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.
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"
All right, after consulting with references I think I've got the railroad/mining/Section 30 thing figured out pretty close.
At the time of the map you showed us, Winton did not yet exist as "Winton", because there weren't many people yet, and a marriage hadn't taken place. The marriage was the daughter of the bigwig mill owner's daughter to a guy whose last name happened to be Winton. The town was named in honor of this marriage. Of course, at that time there were several jurisdictions (county, Township, logging company), so "Winton" was only part of what we now know as Winton.
However, the railroad in that map did end up in Knox Mill, which was later to be known as Winton.
The Section 30 Mine was first opened in 1907, and a railroad pushed in (from Winton) in 1910. Reading that, I had one of those "duh!" moments. Should have occurred to me earlier, but the Section 30 railroad crossed the river near the first set of culverts as you enter Winton, and continued back towards Ely. If you remember the place that has horses as you are going towards Winton (on the right side of the road), the old RR grade runs behind where you see the horses, and then heads towards the Section 30 road roughly paralleling the creek. We used to ride our bikes through there often as kids, as we chased brook trout. The old railroad grade does cross the Section 30 road next to the creek, and is still visible.
I found one other long-forgotten little tidbit about early canoe travel in my research, and I'll try to find time to post it. Interested?
Life may be a bitch, but it beats the alternative.
you folks will enjoy the story, given our recent discussions about canoeing with kids. I'll try to get at it tonight. The thing is too small and indistinct to be scanned, so I'll need to retype it. Ick.
Life may be a bitch, but it beats the alternative.
Yes, this is interesting. I went back and looked in the books I got and they pretty much say the same thing, but without the personal, on the spot detail.
at least a dab here and there. So much of it is so interesting. I have a raft of "small" history books from all over.
Seems like when we come into a new place, we take it in so very briefly... a snapshot in time. Doesn't give much of a nod to the constant change going on in a place.
Thanks for this little glimpse of recent history Pete. If you guys with the knowledge of the local history keeping tossing out these glimpses, I for sure will keep reading them.
I've also wondered, what's the story of these different "towns". I always thought I was coming up to the town of Ely, but then I see signs like "Winton", "Town of Morse", etc.
Does anyone have or has anyone used the Turbo Saw that is advertised in the VTP in the BWJ?? I'm curious as to how well it works and is it really worth the $38.95 they sell for? Opinions/first hand experience desired. Who makes this saw?
I have only a few pieces of gear that I SWEAR by, and this is one of them. It's light, simple, and cheap and replacement blades are EASY to find. Plus, it cuts fast and aggressively and is a breeze to pack.
I have a Palco Camp Saw that is identical to the Sven Saw except for the color! Mine is green-not red. Purchased it at a garage sale for 50 cents! Works great but I was looking for something more compact. Maybe I'll just get a new blade for it. Only 8 bucks!
Got it for Christmas and am looking forward to trying it out in a few weeks.
9.6 ounces, with a serious blade that stows in the handle when folded. The blade tightening screw is fixed, so there's little chance of losing it and the price is roughly $30.
No affiliation, etc... just looking forward to using it
My group has used the 15 inch Sawvivor since '99 and it has worked great. Last year I went on a quest to buy the 18-inch model (which is difficult to find.) BUT.. Piragis managed to order one for me and so far it has been great... Thanks Piragis!
Depends on my work schedule (ever-changing) and life in general. I'd REALLY like to be there though. I've been around this place too long without meeting many of you guys in person.
The Porkies trip should be interesting. The weather is a huge crap shoot. We've got contingency plans to rent snowshoes up there should we need them. And if the road isn't open, we'll have a long hike just to get into our trailhead.
But to be outdoors, in the wilderness, I'd do just about anything
...Young Rags on the Apple River...what a small world!
We go to some private property (a farm) that the Apple runs through. My father-in-law is VERY active in scouting (Northwest Suburban Council) and the property is owned by friends of one of his scouting associates.
When I went there for the first time a few years back, we turned into the farm and had to drive around and between a herd of cows! I thought, "How will this be any fun?"
But then we worked our way down a hill and into a valley with a beautiful sandstone bluff on the opposite side of the Apple River. I set my tent up right on the bank of the river and decided that this place would work just fine.
P.S. (No cows down in the valley!)
Madl
"He who travels with dry foot, not experience all that canoe country has to offer."
I have gone thru three of them and continue to use the used ones around the yard. Its nice to have a sharp saw and my used ones are still god enough for a trip. I broke the tip on one of them.
Safer because it cuts only on the pull. We have the little one with a black handle. I love the ability to attach it to my belt while looking for wood.
Did you purchase yours from VTP? I'm wondering if there is another source since their price is sort of high! I have the camp axe that they advertise for $50+ but I purchased mine on line for $20! Is there a manufacturer name on the saw?
for over 25 years. I don't have it in front of right now, but I've seen the same design (don't know if it's the same quality) marketed by Coughlan (sp), which is the yellow and green packaged Canadian camping goods supplier. Our Scheels store has them for $19.95. See them on sale for $16.95. Great saw! Blade(s) store in the handle and I believe it's a 20" or 21" blade which is a standard pruning saw blade available at most hardware stores. Rich
I'll be looking for open water in the BW in a few hours. I hope I find some right away but if not ...well, it's like the weather in Minnesota, if you don't like it wait awhile. I'll be back in about 10+ days. Bye!
I have just started posting photos using photobucket with a free account but I see I am filling up my alloted space fairly quickly. I could move to a paid account of course. On the other hand, realistically, posts on CCBB get moved off of the first few pages fairly quickly and are then viewed increasingly rarely.
What do some of the other people do here with their accounts and photos? Do you house clean after awhile and either remove or downsize the photos? Have those of you who post photos frequently and use Photobucket ante up for a paid account?
. . . because I was running out of "monthly bandwidth" when I was posting my trip report and a lot of people were checking it out. You can't get more monthly bandwidth by deleting pictures, you just have to wait for a new month. An annual account is pretty cheap anyway so I thought it was a good way to keep stuff.
I haven't run into that problem with my Photobucket account yet so I don't know what I'll do.
I found this site the other day - http://my.fotopic.net/main.php Sign up for it's free account and you get 250 mb of storage. I signed up for the free account but haven't had time to play with it yet.
I ran into bandwidth trouble this fall when lots of people were reading a trip report that had quite a few photos in it. They sent me an e-mail, but I just let the crowds simmer down.
I have gone in and deleted some photos. I haven't checked my storage status lately, but you have to put in a lot of images to threaten the basic limit.
This bridge is just downstream from the put-in in Kendalville.
It is the last bridge we saw for quite some time. At lest one of the two little dots under the bridge is TTC. It was the last we saw of him for some time also!
..... and I love it. I don't know how to describe it---- this photo captures three "weathers" at the same time, the sun and the squall and the wind both connecting and separating the two. Weather in the Bdub is so often like that. I paddle Gaskin a year ago and was rain/windbound there for two days. Thanks for the wonderful photo.
Wow, this goes back to the first ever trip to the BW in 1988 and my first camp on my first lake, Carp on the American side. I was appointed as a 20 year old adult counselor by my Pastor to help him lead 7 teenagers from our church on a canoe trip to some place called the Boundary Waters. I had never heard of it. Rarely had I ever been in a canoe - let alone a good one. I was a motor boater. There was not one person I knew that canoed. Amazing, we all made it out alive with Cliff Wold's leaky rented tugs, eating freeze - dried slop, poor maps, no worn life jackets, swimming out in the middle of Knife Lake without life jackets, big waves on Knife, etc.... I give Pastor so much credit for having the guts to take a teen group like this. Some of those kids would later return to the canoe country - including myself a few times. He is a great guy; I still keep in contact. A group of conservative, old, elder members of the church would, a year later, ride Pastor and his young family out of our Lutheran church for having a motorcycle and playing in card club (poker). What a bunch of hypocrits. I'm still mad about that.
