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Tonight is going to have a full moon rising above the tree line and loons sing in the distance as I sit on a rocky shore and sip a beverage from my cup, clad only in hiking shorts and a t-shirt. Those of us who travel often in the north country know that this idyllic scene is the exception rather than the rule!
Trips get planned around vacations, family get-togethers and, at least sometimes, keeping an eye towards the part of the season where we can anticipate the weather we prefer. Mother Nature is not always on our side regarding that last part!
Take rain, for example. July and August are usually the driest months. But rain can show up at any time. Early on I learned that it was wise to bring rain gear when heading up for a day trip into the BWCA. I don’t care what month it is. I don’t listen to the weatherman. It could be cloudless in the morning when I leave the entrance point. I BRING RAIN GEAR! I was soaked too many times to not learn that lesson!
Rain in May can be particularly uncomfortable. Memorial Day seems to be particularly suited for all day rains and temps in the 50’s. I remember a three-day trip into Cummings Lake over Memorial weekend about 1990 and hardly coming out of the tent. Ross Petersen and I took a day trip into Fourtown one Memorial Day, and by 10:00 were soaked to the skin and shivering so bad that we walked up to the old cabin that used to be on the first point when you entered the lake, hoping someone would be there. It was empty, but the door was open. We got in out of the rain and noticed a coffee can on a table in the middle of the room with a note that read “If you’re going to use my cabin, please help pay for the taxes”. We each put a ten-spot in there and used a bit of wood to start a fire in their stove. Later in the day, John Bobence and Darwin Olson joined us and we spent the afternoon in comfort there!
Another Memorial Day, a group of us headed across Snowbank Lake, to Perent and eventually to Disappointment. The forecast was for a 30% chance of occasional light showers. Well, the clouds poured a steady rain all day. I remember Jim Haugen telling me to take heart because “with a 30% chance of precipitation, only one in three rain drops had any water in them”! As the day wore on, we weren’t catching any fish, but we were getting cold and wet. Finally, about noon we stopped for lunch. Jim and Larry Mischke were in one canoe, Tom Wetzel and his brother-in-law Tom, were in the second and Doug Dreschler and I made up the third. We were in dire need of a fire to take the chill out of all of us. The rain, however, had dampened everything. There was no dry wood to be found and even kindling wouldn’t light. There were some disparaging comments about Doug’s homemade cedar strip canoe not needing gunnels and maybe one of the thwarts to get back to the parking lot. I took a walk well back from the shoreline and found a huge red pine that had blown over but hadn’t fallen all the way to the ground.
The bark on the underside was protected from the rain and was dry. I chiseled an armload free and hauled it back to the group, and from that soon had a roaring fire going that saved the day!
Rain gear selection is also important. I remember taking a father and son up to Basswood one trip. They had stopped at Cabela’s on their way up to Ely and dad bought a $600 rain suit.
He bought his son a $10 poncho.
The day we went up started with a pouring rain and it only got worse. By noon, dad was finally not enjoying the day and his son was a huddled, shivering body in the bottom of the boat. Another time Tom Deering and I took our kids up to Horse Lake for a fiveday camping trip. We camped at the site at the mouth of the Horse River. The first three days were extremely hot with no wind. The third evening brought a nasty cold front that unloaded water from the sky in torrents all night long. The next morning and day were the same. Rain continued all night and by the last morning the lake had risen several inches.
We had prepared camp well and had stayed dry and had plenty of wood for a nice fire.
Tom and I were up for an early cup of coffee. As we visited and told stories, a canoe appeared from the river coming from the north. With the rain continuing to pound, we thought maybe we should invite them to our fire under the tarp for a little respite.
As they got closer, we could see that they were using garbage bags with holes for head and arms as rain gear. The canoe was overloaded with packs that rose well above the gunnels. The trip up the Horse River must have been a bear. We could see that as they approached, there was a gal in the back and a guy in the front – and they were chirping continuously at each other. As they got alongside our camp, they guy turned his head sharply and said something we couldn’t quite make out to his partner in the back. She jumped from her seat, across the packs and slapped him alongside the head with her paddle exclaiming “You son-of-a- b@%&h”! We decided not to invite them in for coffee and speculated at how long that relationship might last!
