Archives for October 2015

These rock sentinels led the way to our campsite. They almost look like they were placed there deliberately, don’t they? Really, they ended up here thanks to the last ice age. When guiding a canoe or dogsledding trip, I always make a point of showing people glacial erratics– these
massive boulders that have randomly been left somewhere by the glaciers when they retreated. We have this glaciation to thank for the rugged look of the BWCAW, full of exposed bedrock, deep lakes, and cliff faces. Pondering this, I realize just how short my own lifespan is compared
to these land features. Just a blink of an eye as far as these rocks are concerned. Funny how we are around for such a short amount of time, but can have devastating, long-lasting effects when it comes to pollution, habitat loss, and even alterations to the landscape. I hope this place remains
wild and untrammeled for our kids to sit and look out at the lake just as I am doing now. #wildernessyear #savethebwca #bwca #bwcaw #boundarywaters

The sun is setting earlier every day. It is something we look forward to because it is often a beautiful time of day, but we also hate to see the sun go down. We are usually eating dinner, or cleaning up after dinner when the sun sets. It is an interesting time of day because on one hand we are tempted to hurry about buttoning things up for the night before it gets dark. However, we are always drawn to watching the sun set and enjoy watching the last of the sun’s golden rays dip below the horizon. Sometimes we watch the sun go down and think the best part of the sunset has passed so we continue with our evening chores. Then we glance to the west a few minutes later and see the clouds glowing orange.
When we are living in a house I feel like we hardly ever watch the sunset. When it starts to get dark we flip on the light switch, or more often than not the lights are already on. We are insulated from the outside world by walls, windows, doors, and busy schedules. Life is not easy
in the Wilderness. We are kept busy from dawn to dusk and our bodies are tired at the end of the day, but your pace slows and we are more in tune with the natural world. Sunrise and sunset gain new meaning, and watching the light change at dawn and dusk is something we look forward to each day.
When was the last time you watched the sunrise or sunset?

Support the Campaign to @savethebwca and help our efforts to protect this amazing place.

#bwca #bwcaw #boundarywaters #wildernessyear

I think it is safe to say that fall color is at its peak right now. The different types of trees always seem to stager their color change a bit. The maples went first with their brilliant reds. These are the leaves we’re now crunching though on the portage trails. The birches and aspen are next with golden yellow. We have just spotted a few tamaracks with a yellow tinge. It won’t be long until they are in their full glory, making the bogs my favorite place to visit this time of year.
You get a sense of our footwear here too. . . These boots are lined with neoprene and are a size too big so we can fit extra wool socks inside. Do you get the same sense of satisfaction that I do
when you crunch through freshly fallen leaves? It sure is a good time to be in the Boundary Waters!
#wildernessyear #savethebwca #boundarywaters #BWCAW #BWCA

Today we got an amazing view of the #BWCA Wilderness from the top of Thunder Point on Knife Lake. We are joined by 14-year-old Joseph Goldstein, his brother Jacob and his dad Jeff. Joseph is here on his first trip since being diagnosed with leukemia. We were humbled this year to learn that his wish is to #savethebwca. He could have wanted anything but he’s thinking of things bigger than himself. We’re glad to have him by our side on this adventure and in the efforts to protect this wilderness that we love. #wildernessyear #BWCAW #boundarywaters

This loon pair was given to us by a young girl we met at the send-off party at the @patagoniastpaul store. She made them and she is incredibly driven to #savethebwca. She and her mom shared stories of their many trips to the #BWCAW and their love for this place. Not a day goes by without a glance to these #loons for inspiration. It is not just Dave and myself who have fallen in love with these wild border lakes. So many people have wished us well on our journey. So many people have told us their stories, shared treats, helped with the preparations,
and given us words of encouragement. We are humbled. Humbled and inspired. You will keep us going when the weather turns cold and the wind blows against us. All it takes is one look at these little felt loons.
#wildernessyear #bwca #boundarywaters

