Insight
Canoeing is a way to sit still and pay attention.
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InsightCanoeing is a way to sit still and pay attention.
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Canoe TripsBoundary Waters:
Boats & GearBoundary Waters Gear ListWenonah Prism (sold)
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Boundary Waters Canoe Area WildernessTour of the Crooked Lake Area via Mudro LakeMay 29 - June 8, 2011Page 1: OverviewThis trip is the first of two planned for this year. Once again, I plan to enter at Isabella Lake, travel down the Isabella River (through prime blackfly and mosquito nurseries), and exit at the South Kawishiwi River. Over the winter, my friend Tom - with 35 years of canoe tripping under his belt - had some health issues that slowed him down, and I was concerned that he might not be able to mount his usual Quetico adventure. I also wanted to get past my own limited methods and learn from someone with a lot of experience. So I invited him on the trip and when he said he wanted to see - and show me - some waterfalls, we shifted gears to Entry Point 23 (Mudro Lake). The Isabella will be there when I'm ready for it. Being avid river paddlers, we at first plan to follow the Beartrap and Moosecamp Rivers. Eventually we realize that doing so would add greatly to the time and effort of the trip. Not only would we likely encounter a number of beaver dams, but most of the Beartrap River is in a Primitive Management Area, meaning that it gets little traffic and no maintenance. Neither of us is up for what would amount to bushwhacking so we decide to take the easier route through lakes. The trip is originally scheduled for the last two weeks of May, but I wait too long and the only permit left for the Mudro entry is for May 30. So that's what we take. We paddle through Mudro, Sandpit, Tin Can Mike and Horse Lakes; down the Horse River to the Basswood River; across the length of Crooked Lake; day-trip into Iron Lake; and exit through Papoose, Chippewa, Niki, Wagosh, Gun, Fairy, Boot, Fourtown, and Mudro Lakes.
The boatTom's new Nova Craft Cronje (pronounced kron-yeh) - 17’0”, Kevlar with wood trim, about 55 pounds - is everything the Nova Craft website claims. Amazingly, there are no pictures of the boat in this report. What's up with that?
The gear
The cookset may be worth a look. It all fits in the 3-quart pot.
The Coleman stove packs safely and efficiently in a waterproof (and hopefully leakproof) box.
Total gear weight, not counting the boat, is about 140 lbs., including 12 days’ worth of food.
The foodWe eat well. I expect to lose the usual 2-3 pounds, but Tom's cooking makes sure that doesn't happen. See each day's notes for menu items. An asterisk (*) indicates a dehydrated food item. We have some kind of cereal most days, topped with a half-and-half mix of instant nonfat dry milk and Nido Milk. A cup of water is added to four or five tablespoons of the dry mix; because Nido is whole milk, it takes longer to reconstitute, especially with cold water, so it's best mixed up the night before.
The mapThe map case is strung between the gunwales on bungee cords so it's always visible when paddling and doesn't have to be carried separately on portages. Tom has his own maps, which are larger scale than mine. A map of the area can be found here (opens in a new window). Leave the map open and you'll be able to follow along on each of the travel days. Red triangles indicate campsites; circles are for good sites, X's for bad ones. Note: campsite numbers are the ones painted on the latrines. The figures in parentheses indicate the site numbers from this commonly-used file: bwca-camp+port-wpt.gdb, located at this site: http://w3.cs.jmu.edu/arch/hobbies/camp/maps/bwca/
Trip statistics:
Trip reports by dayDay 0 – Sunday, May 29, 2011 – The PortalI get to Tom's around 8:30 and we spend the next hour or so eliminating duplicate gear items and deciding whose stuff we'll bring - my cookset and stove, his tarp, etc. We finally get away about 10:00 and make it to Ely quite uneventfully. Dinner is something yummy at the Chocolate Moose and we spend the night at Voyageur North Outfitters. Lynn is getting over a cold so ... no hug. Somehow I survive.
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Last updated
July 21, 2016
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