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Author	Message Text
bloody stump	07/11/2022 08:42AM   I was WW paddling partner on that trip from Seagull to SAK and back. Remember seeing gas cans and chainsaws staged at a couple of the portage landings. We werent sure if they would allows us to go, but we had our permit before the storm hit and was far enough out that we were able to go. First picture is hopefully a better shot of what WW posted. Second is a shot from the latrine Third is a pic from the top of eddy falls
tumblehome	07/11/2022 08:56AM   We had a permit for Quetico (Beaverhouse) the day after the storms. As we were driving up we heard on the radio about the severity of it. We did our trip in Quetico which was completely unscathed and never learned how wide-spread the blowdown was until we got back.
briar	07/11/2022 08:52AM   We were on Kawnipi when the storm hit. We where wondering what was going on around Ely with all the rumbling. After a short period of time we could start to see the leading edge of the storm, the constant lightning and hear the non stop thunder. On the North side of the storm the winds were not as strong as to the South but the lighting was constant. Tuned into WELY after the storm had past to see what was going on and started getting reports of all the damage. We came out through prairie portage on the 10th, what a change. The portages we used had been cleared by then so our only worry was what shape the truck would be in when we got out. Luckily no trees had landed on it.
eagle98mn	07/15/2022 12:29PM   Duff: "As we both picked up our rods to rig some leeches, it was as if we fired up a couple of Lightsabers......Bwwvvvvvvzzzzz!" Duff, can you explain this more? I love Star Wars but I’m not quite sure what was happening to your fishing rods. Thanks!
timatkn	07/16/2022 01:32AM   Just to be clear I was being sarcastic…no one got hurt in my group, but in the pics I am giving a thumbs down… :) I guess looking back it was a character builder…but we could do without too. T
egknuti	07/16/2022 05:02PM   I had just exited the day before and I was 30 miles south in Embarrass. I was preparing for a late morning run when I noticed storm clouds beginning to form. I guessed I had about another hour before the storm hit. About 50 minutes into my run the rain started falling and actually appeared to travel sideways from the force of the wind. By the time I got back inside, I was soaking wet. I didn’t realize the damage until I was heading to my cousins cabin on Eagles Nest. They had lost power along with a few trees so they headed back home to Aurora. The worst for them was the amount of rain that fell later that evening. Their basement flooded, and we spent the next day throwing out ruined items.
Pinetree	07/09/2022 02:11PM   I left one day early on July 4th from Island river area which also was hit hard. The Pagami fire tho same river same place I was there for the fire and fast evacuations. There she blows
Blatz	07/09/2022 04:01PM   Not in the BW but was in the area. The rain was crazy
Savage Voyageur	07/09/2022 10:03PM   I had a permit and we would have been on Alpine at the time. But my wife had a work conflict so we canceled the trip. I thought we could book another permit the following week. But then they closed the whole BWCA down. So thankfully I was not there.
Canoearoo	07/10/2022 12:56AM   We went in a few days after it hit
analyzer	07/12/2022 12:27PM   We were base camping on Brule when it hit. The air was dead still, and very thick before it hit. As memory serves it was about 1 oclock in the afternoon. It seemed to go on forever, but I'm sure it was just a matter of several minutes. My brother and I were at a portage on the far NE end of the lake. Our father, brother, sister, brother-n-law, and a couple of kids were back at camp. We had two-way radios, but too much static during the storm to communicate. We were standing mid-portage when it hit. Trees were falling every where. It was scary, but I don't recall being terrified. We thought for a minute, and decided to crawl under a bigger tree that had already fallen across some others for refuge. The camp we were in, thankfully had lots of little trees, so despite several falling on the tarp, it didn't hurt anyone. There was one massive pine, that had probably been there 100 plus years, that also thankfully, fell a different direction, or we would have lost family members. Are tents were toast so we had to paddle out. I wish I had pictures of the trees across the dirt road to Brule. I don't recall if it was on the grade or not, but several men, with chain saws, had cut paths through the trees so cars could get through. I had heard a story about one of those crews, coming across a moose who was trapped in the down trees on on one of the roads. They debated about how to approach the situation. They had to cut through the trees to get vehicles through, but didn't want to get trampled by a moose. I don't recall how they resolved that situation.
tumblehome	07/12/2022 01:08PM   Brule got hammered. That lake was messed up for a long time. Still lots of open spaces from the blowdown.
LindenTree	07/12/2022 01:15PM   A national incident management team was dispatched to help with the 1999 blow down recovery. I was stationed in Montana managing the fire station for the Miles City BLM at the time. Six~ months later I transferred to the Tofte RD and was stationed out of Isabella. Below is from the National Fire Situation Reports. EASTERN AREA INCIDENTS: INDEPENDENCE DAY 99 SEARCH AND RESCUE, Superior National Forest. A Type II Incident Management Team (Bonde) is assigned. On July 4, the Superior National Forest experienced a major stand replacing wind event in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Governor Ventura is planning to tour the blowdown area, and FEMA teams will be assessing damage in six counties tomorrow. Areas within Cook county are not expected to get power restored for another four weeks. This will be the last report unless significant activity occurs. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- INCIDENT |ST|UNIT| SIZE | % | EST |TOTAL|CRW|ENG|HELI|STRC| EST| $$$ NAME | | | |CTN| CTN |PERS | | | |LOSS|LOSS|C-T-D --------------------------------------------------------------------------- INDEPENDENCE DA|MN| SUF|50,000| NA| NA| 222| 1| 0| 0| 0| NR| 250K
Wolfee	07/12/2022 04:07PM   Dodged a bullet... Had a permit for and trip planned with wife (gf at the time) over the July 4th holiday for somewhere up on the Gunflint/Arrowhead, either Clearwater or Pine I think. About a month before the storm, we changed our plans to an August Wabakimi trip.
