Looking back at all your past trips, has anything stood out to you as the funniest thing that has happened to you in the BWCA?
Me I tried so hard not to laugh as my brother-in-law tried to get the bear bag rope to stay in the tree. He was getting so mad I tried so hard not to laugh which only made it harder for me. It was the funniest moment up there for me.

I was on a daytrip with my family and my brother's family. 3 boats and 9 people (4 adults and 5 kids).

My oldest and I had my brother's youngest (Jake) sitting on the floor of a tandem. He was tired and was getting fairly constant instruction from his mom when the canoes got close to each other. His brothers and dad were in that canoe as well.

We were always first to the portages so that Jake could rib his brothers, but on one I stayed in the boat just off shore, stabilized with paddles stuck into in a sandy lake bottom. I let his mom's boat try it on their own. I told Jake to "just watch." When his Mom tried to exit the boat she was too deep and she pulled over the whole boat. His mom, Dad, and two brothers were all wet.

Jake jumped up and down in the canoe laughing and laughing. I swear he laughed for 5 minutes. Even his Mom had to start laughing.

Most of my "funniest moments" you had to be there for...

but once we also had 4 adults and 5 kids (ages 2-6). My 3yo was still in diapers and used a pacifier. She mostly went around camp just like that with a leather adventure hat on... but once she dug into my tent and put on a pair of my pants, pulling them up to her ears covering her whole body and stood in the campfire area like that just looking at all of us and letting us laugh our heads off at her.

Another time, we still hung our food pack and we spent probably an hour videotaping the hanging of the pack - swear words and all. We peeled off clothing as we exerted ourselved getting that pack "just right". Of course once it was hung, it was probably time for dinner, lol.

I don't really fear black bears but for some reason I've never seemed to be able to sleep very comfortably in the BW. I've been around bears some and the fact that they are so quiet and their noses are so good drives me crazy, they could walk all over your camp at night and you would never know they were there.

Anyway, there were 6 of us in my tent, my wife and 2 boys and I as well as a buddy and his son. In the middle of the night a storm blew in and the wind started to pick up. I was laying in my bag with my eyes open when something rubbed against the side of the tent. At this point I'm wide awake, and then it happens again. After the 4th time I awake my buddy to alert him and tell him to listen as well. He barely rolls over, says he hears nothing and dozes back off. The next time I hear it I tell him again and alert him that its coming from a spot about a foot away from his head. I've never seen a grown man get out of a sleeping bag, and out the front door of a tent so fast in my life!
It turns out we set our tent a few inches from a pine bough and when the wind picked up it would rub the tent a little. The whole ordeal made for some good laughs the next morning.

On Ester, we'd been listening to a wolf symphony and about the time it got still, my friend's son said "There's something soft and fluffy touching me." I laughed and he got more frantic as he said it was now under him. I turned on a flashlight and there was a big lump. I had an idea, but he was scared it was a wolf (LOL)? I told him to push on it, but he refused. So I told him to unzip the tent and watch while I pushed it out from underneath. Out hopped a big snowshoe hare (LOL)!

I'll have to send Danny and his dad a message and remind them of the night on Ester "Something soft and fluffy" tried to snuggle up to him (LOL)!

quote ozarkpaddler: "On Ester, we'd been listening to a wolf symphony and about the time it got still, my friend's son said "There's something soft and fluffy touching me." I laughed and he got more frantic as he said it was now under him. I turned on a flashlight and there was a big lump. I had an idea, but he was scared it was a wolf (LOL)? I told him to push on it, but he refused. So I told him to unzip the tent and watch while I pushed it out from underneath. Out hopped a big snowshoe hare (LOL)!


I'll have to send Danny and his dad a message and remind them of the night on Ester "Something soft and fluffy" tried to snuggle up to him (LOL)!"

Man that was funny :-). I can imagine. We were sitting one evening on Insula and talking about the fresh wolf tracks and scat in our campsite when all of a sudden a noice came thru the bushes and out came a hare. Freaked us both out :-)
It's funny now, but at the time I nearly had a heart attack

quote Whatsit: "

quote ozarkpaddler: "On Ester, we'd been listening to a wolf symphony and about the time it got still, my friend's son said "There's something soft and fluffy touching me." I laughed and he got more frantic as he said it was now under him. I turned on a flashlight and there was a big lump. I had an idea, but he was scared it was a wolf (LOL)? I told him to push on it, but he refused. So I told him to unzip the tent and watch while I pushed it out from underneath. Out hopped a big snowshoe hare (LOL)!



I'll have to send Danny and his dad a message and remind them of the night on Ester "Something soft and fluffy" tried to snuggle up to him (LOL)!"

