http://RealAdventures.com/vacations/184979_articles-minnesota.htm Check out some of the recently updated travel & vacation listings on RealAdventures. Be inspired, go explore! en-us Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:57:39 GMT Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:57:39 GMT http://RealAdventures.com http://RealAdventures.com/vacations/184979_articles-minnesota.htm 100 100 http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1156731_Ontario-Quetico-Park-canoe-trip http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1156731_Ontario-Quetico-Park-canoe-trip Articles Minnesota Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:01:35 Canoe trip taken in 2007 into Quetico Provincial Park, a canoe only wilderness -
Canoe trip taken in 2007 into Quetico Provincial Park, a canoe only wilderness


John & Lynns Fall Quetico Trip Detours and Low Water

Lynn & I usually go out on our trip around September 10th since that is about the time things slow down a little at the shop. It happened that we had two customers that needed to be dropped off on the north side of Quetico, at Nym Lake. We chose to take advantage of the van ride and paddle the north side as well, starting at Stanton Bay which is about 20 miles from Nym.

The route was planned to take us from Pickerel Lake and out through Sturgeon, to Lac La Croix where a tow boat would pick us up and take us over to Crane Lake. The only thing I worried about was the Deux River. In low water conditions it can be impassable, so I called a Canadian outfitter I knew to get some info. He said that there were 3 beaver dams to pullover but you could still get through.

Day 1 September 10th at 6 am we met the Sheltons (father & son), packed up the van and took off. We had John Duke (aka Duke) drive us up. We stopped in International Falls to gas up and get some breakfast. After crossing the border, we stopped in Canada to pick up some bait & our Ontario fishing licenses. (Note as of 2007, no live bait at all will be allowed in Quetico).

After we dropped of the Sheltons at Nym, we drove over to Stanton Bay. There is a quarter mile portage to Stanton Bay that has a large, nice boardwalk on it. Duke gave us a hand with the gear. Then we set off, heading south out of Stanton Bay. We entered Pickeral Lake, which is a large lake with lots of sandy beaches. At one time there was a large dam on Pickeral but between the years of 1978 1983, the dam was dismantled. This reduced the water levels 4 5 feet, down to their original levels and created the sandy shoreline.

We headed toward Emerald Island and Pine Portage Bay. As we got closer we spotted dark smoke curling upwards just ahead of us. A bit closer & we saw an area of Pine Portage Bay peninsula in flames, the fire snaking up the trees, burning the needles and making the sounds of a rather large bowl of Rice Krispies (snap, crackle, pop). We stopped and took several pictures of the blaze. As we left we saw a plane circling overhead.

We headed over to the 94 rod Deux Rivieres Portage into Dore Lake. On the south end of Dore there are some Indian pictographs and right before the next portage we spotted a sunken barge just below the water. This barge was used by people moving west over the Dawson Portage in the 1870s. The next 142 rod portage follows a shallow stream which leads to Twin Lake. After doing the portage into Twin we ran into 4 solo canoers who were coming from the Deux River area, which was where we were headed. They told us that they had just spent 2 hours trying to do the Deux and had given up! They had chest waders on and had mud almost all the way up. They had talked to a Quetico Ranger a week before who had given them the same info we had received, that the river was passable. Obviously conditions in the fall can change pretty fast. The same thing has happened to us when giving information on routes, luckily though, not too often.

I decided to change my route to exit at Beaverhouse Lake. This would still give us two days for ourselves and not increase the portaging too much. We found a nice campsite on an island on the south part of Twin Lake. It was set high up and had a great view. That night we listened to the small German shortwave radio I had brought and got up to date on football game scores. As we sat around camp we were also serenaded by the mournful howl of a nearby wolf pack not once but twice. When we woke up the next morning we were treated to another two serenades as well! This area is filled with wildlife. A Park naturalist has said that this one of the best parts of the Quetico to find moose, wolves, bald eagles and osprey.

Day 2 That morning I used our satellite phone to call our office to inform them of the change & to have them switch the pick up point and schedule a flight out of Beaverhouse instead of a tow at La Croix. We backtracked our way out to Pickeral Narrows and met Matt Shelton & his dad paddling towards us. We gave them the bad news about the Deux River and suggested they go around through Bisk, Beg, Bud, Fern and Olifaunt to get to Sturgeon, which was their next goal.

At the end of Pickeral there is a narrow spot which shows 2 portages on the map. We were able to paddle through the first area but had to do the next short portage. At that portage we met a Canadian couple who were traveling with their two gorgeous and well behaved malamute/husky dogs. We were now on Batchewaung Lake where we settled in at an island campsite with a great view of the evenings sunset.

