You Don't Catch, You Don't Eat
by rockstaranon
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
05/16/2011
Entry & Exit Point:
Mudro Lake (EP 23)
Number of Days:
6
Group Size:
5
Trip Introduction:
It’s funny the way time works in your mind.
Usually
your long terms goals seem to come to fruition
ridiculously
fast, but short term goals seem to take FOREVER to get
to,
especially when there is a lot of hype around it. This
trip
was no exception. I began planning in late December for
our
mid-May fishing opener trip, and at the suggestion of one
of
my trip partners, we decided to outfit through Canadian
Border Outfitters. The original plan was for a
challenging 6
day loop from Mudro, up the Horse River, around the hook
on
the border through Wheelbarrow Falls, drop down through
Basswood and Jackfish Bay, and exit at Fall Lake. So I
bought the permits in February and began to accrue trip
partners. By March we had 6 guys on board: Me, The Kid
(Nimbus2000 here in the forum), Papa D, Webb, Rob J, and
Spot. 2 rookies in the mix and a smattering of experience
from the rest, not including myself. This was shaping up
to
be a grand adventure. Since we had 6 people, it was
decided
to shorten the length of the trip quite a bit. We’d have
2
full layover days on Horse and Crooked, and exit back
through Mudro. This would allow for more fishing and less
sore muscles. Our one snag came in early April when Spot
called me and said he wasn’t going to be able to get the
time off work. So we tried finding a replacement to no
avail, and our crew was set at 5. This meant I would be
soloing…again. And so January to May dragged on and on
and
on. The wait was excruciating, and I probably spent more
time researching for this trip than I did studying for my
finals, but finally it was May 15th and we were ready to
go.
Before the trip, one of the popular phrases among the
group
was that if you don’t catch, you don’t eat. This was of
course meant to be a lighthearted jest, but little did we
know that that phrase would turn out to have more merit
than
expected.
Also, for some reason bwca.com doesn't show previews for
a lot of my photos and it looks like there is a broken
link for some of the pictures. If you click on the broken
link icon the photo will appear for each one.
Discuss Trip:
View Discussion Thread (14 messages)
Day 1 of 6
Day 1: Twin Cities to Ely/Babbitt.
Since Papa D wasn’t going to be able head up at the same time as me, Kid and Rob J, he gave us his four runner and the three of us started for Ely on Sunday, May 15th at 1pm. Damn it felt good to be on the road, all your obligations and responsibilities of life at home are null and void as soon as you hit the freeway, and the only concern I really had was if we were going to have enough food. Webb and Papa D were only a couple hours behind us and we were making good time. A quick stop in Ely to grab a Mackenzie map from Piragis, and a couple rented packs at the Lodge, in which CBO was gracious enough to drive down and drop off for us, then over to Babbitt to stay with my aunt and uncle who were nice enough to put up us for a night (and cook us some unbelievably good BBQ chicken). Somehow Papa and Webb managed to beat us to Babbitt, now how did THAT happen?! Of course Webb did 80 the whole way. Got all our clothes permethrined and the usual pack and prep took till about 2am. The Kid and I have become somewhat of gear junkies and we probably spent more on new gear than we did on our entire rentals. We managed about 4 hours of sleep before we were up at 6am and loading the cars.
Since Papa D wasn’t going to be able head up at the same time as me, Kid and Rob J, he gave us his four runner and the three of us started for Ely on Sunday, May 15th at 1pm. Damn it felt good to be on the road, all your obligations and responsibilities of life at home are null and void as soon as you hit the freeway, and the only concern I really had was if we were going to have enough food. Webb and Papa D were only a couple hours behind us and we were making good time. A quick stop in Ely to grab a Mackenzie map from Piragis, and a couple rented packs at the Lodge, in which CBO was gracious enough to drive down and drop off for us, then over to Babbitt to stay with my aunt and uncle who were nice enough to put up us for a night (and cook us some unbelievably good BBQ chicken). Somehow Papa and Webb managed to beat us to Babbitt, now how did THAT happen?! Of course Webb did 80 the whole way. Got all our clothes permethrined and the usual pack and prep took till about 2am. The Kid and I have become somewhat of gear junkies and we probably spent more on new gear than we did on our entire rentals. We managed about 4 hours of sleep before we were up at 6am and loading the cars.
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