Man that was funny :-). I can imagine. We were sitting one evening on Insula and talking about the fresh wolf tracks and scat in our campsite when all of a sudden a noice came thru the bushes and out came a hare. Freaked us both out :-)
It's funny now, but at the time I nearly had a heart attack
"

I think part of what made it so funny was Danny's choice of words (LOL)? He was a big, burly kid and "Soft and fluffy" sounded so funny! Here's a pic of him from that trip.

It was the first trip for my wife to Quetico. She used to suffer from severe constipation. About 2 days in the campsite and about every 3 or 4 hours I would look up and there she was walking back in the woods with a shovel over her shoulder. It didn't seem funny at the time but we look back on it now and get a good chuckle. Don't know if it was the food or the fresh air.

Trying to sleep and mice kept running up to the peak of my tent and sliding down. This happened the entire night. Just having some fun at my expense I guess.

Another one. I brought my American Eskimo dog with me. He was hanging out by shore when a group came paddling by and I herd one person in the group excitedly say to everyone."LOOK LOOK a white wolf !" I could have corrected him but nah.

We took my brother camping for the first time.. he was super scared of bears. We were sitting around the campfire one night and he hears something in the woods. He is convinced it is a bear. It keeps making noise and he keeps getting more upset. So my hubby grabs his knife and make huge barbaric scream and charges into the woods.. a few minutes later he comes back with a painted turtle. It was crawling behind us in the woods trying to get to the lake. We let it go and sure enough the noise was gone.

Another one.. We were camping on the island camp sight on River lake north of Fishdance. The first night after setting up our tent we were playing cards and I hear something thump off our tent. Then it happened again, then again.. then over and over on the side of the tent. We got out and looked and we had set the tent up on a rabbit trail and there were about 15 baby bunnies trying to use the trail. The tent was in the way but they didn't see it. They kept following the trail then hit the tent and bounce off. We named that island bunny island lol.

quote Blatz: "Another one. I brought my American Eskimo dog with me. He was hanging out by shore when a group came paddling by and I herd one person in the group excitedly say to everyone."LOOK LOOK a white wolf !" I could have corrected him but nah."

Funny!

quote Blatz: "Trying to sleep and mice kept running up to the peak of my tent and sliding down. This happened the entire night. Just having some fun at my expense I guess."

I've heard of that before; I remember reading it in Michael Furtman's "A Season for Wilderness."

All good ones - thanks for starting the thread and for the contributions. I needed some smiles today!!

Half of our first trip in '86 was funny incidents--we were learning as we went on that first trip!

Perhaps the "funniest" was on a trip a number of years later when my brother-in-law Charlie and I were camped near the west end of South Lake. We had turned in for the night and I was just starting to drift off to sleep--kind of in the halfway state between wide awake and completely out of it. Suddenly I had the sensation that something ran across my face and as I felt it again I started to have a nightmare that I was in this scene from the movie "Runaway", an old Tom Selleck film I had recently found when flipping TV channels late one night. In my-semi conscious state I remember telling my self that it was only that: a dream. Then, I realized that something definitely ran across my face again and I shrieked, as I quickly sat up, now wide awake. This startled Charlie who wanted to know what was wrong and was slightly annoyed that he was now awake as well. I explained to him what I felt and he tried to convince me that it WAS only a dream. I was having none of that. I was convinced it was real to which he responded by doubling down that it was not and urged me to go back to sleep. It was then that we noticed some movement in the corner of the tent and our flashlights caught the beady little eyes of a mouse that was now standing there frozen with fear. We then assumed the same posture. After warily eyeing each other for a moment or two, Charlie said, "Just kill it and throw it outside. Then get back to sleep." I wasn't quite sure how to do this but I took a swipe at it and missed. Charlie was also a bit annoyed with my incompetence at this, thinking the task should be pretty easy. Next the mouse ran from the corner onto Charlie's sleeping bag. Now, you should have heard him shriek and seen the commotion from Charlie! This was quite the scene as these two grown men were jumping around inside this tent trying to deal with a little mouse. As it zipped around looking for some type of escape, we were slapping at it with our shoes but the little thing was too fast for us. Finally, one of the shoes hit it's mark and the injured mouse laid there on the tent floor bleeding and quivering. "Throw it out the door!", urged Charlie, so I quickly unzipped a portion of the tent door, grabbed the mouse by the tail and pitched it toward the opening. Poor mousie caught a tent flap on its way out and rebounded right back at us at which point Charlie yelped again! My second attempt at saying goodbye to the mouse was more successful and as soon as it was out the door I closed the tent as quickly as possible. Charlie and I then just looked at each other and started laughing. We were not able to stop for the next five minutes or so.

