upon my photo gear and warned me about approaching moose too closely suggesting that the local over-sized ungulates were known for their notoriously poor tempers. I promised to bring her canoe back in one piece and pushed off to an absolutely wonderful evening.
It was late enough by this time that there wasn't any traffic on the road and only the calls of a loon and a few small birds broke the silence. The water in that evening light had turned to black; the bow wave curled gently away without even a whisper and a single stroke was enough to keep the canoe gliding on that onyx surface for what seemed forever.
This young bull moose showed up shortly after I began paddling, but the water was very shallow at this end of the lake and trying to out paddle a long-legged, ill-tempered, charging moose running in shallow water had unpleasant scenarios running through the darker recesses of my mind. I hung well away from the moose and took this shot.
Shooting from a canoe is difficult especially while using a telephoto. Typically I use the shortest focal length lens necessary to get the shot and the fastest shutter speeds available when handholding a camera in a canoe. The reason for this is that the longer the lens gets the greater the magnification of "jitters," which leads to poor sharpness in the final image. Add in canoe movement, poor evening light and slower shutter speeds, and the likelihood of blurred photos becomes likely.
How fast a shutter speed one needs to stop camera movement depends on how steady the person is, but the general rule is to use a shutter speed that is the reciprocal of the lens length. A 100mm lens, therefore, should be used no slower than 1/100 of a second when being handheld. In a canoe, however, something a bit faster than that is usually needed and most people over-estimate, usually by a lot, how steady they are.
To reduce camera movement and thus the "jitters" for this photo, I placed a paddle shaft over the left thigh and under the right knee and pushed the blade against the floor of the boat. I then braced the camera and lens against the paddle shaft. This, because the water was calm and I wasn't moving, greatly reduced camera movement along 2 of 3 axes. But reducing movement along one axis allows the photographer to concentrate on the other two axis of movement, and that helps a lot in steadying the camera.
This photo was taken on Fuji Provia 100F film using a 300mm lens. The aperture was wide open at f4 and the shutter speed was about a 1/30 of a second.
You’ll notice that I violated the reciprocal rule, but I was aware of that and took a number of photos hoping one would turn out. Plus...grin...I’m very steady.... You may also note that the front leg of the moose is blurred by his movement; this was taken at a very slow speed for such a long lens, yet the care that I took paid off well in a relatively sharp photo.
I love the description of the evening out on that lake. Are those trees scrubby willows or alders or somerthing like that? Anyway, I can see there's a lot to learn about getting sharp wildlief photos!
I will look forward to your pictures and lessons-you certainly are off to a great start. Will you take requests??? I am wondering if you have any shots of a Fisher? I love that elusive guy.
"When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known."
Sigurd F. Olson
...the rarer and more elusive things are the harder they are to photograph. I have some very old photos, and not very good ones, of a pine martin raiding some eggs out of a fire pit at a fly-in fishing camp. But that is as close as I can get to a fisher.
This prime specimen is in his silvertip phase. You can tell by his wise and mature good looks he is probably the alpha male of his colony. Prime silver specimens like this are prized for their wisdom by the younger males and much sought after by the females of the species.
Silvertips most often either live alone or in a small colony that includes only one female. Males in this phase seldom have young fishers living in their colony, but the offspring are known for visiting on weekends and holidays, particularly the third sunday in June.
Silvertips like this one can be found in a variety of places, but most usually near water. If you keep a sharp lookout you can often spot them in other places including golf courses, corner offices, and behind the wheel of brand new four-wheel-drive pickups.
This particular fisher was photographed on Lake Isabella on a solo trip in August of 2004
The photo does capture the fine details and majesty of this creature, without any distractions. That said, I'd have framed it a little differently. Framed a little more to the right, we'd have seen the silvertip fisher moving into the picture, and gotten a feel for its purpose; is he stalking prey? Feeding? Approaching his potential mate? Or merely marking his territory? There simply isn't enough visual information about the fisher's environment.
I think you used the proper shutter speed or were very steady. It probably didn't hurt that this was a slower-moving variety of fisher.
Nice job!
that was raiding the fish remains in our fishing camp. It was taken by another fisherman. In fact, it was the photos he took with his digital camera that gave me the itch to get my own.
The composition may be a little rough but that mink did not exactly sit still, especially after the first flash went off.
...I like how you set the scene of the day and then get into the techniques used in the shot...thanks!
One of the most difficult things for me is keeping my composure when a photo opportunity like this one presents itself. Your points are excellent...such as your bracing technique...but first and foremost...when moments arise out in the wilderness for that "ideal shot", remember to remain calm and set-up the shot as Gordon described - because there is no difference between a missed shot opportunity and a shot that is too blurry to be viewed.
Thanks and I look forward to more of your photos and advice.
Madl
"He who travels with dry foot, not experience all that canoe country has to offer."
Grin...yeah, me too. How can you not get excited when dealing with fleeting shots of a great experience? I'm always torn between just watching and photographing an animal, especially if I'm not going to see it for long.
The best way to deal with excitement is to have a practiced "emergency" technique. I've got a seven step program...grin...to deal with excitement. That can be the next topic. Thanks for suggesting it.
When I first got into photography, I was like a gunslinger shooting everything that moved. Then I became more deliberate. What happened was that I started missing shots. But at the end of the year, I had many more really good shots, just fewer photos.