Anyway, what an introduction to the BW on Carp Lake over the two days we were there. We caught four species: smallmouth bass (nice ones too), largemouth (pictured is a giant 21" fish), northern and walleye (just a few). I dont think I have ever repeated that in 48 trips since that one unless you count perch and rock bass. My brother and I had never caught a smallmouth bass before and we were out on a shallow point looking down into the water at big numbers of big bass peppered on the shallow area. It was June 18 and spawing may have been in process. I really dont know and frankly don't care when they spawn but man were there bass there. I've yet to see bass like that since . Carp Lake is huge and stretches well into Canada but the American side is relatively small and well traveled. However with all that Canadian water that sees less traffic I'm sure that helps the fish population. I recall a very fertile bay that had beautiful leafed weeds, shallow and that is where the largemouth were hiding. Cool. We buzzed floating rapalas over the weeds and caught the largemouth - a much welcomed BW fish. I've yet to repeat that either.
Yes we ate smallmouth on that trip. Fryed them in Cliff Wold's liquid packets of white, soft lard with no breading I remember. Gross. I wouldn't even touch that stuff now. Poor Pastor he had to cook every meal for 8 hungry kids. Pictured is our rag-tag group busting out of a portage. Some nice walleyes. We caught a grand total of 8 walleyes all week but lots of those lovely SM Bass. Amoeber Lake was great for bass. Lost a huge fish on South Arm of Knife - never got to see it.
Knife is an awesome lake. If in the area, go see Cherry Lake still IMO one of the most beautiful lakes I have seen with its 400' hills rising above the banks and clear water - pretty good trout lake I hear.
It's comments like how pretty Cherry Lake is that encourage or inspire new route plans. I had a co worker who went to Cherry years ago to climb the rock faces there. It follows there must be some beautiful bluffs and rock faces.
Didn't know this lake had bass. I've only fished it once and only for a couple of hours. Clear and deep as I recall. Last year on Knife near the Amoeber portage, I caught both largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye, northern, and a laker! Turned the laker back as I didn't have a stamp. Wanted to see if I could catch all 5 species and I got lucky. I'll have a trout stamp this year!!
Our minister HAD TO FINALLY SELL his cycle last year (69). Back is bothering him.... When I first moved up here and got involved wtuh boy scouts I made the mistake of asking a Wi. Synod minister why kids couldn't be boy scouts. Said we worshipped false gods.... That was news to me....
Looks like I predated you by quite a while. Oregon really is fantastic and for many years I wanted to move back. Now it's looking more like canoe country is where I'll end up.
I see on the bio you are a professor. Any connection to my alma mater Reed College when in Portland?
...I did my doctorate at Pacific and taught concurrently at University of Portland and Mt. Hood Community College, as well as TAing a course or two at Pacific. I'm now an adjunct at Augsburg in Minneapolis. I can't do the full-time academic thing.
I had a colleague who did her training and internship at Reed, and a supervisor who did his undergrad there. Lots of stories I heard about Reed, though.....
I'm looking for a source to buy some high loft goose down (700 to 800 fill). I probably need a couple of pounds. It seems like it's hard to find for the do-it-yourselfer.
Brace yourself before you check out the price.
Ayce is very particular about the down that he sells and he doesn't sell any that hasn't been tested for loft. Other places may say that you are getting a certain grade but they only go buy what the wholesaler tells them. http://thru-hiker.com/MaterialDetail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=MG113&subcat=Insulation
If I am not being to nosey, what are you making?
There are a few places out there that will do it. You usually can't add much before it starts working the other way and you start loosing r-value. Western Mountaineering will only add about two to four ounces to their own bags. I believe that Feathered Friends http://www.featheredfriends.com/ will add down to most any bag that you send them. Doing it yourself can be difficult but not imposible. Measuring the amount of down to go in each baffle is tough. Some people just guess. Then there is the fact that the down gets every where. They say to set up a free standing tent in your house and close yourself up in it to contain the down. Then when you have the baffles pinned shut and ready for sewing, you vacume up the loose down inside the tent before crawling out.
if you want to lower the rating, just add a liner. Much simpler and easier and probably a whole lot cheaper. Leave the liner at home in the warmer times!
How come some of the photos posted by you guys come up 1) perfect...usually Nibi's, 2) a series of lines where the picture should be, or 3) a box with a red x in it???? Windows 98, internet explorer, telephone modem...not being a computer geek I can't tell you anything else. Thanks
Well, I'm a moron too, and thanks to Richard Culpepper, I figured it out. He also clued me in about the little cup holder on my computer, and the why I couldn't locate the "Any Key."
See my post below on Bolivia and look at his instructions. Bascially, you log onto the 54 host, create an account and set up a realm, and upload the photo off your hard drive. Email me and I'll give you step by step if you are stupid as I am.
Regards,
Scooter
"I may be drunk, but you're crazy and I'll be sober tomorrow." WC Fields, Its a Gift 1934.
If you use the "insert object" box below, there is a limit to picture size and doesn't always come out great.
I'm pretty sure Nibi has set it up so you are actually viewing a link to his pics so it doesn't take up space and therefore looks bigger and better. Feel free to correct me, Nib.
Another method I know a few use is to go to Photobucket.com and post pics there and then link them here. I eventually plan to look into that when I stop putting off my procrastination list of things to do tomorrow.
As far as the little pic by the name, that is a method via the site as Scooter referred to above.
... The red "x's" usually mean that the picture is not available. If you're looking at older posts and this happens, it means that the poster used the Network 54 temporary storage and the picture is no longer in storage. However, if it's happening with newer pictures, the problem is more likely to be at your end.
What you're seeing could be caused by the fact that you're using a dial up modem (you didn't mention what speed it is). The logical connection with the server where the picture resides could be timing out before the whole picture makes it to your system. A couple of things you can try the next time you encounter the situation:
1) Try refreshing the page using the refresh button on your browser.
2) Try right clicking on the area where the picture is supposed to be. Then click on "show picture" and see what happens.
Larry
To really appreciate the wilderness, one must pay attention to the small things as well as the grandiose.
The third week of July, 2004, the guys filled up two mini vans and headed for Crane Lake. There are a few thunderstorms on the way, but no severe weather for driving purposes. It will be nice when Hwy 53 in Duluth up the hill is completed and you don’t have to detour through town. It seems like it takes forever to finally clear the north edge of Duluth and start to really roll again. We finally arrive at Crane Lake. There we get our gear loaded into two float planes for two quick hops to the Canadian customs station and on to Campbell’s Cabins on Lac la Croix just west of the reservation and Quetico.
The airline mentions it was good we were not there earlier when the thunderstorms we had encountered driving had come through.
Campbell’s has a nice dining hall and cabin that fits the 8 of us well.
We are up early next morning for another meal in the dining hall.
This little guy was standing guard at the office.
I am a little amazed when all our gear, 8 guys, 4 canoes on a rack, and the guide are loaded in one boat. Twin 150 hp outboards send us flying across Lac la Croix. We have good weather, but given the size of LLC, I am glad that we are not canoeing it.
Our entry point is McAree Lake at Brewer’s Rapids.
We were dropped off just below a little riffle but see another tow boat that came all the way to the rapids for their party.
The group has used the extra distance to unlimber our fishing rods and pick up a few smallies off a point near the rapids and in the eddies of the rapids. One of our group likes black tube jigs with good results.
The first portage is not long but does have a tree down with barely enough room to get under it with a canoe. I test my chest for the first time carrying the canoe as far as the tree before my canoe mate takes it. I had collided with a rock mountain biking 3 weeks before and was not even sure if I could do the trip. The guys had said they would help on the portages but things have healed enough for me to pull my load. The paddling actually helps loosen things up. My canoe mate is a doctor and had predicted it would take the 3 weeks I had to heal. He just laughed at me after hearing the tale, so much sympathy.
I have received some recent emails about trip routes and some have expressed how they now prefer to base camp and explore fewer lakes more thoroughly. Ours is a traveling trip but I feel that urge to explore more of Brewer Lake as we paddle just a short stretch of the north east corner heading for McAree.
There is a pretty little rapids that separate the two lakes
. We do the “4 person to each canoe” and carry it and gear over a short portage. There is pretty campsite right there, except for all the traffic you would see portaging past.
The four canoes scatter over McAree heading south as we try to find some fish. My canoe finally finds a hot spot on the east side just before the lake narrows up, catching some more smallies. We end up paddling hard to catch up to the group at the portage just past Rebecca Falls into Iron.