The next morning that mouse was nowhere to be found and I can't imagine the poor thing moving off on its own so I'm assuming we had yet another visitor over night that found and helped itself to an easy meal.

We still laugh about this almost ten years later and discuss how fortunate it was that I was not laying there snoring with my mouth wide open (which I tend to do) when the mouse decided to go on his facial-exploring journey!

quote ozarkpaddler: "On Ester, we'd been listening to a wolf symphony and about the time it got still, my friend's son said "There's something soft and fluffy touching me." I laughed and he got more frantic as he said it was now under him. I turned on a flashlight and there was a big lump. I had an idea, but he was scared it was a wolf (LOL)? I told him to push on it, but he refused. So I told him to unzip the tent and watch while I pushed it out from underneath. Out hopped a big snowshoe hare (LOL)!


I'll have to send Danny and his dad a message and remind them of the night on Ester "Something soft and fluffy" tried to snuggle up to him (LOL)!"

It was the Ester bunny.

quote mr.barley: "

quote ozarkpaddler: "On Ester, we'd been listening to a wolf symphony and about the time it got still, my friend's son said "There's something soft and fluffy touching me." I laughed and he got more frantic as he said it was now under him. I turned on a flashlight and there was a big lump. I had an idea, but he was scared it was a wolf (LOL)? I told him to push on it, but he refused. So I told him to unzip the tent and watch while I pushed it out from underneath. Out hopped a big snowshoe hare (LOL)!
I'll have to send Danny and his dad a message and remind them of the night on Ester "Something soft and fluffy" tried to snuggle up to him (LOL)!"

It was the Ester bunny."

Now THAT is REALLY funny (LOL)!

I would say without a doubt that the funniest thing that has happened to me was when a Forest Ranger visited our campsite on LLC while my wife an I were skinny dipping. The ranger and his young female intern snuck up on our isolated beach while my wife and I were frolicking around in the shallow water. As soon as my wife heard the ranger she dove for deeper water to cover up while I made a bee-line for our one small camp towel dangling from a branch on shore. I conducted my interview and showed my permits with as much dignity as I could with only the equivalent of a loin cloth to cover up. My wife stayed up to her neck in water the whole time.

Lol! These are hilarious! I'm busting a gut reading this thread.

My story is about an annual trip that I take with my dad up EP 16 and this past year we decided to mix it up a little and use some different portages to get around. We were heading south on the Boulder River heading to Agnes to take the 115 rod portage. We found the portage after about a 15 minute search and saw some logs laying perpendicular across what looked like semi solid ground at the landing. I, being the more able bodied one, usually disembark first even from the stern to help my dad but this time he wanted out first. For some reason, he steps out not on the logs but right in the not-so-solid ground and sinks in all the way to his crotch. From my vantage point in the stern he literally stepped out and disappeared as he kept sinking. He looked like the earth was trying to swallow him whole! He could not move, what would he have done if he were solo? I leaped out of the canoe to help him but once I realized he was ok I could barely stand up cause I was laughing so damn hard. I've heard it called "muskeg", but my old man calls it "the *hit" now. It took us a good 5 minutes to get him and his boot out of there. I think next year we'love take the usual route.

quote anthonyp007: "Lol! These are hilarious! I'm busting a gut reading this thread.
My story is about an annual trip that I take with my dad up EP 16 and this past year we decided to mix it up a little and use some different portages to get around. We were heading south on the Boulder River heading to Agnes to take the 115 rod portage. We found the portage after about a 15 minute search and saw some logs laying perpendicular across what looked like semi solid ground at the landing. I, being the more able bodied one, usually disembark first even from the stern to help my dad but this time he wanted out first. For some reason, he steps out not on the logs but right in the not-so-solid ground and sinks in all the way to his crotch. From my vantage point in the stern he literally stepped out and disappeared as he kept sinking. He looked like the earth was trying to swallow him whole! He could not move, what would he have done if he were solo? I leaped out of the canoe to help him but once I realized he was ok I could barely stand up cause I was laughing so damn hard. I've heard it called "muskeg", but my old man calls it "the *hit" now. It took us a good 5 minutes to get him and his boot out of there. I think next year we'love take the usual route.
"

Heheheheh, I remember the first time I took my wife to Horseshoe Lake on the Gunflint side. I warned her about some muskeg at a portage. She forgot and when she got to the end of the portage dropped to her thighs in the stuff. I berated her for not listening to me and helped her out of it. Karma got me back as I made the second trip and ended up doing the same thing (LOL)! She was more gracious than I was, but there was definitely a satisfied "Smirk" on her face after we struggled to get me out with both boots (LOL)!