...to the BW, I was so excited when I saw my first eagle pearched so elegantly in a tree on the opposite shore of the Basswood River. I reached into my camera bag and got my 400mm lens and proceeded to "in my mind" use the "rule of thirds". I knocked of shot after shot after shot thinking the composition was perfect and the subject was in clear view.
When I got the film back, however, the eagle was almost always DEAD CENTER of the frame and he was SOOOOO SMALL that it was a complete waste of film.
Bottom line...as hard as it may be, you must control the adrenaline and take your time!
Madl
"He who travels with dry foot, not experience all that canoe country has to offer."
I like your application of the rule of thirds to this situation as well as leaving ample room in front of the subject to allow us to anticipate his progress. I think that adds to the "motion" in this photo.
When conditions don't allow a close up and personal shot of an animal, an environment shot can be very effective when done right -- as Gordon did. A few things to remember when composing pictures such as this one...
1) Rule of thirds... imagine a tic-tac-toe grid placed over your viewfinder, dividing it into 9 equal parts. Main subjects should be placed roughly at a point where 2 of the lines intersect. Horizons and strong horizontal elements should be placed near one of the 2 horizontal lines, while strong vertical elements (e.g. a tree) should be placed near one of the vertical lines.
In Gordon's moose picture, the moose is placed near the upper right intersection, the grass line follows the upper horizontal line, the reflected tree line follows the lower horizontal line.
2) Make sure the main subject is looking/moving into the frame. In Gordon's shot, the moose is looking/moving toward the left. He composed the shot so that the bulk of the picture is to the left.
3) Include visual information about the animal's environment. By placing the moose high in the frame, Gordon has emphasized the watery environment that moose love so well. He also made sure that there was something interesting going on throughout the frame. If he'd chosen to place the moose at the lower-right intersection, I think there probably would have been a lot of empty, uninteresting sky at the top of the frame.
Nice shot Gordon. I'm looking foward to more of these. I hope you don't mind me adding my $.02
Larry
To really appreciate the wilderness, one must pay attention to the small things as well as the grandiose.
I appreciated the additional comments. I had previously heard of the rule of 1/3's but some of your additional comments or points were new (or forgotten and needed reinforcement).
Thanks!!
I think Nibi has brought up an interesting point, but I'll generalize it a bit. Good photos have a lot going for them, both from a technical and content perspectives. That may seem obvious, but it is why casual photographers occasionally get great photos, but those photographs are often the happy intersection of several things happening by accident. Really good photographers recognize when elements are coming together and can even manipulate those things that make great photographs.
On the other hand, this seems to suggest that taking a greater proportion of very good and exceptional photo can be taught. And because most people are point and shoot documenters, just a bit of instruction can be an enormous help.
This moose photo, as Nibi points out so well, has a lot going for it. And I had a really hard time narrowing the focus down to what I did. There is one additional thing that I'd add to Nibi's comments, again in a general way, and that is simplicity.
Not only was the sky uninteresting, being just kind of gray overcast, but the mountains in the background would have given this photograph distractions. A viewer's eyes would have been wandering all over the photo; sky, mountains, the old burn on the hillside beyond the alders, lake, and then probably moose. In the shot I posted there is no question about what subject is. The eye is immediately drawn to the moose and then the eye begins to wander.
Too often we try to crowd everything into a photo; one of the tasks of the photographer is to make the subject obvious and simplicity is one way of doing that. I'll deal with that in my seven step program mentioned elsewhere.
Looks as though these CCNP's will be very interesting and informative. Really appreciate the time you took to describe the setting and then the details on how you took the shot. Thanks Gordon, I look forward to many more.
The 2005 North Shore Dragon Boat Festival and International Sea Kayak Race will be held in Grand Marais, July 29 - 31st. It's a fun outdoor weekend of paddling, dragon boat races, a parade, puppet show, vendors and live music. Plan to participate in and attend the festival before or after a Boundary Waters trip. Proceeds from the Festival benefit North Shore Health Care Foundation, WTIP Community Radio and North House Folk School. Form and team and come have FUN!!! More information is available at www.northshoredragonboat.com , by email at info@northshoredragonboat.com or by calling (218) 387-2372.
Any breast cancer survivor teams registering? Next week my crew (The Dragons of Hope) is selecting which races to attend, and competing against fellow breast cancer survivor teams is a prime consideration.
________________________________________
Hour after hour, day after day,
we paddled and sang and slept
under the hot sun on the northern ocean,
wanting never to return.
whenever that happens to me it is always because the picture is too big. I have fine luck with pics in the 20-50k size. Seems like the closer you get to 100 k the more often the system rejects it (without telling you why of course).
Try making it smaller.
"Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the U.S. Ask any Indian"
I am not sure this will work everytime. If the picture you want is already on the web somewhere go there and right click on the pic, then click "copy image location".
Then paste that in your message.
just testing...
solo canoes and single blades...the way it should be.
Quetico- Argo trip report, day 2
Our morning is a cloudy, drizzly morning. The weather does cooperate and not start actually raining until after breakfast and we are in our canoes. The first portage into the Roland Chain is just around the corner.
The group that was just across the water on the island has already left but we encounter a group coming through the opposite way at the first portage.
The start of the portage is wet and muddy, next to the connecting creek. The rest of the portage is flat, but has some exposed rock that is very slick from the rain. I end up on my rear, with only my pride hurt.
