Solo trip 97

For Labor-day weekend in 1997, I went with a group to the Boundary Waters for a little rest & relaxation weekend. On Monday afternoon, the group drove back to Minneapolis, while I stayed up with the dog for another four days.

We put in on Sawbill Lake, with a canoe from the Sawbill Outfitters. Sawbill's a fairly good sized lake and we were starting in late afternoon, so we just paddled to the North end to make camp the first night, to avoid portaging on day one.

The gear I used included a large solo canoe of the Kevlar variety. Its one of the Mad River models, though I forget which. For carrying all the other stuff, I use a Seal-Line 'outfitters' bag. Its made of rubberized fabric, has padded shoulder straps and a waistband. Call me a wimp, but for the same price, its a hell of a lot more comfortable than a Duluth pack & its leather straps. Keeps stuff dry too, without messing around with plastic liner bags. The dog carries some gear (mostly her food) in her own pack. In the canoe, she has half of a Ridge-Rest pad to sit on.

At the first put-in, I packed it pretty much the same way I've packed the aluminum 2-person varieties: the bag sat vertical, I sat on the seat and the dog went wherever there was space. Upon pushing back from the shoreline, we damn near tipped over. The smaller canoe sits a bit higher in the water and has a more rounded bottom thats a bit less stable than I was familiar with. Having succeeded in scaring myself silly and putting the feasibility of the trip in question, we returned to shore to rethink the packing job.

My solution was to lay my pack down flat to move its weight lower. I would kneel on the floor (which has pads for this purpose), with my butt resting against a gunwale I turned around to face the seat, moving my paddling position a bit aft of center - which I find gives me better tracking ability. The dog again kindof makes her own space in one end. While this layout is a bit more stable than the first attempt, it still is less stable than a 'traditional' canoe. For this trip I would definitely be wearing my PFD at all times.

[packed canoe]

final layout for increased stability

On Tuesday morning, we paddled North out of Sawbill through some smaller lakes and mud puddles. By lunchtime, we reached Cherokee Lake. After some soup, gorp and jerky, we paddled on, along the Southern shore of Cherokee. I forget the lake we portaged to, but the walk was a rough one. While not the longest of our trip, this would be the most strenuous, due to hills. It was also the only portage that I was unable to complete in one trip. Normally, I would strap the pack on my back and carry the canoe at the same time, completing portages in one trip. On this one though, I had to put the canoe down a bit over half way through - carrying that load uphill was pretty rough on me. Upon reaching the next lake, which was quite small, we loaded up the canoe and drifted around for a bit, soaking up the sun, enjoying the quiet.

We camped that night on North Temperance lake. In the morning, we paddled to South Temperance. This lake is home of some of the most dramatic scenery of the trip. Several years ago, there was a forest fire that ripped through the area. Most of the Eastern shoreline of South Temperance is scarred, still just burnt, dead, black trunks of pine trees. The portage at the South end of the lake follows a creek / marsh (technically the Temperance River, I suppose). To the East, the area is burned out. To the west, healthy, green forest. The dichotomy is stunningly dramatic and quite beautiful.

For the most part, we took our time; often drifting, reading and snoozing. Eventually, we made camp on a lake near our next portage; I forget the name; its not Kelly lake, but the next one South, I think.

In the morning we got up for our portage into Burnt. I think this was the longest of the trip, and up hill as well, though not nearly as steep as the brutal portage. It went quite well, I suppose partly because it was the first of the day.

Since we were a day ahead of schedule, and would be out by mid-day anyway, we really took our time crossing Burnt. I had camped here before in group trips of prior years. We poked around for a bit, taking photos and snoozing.

[shoreline reflections]

taking advantage of a still morning on Burnt Lake

Before too long, we passed through Smoke and another lake, if memory serves, before re-entering Sawbill. Again, I paddled slow, not quite ready for the trip to end. Towards the end of the lake, we stopped for one last photo in front of the BWCA sign.

[self portrait]

practicing sit/stay with Heidi

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