We had two short portages, in and out of a small pond to get into McAlpine Lake. The map shows just one portage but there is a large beaver dam which must be portaged around. McAlpine is a long lake, five miles long, and narrow. There is a small rock cliff which has an Indian pictograph as well as some kind of spiral abstraction. The west side of the lake is very shallow and littered with large tree stumps. The portage out of McAlpine is a series of portages around beaver dams. We spotted a muskrat on the shoreline and a large flock of Canadian geese.

Day 3 4 Once on Kasakokwog, we followed the north shore down to the middle of the lake where there is a bunch of camp sites. My buddy, Jeff Hway, told me about a nice sandy beach site. We found it and set up camp, planning to stay here for two nights. It was very nice, sand beach, facing west, set in a big stand of red pines, with a small island in front of it. After dinner we enjoyed a great sunset. When it got dark I lit up the lantern (Quetico had a fire ban). We had a cocktail and talked about how the trip had gone so far. Except for the low water, we had great weather and the wind at our backs.

The next morning we slept in late & then got up to do some fishing. Since I knew nothing about this lake, I decided to do a lot of trolling. We took our rod holders & heavy rods set with 17 test and a 8 deep diving Shad Rap. After a few passes we picked up some pike and a few smallmouth bass off a point near our campsite. We switched over to crawlers & jigs and caught some more bass. After fishing we went for a swim, did some reading and then got our stuff ready for traveling the next day. We had a great dinner which included some of Cache Lakes fry bread, yum!

Day 5 That morning we woke to a beautiful blue sky. We jumped into the canoe and took off. We had another three miles to cross Kasakokwog and we checked out a couple campsites along the way. Back in the southwest corner of the lake is a 75 rod portage which was very rocky. We were able to paddle down the creek a ways before we had to portage. There were about three beaver dams we had to either go over or walk around. The last quarter mile was low water & very mucky and we sank to our knees in mud. We were very happy to finally spot Quetico Lake.

The wind started to pick up from the southwest, right in our faces. This wind forced some smoke and ash toward us from a fire in Quetico Lake. We made our way through some islands and were able to use them for a shield. Finally the wind calmed a bit and we were able to explore the rugged, rocky northern shoreline. In Quetico Lake there are at least four displays of Indian pictographs, all relatively easy to spot since they are at the base of steep cliffs. The easternmost set is exceptionally good and is nearly hidden under a low rock overhang. This one has many figures a moose, a canoe, three people, a caribou and several abstract drawings.

Day 6 We paddled past the narrows that lead to Cirrus Lake and began to look for a campsite on Eden Island. We found one right away that Lynn went to check out. It was very high, set on a granite ledge just off a long winding trail and would have taken a lot of work to get our gear there, so we passed it up. We found one near Eden Island, very nice but with one drawback, it was exposed to the wind. The next day it was very windy and the lake had a good chop to it. We fished off shore and got a few bass and pike. Afterwards we went back to finish reading our books and then got everything ready for an early departure the next day.

For breakfast our last morning we had Harvest bars & KoolAid. The wind wasnt too bad but we could see rain moving in. We paddled to a big point off Eden Island and took a small break. From this point we headed west into a narrows. There were a lot of beautiful red maples found here. We also saw a bunch of mergansers and an osprey. This was a perfect area to take pictures.

Just as we started the next 24 rod portage it began to rain on us. After the portage we followed the south shore down a little. A mile after a big point there is a nice sandy bay and that is where the Canadian Ranger Station on Beaverhouse is located. This station is closed after September 6th. We reached the shore around 930 a.m. and it began to rain harder. We spotted two other people who had just pulled up to the station. We all took cover in an old cabin that had sort of an enclosed porch on it. The couple, Patty & Paul Payne, was also waiting for a floatplane to pick them up. Their flight was supposed to be at 930 and ours was to be at 130 p.m. With the low cloud ceiling, neither appointment looked like it was going to happen.

Paul & I took a canoe out on the lake to try for a better satellite connection. They called Jay Hamburg, owner of Campbells Cabins of La Croix & Quetico Air Services. Jay said he couldnt promise anything but there was a slight possibility of a small air opening for around 200 p.m. While waiting to hear a floatplane arrive, we sat on the porch and chatted with the Paynes. Then Lynn took out our Coleman Max Expedition stove and made a nice hot soup, combining our wild rice soup mix with Pattys cream of broccoli. After lunch the rain has subsided quite a bit so we decided to explore a bit. We checked out the other cabin, seeing if we could sleep there overnight since we didnt really think wed get picked up that day. But then at 145 we were startled by the sound of a large plane overhead. We couldnt see it until it hit the water. Jay had sent an Otter plane (one of the largest floatplanes) and his most experienced pilot, Rob, who was 65 years old. Patty knew Rob from previous flights and said, I like my pilots with gray hair!