Lower Roland starts out looking more like a river. The group gets a few northern and one or two smallies, especially with surface baits in the weeds in the southern end. The surface strikes gets everyone going. There is a lot of down timber and I expected more hits.
From Lower to Middle Roland, it’s another short portage that we do a 4 man canoe lift over. There is one narrow spot between trees that makes this portaging technique a little challenging.
Just as we get to the portage to Middle Roland, the weather clears and the fish turn on. We pull several nice smallies from along the shore south of the portage, including one nice 18” from just above the start of the rapids down to Lower Roland.
The portage to Roland Lake can be shortened a bit by going up the connecting stream a little. It’s a pretty area with pines, especially where the portage comes out on Roland. The group passes on the urge to lunch on the portage and we head down the lake a little to a point on the south side.
There are much better places to lunch or camp either on the north side or further toward Argo as we were perched up a hill with little level or open ground.
I think a filet knife was left back at the portage, so our fly fisherman headed back and tried casting that area for a few minutes while picking up the knife.
My canoe mate heads out for some fresh water.
After some shore lunch, we scatter a little and try to find some more fish. Almost due north of the portage from Middle Roland is an island adjacent to a point. The channel between the two has a number of smallies, who do not cooperate much, perhaps because the wind is building or because they can see us like we see them. We do find some that cooperate as we work the south end of that J shaped point. Again, we are lagging behind our companions and have lost all sight of them. We push on to the portage between Roland and Argo / Siobhan River. We had a little trouble finding the portage because the entrance was not quite where we expected it and it was not real worn. It’s a quick, easy portage and we were now in sight of our group. They are in no hurry because the walleye and smallies are active in the Siobhan River.
When the group reaches Argo, it’s decision time- whether to paddle into a moderate south wind that is building toward the campsites on Argo or head NW to Dark with the wind? Some have come for Argo’s lakers, armed with gear to plum the depths so they strongly encourage a southerly course. It’s a long steady pull down Argo, but at least it’s sunny and beautiful. There is a string of islands with campsites, along with a peninsula to the north, that divide Argo into two major basins. Those island campsites are our goal, but one after another are filled. The islands are very pretty but we are paddling into a good wind, so I don't have time to get the camera out. I think there is a large group taking at least a couple of the sites because we see canoes go from one site to another. Luckily, just as we get to the last marked site and now contemplating a paddle all the way toward Birch Island, the group on that last site call over and tell us there is a decent unmarked site on the southeasterly most tip of the southern most and largest island in this chain of islands. We make for the point and find a nice site.
It even has a spot good for a little swimming. It was a little cozy for 4 tents but they fit.
Right after supper part of the group heads out for some fishing but mother nature has a little surprise for us. Just as we start working the bay our point helps form behind the canoes in the one photo, we look up and see a black cloud overhead whose approach the trees had hidden. This catches us with our pants down, or, or this case, the rain flys off our tents, thinking the weather was clear. We are not too far away and get the flys on in time.
One quick blow and it’s through but there are scattered storms around us.
A nice campfire is started. In the meantime we have the entertainment of the night.
For some reason, some of the guys have the most fun and the worse luck getting a “bear” rope up. Our fly fisherman heads out for the evening bite and entices a few smallies to bite. It'ws been a gorgeous day. Argo is a beautiful lake. Roland was also pretty and is another lake I could spend another day on.so many lakes, so little time.
to get my journal out and report on our Saganagons trip last year...it was an adventure...flipped canoe on windy Saganaga, windbound at Cache Bay ranger station -both ways- broken foot after silver falls portage, etc. But , caught my largest smallie AND my son got this MONSTER northern, 39 1/2 inches long, 17 lbs. On 8 lb test mono, pulled us all around a cove, it was a blast. Second year in a row I dumped an expensive camera. Only salvaged one shot!!
Couldn't get the file to upload, will try again...
So far your trip is paralleling the one we took in August. It's especially fun to read about places you've been, but different people and experiences. Looking forward to the rest.
that you guys found walleye in the Siobahn in late July. Actually, I did not know that walleye were in this river or in Argo at all. The river appears to be mostly very shallow. Did you find some deep spots holding walleye? Any size to the walleye? Anyone know anything about walleye in Argo?
FYI - for those interested in fishing for bedded SMB in early June, the western-most bay of the Siobahn (containing the portage into Roland) is lunker city.
and don't remember details of what the other guys told me, sorry. We were rushing to catch up to the other guys. I did catch a few smallies after we caught up just before we hit Argo. Remember that last summer was very cool and fishing was screwy. We hit a hex hatch June 28 on Fall Lake on an earlier trip. The bass were still up near the surface for most of this trip in later July. Not your normal patterns.
This time of the year when we are just on the edge of the season is a time when we don't see much in the way of reports. It is also a time we really love to see them. Keep 'em coming!
The annual Des Plaines River Canoe Marathon will be held on Sunday, May 22. This event takes place in the near northwest suburbs of Chicago, along the Des Plaines River. Up to 1000 canoes and kayaks paddle about 20 miles along the river, which probably averages 50' wide and 4' deep, with rather slow moving water. The river generally has a forest preserve on one side, and a road on the other. There are some very pretty areas, but you will be passing under numerous bridges, and traffic noise will never be entirely absent- might be a great way to introduce a dyed-in-the-wool urbanite to the joys of canoeing! There is one small portage (10') around a dam.
