Hi Everyone,

I'm fairly new to this community, and fairly new to the BWCA in general. I am currently planning my 4th trip into the boundary waters and could use your help.

I have in my posession several photos from my father's last trip to the boundary waters with my older brother. Do to challenges in life, my father never took me when I was old enough to go. Both my father and my older brother have long since passed away, and I'd like to (in some respect) reconnect with them, by going on the trip they once did. I have no idea what entry point they used or lakes they camped on. All I know is they went with a BSA scout group, and the photos are dated Sept/Oct 1985.

I know the pictures aren't great, but if any of you could identity the lake (lakes?) shown, and maybe the entry point, I would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

well, it looks like they are getting a tow from the outfitter and it looks like a longer lake so i'm gonna guess somewhere on the Ely side.

Start with LaTourells on Moose Lake. send them a few of the photos and your dads name, perhaps they keep client records a long time.

good luck and i hope you get to recreate this trip of memories.

The landing at the base reminds me of Canadian Border Outfitters, which is not in business now. Williams and Hall may have the records if they kept them from that far back. The one with the one on the rock could be anywhere, but there is one like it in Wind Lake, which is close to Moose Lake. There is a fire grate, so they spent at least some if not all their time in BWCA. Since they are from Sept/Oct the water levels should be lower than in spring, so the rock peninsula might be underwater most of the year. There are some rocks like that at Gull campsite 1889, but it would be a weird route, unless they looped down from Crooked and had a pickup at Mudro. Scout troops often go long distances to get their 50 mile badge.

What a great project. I hope someone is able to help. The pictures look so 80s though!

Kinda/sorta relatedly, there is a guy on TikTok who figures out what games (usually football or baseball) are being played in the background of movies and TV shows. Often the game being played in the background is nowhere near accurate to the era of the movie.

Mike

I'm guessing River Point Resort and Outfitting on Birch Lake and the narrows look like the area between Gabbro and Little Gabbro.

A lot of the scout troops go through Sommers which is a Boy Scout base. Might check and see if they have records going back that far https://www.ntier.org/expeditions/summercanoetreks/ely-2/

Remember, this was in the age of film. Sept/October dates on photos might be when they were processed. In our case, after spending a bunch on the trip, we sometimes couldn't afford to process film for months. Looks more like summer vegetation to me.

Good point Sedges - back then cameras typically didn’t know the date but Fotomat did.

I’m not seeing anything familiar, but in case it helps anyone else it looks to me like the flat rocks with the dancing guys was just to the left of the one with the young man holding the pike. In the dancing guy photo on the right, there is a thin spot with two rocks that stick up. Those same rocks seem to be just above the pikes head. And not sure, but does that look like water flowing in like a small river above the rocks on the right?

To Freeleo1’s point, it’s possible these were shot during low water, but even if they were I’d think those rocks sticking out like that would be visible in satellite photos.

Thanks for all the replies so far guys. I'll definitely be looking into the information provided. As I've been thinking about it, those entry point photos have boats with gas powered motors. How many entry point lakes allow motor powered boats?

WesternHills: "How many entry point lakes allow motor powered boats?"

From west to east: Crane/Little Vermillion/Loon/LLC, Vermillion/Trout, Farm, Fall/Newton/Basswood, Moose/Newfound/Sucker/Basswood, Snowbank, Saganaga, Seagull, East Bearskin, Clearwater, South Fowl. Also notable are lakes outside of the wilderness area that one can access BWCA entry points from, like Burntside, Gunflint and Poplar. I am not a regulation history buff, nor was I alive in 1985 so I really don't know if the motor regulations have changed since then but I want to say that they haven't.

If you had instead titled your thread "Name That Lake #85" you'd probably have an answer by now! Let's go NTL crowd, THIS IS WHAT WE TRAIN FOR

I'd guess Seagull based on the pictures, but the Boy Scout involvement makes me want to say Clearwater or Moose. The rest of the pictures clearly rule out Clearwater (Vento unit lakes are easily identified in photos). My first guess will be an Entry at Moose for a trip into SAK, which, even without pictures, would be a good guess based solely on statistics.

I hope we can help you reconnect with your family! and Thank You for providing some out-of-the-ordinary content!

One of these photos, filename/url I've pasted below, really looks like 'the rock' on Insula Lake. Can't recognize anything else and that lake doesn't align well with the idea of a tow/motor entry, unless they went to insula via a Snowbank launch, which isn't a direct route at all.

https://photos.bwca.com/w/WESTERNHILLS-080622-003047.JPG The Rock

I missed the comment about the bsa trip. Try contacting that bsa troop, they should have an historian and kept records of all these outings. They probably needed parental release forms which have to be saved for practically an eon.

Some of these photos appear to be in the Gabbro/Bald Eagle area.

The Sommers Alumni Association has pictures of all the crews that set out from the base. If your brother and father did go through there with the boy scouts, perhaps you'll recognize their picture?

Here's a link to the folder for 1985

https://www.flickr.com/photos/holry/albums/72157663723579089/

Freeleo1: "The landing at the base reminds me of Canadian Border Outfitters, which is not in business now. "

Not to stray off topic but do you have any more information on why CBO shut down? That is really sad to hear.

Z4K: "…..If you had instead titled your thread "Name That Lake #85" you'd probably have an answer by now! Let's go NTL crowd, THIS IS WHAT WE TRAIN FOR…"

No kidding, this one round actually counts!

I’d certainly encourage WesternHills to look through the Charles L. Sommers (now Northern Tier) photos and exhaust that option, but I have to say when I look at the photos on the dock and the size of the water and position of point or islands , I don’t think these photos were taken at the Sommers Base. When I look at satellite images, the water and islands/points don’t seem to add up. Someone else please look and render an opinion. I am pretty sure the Base has not moved.

Sommers/Northern Tier has sent gobs of scouters out in the wilderness for many decades, but my impression is plenty of more local scout groups just go on their own. My first trip was with my scout group several years before this, and we just did it on our own because we had BWCA experienced people in our group.

Jaywalker: "I’d certainly encourage WesternHills to look through the Charles L. Sommers (now Northern Tier) photos and exhaust that option"

I'm going through each photo now. Looks like there are 3 pages of them. I'm surprised and impressed that Sommers posts all those pictures.

Curious if you've discovered anything. Love a good mystery!

Maybe you can see if any outfitters recognize the stickers on those boats

Atom: "

Freeleo1: "The landing at the base reminds me of Canadian Border Outfitters, which is not in business now. "

Not to stray off topic but do you have any more information on why CBO shut down? That is really sad to hear. "

I believe they sold to new owners that went a different direction with the property. I don't recall what that direction was now.

Re CBO I think the fires were the last blow. And difficulty hiring enough staff for tows and day to day operations. Added to covid slowdown and shut down of Southern Quetico entry points. A business working on small margins and limited season might be ok with one or two, but it was a lot.
Back to the photos, I hadn't thought about a delay in photo processing, so it could be earlier in the year. The rock peninsula should be a pretty recognizable feature.