Any interesting people encounters in the BW? I'll share a couple.

About 15 years ago, hot August day. We're in our late 20s - four dudes, returning from Johnson Falls. We had just finished the long portage from Pine into Canoe. We paddled around the corner of Canoe Lake and find a four people skinny dipping - two early 20s gals and two early 20s dudes. We were hugging the shoreline and paddling along silently and find ourselves right upon them...like maybe 20 feet away. We can see that they're nude...a quick glance around making sense of the situation and we see their boats are just pulled ashore in a random spot and there's a pile clothes in the bushes.

They're treading water and the gals strike up a conversation about where we're headed and the heat of the day and then they invite us to join them for the swim. The entire conversation was with just the two gals. The two dudes just hung back maybe 5 feet, also treading water.

The funniest part was the look on the two dudes faces when the ladies invited us to join them. It was a mixture of desperation and panic. We laughed about it for the rest of the day.

A second encounter was late October, paddling out after a long weekend. We're about halfway out on our 6-8 hour paddle towards our EP and we spot another canoe coming down the lake towards us. At the time we'd been going on trips every October for a number of years now and maybe only once prior did we see anybody else out there. So we and the other canoe as well seemed to make it a point to cross paths. As we approached, both canoes slowed and we struck up a conversation.

In the other canoe was a couple of older gentleman, my guess is mid 60s. We got the usual niceties out of the way and I inquired as to where they were headed. Silence for a moment and the fella in the bow turns to the stern paddler and simply states his name inquisitively, "Bill?" Bill then rather reluctantly comes up with, "we're after some trout". To which I replied, "Oh, you're headed to__________" The look of amazement and mystery on their face as I just spouted out the name of their secret lake was spectacular. Bill replied "You know of___________?" My reply, "Yes, we just came from there. Don't worry, we left you plenty of fish, good luck, enjoy your trip". Smiles were exchanged and we paddled onwards.

I took a late April trip to Lower Pauness for a weekend. On my day trip to the Devil’s Cascade I encounter two guys staying at the backpack site so I kept walking the portage and enjoying the scenery. On my way back the guys stopped me and asked me for matches. It seems they hiked in the previous day without any source of fire making tools.

We chatted a bit. I noticed how one guy was basically wearing dress pants so that explained a lot. These guys were shoestring type hikers. Nice guys but seeing how cold it was I could only wonder how you overlook fire.

Some friends and I were on an old man trip. We found a nice site that had been effected by a storm so we spent a couple of hours cleaning the site so we could cook and have enough room to set up our tents.

By the time we were done, we were hot and sweaty so decided to strip down to our underwear to cleanup and cool off. So we're all standing around in our skivvies trying to get the courage to jump in the water when a canoe full of young girls paddles around the island. The largest of us says to the girls "we're going swimming. Do you want to join us?" They didn't say a word and just turned the boat around and kept paddling. Apparently they weren't interested in swimming with a group of pot bellied old men. We still laugh about it.

Captn Tony... what's even more funny is not only do you have a story, but they do as well. ;)

A friend of mine and I were paddling to take out on Moose Lake and raced another canoe to the last campsite on Wind Lake (the far east site). We got there and were glad to have the site to ourselves, leaving our canoes beached so no one would bother to come up.

About two hours later, we heard "helloooooo....hellooooo". Looking up were four cute co-eds from U of MN asking us if we'd be so kind as to let them camp at the site with us. "Of COURSE! Plenty of room, here." Had a fun (and innocent) night and we all went on our way the next day.

Funny to us at the time. Not to our then girlfriends.

(great thread)

There was a especially bad year for Army Worms back in the late 1990s. I mean BAD!!! They were thick and their webs were everywhere.
We we're camped on Agnes Lake, and one afternoon a pair of young girls paddled up to camp, and asked if we knew of any sites WITHOUT THE WORMS?....We just looked at each other and laughed.

mooseplums: "There was a especially bad year for Army Worms back in the late 1990s. I mean BAD!!! They were thick and their webs were everywhere.
We we're camped on Agnes Lake, and one afternoon a pair of young girls paddled up to camp, and asked if we knew of any sites WITHOUT THE WORMS?....We just looked at each other and laughed."

I remember that year. Worms and webs everywhere. The trees were filled with them. I made the mistake of leaving my water bottle open while having lunch, not wanting to screw the cap on and off each time I drank. We were car camping at Vermillion. As I continued to drink out of the bottle, I noticed...what are these little green pellets at bottom. Ya, army worm poop was falling out of the trees and a number of pellets fell into my water bottle. We made sure to eat out in the open and away from any trees for the rest of the trip.

On a guys trip from Moose up to Knife one year, we had chosen to dry-foot it at the end of a portage so were stepping along rocks as we re-loaded the canoes. As I was setting down the last pack, a Girl Scout troop paddled up and a woman leading them exclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear and with her voice just dripping with sarcasm, "Look, girls, do you see that big tough man who is afraid to get his poor little tootsies wet? I know you girls, unlike these men, are not scared to step in the water!".

Without much hesitation, one of my buddies said just as loudly, "Hey, I thought the agreement was that we'd leave our wives at home!" I responded, "I know but you didn't specify that I had to leave behind my wife AND my girlfriend!" The guys all laughed and there was not another word from the scout group or their "leader" as we got in our canoes and paddled away.