The event was cancelled last year due to high water from all of the spring rains we had.
Some of the canoers and kayakers are racers, hoping to gain points for further competitions. Others compete for best decorated canoe. Most of the participants are recreational, including those who put canoes six across and have a floating Platyfest!
Many scout and youth groups participate, and there are many families. This would be a great time for anyone interested in a group paddle.
I have done radio support in the past, but this year I may be the last sweep canoe. If it happens, BDW and I will have a leisurely paddle, pitchforks in hand to hurry along stragglers. If you will be participating, think about a late start and joining us on the sweep! More info will be forthcoming.
I was looking through the link you posted, and I think the chairman of the thing was my high school guidance counselor. I remember he/his family were into canoeing.
After seeing Wilderness Mama's post a while back concerning "show and tell" during the UIR weekend, I got to thinking about some possible items to bring. There seem to be many more types of gear than posters on this board! Here is my list of possible items to show:
Gander Mountain in Indy. Suspect seen rifling through the raincoat section muttering about entry points in late June. Both characters appeared to have a bad case of BWCA fever and were actively passing it on to a 3rd party...........
I was checking out the old Backpacker Gear Guides. The Nebula was the convertable version of the Nimbus with the exact same footprint of 90" x 60". Checking out the current North Face product line it looks like the Slickrock at 87" x 58" is the closest footprint in current production, I would guess a couple inches smaller on either side won't make a big difference.
I am heading to the brainerd/Pequot Lakes area tomorrow and am wondering if it's worth bringing my solo for my first paddle -where is the ice-out line?
Maybe a trip down the Minnesota from Taylor's Falls to Wm O'brien with my paddle pal next weekend - we're both itching to go, both with OPld Towne solos!
Looking at some of those canoe racks - they look nice but make me nervous. I once had a package of 6 cabinets all plastic wrapped together and sitting on a palate (sp?) fly out of the back of my pick-up at 70 mph on highway 61. To this day I have no idea how it happened. I had the whole load slid all the way up to the cab, a ratchet strap on the side keeping in forward and one over the top, pulling it down. I would not have thought the thing would fly out just sitting there due to the weight. I put the straps on just to keep it from sliding. Driving along, I hear a "Whoompff" I look back to see the whole load bouncing down the highway. Fortunately it was later in the evening and nobody was right behind me. I looked at the straps and both were still there, attached to the truck, just now hanging loose. Amazes me! What really amaezes me is when we finally got home - all the cabinets were ok. They are now in our master bath.
Thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.
...what scares me is the system that some outfitters use to tie down canoes. I have seen many just use an old bunji cord pulled across the racks and call it good.
I had a friend lose a canoe on the interstate that proceeded to hit a following vehicle. He had top straps on it but no front and back straps.
My wife and I had a horrible experiance on U.S. Highway 151 in Wisconsin a few years ago when we were hauling a canoe on our Escort with those awful foam pads. Everytime we met a semi the canoe would lift up about 6 inches. I got so I would just pull over to the shoulder when we met a truck. A slow trip! I preferred the old rain gutter days. When I was in high school we had a 1967 Pontiac Catalina. I just drilled holes in the steel bumpers and we put eye bolts in them. We had a very good tie down then. I don't believe I would trust the plastic bumpers of today.
On an S-10 little pick up my buddys truck and rig. foam blocks on the cap and a PVC rack in the bed. Since a good part of the canoe overhung the hood the updraft from stong winds and travelling at 55 mph caused the aluminun ring in the nose of the Grumman to snap, (I suspect it was worn and no one noticed) with no bow line the boat picked up and snapped the buckle on a nylon belly band and broke the PVC off like toothpicks. Thing went airborn and hit the side of the road bow first at at least 50 mph. The canoe is in service still today. a little dog leg warp but not bad. Lessons learned - watch the updraft, don't use PVC because it is brittle and never ever haul a boat with out a good bow line secure to the vehicle.
1) 2ed trip up, 3 canoes, 2 cars, 6 guys. Not my cars or leadership. They used bungee cords to partly hold the canoes to the car/rack, can't remember which. Just remember the canoes moving alot in the gusty wind, 6-8 inches or more. Never again.
2) Coming home from the cabin and am pulling a friends trailer with a 3 wheeler on it, held down by 2 - 1" straps w/ratchets. One broke (wore through) and the wheeler started off the back of the trailer, the remaining strap prevented it from going all the way off, but it dragged a tire on the pavement putting a hole in it. This took just seconds and I stopped the truck as soon as I could, within maybe 1/2 mile from 65 mph.
3) Coming home from a paddle and had a (front) rope fail suddenly, no warning, no obvious bad spot on the rope. It just "snapped", like a rifle shot. There were 2 straps and 2 rear rope so the canoe didn't go anywhere, just had to re-tie the rope.
