Boundary Waters, Trip Reports, BWCA, Stories

The Gary Harden Trip: Where a boy Harden's into a man!
by canoebyu

Trip Type: Paddling Canoe
Entry Date: 08/03/2009
Entry & Exit Point: Moose/Portage River (north) (EP 16)
Number of Days: 8
Group Size: 5
Trip Introduction:
This trip began it's planning stage almost 3 years ago. Gary Harden and I were involved with a father's seminar at our church and Gary mentioned doing a trip like this. I had been in Quetico and central Manitoba before while in Boy Scouts and Gary had visited Quetico prior to becoming a father. He had also taken his family to the Boundary Waters a year earlier for a sample of what he loved doing. Gary and I had asked Ed and his son if they wanted to join us. Long story short, Gary got laid off and couldn't make the trip so Ed Fedrizzi and I picked it up from there to see it through. Gary remained very supportive and now we look forward to doing it again with him and his son present. Thank's Gary for getting this trip going and thank you Ed for deciding to go and making it happen.
Day 1 of 8
Friday, July 31st, 2009 We drove from Kansas City to Banning State Park near Sandstone Minnesota. A total 525 miles plus a detour. Minnesota Department of Transportation brought I-35 to a halt around 5 P.M. (idiots!) I wondered why the radio talk show hosts were bad mouthing them while we were driving through Minneapolis/St. Paul. After sitting on the road for almost an hour, Joe suggested a detour at the next exit. That worked out real well. After reaching our campsite, we fried steaks and potatoes on Ed’s Coleman stove. We then started a campfire with illegal wood from Ed’s truck and roasted some fresh ears of corn from Susan’s Cousin. They were really good. The rain began around 9:30 along with the wind just as we were turning in. It rained off and on all night, along with wind in the tree tops. Everyone stayed mostly dry thanks to the rain fly on our tents.