Northern Tier Post-Trek

The crew drives back to Minneapolis. They stop to look at the Mississippi River. After a Northwest flight back to Raleigh/Durham, they get in just before 10 pm.

More Pictures

Northern Tier Day Six - Wind Lake to Sommers Canoe Base

Wind Lake - Moose Lake
3.5 Miles* - 1 Portage

Because we were so close to the base and couldn't get in until 3 pm, we hung around the campsite until 1:30, with the boys canoeing out to larger rocks in order to swim, sleep and sunbathe. We still took it nice and slow for the last little bit of canoeing, but when we landed at base, things got a little bit hectic again. We had to take the canoes and paddles and life jackets to the racks we got them from, check in the food and equipment crates and packs, put some of our gear back in the car, get some toiletries and such out of the car, and get ready to spend the night in the cabins, which were much nicer than the ones we spent the first night in, complete with bunk beds, a light, and a heater (Which we did not use). After that, we all got a chance to hang around in the sauna for as long as we could stand it, and eat another meal at base. In the evening, we had Rendez-vous, a voyageur tradition when they got to talk with old friends for the first time in a while and meet other fellow voyageurs. We and the two or three other crews coming in on that day shared songs, skits (Which we had to come up with), and stories from our trips. After it officially ended, we could look a bit more at the historical setup outside of base, mess with bear traps, play a game from the era, or try throwing tomahawks. Once we got tired of that, we just headed back to the cabins to sleep and prepare for the trip home tomorrow.

Northern Tier Day Five - Pipestone Bay to Wind Lake

Pipestone Bay - Back Bay - Good Lake - Indiana Lake - Wind Bay - Wind Lake
11 Miles* - 5 Portages

It was going to be another long day of paddling, with only two or three portages and a lot of open water canoeing. Mr. Hock saw the opportunity for a "detour", which would lessen our distance on Basswood Lake, which would be more crowded and allowed motorboats, and give us some more portages. It turned out that the "detour" was actually the route that was in the leader's guide we had gotten the route from, but most of us welcomed the chance for some time away from the sun. We made it through that, despite one ugly beaver dammed inlet which required a lot of getting out of the canoe and pushing, finally making it onto an inlet with a whole ton of plants (no idea what) and some serpentine paths through them. This turned into a bit of light-hearted canoe racing, which had the interesting strategy of trying to force the other canoe into the reeds to avoid a collision, but the reeds would significantly slow the canoe. We managed to do one of the two portages that began our trip, so we camped incredibly close to the base.

Northern Tier Day Four - Tin Can Mike Lake to Pipestone Bay

Tin Can Mike Lake - Rapids - Jack Fish Bay - Pipestone Bay
11 Miles* - 3 Portages

There were only a couple of very short (50 rods or less) portages today, so we were expecting to essentially just pull the packs out of the canoe and put them back in again. Little did we know that the two shortest of these portages (15 and 20 rods, 240 and 320 feet) would be some of the most annoying we'd face if not the hardest. We found this out on the first of these, when while passing over what looked like just another muddy stretch of terrain (The other portages were full of those) we sank into the mud, some of us up to our waists! Even at the end of that portage, it was easy to sink ankle deep or deeper when wearing a pack, so just taking the packs 20 feet over to the canoe became almost a daunting task! We all made it through that portage and another like it but slightly less mucky with all our possessions intact.

Northern Tier Day Three - Basswood Falls to Tin Can Mike Lake

Basswood River - Horse River Horse Lake - Tin Can Mike Lake
13.5 Miles* - 9 Portages

We knew we'd be doing our longest portage, 340 rods or 1.1 miles, early that day, so we weren't that thrilled with it based on our experience with the portages back on day one. Fortunately, the long portage was flat and shady, although the bugs were bad. It seemed every hundred feet or so would be another mud hole with another several dozen mosquitos breeding in it. About halfway through, we stopped to take a break, reapply bug spray, and figure out where to go. We noticed a wrecked canoe that had presumably tried to go down the rapids we were portaging around. We had even more portages in the rest of that paddling day, totaling another mile of portaging. When we made it to the lake where we were supposed to camp, all the sites were taken, so we had to make another portage onto the next lake to take a site there. This was our biggest day of the trip, as we traveled 12 miles total and almost 2 miles of portaging. That night, right after we had all gotten into a sleeping bags, we were woken up by cries of "Moose!" It was across the lake, so all we saw (fortunately, considering stories of moose in camps) was a brown blotch, or a brown moose shaped blotch through binoculars.

