Your Daily Dose of Tarah 2.0: BWCA

Hey Ya'll!

Our first SUMMER ADVENTURE post is HERE!!!

This year over Memorial Day weekend,

our crew traveled to northern Minnesota to

what is know as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area or BWCA.

For more information click here: www.bwca.com

From our driveway to our campsite it was 16 hours.

You heard me 16 HOURS.

Thats 8 hours driving from our house to the dock.

And another 8 hours canoeing from the dock to our campsite.

Yea. That's right.

Seagull Lake: Our First Morning.

Lets get you ready for the trip you will never forget.

STEP 1: PLAN

Pick your entry point: The point where you leave civilization and live in your canoe.

Pack your pack: Clothing, first aid kit, cooking gear. If you cant carry it leave it.

Pick your food: dry food packs, dehydrated fruit, potatoes, and lots of protein.

Pick you crew: Strong like oxen. Whiners, lazy folk and divas are not BWCA crew material.

Our Crew Captain (Head Ox)

The Mini Member of our Crew. (Baby Ox)

This is your foundation for the trip you will have.

If you dont pack right you wont survive. If you pick the wrong crew someone could get hurt.

THIS IS REAL WILDERNESS PEOPLE!

Remember you are a good 5+ hours from any type of civilization.
Including hospitals.

SO BE SMART.

Our Entry Point: Seagull Lake

Here you can see our route, portages and campsite.


Our route is the BLUE line.

Our Gear

We had SO MUCH STUFF. Packing was a battle.
Your pack looks big but once you roll up your clothes
and start putting it in there you realize its not THAT much space.
Don't forget flashlights, batteries and of course your knife.

Our Gear in our Packs

We each had our packs with clothing, and sleeping essentials.
We had another pack with all the food and cooking gear. Remember to bring sunscreen!


Our Stylish Ride for 8 hours

We loaded everything into our stylish wagon. :)

Remember your paddles and some seats that are sorta comfy.
You can get pretty stiff after paddling for a few hours.

The Gunflint Trail. It starts in Grand Marais

I cannot tell you how awesome the weather was for us.
WE had nothing but sun and 70s the whole time.

STEP 2: ENJOY THE WORK

When paddling: Enjoy the views. Check out the scenery.

Empty campsite? Check it out. You might get lucky and see a Moose!

When portaging: Enjoy the trail, the birds, the sun.
Stretch your legs. Have lunch, rehydrate.

AND TAKE SOME PICTURES!


Seagull Lake

We hadn't even unloaded and got on the lake yet and the views were amazing.

The water was clear and crisp.

Sunset Our first Night

We spent the first night at our entry point. We slept in our fancy wagon. Not ideal. But after 8 hours of driving there is no way your going to make it to camp and set up and be safe.

THERE ARE BEARS YOU KNOW!

Pitstop on our drive in....still an hour away from Seagull Lake

We had dinner at Sven and Ole's (because how can you not?) and then headed out for the last part of our drive. This particular picture was at an empty campsite under a lookout at a wayside stop. Lots of steps to get to it though.....

(for more information on Sven and Ole's: http://www.svenandoles.com/ )

Officially Sign of the Boundary Waters

We were up bright and early the first morning. Its hard not too when your sleeping in a truck! We brewed some coffee and loaded the canoes. We couldn't wait to get on the water! It was a beautiful morning! This sign was about a mile in from our entry point. We were feeling pretty spunky at the time.....


Empty Campsite=Pitstop

We had only been on the water a few hours before the coffee had gone through us! And since we were making such great time we decided to take a "break". Heres looking at our canoes towards Seagull Lake.

This is the way to the bathroom.....its 150Ft walk.

Ah. There you go. Dont forget your toilet paper!!!

Looking out at Seagull Lake from the Canoe.


Looking back the way we came.....

Portage #2: The Guys Filtering Water

Looking out the way we came. Portage #2

Portage: Where there is a section of land between two lakes. You unload your canoe and carry your gear to the other side. Our first portage was a 1/2 mile one way. Our first portage we all did three miles. Just to get our gear to the other side. It was hot, muddy, and rocky. No one wanted a twisted ankle so we took it slow. The second portage was only a 1/4 mile BUT it was uphill, and muddy. We made it in TWO miles.

IMPROVEMENT!

STEP 3: GET TO CAMP BEFORE SUNDOWN.

You should have a general idea of where you want to camp.

So allow plenty of time to set up and cook a meal and still enjoy the sunset.

Latrine. 150ft from base camp. She was a sight for sore eyes at night.....

Our Campsite. Looking to the Left.

Our Campsite had everything!

Lots of trees.

Rocks to climb.

Protection from the wind.

Lots of shade.

And sunny spots too!

Unloading our Canoe.

Base Camp. Looking back on Lake Alpine.

Grilled Chicken over an open fire.

We found our campsite around 2pm. It was still pretty sunny. We thought it was around five so we were trying to get everything set up. And we were starving! So we cooked some lunch (which we thought was dinner) and started to unpack.

Base Camp

Sunset. Base Camp. Our First Night.

Alpine Lake.

After all that driving and canoeing we were ready for bed early.

The temperature plummeted to 28 degrees.

Between the temperature and the "nocturnal" animals we didnt sleep much the first night.

We woke up bright and early.....and the boys were ready to fish.

Small Mouth Bass

While the boys fished I made some breakfast.

We had fried potatoes and Scrambled Eggs.

And of course coffee.

Base Camp. First Morning

Happy Camper

After breakfast we met up with the rest of our paddling crew. They had base camp two miles up from us. They unfortunately were catching all the wind and ended up packing up and moving sites.....

The view from our paddling crews first campsite.

It was WINDY but the views were awesome!

While they were packing up camp we decided to stroll around the bay and do some fishing....

Guess how many fish we caught.....?

Rowing into camp

After not catching any fish we were hungry so we decided to head back to camp for lunch.

Base Camp Day Two

STEP FOUR: HAVE FUN

Most of the work is behind you.

You have your camp set up, you portaged and now its all fun and games form here.....

Have a canoe race.

Our Paddling Crew

Sunset. Day Two

Take a Day trip.

We went back to the other side of Alpine lake.

We had lunch at another campsite and tried to catch some fish.

If you look closely...the top left is our portage to camp

The view of Alpine Lake

Modeling.....


The "bathroom". Looking down at our canoes.

An alcove on the other side of the campsite

Another view.

We TRIED to catch some fish but only came close.

Mayflies where out so the fish were only messing with us.

Our Crew trying to convince us that there was fish in the lake.

STEP FIVE: ENJOY THE WILDERNESS

Fire Made with FLINT AND STEEL

He found out he could make fire with flint and

steel and was determined to do that!

And indeed he did!

Dinner Day Three

Dinner in the dark.

Thank Goodness for Headlamps!

STEP 6: LEAVE THINGS AS YOU FOUND THEM.

Base Camp. Day Four.

On our way back they day started out beautiful. We decided to head back home because our weather radio (a life saver) informed us of some bad weather moving in. By the time we had reached Seagull Lake the clouds had rolled in.....