Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

Woodland Caribou
by Kiporby

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 05/26/2010
Entry & Exit Point: Other
Number of Days: 9
Group Size: 4
Trip Introduction:
Woodland Caribou! A new place to explore beckoned us this time for our annual group solo. The cast of characters would be Jan (Kanoes), Kyle (whiteH2O), Greg (gbusk), and Dan (kiporby). Jan got the idea by reading Kevin Callan's "Quetico and Beyond" book. When he first brought the idea to my attention in the chat room one night you could tell that we needed to go there. Planning this trip would be a little different than past trips. Other than getting maps, campsite and route information, we really didn't desire "too much information". We wanted to go in blind and unspoiled and let the trip dictate things. Most of the planning and logistics went into getting to the park. Jan modified a trailer to fit our gear and four canoes, so we could shuttle ourselves to the park. Shuttle fees through outfitters are pretty steep out of Red Lake and we desired the flexibility of doing things at our own pace.
Day 1 of 9
Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Lift off day!

Greg and Jan would meet Kyle and I at Kyle's house at 3:00am. I had driven up to the cities the night before from Milwaukee. After loading the canoes and the gear we were off and heading north. We crossed the border into Canada at International Falls about 9:00am. We picked up our fishing licenses and a few lures at store in Fort Francis near the bridge to cross Rainy Lake.

The drive turned very scenic at this point and was especially beautiful along the section between Fort Francis and Dryden. We had lunch at a place called Buster BBQ near Eagle River and made it to Red Lake around 2:30pm. Even saw a couple moose and eagles along the road to Red Lake.

We met Claire, the assistant park superintendent for our permits and last minute map information. She marked a few pictographs and gave us a nice map showing where most of the known campsites were.

When then got settled into the Norseman Inn, had dinner down the street at the Howey Bay Motel, and spent the rest of the evening walking down by the lake and chatting in our room. Lots of excitement loomed and it was hard to sleep.

The map below would be our intended route for the trip.