How Great The Yield From A Fertile Field: Winter Camping

In the BWCA.

We had a camping trip planned between Christmas and New Years that Isaac spearheaded. We being Isaac, Micah, Tate, and the old farmer. We were to head to Northern Minnesota and snowshoe into the BWCA pulling pulks (sleds/toboggan) with all of our gear and camp in a hot tent. The problem was, the Boundary Waters had no snow. They had a mild December, an even had a little rain over Christmas. The outfitter told us that the lakes were frozen with at least 6 inch thick ice, but he would refund our money because of no snow. We decided to go camping anyway. We arrived in Ely Tuesday afternoon and met with the outfitter and went over gear needs and made our plan. Because of no snow, we all wore ice spikes or Yak Trax on our boots. We hired a guide for the first day to make sure we knew ice safety and to help us get our camp established. We met Joe early Wednesday morning after a night in a local hotel and were on the ice with all of our gear by mid morning.

The loaded sleds pulled very easy on the ice, but the two portages were a little more of a challenge. Where there was grass, we could pull the sleds across the grass. Where there were rocks, we had to carry the gear and sleds across. We crossed Everett Lake, traveled the length of East Twin Lake, and then camped on the far side of West Twin Lake. After setting up the big canvas tent and wood stove, we went back out on the ice to drill holes for ice fishing. We brought minnows with us and baited our tip-ups. We kept the tip-ups baited and out all day each day. Joe had brought a couple of shotguns with him as it was grouse and rabbit season still. We went hunting/exploring for a couple hours with him and ended up with three grouse and a snowshoe hare. Joe headed back out before dark, but he left his guns with us in case we wanted to hunt some more.

Because it had rained, all the wood was wet. Our biggest challenge was finding dry wood that would keep our fires going. We either cooked over the fire pit fire or the tent stove. Both were a challenge to light and keep heating with the wet wood. The first night we grilled rib eye steaks over the open fire. We had a wild game feed the second night with grouse, rabbit, and northern pike as our featured meats. All were mighty tasty! We brought a lot of fresh food with us, and because it was winter we didn't have to worry about refrigeration. There was plenty of eggs, bacon, potatoes, salad, soups, and cheese. We had another fish fry the third evening also. Isaac brought a reflector oven, so we also had deserts, including cobbler and brownies.

The temperatures in the day reached thirty degrees, and at night fell into the high teens. Actually milder than what we were prepared for. I packed my down parka, and never needed to wear it. Because of the wet wood, we never kept the fire going at night. It was frosty in the tent when we woke up in the mornings, but we slept cozy in our warm sleeping bags. First thing in the morning was to start a fire in the stove to get the coffee pot boiling for coffee or cocoa. We expended a lot of time and energy gathering and splitting wood.

In addition to fishing, hunting, and exploring, Isaac and I had brought ice skates when we realized there would be no snow shoes. We were able to explore the lakes on skates and travel miles quickly. I was a little rusty on skates at first, but once warmed up we had a great time. I even made a hockey stick from a pine branch and cut a puck from the end of an appropriately sized branch. It was a rather large and spacious rink.

On the way in, we saw were a wolf pack had very recently killed and ate a weak wolf. About all that was left was fur and feces. We saw evidence of otters, and several beaver lodges. Twice at night we heard wolves howling. That was a first for me in the wild.

First day, ready to adventure forth.