One of the funniest things I saw was when I was on either Red Rock or Alpine lake. My wife and I were in one canoe, my two brothers were in another. Right in the middle of the lake there was a rock just under the water. My two brothers aluminum canoe got stuck in the middle of the canoe and could not get off. My wife and I were laughing at them as they tried to rock the canoe off to no avail. They both had boots and long pants, jackets because it was fall. Finally after about 10 minutes of my two brothers fighting and yelling at each other my younger brother took his clothes off and jumped in. He got the canoe off but almost dumped my other brother in.

quote anthonyp007: "Lol! These are hilarious! I'm busting a gut reading this thread
"

I know. I can't wait to read more. Wouldn't this be a fun book.
Mike

Instead of a story I'll give you some advice. Never have your 10 year old son, while fishing from shore, be the "lookout" for you when you're naked and soaped up under a solar shower.

His quote was:"Dad, I didn't see that canoe coming, I was watching my bobber!"

quote ozarkpaddler: "

quote mr.barley: "

quote ozarkpaddler: "On Ester, we'd been listening to a wolf symphony and about the time it got still, my friend's son said "There's something soft and fluffy touching me." I laughed and he got more frantic as he said it was now under him. I turned on a flashlight and there was a big lump. I had an idea, but he was scared it was a wolf (LOL)? I told him to push on it, but he refused. So I told him to unzip the tent and watch while I pushed it out from underneath. Out hopped a big snowshoe hare (LOL)!
I'll have to send Danny and his dad a message and remind them of the night on Ester "Something soft and fluffy" tried to snuggle up to him (LOL)!"

It was the Ester bunny."

Now THAT is REALLY funny (LOL)!"

Too good!

quote DeanL: "
It turns out we set our tent a few inches from a pine bough and when the wind picked up it would rub the tent a little. The whole ordeal made for some good laughs the next morning. "

My story like that is when backpacking in the White Mts back east. My tent mate woke me up in the middle of the night saying, "be quiet, there's a bear outside the tent." My reaction was that I could have stayed asleep and I had no need to be awake. But I was stuck awake and listening to an animal rummage through my pack. This was back before you hung food and the next morning it was clear that a mouse or squirrel had chewed a hole in my pack and ate a few M&Ms. Some bear!

One funny incident involved a red squirrel. We were setting up camp and put the common gear down in a pile near the fire grate. This squirrel came running down a nearby tree with a mouth full of pine nuts, ran up to the pile, stopped, and acted clearly annoyed while walking in a half circle around the pile, and then ran off somewhere. A few minutes later, it came running back, stopped again, walked around in a huff again, and ran back up the first tree. Then it came running down and stopped at the pile.............. and on and on for many trips. It really just could not slightly alter its route to go quickly around our pile. Nor did it ever change its focus from collecting pine nuts to our food pack. It's been 15 years and I still feel slightly guilty for not moving our stuff. I think it would have appreciated it.

There are so many humorous and feel good stories in the 60+ trips we’ve taken to the Boundary Waters over the past 24 years; they are what make, for the most part, memorable experiences. So much so that, we generally refer to our trips by the “incidents” that occur during them (some trips go by more than one memorable or humorously names in fact).

Some trips are named based on the great experiences for the trip like the: patio trip, one for the records (fishing) trip, 25 miler trip, 16 miler falls trip (2 separate groups of nine spread out appropriately with 3 under 7 and one over 60), 15 miler solo day trip (an accomplishment less than a month after suffering a broken leg), a trio of trips referred to as the duck toller karma trip, the perfect trip, and many other memorably named trip.

However, most of our trips are named based upon the funny sh.. things that happened; these include the: a**kisser trip, you were right trip, yeah right no fish there (or there, or there) trip, four trout by hand trip, lemon potato soup trip, no go Joe trip, what part of “I don’t like f***ing portages” do you not understand trip, new rule establisher trip, I think my sister died trip, Timmy trip, catch and release… the stringer trip, crappie flop trip, the sauna trip, Smokey the Canoe trip, the romantic… trip, Vermont cheese trip, where the hell did Larry go trip, 32o outside/105o inside trip (not to be confused with the sauna trip), anyone see my toenail trip (only listed here as funny because it happened to me) and many others named for our funny misadventures trips.