Here is one of our group’s canoes fishing below Rebecca. I have since found out there is a portage route and campsite on the island between the two chutes of Rebecca. The other canoes have had a little bit of luck fishing with a couple of northern and smallies taken. Rebecca Falls is beautiful and the campsites near it are popular, the first people we have seen since the Brewer rapids. Brewer and Upper McAree lakes had been ours alone.
After a brief lunch, it’s up the portage to Iron, not real long but you do climb a bit, gaining the height of the falls.
Just around the corner from the portage, I caught a cliff jumper off the southeast corner of Four Island.
I proceed to have a smaller northern break off a favorite spinner of mine, grrrr…. As you approach the portage around Curtain Falls, there is a riffle or chute you have to run up stream to the portage.
My canoe mate is an almost newbie fisherman, but pulls a 20”smallie out of the eddie below that riffle. Photos are taken and It’s back into the water for the next fisherman.
Curtain Falls is truly spectacular.
The portage around it is easy, up hill but not bad and open, especially as it’s on the American side.
After enjoying our second great waterfall of the day, we are ready to find a campsite. Our plan was to head for the island campsite northeast of Curtain Falls, on the way toward the Roland Chain. Unfortunately, we are not the only ones with that idea. The west end of Crooked Lake is very thin on Canadian campsites.
After exploring the area, we end up on the point just west of that island. It’s like a quad level with tents scattered up the hill. My biggest concern is that it‘s getting cloudy and am not keen about spending the night toward the top of the hill in a lightning storm. Our other issue was a “bear” tree for the food. The weather cooperates and no lightning. We find a tree over a cliff, but it’s a three ring circus as some of the guys hang the bag off the cliff and far enough away from the tree to prevent a bear from getting supper.
The evening sees us looking over at the island campsite longingly. Heck, let’s be honest, we COVETED that campsite, at that point. The lack of campsites in the area might be something to keep in mind when planning a trip through here.
Inserting the photos into the text makes the report come alive, and what fine photos they are! Makes me want to add that trip to my short list. Great job!
No one ever looks back on their life and regrets the adventures they've had.
______________________________________________________________
Pete
Great pictures, very nice report - lots of the same memories. We did some of this same trip in June, 2004 also. Good fishing below Rebbeca Falls, BIG fish too.
Seems like Iron Lake is getting to be the "jumping" off point these days. Makes me wonder that it may be getting too popular.
In early May, medium-sized prespawn smb congregate at times in the current below Rebecca. We have been there a few times catching fish on every cast for hours, fishing from shore (on the island), the bass would hit anything that moves.
And on Crooked, had you gone another 1-2 miles to the east/southeast, you would have found quite a few campsites congregated on the Canadian side. #1 on the big island in the middle of the bay, #2 on a small island just north of #1, #3 (4 star) on the northern point of the entrance to the bay that contains the portage to Argo, and #4 about 1/2 mile south of #3.
but the group did not want to make the detour if they did not have to and, as usual, it was into the wind.
We were catching up to the group at Rebecca Falls so did not wet a line right below Rebecca. It looked like a great spot. I would have liked to have explored that area more, gotten out on the island between the chutes, etc.
This is probably #1 on my list of routes to either repeat or do a route that overlaps a lot of the lakes while hitting other ones also.
This is a great beginner route- only around 32 miles, 12 to 14 portages, longest is 120 rods and none that are difficult.
if you're heading north on Interstate 35 and you don't have any business to attend to in Duluth, you can take Hwy 33 (toward Cloquet) to get to 53. it heads directly north (no eastward detour on 35 necessary) to 53 and you're off to Ely!
of course, if you're coming through Wisconsin, that won't work. just a thought. thanks for the great report--i'm looking forward to the rest!
were an experiment. To bend them the plans called for a 6&1/2" x 4 ft piece of wood for each deck. Then you cut 4" off the bent end and then cut it 15" long and throw the rest away. I had some tongue and groove 3/4"x5" boards laying around so I Gorilla Glued two together to make a wide enough board. I didn't know if the glue joint would hold when bent but it did. Now that I know how easily it bends I would use a little fancier wood next time, or at least eliminate the joint.
At least that's what the spec sheet says. I wouldn't mind it weighing that much but if it's a little heavier that's fine too. Generaly, when I build something I tend to lean toward making it more durable than light. For example the plans call for only the center yoke but I added the two extra thwarts to stiffen the hull. If I wanted a light canoe I'd just buy a kevlar, they're probably cheaper. lol
A suggestion, if you aren't already planning to do it, you might want to taper and hit the gunwales with a router, to narrow and round them over. Makes for a much "cleaner" looking canoe.
to me how I could run a router base over a concave surface and get the bit to bite. If you're talking about running it on the side there isn't enough surface area (single gunnel width) to hold the base steady. I like the look but the upswept stems have thrown me a lot of curve balls.
There are two brands. I got the one with the two black double ends. The other is two single tools with wooden handles. On their web site look in SHAPING then CORNERING TOOLS. I'm glad I got the ones with 4 sizes because the 1/16th and 1/8th are so small one pass with a piece of sand paper would do the same thing. The only problem I had with mine was the gunwales have such straight grain that it keeps reversing itself every six inches or so and these tools are made to go with the grain or they dig in.
and it made it harder to get a grip to pick up the canoe--I'm talking about the bottom of the outside gunwale. Your 1/4" radius sounds fine.
Canoe look great!
"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
Anyone else having problems getting to the Ely Web cams or other Ely sites? I can't get my daily fix!
I tried some other Ely sites and my success was sporadic, I could get to WELY, The Echo, and Voyaguer North, but couldn't get to the web cam site www.elyminnesota.com or one of the web cam hosts, Timber Trail Resort.
Why? For the thrilling thunder of rapids, the mournful wailing of loons, and the lure of an untrammeled forest that leads to a fishing hole.
I stroll along the Mississippi every noon for an hour and this is my favorite time of year. Differenent birds each day using the Flyway and no leaves to hamper viewing. The buffleheads are gone,but today I observed a flight of swans(I think, 10 in a vee, all white, and a softer, higher pitched honk than canadian honkers), a sharp shinned hawk(I think), a least grebe(well maybe, maybe not), and a pair of turkey vultures(for certain).
'Common sense is the sum of all prejudices acquired by age 18'
Woke up the last few days to the sounds of turkeys and this morning one of the toms was strutting around the yard and gobbling. Yesterday heard either swans or snow geese flying overhead but couldn't see them from where I was. Soon all the warblers will be back and I can wake up to their music.
We have a small pond in our yard and an adjacent wood duck house. At 5:30 this morning there were 2 pair of wood ducks in the pond. Let the battle begin....
In the colder months, as an adjunct to my old Polarguard and now new down bags, I bring an army poncho liner. A poncho liner is a nylon blanket with nylon batting fill, camouflage pattern. It is designed to tie into an army poncho to use as a warm weather sleeping system. However, they work great to cover a sleeping bag and offer another level of additional warmth. I usually use one to cover my Thermarest pad, because I prefer to use my sleeping bag as a cover without the zip (they're far too confining for my big fat bod.)
Anyway, my wife uses one of my poncho liners to cover the bed in the dark depths of winter. They are extremely light, pack next to nothing space-wise, and cost about $30 on line at any number of places.
Meeting at the bank at 4 pm that will take more than an hour, got a newborn baby, and after Survivor I need a couple hours to prepare some Civil War era food for Friday at school for the students to sample. I dont see it happening right now.
we are taking Benedicte out for her 23rd birthday (some of you may remember meeting her at the 'copiaplatyandprimefest at the Black Bear in Cottage Grove - she is an undergrad from France staying with us for 6 months doing an internship)
Recently Richard Culpeper recommended to me, among other places, canoeing in this Park. Has anyone canoed in Killarney? Where did you put in, take out, etc.? Would there be a better place to go in the Park if you were to do it again? Any other tips? Thanks for your help.