Two young guys from St Paul paddle up to our campsite and were lost. We were on Saganaga lake, many islands and they got turned around. They said their compasses didn’t work. I asked them what they meant when the said their compasses didn’t work. They put the two compasses next to each other and the needles went to each other. We had a good laugh at that one.

bottomtothetap: "...a woman leading them exclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear and with her voice just dripping with sarcasm, "Look, girls, do you see that big tough man who is afraid to get his poor little tootsies wet? I know you girls, unlike these men, are not scared to step in the water!"..."

I really thought the punchline was going to be that she (leader) stepped out of her canoe and the water was 4 ft deep. :)

Don't know how funny this is, but I've been thinking about it since it happened.

We were coming off of Mudro last June and ran into a group of nine up by the bridge near the parking lot. Four or five adults with kids who were probably 11-13 years old. Since we had just done the portage from Sandpit into Mudro in the heat (and it was hot), I watched them with all their gear, including a couple of aluminum canoes, walk down the trail to where the water was high enough to launch. I got to talking with one of the adults - the usual stuff, water levels (low), bugs (bad), and I asked him if he had told the kids about the upcoming portage. He said no, he hadn't, and that he would probably be hearing a lot of "not cool" from that point on.

I hope their trip went well, but I sure would have liked to hear what was said when they got there.

On a mid 90s Boy Scout trip, we were camped at a site with an island right out front. One day, a group of college-age women showed up on the island and started making lunch. One of my friends suggested we go fish the island. Of course, neither of us were really giving any effort to the fishing. Fishing just wasn't the main point of this outing.

Lo and behold, I hooked into a lunker, a 20+ inch smallie. All the splashing and shouting attracted the attention of the women and one of them exclaimed "Well, you two are actually fishing!"

On a different trip, my daughter's first trip, we were waiting for a group to clear the landing so we could begin our portage. There were two men and three boys. One canoe and three small yaks. They put the aluminum canoe in the water and started putting packs in the canoe. The first layer was two Rubbermaid-type containers, and two army style duffle bags as full as they can be. Layer two was four more full army duffles. Layer three was the last two duffles and a cargo net tied over it all. Those last two duffles were chest high leaving about an inch on free board. I don't know how they kept it all upright.

The year was 2002 and my brother and I took our four boys, (ages 10, 11 and two 16), our Dad (78) and a nephew, (18), to the Q. We had a pretty good week for weather and some fishing contests between us all. The nephew was "the big man on campus" with a really, really nice size pike. He also seemed to be the only one who did NOT get wet by accident during the trip, and he laughed at each of us as we had our moments. I slipped on a rock getting a paddle that had fallen into the water and fell in to my waist. My brother was getting water when a snapping turtle appeared at his spot and scared him into the drink, etc. All of us, including our Dad got wet somehow.

On the last day, we were pulling into PP and found a tow operator who was emptying her crew and asked if she had time/room to give us a tow back to Moose as the day had turned windy (go figure!!) and we faced a head wind the entire way. She looked at her dad(?) and after a minute of discussion said "sure thing, but please hurry as we have people waiting yet to bring up here".

We thanked them and as I got closer to the shoreline my nephew decided he was close enough to jump out of the canoe. Hahahaha, turned out the water was about 8 feet deep, not the little bit he thought it was. WHOOSH, he went in all the way past his head, totally soaked. It was a moment none of us have let him forget! It was a terrible wet, cold ride for him back to Moose, but he has been a little more humble since then! Side note: the plan is to take him and his 6 year old daughter next year for a trip!

mooseplums: "There was a especially bad year for Army Worms back in the late 1990s. I mean BAD!!! They were thick and their webs were everywhere.
We we're camped on Agnes Lake, and one afternoon a pair of young girls paddled up to camp, and asked if we knew of any sites WITHOUT THE WORMS?....We just looked at each other and laughed."

I don't know if it was the same year, seems like our encounter was early 2000's, but I could be wrong. Either way, we were fishing open water at Upper Red Lake, and when we came in for lunch, we parked the boat in a little inlet, and walked to West Wind. Every step along the way, there were army worms everywhere. You couldn't avoid stepping on them.

I think it was the same year, when we were coming home from the BWCA, we stopped in Two Harbors at the northern most gas station. There were 10's of thousands of moth's, and the gas station wouldn't let us in the building. So we went to the south end of town, to the holiday or SA whatever is there, on the lake side of the road, and they WOULD let us in the building. What a mistake. There were moth's all over the store. All over the lights, all over the packaging. Thousands of moths inside the store. It was awful. Amazing too.

Are those related to the army worms? Do the worms become moths? or is that unrelated? In 4 dozen trips or more up the north shore, I don't recall seeing that any other year.

SevenofNine: "I took a late April trip to Lower Pauness for a weekend. On my day trip to the Devil’s Cascade I encounter two guys staying at the backpack site so I kept walking the portage and enjoying the scenery. On my way back the guys stopped me and asked me for matches. It seems they hiked in the previous day without any source of fire making tools.


We chatted a bit. I noticed how one guy was basically wearing dress pants so that explained a lot. These guys were shoestring type hikers. Nice guys but seeing how cold it was I could only wonder how you overlook fire.



