BWCACAST Discussions: Recent Posts

BWCACAST Discussions: Recent Posts http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ BWCACAST Discussions: Recent Posts en Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:09:22 +0000 yentb on "hello cms of ds-b" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=121#post-192 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:47:44 +0000 yentb 192@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ <a href="http://www.kyokuto.ne.jp/">ガロンボトル充填機</a> <a href="http://www.kyokuto.ne.jp/">飲料水充填プラント</a> <a href="http://www.kyokuto.ne.jp/">ミネラルウォーター</a> <a href="http://kobe-ijinkan.net/">うろこの家</a> <a href="http://kobe-ijinkan.net/">山手八番館</a> <a href="http://kobe-ijinkan.net/">神戸異人館</a> yentb on "hello cms of ds-b" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=121#post-191 Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:23:51 +0000 yentb 191@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg yentb on "hello cms of ds-b" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=121#post-190 Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:59:26 +0000 yentb 190@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd fishguts on "Bottle River" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=122#post-189 Fri, 11 Mar 2011 16:03:03 +0000 fishguts 189@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ We have our permit for Bottle River Entry Point for June 8th, 2011. From there we are heading into the heart of Quetico....Brent & Suzanette, then back out at Black Robe Portage. yentb on "hello cms of ds-b" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=121#post-188 Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:11:20 +0000 yentb 188@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ <a href="http://www.shikatsu.co.jp/">愛知県　スポンジ加工</a> <a href="http://www.shikatsu.co.jp/">愛知県　ゴム加工</a> <a href="http://www.shikatsu.co.jp/">愛知県　プラスチック加工</a> <a href="http://www.sai-plusone.com/">ハウスクリーニング　金沢市</a> <a href="http://www.sai-plusone.com/">お風呂リフォーム　金沢市</a> <a href="http://www.sai-plusone.com/">定期清掃　金沢市</a> <a href="http://www.miyahiragumi.co.jp/">那覇市　建築</a> <a href="http://www.miyahiragumi.co.jp/">沖縄　住宅</a> <a href="http://www.miyahiragumi.co.jp/">沖縄風水</a> yentb on "hello cms of ds-b" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=121#post-187 Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:42:44 +0000 yentb 187@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ あなたの会社のウェブサイトを通じて、<a href="http://ds-b.jp/">ホームページ製作</a> お客様のブランドを宣伝するには、お店？<a href="http://ds-b.jp/">ホームページ制作</a>私たちと一緒に来あなたは、世界中の <a href="http://ds-b.jp/">ホームページ作成</a>何百万人 <a href="http://ds-b.jp/">ホームページ作成ソフト</a> あなたのウェブサイトをしたいのCMSに行って知っている <a href="http://ds-b.jp/">ホームページセミナー</a> それがCMSになれば、全世界だけでなく、<a href="http://ds-b.jp/">CMS</a> あなたのブランドはこのサイトを知っている <a href="http://ds-b.jp/">ビジネスブログ</a> (<::>) “Hoang Yen” Welcome to us! fishguts on "#43 McAree" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=101#post-186 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:38:17 +0000 fishguts 186@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ 2005- Family Quetico Trip using #43 McAree Entry Our Canoe Trip in Quetico Park 2005 Patrick, Elizabeth & Thomas Brewer Day 1 Wednesday, July 6, 2005 Having spent the night in Doug Jordan’s bunk house, we got up early, 5:15 AM, and repacked our bags, and had a breakfast of 3 pancakes and 2 sausages each and orange juice. We loaded into a van for the drive to Crane Lake. We made it in time (about 1 1/2 hour drive) for our tow by Zupp’s Outfitters. We were towed by jet boat to Sand Point Lake where we checked through Canadian Customs. We shared the towboat with a group of 6 from Wisconsin. After customs, we went down the Loon River and over 2 mechanical portages. We were originally scheduled to take the slower boat and the Dawson Portage, which was cheaper, but Zupp’s put us in with the guys from Wisconsin on the jet boat, going down the Loon River Route. The jet boat went very fast down the curvy part of the Loon River. When we got to the mechanical portages, we got out and walked, while the jet boat with 9 people’s worth of baggage and our canoe and their kayak, was pulled up on a funny railroad car contraption over the portage. After the last portage, off we went to Zupp’s base on Lac Lacroix, to buy our fishing licenses, and change boats. They put the Wisconsin guys’ two aluminum canoes that they picked up at Zupp’s and red kayak on the bottom and our tiger 3 person Kevlar canoe in the top. Zups is on the east side of Lac La Croix, and we were towed all the way across to the east, where we stopped at the Lac La Croix ranger station to pay for our Quetico permit and camping fees. The ranger station is located on an Indian reservation and our ranger was an Indian woman with a bad cold and a young boy asleep on the couch. She said we were the 1st party to come through there in 3 days. Next we were off to our drop off point for our permit #43-McAree. Our boat driver, also an Indian woman, coaxed the boat into shore just below the first “Brewer Rapids” which are not shown on the map. Here we unloaded our 4 packs and canoe, said goodbye to the driver and our 6 friends from Wisconsin and started our trip. Thomas scouted a path, through the woods, to be above the rapids. We made our 1st portage. We paddled up the Brewer River to the rapids and portage to Brewer Lake. Elizabeth took pictures of the rapids. We paddled across Brewer Lake to the portage to McAree Lake. There is another big rapid that is not shown on the map. We took more pictures. We met another group at the portage from Doug Jordan’s Outfitters. We found a beautiful spot at the far end of the portage for lunch. There was a big patch of daisies and a great view of McAree. We crossed McAree and it was warm. We stopped and put on sunscreen. We continued on to the northeast corner of McAree to the small portage into Pond Lake. Just before the big portage to Gratton, a fish rose and Thomas and I couldn’t resist so we unloaded the canoe, left Elizabeth guarding the packs in the shade and caught our 1st fish of the trip. Small mouth bass…we both caught some! Then we were in for it…The “Death March” portage from Pond Lake to Little Gratton. 220 rods. It started in a moose swamp with Thomas carrying the canoe, sinking above his ankles in the muck. Then up and up some more, with ankle twisting rock gardens and more moose swamp. Then the last 100 yards, steep down a boulder covered path. We accomplished this portage quite well! We took it in stages and leapfrogged our way across. We worked together and even though it was a long sweaty rough portage, we made it! Longest portage of our trip! We paddled into Little Gratton Lake, searching for a campsite. A nice site was found on the 2nd island. We set up camp, had dinner, hung the food pack and fished. Thomas and I caught a bunch of Largemouth Bass with 2 big ones, all catch and release. We decided to spend 2 nights on Little Gratton, so we slept in next morning. Day 2 July 7, 2005 Thursday We are staying another night on Little Gratton. We had steak (left over from dinner) ham, eggs, coffee, and tea for breakfast. After doing the dishes we went through the food packs and fishing gear, so we would know where everything was located, put them in the canoe and headed out. We looked for the push-thru to Gratton Lake. We found the stream coming out of Gratton, but it looked pretty muddy and rough. No trail visible! So we headed to Wicksteed instead and fished down the north side of the lake. We all caught fish…about 4 or 5 each! Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass. I cast my crawdad imitation about 20 feet up in a Norway pine and lost it…Thomas laughed. We stopped for lunch about 12 noon and had summer sausage, rye crisp, fruit punch and a nice rest in the shade. It was hot! After our rest we returned down Wicksteed and caught more fish. Then back across the 35-rod portage to Little Gratton and home. We took a nice nap and then fixed dinner: Beef enchiladas, corn and chocolate pudding. Yummy! After cleaning up, doing the dishes and hanging the food pack, Thomas and I went fishing. We caught about 25 fish! Mostly Largemouth Bass with a few Northerns. The Largemouth were hitting well on Thomas’ Rapala and my Smithwick. We switched to a rubber frog and a popper and the fish went nuts! Lots of fast action till it was getting dark and Elizabeth called from across the lake and we headed home. Day 3 July 8, 2005 Friday We got up early and had a great breakfast of bacon, pancakes and the last 3 real eggs. Then we cleaned up the dishes and camp and packed up and headed east to Wicksteed. First came the 35-rod portage that we had gone over on the day before, then past our lunch island. The wind was blowing more today so we hugged the shoreline. When we rounded the big point, the wind was really blowing, so we dodged in and out behind islands to cross the lake. We really pulled together in that wind and we made it across and down to the 45 rod portage to Darkey Lake, which we single portaged. So here we are on Darkey Lake. It’s kinda warm & humid with a steady wind from the south. We have a nice class 5 campsite(The Best), on the north end of the lake. We set up camp…The tent, rain fly, and food pack roped up in a tree. Thomas and I took the canoe back towards the portage to fish and find firewood. We struck out…no fish biting and