By Jim Palmer
Last month, I took my three boys to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA).
I had been considering this trip for 5-6 years, but was waiting for the right time. My two brothers, dad and I had made two trips to the BWCA in the past, so I had wanted to show my boys what it was all about. Now that all three are teenagers and they are still all in the house during the summer, it seemed like it was the right time.
There are a few different ways you can set up a trip to the BWCA. You can plan a route so you paddle and portage from the drop-in site to the pickup site. Or you can just paddle into a base camp and then explore from there before returning to the original drop-in site. I wanted to give the boys the “full Boundary Waters experience,” so I asked our Outfitters to plan a route for us that let us go from campsite to campsite, paddling for only about 4-5 hours a day. That way, we could we could reach our campsites around lunchtime, and then enjoy the site for most of the day (swimming, fishing, playing cards, relaxing, etc).
Well... that isn’t exactly what happened.
We traveled to Ely on Thursday and stayed in a bunkhouse that night. The next morning, we were transported to our drop-in site, Snowbank Lake. Once the guy from our Outfitters pushed us off, we were on our own. Cell service was not an option. It was just us and our gear. Our route was set. We needed to get to Lake One by 9:30 on Monday.
A couple hours into trip, after we completed a long and difficult portage (carrying canoes and gear across land to the next lake), we arrived at Disappointment Lake. The name of the lake was fitting, because it was while we were at this lake that we figured something out -- after eyeballing the map and how far we had gone, getting to Lake One by 9:30 on Monday was going to involve some very long and very hard days. It appeared to be a 4-5 day route and we had three days to complete it. Instead of 4-5 hours of paddling, we were looking at more than twice that. Uffda. There were no short cuts to Lake One. And there was no way to call and ask the Outfitters to pick us up somewhere else. If we wanted a ride back, we needed to make it to Lake One by Monday at 9:30 a.m.
It rained all day the first day, which added to the “disappointment.” Trying to keep everyone’s spirits up was a tall task. We reached our first campsite around 6:30 p.m. We had been paddling and portaging for about 11 hours. Noah was able to get a fire started in the rain (not easy) and Easton cooked up the meal. We set up our tents, hoisted up our food pack in a tree to keep it away from bears, and went to bed. The boys were all sleeping by 7:45 p.m. I was out by about 8:30.
This routine was similar the next two days, except the weather improved as the trip went on. We averaged over 10 hours of paddling/portaging each day. We got lost twice, losing about 30 minutes one time and about 20 another time. We fished for about 10 minutes total (no bites), and no swimming or card playing took place. Yes... it was a “working vacation.”
This may sound like the vacation from hell... but there were some fun, interesting and memorable moments that were sprinkled in. First off, the BWCA is one of the most scenic and most cared for natural resources in Minnesota and the midwest. The sunsets were spectacular and being so close to nature was very good for all of us. The boys not only survived not having technology surrounding them, I think they really enjoyed being “off the grid.”
About midway through the second day, I noticed a change in the boys. Although they were exhausted and didn’t want to be paddling that much, you could see them shifting their mindset. They realized that complaining wasn’t going to get us there any faster, and it wasn’t going to make the trip more enjoyable. From that point on, they really tried their best to make the best of the situation. And they did. I jokingly called this a “character building” trip when things were getting tough on us... and in many ways it was.
One of the most memorable moments on the trip happened following a difficult portage in the morning of the second day. A bit of an intervention took place. After walking behind me for awhile with his load and watching me stagger and breath heavily as I transported a heavier pack, Noah pulled me aside.
“Zach and I just talked and we have decided that you will no longer be carrying the bigger packs. We got them the rest of the way,” he said. “We promised mom we would bring you back alive.”
This conversation sorta felt like that moment when adult children take the car keys away from their aging parents. I had to chuckle when he said this to me... but I didn’t argue. Those heavy packs were giving me (and my back) lots of trouble. And I’m not in nearly as good as shape as they are. I didn’t carry another heavy pack the rest of the trip.
If you have ever been on a trip in the Boundary Waters, one of the interesting things to watch is how people take on different roles. By the end of the first day, many of the roles had been established for the rest of our voyage.
Noah, 19, became the head navigator and chief fire starter. These are very important roles on a trip to the BWCA. He was also our strongest paddler. We rotated so each had time with different people, and his canoe was nearly always out in front.
Zach, 17, volunteered to take the heaviest loads during portages. He was also our music man and comedy relief (which we needed on this trip). He had the portable speaker with him.
Often times, he merged the music and comedy. For example... one morning, we were eating oatmeal, so he played a Hall and Oats tune. If I would say something like, “It’s a beautiful day today,” within seconds we would hear, “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers. He kept us on our toes.
Easton, 14, was our head chef. He gladly cooked up all of our meals. The meals included such dishes as steak, pancakes, spaghetti with meat sauce, French toast and chicken soup.. and a bunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches along the way. The meals were prepared by our Outfitters. Easton was also in charge of the two smaller packs during portages, and (as youngest) he was often the butt of Zach’s jokes.
My main job was to keep spirits up (challenging at times), help when we needed it, and keep the whole operation moving in the right direction. I was also the head dishwasher.
In the end, we made it to our pick-up location on Lake One by 9:30 a.m. We had traveled about 32 miles by boat and about seven miles by land during the portages.
The muscles in my shoulders and arms were tight and my back was sore for a week. But as challenging as it was, there were some great moments throughout. And when we got back and the boys talked to their mom about their trip, they didn’t just focus on the hard parts.
Noah laid out the map and showed her the aggressive route we completed. There was a sense of pride in his voice when he pointed to each spot we camped, where the hardest portages were, where we got lost, where someone fell down, and other eventful parts of the trip. And at one point during their conversation, he said, “Next time when we go....” That was encouraging to hear. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all, or maybe the muscle-straining memories were already being forgotten.
The BWCA is one of the most scenic areas of Minnesota and the midwest. It was a great escape and the perfect place to get away from technology for a few days. There was definitely a feeling of accomplishment when we made it back to Lake One, and I’m proud of my boys for overcoming a challenging situation and making the best of it. It was a truly memorable trip with my boys.