Here is an AAR>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I called and spoke with the Ranger Station in Ely on Monday having a conversation that lasted about 30 minutes. I passed on what happened; my thoughts as to what transpired and what can be done to mitigate it from occurring in the future… There have already been some changes made. Prior to my phone call, the trail was listed as OPEN https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/minnesota/snowbank-trail that has now been changed. I’m also sure that the posted TRAIL CLOSED signs on sight will be updated with bilingual signs most Ricky Ticky. As to if the crew I ran into had BWCA permits in hand, I have no idea, however I’m sure that was being looked into post haste, if so I’m sure they were contacted.

SIDE BAR

>Quite the hornet's’ nest my post has stirred with ample amount of but hurt being spread around… Not my intent.. politics, religion, race, always does bring out the best, add some booze to the mix and things can really go sideways.

>Sense getting back this Sunday, I have had a lot on my plate and have not had time to post much up on this thread:
1) Hang all my kit up in the garage to dry,
2) Repack to head to Fall Lake on Thursday for 5 days.
3) Toss in 48hrs at work with 12hrs added on top of that for OT.

>With that being said bare with me; and try to keep up with my ramblings… I see a lot of finger pointing, name calling and general I know best going on….

>My mother who is a State level Judge has told me for as long as I can remember that we all are products of our upbringing, as such developing stereotypes/prejudices/preconceived notions from our localized environments. If a person told her otherwise, in her opinion, that person is a liar and shouldn’t be judging rabbits at a county fair. The key is to admit to yourself that you have them and not to let them lead you astray, be on guard, but treat people fairly. If you’re a Pre-K teacher, you look at the world one way, an engineer another, ditch digger ect.. Dare I say; this board is a partial cross section of our society, maybe starting at lower middle class and going up from there, with everyone having their own view of things…

>The mind of a mad man---By my handle, most people can figure out what I do for a living, I have been at it for close to 30 years; I’m also retired .mil with close to 25 YOS. I have my demons, I know it, I admit it. I hate crowds, I get edgy when people are behind me, in a public space if you’re paying attention and I’m there, you might notice me sitting/standing in a corner watching = exit routes picked, a field of view of all going on, mental notes of things that stand out. Odds are I noticed you before you saw me,,,, Condition Yellow. I grew up on a farm in “Mayberry”, still live in a “Mayberry”, I’ve seen my fair share of rapist, murderers, baby killers, people who kick the living shit out of the old and infirm for fun and profit, yes in “Mayberry”……. I know not everyone is out to get me, but someone is...It works for me, and has kept me from getting caught behind the eight ball a time or two. My kids who are starting their teen years have been taught from day one to pay attention to what is going on around them; we talk about such things now and again. They have keyed on stuff that I was surprised they caught. That’s no way to go through life some say; my response; here is a box of 24 awesome hand crafted chocolates for you to eat, only catch is one will kill you in a hideously painful way- who here would take the chance… If you think I’m jaded, talk to a cop; ah but some of you have, and we all see what happened there. I like to say blindfold 100 people, give them a toilet paper tube; stand them back 6 inches from an elephant, open one eye and look at one spot on that elephant describing what you see… Everyone sees something else, everyone is right, the one person who sees an asshole is always wrong and is called that what he sees for stating as such.

All the above being said; Is how I approached the group of 5 guys (I noticed nobody was triggered on my assumption that these people were men) different than how I would have approached let’s say; 5 members of the Swedish Bikini team or a family unit of 5- bi-pedal, species-fluid non-determined gender sentient beings. Right or wrong, YES. Would I do it the same if it were to happen again, YES. Granted, with my luck I would paddle into the middle of the Bikini team, not noticing that they were Skinwalkers, never be seen again.

YMMV

MODS, feel free to nuke this post if Purse/Man Satchel/European Hand Bag/ Gunny Sack swinging.. gets out of hand again..

My kit hung out to dry...


!$/a

Firemed,

I see a lot of myself in your self description.
Thank you for your service and I'm not solely speaking to your military time.
I have been a wildland firefighter for 28 years, who is retiring soon.
I am definitely a product of my environment and training. When I walk in a parking lot I scan the vehicles and avoid walking behind any that have someone sitting in the drivers seat. (I don't want to be backed over).

Question.
Did you intend for this to be an AAR?
I doubt many here are familiar with that term so I posted a link.

AAR is a form of group reflection; participants review what was intended, what actually happened, why it happened and what was learned. One member of the group facilitates.