Last summer on the way to California my wife's vest decided to go out the window at 75 mph. She was surprise and there was no turning back. Had a great pocket knife that I had on the top of my station wagon. I heard that thing slide off and stopped right away. Must have bounced into the ditch because I looked for long time for that thing. As far a car racks go I happened to notice one corner loose where it was screwed onto the Suburban. Discovered that it was held on only by sheet metal screws. That was amazing. Spent an afternoon taking the roof liner off the inside and using bolts, washers, and nuts. (Use SS screws and calk the holes) I was hauling some canoes for a boy scout camp to a boat landing (Not my canoes or trailer). I thought the rubber bungie cord was a 'little loose' but the camp leader said it would be fine. Going down the road I happened to look in the rear view mirror and noticed a canoe out in the opposite lane of traffic. And of course I have left billing machines, automatic syringes, and good stuff like that on my bumper which got run over and smashed. Never ever ever leave anything on a truck bumper no matter how convenient or 'temporary' . Course nothing is worse than the guy I heard about on the radio that left his kid in an infant car seat on top the car as he drove down the highway. heard it slide off and saw it fall in the roas behind him. If I tune in tomorrow I will hear how it turned out....
And just when I thought I had never lost anything you have to remind me of the time I lost my wallet near Lake Tomahawk, Wis. I know I told this story here before, it was a cool story about there still being good people in the world. My wallet was set on the bumper of my truck while I put leeches into my cooler in the back at a gas station near Rhinelander. I noticed it was missing while out on Willow Flowage and couldn't figure out what I did with it. That was nerve-wracking. But thankfully I had a card inside with emergency contacts and some wonderful people found it and called my sister...who then went into a panic trying to figure out why my wallet was on the side of Highway 47(?) and I wasn't answering my phone. Those kind people sent my wallet back to me and wouldn't accept any payment!!
.....survive the 23 mile trip to work accross the metro while sitting on the back bumper. Came out to go to lunch and was wondering who was the wise guy that put it there, then remembered I was the one who placed it there while shooting hoops the night before.
Son's skis went flying into the ditch one morning as we turned onto the Highway. Low speed...no damage. Left the ski rack "top" up.
Hauling drift boat back from a lake on eastside of Oregon's Cascades a few years ago. A friend put the stinger back in and shut the padlock I use in the bolt that holds it on. Didn't shut the padlock to the point of locking and I didn't check. Stinger came off going down Willamette Pass at 60 mph. Safety chains really do work...thank goodness.
Box containing a chair - part of a brandnew dining room table/chair set went flying out of the back of the pickup along I-105. Still wondering how it came unsecured. Box slid along the road for quite aways. No appreciable damage.
Took a summer employee (working into the fall) deer hunting one season about 30 yrs ago. He borrowed his brothers pre-64 Win Model 70. Left it on top of the car. Drove about 1/4 mile and saw it cartwheeling along side the car as we entered the first serious curve. A few slight scratches. No real damage - unless his brother later shunned him.
All have been learning experiences. Still have a self-delusional view of myself as an intelligent, competent being.
But... I've lost no canoes (knocking on wood). I put on two belly straps and a tie down front and rear. Can't shake visions of having a similar experience with our Spirit II as Redd sadly had.
...Randy
P.S. As an aside, we got a 95 4-runner once that had a sunroof that receeded completly. Had it open on a drive up in Washington not too long after we got it. Stopped for gas and a soft drink. Came out and set my cup on the roof while I retrieved my keys. Yep... no glass in that roof. Drink kept going - hit my seat - made quite the splash - lucky it was diet.
I was bringing three boys and myself up for a five day trip with a group home I used to work at. We left at 3 AM from Anoka County in a driving blowing rainstorm. I had two borrowed canoes tied to the top of a piece of crap van, one canoe riding half on the other. Canoe on top comes off and flips into the median on an entry ramp to 35W. I re-tied that baby on and it didn't so much as move a half inch for the remainder of the six hour ride.
Scary as heck it was. Lucky it was 3 AM and very little traffic was on the road.
On a full sized van? One time my son threw his bike tires on top of the van. we drove a little ways and realized they were gone. Despite several times retracing the route, they were not found.
We were on the last leg of our return fron the BW, driving on 35W by the Metrodome, when our group leader and driver looked in his rearview mirror and said, "Steve, there goes your canoe." One of the metal braces on the canoe trailer broke and my canoe slid off at 65 mph onto the freeway and pinwheeled across lanes of traffic towards the shoulder. After 15 minutes of backtracking we got back to it and found it on the shoulder of the freeway, right side up, facing forward, with only a few scrapes. I still don't don't know how the following traffic missed hitting it. It was just after sunset - another 20 minutes darker and I'm sure I would be paddling a different canoe now.
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Yogi Berra
He was half drunk and shouldn't have been driving, but he and buddy hooked the boat up and took off. He said they were going about 70 when he looked back and saw it. Apparently at the speed the wind gets underneath it and lited the front. He said the outboard was acting like a wheely bar and sparks were flying, it then left the road went up an embankment ofr a driveway and flew through the air kind fluttering back and forth, landed in the woods. Suprisingly it did not have much in the line of damage, just paint scratches.
Thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.
I used to be a landscape forman, and one night comming down 694 (major freeway in the twin cities) one of the sides of the 21/2 ton truck broke, and a skid loader bucket fell out. I was very fortunate that there was noone around. We just went back, unloaded the loader, and put the bucket in a different place.
I gotta get this straight. Just doing a little refresher course. This is a Wallybass right? Or is it a Basseye?
Whichever it was, I KNOW I got it 15 feet off shore at the Koma campsite on the point. Rascals kept taking my worm dangling below my bobber on a windbound choppy day in mid September. They even chased a worm within inches of shore when I was reeling in to recast. I kept wondering to myself... Self, where are the Bass???