no good firewood. The wind was a factor, making it hard to fish and maneuver the canoe. So back to camp we went, to take a rest and see if the wind quiets. We hope to go down Darkey and see the pictographs, but it will be difficult with this wind from the south. We took a nap and made dinner…mashed potatoes “Family style chicken”, more like chicken gravy, plump green beans and vanilla moose with ***tart***raspberries…yummy! After we finished dinner and did the dishes, we hung the food packs and headed down to the south end of Darkey to see the pictographs…the wind that had been a strong breeze all afternoon finally dropped to a light breeze. It was still a long paddle (4 mile there and back!!!). Our Souris River Kevlar canoe does glide thur the water and when all 3 of us paddle we move right along! At first we couldn’t find the pictographs. We had gone too far, so we checked each rock face that we came to. Finally we found them. They were on a huge 100-foot granite rock face. Some pictographs were just above the water line. Others were about 5 feet up. There were 2 moose with white hearts, also a spirit symbol and a man with a gun with a bullet coming out of the gun. There were strike ///////// marks and a handprint. Pretty impressive! We were all glad we made the effort to go the distance and see the artwork. We fished a bit while heading back north to camp. Thomas caught a couple of small Smallmouth Bass and one good-sized Northern. We paddled back to camp as the sun was going down. We were pooped and went to bed. Day 4 July 9, 2005 Saturday We got up fairly early, as the tent was right next to the lake. When the sun came up, it baked on the tent. The weather is still clear, very warm and humid with occasional white puffy clouds. For breakfast we had bacon, pancakes, maple syrup and juice, coffee and tea. We then cleaned up, packed up and boarded our pleasure craft and headed east, across the northern part of Darkey Lake….Headed for the chain of portages going to William Lake. Just before the first portage, Thomas spotted a school of walleye in the water. The first portage was a little brushy but not too bad (24 rods). As we were loading up in the moose muck, Thomas spotted a leach. I was busy with a fishing lure, and didn’t think much of a little leach, so I paid no attention. Thomas and Elizabeth were in the canoe and I was in the soup when they said, “He’s headed your way!” I looked over and here was this 5-inch long leach, green with red sides headed for my ankle!! Feet, don’t fail me now! Wow! It was like something from the Amazon River Delta! Magically I was in the canoe! This was the start of the William River, a meandering stream, lined with wild rice and cattails, filled with water lilies, both yellow and white! Also water grasses and other aquatic plants, including patches of bilious frog slime filled with bubbles…Yuk! It reminded Elizabeth of outer space where clouds of gas form galaxies! Other than that the frog slime, it was very beautiful. The 2nd portage was a killer….up and up and up some more with lots of brush. We had to take it in stages…There was a muddy spot in the trail with moose prints and a bear print…with claws! It was very hot at the end of this portage and Elizabeth found a little shade behind a single dead tree. Again we were back on the beautiful William River, then portage #3. This was another tough one, about 50 rods, but not marked on the map. Lots of brush, steep at the start, with tippy rocks towards the end. It looked like the portage had been extended because of a beaver dam. The last part had big steps up on boulders and then a rock ledge. Now we were on the longest stretch of the William River, thur Cloverleaf Lake, up and over and down an un-named pond, thru one easy beaver pullover to our last portage into William Lake. A beaver dam blocked the way but not far…but Oh! How much fun!!! Elizabeth and I grabbed a load and carried it over and found a boulder to put the gear on. I returned to help Thomas when Elizabeth started screaming! She had been taking pictures of the beaver dam and we hadn’t noticed that the boulder was the home of a “Biting Red Ant Colony”!! And they were all over her in a swarm and biting her! She looked at the packs and the ants were swarming into and over the packs! All Elizabeth could think of was the biting ants in the gear and in the canoe! How to get them out? All the gear would have to be washed in the lake! (The camera and camera bag got dropped into the soup, but seems OK). Now, let’s see how Elizabeth faired…the camera is OK, did I say that? Elizabeth jumped back down the beaver dam and brushed the ants and when she left, they must have sent a chemical signal out because they all abandoned her and the packs when she retreated and we never saw them again. Did I say the camera is OK? Elizabeth got 12 bites. Pat wasn’t very sympathetic until one bit him…at a later camp. After all this calmed down, Thomas carried the canoe over the beaver dam and was frantically pawing his “hoof”. (Foot) He had a big leach and 2 tiny leaches attached to his heel!!! They weren’t coming off! Luckily the food pack was right there and I handed him the salt…After sprinkling the leach with salt, the leachs wiggled and fell off! No mark showed on Thomas and we were relieved! (And the camera was OK. Did I say that?) Finally we were able to load up the canoe and head out on William Lake. The second island has a great campsite that we soon claimed. It has a nice rock fireplace, a rock table, log benches, a soft pine needle area for the tent and lots of shade. Thomas set up the tent and we all had lunch: peanut butter and strawberry jam on corn tortillas, cheese and rye crisp etc. Then we took a nap as it was very warm...we were tired! Now it is cooling off and we are getting dinner ready. Thomas just lowered the bear pack out of a tree to get the grill. Tonight is our 1st campfire. We have been using the stove up till now, but here on William Lake we have lots of firewood. The other campsites were picked clean of firewood. Tonight’s dinner will be teriyaki beef, wit long grained rice, hot 3-berry cobbler and fruit punch…Yummy! After dinner we cleaned up and hung the food pack. Then Thomas and I went fishing for walleye. Not far from the camp Thomas caught a nice keeper walleye. Later I caught one. We didn’t get back to camp till dusk, it make quite a scene with us filleting the fish by flashlight and swatting mosquitoes by the dozen. We paddled the guts across the lake to the shore, came back and jumped into the tent. It was still hot and humid so Mom and I read “3 Men in a Boat” by Jerome K. Jerome for 2 chapters and then it was lights out and sleep. In the night Thomas heard an animal ruffle around the campsite and then run past the tent. This happened about ½ hour after we quit reading last night. Day 5 July 10, 2005 Sunday Elizabeth and I are up early, and the morning is cool and wonderful with breezes. There is not a cloud visible. For breakfast we cooked with a campfire again. We had bacon, pancakes & syrup, and golden Walleye fillets. Wow! Fresh Walleye is delicious! Thomas and I are getting ready to go fishing again. Elizabeth is at the lakeside with the pots and pans. Thomas and I pulled out of the campsite and started trolling towards the east. I had on my favorite “Signature Smithwick” when I thought I was stuck on the bottom…Ugh! Then I noticed the canoe was moving…and so was my line??? So I started pumping and reeling…then whatever it was must have seen the boat…and ZzzzZZZzzz! Out went the line. This went on…back and forth…until we were able to get a look at what was on the line. It was a HUGE Northern! Thomas tried to net him headfirst…and he wouldn’t fit. Thomas then tried tail first…too big…so Thomas gently grabbed him with both hands and pulled him into the canoe. Like all Northerns, he went mad. Thrashing in the bottom of the canoe. We turned around and yelled to Elizabeth to get the camera. We took pictures, but were so excited we didn’t weigh or measure him. We did get him back in the water and he swam away. Our guess is he was 36 inches or more. We’ll check out the pictures. Thomas and I trolled down the north shore of William Lake. We caught a couple of Smallmouth Bass. We kept seeing fish on the depth finder, but we weren’t deep enough. I switched to a purple rapala tail dancer and Thomas switched to a brown salt & pepper twister tail jig. About this time we spotted the “Reef” in the middle of William and headed for it. On the way I hooked and caught a beautiful walleye-20 inches and weighed 4 Lbs. When we got to the reef, Thomas caught another beauty 19 inches and 3½ Lbs. We were set for fish for dinner! We caught a few more walleye and smallmouth bass, but the wind was rising and it was about noon. We headed back to camp. I filleted the fish after we took lots of pictures! At noon we had lunch: gorp, peanut butter & jelly on corn tortillas…not bad when hungry! It was so hot and humid we took our Thermorest pads out of the tent and took naps and read…later we took a bath in the lake. A bald eagle came and sat in a tree across from our island where we had been putting our fish guts and bones. HA! He’ll have dinner later. We had a big dinner of golden walleye fillets and macaroni and cheese and peas with lemon pie for desert. Ever had lemon pie from a bag? Just add water and stir…Marie Calendar has NO WORRIES! We cleaned up and all jumped in the