The lemon potato soup is affectionately named for the utter ruining of my famed Boundary Waters Potato Soup dinner. I had insisted on not bringing any powdered lemonade, but my wife repackaged (without labeling) and brought the lemonade anyway. At suppertime near dark, with the help of my niece, I was handed my “powdered milk” for the potato soup. Unlike the usual troubles with lumps and dissolving of the powdered milk; this time it went in and dissolved almost instantly. I shrugged it off as a fluke, and continued on. As we gathered around the fire for a day that gave us a well-earned meal and conversation… we were immediately stricken (just like in the movies), all at once with the puckering effect that only a grossly overburdened and unexpected effect that a tart lemon could bring. Almost in unison, we spit our mouth felt contents into the fire. Only my wife ate her lemon potato soup; with the gusto that only guilt would inspire, she stated that it’s really pretty good. We have never remade any lemon potato soup nor plan to do so, but my niece reminds me to this day, usually in Christmas and birthday cards (almost 20 years later) that I should try some lemon potato soup!

Perhaps in some future post here I might share another tale or two of our adventurously named trips!

Years ago we took a couple of newbies to Quetico. One of them (Rich) was a California native who was in the Navy for a few years, but he had never been to the Midwest in his life. He was really looking forward to seeing this part of the world. So we were paddling down the Deux Rivieres and Rich's canoe got mired in a shallow section. He then stepped in the creek and wiggled the canoe free, eventually moving into knee-deep water. I was in the second canoe and shouted out "Hey Rich - watch out for the leeches!" Never saw a guy jump into a canoe that fast in my life!

This may be a repeat... early nineties. .. Took a church youth group from Cloquet. Two kids were a little younger and was always getting in trouble. One evening I was cooking supper for everyone and I hear their fearless leader ask these boys if (Ben) said they could use my canoe. Because they hadn't asked I guess they were told to park it. All this time I never even looked up. One of the gals said, "Ben, your canoe is floating away". Without looking up I whistled for it and I guess it came back to shore. The kids were so impressed that on the way home wrote a song about it. It was printed in the bulletin.

Two boats entered Jordan Lake after a about 15 miles that day, I was in the MN2 with my partner and the others 3 in the MN3.

We split up to scout sites. We get to ours, call them on the radio and say to come over it was a great site.

Their answer was that the site they found is good, and for us to come over. No one wanted to move. We go back and forth, then they say "majority rule, were staying."

My reply, "ok, the majority doesn't have the food or the stove". I could hear them cussing all the way across the lake. My partner and I laughed the whole time as we see them paddling over looking really annoyed.

quote Blatz: "Trying to sleep and mice kept running up to the peak of my tent and sliding down. This happened the entire night. Just having some fun at my expense I guess."

Chipmunks did that to me one night, I guess Chip and Dale were having a blast.

We are on the portage from Boulder that "T"s into the portage from Ledge and Cap Lake.

Very overgrown, and narrow. 3 of us. We encounter a bog and my buddy Bill scouts ahead while Paul and I watch. A few minutes later I realize the portage took a 90° turn to the left.

Right about then Bill who was hooking left drops straight down out of site full pack and paddles.

I drop my pack in run in after him only to hear him cussing. I get around and see him buried up to his chin in the bog. The paddles horizontal across his chest kept him from going all the way under as they caught solid ground on both sides.

Scary at first, but hilarious after.


Two guys coming the other way took that photo after he got moving.

Back in the late 90's my brother and I along with two buddies base camped on South Temperance for a week. We were on an island site on the route to the portage to North Temperance. After a few days my buddy Mike, who is a large framed hairy man, decided he needed to freshen up. He proceeds to strip down naked and gets ready to take the plunge of a short four foot cliff. While he is getting ready to take the plunge he is doing his best impression of Chevy Chase in Vacation "this is crazy, this is crazy". About that time two canoes with four young ladies round the corner of the closest island, maybe 50 yds away, and get an eyeful of Mikey swinging his arms and babbling on. Loud shrieks and furious back paddling ensured as they tried go back from where they came from. I don't think I've laughed that hard in my life. The poor girls probably cut their trip short from the image of naked Yeti on South Temperance.

On another trip with the same group we were on the portage from East Bearskin to Alder. We were base camping so we had a lot of gear that required several trips over the portage. On the return trip over the portage my brother called Mike and I over to look at something in a tree. He points to a notch in the tree about waist high and we can't see anything. He sez to get closer and with Mike in front of me we inch closer. When we are within arms length this HUGE spider comes in to focus for both of us at the same time. Before I can say anything big manly Mikey lets out a scream like a 10 yr old girl and takes off running, knocking me to the ground in the process. My brother and his buddy are both on the ground with tears form laughing so hard. Turns out was a nine inch rubber spider with the bouncy string attached. It looked so realistic in the darkness of the tree. Mike was at the end of the portage when we got there and he wasn't moving until we went back and brought it out to him to show it was fake. That night we had a shot for whoever put that thing there. They don't know the years of laughs and chuckles that it provided.

