New Trip Report posted by danbogey

Trip Name: 9 Day Loop out of Sawbill.

Entry Point: 38

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Awesome trip. Remember it is never too cold to swim though. Just a little brisk sometimes.

x2jmorris: "Awesome trip. Remember it is never too cold to swim though. Just a little brisk sometimes."

It was a serious thought on Frost Lake :)

Well done; good read.

Son plays Ultimate, or is the disc there for other reasons?

Thanks for the report, Dan. I'm glad you had a nice trip with your son.

sns: "Well done; good read.


Son plays Ultimate, or is the disc there for other reasons?"

We take the frisbee everywhere. Kills time and it's a great Bellow for fires. We had a hard time getting some of them lit even with all the birch bark we found laying around. Forest was just damp! I was amazed at how dense the pine logs are in the BWCA. The only place that had "great" wood in abundance was Hub Lake. As I mentioned in my post, you better bring a good heavy-duty ax if you want to split logs.

boonie: "Thanks for the report, Dan. I'm glad you had a nice trip with your son. "

That was the most time we've spent together in 11 years (family reasons). He was a little hesitant but came out a champ and wants to go back.

Short story - I took him to Algonquin two years ago and we did a 50K loop with an 80lb canoe and paddles that didn't really fit us. Being prior military I have that odd attitude that you can do anything if you try. I really never paddled a canoe before that trip and didn't even know how to steer one (had no clue what a j-stroke, goon stroke, pry, or draw stroke was). I kept telling him that we had a defective canoe that wouldn't go straight. We kept watching people on the lakes we passed and were amazed at how straight they went.

It was only after we got back that I started looking up "how to steer a canoe". I watched a lot of Kevin Callan and Bill Mason videos amongst others after that trip. Did I feel dumb when I told Nick that I was doing it all wrong in that the stern paddler steers (most of the time)? Our canoe and gear were always wet in Algonquin since both of us were switching paddling sides every 3 or 4 strokes. This trip I never switched from my dominant side (left) and Nick paddled right side the whole trip. I've since mastered those strokes and we now stay dry :) What's the saying "you learn from your mistakes"?

Nice photos and nice report. It's not illegal to take antler sheds out of the BWCA, it's National Forest Wilderness Area, not a "park" (national, state, or otherwise). The MN DNR rules apply here, and thus, antler shed collecting is just as legal as eating blueberries in July.

Nice report and pics! Glad you guys had a good time. Great to see father and son getting out there together!

danbogey: "As I mentioned in my post, you better bring a good heavy-duty ax if you want to split logs. "

I'll offer a couple log-splitting tips (assuming you've found some pretty dry wood) that don't require carrying an axe.
1) Saw about halfway through a longish log. Pick log up by an end with the cut side down and slam the opposite end on a a rock or another log or something. It usually doesn't break perfectly cleanly so then you bang the remnant sticking off the end and it splits the log.
2) Find a "sharp" rock that looks like an anvil, hoist a log over head and smash it down on the rock. Continue until you've got fireplace lengths.

Never a bad idea to wear glasses or close your eyes at the moment of impact. Also requires work gloves. Those safety messages in mind, this is way better than hauling an axe around -- and probably no more dangerous.