canoe and headed back to the “reef” and fished some more. We didn’t have much fishing action, but Elizabeth did catch a beautiful little walleye…we took a picture. We caught a few other smallmouth bass, but the sun was sinking in the west so we headed home. It was especially warm and humid this night. No sleeping bags were needed till early morning. Day 6 July 11 Monday We got up fairly early, and decided to skip breakfast, so we could get our traveling done before it got too hot! We packed up and headed south on William to the 60 rod portage to Brent Lake. We had a lot of paddling to do, because Brent is a big lake with lots of twists and turns. But no more portages for today. The wind kept changing directions all morning…first from the south, then the west…. then east and then back to the south. As the day went on the wind kept increasing. With the twists and turns of Brent Lake, there were a few times that we had the wind at our backs, and we raised our paddles and sailed along. We were looking for a campsite just past the Brent Narrows, but could not find it. We turned south in the next bay to find another site …We finally found it, but it was “Old” and hadn’t been used for years…and was very small. We decided to have lunch there, but it ended up being a stand-up lunch, because of the Red Ants. We had peanut butter and jelly on tortillas and cheese and crackers, and gorp, followed by orange drink. The afternoon was getting hot and windy, so we wanted to find a campsite soon. We headed east on Brent with 3 campsites on the map to check out. The first one we could not find, the second one had a couple of trees blown down across the site and there was no where to put up a tent. So it was on to #3. By this time we were tired, and the wind was really starting to blow. We rounded a point and saw 3 canoes, the first since Darky Lake. And we saw an island that had burned in a fire; luckily it was not the island we were looking to camp on. Finally we found our campsite on Brent Lake. It was way up near the portages to Suzanette Lake. We pulled in and Thomas jumped out and checked out the island. A “Class 5 Campsite” he declared! Wonderful! It is way up on the top of a granite lump, has a lot of trees and great views of Brent Lake. Also there are tons of blueberries ready to pick. We were so pooped that Elizabeth and I just rolled out our thermorest mattresses in the shade and took a nap. Later, when we got up, we saw that Thomas had set up the tent…What a Saint! We picked some blueberries and decided to rest some more…as it is still hot and the wind is still blowing. We heard thunder in the distance. It would be wonderful if it rained and cooled off. We cooked on the gas stove tonight. As we were heating the water for our freeze-dried dinner, I glanced over towards the pack and an army of red ants 3 inches wide and thick were headed towards the fire ring. We grabbed the RAID and made quick work of them. The whole army of them disappeared. For dinner we had chicken fajitas and corn with raspberry cobbler for dessert. The wind has stopped and it is still sultry! Thomas is fishing with a popper from shore. Elizabeth is reading in the tent and I am about to join her. We all read a chapter from “Three Men in a Boat”. We heard thunder and saw lightening flashing to the north of us and had one small sprinkle of rain, but the main storm passed north of us. It was fun watching the lightening flashes and hearing distant thunder. Day 7 July 12, 2005 Tuesday It is cooler this morning. Elizabeth and I got up early and cooked breakfast on the stove. Bacon, hash-browned potatoes, country omelet…yummy! We cleaned up and packed up and headed south for McIntyre, on the water by 9:30 am. First we passed an island that had burned in a fire…we guess about 10 years ago? It was a calm trip with hardly any wind. There are white puffy clouds in a blue sky. The temperature rising as we traveled along. Just before he portages into McIntyre, we spotted some moose bones in on an island. The rest of the moose’s bones were laid out in the water under the canoe! We took pictures of Thomas with the bones on the island and put them back for the next travelers. We took pictures of Thomas portaging the canoe. The next portage (4 rods) was rocky and very short…and we were into McIntyre. We followed the east shore down the lake to Cedar Point Camp. We pulled up the canoe and checked out the campsite…nice. Then we searched in the woods behind the campsite. It was way back in the woods, along some faint trails, in a small clearing. There is a stone cairn and inside a message cache…in a plastic pickle jar. We brought it back to camp and read the messages while eating lunch. “Swiss Cheese” spread with imitation bacon bits, pilot biscuits, dried fruit sack and grape drink. The cheese stuff was rank! The messages were interesting going back to 1993, all times of the year...some in snow in September. Lots of fish stories were shared. We have started a note of our own to put in the cache before we leave. Thunderheads look like they are building! It’s off to the tent for some reading and a nap….Hope it cools off! First it’s hot, then it cools off a bit, then it’s sultry again. Big thunderheads were building all afternoon. Thomas and I went trolling out in the bay in front of our camp. I had heard of trout being caught here. First I tried a little Cleo and a weight but Thomas and I got all snarled up and it twisted my line, so I cut that off and put on my deep tail dancer (purple). Thomas fished shallow and I let out lots of line and fished deep. I caught 2 nice lake trout, One 1 ½ Lbs and one 2Lbs. They have pink meat and are all cleaned and ready for dinner. We are having trout, macaroni and cheese, peas and cookies. Faintly, just before we went to bed we heard wolves howling and yipping to the northeast. We had a chapter from “3 Men in a Boat”. Two of us read a chapter each night. Then a different 2 read the next night. So it is two nights on reading out loud and one night just listening. Kinda fun. We started doing this with the kids when they were little. We read classics. As we were trying to get to sleep a Whipper Will started cheeping! We counted 72 times in a row…41 times in a row the next time. Day 8 July 13 Wednesday The sun hit the tent at 1st light, so we got up and cooked breakfast. Coffee, coco, bacon (last of the bacon) & peasant eggs….good!! Thomas went right back to bed. Elizabeth and I took the leftovers, in the canoe, over to Carolyn Bay….behind Cedar Point Camp. It was beautiful and quiet. I jigged with a chartreuse twister tail and caught a few Smallmouth Bass. It was a pleasant paddle. We are now back in camp, in the shade, reading and writing. Thomas is still in bed. After Thomas got up, he was exploring out by the point and surprised a large deer, drinking in the lake.The deer are twice the size of the deer on the Pacific Coast. It is a bit cooler today, the wind is from the North. Thomas and I decided to take the canoe and explore Carolyn Bay and the waterfall he spotted over there. The waterfall comes from a lake above McIntyre. We got out of the canoe and climbed up and took a look at it. A fair sized lake! We discussed carrying the canoe over and do some fishing, but decided to check out the rest of this part of McIntyre first. We fished the shore with little luck……a few small, Smallmouth…..When we got all the way around the last bay we spotted a nice campsite. It looked like a great site, so we got out of the canoe. It has a fire-ring built up against a large bolder. As we were looking around we noticed a noise….wind or rushing water, on one side of the campsite. Thomas went and checked it out, and there is a 30-foot waterfall just behind the camp. We found out that this is the beginning of the McIntyre River. We hiked down and took pictures and Thomas stuck his head in the falls. It was beautiful, and loud and refreshing! We paddled back to camp and Elizabeth cooked up a hot lunch of noodles and chicken with 3 cloves of garlic Mmm! After lunch Elizabeth finished our note for the message jar. We sealed it up and hiked back in the woods and placed the jar back in the cairn. Elizabeth then took pictures of Thomas and I by the rock message cairn. When we got back Elizabeth and I took a bath in the lake. It felt wonderful! Then we all pilled into the tent and did some reading and took a nap. We have solved the ankle biter problem (Biting Flies). The solution is long pants and socks! With the hot weather it’s kinda warm, but better than being chewed on by the ankle biters. None of the bug dope seems to have any effect on them. Thomas and I have decided to have a light dinner. Elizabeth declined to dine. So we made up ½ a dinner of Lasagna & corn, with chocolate mousse with slivered almonds for desert MMmm! After cleaning up the dishes we went to bed and Elizabeth and Thomas read a chapter each from “3 Men in a Boat”. Thomas said that there was a frog jumping on the side of the tent, late last night…after bugs? Kept him awake! Day 9 July 14 Thursday We woke at sunrise to a chorus from the wolves. There were puppies too! It sounded like they were over by the Rock Cairn. We made breakfast, eggs with bacon bits and hash brown potatoes. We cleaned up and packed up and were on the water by 8:00 AM. This was a record for us. There was a light wind from the southeast as we started paddling down McIntyre, towards the portage to Sarah. We passed