The first time I went I was with my brother in law. He was in the stern with the map. We had just left the portage and we're heading towards the next portage that was only a short distance away.
We went to one spot and saw human garbage on a big rock so figured it was the portage. We got out and unloaded the canoe only to find out it wasn't the portage. We then got everything back in and started looking again. We went around and around and finally he said "there it is" we unloaded everything and as I was portaging the trail I kept thinking this sure feels familiar. Once everything was to the other side my brother in law said "any chance this is the same portage we just left"

2 stories:
One was as a 13yr old on the upper St Croix river with a co-ed church group. Generally the boys' and girls' tents were set up on opposite sides of the campsite, but on this especially hot July evening the leaders spread a giant tarp on the ground and everyone brought their sleeping bags out to sleep under the stars. It was pretty cool. Sometime in the middle of the night we awoke to screaming as raccoons traipsed across the tarp of sleeping kids. They were chased off; only to return just as everyone had settled down. Every kid had flashlights trained on them as the leaders threw rocks to get them to go away. We all watched as 3 big raccoons instead went across camp to the (girls' side) pile of gear to explore. They ended up inside one unfortunate girl's bag pulling out everything including some candy, her bra, and feminine pads. If it happened now I can't see how it would be funny at all; but as a bunch of 13 year-olds, it was the funniest thing we had ever seen.

The second was this past September on Iron lake. My buddy and I were re-enginnering a crumbling pile of fire-grate rocks into a useable kitchen when just as I reached for a 7-inch rock- it jumped away. I'm generally quiet and stoic, but at the surprise I ended up screaming and jumping back about 10 feet. It was no rock but a giant, gnarly, dirt-covered toad. Being a good friend, my buddy laughed until he was crying, and then made fun of me for the rest of the trip.

quote Whatsit: "Once everything was to the other side my brother in law said "any chance this is the same portage we just left" "

OK, we had a trip with a bunch of our nephews and their Dad. They were really slow on portages due to disorganization and too much loose stuff (mostly the Dad). As it was getting late one day, we got to a portage and told them, "we're going to go ahead. All you need to do is this portage, you will get to a small lake and you will be able to see the next portage on the other side. Go across the lake, do the next portage, and we will come back and meet you at the end of that portage after finding a campsite." We did the route, scouted campsites, picked one, and then waited another hour before they finished doing two moderate portages and a tiny lake! It turns out that half way across the tiny lake they got confused and wound up paddling around in circles debating which portage they had come from and which they were supposed to be going to. Sigh. In their case the problem was a lack of interest in reading maps and knowing which way they were headed rather than just following us. So once we were out of sight they were lost. But they did eventually figure it out.

In about 1985 my wife and I took our two 13 old Nieces on a canoe trip to the BWCA. One niece was from Minneapolis and one from Los Angeles. Both of them had never been out of the city. One afternoon I asked where the girls were. They were in the tent. They each brought a ton of makeup and electric curlers and a hair dryer. I guess nobody told them there was no power where we were going.

I saw a guy carrying a woman down a portage trail. On the return trip, I ran into him, and I asked if she was injured. He said no, she just didn't like to get her feet wet.

I was in the middle of the BWCA and saw a women crossing a portage in high heals and a fancy dress

quote Canoearoo: "I was in the middle of the BWCA and saw a women crossing a portage in high heals and a fancy dress "

:-)
Perhaps she was getting married

quote Whatsit: "

quote Canoearoo: "I was in the middle of the BWCA and saw a women crossing a portage in high heals and a fancy dress "

:-)
Perhaps she was getting married "

No she looked ready for a prom. We asked her partner and he said she wouldn't go unless she could dress like that and carry nothing. He looked really happy that she was out there, and she didn't look to upset. I hope they had a good time.

quote Canoearoo: "I was in the middle of the BWCA and saw a women crossing a portage in high heals and a fancy dress "

Now THAT is a "Winner!" I don't think I can imagine anything funnier than that?

My buddy and I thought we'd head up to Beartrap Lake (8 lakes away from entry point) to get the lone campsite there on a cold, rainy Thursday in October. Expected it to be a slam dunk to get the campsite, especially after passing through empty lake after empty lake all the way in.

Shortly before dusk after single portaging all afternoon to get there, we arrive around the last corner to witness a group settling into the campsite. We laughed so hard at how stupid it was, and almost fell out of the canoe when my buddy suggested we announce, "Hey guys, we're here!"

