Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Reports :: Trip Report - 1974 The Rainy Trip
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rdgbwca |
The detail about the orange reminds me of how I crave a salad after eating dried food for awhile. Did Dorothy live there year round? Who else was allowed to live in the bwca? The notes on prices are great. Thanks for writing it up! |
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Spartan2 |
I don't remember about the roads either. Maybe because I wasn't driving? Maybe because it has been 44 years?? :-) Don't ever remember driving past the 3M Headquarters. But I am sure that Howard Johnson's would have been a good stop. We used to stay at those. Back in the 50's my mother was crazy about their "Dutch Chocolate Almond" ice cream, and Grandma would always want to get a clam roll. (In the 50's, when I was a child, our family took long road trips--six of us crammed into a Buick with bench seats--always including Grandma and Grandpa. Howard Johnson's was a favorite stop.) Egads! I need to get a current project! All of this living in the past is messing with my mind!! |
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Spartan2 |
Trip Name: 1974 The Rainy Trip. Entry Point: 25 Click Here to View Trip Report |
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Spartan2 |
Twins87: "Thanks for taking us all along on your trips down memory lane. Have enjoyed reading them all and am impressed that you returned after the rainy trip. Glad it wasn't your first one or we might not have had you as a member of this community all these years. My first two trips in 1971 and 1973 were both pleasant, so that helped. And I knew that the main reason I hated the cold rain on this trip so much was because of my pain. Didn't expect that to ever happen again, and it didn't. Thank God. As far as the prices, I would like to note that the A&W at Wisconsin Dells had 25-cent hot dogs! Spartan1 had found that out on his trips to Ely from Michigan back in the days when he was a camp counselor at Camp Easton. They had them for quite a few years and we stopped several times en route to or from the canoe country. No seats, just a carry-out restaurant with a counter along the windows where you could stand and eat your hot dogs. |
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Twins87 |
Our first trip was in the early 90s and looking back I am continually amazed at the items we brought with us including jeans and cotton Ts, HUGE car camping tent, etc. I am glad that our gear has shifted over the years to lighter, smaller and most importantly ... better for the weather! LOVE all the prices of items. |
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GopherAdventure |
rdgbwca: "Sounds like you were really roughing it and yet you still went back. Dorothy did live their year round. I heard she would ski back to Moose Lake and hitchhike into town for supplies every so often in the winter. The only other resident at that time would have been Benny Ambrose, who lived on Ottertrack Lake. They would occasionally check up on each other and trade/share supplies. Benny had a pretty awesome garden from what I’ve read. Tony |
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TrailZen |
TZ |
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bottomtothetap |
On my very first trip, I too had the chance to meet Dorothy and she agreed to a photo with with my buddies and me. We all towered over her by almost a foot and she had about 50 years on us but I wouldn't ever have wanted to mess with her! Meeting her and having a wilderness root beer was an opportunity we did not miss, thankfully, as that would be our last chance to do so. She was found dead in her Isle of Pines cabin the following December. |
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PineKnot |
LOL!! Same thing happens when I pull out my tootsie rolls, skittles, frosted ginger snaps or other sweets in camp....all eyes descend on my stash till I say..."Sorry...nope". At least that's what I usually say.... Great report, Spartan 2. Reminds me of a couple trips with my young sons where rain and cold ruled the trip. And 25+ years later and I still dislike rain and cold....immensely....call me a fair weather paddler....guilty as charged!! |
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GraniteCliffs |
Or not. Great report, great price history. I found myself wondering if I could have passed you on a portage or paddling down a lake as I was often in that area at that time. Most of all, hats off to you for returning year after year and sharing your thoughts with us. |
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Spartan2 |
PineKnot: " Thanks, PineKnot. I wouldn't say that I am a fair weather paddler so much as just that I need a variety. I have said in our Trip Planning Forum many times that I think a first trip (or any canoe trip, really) should be at least six days. It is the way to get a "feel" for the place, for one thing. But mainly, for me, I always thought that if I were only out for three or four days and it rained all the time it wouldn't be a really fun experience. And I might not be as enthusiastic to go back. Not living close to the canoe country makes a difference, too. No quick weekend trips for us. We didn't get multiple trips a year, and some years we didn't even get to go at all. Making the most of our time, as far as the pleasure is concerned, seemed important to me. My theory has always been that, in most instances, if you are out for six days, you are more likely to have at least two that are pleasant. This trip didn't follow that idea, but it still seems logical for me. In our prime we liked trips of 8-12 days in length, and of course in that amount of time you experience a variety of weather conditions. And, as one can really appreciate when looking back in time like I have been doing (in my last few trip reports) the difference in the 21st century gear is HUGE. Better rain gear, better footgear, better tents, stoves, tarps, clothing, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, packs. . .and on and on. (I didn't carry the canoe, so if I were to really be honest, I liked the Grumman better than the Northwind. Spartan1 wouldn't agree.)' It would be really fun for me to take a trip NOW, but in my 1970's body!! I was never a wimp, and I loved working hard on a trip. To have had that energy, that stamina, and then to have today's gear would be so much fun! |
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Spartan2 |