"

We had a similar experience on one of those portages. It wasn't devils cascade, it was the one closer to the entry point. We bumped into this group that was portaging barefoot. I thought that was odd, and not a particularly good idea. So I stopped to talk to them. They were from France and were in the states for 10 days. So here they are in the United states for just 10 days, and yet wanted to spend 1 night in the boundary waters, so they could experience it. I thought that was pretty cool. They wanted to see Duluth, Lake Superior, and the North Shore, and made there way from Silver Bay up to Ely. They rented gear for two days, with just one overnight. Unfortunately they didn't have the proper shoes, or at least didn't want to ruin their $150 shoes, so they went barefoot. I still thought it was cool that they would spend part of their USA tour, going to the boundary waters.

I recall one trip, I brought my buddy Rick up there. We were about 16 or 17 and he wanted to paddle to some other campsites and look for girls. This is back in 1981 or so and it had been my experience that there really weren't that many girls that went to the Boundary Waters back then, at least not on their own.

I thought it was a complete waste of time and poo-poohed his suggestion. I told him in my ten years of going, I had barely seen any girls, and they were usually with their families. I insisted that we didn't come to the Boundary Waters for girls, and that it's mostly smelly old fishermen anyway, and talked him into fishing instead. He protested, but reluctantly agreed.

The last day of our trip when we were paddling out, as we came around a point (we were in 1st bay of Sag, heading east), we looked back over our right shoulder towards the western most campsite in 1st bay, and there were four teenage girls skinny dipping. At this point we had a schedule to keep. Rick just gave me a disgusted look, and his face said it all. "SEEEEEEE, I TOLD YOU!"

Not the BW, but just south of there a couple miles north of Isabella.

I was running the fire engine out of Isabella from 2000 - 2003, I had a new recruit from Montana one of those years. He was visibly shaken when he came up to me a couple hours after work one day and said. "Linden, I just found a human grave"

It was getting dark so after calming him down, I told him to show me the grave in the morning, before he called the authorities. We walked out there the next morning and, sure enough, it looked like a human grave -three feet wide by 6 feet long, piled with fresh soil 1.5 feet high. I looked at it and said to him, "It looks like an ant mound".

He was undeterred by my suggestion, so we went back to the Isabella Forestry Station where he called the USFS Law Enforcement Officer (Becky). I was listening in the background and could hear her asking my co-worker if he found any human body parts in the grave. I was quietly dying with laughter because not much happens out of Isabella. That's why I let this thing go this long.

Sure enough, an hour or so later, a Lake County Deputy and the USFS Law Enforcement Officer came to our work place. I greeted them with a hello, stating, "I see you are here to investigate the "ant mound".

Becky replied, "This is an on going investigation and I should keep quiet". They questioned my co-worker in my office for 45 minutes with the door closed. Not sure if they put bamboo under his fingernails, but there were some strange sounds coming from my office, then the three left to un-earth the scene of the crime.

An hour or so later, they came back to the office, realizing they had forgotten a shovel after walking a 1/2 mile into the crime scene.

After acquiring a shovel, all of the party returned a couple hours later to the Isabella Work Station, after deducing that they had indeed unearthed a large "ant mound".

It was a nice mid-September day, sunny and 55 degrees, maybe pushing close to 60. We were finishing a portage into Gaskin as two guys paddled in coming the other way. We exchanged canoe-country greetings and noticed a distinct drawl. “Houston, Texas,” they answered when we asked where they were from. We answered “Wisconsin” and they looked at each other and broke into a big grins. One said, “Well, we kinda figured.” We weren’t in Packer or Badger gear, didn’t know what tipped them off and just shrugged. After a "you guys honestly don't see it?" pause for dramatic effect, the Texas bowman finally exclaims “Y’all are wearing shorts!”

Scout trip - three adults, three scouts. Site 4 on Clear Lake off of Kawishiwi River. Only there once, so don't know if it was normal or a low water time. In any event, the shoreline at the site is 10 to 12 inches above the water at the landing. Water is about a foot deep there.

One of the guys was out fishing with his son. They came in, the boy stepped out of the canoe into the water. Dad is in the stern bracing the canoe with his paddle. The boy steps up on the shore, pulling the canoe up about a foot on to the shore and setting down. Dad says "Don't let go" just as the kid walks away and the canoe goes over.

Mine isn't BW, does it count? Our women's group was paddling the Hayes River in Manitoba and hadn't seen another soul in 2 weeks. On our layover day, we were topless sunbathing when suddenly a helicopter swoops over the trees. As we scramble for our shirts, it swings around and lands on a nearby rocky point. Two young men come over to chat. They are firefighters out checking some hot spots (I guess we qualified...lol). After asking us a bit about our trip, they ask if we need any supplies. We told them we are fine, but one of us mentions we have been craving ice cream. Soon they take off, but return in an hour to hand deliver 2 quarts of ice cream from the store in Oxford House! Yum!

I remembered another. We were coming down from Crooked, through the gun fairy fourtown route back to Mudro. It had been a fairly uneventful return trip. I can't remember exactly where, but the portage landing had was a semi steep sloped bedrock section and as we paddled up, we watched a group with a VNO (sorry lynn) rented kevlar canoe, completely load up on the bedrock section, get in and attempt to scoot down to the water. After a couple of 2 to three inch scoots, the guy got out and attempted to push it. I wonder if thier boat survived the trip.

