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Date/Time: 03/28/2024 11:56AM
Title: Trip Report - In Our Minds It's Still There
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Author Message Text
Spartan2 09/27/2012 05:54PM
We never stayed there for years because I thought it would be super-expensive, but it isn't really that bad. No AC, and it can get warm if the weather is hot, and the rooms aren't that deluxe or large, but I still love staying there. It has that old lodge atmosphere that I just enjoy. And being on Lake Superior for the sunrise is the best!
ozarkpaddler 09/27/2012 05:43PM
Catching up on reading TR's and thanks for another enjoyable journey!
We've eaten at Naniboujou, but we've never stayed there. Going to have to remedy that someday soon!
BWPaddler 09/21/2011 11:25AM
OK, I'm not even into the real report yet and I'm crying.


But the main difference is that he babies me. That has been very difficult for me to accept. Because you see, this wasn’t really a canoe trip for me. My mind is still set on the old definition of “canoe trip”: I carry my packs, I do my share of the work, I am a full partner. And now he is doing for me. Carrying the camera bag and the tripod, pulling the canoe through the shallow stream while I wait on the bank, pulling over the beaver dam while I take a picture, doing the bulk of the effort so that I can still be there, still feel like I am a part of it all. Carrying my packs. That’s just wrong, somehow.
No, Lynda, I can understand your feelings, but that's just RIGHT.
BWPaddler 09/21/2011 11:56AM
Fantastic report! I have paddled that area several times (it's a great kid-entry). Your "crappy" Kawasachong campsite, was my favorite, with kids that could play on that sloping striped rock along the shore safely, etc. lol. Loved seeing your pictures and laughed to think you were disappointed with your photo options. The dragonfly pics were awesome. You are creating a treasure trove of memories in those pictures - your family is lucky to have such a window into your soul.


THANK YOU for sharing - I'm GLAD it wasn't short and terse, it's "you" and that's perfect.
wawasee 09/21/2011 12:06PM
Wonderful trip report! It's truely a blessing that you both get to contiue your canoe trips together.
Spartan2 09/21/2011 01:23PM
BWPaddler--


The campsite wouldn't have been crappy if it hadn't been 90 degrees and if I didn't hate the heat so much! LOL!! I just really like to have shelter, and of course it was a day trip, so we didn't have a tarp along.


We didn't explore much for tent pads or anything, so we probably miss the beauty of the place. LOL!
wetcanoedog 10/23/2011 11:04AM
WOW!!..it's a wet and gray Sunday AM on Oct 23th..i'm just having coffee and getting around to check over the trip reports i missed.
WOW again..wonderful report with heaps of photos and story telling.
you hit on the best of the BW as well as some of the "down sides"-messy bothersome people--good to see a ranger was really out there,i see very few over on La Croix.but back to your report,yes Fall is a nice time of year but with Winter just around the corner some of the charm is lost. swimming!!at that time of year!!..and you really know how to cook,it leave my semi burned bannock in the dust--
wezander 10/04/2012 07:51AM
Chubby dum-dums is appropriate. We went on a ranger-led bird watching hike in Glacier, and our guide was an expert in ptarmigan who explained that grouse are actually the dumbest bird in North America because of its brain structure. Something about frontal-lobe to rear-lobe ratio, or somesuch.
Spartan2 10/04/2012 08:14AM
I'll have to tell my daughter that. She made up the name as a teenager, and our family has called them that ever since. It just seemed to stick. They are actually very cute birds, sort of neat to have one just hanging around camp. I've been told that they taste good, but I don't think I'd have the heart to kill one.
TomT 09/22/2011 09:14PM
Yeah, I always look forward to a Spartan 2 trip report. this one certainly was up there with the best of them. Awesome shots of the grass in water, the frog, the turtles, squirrel, chubby dum dum, and dragonflies. All you missed was the moose and loons.


I wondered how your camera was able to focus on the dragonfly with the thwart blurred behind it? That shot is amazing.


I also love your candid, very open and honest style of writing. It was a pleasure. I hope you both can do many more trips.


PS. for some reason during day six the pictures stopped opening for me. I'll try again later.