I spent a few days there in August of '98. Scenery is spectacular, windex blue lakes white quartize (sp) ridges, Beautiful. Fishing, eh, don't expect the fish to bother you if you throw in a line. Though I understand there are some brook trout if you know what to do with a fly rod and where to look. My permit was for the Southeast corner, Belle Lake to Three Mile Lake to Balsam Lake, camped on Little Belle Lake. Only one campsite no through traffic so if you get that one you have a private lake. Spent two days there. Explored the park. Lots of use and traffic on the main routes. Saw a moose, lots of loons. One thing that struck me, Much of my experience up to that point had been in the U.P. and Boundary Waters usually in early June. Cold weather and lots of ugly guys in rain gear fishing. In Killarney in August I noticed more families and women, definitly better scenery and it was warm, not the chilly summer breezes you can get in Superior Country. The family use I think has a lot to do with Killarney being closer to Metropolitan areas in Canada and the fact that canoeing is popular in Canada as a sport unto itself not just a means to go fishing as it seems to be on this side of the border. Killarney is beautiful and if even if it's not as wild or as fishy as you might like it is place every paddler should see at least once. That's just my humble opinion of course. Better see what the date is for back country permits, I believe it is in May and get a phone with a speed dial so you can grab one quick.
These are old '98 but they may still be the right ones.
Ontario Natural Resources Information Centre, 416 314 1717
Killarney Provincial Park, Information/ cancellations 705 287 2900
" " " Reservations 705 287- 2800
You should be able to get a map and info from these numbers. Kevin Callan also has a picture book out on Killarney. Great photos, only so so information. Good luck
Dave
Was a long weekend basecamping trip in May 2000. Lots of blackfiles! But the weather was spectacular. Days were 24-27 degrees celsius. Nights near zero.
We entered on Bell and paddled to David if I recall. Took a day trip to hike up Silver Peak. Ran out of water on the way up - bad idea! It was very hot and the hike made it hotter. A short while later we came upon a freezing cold mountain stream and re-filled. Voila! To my mind, you haven't done Killarney until you've done Silver Peak. Make sure you have appropriate shoes. Bring lunch and binnoculars if you have them.
David is one of those crystal-clear lakes and I believe it's a fish sanctuary permanently closed to angling. The lakes east of David are more typical of Quetico and support bass and pike. We paddled out that way and looped around back to exit at Bell.
Portages are well used and maintained.
The real La Cloche mountain range seems to end at the eastern portage out of David so you'll want your trip to be David Lake or west thereof.
I was considering a base camp at Boundary Lake and WAS wondering about hiking possibilities from that lake. I plan to go in the last week of July, if now I can get a permit for then. I understand Boundary lake has but one campsite. I cannot scare anyone up at the Park to talk to and my previous email to the Friends of K.P.P. went unanswered. I just tried again. Thanks, Patrick, for your generous help. How is the trail up to the Peak, some climbing on all fours, or straight up hiking?
Does anyone have any experience with an enamel frying pan? I found one at a local sporting goods store; it was light and was priced under 10.00. Does food stick? Burn easily? Any comments would be appreciated.
I have a friend who is bringing his inflatable (forgot the brand) kayak on a trip in early June.
I believe his portage plan (at least for the longer portages) involves deflating it, stuffing it into a #4, making 1 trip down the trail, and then re-inflating.
Sounds like alot of work to me, but he says he can do it fairly quickly. I think he had this boat with him last summer in the Desolation Wilderness.
I'm planning on posting a trip report from this trip and I would be surprised if it doesn't include some commentary on the inflatable.
he has a foot pump - like you would use for an air mattress. They're fairly small and compact. Not sure, though, as I have never seen the boat in person. I'm sure it will be interesting.
I don't think I would bring my Klepper, the German originator of folding kayaks, to the BWCA. It really is a wet footer, the rocks would slice it up quickly, and it has very limited cargo space. She will travel well though, just toss it in the back seat of a volkswaggon.
I forwarded a link to my sister of the dogs thread. She pointed out that Violet looks like her dog Larsen, which is true. Hey MDV, is Violet a lab/??? mutt like Larsen?
Anyway, my sister is interested in kayaking with her dog and wants to know how it's done - where does the dog go? [My answer: in a canoe, but she is set on a kayak.] Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks!
Depending on the size of the dog and the size of the cockpit the dog may be able to ride in front of the paddler. That is where Rainey sits during our adventures paddling a sport/rec kayak.
Some people with large dogs will actually buy tandem kayaks from us so they have more room to accomodate the pooch or pooches. A lot is going to depend on the kayak model and dog model!
if I can get my brother's 105# lab bitch. She could really tow a canoe! Naw, that wouldn't work because of the amount of food I'd have to pack in order to keep her going!
This is Sassy the Wonder Dog and The Human Probe (Mike Palkovits, her owner, although thatis not the right word) on Buttonhook on the Kipawa River.
Sassy learned how to anticipate and to lean the boat when turning or surfing. She practiced a lot in the evenings with the Sudbury gang on the Wanipitei at Secord Road.
She ran some fantastic rivers, including the Kipawa, the Temagami, the Ottawa, and the River aux Sables (Massey).
The only down sides were the wet dog smell up close and the occasional holes in our spray skits from her nails.
________________________________________
Hour after hour, day after day,
we paddled and sang and slept
under the hot sun on the northern ocean,
wanting never to return.
Jackie put together an album of paddling pooches on the Gulf Area Sea Paddlers (GASP) website, but the link I have for it is down (Jackie can probably tell you what it's status is):
You will find others who sea kayak with dogs on Jackie’s Paddlewise mailing list (which is populated by the most informative group of sea kayakers on the internet – if you are into sea kayaking, you should sign on to this mailing list and post your questions there):
________________________________________
Hour after hour, day after day,
we paddled and sang and slept
under the hot sun on the northern ocean,
wanting never to return.
Based on the input I got, here is what I think is going to be a good system. I'm going to get high-end inflatable (not self-inflating) pads, probably the Big Agnes, for each of the four members of my family. I'm then going to carry one inexpensive Coleman inflatable air mattress as an extra. And I'm going to get cheap, closed cell foam pads and cut them down to about three feet each to carry in addition to the above but only on trips where the ground may be cold.
I think the Big Agnes is the most "mattress-like" and will be the most comfortable, I won't slip off of it, and they pack much smaller than Therm-a-Rest. So that addresses the top three issues on my wish list.
The biggest negatives are durability and warmth. I figure I can pack in the Coleman as a back-up in the event of a puncture and still be ahead of four reasonably sized Therm-a-Rests in terms of both weight and space. And the foam pads, which will only be used seasonally anyway, are for insulation instead of padding so they need only be big enough to cover the torso/trunk area where warmth really matters.
Thanks for all of the excellent advice. They were very thoughtful responses and helped me a lot. Better tell me quick if there's a fatal flaw to my plan!
When you say Big Agnes, are you referring to their Insulated Air Core pads? If you also take along a foam pad, won't the total size/weight exceed even a Termarest? I have the Big Agnes bag with built in compartment for a pad. Currently I use a Thermarest but am considering the Insulated Air Core pad. With the Insulated Air Core you are not supposed to need any insulation, etc. as it is incorporated into the pad. Just wondering.
How much difference in packed size is there between the insulated and non-insulated? Does anyone know (the mfg. specs are not very useful to real-life applications)?
With respect to the foam pad, I am guessing (hoping) that a very small foam pad and the deflated Big Agnes will be about the same or not much bigger packed than the Therm-a-Rest. Even if they are slightly larger, I will only be using them together on cold weather trips when I would expect to be bulkier in general. And assuming the Big Agnes is more comfortable anyway, I haven't lost anything if the size nets out about the same.
If the insulated Big Agnes is not significantly bigger when packed than the regular, then the built-in insulation will further reduce the number of times I have to pack the extra small foam pad (i.e. it will extend my one-pad-only season). So I'd be very interested to know how much difference that makes...
The Big Agnes Insulated Air Core pad info sheet lists the packed size as 3.75" x 10". This is for the 2.5 x 20 x 72 size although the size for the 78" long is listed as the same. The 72" insulated is 24oz and the 78" is 26oz. Both are lighter and more compact than my Thermarest! The insulated is listed as a 3 season pad with a temp rating of 15 deg. That will vary according to the individual person. When you purchase the Air Core it comes with a patch kit. From my experience you have to really abuse a good quality mattress to punch holes in it. The best prices I have found are from www.campsaver.com. They have free shipping. Also, they sell a girdle which is a means of compressing the sleeping bag/pad combo (you can deflate the pad and roll them up together) to about 1/2 of its stuff sack size if space is a consideration. The girdle is $15. Seems like a good deal to me.
