How much further?

Another morning with an awesome breakfast for my boat buddy and me. We had oddly shaped pancakes (the "skillet" wasn't exactly flat on the bottom) with bacon. We have become quite efficient and in sync in the mornings. One is cooking the other packing up the tent or filtering water for dishes.

Our failed portage yesterday left a nice part of Voyaguers unseen so we paddled back that direction to check out the pictographs on some tall stone walls either on the lake shore or on the islands. We saw some cool rock formations but no real pictographs. My boating buddy is an experienced rock climber and showed off her skills attempting to scale the wall. She can now say she climbed a wall in Canada! This excursion added about 5 miles to our already big day. We took a few breaks and had lunch on a sandbar where we had time to go swimming a cool off. I had tuna with mayo, crackers, trail mix, and lemon cookies. One of the guys caught a nice bass but while everyone was taking pictures managed to drop it back in the lake and away it went. Boo. No fish for dinner. A long track after lunch ran us up to 15 miles for the day. To pass the time Maggie and I played games, that I mostly hated, like 20 questions. We gave book synopsis's and told stories from our lives. That distracted us from the fatigue and pain in our arms, shoulders, legs, and butts. Maggie tell me a story! We paddled into camp around 5 PM exhausted! This camp is closer to civilization and had some pretty sweet amenities, mainly a bathroom with toilet paper, walls, door, and roof. No sink, no flushing. We were also able to pack away our water filtration devices and use a well pump to get fresh water. I took a "bath" in the lake and laid on the dock in the sun to dry while the guys tried again to catch fish dinner. They failed. The camp sites were wooded and filled with mosquitos. By dinner time we all broke out the 100% Deet! Dinner tonight was creamy potato soup with bacon bits on top. Yum. Fast and easy. Once we were all cleaned up and prepped for the morning we sat around and played Rummy. Farah won after 6 or so extremely competitive hands. The mosquitos were so unbearable we all retired to our tents. Again, I slept but tossed and turned during the night. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to sleeping on a thin sleeping pad with a blow up pillow and sleeping bag. Another good day in the back country. 

Abort! Abort!

I slept last night! Praise God. I did have to get up around 3 AM to pee, lesson learned, not so much water before bed. It was a bit cool at night but made for great sleeping. We woke up around 7 AM to pack up our gear and make breakfast. We had dehydrated hash-browns, pre-cooked bacon, and Lottinville's farm fresh eggs. It was hardy and delicious. Siting on the dock waiting for everyone to finish packing up I still can not get over how beautiful it is here. Like northern Michigan but even quieter and calmer.

Paddling today was really tough for me. I was sore from yesterday's paddle and switch positions with Maggie which meant j had to learn a new job. We made it to the portage location: Grassy Lake Portage. I was quite nervous about carrying all our gear and the canoe 1/2 mile. We were the last canoe to the portage spot and were prepping our gear when we hear others coming back from the trail. It was really swampy at the entrance and apparently it got worse the further you walked. Our lead instructor Bill ended up in mud to his crotch with a canoe on his head. His wife Sue was yelling back at the rest of us Abort! Abort! We dodged that portage bullet but our reward was paddling back the 4 miles where we came from. Total mileage today was about 12 miles. After we stopped for lunch and I got some coaching from Gib the afternoon paddle was much better. It's important to paddle using your whole torso rather than just your arms! Who knew? We arrived to our beautiful camp site. Large rock formation in the front that is great for lounging, excellent swimming, and  great views from the tent sites. We also had another throne type latrine, this time with better cover. I don't feel clean necessarily but I don't feel filthy either. The afternoon swims are refreshing and I did wash my hair in the lake quickly. 

When we unpacked our gear to set up the tent I realized my trash bag had leaked. I had crushed an egg earlier yesterday and just put it in a ziplock. It leaked. There is egg goo on everything in my bag. I was able to wipe things down with a wet bandana but I'm concerned about the smell for the next couple days. Nothing else to do about it now I guess! 

Dinner was cheese tortellini with spaghetti sauce and parmesan. It was damn good if I do say so myself. We were all cleaned up and packed away by 7:30 PM. 