the “Wall Portage” and took the one about 200 yards further south. Not a bad portage! Then we paddled back and we could see the rocky path that gave the Wall Portage its name. Glad we missed it! I took a picture of Thomas and Elizabeth in the canoe, on Lake Sarah at the portage, also a picture of a dark red mushroom. We continued to paddle southeast on Sarah, with the wind in our faces. We ducked behind a big island to get out of the wind. It took us quite a while to get across Sarah, with the wind, and it is a very large lake. When we got to the end of Sarah, we again followed Doug Jordan’s advice, and took the “River Route” over to Side Lake. It was very pretty with water lilies and 2 small portages. Then we went down Side Lake to the big portage of the day, 94 rods. Doug told us about this one too. The trail forked after about 200 ft…left or right??? We went left, up what they call “Heart Attack Hill”. We made it in one single portage, with a small rest at the top. We must be getting in good shape! Then we had 2 more ponds with 2 more small portages, and we were in Isabella Lake. We had planned to stay on Isabella, but we didn’t like the first 2 campsites we saw, then there were 4 guys at the middle campsite, and we couldn’t find the campsite down at the end of the lake…. Just before we had lunch, just as we turned towards the portage, a huge Bald Eagle flew out of a tree near us, and flew right in front of us, and across the lake…Wonderful! We were pooped…we pulled into the portage at the end of Isabella, and had a lunch break Whew! Thomas checked out the portage, and said it was short, with a beautiful river below. About this time, the 4 guys who had been at the middle campsite came paddling up to the portage. It made quite a gaggle of us on the portage, we single portaged and they double portaged, so we passed them as they were on the way back. Now we were on the beautiful Isabella River between Isabella and Basswood Lake. There were no more portages, but lots of shallow spots and beaver dams, where we would get out and push through shallows or over beaver dams…. very picturesque! Lots of water lilies are blooming. We finally made it to Basswood. Then we paddled the ½ mile west into “Lost Bay” to a “Class 5” campsite I had heard about. There was almost 2 inches of water in the canoe from all the getting in and out, and we had traveled longer than we had on the entire trip! We think about 12 miles. We were Pooped! We set up the tent and took a rest. Now we are puttering around camp…Amazing what a little rest and some Advil will do. This is a beautiful spot on Lost Bay of Basswood Lake, and the weather has cooled off. For dinner we had beef stroganoff and peas, and chocolate pudding. This was one of the best Freeze-dried meals we had on the trip! We read “3 Men in a Boat” and took pictures of the sunset. Then off to dream land… Day 10 July 15 Friday We slept in this morning. It was overcast, and sprinkled rain on and off, with thunder to the west. We had pancakes and syrup and peasant eggs with herbs and potatoes for breakfast. It’s looking more like rain…Ooops! Here it comes! … It rained! A light but steady rain. For about 45 minutes (only rain of the trip) we read and snoozed in the tent…very pleasant and cool. We packed up and headed out for Prairie Portage. Heavy overcast with big lumpy clouds, but no more rain and hardly any breeze. We paddled out of Lost Bay and into “North Bay” of Basswood Lake. Basswood is very large, and we aimed across the lake for “Bear Island”. This is the name Doug Jordan marked on our map. We missed in our aim and ended up on a peninsula to the east of Bear Island. When we saw some canoes come out over to our right, we soon figured out our mistake, and paddled over to the portage going to Burke Lake. The first portage of 30 rods put us in another lily pad river, where Elizabeth received another lily flower for her hat. At the end of the river was a 16-rod portage. At this portage was a group of people (6) with 2 canoes….we waited for a while, and then they said that they were a little disorganized, and then moved their canoes apart, and invited us to come through. They seemed a little surprised at how organized we were. We unloaded the packs, as Thomas was lashing in the paddles, I helped Elizabeth on with her pack, Thomas put on a pack and picked up the canoe, and left, Elizabeth right behind him, and I put on the last 2 packs (one back, one front) and we were gone. One trip portaging has become natural for us on this trip. No going back and forth and back again. We paddled down Burke and checked out where we had camped back 1993, in a heavy wind…not a real campsite, just a spot in out of the wind. We continued down Burke to the large sand beach at the next portage. This Portage leads to Bayley Bay of Basswood Lake, and is known as The Yellow Brick Road, because of the yellow sand at both ends.. The entire portage is mostly manicured. Very smooth and easy..84 rods. Now we are on Bayley Bay..Known for it’s wind, but lucky for us, no wind today. We paddled across towards Prairie Portage. We saw our first motorboat in 10 days, and followed where they went. We entered Inlet Bay and were looking for a campsite. We had paddled a long way from “Lost Bay” to Inlet Bay, and were running out of gas…. The first site we stopped at, Doug Jordan had marked “Eagle” on the map, and sure enough, in the big pine tree, right in the middle of this campsite was a Bald Eagle, looking down at us. He didn’t fly off, just waited for us to inspect the campsite…we did, not very good, no place for our 4 man tent, so off we went. There is a large island in Inlet Bay, that has 4 campsites marked on it. So we started checking them out. The first one wasn’t great so we kept going. It got worse. The campsites on the back of the island were terrible…we were pooped out! We ended up paddling all the way around the island, back to the first site we had rejected, and grabbed it. It has a nice view of Inlet Bay, and we can see the canoeists and motorboats going back and forth from Prairie Portage. Prairie Portage is just around the corner from us. We threw up the tent to dry (it was still wet from this mornings shower). We had a snack, and lay down on the thermorests, for a rest. It’s 6:30 PM and the sky has mostly cleared, just a few puffy clouds left. We are feeling a lot better. There must be an eagle’s nest on our island, because we hear babies crying in the nest. We just put dinner together, Freeze dried dinner… Boil 3 cups of water, stir, wait 10 minutes. We had Turkey Tetrazzini with peas and spiced apples for desert Mmmm! We had a beautiful sunset. Thomas was reading “3 Men in a Boat” and I kept popping out to take pictures. After reading, the loons serenaded us with “Loon Music”. Thomas reported that in the middle of the night, a deer came towards our tent and Snorted!! Day 11 July 16 Saturday Mist on the lake when we got up.. Thomas slept in for a while longer.. We had tea and coffee, then hash brown potatoes and eggs with red and green bell peppers..After breakfast we leisurely cleaned up. I did the dishes at the lakeside and scrubbed the pots and pans with SOS pads, so that they are ready to turn in to the outfitter. We also went thru the left over food items to separate out the stuff we wanted to take home. Before breakfast I fished from shore and a 16-inch Northern Pike followed my lure right up to shore…but didn’t bite. He just looked at me and swam off! We packed up and paddled across to Prairie Portage, and portaged across the Sucker Lake side… There was quite a mob on the portage! There were maybe 15 people on the portage, going both ways. At the Sucker Lake side there were about 25 canoes and a whole mob of people. We waited about 15 minutes till one of “Jeep LeTourells” boats showed up. I gave him our name and he said he’d be back in about 20 minutes for us….so here we wait……….. admin on "Show suggestions." http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=120#post-185 Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:52:00 +0000 admin 185@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ I Louutah, Great to hear from you. Thanks for the posts in the different forum areas. Glad your still enjoying the shows. Great ideas. I've been searching for an outfitter to team up with a bit. Shooting a trip planning session with them is at the top of the list. Thanks for taking the time to formulate some show ideas. Have a great week. Bill Louutah on "Show suggestions." http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=120#post-184 Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:49:52 +0000 Louutah 184@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ How about adding a local artist for a mid show music interlude, the summer trips I have made to Ely always included some sort of live music going on in that area. A trip to one of the local outfitters to discuss trip planning etc. or the latest and greatest advances in canoes and accesories. I hate to imply you need improvments, because I love the shows, just kicking around some ideas. Thanks again, Louutah Louutah on "Duluth Pack how,,,," http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=119#post-183 Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:43:17 +0000 Louutah 183@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ I have a bag from Duluth Pack (sort of like a computer/document bag) that I have used every working day for the past several years.....great product. I was very interesting behind the scene podcast, I had been to the store in Duluth, however the 'in the shop' time line of a pack taking shape was very interesting. Thanks and keep up the shows....looking forward to a summer full of them. Louutah Louutah on "Great Podcast!!" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=115#post-182 Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:40:08 +0000 Louutah 182@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Bill, A little slow in getting back to you....I have been downloading every show and haved loved them all. The segment on maps - landmarks - portages etc. was great info. Louutah admin on "#26 Wood Lake" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=20#post-181 Mon, 25 May 2009 03:00:47 +0000 admin 181@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Great to hear. Has your friend been into the BWCAW before? Sure is fun bringing new people on these trips. My parents are going to join us on a trip in July. It will be their first time. Its going to be a fun summer. :) MNpaddler on "Should they stay or go?" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=116#post-180 Fri, 22 May 2009 22:29:46 +0000 MNpaddler 180@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ I believe the forum is a vital aspect of this site. I find it easier to navigate, follow threads, and start new conversations than posting from the main page. But perhaps if the comment segment was expanded on the main page to mimic the forum it could work and be more functional and sleek. I appreciate your services. Keep up the good work and stay dry! MNpaddler on "#26 Wood Lake" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=20#post-179 Fri, 22 May 2009 22:22:48 +0000 MNpaddler 179@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ I have yet to venture into the BWCAW during the winter but maybe this year I will have to make it a priority. I have one scheduled trip to the BWCAW this July with my brothers and father in the Kawishiwi River area. A friend from the National Guard and I are looking at a three-day route later in the season entering at Seagull Lake; entry point No. 55 I believe... I will keep you posted! admin on "#26 Wood Lake" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=20#post-178 Mon, 18 May 2009 02:43:24 +0000 admin 178@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Thanks for the info MNPaddler. Our last winter episode into this area will be posted on Tuesday. It sure was a great trip. We are looking forward to our first paddling trip of the summer in two weeks. Can't wait!!! Are you heading in this summer? MNpaddler on "#29 North Kawishiwi River" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=23#post-177 Fri, 15 May 2009 01:46:00 +0000 MNpaddler 177@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ My brothers and father will be entering via EP #29 this summer and was wondering if anyone out there had any suggestions for a three day route or any other pointers for the North Kawishiwi River area. Thanks! MNpaddler on "#26 Wood Lake" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=20#post-176 Fri, 15 May 2009 01:37:56 +0000 MNpaddler 176@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ We used this EP/portage in August 2008 and it was a very easily followed trail that is plenty wide enough to accommodate even the widest of paddlers! I highly recommend getting an early start in order to secure one of the two campsites on Good Lake for the first night. If those are both occupied I suggest pushing on into Hoist Bay where there are a few excellent sites. I've been on this portage a few times and have only seen others on the water once. fishguts on "#43 McAree" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=101#post-175 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:47:18 +0000 fishguts 175@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Patrick & Thomas Brewer June 16 – 28, 2008 Quetico Provincial Park “Father and Son Dream Trip” This trip was long in the planning stage, and was on hold while I recovered from a heart attack in the spring of 2007. We started planning in earnest when the cardiologist gave me the O.K. Originally this was to be a father son trip with a friend of mine, but that didn’t pan out and it became just my son Thomas and Me. We gathered information to make this a great trip. The information we received from the Boundary Waters Journal T.R.I.P.S. program was invaluable for campsites and fishing spots. Also friends on 2 web sites were helpful BWCA.COM and BWCAPaddler. My name or “handle” on the web is Fishguts. Also I spent the winter replacing all the hooks on all our lures with Boundary Waters Journal barbless hooks. On June 16th we flew from Medford, Oregon to Minneapolis, rented a car, drove to Gardner and stayed the night. June 17th. We headed over to Cabelas for the 8AM opening. We shopped for an entire 2 hours getting head nets, fishing lures, pole, reel, line, insect repellant, T-shirts, sun glasses and more fishing gear. We hit the road for the drive to Ely. We made it by 3 PM and shopped in the Ely stores and outfitters for 1 hour, arriving at Jordan’s Outfitters at 4PM. We unpacked our stuff from the car and from the box we had sent in advance by U.P.S. Mark Bland, the new manager-owner of Jordan’s Outfitting, is a very helpful, nice guy. We went over the maps of our trip, checked out our 2 packs with all the gear and food. The office at Jordan’s has been re-modeled and is professional looking. Mark added up our bill, which Thomas paid. The bill was less than we had thought, but the tow across Lac Lacroix was more than we expected due to gas prices. We went into town and went to dinner at Sir “G”s (good Italian). The night was 1 spent in one of Jordan’s Bunk Rooms. It was pleasant with 2 of us in a 4-man room. June 18th. About 8 AM we loaded up the Jordan’s van with our gear and Mark drove us out the Echo Trail to Crane Lake for a scheduled 10 AM tow. We arrived at Scott’s Marina at 9:30 AM and our Zup’s driver was waiting for us. We were by ourselves in that big jet boat. Off we went to Sand Point Customs. We were met by a Customs Officer who checked out our ID’s and Passport and asked lots of questions, like “are you leaving anything in Canada?”, “Do you have any liquor, firearms, pepper spray, tobacco, etc.” He didn’t ask about felonies or DUIIs. Zup’s driver took us down Little Vermillion Lake to the Loon River, the two mechanical portages into Lac Lacroix and the short ride to Zup’s Resort where we purchased our fishing licenses. Mark Zup issued us our Quetico Permit and took our camping fees which saved us a trip to the Lac Lacroix Ranger Station. There seemed to be few people going into Quetico this year so they had the time to treat us like kings. They had moved our gear from the Jet boat to one of Zup’s smaller boats, and we had a new driver. She took us across Lac Lacroix and up the Brewer River to the Brewer Rapids. Our driver was able to navigate slowly up the lower rapids to the first big rapids and portage. She did a great job in the high water conditions. As soon as the boat pulled away we noticed that we were being eaten by a swarm of mosquitoes. We madly searched through the packs for the Bug Juice! Our first portage was a short one and we single portaged it. The driver had warned us to watch out for the currant at the top of the rapids, so we had no problems. We paddled across Brewer Lake to the big rapids coming out of McAree Lake. There is a campsite right on the portage between Brewer and McAree Lakes and a party with 2 tents and lots of gear occupied it. There was no one in camp, so we hurried across to get out of there. They had partially blocked the McAree end of the portage with one of their aluminum canoes. We paddled across McAree Lake to Pond Lake. On McAree we saw the 2 last people we were to see for 6 straight days. When we reached the portage into Little Gratton we had lunch. The Gratton “Long Haul” portage or “Gratton Death March” is one of those Quetico Experiences…beware of portages with names. We decided to double portage this one in stages…carry one load about half way then go back for the second load. This is a 220-rod portage with all the best Quetico has to offer: mud, swamp, steep hills and rock gardens and a nest of downed trees totally blocking the portage about half way across. Little Gratton! At last! We paddled over to the first island and checked out a campsite. It has sloping granite down to the lake & pine trees, perfect! Later, when I was writing Thomas went fishing around our island. He came back and said, “grab your pole”. He had found fish in the channel between the islands. We both caught some largemouth bass and a northern too. We decided to have dinner early and then go fishing again. After dinner we fished for largemouth bass catching about 25 largemouth. Thomas caught the biggest one on a Hula Popper. I did well with a Skitter Pop. Top water fishing is great fun. Sometimes the fish don’t strike at the lure until it is almost up to the canoe. Catch and release is easy with the barbless hooks. We got back to camp, had a fire and went to bed. June 19th. I woke up refreshed! Fog was on the lake and the water was clear as glass. We had a great fishing day getting to Ballard Lake. We started out from our campsite on Little Gratton and fished over to the creek