We launched our canoe in Pietro Lake after making the portage over from Gull. We could see across to where we would begin looking for the next portage, which happened to be in an expanse of burn. We thought we had gotten used to seeing the landscape left by the Pagami Creek fire that burned through this area four years ago. That familiar landscape consisted of
many barren black and gray tree trunks and a dense mixture of underbrush coming up– including miniature pines.
But across Pietro looked different. It took a while for us to realize what exactly it was that looked different about this particular landscape. Hardly any remaining standing trunks were visible. This spot must’ve burned hotter. We didn’t know how much was growing here as we gazed across the
lake. The word “moonscape” entered our conversation. But as we got closer and began to hunt for our portage, we could tell there was life here too. The hillside was covered with grasses, thorny wild roses with shriveled rose hips, and strawberry plants– some even blooming like this
one. Despite the appearance from afar, there is abundant life here and the forest is returning. #wildernessyear #savethebwca #bwca #bwcaw #boundarywaters

The sunset from our campsite on Lake One was hard to describe, but beautiful comes to mind. We have been in the Wilderness for 17 days and I think this is the most majestic sunset we have experienced so far in our year in the Boundary Waters. #wildernessyear #savetheBWCA @savethebwca #sunset #BWCA #BoundaryWaters #OnlyinMN

Yesterday was a glorious day to be in the Wilderness. At times the lake’s smooth surface acted like a mirror and it was hard to tell where the lake ended and the sky began. At one point as we floated in the deepest part of a lake to record water quality data we talked about how the first two weeks of our year in the Wilderness could very well be the nicest weather we will experience all year!
Today is cold and rainy. We are spending the day writing, resting, and doing chores. I spent an hour and a half gather several days worth of firewood last night after we set up camp. I used our saw to cut the dead, dry logs into foot long pieces, which is split with our axe. The reward for my hard work is that we will say warm and dry in our tent today. It may seem strange that we talk about firewood so much, but life in the wilderness is distilled down to simple things. Food, water, firewood, weather, these are the things that effect us the most.
We are not the only ones enjoying this fine weather. The beavers are busy stockpiling fresh branches in front of their lodges, which they will eat during the winter, and they are adding mud and sticks to their lodges in preparation for the winter. When we pulled up to our campsite we were greeted by a very excited chipmonk, whose cheeks were bulging with food. We assume that it is gathering food, which it will hide someplace it can access over the winter. #wildernessyear #savetheBWCA #BWCA #BoundaryWaters #OnlyinMN #canoe #goalzero

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, there are lots of chores to do, so once the sun is up, we clean our breakfast dishes and go about our chores. As the temperature slowly drops and the days get shorter gathering firewood is becoming part of our daily routine. We rarely build a campfire and in the summer we do most of our cooking on a small camp stove. However, when the temperature dips below freezing we build a small fire in a portable woodstove that heats our tent and, once all the bears are hybernating we will start cooking on the woodstove inside our tent as well.
We always gather our firewood far away from our campsite. Usually we paddle the canoe a short distance from our campsite and walk back in the foods to look for wood. It is usually easy to find plenty of dry, downed trees that we can harvest wood from.
It is much easier to find good firewood if you paddle a short distance from camp. Plus when people gather firewood near campsites it can cause the campsites to expand, trails to form.
Ash is our favorite, but usually we find jack pine or black spruce. We load the wood into our canoe and paddle it back to our campsite. Once we are back at camp we use our small camp saw cut the wood into 10 to 12 inch pieces to feed into our wood stove. This time of year we can easily gather enough wood in an hour to last us for several days, but as the temperature drops we will have to spend more and more time each day gather wood. The pay off is that we get to enjoy heat of the stove and the relaxing crackle of the fire when we wake up in the morning, and while we relax in the tent after dinner. #wildernessyear #bwca #boundarywaters #savethebwca

We stood on a sandy point staring west across Gabro Lake. We couldn’t see any canoes, but we hoped that our friends from Ely would appear soon. After a few minutes a canoe appeared, then another, and another. Our friends greeted us with hugs, handshakes, and lots of smiles. They brought us a pack full of food, our first official resupply! Then home made brownies, blueberry zucchini bread, apples, apple cobbler, fresh vegetables, and a bunch of other special treats appeared. It was a beautiful, sunny day so we all unpacked our lunches and visited for about an hour while we ate. We were sad to say goodbye to our friends, but their short visit energized us and we will think of them often in the coming weeks and months. We are so thankful for all the people from near and far who have sent us treats and words of encouragement. The Boundary Waters is such special place, a place worth protecting. Please visit http://ift.tt/1x2erSX , sign the petition, and help us protect the Boundary Waters. @savethebwca #boundarywaters #bwca #wildernessyear