Boundary Waters paddling TR

“Photos, no captions yet

So I just spent a week canoeing the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area in Northmost Minnesota along the Canadian border with selected members of my Boy scout troop.

Absolutely awesome experience, I will definitely be going back.

20 of us attend the Charles Sommers High Adventure Canoe Base (part of the Northern Tier High Adventure program) in Ely, MN. We flew out of Jacksonville Florida into Minneapolis and took a chartered bus north to canoe country. Along the way we stopped and toured the old Soudan Iron Mine. Pretty cool stuff with taking a tour near a mile underground. I’m glad as hell I’m not a miner.

So after a day of mucking about in Ely. (I have never seen so many canoes and kayaks in one spot) we made it to Sommers and checked in.

The crew of boys I would be advising consisted of
Zach the Crew chief
Captain Obvious
Sean
Patrick
Mike a scout who just aged out and is now an adult volunteer
Mr. Kelly Brown
And Lil ‘ol me
Also joining us was out interpreter Danny. Danny was there to teach us the ropes and be sure things went smoothly.

Our Interpreters (What NT calls a guide) met us at the door and the adult went about checking us in and the boys unloaded the bus. After check in our interpreters told us to divide out into our three crews grab gear and follow them to the off-road cabins. So I turned to the boys serving as crew chiefs,

-Gentlement, it’s your show now.
~Ok. Yo! Crew F, G, and H lets go!

The guys all divided into crews grabbed their gear that was already piled by crew, gathered in front of each crews interpreter got directions to each crews cabin and took off towards the cabins.

Danny, our interpreter was a bit taken aback. He was not expecting us to be organized.

Danny- Wow, usually this part is a zoo with kids scrambling over each others gear, arguing with each other and asking what crew they were supposed to be in.
Capt. Obvious- That’s because we are professionals.

We spent the rest of the day checking out gear, route planning, and reviewing what gear we brought with us. The personal gear check was funny. We laid out our stuff in the cabin and Danny looked it over with us. All he did as we talked over our gear selections was say “Wow, ok, good you guys are set.” It appears he’s used to telling people to leave obviously stupid stuff behind and convincing others to bring essentials.

Route finding was funny. We had looked over the maps prior to arriving and the guys were thinking about doing a 75+ mile trip over the five nights was had on the water we just weren’t sure if that was a good or bad idea or how a typical trip pans out. Plus we floored him again.

Zach- We were looking at doing this route but we wanted to know if there was anyplace that you would like to go to.
Danny- Me?
Capt. Obvious- Yeah, we figured you were going to be here all summer and that most crews would do pretty much the same thing and that you would get bored of seeing the same places. We thought we should give you a say in the route too.
Danny- Well actually the route you guys planned usually takes most crews more than five nights to complete. Many struggle to put in 60 miles and you guys are looking at doing 80 or more.
Zach- Is it a good route?
Danny- It’s an awesome route. I know interpreters who have been here five years and have never been that far out but we just need to be sure that this isn’t too much to bite off. So lets just see how we do an day one and adjust the route from there.
Capt. Obvious- Too much for us? He don’t know us very well do he?
Me- Ah grasshopper, in time he will learn.

Apparently Danny had to argue for us to get the route approved by the admin staff. But we saw him later at dinner.

Danny- I got it approved.
Me- Ok, any issues?
Danny- The head interpreter was leery of the mileage but approved it. The other interpreters hate me now.
Me- Whys that?
Danny- They are jealous of the route and want to go too.

So the final route was from Moose lake up to Sucker lake and follow the Canadian border Northeasterly up to Cache Bay and turn south around American Point and work our way back to Moose Lake via a chain of lakes that link Ogishkemuncie, Kekabic, Thomas, Jordan, and Ensign lakes.

We resolved to be one of the first crews on the water the next morning.”

“More later”

“Great pix, The one's by the river are superb, but those packs OMG, what do you have in there, Jimmy Haffa? LOL”

“Great report for day 1.”

“Two grey packs contain all the personal gear for seven people. Two green packs are only food. One green pack contains all the crew gear, stoves, pots, ect.

That's just how they do it there at NT. If we did the trip outside of NT everything would be much much smaller and lighter.”

“It's great up there isn't it? I lived on the Iron Range for 2 years, '56 to '58. Never saw what was to become the Boundary Waters area or Ely. Dad wasn't an outdoors person. When I hiked the Pow Wow trail with Simer190 in May, I fell in love with the area. I intend to return many times and wouldn't be surprised to find myself moving in that directio one last time.”