The insulated air core pad uses PL1 or PL Sport (I think that they are the same) insulation and when you get the pad, you'd think that there is no insulation in it. It does insulate though. I have had mine out in 30's weather and stayed warm. If you get these, you should store them hanging or semi inflated to prolong the life of the loft. I don't think that you can even notice the fact that they have insulation in them when rolled for packing.
As with a Thermorest, you should carry a repair kit, just in case. Mine came with one.
I have one, and just love it. I can stuff the mattress and the bag into one GG Stuff Sack about the size of a football. I've never seen the necessity for carrying a spare, even when we were on Foreplay Lake (?) by Chainsaw Sisters last September, when it got down to low 40's with whitecaps, I was snug with that system. I mean it was cold as H e l l , but no cold ground issues, just plain cold.
Regards,
Scooter
"I may be drunk, but you're crazy and I'll be sober tomorrow." WC Fields, Its a Gift 1934.
I got a Big Agnus last year and it was wonderful. It is the best sleeping system I have ever owned. We were in Crooked Lake late last September and had no problem.
I also plan to start bringing a chunk of closed cell foam for sitting on logs in camp. These have so many other uses that it's hard to not justify bringing some along. Wind break for stove, door mat for tent, something to stand on when washing up, padding in the back of a pack, extra insulation for a cold spot etc.
j, since i solo in a sriver 16, i use a thermarest canoe seat for my butt, and i strap another thermarest chair, seat, in the front of my canoe, for my camp chair.
i really like the support they give me at camp!
actually a mini-rocker!
6 weeks and counting, grey
If you decide to go the Big Agnes route with an air mattress (a good choice), try one of these chairs. I've tried them all, including the thermarest, crazy creek, captains chairs, etc, and I like this best. Very light weight, bombproof and suprisingly comfortable. You can borrow one or two of mine on your next trip North.
Here's what I did. I took a regular aluminum lawn chair and cut it down to fit a canoe. The legs are detachable for canoe use and bolt on quickly for camp use. Weighs about two pounds. If you want padding, a Crazy Creek Canoe Seat or stadium seat works fine. Detachable legs stow in the pack and the chair/seat bolts to the canoe seat with two "J" bolts and wing nuts. No holes to drill and will fit any standard style canoe seat. Won't work with a tractor seat though. I don't like sitting on the ground and like a back rest for the canoe. This solves both problems with very little addition in weight! Works for me! Cost was 50 cents for the chair at a garage sale and a couple of bucks for the hardware. I used regular webbing to cover it but you could use Cordura if you wanted something fancy.
I love the Therma-a-Rest chairs in camp. Having to add yet another component might undermine my space saving plans.
Of course, even with an all Therma-a-Rest system you have to add the chairs. But it will be hard to find a camp chair that is as comfortable, light, and space-saving because the Therma-a-Rest chair takes advantage of the fact that one part of your chair is already on your trip (the pad).
...are the wonderful people owning/running the company. Starting a sleeping bag/tent company now is gutsy given the nature of backpacking sales. They're holding their own and growing. I love those guys...wonderful people. They earn and deserve your support.
Shameless prodyuct plug: I own a Horse Thief, a Lost Ranger, and a Hog Park. I could sleep a small village in the Hog Park, it's cavernous.
Thought I'd answer your question from the coyote thread below up here where you were most likely to find it.
I do a lot of wildlife photography since I'm a conservation educator by training. I'll post additional photos as I have the time to do it. I just recently went digital, which makes it much easier.
I'm contemplating something like a Bogwalker's QOD or Nibi's PDJ, but with Canoe Country Wildlife (a CCW?). Wouldn't happen as often as these other two, because I'd run out of photos pretty quickly.
Lately I've posted photos of Sandhill Cranes, moose, and the coyote shot you responded too. You could do a search on my name and find those posts or just page down a few pages. I suspect they are all found within a couple or three pages. I've posted others in the past, but those links are now gone.
In addition to being a conservation educator, I also teach nature photography. Would people be interested in seeing a photo and then getting a photo tip to go along with it? Would be happy to do that if there is sufficient interest.
Wildlife photography just seems beyond my abilities, so tips would help! Your pictures are incredible. I've already taken note of your directive to turn off the car when using it as a camera base - common sense, but not necessarily something that would occur to me. Thanks, and I look forward to more.
I am definitely more of wildlife fan than scenery and canoe photos all the time. don't get me wrong Nibi's and others photos are great, but I find it amazing when people can capture wild animals the way you can.
...Between Nibi's amazing scenic shots, Bogwalker's inspiring quotes and your wildlife photos I couldn't think of many better ways to start the day without being in my canoe!
Thanks,
Madl
"He who travels with dry foot, not experience all that canoe country has to offer."
What if one of your WP students was leaving tomorrow to spend a week or 10 days on the LIS with nothing better to do than take pictures. Assume that he or she knows some fundumentals about exposure and composition and is equiped with a digital SLR with 18-70 zoom, 70-300 mm zoom, 2x teleconverter, tripod, filters, shuuter remote, and a portable turkey blind. What homework assignment would you give? What would you assign yourself?
...an LIS, or where is it? Feeling a bit foolish here, since I've seen these initials before.
I guess it really depends on where and what LIS is. Sorry, I just don't know what to say right now. But you really are carrying a lot of equipment, which allows you to photograph everything from scenics, flowers, mammals, some birds and all mammals.
I have tendency to go someplace with something in mind. For instance, not too many years ago, I hiked out to a DNR blind and photographed sharp-tailed grouse. Had a great time photographing the birds, but also got some photos of deer, and wolf tracks in the sand road on the hike out.
At this time of the year, I'd just be really opportunistic with nature shots.
But if you're in the south, I'd be looking for early flowers, insects, and textures. In the north, I'd be looking for tracks, migrating waterfowl, etc.
I'm making my 5th annual LIS trip. The lakes will be still frozen but I expect the river to be open as usual. If it's not I'll find something to do until it opens. In the past I have encountered deer, moose, wolf, beaver, otter, lots of waterfowl and song birds, eagles, insects, fishing spiders, ice, snow, rain, sleet, sun, stars, moon, solitude... I also like to have something in mind ... a project, but there are so many options that usually involve trade-offs. I could set up on a a west facing vista and hope for a special sky to develop in the evening or use the same time and light conditions stalking merganzers or beaver. Either choice is a gamble. The clouds may fill in or disperse or produce just another something like I've seen before, or the animals won't show up before the light fails. Actually I've pretty much decided to concentrate on animals this trip and hope to bag something special. If I don't it's OK. I'll only be bringing back something special that's harder to share.
anything we all can learn about BW/Q wildlife would sure be a plus. But don't tell us too much about wildlife photography as Nibi leads classes on photography in the canoe country! (LOL!)
Whenever you get the chance, if you would post a picture along with any tips would be great. I have seen your Moose and Sandhill Crane pictures. All are wonderful shots and I look forward to seeing more.
Just got back from a lunchtime run on the National Mall, around the Tidal Basin, and along the Potomac. The cherry blossoms in Our Nation's Capital* are in full bloom! (As is the crush of tourists.) Spring is kind of late here, so it is exploding all at once.
Well I had the pleasure to meet many kindred spirits at the platyfest on Saturday night. Nice to put faces with names after two years of posting. Before this I had known Lynn and John at VNO, and FishFanatic from last year's trip. Now! Thanks to Lynn and John for letting me leave my "can't do without items" at their booth. Nibi and Pat for the ride to the platy, Kent (a.k.a roadrunner)who lurks gave me rides to meet my parents and went with me his first trip north in 95, special thanks to TB for offering help in many ways, and finally to the female, fuzzy footed, forest dweller Bearfeat, thanks for the rides, site seeing and offers of help.
Now items purchased, Captain Red Beard jigs, many sizes and colors, slip bobbers of various sizes, knives, new backpack and a new flyfishing rod and reel at the Midwest Fly Fishing Exposition going on at the Sheraton. This was worth the time.
Thanks to all for taking the time to help and encourage others. Brian
I was glad I got down to the platy to put a face with a name. Good to see pics of your doggies too. Take care and we hope to see more of you in the future.
