In December 2005 - January 2006 during a few email exchanges with my youngest son Jeremy, who was in Iraq with the Marines, we discussed the idea of going to the BWCA after he returned. He's never been there before, and my last trip to the area was in 1974 with the Boy Scouts. I'd been wanting to return ever since, even more so to share it with family, but something always got in the way. However, the realization that death has literally passed within inches of your son puts an added incentive to ensure that you spend some quality time together when you get the opportunity, regardless of the reasons that tend to delay those moments. One of the goals of the trip was to make sure that we did just that.

Another goal was based on the fact that both he and I enjoy challenges and overcoming obstacles. He learned in boot camp that he really thrived when he was challenged, especially physically. So we wanted a trip that would require some stamina and give us something to accomplish (although we had to make some allowances for the difference between a US Marine and an everyday guy in his mid-forties).

I wanted something away from the blowdown areas, and one that would allow us multiple options to re-route our trip at whim, depending on how well we fared (how out of shape I was). Once I narrowed the area down a bit, Bogwalker was a great help to let me know what was possible and practical and what was scenic vs quiet, etc. Once we got a route that made Bogs start to sound excited, I figured we got pretty close.

The entire planned route fit on Fisher F-16 and pretty much covered the whole map. The idea was to see the falls and pictos, then head into a very quiet area and try to bushwhack our way to Range Line Lake, which we understand doesn't often see boats. Double bonus points if we could make it to Pageant. From there out depended upon circumstance.