Rain might not be the only problem. Wind can make for unpleasant circumstances. Paddling into a headwind or even with a side wind can be a struggle. I’ve been windbound many times.
Fortunately, most times for a day or part of a day. But once for four days on Gabbro with a cousin from Finland, with my son on North Bay for two days and with a crew on Disappointment for three days. Falling trees from windstorms
can be another problem.
Once with a client on Crooked Lake, we had two days of hot, still weather with an obvious storm on its way for our third night. It blew hard starting at about 11:00 and, being in a stand of tall red pines, I was concerned one might topple onto us. Fortunately, only one tree went down near our campsite and that was well back in the woods. We had been camped on Skull and Crossbones, and in the morning went for a paddle down the lake. As we approached Table Rock, we could see two people sitting on the “table”. As we neared, we called out to them to see if they were ok. Both seemed to be in shock as they didn’t answer. We swung in and they finally acknowledged us and took us back to their camp. During the storm, two large jackpines had fallen – one just missing the front of their tent and the other missing the back of the tent by inches.
They were some lucky people!
Lightning has taken its share of people in the BWCA. There are some tragic tales of campers being injured or killed while sleeping in tents. Storms can come up suddenly. More than once I’ve seen them approach from the west on Basswood with thunderheads rising over Washington Island and raced the storm back to Prairie Portage. Doug Dreschler and I had been into Trader Lake and were crossing Ensign on our way out when a thunderstorm quickly caught us by surprise. We hurried to a small island nearby and wedged our aluminum canoe between two birch trees to provide some cover from the rain.
Lightning bolts struck the shoreline as the storm pummeled the lake. We looked at each other and realized the folly of the situation we had put ourselves in. Not much we could do at that point, but the storm brushed us by without harm.
While a single hot, dry day can be a pleasure, an extended weather pattern can cause a lot of problems. Fire danger along with fire bans along with forest fires are a constant concern. Even a few days of very hot temps make for heat stroke, sunburn and restless nights trying to sleep in a tent. I was camped on the west end of Basswood once with some people from Kansas. We had decided to make a day trip down the Basswood River to see the pictographs on Crooked. The day before had been blistering hot – temps in Ely had read over 100 degrees. This morning promised more of the same. We made the trip down the river with no problems. Coming back in the middle of the afternoon made for a different story.
As it was a day trip, we weren’t packed very heavy but there were five of us, so we needed two canoes. My people couldn’t carry either canoe, so I made two trips across Horse Portage, each with an aluminum canoe. Halfway back on my second trip I was so parched I put the canoe down, laid on my belly near a mud puddle and slurped gritty water until my thirst was quenched. Who knew what critters might be residing in that water, but at that point I didn’t care.
On the other end of the spectrum, late fall trips can find you freezing from the cold or snowed on unexpectedly. Went on a September trip up the Little Indian Sioux through Green, Gebonaquet, up to Pocket, Finger and Steep Lakes before coming out. Four-day trip – it snowed for three of the days. For many years Tom and I would make an October trip into Crooked Lake. We were never frozen in, but many mornings would have to break ice for fifty feet to get to open water.
One year, Tom, Tom’s cousin Jim, and a friend of his and I were going to make our annual trip. The forecast was for inches of snow and Tom and I decided not to go.
Jim and his friend took off and made it as far as the portage between Sandpit and Tin Can Mike. The trees and brush were laden with wet snow and hung low over the trail. They tried dragging the canoe under the mess, but finally gave up.
If you’re fortunate enough to have a trip where the weather treats you well, give extra thanks for the experience. Be ready, be prepared for bad weather. It can appear quickly and make a pleasant trip much less so in a hurry!