We loaded the plane but were only able to put one canoe on it. Our canoe was left behind and Jay would have it picked up the next day. We flew so low that we were able to clearly see the colorful trees we soared over. Rob had to make a quick turn to avoid a fog bank and was only able to take us as far as Crane Lake, not all the way to Ely. I had called our shop and had a driver bring a van up to Crane Lake. After landing at Crane and checking in at the U.S. Customs, we went over to Scotts and bought a couple beverages & some snacks. Soon our van pulled up and we took the drive back to Ely. The drive on the Echo Trail was a maze of reds, oranges and vibrant yellows and was a gorgeous way to end our trip.

We had a great trip with six out of seven days having great weather. We saw & heard lots of wildlife, viewed lots of pictographs and experienced wilderness fires, luckily without being threatened by them. A great trip indeed!


Details & Reservations: Ontario/Quetico Park canoe trip
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]]> http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1024242_Out-of-Bounds http://RealAdventures.com/listings/1024242_Out-of-Bounds Articles Minnesota Tue, 27 Mar 2001 00:03:00 Exploring Minnesota's Boundary Waters Wilderness, a million acres in northeastern Minnesota spotted with lakes and bordering Ontario and its Quetico Provincial Park. -
Exploring Minnesota's Boundary Waters Wilderness, a million acres in northeastern Minnesota spotted with lakes and bordering Ontario and its Quetico Provincial Park.


By John Byorth

All there is to do during a canoe tow is listen to the hum of the 25horsepower motor, feel the wind, and watch the shoreline pass in a green blur. Or, like me, you can wonder how a first timer (like myself) to Minnesota ' s Boundary Waters could find his way around if, say, the map blew into the fire and burned up, or the canoe swamped and the map sank.

Staying lost doesn't look a chore. For one, thick boreal forest made up of jack pine, birch, aspen, balsam fir, spruce, and the occasional red and white pine covers everything that is not one of a seemingly million lakes. Shorelines bulge with green and the thickness goes on and on and on. This has the effect of hiding any telling features that might otherwise lend a hand in negotiating its basic flatness.

Most people could wander within a hundred feet of a road and never know it. But that's why people come to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a million acres in northeastern Minnesota spotted with lakes and bordering Ontario and its Quetico Provincial Park. People come to wander around, paddle, camp, fish, and take it easy without reminders of what they came to get away from. So many people come here, in fact, that it is the most frequently visited land within the National Wilderness System, seeing some 200,000 visitors per year on its 1,100 lakes.

On my first morning in the Boundary Waters, the number 200,000 seemed entirely plausible. As our outfitter, Bob LaTourell, Jr., towed us across Moose and Sucker lakes to the entry portage into Birch Lake, I saw people. But they were in scattered parties, both fresh and weathered, paddling and motoring around. With me was Telluridebased photographer Ace Kvale and his brother Kevin, a real estate agent from the Twin Cities. We were set for a weeklong saunter to experience this popular place, and to find out what is so special about it to all these folks.

The motor shut off and we coasted into portage. Bob jumped out to catch us at shoreline. He is a stout man with muscles that serve his work ethic well. When he is moving, he is working. When he is working, he deters any ideas you may have of helping out because he moves with such swiftness and efficiency, you would only get in the way. He's been doing this since he could stand up, same as his younger twin sisters. They are the third generation of LaTourells to tow, guide, and outfit in the Boundary Waters.

In a matter of minutes Bob unloaded our gear, started the motor, and was gone. Silence fell and the first, and most unusual of many things that makes this place special became evident no motors. We were standing at the point of departure between a peripheral zone of motorized "semiprimitive" wilderness and the beginning of paddleonly wilderness.