Zulu 09/19/2011 07:26PM
Thanks for a great trip report and photos. You are a great photographer to see things like the dimples in the water and the blades of grass.
Spartan2 09/19/2011 07:58PM
Nope. I can't take credit for that one. It was Spartan1 who pointed that out to me. I just took the photos. ;-)


He saw the possibility, and he helped me make it happen. They are probably some of my favorite photos of the trip. That's what makes us a team.
eagle93 10/04/2012 11:14AM
Enjoyed your trip report very much. Did the same trip in early May just to see the fire damage. Your photos contrasted with the images of the blackened moonscape that I saw. Not much green when I was there.
Boppa 10/20/2011 09:42PM
I have been absent tending to other needs but my return in trying to catch up on posts I have missed has been well worthwhile with your and Neil's trip reports.


Your pictures always strike a cord of beauty, realism and relating to your succinct observations. They often tell a story by themselves or have a story which makes them essential to your report. That is so nicely done.


You have so many pictures that are special that it is impossible to pick a favorite. I have returned however to the dimpled water/grass shot. Very nice. They do unfold your story perfectly.


You and Neil continue to give a view of canoe tripping that is worth reading and experiencing.
Thanks once again for taking us along on your trip.
Boppa
Spartan2 09/22/2011 10:02PM
RE: dragonfly shots. My camera has a "creative auto" setting (I don't use it a lot but I find it is nice for this kind of thing) and it always seems to choose an aperture like 4.0 or 5.6, so that gives the extremely shallow depth of field. I was using my 70-200mm lens, probably at 200mm for most magnification, and it just clicks in on the bug while blurring the background. To get those three shots I probably shot about 30. Most were hopelessly out of focus.


The joy of digital is the delete feature.


It also takes a certain amount of patience. :-)


I would have much rather been shooting moose or loons. But you take what you get. ;-)


I don't know why the photos didn't open for you. One other person has told me that. They all open for me, so I don't understand the problem, and I wonder if others have had it.


Ho Ho 09/16/2011 01:10PM
I loved the report! And the pictures are fantastic - you sure do a lot given you have "no" material to work with. :-) It also looks like you two ended up traveling a bit more than you were thinking you might when we saw you before the trip. Very nice! Really the only negative point is that you failed to sabotage the beer keg when those guys were gone from their camp.

And then there's the fire. We watched from the north during the same days. In truth, though, it was still very tame during your trip. Last Thursday it was only a bit more than 1000 acres. The storm Monday blew it up. We didn't know it at the time ourselves, as we were still up in Quetico, but it's terrifying in retrospect to think about how it spread that one day. And it could happen again when our current cool weather gives way to more heat. Pray for rain, please.


tonyyarusso 09/16/2011 12:09AM
I like the grey jay pictures.
mocha 09/16/2011 08:42PM
thank you Spartan2! this is an area i've not traveled and am happy to have the opportunity to see it through your eyes and camera lens. what a wonderful coffee table book your photos would make!
billconner 09/16/2011 07:12AM
You take pictures of all the things I do. This will require a second look! Thanks.
Cedarboy 09/16/2011 07:40AM
Nice report Spartan2. Been through there quite a bit, water was really down on your trip. In spring you can line most if not all those portages. Trestle is a fun place to stop, good food.
CB
Spartan2 09/15/2011 11:40PM
New Trip Report posted by Spartan2

Trip Name: In Our Minds It's Still There.

Entry Point: 37

Click Here to View Trip Report
Wally13 09/17/2011 09:14AM
This Hawkeye really enjoyed the photo's you took during your trip. Also enjoyed reading your journal entries for each day.


I long for the day when I retire and can take some long trips into Quetico whenever I want. Also when " every day will be a Saturday".


fitgers1 09/17/2011 09:34AM
quote Spartan2: "fitzgers1,
We met for the first time on the Student Rose Bowl Tour in 1965/66 on the Greyhound Bus trip to Pasadena. We have always been Spartans, first and foremost."



Always nice to her stories of how people met like that. Someday, everyone's story will be "We met online".
fitgers1 09/16/2011 10:27AM
Thank-you for a wonderful report and all the beautiful pictures Spartan2. As soon as I started reading and saw those first couple pictures it finally dawned on me why the two of you go by Spartan. I saw that plate on your vehicle. Duh! on me! I knew you were out of Michigan, just never put them together.
The water does look lower than when I was through there to Polly in mid-june.
Very glad you made it out and didn't have to be rushed by the fire.
Again, beautiful photographs. Thank-you for sharing that which will not look like that again for a very long time.
TuscaroraBorealis 09/16/2011 11:06AM
Enjoyed your photo documentary immensely. Lotsa excellent images; as always. Also your written observations were top notch as well.