Same trip as the mouse-in-the-tent incident I described earlier in this thread...

My B.I.L. Charlie is in the stern maneuvering the canoe as I am in the bow fishing. I have long struggled with allergies and on this particular day my runny nose was getting rather annoying. Instead of interrupting the fishing to wipe or blow my nose every few minutes, I decided to take the paper towel I happened to have in my pocket and just stuff it into my nose, letting the towel absorb things as the need arose. That way I could keep on fishing without the interruptions. Charlie commented on how absolutely ridiculous I looked with this paper towel hanging out of my nose and I told him that I know this was probably true but that I didn't care since no one else was around and that he didn't have to see much of it since my back was to him as we were sitting in the canoe. A moment or two later Charlie said, "Hey, did you see that fish jump over there, to your right?" As soon as I turned my head to look, I heard his camera click. In an instant, I knew I'd been had and the next thing out of my mouth was "A**hole!"

Later that year, for my birthday, Charlie gave me a framed picture of me at the front of the canoe with a fishing pole in my hand and a paper towel hanging out of my nose.

Paulsen Lake Sep 2015

My buddy and I had found a trout honey hole right off of our camp site. He manned the spot with one stationary pole with a bobber and leach, and the other he was running a spoon. I walked 50 yards up trudging through brush to fish another open spot off the site. 10 minutes later I've caught and released maybe 3 that were on the small side when he starts calling for help. I pull in my line and inevitably get snagged so I jam the pole between the rocks and start plowing back through the brush to get to him. As I emerge I see him treading water holding both rods up and BOTH clearly had something on the other end. At that point he was too far out to try and safely pass the rods so I sucked up the cold and hopped in. I grabbed one of the rods and with each of us a free hand we were able to paddle back. There's no telling how many more times each of us had slipped back in off the slippery slope but needless to say by the time we established ourselves outside the water both fish were very much gone. It's funny to think back on, however, it was probably more dangerous and idiotic than anything else. Donning a PFD is now a policy when fishing from camp on my trips lol.

quote Canoearoo: "

quote Whatsit: "

quote Canoearoo: "I was in the middle of the BWCA and saw a women crossing a portage in high heals and a fancy dress "

:-)
Perhaps she was getting married "

No she looked ready for a prom. We asked her partner and he said she wouldn't go unless she could dress like that and carry nothing. He looked really happy that she was out there, and she didn't look to upset. I hope they had a good time. "

Oh well, I guess it takes all kinds :o)

it is hard to pick out one funny incident.......

there was a day on Jordon Lake, where a red squirrel was in the tree above the latrine, as I sat there, I was bombarded with pinecones. I looked up to see him with a whole pile of pinecones on the branch, dropping them one at a time on anyone that used the latrine!


There was also a day on Ima, where I had a group of boy scouts on their first trip to the BWCA, I think it was late in 87' and we were having issues with bears late in the summer. We basically chased bears out of camp every night on the trip. Well, one night, I found and old t-shirt in the woods, so I held on to it until early morning. One of the scouts was petrified of the bears. So, early morning, the scoutmaster gets a little tear started in the t-shirt, I run toward the tent yelling, "Bear! Bear!", as I do that the scoutmaster rips the t-shirt in half. That poor kid was half way across the lake before his shoes got wet. Thinking back, was a pretty mean thing to do, but we all had a really good laugh, and after that the kid didn't worry about bears!

There was also a trip that I took out of sommers canoe base in 1992. I had a fantastic group of scouts and we pushed the first day, and were about 1/2 up Canadian agnes, including a couple hour stop at Louisa Falls. We were getting camp set up, and I was getting the food out to show the scouts how our meals were set up and how we would be preparing them. Once I opened the pack, I discovered a little gift from the base staff in my pack.....They had added a small handwashing sink to my food pack, with a little note referring to "packing everything including the kitchen sink!". Each night we made a little tripod out of limbs and put our kitchen sink to use. Now if I could only find those pictures!

Never crawl out of your tent in the morning carrying your pee bottle instead of your water bottle and sit down for breakfast. For the record they are different sizes and shapes and I have never made the mistake before or since. It will always come up in discussion though. For years.

"It was the Ester bunny."

LOL! that was hilarious!!

quote jtbwcaw: "There are so many humorous and feel good stories in the 60+ trips we’ve taken to the Boundary Waters over the past 24 years; they are what make, for the most part, memorable experiences. So much so that, we generally refer to our trips by the “incidents” that occur during them (some trips go by more than one memorable or humorously names in fact).