Motors are allowed only on 18 peripheral lakes as a result of almost 35 years of political and legal sparring. Back in 1957, the Boundary Waters (then called the Superior National Forest Roadless Area) inspired Minnesota's Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey to sponsor the Wilderness Bill. His intent was to preserve all "roadless" (wilderness) areas. But because northern Minnesotans had much to lose in the way of traditional local life and their extractive industries, local resistance proved stalwart, hindering passage of the bill until Humphrey made concessions, one of which was to allow motorboats.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 made exceptions for historically established motorized waterways. Some environmental groups sued for changes to the act, finding some success in the BWCA Wilderness Act of 1978. This legislation strengthened wilderness protections as well as phasing out additional motorized waterways and portages, but it also reaffirmed some motorized usage. Today, some consider the semiprimitive motorized area less of a wilderness, and perhaps it is, but as Ace, Kevin, and I transferred our pile of gear from one wilderness shore to another, I looked over my shoulder at the motorized zone, then toward the interior of the Boundary Waters. Folks on both sides seemed to be enjoying themselves, motors or no motors.

There are two basic ways to go about seeing the Boundary Waters base camp or trek. Base campers usually set up elaborate camps on choice sites, then day trip to various lakes to fish or just investigate unseen waters. The advantages of base camping are many one setup and one takedown, portages are much lighter, and no worries over daily competition for good sites. The alternative, trekking, includes everything you try to avoid with a base camp, but it is the way to go if you want to put on mileage and see a greater variety of lakes and terrain. With more than 1,200 miles of routes and 80 entry points, there is variety.

We fell into the trekking mode. Our plan was to make a loop around the Knife Lake chain to Lake Kekekabic, and exit near Ensign Lake. The LaTourells had outfitted us with two Kevlar Wenonah canoes, a single and a double.

We struck out over Birch Lake toward Carp Lake. I noticed that canoeing had not gotten any easier since my father taught me 15 years ago. (Being in the single canoe, I had no one to blame but myself, whereas Ace and Kevin had each other.) Two or three strokes on one side, whoops, I'm veering. Drag to correct. Two or three on the other side, whoops, I'm veering the other way. The water behind me wore an essing wake of foam on disturbed glass, a documented snafu.

It took nearly the entirety of Birch Lake to figure a rhythm, but I finally felt in control enough to look around. As soon as I began observing the lush shoreline, ambereyed loons, or pure waters pure enough that some drink it unfiltered I began swerving. Nevertheless, we made it to the Carp Lake portage, which introduced us to the "rod."

Portages are measured in rods, each 16.5 feet, the length of a standard canoe. If ever there was a cumbersome measurement, it's the rod. Why not feet? yards? miles? meters? We gave up trying to figure out actual footage converting 16.5 feet into anything meaningful became impossibly boring. (Though, admittedly, after a week of thinking in terms of rods, other measurements seem strange, and you start converting everything into rods like, how many rods it is from Ely to Minneapolis.)

Portaging soon taught us the benefits of Kevlar canoes. They are half the weight of aluminum models, and are easy to mount and carry. Flip them onto your shoulders, balance, and fly through portages (the same routes Chippewas forged between lakes as they traveled between seasonal camps).

A few minutes into the next lake I convinced myself I was ready to handle fishing and paddling at the same time. I rigged up an ultralight outfit, intent on landing at least one of the Boundary Waters' feature fish pike, walleye, smallmouth bass or lake trout. I had not touched a spinning rod and reel since, well, I was 12 and my big brother, Peedo, caught a big brown trout and let me play it for a few turns before he landed it. Afterward, he handed it to me for a moment of shared pride. I dropped it.

I cast a cigarsize minnow bait in a blue finish recommended for overcast days flipped the reel bail, and wedged the rod between my Duluth pack and some other junk behind me. I began trolling, paddling slowly until I looked up to see a miniature Ace and Kevin, seemingly miles ahead of me.

To catch up, I paddled hard, nailing every stroke to retain a swift, straight line. This, apparently, was the key trolling speed a tap, tap, tap got my attention, and I twisted around to see the tip of the rod bobbing up and down fish! I unburied the rod handle and quickly set the hook. The momentum of the canoe wavered and turned me sideways.

I hadn't even really tried, and there I was, reeling in my first pike. During moments when the fish displayed submission, I cranked the handle fast, hoping for progress before the fish burst into another powerful lash and run. Because I was using an ultralight, that pike felt like a shark. And it might as well have been a shark I got the fish to the canoe, where the toothy little guy bit me the second I tried to remove the treble hook with needlenose pliers. Inexperience ruled the pliers plunged to the depths of Carp Lake along with my pike.

Finger bleeding, I caught up with Ace and Kevin. We continued through a series of smaller lakes to Knife Lake, where the famous "Root Beer Lady" lived and where, years ago, the LaTourell family managed a resort. According to Bob LaTourell Sr., the flyin resort he and his father managed was closed in 1949 when President Truman implemented an air ban over the roadless areas. When the Wilderness Act passed 15 years later, resorts and cabins within the newly deemed Boundary Waters Canoe Area had to go too.