“for the start of what I sure will be the story of an excellent adventure.

You should provide lessons on trip report writing, along with trip planning and execution.”

“I'm jealous. Accessibility to canoe trips in the Boundary Waters was the best benefit of living in MN. That is, next to catching Smelt and Rainbow Trout in the Spring in the North Shore rivers.”

“Great trip report so far!! Was this your first time up there?? The Boundary Waters is one of my favorite places in the whole wide world!!”

“You sound like an awesome scout master HPM. Glad you are out there getting involved.”

“hey hpm sounds like you had a really great trip. what bus company did you use. our troop is going up there for the winter adventure so we probably need to get something booked. my son just got back from philmont and he had a blast! wants to work there next year.”

“Ookpik will be a blast. Expect temps around -50.

LCS coaches out of Duluth Mn.
They do a lot of moving scouts around. I'll dig up a number for you.

For 20 of us it cost about $75 a head and the driver took us all over the place.”

“i think there is only 8 going on our trip although my son wants to go he is an adult now. maybe he could go as a venture crew scout. did you say minus 50? that's cold.”

“They said the temps in winter are the same as in summer.......just put a minus in front of it.

You can wear what you are wearing right now........just NT will give you enough stuff to put on over it to keep you warm.

Just sign your son up as a volunteer adult. He can go too.”

“I'd love to do a winter trip up there some time but I'd have to replace all my Ohio winter gear with the good stuff. You can throw a pot of water into the air and it will be frozen before it hits the ground. Yowza!”

“We never took off out of CHarles Sommers Base, but we did our own trips from other places.

And, I was at a x-country ski race in Ely once, and we did the throw the water in the air, and it DID actually freeze before it hit the ground.”

“Day 1

So we get up and head to breakfast in the chow hall and meet Danny. Afterwards we collect our gear from the various points of the base. The personal gear for all seven of us is all stowed in two huge grey portage packs dubbed “Grey Whales” by the NT staff. The food is packed into two hard sided green plastic tubs and placed into kondos packs the last gear pack is the “kettle” pack and it is another of the aforementioned green plastic tubs in the kondos pack that contains pot and pans (way too many if you ask me), three bottles of polar pure, a 5 gal water bucket, 2 1 gal buckets, bear ropes, a cutting board, a utensil kit, a soap kit with scrubbies, a (huge and heavy) camp spade, two stoves and a gallon and a quart of fuel and some other crap I can’t recall. The lightest pack was the kettle pack. We would travel in three canoes and each canoe would also carry a day pack that contained anything that canoe would need while paddling (camera, sunscreen, raingear ect.) we added to that a rod case for our fishing gear as snapping rods is a common thing.

We put the hustle on and crew E070604H were the first ones on the water that day at 8:38am.

Danny- That was great, usually crews get caught in the shuffle and don’t push off until around 10 am.
Capt. Obvious- ~exaggerated sigh~ What did I tell you yesterday?
Danny- That you were professionals.
Capt. Obvious- Yep, he’s a keeper.

The guys were amped to finally get going and were paddling like mad. So much so that the bowmen were WAAAAAAAAAAY overpowering the sternmen and we were weaving along like drunk canoeists. I could see Danny was a bit nervous at this poor display of paddling prowess so we rafted up mid water and had a little discussion on paddling technique. Danny would describe the draw and sweep and J stroke and everyone would nod their heads that they understood. Finally I told they guys they needed to relax and stop working so hard against each other. Things smoothed out after that. The only real annoyance was the wakes from motorboats ferrying canoes and people back and forth to the Canadian Customs station at Prairie portage. It wasn’t that bad but constantly turning into their wake was irritating.

We hit our first portage not long after that and entered motor free water. An easy 5 rod portage. A rod is 16.5 feet long, the length of a canoe. We were a bit slow on the unloading and I decided to be the canoe guy today. So how it broke down was two guys carried the grey whales, three guys would carry the food and kettle pack and those five would divide up the loose things in the canoes and hit the trail. Then the canoe guys would help get the packs on the packmen and then grab the daypacks (Danny would grab his guide pack) and single hoist the canoes one to a guy on our shoulders and go. The pack men would walk out into the water and wait for the canoes to arrive. When the canoes got there we would place then in the water, reload them and head on. I, of course, almost took my head off on the first portage when trying to get the canoe off my shoulders the portage pads grabbed my neck when I didn’t lift the canoe high enough. The guys got a good laugh out of it until they realized it hurt. Hahahahahahaha, umm errr oh crap. Here let me help. Thanks, you knuckleheads. Lol.

