canoe the Boundry Waters

I used to go to the BW twice a summer when I was a teen. my friends dad would load us all up and take us there for three of four days. there are so many great memories…lily pads everywhere, unbelievable view of the stars, eating crazy food, portaging (everybody’s gotta love strapping a canoe to your back), swimming, hiking. haven’t done this for years… gotta do it again.

This has been on my list for over 20 years. You need to win a lottery to get a permit to travel there. You need to do the travelling by canoe. What more reason do I need?

Beyond that I know very little about the place. I imagine it to be a primordial bog land populated by an abundant variety of northland species that thrive at the nebulous interface of land and water. Maybe the the vast majority of those species are mosquitoes.

I envision calm paddling over dark waters and grassy banks leading to brush choked portages. Evenings quiet except for the call of loons and campfires cold and smokey, built from rotting, damp cottonwood logs.

Maybe I’ll catch a musky. Which would be much more exciting than a friend of mine who while fishing in Saskatoon, caught a CLAM… on a LURE!!

The scenery is beautiful. It is a ton of hard work, especially when the weather is bad, but always worth the sense of accomplishment and the pictures.

The outfitter we are working on just took our deposit. This is really going to happen! Woohoo!

My family has been doing this every summer since I was an infant. Since before I was born actually—my parents went camping for their honeymoon!

This last time we brought my Little Sister Camilla with us for her first real camping experience. (She told us, “I have been camping before, but never where there wasn’t a shower!”)

Dad and I are planning on doing this next summer. I never thought it would happen this quickly but I can’t wait.