coming in from Gratton. We caught 20 largemouth. Thomas caught a big northern right at Gratton Creek. We made the 35-rod portage into Wicksteed Lake where we started to catch smallmouth bass. We caught a ton of smallmouth. Thomas caught a 29-inch northern pike and I caught a smaller one on a popper. That’s quite exciting! We went into a bay of Wicksteed that was supposed to have largemouth, but all we caught were more smallmouth. We headed across the lower section of Wicksteed to find a lunch spot. We finally found a spot down near the portage into Darky Lake. Just off our lunch spot were lots of smallmouth nesting circles on the lake bottom. The fish lay their eggs in 3 cleared off area and the male guards the area and will attack anything that comes into the area-- including our lures. After lunch we paddled over to the portage into Darky Lake, 45 rods and very muddy with black sucking moose mud that might pull your shoes off. We rinsed off a little and continued down Darky past the island campsite with the log couch and down to the 16-rod portage into Ballard Lake. We took a while to find a spot for the tent. It doesn’t look like anyone had camped there for 5 years or more, but we made it work. The solitude was nice. We were thinking about an early dinner so we could have time to fish afterwards. We had heard that Ballard has big walleyes around our island so we trolled around the island 3 times, using different lures at different depths--nothing! We broke out the Hula Popper and top water lures and had a blast catching largemouth bass along the southern shore. We fished until dark with a beautiful sunset. We saw 2 seagulls attacking a bald eagle. The eagle roosted in a tree across from our camp and the Seagulls continued to dive at him. The eagle would open his beak and lunge at them when they swooped by. June 20th. We woke to clear skies and beautiful sun, I cooked breakfast and we were on our way across Ballard and back into Darky. We paddled towards the north end of Darky, to fish the shoreline for bass. I still had on my trusty black, white & red popper from largemouth fishing and found smallmouth love it too. I caught a nice one and so did Thomas. We continued across Darkey, into the bay leading to William Creek and the backdoor into William Lake. Thomas caught a big smallmouth just as we neared the portage. Now we started the route into William Lake. There are 4 portages, the first and last are easy….the middle two are tough with lots of up and down climbing with mud and tippy rocks. In between the portages is a beautiful river with water lilies and wild rice. We saw 3 deer along this route. The river and rapids were full, as was Cloverleaf Lake. When we got to the last portage into William the beavers had built a new dam that we paddled through. We saw a beaver here that slapped the water 4 with his tail when he saw us. Being on William Lake we were eager to see if our old 5 Star Campsite was empty, and no one seemed to be there. Great! As we were setting up camp the clouds kept increasing. We started to hear thunder to the west, so we put up the tent and rain fly and got camp ready for a storm. The storm came through with thunder and rain but no lightning. After the storm cleared we decided to have dinner. We saved the cobbler dessert for later and went fishing. We fished almost all the way to the east end of William and caught a lot of walleyes, northerns and smallmouth. Thomas caught a keeper walleye about 18 inches and a big northern, and a huge smallmouth, maybe 5 Lbs. It was very dark and fat. When we were down near the end of William we looked back towards camp and saw a huge thunderhead coming so we started paddling back. It was a long paddle but we thought we would make it, then it started to rain…then it started to pour--then it started to rain cats and dogs with us madly paddling, we had left our rain gear back in camp. In that short downpour we got drenched! When we got back, we started a nice fire and watched the rest of the storm pass by with us while hunkered down by the fire. Towards the end of the storm there was a huge rainbow. We finished the day sitting by the fire eating blueberry cobbler. June 21st. We woke up to a nice day. I cooked breakfast, a strip of bacon each, Cache Lake biscuits and gravy, and walleye fillets. We had 2 fillets left for our lunch. We decided to spend the day on William and fish the western end of the lake and around the islands. We had a successful fishing trip. At first we caught smallmouth, some of them as large as 4 and 5 Lbs. I caught a smallmouth that had bite marks on both sides….it must have taken one huge northern to do that. Then we started to catch all kinds of fish, bass, northerns and walleye….it was a lot of fun. We fished all the way around the lake to the portage to Brent Lake, then paddled back to camp for lunch. We 5 lazed around camp waiting for the wind to let up but it started raining. It rained most of the afternoon so we hung our second tarp and stayed by the fire. We cooked dinner, did the dishes, warmed ourselves by the fire and went to bed. June 22nd. It rained in the night. When we got up, everything not covered was wet. We headed east on William towards the 150-rod portage into Conmee Lake. On our way we decided to fish along the south shore of William. On the way across the lake we saw something floating. It was a float on a nylon cord, marking the mid-lake reef. We fished and jigged around the reef but had no success. We fished our way to the campsite on the south side of William, then it started raining and we put on our rain gear. When we got down to the portage into Conmee there was a maze of slippery boulders we had to cross to get from the lake to the portage itself. And guess what was waiting for us when we made it to flat ground? --A host of mosquitoes. We had heard that this portage wasn’t hard, just 150 rods, so we single portaged. The information about this portage neglected to mention the moose swamps and wet brush. We made it OK but it was one long, wet, muddy portage. We fished on Conmee catching a bass and a northern and that’s all. The wind started to come up so we headed for the 5 star campsite. We stopped and had lunch. We considered staying the night but we broke out the maps. Since the wind wasn’t terrible, we decided to push on to Suzanette. We ducked behind islands and snuck around windy points fishing as much as we could. The last 2 miles down one of the long bays of Conmee we fished the whole way. The bite was off. We didn’t catch a thing. At the end of this bay is a 44-rod portage into Suzanette Lake that isn’t marked on the Fisher Maps. It was fairly brushy but not too bad for a “way-out-in the-boonies Quetico portage”. This brought us to beautiful Suzanette. We were now looking for a nice campsite to stay 2 nights. First we stopped by a site that Tim on BWCA.Com had recommended. This site is on top of a cliff and has a message jar and a beautiful view. It was nice but a little too austere for our liking and kinda exposed--especially to wind and rain--so we 6 continued the search. We found our campsite on the second island we came to. It was on a point, at lake level, with a nice rock fireplace and trees for hanging the rain fly. We settled in and set up camp. We aired out the tent and some clothes because it had been wet when we packed up on William. Thomas fished from shore and caught a few smallmouth. You could see their nesting areas all along the shorelines. A couple of rain showers came through in the afternoon and we hunkered under the tarp and had a small fire. Later in the afternoon it cleared up and the sun came out and we decided to go troll for lake trout. We trolled back and forth on the other side of our island but had no luck. We visited another campsite across from the tip of our island. It is a big open site with pines and a nice fireplace but it is remarkable for the big moose skull with antlers that are there. On the way back we switched gear and Thomas caught a nice walleye that we invited to dinner. It was a great dinner! The late evening calling of the loons, echoing off the cliffs of Suzanette was melodious and eerie and will not be forgotten soon. Another wonderful day in Quetico! June 23rd. On this morning the lake was still and like a mirror. We had started to notice that we hadn’t seen anyone since we left McAree. It’s like Quetico was empty and felt deserted! We had day after day lake after lake, with not a soul, just us. The solitude was wonderful! We took off after breakfast and fished down the arm of Suzanette that goes towards the Darky River. We caught a few smallmouth and then came to the first rapids. Thomas caught a giant smallmouth in the 5 Lbs. range. Then a big northern followed his’ lure right up to the canoe but didn’t bite. I was fishing in the same spot with a Zulu and another big northern jumped out of the water and snapped off my Zulu. This was really exciting fishing! Later the wind picked up and we paddled back and had lunch. Thomas went through the snack bag and said we had to increase our consumption of candy bars and gorp. He said we couldn’t take any home. 7 After dinner we went fishing and we caught lots of little bass. Then we saw fish rising out in the middle of Suzanette. The wind had stopped, the lake was smooth as glass and there was a strange overcast sky. We trolled out to the middle of the lake with the only ripples being ours. Thomas hooked