START DAY: Kawaseecheewonk Lake (Island Site)

END DAY: Just north of Heartbreak

CAMPSITE #7

The day started with breaking camp at Kawaseecheewonk Lake before starting the paddle south. Joe and Kyle had been camped on a rock site with not much to stake down their tent. While packing up, the winds unfortunately blew their tent down the shore some distance which resulted in minor damage (fortunately a little creative use of duct tape allowed the tent to remain usable).

Kawaseecheewonk Lake was a nice and easy paddle with good portages into the next two small unnamed lakes. In the second of these unnamed lakes, I caught another 10 lbs pike again trolling my 8” jointed Wiley Musky King fishing lure.

The portage out of this lake took us into paddling through a long stretch of skinny water loaded with beaver dams to be crossed, unofficially named by Northern Tier as “beaver dam-nation”. There was also another challenging and steep portaged nicknamed “billy goat”. My happy-go-lucky son Joey managed to fall and bounce down the portage a ways while carrying a large backpack. He screamed quite an assortment of very non-scouting appropriate words while tumbling down the hill. Fortunately nothing was broken or sprained other than his pride.

Once we reached our campsite, Brian told us that this was the campsite with the giant berry patch that he had been talking about throughout the week. He suggested that while we get dinner started, he would hike back into the woods and see if any of the berries were ripe. Brian returned about 10 minutes later carrying a nice large watermelon to the shock and amazement of the scouts. Who knew these things could grow in Manitoba? Brian knew! Apparently he had this watermelon buried deep in his personal pack all week waiting to spring this little surprise on his friends from Ohio. Well played Brian!

While I do not recall exactly how this started, one of the scouts presented a challenge to Joey that most would have declined. “I’ll give you $5 if you drink your own pee”. Having some sense, Joey advised that $5 to drink your own pee is not reasonable. Another scout offered up another $5, and then another. The next thing we hear is Joey saying, “$35? Heck yeah, I’ll do it”. The picture below is Joey holding his water bottle prepped for the challenge. Cameron “gave it a whiff” to assure the contents of the bottle; his look verified the integrity of the test. Yes, Joey successfully completed the challenge.

After all of the day’s activities, Brian gave the scouts another surprise when he went to his tent to change and came back wearing his uniform. While previously known to Cindy and me, the scouts learned that Brian was not just a college kid working as an interpreter for the summer, but he was the Boy Scout’s Director of the Northern Tier base in Bissett. He took one trip every summer into the woods with a scout trek and we were fortunate that he selected our group for his annual vacation.