Click to View the Full Thread

Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Listening Point - General Discussion :: Remembering Dad
 
Author Message Text
sedges
06/17/2018 10:28AM
 
Thinking a lot about my father on this day. From the mid 1960s to the early 1980s he introduced more than 100 young men to canoe travel in northern WI, BWCA, Quetico, the Namekagan and St. Croix. He did the Grand Portage at least three times that I recall.

Our trips were always in June and I remember packing cards and gift for him for Father's Day. I was with him on the last trip of his life, a 14 day tour through central Quetico.

Wilderness travel had a huge influence on my life that continues to this day.

Here is a salute to dad and all the other folks who use precious vacation time to bring young people into the wilderness.
 
arctic
06/17/2018 11:20AM
 
Well said!
 
andym
06/17/2018 12:23PM
 
Definitely true! My Dad wasn’t into camping but my parents loved day hikes and gave us a love of the outdoors. He gave us two great observations called Paul’s rules. Rule 1 is that 1/4 mike from the parking lot you lost half the people. Rule 2 is that if you’ve seen 1 then you will see more. That doesn’t necessarily apply to bears but works pretty well when you see some new, fascinating plant. A bit further down the trail there are usually a ton of them.

My Mom isn’t up to trails any longer but one of her last hikes was the Kawishiwi Falls trail outside of Ely. I’m sorry we never got my Dad up there.

I also think of one of my biology teachers in high school. Each year he would take a few students on a backpacking trip in the Adirondacks. I didn’t do any real wilderness camping in Boy Scouts and so that trip gave my first real taste of what I consider real camping.

We don’t have kids but have taken most of our nieces and nephews into the BW and are starting on the next generation in July.
 
missmolly
06/17/2018 12:45PM
 
Amen, Sedges.
 
BWCA FAN
06/17/2018 04:25PM
 
My dad wasn't real in tune with the outdoors other that a week long summer vacation to MN. He grew up catching catfish in rivers, so he didn't know much about pulling walleyes or crappies, but we spent a good amount of time in the boat on those trios and would always have a nice fry by the end of the week.

He's 75 now and has been in the hospital for the last month or so with a host of ailments and he hasn't been real excited about any fishing for the last few years, but I sure hope we can take one last cruise around the lake he started bringing me to when I was a kid because thise trips were the spark that made me want to figure out the "fishing thing" and were the genesis of wanting to expand my horizons, which led to 25-30 trips to the BWCA over the years.
 
cowdoc
06/17/2018 08:50PM
 
Yes....well said. I lift my glass high to him and all others like him. Salute! Good memories.