In August of 2017, my buddy and I took a trip to Vernon and had a great time with good weather except for the small storm as we were packing up.

On Brule, the lake was like glass after the rain stopped. We came across a group of five in one canoe, parents and three kids. They were fully loaded with gear too. I swear that the waterline on their canoe was an inch or two from swamping them. They had to be extremely top heavy too with kids sitting on top of the gear. It looked like something out of a comic strip.

We chatted with them a bit and strongly recommended against going across open water like that. Luckily they were not planning on going too far, but I bet they had to take two trips on the way out. Any waves at all would have swamped their boat.

analyzer: "

SevenofNine: "I took a late April trip to Lower Pauness for a weekend. On my day trip to the Devil’s Cascade I encounter two guys staying at the backpack site so I kept walking the portage and enjoying the scenery. On my way back the guys stopped me and asked me for matches. It seems they hiked in the previous day without any source of fire making tools.



We chatted a bit. I noticed how one guy was basically wearing dress pants so that explained a lot. These guys were shoestring type hikers. Nice guys but seeing how cold it was I could only wonder how you overlook fire.



"

We had a similar experience on one of those portages. It wasn't devils cascade, it was the one closer to the entry point. We bumped into this group that was portaging barefoot. I thought that was odd, and not a particularly good idea. So I stopped to talk to them. They were from France and were in the states for 10 days. So here they are in the United states for just 10 days, and yet wanted to spend 1 night in the boundary waters, so they could experience it. I thought that was pretty cool. They wanted to see Duluth, Lake Superior, and the North Shore, and made there way from Silver Bay up to Ely. They rented gear for two days, with just one overnight. Unfortunately they didn't have the proper shoes, or at least didn't want to ruin their $150 shoes, so they went barefoot. I still thought it was cool that they would spend part of their USA tour, going to the boundary waters."

Nobody must have introduced them to Walmart. Some 8 dollar throwaway shoes or sandals would have been better than barefoot!

Great thread!

Last summer, my friend and I brought our veteran 20-something daughters to see the falls between Cattyman and Gibson. We had come from Jordan and noticed several canoes and young men at the Gibson portage mulling about. After waiting too long for them to either take the portage or put in, I asked what their intention was, noticing they were eating. A 'leader' mentioned they were just about to 'leave', but they didn't, so I mentioned that we would park our canoes off to the side and head down the trail to the falls. (Didn't want to break the 9-person rule, but it was clear they weren't budging from the portage exit).

As we were parking the canoes and noticed yet another parked solo canoe, the group of eight guys, all decked in the tightest, GQ-looking pants I've ever seen in the BW, headed down the trail sans canoes. Guess that's what he meant by 'leaving'. Turns out they were visiting the falls, too.

It wasn't hard to find the falls with all the whooping and hollering of this crew. They had shed their shirts and were getting hydro-massaged in the falls. Our daughters weren't impressed with their exposed muscles. We waited downstream for them to leave, noticing there was another gentleman sitting nearby who we assumed was the owner of the solo.

After they left, another young man, dressed modestly and clearly plain and homely in comparison to the others, walked downstream to us and asked if they 'went this way back to the trail'. Surprised he was with them, we affirmed that they had, to which he replied, "Thanks. It's been a long 24 hours. You guys have a nice day," and walked up the trail.

He seemed like a nice guy and we thought it funny and a bit sad that he was with these seven young bucks with whom he apparently didn't fit in.

A1t2o: "In August of 2017, my buddy and I took a trip to Vernon and had a great time with good weather except for the small storm as we were packing up. On Brule, the lake was like glass after the rain stopped. We came across a group of 5, in one canoe. Parents and 3 kids. They were fully loaded with gear too. I swear that the waterline on their canoe was an inch or two from swamping them. They had to be extremely top heavy too with kids sitting on top of the gear. It looked like something out of a comic stip. We chatted with them a bit and strongly recommended against going across open water like that. Luckily they were not planning on going too far, but I bet they had to take two trips on the way out. Any waves at all would have swamped their boat."

I hope the kids were wearing pfds.

Mike

mooseplums: "There was a especially bad year for Army Worms back in the late 1990s. I mean BAD!!! They were thick and their webs were everywhere.
We we're camped on Agnes Lake, and one afternoon a pair of young girls paddled up to camp, and asked if we knew of any sites WITHOUT THE WORMS?....We just looked at each other and laughed."

I ran Grandma's Marathon that year. Prior to the race, runners were warned about possible slippery conditions due to the amount of smushed army worms across the road.

Mike

With all the naked women stories, I feel a naked men story is a needed counter-balance:

So, I was portaging and up ahead, I saw two bare boys, the older a little more bear-like than the younger.

"Sean Connery and Daniel Craig!" I exclaimed.

"Spot on!" they answered in unison.

"My two favorite Bonds," i half whispered, but they heard me clearly.

"Which one is your favorite?" they asked in unison.

I hemmed and hawed and offered pros and cons for each until they were both thoroughly stirred up, for each wanted to be my fave and I simply couldn't decide.

To snap them out of their agitation, I shook them both.

And they thanked me in unison by saying, "We prefer shaken, not stirred."

And off they went, four pale buns wagging down the trail.