No doubt this report will serve as a treasured reminiscence of the area (pre-fire) not only by you, but for many others as well. Thank you for taking the time to share this story & especially the photos. Well done!
Spartan2 09/16/2011 10:30PM
Interesting that you should say that. I have just spent the past two days on the computer with the Snapfish program trying to get a book done. :-)
alpine525 09/16/2011 08:15AM
Spartan 2: Thanks for taking me along on your journey - your story and the photos are so beautiful. I especially enjoyed the pics of the turtles sunning themselves on the logs, the spiderwebs, the dimples made by grass in the water and the photos on Kawishiwi Lake of the smoke from the fire - all amazing. My husband has similar physical challenges - so we are always looking for trips that allow us to 'get away from it all' without a lot of strenuous work. Your route looked like a good one for us - until the news that this area has been destroyed by the Pagami Creek fire. So sad. Thank you for sharing your story.
AndySG 09/16/2011 12:00PM
Excellent report Spartans. Given your ages and conditions, I have nothing but respect for you both in continuing to pursue the activity you love. The pictures are fantastic and this is a report I will definitely revisit.
ozarkpaddler 09/16/2011 12:40PM
What a great trip report! I felt as if I was on the trip with you. I too remember metal Aspirin tins and squeeze containers for peanut butter. Sadly, I also remember when people kept their feces and TP in the latrine or covered it up! I can't believe how many cretins nowdays just leave everything out in the open like some sick "Trophy!"
Spartan2 09/16/2011 01:48PM
I am so naive. I wouldn't know HOW to sabotage a beer keg! (and I am a bit surprised that a LAWYER would suggest such a thing!! LOL!!)


They were just having fun, I guess. It is always hard for me to understand why people go to a quiet place to have noisy fun, but I know a lot of people do.


We are fortunate that we left when we did. And yes, I will pray for rain.


Thanks, HoHo.
Spartan2 09/16/2011 10:38AM
fitzgers1,
We met for the first time on the Student Rose Bowl Tour in 1965/66 on the Greyhound Bus trip to Pasadena. We have always been Spartans, first and foremost.
Spartan2 09/17/2011 10:21AM
quote Wally13: "This Hawkeye really enjoyed the photo's you took during your trip. Also enjoyed reading your journal entries for each day.



I long for the day when I retire and can take some long trips into Quetico whenever I want. Also when " every day will be a Saturday".



"



Watch out for what you long for. I long for the days when I was younger, healthier and stronger. LOL!
sterngirl 09/17/2011 04:05PM
What a fun report to read! Thanks for sharing! Love the photography.


Right after I graduated from college, my roommate and I went on a week trip to the b-dub. It was our first trip without family. I'm not sure how we survived. We did a loop from Lake One to Snowbank with no compass and abysmal map reading skills. On the portage from Kiana to Insula (which is the portage where I lost Dixie several years ago), we came upon a grouse. We must have been close to the nest, because the bird attacked both of us. I still have scars on my ankle from where it pecked me. Later in the trip, we ran into a ranger. We told him how we had been attacked by a cornish game hen. He laughed and said, "you mean a ruffed grouse?" We still laugh about that. :-)


I think it was you who mentioned on a post one time that you put emergency diabetes supplies in a small nalgene in the tent at night. I've always just put some Gu in a zip lock. This year, I filled a nalgene with gu, fruit snacks, and glucagon. Nice to just toss the whole bottle in the tent and have it in the gear loft.
arctic 09/17/2011 10:31AM
Excellent trip report and phenomenal photos! I can only imagine the frustration of not being able to trip like in the "old days", but the fact that you two have not given in to health issues and have not abandoned the cherished experience of tripping in the canoe country is a real inspiration. Too many people just give up too soon when the aches and pains start setting in.
Sounds like you two know exactly what you need to make things work.
gutmon 09/19/2011 03:45PM
Your photos are stunning! Do you have manual focus on your camera? What do you use?
Spartan2 09/19/2011 05:07PM
I use two cameras. I have a Canon 7D digital SLR and I take two L-series zoom lenses, a 17-40 and a 70-200 which is an IS lens. They are both autofocus, but I do occasionally manually focus if the situation warrants it.


For shooting in bad weather (we didn't get any of that on this trip) or quick shots on a portage or from the canoe, I use a small Pentax Optio W30. It's a waterproof camera, and I usually carry it on a lanyard around my neck. It does pretty well with landscape and water shots.


Spartan1 has a Canon Powershot SX130IS and he took a few of the shots in this report also.
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