For lunch we stopped in the Canadian side of Birch lake and spent some time practicing solo lifting and setting the canoes in and back in the water.

The rest of the day was a pleasant paddle watching the landscape and wildlife and occasionally portaging. I particularly like the Loons and their calls. The laugh cracks me up. It is amazing to me than you can go from the subtropics to terrain like the boundary waters in one day and still be in the same nation. The variety contained with our borders is amazing.

Later that afternoon we reached our destination Robbins Island on Knife Lake and passed it about 3pm.

Danny- Ok you made your point we can stop anytime you are ready to.
Us- Cool.

In the Boundary Waters you are required to stay in official campsites. Danny explained to us that first we needed to find someplace that looked like a campsite that was empty. Soon enough we spotted what appeared to be an empty campsite. We pulled up and sent one of the guys up to see if it was.

Danny- Ok, first look for a fire grate that says US Forest Service on it.
Capt. Obvious- Ok. Yep we have a fire grate.
Danny- Ok, great. Now we need to be sure that there is one more thing for this to be an official site.
Capt. Obvious- Allrighty what would that be.
Danny- A grumper.
Capt. Obvious- A grumper you say.
Danny- (Laughing) You know what a grumper is?
Capt. Obvious- I’ve never heard the term before but I know exactly what you mean.
The Capt. Runs off into the wood and before long we hear his voice from the pines.
Capt. Obvious- WE HAVE GRUMPAGE!
Danny- Yep, it’s an official site.

So we made camp and cooked dinner. Danny was quite sure we could pull off our route as we had put down 15 miles that day and he was having a blast with our antics and constant fooling. About 9:30 the swarms of mosquitos drove us into the tents for the night.”

“portage pads!

Wow, and I thought you were roughing it.

Keep them coming, this is great.

Question: The bags, were any of them Duluth Backpacks?”

“Thanks for the report and pics. I love that part of the world. I won't even tell you what area of Quetico I go to when I'm up there, but all of it is great.
Good to see you working with the scouts.”

“What a great trip! More, more, more, please.

So am I the only one who doesn't know what a grumper is?

Dunadan, ever been to Woodland Caribou Provincial Park in NW Ontario? Awesome place. If you like Quetico, you'd love WCPP. I took this description off a web site: "Not only are there few canoeists but there is little evidence of modern man. None of the park has been logged. It is virtually unchanged from ancient times. The pristine freshness here is a welcome contrast to other heavily used parks. There are no designated campsites. With a few exceptions, good landings are plentiful. There is plenty of bare bedrock for fire rings."”

“Wow, Ruby! Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely check it out.”

“Oh sorry about that.

A grumper is a pit toilet. Nothing more than a fiberglass throne witht a seat sitting over a pit in the open air, no walls at all.”

“Dunadan, you'll find lots more if you google the park name. Not sure about the not being logged part. My dad and my brother had a map last summer. My dad relied a lot on his GPS. I think the park is 1.2 million acres. And many of the lakes are not named yet. You'll definitely see moose and black bear. The fish are monstrosities. I have a picture of a muskie skull that we found on a rock. When my brother held it up to his face, it was bigger than his head. I'll have to dig that picture up.”

“Great, Ruby. I really appreciate the info.
(Sorry for stomping on your thread, HPM.)”

“Yes, sorry, HPM. I was thinking the same thing”

“No worries. This is TT. It's expected.”

“Awesome.

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed my neighborhood.”

“It was something else Simer.

NS, the packs were Granite Gear and Kondos packs.”

“humanpackmule = Thanks for the information. It would be useful for me, if you could include an evaluation of these packs with the rest of your trip report.”

“They were nothing more than huge pack bags with padded hip and shoulder straps. No back panels at all.

They do the job for portaging but thank God the longest we had those beasts on was for 100+ rods.”

“Day 2

Kelly is an early riser so he is up and out of the tent at 5am and is busy making coffee and swatting skeeters. Danny rolls out of the sack about 5:30 and is suprised to see Kelly up and moving.