A few years ago, on a rainy May trip, I broke camp on Spoon Lake and was heading back north toward Knife. Meanwhile on the Knife end of the Knife/Bonnie portage, a fellow member of this site (who seems to have been absent for a while now) had just unloaded his gear. He was with his father, a first time BWCA paddler. He had just explained to his father, who was standing close to the water, that from all the reports he had read on BWCA.com, the portage they were about to do is where people always seem to see bears.

As he turned toward the portage he saw a good sized black animal just 30 feet uphill on the path coming straight at him. With bears on his mind, he let out something of a yelp of alarm before his brain could process that wasn't quite configured like a bear - more like a black labrador retriever, with me just another 20 feet or so behind now also visible. My dog's head had been positioned just right for him not to see the blaze orange collar he had on. We were wearing the same flying moose hats and he explained to me about just talking bears with his dad. We had a good laugh and visited a few minutes, then moved on to beat the incoming rain.

Great Thread.

Another skinny dipping one. Seven years ago on Ogish, my group of six were 18 years old at the time. While making breakfast, we chatted with a 50-60 year old couple trolling by our campsite.

After breakfast, my pal decides to go for a bathe. Just shortly after he got in the water, the rest of our group sees the couple heading back our way, and don't warn him. They proceed to canoe right to him while he was wading in the water to show him pictures of the 35" northern they caught and released minutes earlier. They never said anything, not sure what they noticed or didn't notice, but for five 18 year olds to watch their nude/swimming friend talk to strangers about fishing; we thought it was pretty funny.

MikeinMpls: "

mooseplums: "There was a especially bad year for Army Worms back in the late 1990s. I mean BAD!!! They were thick and their webs were everywhere.
We we're camped on Agnes Lake, and one afternoon a pair of young girls paddled up to camp, and asked if we knew of any sites WITHOUT THE WORMS?....We just looked at each other and laughed."

I ran Grandma's Marathon that year. Prior to the race, runners were warned about possible slippery conditions due to the amount of smushed army worms across the road.


Mike"

I spectated Grandma's that year. As a spectator you drive up to the the expressway, then back down to 61 scenic, rinse and repeat, crossing RR tracks each time. The track served as an army worm dam, around 6"deep, 24" wide and perhaps 20 miles long. It was gross, just a wriggling mass. I guess the worms all wanted to watch the race or maybe cool off in Superior.

schwartyman: "Great Thread.


Another skinny dipping one. 7 years ago on ogish, my group of 6 were 18 years old at the time. While making breakfast, we chatted with a 50-60 year old couple trolling by our campsite. After breakfast my pal decides to go for a bathe. Just shortly after he got in the water, the rest of our group see the couple heading back our way, and dont warn him. They proceed to canoe right to him while he was wading in the water to show him pictures of the 35" northern they caught and release minutes earlier. They never said anything, not sure what they noticed or didnt notice. But for 5 18 year olds to watch their nude/swimming friend talk to strangers about fishing; we thought it was pretty funny. "

I'm laughing - I can't imagine how hilarious all the dudes friends thought the situation was. That along with the potential ribbing about them not being able to tell he's naked. I'm sure the group got alot of mileage out of that one.

Way back in the day, before the end of the gunflint trail was paved, we used to base camp on Sag every year, and used an 18' motor boat to tow two canoes. Back then, you could motor anywhere on Sag, as long as you didn't portage. We used to rent the motor boat and canoes from Mr. Blankenberg. There is a road named after him, near Seagul lake. I'm sorry, I don't recall his first name (i was pretty young).

The memory is a bit fuzzy, it's been along time, but this is what I remember: He had this old cabin type home on the lake (Seagul I would assume), and they would ring a bell by the back door, and suddenly there were dozens of ducks that would fly in, land near the shore, and come waddling up for something to eat. It was so cool. I'm not 100% sure about the bell, but I do remember the ducks. There was lots of them, and it was so fun to watch them just come waddling up.

Jaywalker: "...As he turned toward the portage he saw a good sized black animal just 30 feet uphill on the path coming straight at him. With bears on his mind, he let out something of a yelp of alarm before his brain could process that wasn't quite configured like a bear - more like a black labrador retriever, with me just another 20 feet or so behind now also visible..."

Reminds me of a time long ago (**). My wife and I used to go regularly to the Baptism River/Shovel Point when it was just a roadside rest area (before it was Tettegouche State Park). We used to hike down to the bay by Shovel Point and spend the day there. It was quite a steep hike/climb down the bluff. It was getting late and the sun was going down when we decided to leave. I'm about half way up the bluff when I happen to look up and there about 20 feet above me is what I perceive to be a huge wolf starring down at me. I momentarily froze until this guy comes along and says "I hope my dog isn't bothering you." It was a very large husky something mix.

(** It was so long ago that after Labor Day you could shoot a canon down Hwy 61 and not hit anyone.)

Last year, I did a trip with three millennials who were all Eagle Scouts. One of them insisted on having a traditional steak the first night. I hate the weight but I relented.

So the first night steaks are grilled to perfection and we all sit down to eat. One of the millennials, looks at me and asks if I packed knives to cut his steak. I told him to just use his personal knife. He tells me he didn't bring a knife.

Two days later, I overhear his friends asking, "What did you actually do in the Scouts and how did you make Eagle?" He answers, "My Mom, was very involved".