Except for the Root Beer Lady. Her real name was Dorothy Molter, and she became famous for serving (what else?) root beer to generation after generation of locals and visitors. A close friend of the LaTourells, Dorothy Molter avoided their fate and remained at her home on Knife Lake with the help of public outcry, both local and distant, until she died more than 20 years later. A pilgrimage to her island, some say, is requisite to a proper Boundary Waters experience.

After visiting her island, we began inspecting campsites. Most are wellused and show the wear and tear of all those yearly visitors. If there is anything that detracts from the wilderness feel of the place, it is the campsites. High visitor use prompted the U.S. Forest Service to designate campsites on official Boundary Waters maps to keep impact to minimum areas. Nevertheless, some sites are better than others, so we pushed on, believing that on every lake there is a perfect site.

When we finally decided on our first site, a small island on the south arm of Knife, it began to rain heavily. From this point on, time became blurs between meals, portages, lakes, and potential campsites. Ambitious schedules and daily routines came and went with the storms, and trekking no longer focused on accomplishment. Even writing this, my notes quit going day to day, instead from thought to thought. In the Boundary Waters, you just have to mellow out.

Like any wilderness area, there are a few peculiarities that make the Boundary Waters unique and complete. Of course, you will hear about some of these things before you even dip a paddle into the water. Like sighting a moose or eagle, or hearing the cry and echo of the loon, or experiencing the bite and buzz of the mosquito.

Everyone who has been to the area will tell you about the Minnesota state bird, the mosquito. Some recommend covering every inch of your body with netting and Deet. We were lucky Our trek was in the last week of August and mostly vacant of bugs. I didn't even notice any bugs until after our second day, when we camped on Hansen Lake, one of the links of the Knife Lake chain. I was attempting to catch some smallmouth bass on a popper when a flurry of little black flies, called sand flies, attacked my ankles. Their bite is something like a tiny screwdriver jabbed into your skin and twisted around. What is worse is that they are impossible to swat and kill because they are so fast.

People might warn you about bugs, but you won't learn other bits of local lore until you get there. The first of which will be the Duluth pack, named after the major metro area in northern Minnesota. It is a regular canvas knapsack with a flap top and shoulder harness. The thing is synonymous with the Boundary Waters. I mentioned I had an externalframe backpack that should fit well in a canoe and received nothing other than polite rebuttals like, "Aw, geez, that's really great, you know, but what you want is a Duluth pack, see, because . . ."

The number of reasons a Minnesotan can come up with for using a bag that fits like a sack of potatoes is truly amazing. The most important of which, and only real reason, is that they fit in a canoe like a glove, balancing the load square center.

And balancing the load square center is key, I learned, paddling through whitecap waves on larger water like the south arm of the Knife and Lake Kekekabic. No matter how hard I tried to stay perpendicular to the waves, alternating sides and various strokes, the canoe's tail end kept swinging around like a car on ice. Putting too much weight in the back of a single canoe tweaks trim and control, so no matter how hard you try to keep headlong, you fishtail. Rebalance the load, hug the shore, and try again.

After trekking through 24 lakes, we concluded that larger water tends to have an invariability. Shorelines take on a monotony of green and lakes begin to look the same just from different angles. Smaller lakes, however, introduce an intimacy with the cragginess of the rocky shores and variety of trees, revealing diverse contours and appearance. The greatest thing with small water is its calmness, disturbed only by the sound of loons.

Regardless of whether or not some vistas are similar in appearance, they all seem to be of virgin quality, as if human history had yet to begin here. This is what is most special about the Boundary Waters and why people come here. Despite centuries of human use, there still exists a feeling of unadulterated wilderness in the boreal forests, pure waters, and fish and game. Starker A. Leopold called this "a reasonable illusion," an appearance of untouched ecological processes in the midst of a long human history. The illusion is only aesthetic, however, and it is the rich human history that makes it an extraordinary place, indeed.

Ely, Minn., is just one city that serves as a jumpoff into the Boundary Waters, but it is the star of the Northwoods. Sitting on the southern shore of Miners Lake and just a mile south of Shagawa Lake, Ely offers dozens of resorts, outfitters, and stores to make your trip complete.

I recommend LaTourell's Moose Lake Outfitters, (800) 3654531 or
Details & Reservations: Out of Bounds
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