Cabin fever

Ahhh...Northern Minnesota, one of my most favorite places in the world. I have spent weeks and weeks in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area since the early 70's. Many of the trips were solo. My favorite time is in the Fall but mid-May is also good before the critters fully hatch. During both of these times, however, you may be delayed due to snow. Usually they are quick melting affairs.

It was there that I learned to trust my compass and charts. One morning my brother and I had a full day's paddle to our take out. And for some reason we had to make it out that day to be somewhere for a committment. There were several lakes to cross and, of course, the between lake portages.

For those of you who have not been to the BWCWA their are no signs of any kind. Portages are mapped but must be located by seeing the somewhat worn pathway. Often you have to be right on top of it in order to see it. Well, this particular day the whole area was socked in dense fog. You could barely see a canoe length ahead. We took compass bearings from land point to land point and finally the portage trail in each lake. The stern paddler kept the compass on the canoe floor lined up with the canoe's fore and aft. The stern paddler, who guides the canoe, kept a constant eye on the compass and steered accordingly.

It was simply amazing that we hit each portage trail either on target or at worst a few yards left or right. Made me a real believer.

We hope to get Placid C to Rainy Lake either this year or next. The hard winters are worth what you have when the ice and snow are gone.

Harper
 
Hi Al, and other long suffering brats, we are melting every day this week, although below freezing at night. By local ordinance no ice shanties may be left overnight after March 15. So the shanties have been disappearing from the lakes. One difference this year they are still driving pickups on the lakes to retrieve them. On the local lakes ice out is always by 4-20 and usually two or three weeks before that. been a long winter, but the end is in sight. I can see some cement in my driveway and by Thursday most snow will be gone after continuous cover since Nov. 14, (over 200 inches this year). The kids are at the bus stop in shorts and t-shirts when it hits 40 degrees. What an apprenticeship to put in to have these magical release days when the water unlocks. Just so our southern and western brethren can understand this -- pound your head against a wall for five months and see how good it feels when you stop. With apologies to MN and Alaska brats who have real winters. Think I may get to the barn to measure some holes to cut in the dory, eh.

With WARM regards,

Mark
 
Hey, Mark, you are right on; the tougher the winter, the sweeter the spring. Yesterday and today we are at +50F! Lots of snow left, but water running everywhere. As Ian Tyson sings, "Hell, it can't run fast enough for me....."

Harper, if you make it up to Rainy, give us a shout. We'll give you the Grand Tour. And we can reminisce about the BWCA; I used to work on a USFS portage crew.

Best regards all,
Al
 
Mark - One of the fun things to banter about is how awful the weather can be where one lives. The recorded winds on Mt. Washington, N.H. are much higher than any recorded winds in Montana. But the eastern slopes of the Rockies experience high winds with sub zero temperatures that will kill anything that can't find shelter. Even the bison will perish in bad blizzards where snow blows into coulees where they huddle, and they suffocate. This brings me to a joke about North Dakota. Montanans tell North Dakota jokes and in turn they tell sheep herder jokes. It seems that word reached the editor of the Bismark Tribune that a ranch on the Montana/North Dakota border had been included in North Dakota by a survey mistake when the borders were laid out in 1889. The ranch was actually in Montana. The editor sent out a young reporter to talk to the old rancher who was the third generation living on the ranch. A bad snow storm was going on when a knock on the ranch house door revealed the bundled up reporter with frozen cheeks and frosted eye brows. Invited in, the reporter slowly took off his heavy coat and hat, and then said he wanted to do a story on the ranch actually being in Montana. The old rancher said sure and pour him a cup of coffee. So the questions began. How long has your family been on this ranch? He was the third generation he said. All this time your grandparents and parents thought they lived in North Dakota? Yup was the reply. You have been voting in North Dakota elections all these years? Yup. Sending your children to North Dakota schools? Yup. Paying your taxes to the state of North Dakota since 1889? Yup. Telling Montana sheep herder jokes all this time? Yup. As the interview ended, the young reporter said, 'Now that you and your family realize you are actually living in Montana, can you think of one positive thing that will happen?" The old rancher rubbed his beard for a while and then said, "Yup, one good thing about all this" "What is that?", said the young reporter. "Well" he said, "At least we don't have to put up with North Dakota winters anymore."

Until you have experienced a blizzard in western North Dakoa, when the temperature is 35 below zero and the wind is howling, and the most shelter available is short buffalo grass, will you feel what real winter can be like. John
 
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