"When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known."
Sigurd F. Olson
Brian, it was nice to see you again. For the record, I am Maverick - I made one post as RoadRunner when I thought the Maverick name had been lost. I have pretty much been a lurker in the past, due to technical issues on my part (forgotten passwords and logins). Thanks for breakfast as well.
I will try not to lurk as much and maybe even come to one of the happy hours and meet some of you.
I must start making a list of explainations:
1. He kept hitting his head on the paddle when I tried to rescue him.
2. I told him he couldn't swim with all those jigs in his pocket.
3. I told him PFD's are not for float fishing across the big lakes.
For the last 2 years a family campout (3 day) was spent at MN Kathio State Park-great park with hiking, campsite with some privacy and good rum river fishing at the dam. The gang 5 adults 3 children want me to find another place equally as nice with the same (especially fishing) if not more activities and no more than 3 hours from the twin cities.
Thanks for your help..
Give me a fast lady partner, slow canoe and a fine cigar. InsulaBob
Good fishing on Lake Bemidji, the Mississippi River and other nearby lakes such as Cass, Winnebogoshish, Kitchi etc They also have a nice fishing pier in the park along with great paved bike trails out to the Paul Bunyan Trail.
Bogwalk to see orchids, pitcher plants and other bog dwelling plants.
Close to Headwaters of Mississippi in Itasca state park where kids can walk across the mighty Mississippi.
A seasoned, experienced park naturalist who puts on great interpretive programs and also brings in talent from the community for concerts, and other arts related events.
The Turtle River is close by and is a nice paddle down the river with decent fishing for bass and northerns-lots of peace and solitude as you paddle the river.
If interested let me know via e-mail. I can tell you the best sites for tent or trailers as well as specifics on the Turtle River. I have gone here for the last 16 years and go every year. It has become a family tradition. I love the park and the staff.
"When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known."
Sigurd F. Olson
There is also Scenic State Park (north of Grand Rapids, maybe 45 mins or so). I think it was between 3 and 4 hours from the cities.
Nice lake with good recreational activities. Big picnic area. Decent camping area.
Lots of good trails - including a short bog walk. The bog walk is closed as it needs repairs, but we hopped the fence and walked along the old boardwalk anyways. It is maybe a couple hundred yards long. Some old faded signs describing the unique plants. Pretty cool - wish the parks could afford to maintain stuff like this.
Anyways, may be out of your range, but a nice park nevertheless.
I have three young children and am looking for a nice campground with access to a lake/river, a playground and trails. I live in Mankato MN, approximately an 1 1/2 southwest of the Cities. Any recommendations for a great campgrounds in this area (2 or 3 hour travel time) would be appreciated.
Had a Trout stream, nice trails, showers, shade, little or no bugs when we were there. Forestville is also nice. I'm headed to the Northwest this summer. I only need Garden Island, Big Bog, and Red River SRA to have visted all the State Parks.
The campsites in the woods are secluded from each other by woods, trails to walk, and lots of wildlife. The only drawback is there is no where at the park for swimming. The river is too fast and the current too strong to swim safely there. You can, however, do a float trip down the river. If you do late summer, you can swim off the many sandbars in the river safely, and even camp.
Paradise: caught between the fire and the ice
no need to think twice,
it's where I want to be...........
America (the group)
I was there several years ago. You could camp pretty much anywhere but there were favorite campsites that people had used and we found one that actually had a primitive latrine. The way I understood things, they were in the process of changing this and there will be designated sites to camp at. It is a huge body of water and depending on when you go might have lots of boat traffic.
We did catch some fish and paddled some back bays away from the crowds. I'd like to go back someday, it was very pretty and we saw some wildlife. There were also people camping with radios blaring though.
We filtered the water and drank it but I'd probably not drink the water unless it was purified or maybe bring some water for drinking. Since portages are not a problem you can haul anything your canoe can carry.
I was on it last May fishing with a friend. It would not have been a great time for canoes. It was pretty and the campsites looked reasonable from the water. Most looked to be occupied by power boats/fishermen.
Ist time was right about when the state was first purchasing it. There were campsite everywhere with 'minimal' facilities. Also people were pigs. There was 3 powerboats camping at a site near us. When they left I paddled over. These guys left garbage bags full by the fire ring like they expected some service to haul it away for them. Other sites had bottles etc laying around. Now the state has it and has cleaned it up quite a bit. They reduced the number of campsites and have provided latrine, a huge picnic table, and I think permanent fire ring at each designated site. I think the max # of people at a site is resitricted to 5 or so but there are a couple larger group sites. You can get a map of the flowage by the writing the DNR. Seemed to be a lot of power boats both times I was there but as the water level falls in the autum there are some areas not accessible to them. Oh yes, the Wilderness Queen may come motoring by as you make your evening meal. Wave to the tourists on the boat as she goes by. Takes away from the wilderness feel of the place. There is at least one wolf pack that we heard at least once. Also several osprey platforms on the area. This area was owned by a logging company and I really didn't enjoy camping on the the Northern area as much as the southern where the trees seem a little more mature. The motor boats and the Wilderness Queen excursion boat kind of turned me off but I has read about this area in Silent Sports (neat mag if you live in the Upper Midwest...Mike Svob has good paddling articles) and had to see it. I think Turtle River Flambeau Flowage though Murray's Landing is a better place to go ....
the recommendation for the Turtle Flambeau Flowage. It's much larger than the Willow, so you've got a slightly better chance of getting away from people.
The Willow is hugely popular for fishing. On any given weekend during fishing season expect dozens of fishing boats (and yes, jet skis). Camping is now limited to designated sites since the DNR bought all the surrounding land. If you get into the far west end it may be a little quieter. If not for the motors it would be as close to BWCA/Q as we have around here.
With all this talk about webs and ears, thought I would stir something up.
Years ago, I bought a rack system from a California outfit called "Quik 'n Easy". It had wingnut clamps that clamped the canoe directly down on the crossbar. No rope tying and tightening, webs, ears or anything.
I later modified the clamp (drilled out the hole a bit larger) and got a bigger eye-bolt when I got a better tower system from Yakima.
I have driven my canoes for thousands of miles in heavy wind, behind huge semis and have never had a problem. These things are secure! And easy to mount and use.
No ropes, no fuss AND it looks cool!
And yet, I've never seen anyone else use them no matter where I travel.
The only place I can find the clamps now are at Spring Creek.
Does anyone on this board use them or am I a lone wolf?
Here's a pic of my Mad River on my truck (notice no ropes):
Here is a pic of the clamp from the inside of the canoe - clamping onto the gunwale:
I have no financial interest in this product. I'm just surprised that I haven't seen more widespread use of it and wanted to share it here.
This is the first time I have seen that system. How long have you been using it? I may have to try it - bought my canoe and other items from Spring Creek over the years. Is it hard to tighten down (under the canoe) the wing nuts? I imagine two canoes would not work...
Great idea, but it makes me a little nervous to look at it without the straps.
That would not work on my canoes due to the type of gunwale, there is no place for the clamp to clamp. Also, I don't think I'd feel very good about doing that to my Kevlar models. It also appears as though it won't work on my Thule racks, being notched out for a round load bar.
Just wondering about the force of the wind coming off the front of the vehicle. Seems like the air would push right up under the hull giving a strong up force to the hull. Then I was thinking maybe some kind of shroud or deflector mounted to the front of the canoe to keep the air from going inside the canoe would really reduce the forces. Maybee some kind of "V" shaped thing made from 1/4" ply.
I would have been interested up until the time my spirit 2 flew off my truck. When it went it took the racks with it. I will aways tie down the front just because of the sick feeling of watching 1000$ fly off a vehicle.
It appears that your gunwales are uniquely suited to using these clamps. All of the gunwales that I have owned attached too tightly to the hull to allow the clamp between the two. My main concern would be that the wing nut would vibrate loose and the gunwale would slip out from under the clamp. You appear to have an inch of slack before the clamp and the gunwale become completely detached. Hopefully you would notice the additional noise and tighten the clamps soon enough.
Even with this clamping system and your gunwales I would still use ropes front and back. Along with the added safety, ropes on the ends reduce the leverage of the canoe against the rack. Without end ropes the forces on either end of the canoe are amplified by six feet or more of lever arm.
