Sunday, August 5, 2007 + What a great morning to sleep in! We had but a 2.7 mile paddle back to the portage into Sucker to meet our tow…so after breakfast we broke camp and wrote the final chapter…well, almost the final chapter…of one fantastic trip, with one fantastic son, into the BWCA.

Our tow from Williams and Hall was right on time…we loaded up and sped SW into some bouncing troughs and made the trip back in just over twenty minutes. Here is where the story gets ‘interesting’…unfortunately. I say unfortunately because it is the part of the trip that I would definitely leave out if I had the choice. Once the tow boat stopped at the dock, I jumped up and out of the boat onto the dock…hitting my head on the metal bars used to secure the canoes in the tow. I knew instantly that it wasn’t just a ‘bump’; and after stopping the bleeding, and then showering (nothing was going to keep me from that shower) we headed to Ely and the Ely/Bloomenson Community Hospital ER. Thanks to the quick work of Doctor Stephen Park, who by-the-way, is also ‘one of us’, he sutured the laceration in my head with six staples.

My son and I then made our way to the Ely Steak House one more time to each polish off a king-cut of a very succulent rib-eye steak. We finally got way from Ely and made our way back to Rochester…the drive back seemed MUCH longer then the drive up.

I have to conclude my trip report with another story…which from its beginning I thought for sure was going to be anything BUT a story with a happy ending.

Here it is: The last day in the BW…as we broke camp on Birch…I took my wedding ring off (the original ring I was married with 39 years ago) to put some sun-screen on my legs. The ring never made it back onto my finger. It wasn’t until after my shower back at Williams and Hall…after the incident with my head…that I finally noticed that my ring was gone! I knew instantly what had happened. However, I wasn’t for sure if the ring was at the Birch campsite or if it possibly could have fallen out of the canoe at the last portage. Before leaving Williams and Hall for the hospital, I told Blayne about the ring and he told me that he would be going back to the portage area the next day and that he would look for it. Realistically, I didn’t hold much hope…because I didn’t even know if it was there or at the campsite…let alone the likelihood of it being found, regardless of where it was. Blayne called me a couple of days later to tell me that he had had no luck. About a week later Blayne called again with the great news that my ring had been found! Seems as if a fella by the name of Jeff Anders of Hawley, Minnesota had overheard Blayne talking to me on the phone, telling ME the bad news that he wasn’t able to find my ring. Jeff had gone back to purchase a water bottle and fortunately for me was in the right place at the right time. While Jeff’s group was at the portage into Birch he was out looking for some raspberries and said he looked down and there was the ring…under a bush. He recalled the conversation that he had inadvertently overheard, put the ring in a dry bag, enjoyed his stay in the BW and then shared his discovery with Blayne upon his return. I can’t begin to tell you how thrilled I was to get that second call from Blayne telling me that a Jeff Anders had found my ring. I called Jeff and thanked him profusely and I can’t say enough about Blayne and Williams and Hall for all their help and effort. When Blayne sent the ring back he included a little note…ending with “I can’t tell you how happy I am that it was found. You are one lucky guy!” Call it luck, call it Providence…I don’t know. But I do know that my gratitude to Blayne and Jeff just can’t be expressed enough.

So this trip to the BWCA, a spectacular trip for my son John and I, a trip booked-ended with the airlines losing my gear and a lost wedding band and a hole in my head…is for sure, ONE GREAT STORY.