Danny- Huh, early risers too?
Kelly- Yep. Coffee?

I'm more of the lay awake and gather the will to move kinda guy so I do my usual and lie there and just listen to the day unfold. Danny was telling Kelly that his last couple of crews were late risers and typically didn't get out of camp untill 9ish and one like to roll out at the crack of noon.

I'm thinking wow, ok. No punch clock in the woods but geez. That sure limits what you can see and do in a day. So about 6ish the guys start stirring and we all roll out and make short work of the morning chores and are on the water about 7am.

Today our goal was American Point on Lake Saganga so 15-16 miles away and today we had three portages a couple of 20-30 and a 75 rodder.

The water was very calm and glassy and we moved smoothly and quietly up the lake. It was nice listening to the birds and watching the antics of the Loons. We had a good hour or so untill we saw any other canoes and even then any appearances were brief.

We covered about 7 miles hit the first portage and made short work of it and headed on towards the next portage where we were planning on taking a lunch break when we spotted another Sommers crew.

Us- HOLRY!
them- REDEYE!

Hol-Ry (said whole rye) is the hailing sign for voyageurs of the Charles L. Sommers Wilderness Canoe Base. When a voyageur encounters another on the trail, it is customary for one to address the other with "Hol-Ry" and the other to respond with "Red-Eye". The origin of this greeting hearkens to the 50's and 60's when Charlie crews carried a rye cracker with the tradename Hol-Ry. The cracker was baked by the Zinsmaster bakery in Duluth, Minnesota. Hol-Ry was a cracker that didn't break or spoil easily, and for trail food, this is important. The taste of Hol-Ry was rather nondescript, but it made a very good vehicle for delivering peanut butter and jelly at lunchtime. The term Red-eye comes from the noonday drink of the early loggers in the area. For decades, Charlie crews have used the same term for their lunch drink.

In the context of a canoe trip, the exchange of greetings is often spoken as voyageurs encounter each other on a portage trail, and its meaning is kind of a "Hey, how you doin'? " followed by a "OK- no problems". It is usually spoken in a normal speaking tone, and in the spirit of the wilderness experience. For many people, the spell of the wilderness can be suspended by unnecessary contact with others, and we respect this by not making more contact than necessary.

So we chatted a bit in passing as they were headed in the same direction as us. Danny knew thier interperater, Mary.

Danny- how goes it?
Mary- Pretty good. Just got on the water a bit ago.
Danny- It's noon now
Mary- (rolling eyes) yep, headed for American point today.
Danny- Cool, so are we. What day is it for you?
Mary- Day three. You?
Danny- Two
Mary- Really? Wow, that's quick. Where did you start today?
Danny- Just past Robbins Island
Mary- Robbins?!? Thats 13 miles away. You did that by lunch?
Danny- Yep
Mary- You guys are animals!

We were a bit taken aback as we didn't think we were all that exceptionable but hey take a compliment when offered and say thanks.

The interperaters have developed their own brand of fun. One of these is the "interperater hug". Basicly when two crews meet the guides leap out of the boats swim together and hug in the water and then swim back and re-enter their canoes.

Personally I thought this was simply something cooked up by the male guides as an excuse to hug the female guides. I resolved to test it at the earliest chance I got. I see you working it.

So we stopped for lunch about 13 miles in and then...

Capt. Obvious- Ummmm, anyone seen my camera?
Me- You mena your brand new, right out of the box, shiny expensive canon rebel Ti edition canera.
Capt. Obvious- Un yeah that one.
Me- Nope.
Sean- Were did you last see it?
Capt. Obvious- At the last portage.
Sean- The portage 5 miles back?
Capt. Obvious- yep
Sean- crap.
Danny- Wanna go back for it?
Capt. Obvious- I don't want to hold us up cause of me doing something stupid.
Me- Who much was that camera?
Capt. Obvious- about $300
Me- so that's $30 a mile. Expensive if you are paying out cash and a great deal if you are stroking a paddle.
Capt. Obvious- I don't want to hold us up.
Kelly- You won't hold me up. I'm going fishing.
Danny- empty a canoe and grab your lunch and lets go.
Capt. Obvious- well ok then.

So off they went on a ten mile detour while we went fishing.”

“I just hope my Scouts are as "professional" as yours before our Philmont Trek next summer. We hit the trail one year from Friday.”

“I may be getting back up there next year with my brother-in-law.