I posted this when I got back saying I caught my first walleye by myself and unassisted by someone who knew what they were doing. I was told it was a bass. Good news is, I have yet to catch my first walleye unassisted and in the BW. I have only caught them outside the BW with a fishing guide. Good things are yet to come. Maybe this year will be the one!
the infamous Walleybass, which only bites two days of the year. You have to be a very special and talented to catch this illusive fish and more skilled in landing one. They are known to overturn canoes and prey upon the paddlers, and there is one documented case of them eating a moose, rack and all.
I know I've posted it before but it was the first adult fish I ever caught in the BW. It was the second bass I ever caught and the first bass I ever caught by myself with no one to help me who knew what they were doing. It just made me happy so I posted it again. Wait til I get a walleye. You guys are going to have to see that more than a few times as well!
looking at repeatedly. Ya just hafta sprinkle in a new one from time to time to keep us off balance. Some people just photograph the same fish using different backgrounds; different lakes; different states.
Of course, those are truly desparate types. I wouldn't personally stoop that low.... mostly.
And... without DNA testing it's hard to arrive at any solid conclusions. With all those fishies finnin' and foolin' around down there in the unbriney deep who knows what might happen? Did you count pyloric caeca?
of someone catching a fish, having a friend snap a picture, then the two swap camera for fish and take another photo. With every fish caught, the documentation of their fishing success increases by two fish.
Probably just folklore though. I can't see that happening for real.
Between a Rock bass, and a Smallie. Rock bass are typically shorter, and rounder, kind of like a sunny. But, a couple of years ago I had the opportunity to be at my parents cabin when the DNR was netting the Walleye for milking, and I saw them getting some of these in thier nets. So I asked them. It came as a big suprise to me because I didn't even know the lake the cabin is on had Smallies. At least, I've been fishing there since I was five years old, and caught many many large mouth, but never a Smallie. They told me that they had been stocking them for about five years because it was a native fish to the lake. My understanding was that it's Smallie eggs, and Rock Bass sperm, the same way a Tiger Musky is made.
Just looking for some more information along this route regarding a good place to set up camp for a couple of days at a time. I'm planning a sprint up to at least Sarah from PP and another sprint back to PP for pickup. Between the sprints, I am looking at about 6-7 days to frolic prior to Labor Day. 2 tent pads, fishing is a priority so a short paddle to known fishing would be a help.
Sarah I have heard has a couple of good sites on it. One I remember someone saying had numerous wildlife sightings: beaver, moose, otters.
TL mentioned a camp on McIntyre. Is it the one on the north "finger" at the entrance to the bay in the southwest corner of the lake? I have visited the ones on the island near the north end for a lunch break in 96. Nice sites.
I believe QP mentioned a good site in Marj on the island. Anyone else have anything to say about Burt/Marj?
Kahshahpiwi I have read a lot of good things about. The tower I have come to the conclusion is on the west shore near the southern end of the lake. Any good sites to recommend down that way. I read something about a nice, little used site among the cedars down this way... What about the northern end of the lake? Those taking Kahsh to the BWJ, can you think of dropping me a line if you find something to your liking along the way?
Two are shown as red dot camps on the Fisher Maps.
One of those is on an island in the south end of the lake. It's NW of the portage landing into McNiece. It's red dot is almost touching another one on the point of the mainland to the west. There is room for several tents. Gets a fair amount of use from the barren area condition.
The other is about mid-lake (east side of Lake) across from the 193 rod portage into the little lake on the way to Joyce. This is a beautiful site. Has it all as far as I'm concerned. Just never had the timing so it would work for a camp for us. Incredible vista down the southern end of Kahshahpiwi. Works for a larger group pretty well.
The 3rd site is back at the south end. It's what I call a "green dot" site; one I put on my map with a green ink Sharpie. I got it's location from the Quetico campsite database at the Legacy Forest website. We stayed here last year. Would fit 2-3 tents OK.
Sounds like you're not going up to Brent. It's a great place that I plan to spend more time in the future.
Lemme pull out my maps. Justin the Destroyer and I went up there a while back and I'll ping you something next week. I only have my large map at the office here.
Regards,
Scooter
"I may be drunk, but you're crazy and I'll be sober tomorrow." WC Fields, Its a Gift 1934.
I recall lunching on a nice site on Sarah on the shoreline point opposite the northwestern-most end of the biggest island. I have never fished Sarah much - I have heard about SMB and LT.
I've paddled past the Mc site TL talked about, but never stayed there. A big rocky reef adjacent to this site looks fishy to me. In addition to the big island on Mc with two campsites (where you lunched), if you head further north there is another smaller island with a nice site. Deep water LT fishing from shore off the west side of this site.
And on Burt there is a nice site in the SW corner where it narrows into the river. There is a huge rocky walleye reef extending out into the main lake here.
If you didn't make it to Sarah for some reason, I found a very nice site on the south side of Isabella. A bit of a climb but then a flat and rarely used place under the pines.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. And not find, when it came time to die, that I had not lived." Thoreau
I dug out my maps and notes and pictures from the 90's and the map that Tom of Tom & Wood provided me the following for our trip.
Sarah:
We can in from East. We made Sarah in one day from Prarie, but Glen, it is really a long tiring day. I didn't dig out my whole trip maps, but my memory is something like 15 portages. None of them particularly long or hard, just lots of them, and not much rest. We got into Sarah at about 6pm bone tired. I wasn't in the mood to scout for campsites and grabbed the 1st one we saw. I mean F U C K it, I just didn't care.