I can't quite see a bow line saving my canoe. Instead, until such time as I can safely stop, I see my canoe dragging, or flying like a kite and probably slamming into my vehicle a few times....ooooo...now I have to go poke my mind's eye out! This is just too much to see!
Fishin' Magician - Been using it for 30 + years on both the old rack and the Yakima Rack. It is a little difficult to tighten it by hand, so I always use a pair of pliers to really put it down. As long as the cross bars are long enough, two canoes are fine. I carry two on my rack frequently.
Raincloud - you're right. It definitely would not work on the Thule rack. However I carry my Kevlar SR17 with no problem and an Alumacraft as well. As long as there is a gunwale with an inside lip, it clamps down just fine regardless if its Kevlar or not. Kayaks, tho, are no-no.
Exit B -Nice. I've never been comfortable tighening a c-clamp because it seems to me (as it does for me in other applications) it could slip off so easily. The special clamp is designed not to with its notch into the curvature of the crossbar. BUT it definitely wouldn't work on your Thule.
Not_A_Texan - good point. I'm sure it is not aerodynamically efficient, but then neither is the rope-down either. I tested my truck once to see the efficiency (fuel wise). I saw a 2mpg loss when carrying two canoes as compared to none. There wasn't a noticeable difference whether I had an empty rack on or not. Last year, we actually put a kayak up inside the Mad River as we were carrying my SR17 and Mad River.
Reddcin, yes that would be a very sick feeling, but even still after all this time it hasn't come close to happening.
Dan Lindberg - First, I have locknuts on all (but the one in the pic, wouldn't you know ) eyebolts. And I always make it a habit to check the nuts every time I fill up. On rare occassions, one is just a little loose.
Steve K - as above, as long as there is a lip, it will clamp. This gunwale is not unique at all for the system. Good point on leverage. Have never thought of that, but again, I've never had a problem.
Trout Lane - I travel 2200 miles round trip to Ely and it holds great.
MDV - is your "ropeless" system like Exit B's?
Please don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to get into a "my-gear-is-better-than-your-gear" song. In fact, viva le difference. I have never felt secure with ropes because those lousy knots of mine don't seem to hold all that well - especially compared to these clamps.
I got my question answered. Rope adds peace of mind and you can't beat that. Thanks for all the comments.
A friend decided the coolest, easiest way to tie down his canoe (a Champlain) was by lining the racks up with the thwarts, then strapping the thwarts to the racks. This worked fine until a semi coming at him on a two lane road on a windy day hit just the right wind velocity into the hull. Both gunwales snapped, the aluminum thwart bent, and the hull collapsed, then straightened out. The canoe never left the vehicle, but you can imagine the degree of repair work that canoe took.
Of course, this is less of an issue with vinyl gunwales and a royalex canoe, but I thought I'd share as yet another caution.
That'll get 'er done though you're not going to win any beauty contest. How about painting something on that thing like a shark or a gater or something. That probably tracks pretty good - looks wind efficent.
Since the top is getting a little rusty we are planning on some new paint this summer. We built it more for duck hunting,so you can leave the decoys in the boat. We are thinking of duck hunting on one side and BWCA on the other.
It does look neat goingdown the road. Other than the fact you have to crank down the wing nuts, and they are not in a convenient location...I can throw a couple of ropes over the top and pull down a trucker hitch pretty darn quick.
solo canoes and single blades...the way it should be.
and used them on our trip up north (500 miles one way). We have often hauled two canoes using this system. We do double nut instead of using the wing nut.
I was out looking at the new gear for 2005 and I see that Granite Gear is making all their packs out of High Tenacity 210 Cordura. Does anyone know how this fabric holds up compared to 1000 Denier Cordura? I understand that it is lighter but it seemed a little thin when I felt the fabric and more likely to tear or wear. What are the pros and cons of this fabric? I do not see any other Portage Packs using this fabric so I am wondering why the change, I hope it is not a cost cutting move.
Haven't heard much about these until the other day. I'm assuming they don't make them anymore? From the specs (see below), it looks like they are pretty comparable to the Queticos, which is what I was looking at. However, I found the prospector to be much cheaper, although, I'm not sure of the condition yet as they are from 99 and 00. I've read nothing but good reviews of the quetico and actually found one review of the prospector on paddling.net. I wonder if they are as stable as Queticos, anyone with any experience?
for you, since the date is yet to come, you'll get a double dose this year. (Double dose of birthday wishes, that is. Not a double dose of Seliga canoes as presents. )
No one ever looks back on their life and regrets the adventures they've had.
______________________________________________________________
Pete
The launch area can get a little crowded when all the canoes are there at once. Never the less, everyone got onto the river and started the day’s adventure!
....is if Nibi is around taking pictures. Don't let it worry you Bannock. If it ain't broke don't fix it. If it keeps you dry it shouldn't matter how it looks. If it is not functioning well, then by all means buy a new, more fashionable, rain suit.
"When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known."
Sigurd F. Olson
Just way to busy to keep my goal of a daily fish report but got a good one today: McIntyre Lake. Twice on canoe trips we have spent a few days on this beauty and she sure treated us nice in June of 2004. Thanks to Quetico Passage we had a tip for a great "olive jar site" campsite and a near 5 - star site. It is on the SW shore. Great open site for TL JR to do some plowing with his tractor that I portaged 27 times on that trip. It was worth every ounce! The plastic tires were bald by the end of the 11 day trip.
I have caught more Lakers on McIntyre Lake than any other lake I have ever tried to catch lake trout. That is not saying much but the ones we caught were sure a welcome addition to our menu. Pictured are a 24" and a 26" trout. The biggest I have yet to catch, unfortunately. Had some good action trolling a Yo-Zuri minnow imitation plug in 35 to 55' of water. Mrs. TL prefers the Shad raps in black/silver. We were there during the middle of June and I made the mistake of trolling too shallow too often and not putting on enough weight - about half on ounce or more. We were in the northern part of the main body of the lake. But at over 2200 acres their is a lot of open water to cover and numerous great camps.
I first wanted to go to McIntyre after reading Dr. Bill Rom's excellent book and in chatting with Jeep LaTourell on Moose Lake. Unfortunately, I have yet to find one of the trophy walleyes each spoke about. Frustrating. Plenty of bass there for those who care and we have caught them up to 20" by accident - cant recall if there was a photo it may not have been considered film worthy at the time with the price of film these days you know... Look for where a small creek flows into the small bay behind the olive jar site there had to have been hundreds of bass there because a leech or crawler could not sink far without a pickup nearly every cast. The far northern part looks fishy toward Brent but I have never tried it up there.
McIntyre is one of those crossroads lakes that gets a fair amount of traffic yet is big enough to hideout within its beauty. For some really cool small lakes nearby try Cecil and Deer lakes south of McIntyre. In fact, portages are quite easy along the way as long as you dont get lost going from Cecil to an unnamed lake and its a great untravelled way to get to Robinson Lake and the Basswood river via the Tuck River if I recall the name. The take out on Cedil is mismarked on the fisher maps. Cant go wrong with a night's stay on McIntyre Lake - you may want a second though.
Was lucky enough on one trip to get into the lunker walleyes - north end of the lake in late May. 35 fish in 4 days, 5-11 lbs. All of the fish > 7 lbs were caught in 3-5' of water between 3:30 and 5:00 AM. Other than that one trip, I have sort of stuggled for walleye here, too.
The very north end of the lake splits into 2 bays - one headed NW and the other almost due north into Brent. The latter, as I recall, is very shallow and did not seem very fishy to me. And I've never ventured into the former.
The trout we have seen there really have a steely grayish-blue color. Unique from what I have seen in its neighbors. Sarah Lake trout are very colorful greens with near brookie type markings on fins (reds) and little Side lake were similar to Sarah but with more of a brownish tint. Very cool. Unfortunately, the numbers of fish sampled in my unscientific fishing study were not very numerous in those lakes and most were caught by Mrs TL.