He always enters at Beaverhouse Ranger station and paddles south then east through Quetico Lake.

It has been 4 years since I paddled the northern waters of Quetico. If I don't go with him, I am going to try and put a trip together.”

“Chuck there is certainly some ego stroking in that but mostly we poke fun at ourselves.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I took a nap.

Kelly caught a nice small mouth bass but we didn't want to portage a fish twice so we released it.

Right at two hours Danny and Capt. Obvious show up and luckily the camera was still sitting on a rock on this side of the portage. Lucky we weren't around more people cause the Capt. didn't have his name in the case and it would have been impossible to return. Oh yeah, his brand new rain jacket was in the bag too. It could have been a double whammy.

So away we go again 2 pm with 6 miles and two portages to go. We let The Capt. and Danny duff (ride cargo) and rest until after the portages. We hit the 75 rod portage and made short work of it and then the next small one got back on the water and a headwind kicks up. It was wierd, we were paddling along and then I noticed that the water took on a limey green cast for a while and then the wind kicked up and the water turned dark. Up ahead we could see the strait into lake Saganaga and the water was black.

Me- Ru-row
Danny- stick close and keep near shore. Saganaga is a very big lake.
Guys- roger.

It was pretty cool digging in against the wind but it was tireing. Whitecaps were beginning to form up too. Off to our left we could see out into Cache Bay, a historic area of the fur trade. Before too ong we reached American Point and began looking for a campsite. All the obvious ones were full and the last official campsite on the map proved to be unfindable. Fianlly we gave up looking and were forced to keep going past the point to Englishman and Long Islands.

Every site we came across was occupied and we had to keep pushing. I was getting sore and the guys were too. Danny slid his canoe up to mine.

Danny- These guys are worn. What do you want to do?
Me- We don't have much of a choice do we? We keep going until we find an open campsite.
Danny- Do you think that they will stand for that? I don't want top push too hard.
Me- I don't think any of them want a ticket for illegal camping and there are motorboats allowed here. Easy to get caught.
Danny- True
Me- These guys enjoy a challenge and they knew that we might have to push further than we want because of filled sites. They know sometimes things will suck but that just makes for a better story later. If they ask then we stop but not untill they do.
Danny- Ok.

Luckily the next site on Long Island was empty so we took it.

So 19 miles today (29 for Danny and the Capt.) for a total of 34. Wow, nearly halfway on milegage on day two of six. The rest of the trip we could take relatively easy.

The campsite was nice but rocky and we lazed about a bit and consulted our maps. I started reading a book about the fur trade that described the Grand Portage to Rainy Lake route and I commented on it to the other guys and we all agreed that it soulded like a huge but very cool trip.

Some of the guys wanted to change our plans and head for the Grand Portage instead. Ummm... I don't think so guys that's a bit ambitious. Maybe next time.

We destroyed dinner and dessert and crawled into the sack about 9:30 when the bugs got bad. So far I had not seen full dark on this trip yet. That's odd for me as I like to see the stars before turning in.

Another beautiful day in paradise and I resolved to come back with my family as soon as possible.”

“HPM ---


Just a great read!

I just got back from vacation. A week on a lake in Northern NH right on the Maine border.

We were at a remote campsite. 12 miles up the lake and down a cove on an island about 1.5 acres in size.

We didn't move from site to site, but did do a lot of paddling from our base camp.

Anyhoo . ..yours is a great read to transition me back to work.”

“Agreed!

29 mile paddle, impressive!”

“Early travel helped in obtaining a distant campsite by mid-afternoon and before others occupied it. And, also, this could help to avoid paddling in some of the late afternoon storms.”

“Yep, only we lost 2 hours cause of the backtrack. Otherwise we would have been in camp at 3:30 instead of 5:30.

Campsites started filling up at 2pm to 3pm.”

“Thirty years ago I had my old flame's 13 year old son with me. After crossing a lake I treated him to a candy bar. After a long portage I asked him, Where's the wrapper? He said that he had left it on the ground at the start of the portage. I explained LNT and then said, "Please go get it!" He did. I saw him last December. He is now a hard-working, very polite and likable man.”

“one of these days...the BW is on my "checklist of life" list.”

“bump”

“This is a great TR...thanks for sharing HPM.”

“Bump? Is that kinda like a nudge?
lol.”

“Yes, they are good trip reports. This is how I'm finding out how his trip went myself.”