Our 1st night was on an Island right off that last portage with a double set of campsites there, right off the portage. We stayed there one night, and it is OK, but thats all. However, there is a large island in the middle of the lake with a single campsite on the SW shore of the Island, facing SW. That is what Tom called a "Hilton". It looked like a very nice campsite but was full.
There is another Hilton above that island on the main shore facing due North on an East wing of the lake. There is a campsite directly across from it on this bay, but you are looking for the North facing one. If you have the Fisher F-17 Map, it is the closest to the "H" in Sarah Lake. We stayed there the 2nd night.
We had terrific Walleye luck on the back side of that large island in the center of the lake, along the shore facing NE. Its like a channel there and at the outlets to each end of that channel, Justin and I had some great strikes there.
If you have time, visit Tuck Lake, which is very pretty lake, but we didn't stop, nor fish, nor camp there. Just some great pictures. We went into McIntyre through Tuck-Cecil-Deer, which is the long way, but like I said very picturesque.
McIntrye:
This is a deep lake and you won't find much Walleye or Smallies in the center. Tom has it marked for Trout, and indeed, said it was a great Trout lake, right down the center of the lake. I don't do so Trout, so I can't say.
We nailed Walleyes Northerns at the Bay on the SW end which starts McIntyre creek. There were also lotsa Smallies in that Bay. That Bay may be closed, and may be a lift over in September when you are going. It was open for us in July.
Also at the far North end of McIntrye, there is an Island between 2 points which leads to the other small part of McIntyre which is generally an E-W direction. There is a Hilton on that Island, and some of best Walleye fishing in the area is right off that Island, due to the current (flow). We didn't leave the area right off that campsite, and fished there for 2 days. Awesome spot for us. I highly recommend it.
However, if you choose to go into the upper portion of McIntyre, there is a large Island in the center of that Northern portion which looks like a duck. Tom has the shore area around that Island marked "W" for Walleye with Northerns at the end of each of the Bays. We didn't fish there, because we were having such good luck at that Island Hilton.
Justin and I went into Suzanette through Pauleen, Burt, and ultimatley a tributary of the Darky River. Right at the mouth of the Darky River, in a small bay off Burt, was terrific school of Walleyes that kept us busy for about a day, following them around.
There was a terrific unmarked Hilton Tom had marked in Suzzanette on one of the E-W bays on the West side of Suzy. It sits on the South shore and faces North. It had a terrific table and lean to as best as I can recall, and terrific fishing in Suzy as well. If you have a Yellow Fisher Map, F-17, it is pretty much an inch away sue West the "S" in Suzanette.
We came out McIntyre, Robinson, Tuck River, and down the Basswood River to a tow out of Basswood.
Anyway, that was our trip. Hope you enjoy yours. I wish you were going with JJ and I this year, but with Randy there, I doubt there will be any Turtles left alive. By the way, is legal to kill Turtles in Quetico? Would you like a recipe for Turtle soup?
Regards,
Scooter
"I may be drunk, but you're crazy and I'll be sober tomorrow." WC Fields, Its a Gift 1934.
Per our conversation, I am posting this as well, so others may benefit from trip planning.
Ok, from the McKensize No. 10, on Sarah, there is an un-marked Hilton on the large Island on the SW Side. There is a large bay, on the SW Side of the island and just South of that Bay on the tip of the point that forms the South end of that Bay, there is an un-marked Hilton.
Tom also marked a Hilton on the mainland, on the East Side of the Lake above that Island in a large E-W Bay. There is a marked campsite on my No. 10 and on the Fisher on the South Side of that Bay. On my McKensie Map, it is about a quarter inch to the right of the "H" in Sarah.
That small Island in the middle of McIntyre we discussed has two campsites, and the the one to the East is the better of the two.
For fishing Tom has Walleyes in and around that small Island, Walleyes in the North half of McIntyre around the large island and the Bays, and Northerns in the Bay by McIntyre Creek and the all the Bays in the North half.
Have fun, buddy. I'll send ya Turtle Soup receipes.
Regards,
Scooter
"I may be drunk, but you're crazy and I'll be sober tomorrow." WC Fields, Its a Gift 1934.
I have this tent and love it, and at the price it is at now you might want to consider it for a solo tent. It is the REI Half Dome 2. 2 vestibules, a little longer for tall people, good ventilation and fairly light for a solo tent with room. It can sleep 2 snugly, but I use it for only myself. At $109.99 its a great deal.
I have used it for about 2 weeks of overnights now with no issues. Not real fond of the little window in the fly as I see it as a potential spot for leaks and probably will cloud up over time anyway-If I need to see outside I'll leave the rainfly off or look out the door.
I did use it last year on two trips with lots of wind. First trip was in May on Horse Lake it was actually not real protected by trees or brushand we had some vicious winds one day. It held up great, never pulled a stake or a guy out and did well. The most powerful wind was during the day when I was not in the tent adding stability.
Second trip in October we had wind on Horseshoe and it also did well. It held up great even with the 1-2" of snow that fell the last night. The fly did sag a bit with the wet snow, but everyones did. The poles supported the wieght fine and did not distort at all. Overall I am quite pleased with the tent.
"When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known."