Northern Tier Day Two - Washington Island to Basswood Falls

Basswood Lake
11.5 Miles*

No portages, so it was just a long day of paddling. We stopped once along the way to eat lunch and swim a bit. The main part of the campsite was on a large rock with no shade, so the mosquitos weren't that bad. Unfortunately, the flies were worse there than at the other campsites. Anything in the sun that didn't move was a fly target, especially if it had touched human sweat or anything else that a fly might consider nutritious. (And that's about everything) The flies never made it past just being pests, as they didn't bite and they didn't land on moving things, like us, as much. At least there wasn't a mosquito presence until the evening.

Northern Tier Day One - Sommers to Washington Island

Moose Lake - Wind Lake - Basswood Lake
9.5 Miles* - 2 portages

We woke up bright and early on our first day of paddling, knowing we'd have to get up every day on our trip at about the same time. (So jet lag actually helped) We went and picked up our life jackets, PFDs, and canoes, and set off into the Boundary Waters. We had our first two portages that day, both about a half mile, but they were probably the most physically strenuous on the entire trip, because they were steeper and had less shade than other portages the same length. We made it to the campsite before lunch, and found it to be something of a mosquito haven, worse than any we would go up against later in the trip. Despite that, we still managed to set up camp, get used to the cook gear and survive to the next day.

Northern Tier Day Zero

We arrived at the camp a bit earlier than we were supposed to, 12:30 instead of 1:00, so we had a little bit of time to hang around and wait for the staff to come off lunch break. Once they did, we had a brief talk on Voyageur history before meeting our interpreter, Matt. He showed us around the base a little. The first place he took us was to the cabins we'd be sleeping in that night: small hexagonal cabins with four beds and four cots to sleep in. Once we had our things set up for the night, he took us to pick up all of our supplies and packs: two food packs, one equipment pack with cooking gear, and three packs to hold all of our personal gear. After that, we had a little bit of time to wait and check out the trading post before dinner, which was better than standard Scout camp fare, but nothing special.

Northern Tier Pre-Trek

05/05/2001 - Mr. Filpus proposes the Northern Tier trip at the annual 50 mile bike ride.
05/15/2001 - Positive response from the boys and adults makes the decision to go easy. Two adults and six boys (with one alternate) are compiled into a crew roster which is distributed by email.
05/21/2001 - The reservation is made by phone for the crew.
05/22/2001 - The tour is officially announced at the troop Court of Honor.
05/2002 - One boy and the alternate are unable to go on the trip. The trek contingent ends being Mr. Tom Hock, Mr. George Painter, Jesse, Greg, Philip, Alexander, Courtney and Austin.
06/12,19/2002 - Canoe skills training is held at Lake Crabtree.
07/02/2002 - Trek preparation and portaging practice is held at the pond at Heartwood.
07/05/2002 - The crew of six boys and the two adults leave at 1:30 pm on a Northwest flight for Minneapolis. There, the adults rent two cars, drive to Duluth, where they have dinner and spend the night in Aurora, Minnesota, near Grand Marais.
07/06/2002 - The crew drives to the base in Ely and checks in.

Outfitting

Swim Tests - The boys and adults needed to pass the BSA swimmer test and be signed off by an a life guard or instructor. This took more trouble than expected. Mr. Hock and three of the boys had their tests at Camp Durant. Mr. Painter and Austin had their test at one pool, while the other two boys had their tests at the Sportsplex two days before the trip.
Jungle Boots - A supply of reasonably priced new USA made jungle boots were found at Bob's Surplus on South Saunders street in Raleigh.
Sleeping Bags - The sleeping bag for the trek needed to be a warm weather (40 degree) and light. The normal backpacking sleeping bag is too warm. Normal warm weather bags are too heavy. A good ( and cheap ) lightweight summer weight bag was found in the Quest Helix line of bags at Dick's.