WhiteWolf	07/10/2022 07:29AM   I was with my wife (then GF) on a camping trip on Two Island. We left that Sunday AM and just missed the storms but heard about the warnings on 61 near Two Harbors. Had a permit for Seagull on the 21st. (had to have had a permit before the Blowdown , to be allowed in). This was our site on SAK-- site just East of Eddy Falls. Blowdown everywhere, tent basically set up in fire pit.
deerfoot	07/12/2022 01:33PM   I was there with a youth group trip one week after the 1999 storm. Wilderness Canoe Base at the end of the Gunflint Trail suffered a lot of large trees down but not much structure damage. However, in 2007 the Ham Lake fire burned down most of the camp buildings with the exception of the main lodge and the chapel. The first building they lost to the fire was the pump house for the sprinklers that would have protected the buildings.
ForestDuff	07/12/2022 08:41PM   Lake Three, we had just arrived at our fishing spot after a late brunch. As we both picked up our rods to rig some leeches, it was as if we fired up a couple of Lightsabers......Bwwvvvvvvzzzzz! At that very same time we could hear a constant light rumble off in the distance, the other two guys were a hundred yards behind us and had just arrived. "We're heading back to camp!" "What, why?" They asked "Pick up your rods in the air." I said. They did........"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!!!!" "That is a storm coming." I replied. So we went back to camp and got ready for what was to come. I geared up in my rainsuit and told the others I was going to ride it out on the large granite slab near shore. "Watch out for trees!" I yelled back to them "Yeah, lighting?" "No......getting squished!!" (18 years earlier, I was on a school trip to the BW and witnessed a similar shelf type cloud take out dozens of trees around us) That shelf cloud making it's way across the lake was very impressive, the leading downbursts of wind was picking up sheets of the lake the size of a baseball diamond and just tossing it forward. It raged for a bit turning the lake into nothing but frothy large whitecaps. And then it was over, a few trees down around camp including one that took out a corner of one of the tents. But overall nothing too major around us. We were out fishing in dead calm water about an hour later, and then the float planes started making their way from the Ely area into the BWCA, we commented that it looks like others might not have fared as well as we did.
bloody stump	07/13/2022 09:19AM   thanks for sharing Duff - i hope to never experience my G-loomis turning into a light saber - that had to have been quite scary
TomT	07/15/2022 11:34AM   I had heard about a bad storm on the 4th of July but didn’t think much of it A month later when I took my 7 year old son on a week long camper trailer base camp on Farm Lake just next to the BW. A commercial float plane was giving “rides” one day and me and young Alex jumped at the chance to get an arial look at the area. I remember it was a female pilot and she said we would see some damage from the storm. Well, it blew my mind to see all the trees down pointing the same way. Looked like the game “pick up sticks”. A truly amazing experience. Somewhere in a photo album (remember those?) there’s pics.
ForestDuff	07/15/2022 02:49PM   eagle98mn: "Duff, can you explain this more? I love Star Wars but I’m not quite sure what was happening to your fishing rods. Thanks!" Sure, graphite rods are good conducters of electricity. With the approaching storm, there was a ton of static electricity in the air, and the rods were buzzing loudly when lifted up in the air, like a really loud bumble bee. It was my first time experiencing this, but I had read about it before, so I knew what was happening. It's happened to me twice more since then, the most recent time was right after I made a cast with a bobber, not only did it start buzzing, but the mono line was floating in the air in a big rainbow arch from the tip of the rod to the bobber due to the static electricity. I turned around to my wife to say "See that?!".......and a bunch of her hair was standing up. We obviously called it a night and motored back to the cabin dock.
eagle98mn	07/15/2022 06:39PM   Duff: "eagle98mn: "Duff, can you explain this more? I love Star Wars but I’m not quite sure what was happening to your fishing rods. Thanks!" Sure, graphite rods are good conducters of electricity. With the approaching storm, there was a ton of static electricity in the air, and the rods were buzzing loudly when lifted up in the air, like a really loud bumble bee. It was my first time experiencing this, but I had read about it before, so I knew what was happening. It's happened to me twice more since then, the most recent time was right after I made a cast with a bobber, not only did it start buzzing, but the mono line was floating in the air in a big rainbow arch from the tip of the rod to the bobber due to the static electricity. I turned around to my wife to say "See that?!".......and a bunch of her hair was standing up. We obviously called it a night and motored back to the cabin dock. " Crazy! This is exactly why I’ve enjoyed these message boards. So much knowledge to gain. I’m sure others already knew this, but it was new to me. Good information!!
timatkn	07/15/2022 06:45PM   Having Fun!
Pinetree	07/15/2022 09:07PM   timatkn: " Having Fun! " It was an ordeal wish it never happened, but to some, it turned into an adventure and challenge to come out.
Captn Tony	07/17/2022 06:27AM   I drove up in the 5 inch rain they got the next day as my permit was for July 6. We would drive then wait for the tops of the trees to get cut off so we had one lane to get up to the outfitter which was Tuscaroa. The forest service kept telling me it was too dangerous to go in but the outfitter said it was ok if we were experienced. So we went in thinking that we would base camp if needed and clean up the down trees around the camp. We put in at Gunflint Lake which was a mess and the portages were brutal, but when we got to Saganaga Falls there were very few down trees. My Mom was with us, she was 74 at the time. It was so hard to find the loos that she tore strips of cloth and tied them to tree branches to mark the way.