He was a source of entertainment the rest of the trip. Very nice guy. Stereotypical Millennial!

We ran into a pair of guys coming into the Granite River from the Larch Creek entry. They ask if we had a map to look at.

I think they both had blue jeans on, and the only gear they had was a fishing pole and tackle box.

They said they were meeting friends on an island on Saganagons that had all the gear. They didn't know which island. I was suspect but gave them a spare map, and off they went. My instincts told me that they were picking up contraband that someone was running in from Canada, but who knows.

Bearpath9: "Don't know how funny this is, but I've been thinking about it since it happened.


We were coming off of Mudro last June, and ran into a group of 9 up by the bridge near the parking lot 4 or 5 adults, with kids who were probably 11-13 years old. Since we had just done the portage from Sandpit into Mudro in the heat(and it was hot), I watched them with all their gear, including a couple of aluminum canoes, walk down the trail to where the water was high enough to launch. I got to talking with one of the adults, the usual stuff-water levels(low),bugs(bad), and I asked him if he had told the kids about the upcoming portage. He said no, he hadn't and that he would probably would be hearing a lot of "not cool" from that point on.


I hope their trip went well, but I sure would have liked to hear what was said when they got there."

Bearpath, I have seen that exact same situation in that exact same spot. We just thought, man, they are in for an experience...

SevenofNine: "I took a late April trip to Lower Pauness for a weekend. On my day trip to the Devil’s Cascade I encounter two guys staying at the backpack site so I kept walking the portage and enjoying the scenery. On my way back the guys stopped me and asked me for matches. It seems they hiked in the previous day without any source of fire making tools.


We chatted a bit. I noticed how one guy was basically wearing dress pants so that explained a lot. These guys were shoestring type hikers. Nice guys but seeing how cold it was I could only wonder how you overlook fire.



"

I've looked at those two dudes probably 10 times since posted and keep thinking man they look familiar. It just hit me...I'm almost positive I ran into them on a road near my house a few years back. They were doing a through hike of the Superior Hiking Trail, started in Duluth and had walked the hiking trail from Duluth to Clover Valley and we're walking to town (Two Harbors) via the road to try and get some supplies (except they didn't have any money). They had a plastic water bottle, like evian type that you'd find at a gas station. The one guy's shoelace broke and they didn't have any bug spray. I rode my bike home grabbed them some supplies, filled thier water bottles and sent them on thier way...I have no idea if they made it, turned back or what the outcome of thier trip was. I just remember thinking - good luck!

I had a couple of interactions last year in the BW when all that weird stuff was happening. The first one was kind of humorous.

My daughter and I were portaging from Sawbill to Alton when a huge crowd of mostly people who did not have a clue showed up, so we just got out of the way and watched. One guy was going across the portage carrying some sort of a very heavy canoe and he was barefooted. On his second trip he had put on some minimal flip-flop kind of things, but he was carrying a large duffle bag under one arm and a large bundle of shrink wrapped firewood under the other. He had at least learned enough to put on some sort of "footwear".

The other experience was not as funny as it was interesting, and typical of helpful people in the BW.

On a solo day trip, I had put in on South Hegman and portaged into North Hegman to see the pictographs there. On North Hegman, I saw another solo canoeist coming down the lake so I diverted over to just say hi. It turned out to be a woman who was about my age (77). I don't recall ever seeing a woman of that age soloing in the BW. We had a nice chat and went on our ways.

On the return trip I found her canoe, but not her, at the landing at the bottom of the portage up to the parking lot. I went on up the trail and found her there just coming down to get her canoe. She had fallen someplace along the route and bunged up her knee and had a hank of rope in her hand which she was going to use to drag the canoe up the portage. I offered to carry it up the hill for her after I dropped off my canoe. She agreed and went on back down the trail.

On my way back down, I ran into another paddler who was already carrying her boat up the trail. He was about 50 years younger than I am and about 100 times in better shape. I went on down and helped carry some other stuff up.

At the parking lot, after we had all talked for awhile, I offered to load her canoe on her vehicle. She said "Oh, that would be nice". I flipped it up onto my shoulders and then looked around for a vehicle. The only one in sight was a very large motor home. I said something like, "How the hell do we get it up there?" She said, "Oh, we'll just put it inside." So that's what we did. She opened the back door and it just slid right in. It turned out she was a retired school teacher from someplace in Colorado and she was on a long cross-country trip seeing the sights.

Wharfrat63: "Last year, I did a trip with three millennials who were all Eagle Scouts. One of them insisted on having a traditional steak the first night. I hate the weight but I relented.
So the first night steaks are grilled to perfection and we all sit down to eat. One of the millennials, looks at me and asks if I packed knives to cut his steak. I told him to just use his personal knife. He tells me he didn't bring a knife.


Two days later, I overhear his friends asking, "What did you actually do in the Scouts and how did you make Eagle?" He answers, "My Mom, was very involved".


He was a source of entertainment the rest of the trip. Very nice guy. Stereotypical Millennial! "

Stereotypical old guy thinking all young guys are helpless ;)

missmolly: "With all the naked women stories, I feel a naked men story is a needed counter-balance:


So, I was portaging and up ahead, I saw two bare boys, the older a little more bear-like than the younger.


"Sean Connery and Daniel Craig!" I exclaimed.


"Spot on!" they answered in unison.