AAR/After Action Review

Whenever I interview military people, I tell 'em, "Please, no acronyms or nomenclature."

Nature vs Nurture

quote missmolly: "Whenever I interview military people, I tell 'em, "Please, no acronyms or nomenclature."


Nature vs Nurture "

Ah yes pick on the military for its acronyms ;-) on a board whose name is itself an acronym.. (Sarcasm)
Help! I'm Being Repressed!

quote firemedic5586: "

quote missmolly: "Whenever I interview military people, I tell 'em, "Please, no acronyms or nomenclature."

Nature vs Nurture "

Ah yes pick on the military for its acronyms ;-) on a board whose name is itself an acronym.. (Sarcasm)

Help! I'm Being Repressed! "

I'm a fan of jargon. It's efficient.*

*Within the organization.

firemedic5586,
I saw nothing wrong with your post, and thought the questions and/or suspicions you had about the group were totally legit.
You accused no one of doing anything illegal.
Many people who pass judgement on those who think something may not be right, immediately toss all types of accusations to try to get them to stop.
However, it has become normal for just about everything anyone writes or says to be nitpicked to death in today's society.
Bet many wish that someone had "stuck their nose" into the business of the two young Russians that left the bombs in bags on the side of the street during the Boston Marathon.
Now I'm sure to get flamed for accusing the two Russians of being Russians. :)

quote The Great Outdoors: "firemedic5586,
I saw nothing wrong with your post, and thought the questions and/or suspicions you had about the group were totally legit.
You accused no one of doing anything illegal.
Many people who pass judgement on those who think something may not be right, immediately toss all types of accusations to try to get them to stop.
However, it has become normal for just about everything anyone writes or says to be nitpicked to death in today's society.
Bet many wish that someone had "stuck their nose" into the business of the two young Russians that left the bombs in bags on the side of the street during the Boston Marathon.
Now I'm sure to get flamed for accusing the two Russians of being Russians. :)"

Thanks,,, For the support..

BTW, I was in your store buying some odds and ends while in Ely weekend last... Nice place you have there..

quote firemedic5586: "

quote missmolly: "Whenever I interview military people, I tell 'em, "Please, no acronyms or nomenclature."



Nature vs Nurture "

Ah yes pick on the military for its acronyms ;-) on a board whose name is itself an acronym.. (Sarcasm)
Help! I'm Being Repressed! "

Thank you for your service!
It's not your fault that other people decided to take it to the next level. I commend you and admire you at the same time. It's unfortunate that other people's comments got your thread deleted. With the direction the thread was going, I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier!

Good for you for doing what you think is the right thing to do!

Well, if there was a glossary of terms for this one, I would probably have some input. As it stands, I have little idea of what is being said. Just saying.

Tomster

quote firemedic5586: "

quote The Great Outdoors: "firemedic5586,
I saw nothing wrong with your post, and thought the questions and/or suspicions you had about the group were totally legit.
You accused no one of doing anything illegal.
Many people who pass judgement on those who think something may not be right, immediately toss all types of accusations to try to get them to stop.
However, it has become normal for just about everything anyone writes or says to be nitpicked to death in today's society.
Bet many wish that someone had "stuck their nose" into the business of the two young Russians that left the bombs in bags on the side of the street during the Boston Marathon.
Now I'm sure to get flamed for accusing the two Russians of being Russians. :)"

Thanks,,, For the support..
BTW, I was in your store buying some odds and ends while in Ely weekend last... Nice place you have there.."

Thank you, what day were you in??

Closed threads should remain closed

quote The Great Outdoors: "firemedic5586,
I saw nothing wrong with your post, and thought the questions and/or suspicions you had about the group were totally legit.
You accused no one of doing anything illegal.
Many people who pass judgement on those who think something may not be right, immediately toss all types of accusations to try to get them to stop.
However, it has become normal for just about everything anyone writes or says to be nitpicked to death in today's society.
Bet many wish that someone had "stuck their nose" into the business of the two young Russians that left the bombs in bags on the side of the street during the Boston Marathon.
Now I'm sure to get flamed for accusing the two Russians of being Russians. :)"

Very well said. I have learned to be very observant of my environment myself and saw nothing inflammatory myself? Thanks for your service both military and in the private sector firemedic5586

quote quark2222: "... I have little idea of what is being said. Just saying.


Tomster"

I have no idea what is being said on this topic?!

quote bobbernumber3: "

quote quark2222: "... I have little idea of what is being said. Just saying.



Tomster"

I have no idea what is being said on this topic?!"