This is fresh in my memory because of the few trout that have seen our canoe. We have caught 2 otherson McIntyre all about 20". Had two other fish on that got off. We had or maybe 4 or 5 hours of trolling while we stayed there. So at least we had some action. I thought for sure the 26" fish was bigger - really fought - but maybe I'm use to reeling in walleye.
in the menu and the other was released. If you must know, it was the only meal of fish we ate in 11 days totally by choice. If everyone did that, there would be more fish for all.
Just curious. Sometime ago you informedme I should never keep a walleye over 18 inches. That was in response to my posting of a "throwback" size of somewhere in the neighborhood of 24 inches. I've since then lowered it to 21 - an 18 incher still seems pretty small to me (must be because I catch all those big walleyem being the excellant walleye fisherman I am ). Anyways, that 18 inch size would be a good one to apply to Lake trout as well. It takes a laker alot longer to get to 18 than it does a walleye. My throwback size for lakers is 21 as well. Regardless of one meal or one a day. Lakers like yours should be released. In my opinion.
Thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.
REALLY sticks in my craw...By far the best fighting fish that swims in freshwater...the best looking, too. Its too bad you don't see their beauty as so many others on this board do...I know, I know, they're NOT NATIVE...So what? Who really knows what fish God put in these lakes from day one(or was it day four?)
Look at it this way...smallies are here to stay, might as well enjoy them...I know I will!!
You headed North to find the origin of your beloved "smallie" when you should have headed South. I believe it was your God's nemisis who put the smallmouth here to plague the Earth like swarms of locust. Whatever????????
Hey everyone - you guys probably don't remember me but I have posted on here a couple times over the last few years. I have been a fairly consistant lurker though.
Anyway, I am taking my son, age 11, on his second canoe trip and we have a lake 1 entry point. We plan on going in the end of July for a short Thursday - Monday trip. I understand this is a highly traveled route, which is ok with us.
I really want for my son to catch some fish and am thinking Smallies would be the ticket. I am no fishing expert, but have had decent success fishing for Walleyes, Smallies, and Northerns. My question is are there any good SMB lakes along this EP? We plan on at least going to Lake 3 and most likely a bit farther. I am also considering Insula, which I understand is more of a Walleye lake. The other lake I was looking at was Horseshoe - has anyone fished this lake?
as you introduce your child to canoeing and help preserve the BW for the next generation. IMO you have choosen a nice introduction route. Lake 3 is suppose to have decent fishing though they may have moved out of those current areas around there. I'd start by getting a depth map in Ely, and see if you cant find one of those mid lake humps - a depth/fish finder might come in handy. Upstream from Lake 3, one portage, there is a wonderful, big spillway that has to hold lots of fish before the second portage.
I've mentioned this before , bur the islands on the southwest corner of Lake Three have some good walleye and northern potential. The most SW island campsite is nice - there's an eagles nest on the next door island just across the channel. We did catch a few smallies also.
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Yogi Berra
I think most of the sites on Lake 3 are 5-star. The 1st island site on the west is really premier (5 tent pads), and the site across from Horseshoe is pretty nice, too. We've also stayed at the site mentioned above with the eagle next across from it.
"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
Thanks Nibi, Rainy and everyone else for the input into the idea. I found some POLY strapping (thanks Ragamuffin!) and did as instructed by Nibi and Rainy - screwing it under the hood with one of the bolts that secure the fender.
Tomorrow night I'll do it to my back hatch...I guess "Web Tails"...and I'll be a step closer to a more secure canoe transport system.
Thaks again,
Madl
"He who travels with dry foot, not experience all that canoe country has to offer."
Today I went into 'baga and Peter gave me a mystery envelope! Evidently it had been pinned on the window frame a while. WOW! A Rutabaga gift card! Wowie-wow-wow! Thank you very much. It certainly was not necessary and very much appreciated.
No one ever clained the Vodka, orange and the bottle of water. I poured the Vodka into the sink, gave the orange to the racoon and the water on the braided fig tree. They all say thank you.
Blessing Steve and Mark
K
1)Mrs Gordon D???, back of Gordon D, NibiMocs, GSP
2) GSP/BIS/GSH/GPA/GPS
3) Mrs MN Greene, MNGreene, Dad of 6, and Ragamuffin, with finger to temple. He'd just had a brilliant idea of some sort. Lightbulb above head was cut off.
4) PaddleFasterPastor and Old Scout
5)Dan Cooke, Bogwalker, JrGuide, Reddcin with...Anna???, and possibly SwedeJr in back.
That strip of hair above your right ear is getting quite light in color or was in just the glare of the lights or the camera flash. Funny, I have the same problem lately in photos. Do you want to clarify the situation?
That strip of hair above your right ear is getting quite light in color or was in just the glare of the lights or the camera flash. Funny, I have the same problem lately in photos. Do you want to clarify the situation?
Come june first i was hoping to have all my own gear as i head out to the most beautiful place i have ever been, Boundary Waters, and i am looking for a food pack and a pack to carry my gear in. If anyone has any ideas on where i can get this stuff for a reasonable price please let me know!!! Thank you
I swear by Granite Gear "Quetico" Food Packs. Large enough for two people for a week, and any bigger, they would drop you to your knees with the weight.
Weight is clearly the issue for food packs, and keeping stuff from shifting. The big Duluth Bags hold too much, and packed with c r a p they can weight over 100 pounds. Not a lot of fun lifting those babies out of canoe. Can you say blown disk? Not to mention lugging them through a mud soaked portage over slippery rocks and biting mosquitos. Ugh.
I selected the Quetico model of Granite Gear bags and tricked it out with an Ash Basket and poly liner. We've swamped and the food has stayed dry; I've had a scrawney pine crack at the weight of the pack when trying to hang it, and have it fall over 12 feet onto rocks, and not even the eggs were broken (thanks to the Ash Basket) The Basket helps the bag keep its shape, and won't get soggy like the outfitter cardboard types.
It has a yoke strap, which Duluth doesn't have, and a true waist belt system, which if properly fitted, helps one transfer the load to one's hips instead of one's back. Finally, and this is an excellent feature, it has straps to change the pitch of the bag on your bag to be closer to your neck or further away, so fat people can let it out, and skinny people can cinch it in.
It is lighter than the Duluth canvas, but the Cordura is tougher than the Nylon clones. It has no extraneous pockets that can catch on a thwart or gunnel. It has an awesome hanging strap which with my bear pulley rig works like a champ. The bottom is double stiched layers.
They are not cheap however, but the best bag on the market for my two cents.
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 pack and have a couple questions about using it as a food pack. Where did you get the ash basket and what size did you get? How do you hook this up to your bear rope - I am assuming you use the side lift handles. One other thing, what do you mean by a "yoke strap"?
I have been tossing around the idea of using this as a food pack, as it is my favorite pack. Right now I use a Duluth #3 and would probably turn that into one of our equipment packs.
I'll let scooter answer about the "ash basket" (whatever that is), but I have used the Quetico as a food pack and hang with the rope through three handles: the two side handles and the one in the back between the shoulder straps. They all bunch together when you pull up, which works perfectly. By "yoke strap" I think he means what I call the sternum strap, connnecting the two shoulder straps over your chest. This is the best invention in pack technology since . . . well, since packs. Really keeps the load from pulling back and down on your shoulders. For my money it is much more important the the hip strap.
I thought he might be talking about the sternum strap and agree that this is awesome. Did you like using this as a foodpack?
My only concern is that it is a taller, thinner, pack than my Duluth Pack, which would also make it harder to dig into the far reaches? But, I have no doubt it would carry better!
It works well as a food pack. I organize using a number of stuff sacks (different colors for lunch, dinner, etc). They each go in vertically. This works great. I pull a stuff sack out if I need to get at food deeper down, then slide it back in. I think if you used a bigger pack for food it would get unmanageably heavy. Shorter and wider might be okay, but with the stuff sacks the Quetico works well and it easy to carry. I like.
I have both the Quetico and the Superior. I have an aluminum 'box' with closed cell foam on the outside and use it for cold/food container. With a latch, ain't no bear gonna get inside this one. Light weight since it's thin aluminum but strong enough to sit on. It's a perfect fit for the Superior but I use the Quetico for it. Leaves room for soft goods on the sides, etc. so it works quite well. Bought them both from Piragis. Great prices on their used gear, lots of which look unused.
) to Mountain Lake Resort (where they filmed Dirty Dancing).
Larry 
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