“;)”

“I remember a trip I was on in scouts up there. I don't remember total mileage, but to make a long story short, after about 6 portages and all day of paddling, we finally find a place to camp...only to find out that the pack with ALL 5 tents in it is missing. 2 scouts head back and after 2 or 3 portages they come back empty handed. My dad, the scoutmaster at that time, took the biggest scout and headed back. We proceeded to make lean-to shelters for the night. The next morning my dad and the scout finally showed up with the pack with the tents.

It turned out my brothers canoe was responsible for that pack. They left it at the end of the first portage of the day

We still remind him of it to this day.”

“Ooooo....that's gotta hurt.”

“HPM . .

I am assuming at this point that either:

a) you got a helicpoter transport out and there was no third day

b) you had aheart attack at your computer and can't type

c) or, perish the thought, work has gotten in the way of your report.


Finish up man!”

“lee - I believe that you can forget a, since he returned on schedule. HPM alwasys does a great job. So I'm willing to give him all the time he needs. That is, at least a few more minutes.

He must be busy, since

"Yes, they are good trip reports. This is how I'm finding out how his trip went myself."
treebait”

“day 3

We woke up to choppy water and a headwind. Today we were aiming for Lake Ogishkemuncie. Say that three times fast. We ate, packed up and hit the water.

Today we tried to stay in the leeward side of the many islands we had to pass today. It helped but it got confusing. Our navigators recieved a bit of an education in paying attention. We always had two guys riding duffer so they were designated at the navigators and were handed the maps. It seems that whoever was duffer preferred to simply admire the scenery and not take menatl notes as to where we were on the map. As such we spent more time than necessary rafted up consulting the maps.

It was frustrating to Kelly and myself to know where we were and know where we were going and have to sit there being blown by the wind while the guys made up thier mind. We were there to help them figure it out for themselves and not tell them the answer. Ah well, that's just the way it goes.

Eventually things would get straightened out and we would be off again although Alpine Lake really confused me. It's interesting how when looking on the map you expect the lakes to be huge and some tiny and when you are actually looking at the land the features seem to be completely different than you expect but both still jive together. I was kind of an altered perceptions thing to me.

We had about 6 portages today and one that was marked on the map we could float through. We also started mixeing it up and putting different people together and giving everyone a go at carrying the canoe, the grey whales and the food and kettle packs. The canoe food and kettle packs I'm cool with but I hate to carry those dang grey whales. Super bulky and no real padding. Lucky thing we didn't have any rigid items in there.

Later in the day we made it to Ogishkemuncie and commenced looking for a campsite. We found a nice one on a rock overlook. It was my job to find the grumper. So off I went with a paddle and a roll of happy paper (If you don't have happy paper then you are pretty sad)

The paddle is used as the grumper door. If the paddle is lying across the trail then the door is closed if the paddle is lying parallel to the trail the door is open. I found a likely trail and about 50 feet in I saw where a grumper was and had been filled in so I figured I was on the right track so I went back and put the door in place. Up the trail I went. The trail headed up the lightly wooded hill and there were about five filled up grumpers along the way. Huh, popular campsite I guess. It was a bit of a walk and I had gone quite a ways up the hill and finally saw the grumper. Cool.

And then I turned around to a panoramic view of the lake and the arm of the lake we came in by sanking back around to the lake we just left. Awesome view.

I head back down.

Me- We got a grumper with an awesome view.
Guys- cool
Me- And I'm first! Yo capt.
Capt. Obvious- yeah?
Me- I need to borrow the charmin
Capt. Obvious- Ah, that good a view huh? Using the special occiason happy paper?
Me- True.

So here I am sitting on a grumper with the great view doing my bidness with the high dollar happy paper life is good right? What more could a fella want?

Well sir at that moment a bald eagle flies over my head and plucks a fish out of the lake and flies back over me. Sitting there I a saw bald eagles passes several times. I assume it was one of two birds but I know really know.

So after finishing and relating the experience the guys go and check it out. We all agreed that is was indeed a truly great grumper. Then the ribbing started over who was going to use the grumper at sunset to get the best sunset view. Much plotting and scheming ensued but I thinnk Partick get the throe at that most opprotune time.

Fishing was poor for us and the biggest entertainment was Capt. Obvious scaling a rock wall to get his lure back our of a dead tree.

We got a fire going and still ended up crashing before dark. The bugs weren't that bad that night.”