If you're confused, you're walking in my shoes. Unfortunately, I can never doff my damn shoes.

quote Dances with Sheep: "Closed threads should remain closed"

Even though I'm guilty of goofing in this thread, I will post no more because I agree with thee.

Missed the original wish I could get into cyberspace and see what it was all about.

quote firemedic5586: "

All the above being said; Is how I approached the group of 5 guys (I noticed nobody was triggered on my assumption that these people were men) different than how I would have approached let’s say; 5 members of the Swedish Bikini team or a family unit of 5- bi-pedal, species-fluid non-determined gender sentient beings. "

Im not a pan-gendered sjw for saying the people lost in the forest were most likely SIMPLY people lost in the forest....

I value healthy amounts of skepticism, caution, and fear but my point is that you are over dosing and poisoning yourself if; when you see lost foreigners in the bwca you conclude that you are now in a high alert - high risk situation were you are possibly engaging something grandiose and nefarious and a small chorus of supporters are suggesting likely pot farming......

No one here has walked in the original posters shoes! Who are we to judge him? That would be prejudice!

I certainly didn't think that anything you did was all that crazy.
I did have a problem with people who jumped to the conclusion that because the folks you ran into spoke another language that they were lost trying to get to the pot fields. I don't agree with your trump jr analogy.

those are simply my opinions while standing in my shoes. Thank you for your service helping all sorts of different people over the years.

quote Soledad: "I certainly didn't think that anything you did was all that crazy.
I did have a problem with people who jumped to the conclusion that because the folks you ran into spoke another language that they were lost trying to get to the pot fields. I don't agree with your trump jr analogy.


those are simply my opinions while standing in my shoes. Thank you for your service helping all sorts of different people over the years."

I have no idea what the Trump Jr reference is about, but that is neither here or there...


By invoking the power of the Google I did a quick look on Nat Park Demographics.. A couple of interesting reads..


Why are our National Parks So White

National Park Study

I almost didn't post the above links due to what went on in my last post...

And No, I'm not Trolling..

We were in the north woods for ten days and missed that thread. I am sort of sorry now.

And I was a military wife, so I am often accused of spouting a bit of jargon myself. ;-)

I was shocked at how the prior post blew up like a hurricane over warm water. I hadn't checked in for a few days and was reading as it was deleted.
Firemedic - I liked your Mom's advice and the elephant analogy was apt for what I saw yesterday. We are a diverse group here, each of our POVs are our realities and we're all right.

Firemedic

You wrote: "here is a box of 24 awesome hand crafted chocolates for you to eat, only catch is one will kill you in a hideously painful way- who here would take the chance…"

Donald Trump Jr.



Julius Streicher who was a Nazi and hanged at Nuremberg for crimes against humanity wrote:
“However they disguise themselves, or however friendly they try to be, affirming a thousand times their good intentions to us, one must not believe them. Jews they are and Jews they remain. For our Volk they are poison.”
“Like the poisonous mushroom!” says Franz.
“Yes, my child! Just as a single poisonous mushrooms can kill a whole family, so a solitary Jew can destroy a whole village, a whole city, even an entire Volk [nation].”

Speaking of military acronyms..........

quote firemedic5586: "By invoking the power of the Google I did a quick look on Nat Park Demographics.. A couple of interesting reads..



Why are our National Parks So White


National Park Study
"

I don't think anything was necessarily wrong with your original post. The problem was a subset of responses to your post.

The articles you just linked indicate that non-whites/people of color (POC) are less likely to visit National parks and recreation areas because a) lack of exposure, b) those parks are overwhelmingly white, and c) POC feel as though their presence in NP's will attract unwanted attention and even racism.

Some of the responses to your post immediately linked the possible race of the 5 men you saw to pot farming and other stereotypes. This is exactly the kind of thing that POC may see and think: "I don't want to go to the BWCA for fear that white people will think I'm growing pot/illegally crossing borders/etc."

That precise reason is why myself, and I believe a few others, called out some of those replies to your post. I (we?) want people of all races/religions/genders/sexual orientations/backgrounds/etc to feel comfortable in this forum, in the BWCA, and in this country.

I am a botanist (of sorts) and all I can contribute is an opinion: the BWCA in general is pretty lousy country (soils, climate, etc.) for growing Weed. No offerings on other aspects, here. Clearings in the middle of farm fields in Iowa are much more productive, until the sheriff finds the stuff and has a bonfire (deputies standing around seeming to hold their breaths a lot, and, why are they grinning so much? :)