something. He reeled it in and next to the canoe it jumped and thrashed and out came the barbless hooks. It was a nice lake trout. We fished some more but didn’t get another bite. June 24th. I made breakfast and as we were packing, a black cloud came rolling over our camp with thunder then rain. Thomas was back in the tent where he had taken both sleeping mattresses and both pillows and was taking it easy. The thunder roused him from his lethargy. We did get the tent packed before the rain hit. We stood under the rain fly and watched the storm roll through. Then we headed up the Darky River toward Burt and Paulene Lakes. At the first rapids we tried fishing again. We both caught a lot of fish and took pictures. We made the short 40-rod portage into the next section of the Darky River and paddled up to the next rapids. We had great luck fishing here also fish after fish, mostly smallmouth but with a few northerns thrown in for fun. Thomas crossed the 24-rod portage and fished the pool above the rapids catching a beautiful 21-inch walleye. We would have a fish dinner tonight! We then paddled up the Darky River to where it Y’s with one arm going into Burt Lake and the other going to the portage to Paulene. We found a nice campsite and stopped for lunch. Thomas changed out my fishing line and put on some new line. He also adjusted my reel that had gotten sloppy with all the fish we had caught. After lunch we headed into Burt Lake looking for the pictographs on the cliff. We found the cliff. It had a big bird nest towards the top, which seemed to be either an eagle or vulture. We looked all over and only found some red smudges that could have been pictographs. We gave up and paddled into Burt. The wind was blowing and Burt is a huge lake. We did get a good view of Burt and saw the area where Lake Gamble Mater is located. We decided to paddle down to the portage to Paulene. This portage is marked 39 rods but seemed much longer and had some nasty rocky areas to negotiate and mud too. We decided to keep going. This meant we had to cross the 8 112-rod portage into McIntyre Lake. We single portaged this one, which wasn’t difficult. It was quite a nice portage with only a little mud at the very end of the portage. We were still on the hunt for a good campsite so we continued into the narrows of McIntyre. This is where we saw a canoe. This was the first person we had seen since leaving McAree. We had 6 full days in Quetico without seeing another human. Talk about solitude! It has been wonderful; the lakes have been all ours! We decided to head down toward Cedar Point Camp where we had stayed in 05. It was a long paddle and we had some wind to contend with but we finally rounded the last point and it was open. This is a beautiful campsite and has a message jar back in the woods behind camp. We set up camp and retrieved the message jar. It was good to see that some of our acquaintances from the BWCA.com have made it here and left messages. We had a great dinner of Darky River walleye and went to bed. We were pooped! June 25th. Last night we had “whippoorwills” who sang their 4-note song over and over and over.and then in the middle of the night they had their buddies join them in a late night Jam-bo-ree, over and over. This is the only spot in the Canoe Country we have ever had these darn birds! After getting up I started a small fire when I heard thunder rumbling to the west. I set up a rain-fly just in case it might rain. The thunder was getting closer. Then the rain started. I thought I was pretty clever sitting under the rain-fly with my little fire and coffee. Then the storm hit! Lightning, thunder, wind, it poured, it hailed ice the size of pennies. The wind caught the rain-fly and I had to hold on with both hands. The rain and hail came in sideways. Pools formed on the ground. Thomas came out of the tent wearing his rain gear to report that water was coming in on one side of the tent. Wow! What a storm! Everything got wet or damp. The only dry spot was where my butt was under the tarp. I kept that spot dry but I was soaked. Thirty minutes later the sun came out. Just another beautiful day in Quetico. I wrote a note for the message jar and returned the jar to its 9 cairn in the woods. We paddled out to the left hand point of the bay and started trolling for trout. Both of us had on Rapala Deep Tail Dancers, Purplesent and Perch color. No sooner had we started trolling than Thomas had one on his line. It took quite a while for him to bring it in and we couldn’t find the net. Thomas did land this lake trout without a net. It was a beautiful 7-9 Lbs. fish and we decided that it was too big for just the 2 of us to eat, so Thomas let him go. We continued to troll and Thomas hooked another smaller one that flipped off the barbless hooks right beside the canoe. We put up our poles and decided to continue our travels. We headed south on McIntyre towards the portages into Sarah Lake. We continued down Sarah and were looking for a lunch campsite which we found one at the narrows. We had a pleasant lunch. It was warm and sunny. Then we heard thunder from the west. Here came a huge dark thunderstorm right over us. We got out the rain gear and tarps and covered our stuff as best we could. Thomas and I crawled under a tarp and waited out the squall. When it lessened we came out and looked around. Then to the west came a darker storm-- this time with lightning striking the ground. Thomas tied a little tarp between 2 trees and we hunkered down under it. The rain poured down, and it blotted out the view of the lake it was so hard. We got soaked; there was no way to stay dry. I had water running down the inside of my rain jacket. Then the lightning strikes got close with one just to the west of us and then to the east…Booom!!…! 15 minutes later the sun came out and we were back in the canoe headed south. We didn’t know how far we could get this day, especially with all the rain delays. In front of us was a particularly difficult set of portages first into Side Lake with lots of loading and un-loading. Then came “Heart Attack Hill” which not only had a steep hill but also was brushy and had some moose mud. This portage was particularly poignant because of my heart attack in 2007. Then came the two small portages in and out of the ponds before Isabella. These two were bad with mud and brush and downed trees. We finally made it to Isabella Lake! We found the nice campsite at the narrows empty and grabbed it. We had a beaver swim across the lake in front of us and slap his tail 3 or 4 10 times. Later he swam right by camp and we took pictures of him. June 26th. I woke up to clear skies, made a little campfire and coffee and wrote of yesterday’s adventures. We fixed breakfast and packed up ready to head for Bayley Bay of Basswood Lake for our last campsite of the trip. As we were packing we saw a couple of parties of 2 &4 paddle by. We made the portage into the river flowing into Basswood. With the high water we were able to paddle all the way to Basswood through rapids and one beaver dam pull through. We entered The North Bay of Basswood Lake and turned right to paddle down that shore until we were directly across and closest to the island and portage into Burke Lake. Then we paddled across this big reach of lake without getting turned around like we did in 2005. Burke is where we got wind bound back in ‘93, but this day was hot and sunny with a slight breeze for the long paddle across Burke. This brought us to the famous “Yellow Brick Road” portage over to Bayley Bay of Basswood Lake. Thomas had talked of switching and having me carry the canoe on this portage. So I carried the canoe and Thomas took pictures. The portage was 84 rods and sandy with hardly any stones and no mud. I think this is the easiest portage in Quetico. It was hot and humid at the end of the “Yellow Brick Road” so Thomas went swimming on the sandy beach. We then loaded the canoe and headed down Bayley Bay looking for our last campsite. We finally found one before Inlet Bay. We set up camp and we both took a nap in the tent even though it was hot and humid, it felt good to lie down. After 6PM it started cooling down and the loons started to sing. We could hear the distant motorboats on the US side of the lake. We heard a radio playing for a while--country western music. Civilization was drawing near. We had dinner, then off to the tent for a little reading and sleep. June 27th. I awoke in the night to a snorting noise. Thomas said it was a deer and it came back later in the night and snorted and stomped its hooves. We woke up and I fixed the last breakfast. We headed for Prairie Portage. We took pictures of the Quetico sign, went to the Quetico Store and bought shirts and hats. We were 2 hours early for our tow, so we sat in the rain under a birch tree with thunder, lightning 11 and rain off and on. There seemed to be far fewer people coming through this year compared to 2005. There were a few groups that came in: boy scouts and a father & son group from Ohio who had been up Agnes way. I talked to them about good places to eat in Ely, and told them about the Ely Steak House. Then our tow from LaTourrell’s showed up. He was slowed down due to the lightning and rain. We enjoyed the tow down the Moose Lake chain. Jordan’s van was waiting for us at LaTourrell’s. We piled in and were whisked back to the outfitters base. We checked out with Mark, headed into town and checked in at our motel the “Adventure Inn” Nice!! After showering and spiffing up we headed to the Ely Steak House for a great dinner. We saw our friends from Ohio and Journeyman from the BWCA.com showed up. We arraigned to meet later to go over our maps. Journeyman did come by our motel and we had a great time passing on information on the lakes we just come out from. All in all, this was probably the best canoe trip I can remember. We had a great time! Experienced solitude for 6 days! Caught a ton of fish! Saw a lot of new territory! Had all kinds of weather. We couldn’t asked for anything more. June 28th. We left Ely early and drove back to Minneapolis in our rental car. Our flights back to the West Coast were on time. We made it back to home by 11 PM Minnesota time. admin on "Great Podcast!!" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=115#post-174 Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:59:57 +0000 admin 174@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Hi Carlson, Thanks for the feedback. Glad you enjoy the shows. Let us know if you'd like to see anything on one of our episodes. Bill Carlson_531 on "Great Podcast!!" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=115#post-173 Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:08:47 +0000 Carlson_531 173@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Great stuff. A podcast worth watching! admin on "jim the camp cook" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=118#post-172 Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:52:03 +0000 admin 172@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Hey riverrat, Jim is not only BWCACAST's camp cook, but a ton of fun to camp with. His laid back manner keeps even the rainiest bug filled days a joy. We have a few more camp cooking shows lined up for this summer. Hopefully you'll find some fancy new tips and tricks to try out on one of your upcoming trips. If anyone has a great meal they like to prepare in the woods and would like to share it with us we are all ears. Its always nice to have options when it comes time to fill your belly after a long day of paddling. riverrat on "jim the camp cook" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=118#post-171 Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:57:51 +0000 riverrat 171@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Jim knows his stuff and he's such a likable fellow. Its got to be great being able to hang out with him. Is he the designated camp cook. I love to cook in camp too. Would love to see more of his camp cooking talents and recipes. admin on "Should they stay or go?" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=116#post-170 Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:25:22 +0000 admin 170@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Hi PD, QJ does have a very active forum. I had an unfortunate run in with them back when I was starting this site up. I've kinda tried to stay a little clear from there since. I didn't want to cause any more issues over there. I think their forums are great, and there is a wealth of knowledge there. Great people posting. A great community. Thanks for the suggestion. :) Bill admin on "Music" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=117#post-169 Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:04:40 +0000 admin 169@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Hi PD, Which musician are you referring to? Lately I've been using a lot of Dan Tharp's music. You can find his music at <a href="http://www.dantharpmusic.com." rel="nofollow">www.dantharpmusic.com.</a> In the posts that have "The Show" at the end of the title should have the names of the musician in the show notes. Let me know who you like and I'll do the best I can to get you a link. Hope this helps. Bill pdeloria on "Should they stay or go?" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=116#post-168 Sun, 15 Feb 2009 03:20:25 +0000 pdeloria 168@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ my 2 cents... It is nice to be able to interface with you, Bill, here at the forum. But the comments option would achieve that just as well. There is a great, very active, established forum at quietjourney.com that you could help sustain by directing your viewers there for information and fellowship. I hope this doesn't rank as spam. I don't work for them, I just really appreciate the service their webmaster provides and hope you'll take the redirect as intended... ...just friendly advice. Great show, awesome way to kill some cabin fever in the winter months. Looking forward to your mushing show. You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. Job 11:16 pd pdeloria on "Music" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=117#post-167 Sun, 15 Feb 2009 03:13:43 +0000 pdeloria 167@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ I love the bluegrass/celtic/folk music you use! Where can I hear more of it? I followed the link to music.podshow.com and wasn't able to locate it. You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. Job 11:16 pd pdeloria on "Footwear while portaging" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=114#post-166 Sun, 15 Feb 2009 03:10:36 +0000 pdeloria 166@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ I have found Crocs to be great in summer months. Dry fast, very light, stick to wet granite like glue. In colder seasons I wear knee high Muck Boots(TM). Neoprene with rubber soles. Warm, Lightweight, and snug. If you are in Minnesota you can pick them up cheap at L&M. Stop off in Virginia/Mt. Iron on the way up 53 where it meets 169 if you are just passing through. Great deals on all kinds of outdoors gear. You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. Job 11:16 pd admin on "Great Podcast!!" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=115#post-165 Sat, 31 Jan 2009 02:49:53 +0000 admin 165@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Hi zeropointd, Thanks for posting. We will continue to release shows all winter, and are gearing up for another great summer. Let us know what you'd like to see in the future. Bill zeropointd on "Great Podcast!!" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=115#post-164 Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:22:38 +0000 zeropointd 164@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Agreed on the great show. I am a podcast junky and love what you are doing. Look forward to every new show. admin on "Should they stay or go?" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=116#post-163 Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:22:16 +0000 admin 163@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ I'm contemplating dropping the forum and just using comments on the main BWCACAST site to handle all discussions. What are your thoughts? Bill Louutah on "Great Podcast!!" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=115#post-162 Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:22:59 +0000 Louutah 162@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ No problem - Bill.... I try and save up several videocast for the plane rides.....it's hard not to sneak a peek before I travel, however it is always worth it and watching you guys paddle away makes being stuck in a tube for a few hours alittle easier to handle. thanks again....Louutah admin on "Great Podcast!!" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=115#post-161 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:47:06 +0000 admin 161@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ Hi Louutah, Thanks for watching the show. :) Thats a great idea for a show. It'll be in the next episode we shoot. We have a few shows that are being edited up right now, so the Navagation episode my now be out for a month or two. I hope you don't mind waiting. Great to get some feedback. Thanks again, Bill Louutah on "Great Podcast!!" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=115#post-160 Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:18:42 +0000 Louutah 160@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ I do have a suggestion for an upcoming episode.....navigation? what do you use...GPS,Compass,Map? also, are the portages marked in some way? how do you locate a portage on a lake that may be unfamilar to you? Again, great videos. admin on "Footwear while portaging" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=114#post-159 Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:25:40 +0000 admin 159@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ I've been using Chacos. I love them. They are very robust and wear resistant. The webbing doesn't soak up any water, and the rubber soles give adequate traction and comfort. I can walk through the muddiest of portages and then just rinse them off on the other side. The functionality aside you get some great tan lines. Bill vdzlibrarian on "Footwear while portaging" http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/topic.php?id=114#post-158 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:00:46 +0000 vdzlibrarian 158@http://www.bwcacast.com/forums/ After watching your most recent post you talked about sloshing through some pretty muddy portages. Do you have a recommendation on footwear? Example: Would those aquashoes be a good call? I thought they might be light, slip on easily, and could be rinsed out in the water at the end of the portage.