Paddling 101

Our day began fairly early with our last shower until Sunday night (thank goodness the dumpy motel had excellent water pressure). We loaded up all of our gear and packed the bus. Breakfast was the first stop at a little mom and pop diner. Most had the special of eggs, bacon, and toast. I had my last caffeinated beverage (Pepsi) while others drank copious amounts of coffee. We also had to make a last minute stop at Lucky Seven (gas, tackle, guns, ammo, mini mart) for fishing licenses and bottles of water. We had a bit of a drive up to Crane Lake and hit the water around 11 AM right after Paddling 101 class. We went over the parts of the canoe, basic strokes, and life jacket wear. Maggie is my canoe partner. She sat in the front with the job of being the motor. I sat in the back to do the steering. We started out a bit rough, zig zagging the lake, and mostly uncoordinated but got the hang of it after a while. Canoeing is fun but also takes some skill and physical work. I'm sure my arms and shoulders will be sore in the morning. Durning the last leg Maggie and I started to play games to distract ourselves from fatigue naming a camping or canoeing related item for each letter in the alphabet. 

We stopped for lunch on a giant rock by the shore. The beef jerky, apple sauce, trail mix and carrots definitely filled me up. Our first taste of lake water was next to refill out bottles before heading back on the water. We are using a gravity filtration device that works pretty quickly taking out all the stuff that will make you spend the next 5 days on the toilet. The color is still a bit brown but it tastes like mineral water and quenches the thirst. 

The scenery is amazing. I couldn't possibly explain it but try and picture large rock shoreline, pine trees, a blue sky, and big puffy white clouds everywhere you look. 

We had some wild life sightings today as well. A few deer on our drive up here including a button buck in velvet. A bald eagle (God Bless America). A few loons that also serenaded us this evening. A baby squirrel running around the campsite. A very small fish caught and released by one of the guys. 

Dinner at camp was uneventful. We did learn how to light the camp stoves and clean up after. Maggie and I are also meal partners. We had cheese quesadillas and rice. There was too much food but if you don't eat it then you pack it out so we stuffed ourselves. This may be a common theme this week. 

A camp fire and telling stories passed the time until the mosquitos got to bad and we climbed in our tents for shelter. Good night everybody. Yau Betcha! 

Travel Day

We hit the road early this morning to drive the 522 miles to Virgina, Minnesota. Made a few stops along the way for breakfast, gas, and lunch at Culver's (we were in Wisconsin so cheese curds were a must). To pass the time I logged in to our our bi-weekly company conference call, and listened to the first couple Shark Farmer podcasts. If you haven't heard of the Rob Sharkey, you are seriously missing out. Google him. I got his autograph a few weeks ago! I especially enjoyed 003 were he talks with another friend of mine about roping badgers and other cowboy tales. 

We arrived at the hotel we will stay at tonight before hitting the backwoods in the morning. The instructors distributed all our gear and helped us pack up. Bill helped me eliminate a few unnecessary things including soap... He said I won't be needing that and that even though it's environmentally friendly, I can't use it in the river. Ugh. Salty it is. 

All my personal things as well as the following gear is in this small orange bag. 

Tent, ground cover, rain fly, water purification device, camp stove, gas, food for the next 4 days, sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, and sleeping pad.

I'm not sure how I was able to get it all in there but it's done. 

Dinner was at the Sawmill where I ate a steak of course (loading up before our backwoods food adventures). We also consumed a couple of adult beverages. There is a great group of fun people on our trip. Looking forward to the next few days. 

Voyageur National Park

This lady farmer is traveling again! I'm keeping it domestic though! For the next 4 days I'm off the grid, camping and canoeing through the boundary waters of northern Minnesota in the Voyageur National Park! 

I've done some pretty cool traveling in the past but nothing like this. We are full-on pack in, pack out, no bathrooms, showers, or beds. I've got to admit, I'm a little nervous. 

I essentially have to pack in a carry on bag (we all know I can manage that for a two week track around the world) but this time I also have to include my bed, tent, camp stove, and food. This shall be interesting! This adventure is brought to you by the College of DuPage, field study's department where I will earn 2 pass/fail physical education credits (because I need those)! Aunt Dede is a professor at the college and we have traveled with COD before to China. Thus, I get postcards in the mail promoting all their field study's programs. When I saw this one, I couldn't think of a good reason not to go. I love adventure and this will certainly be one for me. 

Packing has been a challenge but I've been assured by the instructors they will help us with last minute packing to ensure we have all that we need and leave behind what we don't. The college provides sleeping bags, sleeping mats, tents, camp stoves, and cooking utensils. It was up to us to pack our meals that would be non-perishable and easily packable. I'll dive into that in another post. 

As we pack up the bus this morning it's clear that I need to pair down my bag quite a bit. Most people just have a backpack of personal items and food. Crap. We shall see how this all plays out. 12 hours and we will arrive in Virgina, MN for a quick night in a hotel before we hit the backwoods! I doubt I have service way up there, and certainly won't be able to recharge the phone battery but will continue to blog and post later. Wish me luck.