Some trips are named based on the great experiences for the trip like the: patio trip, one for the records (fishing) trip, 25 miler trip, 16 miler falls trip (2 separate groups of nine spread out appropriately with 3 under 7 and one over 60), 15 miler solo day trip (an accomplishment less than a month after suffering a broken leg), a trio of trips referred to as the duck toller karma trip, the perfect trip, and many other memorably named trip.


However, most of our trips are named based upon the funny sh.. things that happened; these include the: a**kisser trip, you were right trip, yeah right no fish there (or there, or there) trip, four trout by hand trip, lemon potato soup trip, no go Joe trip, what part of “I don’t like f***ing portages” do you not understand trip, new rule establisher trip, I think my sister died trip, Timmy trip, catch and release… the stringer trip, crappie flop trip, the sauna trip, Smokey the Canoe trip, the romantic… trip, Vermont cheese trip, where the hell did Larry go trip, 32o outside/105o inside trip (not to be confused with the sauna trip), anyone see my toenail trip (only listed here as funny because it happened to me) and many others named for our funny misadventures trips.


The lemon potato soup is affectionately named for the utter ruining of my famed Boundary Waters Potato Soup dinner. I had insisted on not bringing any powdered lemonade, but my wife repackaged (without labeling) and brought the lemonade anyway. At suppertime near dark, with the help of my niece, I was handed my “powdered milk” for the potato soup. Unlike the usual troubles with lumps and dissolving of the powdered milk; this time it went in and dissolved almost instantly. I shrugged it off as a fluke, and continued on. As we gathered around the fire for a day that gave us a well-earned meal and conversation… we were immediately stricken (just like in the movies), all at once with the puckering effect that only a grossly overburdened and unexpected effect that a tart lemon could bring. Almost in unison, we spit our mouth felt contents into the fire. Only my wife ate her lemon potato soup; with the gusto that only guilt would inspire, she stated that it’s really pretty good. We have never remade any lemon potato soup nor plan to do so, but my niece reminds me to this day, usually in Christmas and birthday cards (almost 20 years later) that I should try some lemon potato soup!


Perhaps in some future post here I might share another tale or two of our adventurously named trips!"

Hey Jtbwcaw---

I live in the same town you do. Send me an email -- Jrooster26@aol.com --
lets meet up and talk some B-dub.
Whitewolf

100's.

But one that sticks out is after a hard push to Iron from Stuart River entry in a long day-- we made camp, settled in and made some stiff cocktails and enjoyed a fire on a cool fishing opener evening. Leeches had been brought in a designated water bottle clearly marked. AS the light slowly faded to twilight we made light of the situation if someone would actually mistakenly drink from the leech bottle.

It happened ,, more then once.

Once in a portage I saw 2 guys arguing. The one guy wanted to help the other guy by carrying his paddle. It was a very nice bentshaft paddle. The other guy kept saying it wasn't his. But the first guy almost crazy in his tone wouldn't let go. He kept repeating "just let me help you, please"

Every trip seems to have a funniest moment, even if you had to be there to appreciate it. I'll pick one from last year.

My friend Dave and I were on day 7 of a 9 day Quetico adventure. We had gone to Kawnipi via Cache Bay, back through McEwen, and we were camped on Saganagons in a fairly secluded spot south of the entrance to the Falls Chain. We had been dealing with rain and cold weather all week, so hygiene was lacking. We were sitting in front of camp at sunset watching 2 loons fish, and I had just mixed an everclear and mio in my Nalgene. I took a swig, noticing an ant struggling on the surface of the tasty beverage. Not wanting to share, I fished him out with my finger, flicked him in the lake, and immediately busted my gut laughing. Dave, looking at me like I'm nuts, asks what's so funny? I replied, I don't know what's more disgusting, having an ant in my drink, or my finger. We both laughed for quite a while after that.

Most involve my father, he never thought any of these were funny but we sure did:

Standing on a rock just off shore and getting pulled in by a big smallmouth

Standing like George Washington in the front of the canoe navigating down a set of rapids when we hit a rock

The red squirrel that ran up his pants leg and the ensuing dance around the campsite while protecting his nuts

JD

My very first trip I was back on Insula with some friends and saw a giant snapping turtle take down a seagull. That was pretty awesome!!!! But funniest thing to see happen would be last year when I took my mother on her first trip. We were getting ready to go out fishing when she decided to use the latrine one last time. I was just hanging out by the boat waiting when I heard her screaming and yelling. I ran to see what the commotion was about (thinking bear) to find my mother running from an upset roughed grouse with babies. It puffed up hissed and chased my mother away. I make fun of her now for being frightened of small chickens.