The most common question I get... How are things different now versus the 1970's? The short answer, way better now. The good ole days weren't so good. Much less traveled, unless we're talking larger entry lakes or some of the larger inland lakes. But, people did not respect the land or the resources anywhere near what they do now.

Despite a tiny fraction of the people currently visiting. The campsites without fail would have burned out beer cans and canned goods. Filleted fish tossed in the water to decompose. Trash on the portages. I never swam at a campsite for fear of broken glass. Tree's dropped and only the tops cut to burn. Even though rarely seeing other people, you sure knew people had been there.

The "silent generation" also had no respect for the natural resources. They lived through the great recession and believed any resource was for the taking. I know I'm generalizing but it was very common. We were leaving into the BWCA and I knew one of the kids that worked at Blue Sky Resort. I went to see him and he showed me a 12 pound walleye a guest had thrown away. He asked the guy why he threw it away. The guy said he wouldn't eat something that big. He asked why the guy kept it. He replied " so some 612 a-hole didn't catch it". Once I was walking the Poplar river with my dog and he got caught in a beaver trap. It was in the early spring. The trap didn't have a name tag on it. I decided a couple days later to walk the river and search for anymore traps left unattended, set, and abandoned. I came to a couple old guys who were illegally netting spawning Northerns. They were filling the back of their pickup. They said they were going to toss them in their garden for fertilizer. They were just garbage fish.

A different era for sure. One that disgusts me. I have so much more faith in humanity today when it comes to our resources.

No more negativity. On to stories.

There was a small - less than 50 acre - lake just inside what is now the BWCA. My dad fished it in the late 50's and caught a few small Northerns. In the early 60's he noticed the trail in had been used a lot! That made no sense until later. Around 1977 my dad decided we would walk into that lake to catch some small Northern to pickle. It was January and the snow was deep. We walked in on snow shoes pulling a sled. It was terrible. Downfalls everywhere. Crawl under, step over and pass the sled. We'd walk, lose the trail, head back. Just awful. It took 3 1/2 hours to walk in. Once in we caught nothing. We started changing up our Northern fishing arsenal and BAM. A fish. Not what we expected a Splake about 4 1/2 pounds! It was so awesome. Once we knew what we were fishing for. We were getting close to getting ready to leave and my dad says " someone is here". Turns out a Conservation Officer walked in to check us. 3 hours in, 3 hours out (he followed our beaten path for better time in then we made). Talk about dedication! 6 hours of walking time to check 2 anglers. Turns out the reason my dad noticed the trail had been well used years earlier, the dnr killed the lake off and planted trout.

A similar story. A very small lake north of Echo. We walked in the portage and saw a trail of pallets laid out through a peat bog to the lake. Really strange. We fished the lake a couple weeks later and got our limit of Walleyes in about 2 hours. The fishing was wonderful. The Walleye were strange. Currently we have the blue Walleye. When we laid these out some were really light white, some were deep golden, some were normal. Turns out we stumbled upon a dnr rearing pond we found out later. Thank you to the dnr for a memorable fishing trip.

I used to enjoy Bushwaking into land locked lakes. Almost always disappointing because once you reach the lake your left with just a peak of what the lake looks like. But, I always enjoyed the feeling no one had ever seen the lake before. In around 1978 we were camped on Raven. I decided to bushwack into Mugwump. It was a much easier trip than I anticipated. So, I started to circle the lake. Around the southeast corner I came to a super cool cedar swamp. Unbelievable. It was like night inside the swamp, the canopy was so heavy. The footing was crap, peat bog swamp, you had to walk the roots. I thought my goodness this is something really special. Until I came across a plaque nailed to a tree. It said something like "University of MN research site".

There was a little lake NE of Roe I bushwacked into once. I'm guessing around 1979. I forget the name of the lake. On the way in I saw a deer carcass. In a tree (the main tree and two adjoining branches). The carcass was about 15 feet in the air. We never get 15 feet of snow. I have no clue what critter would have done that but the most likely in my opinion would be a Mountain lion?

We were camped on Raven lake. I hooked into a huge Laker. I've caught 30 pound Lakers off of Isle Royal, this was bigger. I had never fought such a fish. As it came to the canoe I spotted this fish of my dreams. A loon, lol. Until you've caught a loon you've never played a big fish.

Great stories! Interesting take on the good old days. I grew up in Wisconsin in the 60s and spent most of my time in the northern part of the state. I guess I didn't see as much disrespect as you did, but then I was in my teens and probably wasn't paying attention!! Thanks.

MHS67: "Great stories! Interesting take on the good old days. I grew up in Wisconsin in the 60s and spent most of my time in the northern part of the state. I guess I didn't see as much disrespect as you did, but then I was in my teens and probably wasn't paying attention!! Thanks."

It's ironic you mention that. I had grandparents that lived in Superior and had a cabin in Iron River. My Grandpa was a good man. He took me fishing and hunting in Northern Wisconsin many times through the 1970s. The difference is Northern Minnesota was kinda of the wild west and Northern Wisconsin was more recreational.

MHS67: "Great stories! Interesting take on the good old days. I grew up in Wisconsin in the 60s and spent most of my time in the northern part of the state. I guess I didn't see as much disrespect as you did, but then I was in my teens and probably wasn't paying attention!! Thanks."

It's ironic you mention that. I had grandparents that lived in Superior and had a cabin in Iron River. My Grandpa was a good man. He took me fishing and hunting in Northern Wisconsin many times through the 1970s. The difference is Northern Minnesota was kinda of the wild west and Northern Wisconsin was more recreational.

I love these stories and can identify with some of it. My early camping days were in Algonquin Park In the early 70s shortly after Lime In The Coconut was released (noone could get the song out of his head). All kinds of "artifacts" lying around in those days. I remember we came across a site littered with those small square asbestos gauze mats used to support lab beakers over a bunson burner. Likely this site could have been used by some mining prospectors back in the day for simple assays. Who knows?

Awaiting your next installment.

Even though I'm sure the memories of that misuse and abuse of the natural resources aren't the most pleasant ones, I'm glad you shared them. It's good to be reminded of how good we have it today, and how hard people worked to get things to where they are.

Great stories. We tried to get to Raven last summer but Roe Lake was just a big mud flat and the wind was blowing so strongly that it was nearly impossible to make any progress. Looking forward to more of your memories.

Good to read your stories! Certainly makes me reflect and feel gratitude for the trips we get to take. Was the loon catch and release?!?