Sigurd F. Olson
I had a 2 poler once and it did not hold up very well at all in a good blow. I was inside it and it litterally collapsed down on me. It was new, I cleaned it out and brought it back to the dealer who after some complaining from me agreed to take it back. I guess it mostly depends on the strength of the poles too.
But this post reminded me that I've been trying to track down the "official" footprint for my North Face Nebula tent... Seems to be a rather hard-to-find item. Does anybody know any good places to look online where I might find one? I know there's quite a few online stores selling lots of outdoorsy items, but any recommendations as to where to start looking would be much appreciated.
I have a Nimbus and I think the Nebula was the same tent but more of a 4 season version. What I would do is try to find a current North Face tent model with the same floor measurementsas your Nebula. The North Face footprints attach with clips and stretch cord.
But, I think they actually redesign their tents quite frequently, and instead of just calling it the 2004 Nebula, they choose to give it a whole new name altogether so it's like they're coming out with a new product. That's my guess.
ps - the Nimbus is a line of packs from Granite Gear, not a tent by the north face...
I got one last year use it with my wife if I really want to go light. Really not big enough IMO for two guys unless both are below average size---would get a little cozy.
I owned that tent for one canoe trip and sent it back. A good friend of mine also has it, had it before we did, and still has it, however, we don't. Our problem with it: in a steady downpour, no high winds (a 16 hour rain), the fly leaked at the vents. Big leaks---drip drip drip. Otherwise I loved it. I must have been one of the first to send it back, they said they hadn't had any problems with it, however when I talked to the tent person at the MPLS REI, he said there had been some reports of what I'd repeated to him. So, it works great unless you are in a long rain. I bought a North Face roadrunner 23. Hasn't leaked or failed me yet. Kim
It has a awning pole so you have more options for keeping the vestibule open on one or both sides, even during a rain. A real advantage on muggy summer nights.
Unless there is a lot of current right there it is probably just clear ice with no snow or some water on top of the ice.
Central Minnesota lakes as of this morning were still completely ice covered except for right near shorelines according to a friend I work with who lives in Garrison. I wish it was true, but highly doubt it.
"When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known."
Sigurd F. Olson
did a little exploring around my old stomping grounds. May be a job opportunity there in a year or so, wanted to show the significant other the area.
Had a great time, easily one of the most beautiful campuses I've ever seen, hiked up the AT to a wonderful overlook 4000' in the air, ate some great food. New River was up and muddy so no fishing, but was a great time all around. Next time I'm bringing a canoe and fishing rod for some giant smallies....
ps - Bogs, can't help but notice you seem to wear a Hokies shirt a lot. Remind me what your connection to that school was...?
ss '91
"Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the U.S. Ask any Indian"
A couple of good friends of mine went to Va Tech and I had the fun expereince of attending a couple of football games in Blacksburg at Lane Stadium. I agree with your statement of it being one of the most beautiful college campuses in the US and a great venue to watch a football game.
I was last there in 1999 and watched the then #4 Hokies team with Michael Vick at QB destroy then #16 Syracuse 62-0 on national TV. I had a fabulous night.
I wish I could say I attended Va Tech, but I graduated from the University of Minnesota-at least they still used Memorial Stadium on campus for football when I went there instead of the Metrodome that they have to play in now. Now that's the worst place to hold a college football game!
"When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known."
Sigurd F. Olson
they played something in Lane Stadium when I was there, but I'm not sure it was football! Won 3 games my first two years combined, back when they were playing powerhouses like Radford U and James Madison. Not an aspicious start for Beemer, but he's the king of Blacksburg now, that's for sure!
"Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the U.S. Ask any Indian"
You want a good (midwest) college football experience - Head down to Iowa City on any gameday. The tailgate's are incredible. I have been to Madison too, which also has a very festive environment.
Steve, you may remember that we corresponded about NJ fishing, among other things, about a year or 2 ago. I lurk here a lot, but there are a couple of topics that I can't resist.
Blacksburg is a great place to grow up, if you're moved by outdoor things and the beauty of the southern Appalachians. I learned to fish primarily in the New River (for SMB and "red eyes"), brookies and rainbows in Little Stony Creek (in the Cascades area, on the slopes of Salt Pond Mtn), and wild trout througout that area of the Jefferson National Forest. I envy you if you are able to work out a move to the area.
As far as VT football goes, we are looking for great things in the next year or so. It looks like Marcus Vick has gotten his priorities straight, and there may be a championship on the horizon.
By the way, we are making our annual trip to the north side of Quetico this year - June 4-11 - to Beaverhouse, Cirrus, Smudge, Soho, Kasakokwog, & Quetico Lakes.
How's the NJ fishing been going? I was there last fall and had some tremendous fishing. Caught something like 200 fish in a week, mostly bass and pickerel, including my largest NJ bass ever, 7 lbs from Dennisville Lake down near Cape May.
Striper fishing has been great off the coast the last couple of years but no dice last fall- too warm, they were still around Cape Cod when I was up that way. IN Sept you can catch bluefish on every cast until you are tired and go home.
Hope you are giving it a whirl.
"Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the U.S. Ask any Indian"
Larry 
[/img]
These two photos are from the same spot in opposite direction, that's how much room there was. (and no, the one guy is not "taking care of business" that close to the tents, it just looks that way in the photo)
[/img]
|
Canoe
Country Jobs | Canoe Country Blogs™