"My two favorite Bonds," i half whispered, but they heard me clearly.


"Which one is your favorite?" they asked in unison.


I hemmed and hawed and offered pros and cons for each until they were both thoroughly stirred up, for each wanted to be my fave and I simply couldn't decide.


To snap them out of their agitation, I shook them both.


And they thanked me in unison by saying, "We prefer shaken, not stirred."


And off they went, four pale buns wagging down the trail. "

Molly, that is hilarious. So, to be clear, these guys were walking naked down a portage trail? That's gotta be a whole other story!

OneMatch: "Molly, that is hilarious. So, to be clear, these guys were walking naked down a portage trail? That's gotta be a whole other story!"

The Bonds said that they were sick of tuxes.

"Cummerbunds ain't fun," Sean Connery said.

Wharfrat63: "Last year, I did a trip with three millennials who were all Eagle Scouts. One of them insisted on having a traditional steak the first night. I hate the weight but I relented.
So the first night steaks are grilled to perfection and we all sit down to eat. One of the millennials, looks at me and asks if I packed knives to cut his steak. I told him to just use his personal knife. He tells me he didn't bring a knife.


Two days later, I overhear his friends asking, "What did you actually do in the Scouts and how did you make Eagle?" He answers, "My Mom, was very involved".


He was a source of entertainment the rest of the trip. Very nice guy. Stereotypical Millennial! "

I suppose he has a masters degree now.

missmolly: ""Cummerbunds ain't fun," Sean Connery said."

They shed the cumberbuns for cumber-buns.

A few year ago, we were on a family trip, my wife and two adult sons. We had left Long Island around 7am and had just gotten to Banadad around noon. Those who have been through there know how muddy and taxing those portages are.

My youngest (20) was having a bad day having stepped in a couple of waist-deep mud holes. And my oldest (23) also had found mud. We met another group coming from Banadad at the Sebeka landing who had gear spread all over the trail. As we got closer to the end of the portage, we met the rest of his family.

There were two boys, two girls, the mom, and a very muddy Poodle and there was gear spread all over the Banadad landing as well. My youngest turned to me and said, "Hmm, I guess my situation is suddenly looking very good." My oldest looks at me and says, "Thank you for being so organized." My wife and I laughed. Lesson learned and received for my boys.

Wharfrat63: "...I overhear his friends asking, "What did you actually do in the Scouts and how did you make Eagle?" He answers, "My Mom, was very involved".
"

I used to love those kind of guys when I was a scout leader (and their moms) ;)
Also the 14 year old eagle scouts (usually one and the same...)

A couple decades ago we were finishing a week long trip into Pan/Makwa with a single portaging day in the rain heading back to our entry point on Kawishiwi Lake. It's a hike. We were muddy, wet, sweating like crazy towards the end of a long day. On one of the last portages there was a canoe at the landing and as we were half way up the portage we met this strapping hulkster of a young guy that looked like an NFL lineman. He was carrying 2 or 3 packs with a huge smile on his face. You could just tell he was pumped for the start of his trip. We asked him if he was on a solo and he said, "no, I'm on my honeymoon and my new wife is coming on the portage behind me". We wished him well and he continued on his way.

A little further up the portage we met his new wife who was tip toeing around every mud puddle and rock as not to get a speck of anything on her new shoes and duds that she must have just picked up from the outfitter. She was decked out to the nines with all new clothes. She saw us and got as far away as possible so we wouldn't drip anything on her. We asked if she was excited about her first trip into the BW and her reply was priceless - "do I have a choice?" Every time we're on a muddy, wet portage this story comes up and we all start laughing.

papalambeau: "We asked if she was excited about her first trip into the BW and her reply was priceless - "do I have a choice?" Every time we're on a muddy, wet portage this story comes up and we all start laughing."

I do hope there was a "happy ending" to that trip and they are still married. ;) But I can't help but wonder...

It was in 2004, and my fiance and I were on a trip from Sawbill to Grace, doing the Beth to Grace 286 rod portage. She was a trooper, but she stopped at the halfway rest stop. I had the canoe and caught up with her.

She looked up at me.

I said, "So, are we still getting married?" She glared at me, but all was well once we reached Grace. We still kid each other about that moment. We had a great time. She has zero interest going back to the BWCA though. Been going solo almost every time since then, except for a couple of times with my son and sometimes with his college buddy from UW Madison.

Tomster

quark2222: "It was in 2004, and my fiance and I were on a trip from Sawbill to Grace, doing the Beth to Grace 286 rod portage. She was a trooper, but she stopped at the halfway rest stop. I had the canoe and caught up with her.

She looked up at me.

I said, "So, are we still getting married?" She glared at me, but all was well once we reached Grace. We still kid each other about that moment. We had a great time. She has zero interest going back to the BWCA though. Been going solo almost every time since then, except for a couple of times with my son and sometimes with his college buddy from UW Madison.

Tomster"

That was a good one. I can't tell you how many times my wife has given me "the glare" or what I call her "Spock eyebrow" that we chuckle at now after 30+years of bliss....yeah....good story with a good result....

I was down a ways from camp just sitting on a slab and admiring the view. A couple guys in an aluminum canoe come cruising down the shoreline and all of a sudden turn and t-bone the shore at ramming speed right below me. After the cussing and blame subsided, I merely asked...."Are we having fun yet?". Startled them, they both looked up at me and started to chuckle, then backed up without saying a word, and continued zig zagging their way down the lake.