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PineKnot |
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PineKnot |
Spartan2: "Oooh. No one has ever called me eloquent before. :-) :-)" That's gotta be worth one sweet smelling orange!! LOLOLOLOL!! |
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Spartan2 |
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inspector13 |
You went to Mpls for the motel room after the stop in Hudson? Back then there was a pretty good Howard Johnson’s across from the headquarters of 3M on the Century Ave. I don’t remember if I694 was completed by 1974, but the old beltway (Hwy 100) was going north into White Bear Lake on Century. It crossed old Highway 61 before heading west. I’m pretty sure I35E was completed by then. Otherwise it was a long drive up 61 from there. |
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bottomtothetap |
Spartan2: "Oooh. No one has ever called me eloquent before. :-) :-)" Oh, Spartan2, how quickly we forget!! :-) Check out your post on the thread Nearing The End from Sept. 26th and the the following post on Dec 31st! |
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30Smoke |
I am impressed that you keep track not only of meals, but time in your log. I try to jot notes at the end of each day if I can stay awake long enough. However, recording breakfast for me would be quite easy - "pancakes today!" - but only while tripping. I hope you can keep catching up on your reports as they will be a permanent record for your family - maybe consider printing them out and at least a three ring binder, if not binding in a book. It is great to look back at our memories, but you are still making memories with your trips and the biggest thing is to keep finding something to keep going. so please Keep on Keepin on and sharing your trips. What I have found great is your grit and keepin on! Take care and may God bless you. Smoke |
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Spartan2 |
30Smoke: "It is fun reading your reports. I am at a crossroads with my health and need to make good decisions or things could go bad. The thought of not being able to go to Yellowstone or the BWCAW have been motivating me to eat better and exercise hoping to keep doing the things I enjoy, but enough about me. Thank you 30Smoke. I read your reports, too, and I enjoy them. Keep doing them, please. And keep up with your health efforts, too. :-) As to the journaling: I had a small waist pack always with me. (after my first trip when I found I had forgotten things so quickly.) At a portage, as soon as we would arrive at a campsite, right after breakfast, etc. I would pull out my little 3x4 spiral notebook and my pen and make very short notes. Sometimes, as in the trip report I am working on now, I would actually sit on my camp stool or on a rock and write more philosophical things. But mainly I wanted, for some reason, to remember what we ate (always planning for another trip), what we did, and what the weather was like. This evolved and changed: there are a few trips that I didn't make much note of the food, but noting the time and the temp became a habit. It just took a minute. Spartan1 carried the thermometer and he would usually announce the temp at some point if I didn't ask. He had the watch, too, as his was more water resistant than mine. When we would push off each morning he would announce the time. At some point I'd just jot it down. Some of this detail is totally unnecessary, of course, but I enjoyed knowing it. Most people don't remember the days of "Space Food Sticks" and "Tang" and those details sometimes hit a chord with others who do. I am not a person who lives in the past, but sometimes a memory is a fun thing, too. As to your other comment, there was almost always a "book". The book from our first trip in 1971 (Namakan Loop in Canada) was a small scrapbook that I purchased in Ely after the trip, and it has about 20 photos and a couple pages of notes. Then I didn't do books for the next eight trips. Those are the trips that I am doing now: '73, '74, '77, '78, '80, '82, '85. A couple of years ago I did a trip report on the '85 Basswood Trip. All of our trips after '85 have either a big, bulky photo album with hundreds of photos, or (since 2011) a real book that I made on Snapfish with all of the narrative and photos. Much easier to store than a photo album, less money, and more fun to make. The advent of digital photography helped, and handling prints is a thing of the past, as we all know. But I didn't take a digital SLR until 2004. As a pandemic project, to keep my mind occupied during this very long year of isolation, I decided that the early trips "needed a book". So far I have made two books called "Going Back In Time". The first one included the '82 and '73 canoe trips, and then Volume 2 had '80, '77, and '74. (The next one will be '78, '85, and '88) Once I had the books I realized how easy it now is to just transcribe the narrative to the Trip Report format and all of the photos (scanned) were now in a folder. So I started doing the trip reports. Much quicker now than it used to be, as in my early trip reports I had to scan my photos into Photobucket and then transfer them. I was pleased when the site here made it possible to just add the photos to the reports. I am working now on a trip report from 1977's Quetico trip and that one should be online in a day or two. The only part I hate is the scanning, as it is very tedious. I will never get all of the trip books online. And that is just as well, as it would be overkill. But perhaps once I am done with the early ones that don't have their book I'll try one of two of the favorites from the '90's and '00's. The next problem is that if we ever have to downsize (again) I will need storage for half a lifetime's vacation books. Books that no one other than us will ever want to read, or to keep. There are also Snapfish books from all of our cruises, and from every one of our annual "grandchild vacations" with each of our two grandchildren, as well as a big group of Spartan Football Bowl Game trips. Someone told me once that I should have been a photojournalist instead of a music teacher. They probably had a point. |
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Spartan2 |
bottomtothetap: "Spartan2: "Oooh. No one has ever called me eloquent before. :-) :-)" I stand corrected. Thank you. :-) |
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Voyager |
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