These guys going out of Sawbill Landing one morning. Hope they were finding a site on Sawbill...

jhb8426: "These guys going out of Sawbill Landing one morning. Hope they were finding a site on Sawbill...






"

Do you believe theses were seperate groups or one?

Either way, yikes...

JWilder: "

jhb8426: "These guys going out of Sawbill Landing one morning. Hope they were finding a site on Sawbill...









"

Do you believe theses were seperate groups or one?


Either way, yikes..."

Not a lot of freeboard in that first pic.

jhb8426: "These guys going out of Sawbill Landing one morning. Hope they were finding a site on Sawbill...





"

The stern paddler in the first picture looks like he has the stern painter tethered to his pfd. Maybe he anticipated a capsize. The 3 pairs of paddlers look like they are car camping with canoes.

Upon returning to Prairie Portage one afternoon, we saw a canoe loaded past the gunwales with about 3-4 inches of freeboard. A beagle jumped out of the canoe and swam alongside until the stern paddler lifted it back into the boat. That boat was headed out into the chop and a west wind on Bayley Bay. The paddlers looked like they had traveled that way before.

We don't seem to be able to remember many funny encounters in our canoe-tripping years. The one that comes to mind has already been written up in my 1985 trip report, but it is memorable enough that I can still bring back that feeling I had of total irritation.

Here is the quote from Day 3 of 1985 Fall Lake Trip:


We portage, then paddle down more stream, over a few beaver dams, etc., then make the long portage (not a bad one) to Tin Can Lake past Sandpit Lake. There are some large parties of people on the portage. One girl makes her companion (who is gasping for breath) pose with the canoe on the plank bridge. I found her OBNOXIOUS! She has clean white DRY tennies and long polished nails and is wearing a bathing suit—keeping beautiful while her companions do all of the work! Neil thought it was funny that I hoped she would fall into the lake! [Actually, I wanted to push her myself, but that wouldn’t have been nice.]

"

jhb8426: Do you believe theses were separate groups or one?"

They were all together.

jhb8426: "

JWilder: "

jhb8426:
Do you believe theses were seperate groups or one?
"

They were all together.

"

Cripes Alfrighty...

user0317: "

JWilder: "

jhb8426: "These guys going out of Sawbill Landing one morning. Hope they were finding a site on Sawbill...











"

Do you believe theses were seperate groups or one?



Either way, yikes..."

Not a lot of freeboard in that first pic."

I'm actually surprised by the amount of freeboard. That second pic - those are some big boys and with all that gear!

Speckled: "

user0317: "

JWilder: "

jhb8426: "These guys going out of Sawbill Landing one morning. Hope they were finding a site on Sawbill...








"

Do you believe theses were seperate groups or one?



Either way, yikes..."

Not a lot of freeboard in that first pic."

I'm actually surprised by the amount of freeboard. That second pic - those are some big boys and with all that gear! "

Those poor canoes... hope those guys were hugging the shoreline. I would have loved to see their campsite, probably took them all day to set up camp.

jhb8426: "These guys going out of Sawbill Landing one morning. Hope they were finding a site on Sawbill...






"

The group I saw looked a bit like this, but with a 3 person canoe, 3 kids sitting on the packs, and sitting 2-3 inches lower in the water. And this was on Brule headed towards the north side of the lake.

Just a few to add to this fun post:

My brother in law and I had long talked about learning about canoeing. One year he calls me up to say that a highly experienced group of his friends are going and they have space for us to tag along. We are thrilled. It's Memorial Day weekend and the first night in our old style pup tent it's 30 degrees outside and we are, (how shall we say?) under prepared. We wake up in the morning like John Candy and Steve Martin in "Planes Trains and Automobiles" (Where's your hand? Between two pillows). Huddle together for body heat in our sleep. Funny, when we get together and start laughing about old times we call it "The Trip of which we shall not speak" but it's still the very first funny story we tell!

A few years back we were going up Nina Moose River. Day one of our trip.
Water levels are moderately high for the spring and my son says "Let's shoot the rapids". No way I say am I shooting the rapids in a rented Kevlar canoe. We unload and brother in law and son come up behind and say "We're going for it." They take off as we portage down and we hear them yelling "Ahhh!! Watch out! Noooo! Don't! Not that way! Etc." We get to the end of the portage with our gear when they appear quite frazzled from their adventure.

We are just into LLC north of Agnes. Picnicking on the big rock in the bay. Real hot for Memorial Day. All of sudden we hear a woman's voice say "I'm going for a swim." I kid you not, there was no one in sight. Suddenly we look up and a young lady comes into view just burning through the water straight to us. From a looooong ways off. When she gets to us, she stops and says "I did not see you here when I jumped in." No kidding. We chat for a bit, offer her some snack and it turns out she's a water polo player at the U. After a bit more chatting she turns in the water and motors away faster than we could paddle.

I could tell the one about brother in law trying to wake me up by whispering to me in my distant tent while the bear on Knife Lake is snuffling around his tent, but he doesn't think that one is funny yet.

GopherAdventure: ""Cummerbunds ain't fun," Sean Connery said."

They shed the cumberbunds for cumber-buns. "
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