Auralee and I had been planning on doing a loop through Clearwater, Pine, and the Pikes May 22-26. Due to unforseen circumstances, my mom was unable to watch our two kids, Weston (age 4) and Rohan (age 6 months). We tried to find an alternative sitter without success. Faced with the possibility of having to completely cancel our BWCA trip, we talked about bringing the kids along. We were planning on bringing Wes on his first trip this year, but we had never considered bringing Rohan. The weather was supposed to be perfect. Also, since the ice had just gotten off the lake less than two weeks ago, there probably wouldn't be many bugs. We decided to give it a chance and bring them.
First of all, we decided to shorten the trip to two nights - we didn't want to commit to more than that on an experiment. Then we had to find a different entry point. We didn't want to get stuck on large lakes in the wind with the kids. We also didn't want to drive the five hours to the Gunflint Trail for two nights when Ely was only 1 1/2 hours away - Wes and Rohan wouldn't know the difference. I knew there wouldn't be many permits available, but I was hoping to find a "kid-friendly" one. Bingo! There was one permit available for Wood Lake.
Now we had to figure out what else we needed for the kids. Clothes, sleeping bags, toys, blankets, diapers, life jackets - the list seemed endless. Packing for kids was a little different than just packing for us two. I stayed up late packing. (Around 11:00 PM packing before a trip, I'm always thinking, "Is this worth it?" Of course it is, but sleep deprivation sometimes gets in the way.) We also had to pick up a few odds and ends as we left Grand Forks.
Wednesday night we stayed at my parents' house. No one was there, but it was a nice place to stay before the trip. I finished packing everything in the car (somehow it all fit) and got a good night's rest.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Usually Auralee and I wake up at 3:00 AM and leave to get on the water early. For this trip, we decided to take it easy. We didn't set an alarm and just left when we were ready. We made it to Ely at about 9:30 AM. We picked up our permit from Voyageur North and headed out to the entry point.
There were two people waiting for a shuttle pickup in the parking lot. Weston had fun jabbering at them while Auralee and I unloaded the canoe and gear. They wished us luck on our adventure.
Auralee carried a backpack and Rohan. Weston was supposed to carry a small backpack, but he said it was too heavy for him. I ended up making three trips carrying all of the gear. It took us about 1 hour 15 minutes to finish the portage. Auralee had to entertain Wes and Rohan at the end of the portage for about an hour while I went back and forth carrying gear. She normally helps carry gear, but one of us had to watch the kids.
I finally finished, quite exhausted. Luckily, we only had a short paddle on Wood Lake. We first had to take the obligatory "beginning of trip" picture. Like father, like son.
Wes was happy with his seat in the canoe.
Rohan was not as happy with his situation. He started out sleeping but soon woke up from his nap. He cried halfway down the lake. Auralee tried comforting him, but to no avail. Sometimes you just wake up cranky. He settled down eventually, though.
The first island campsite was open. We got out of the canoe and looked it over. It was an average campsite. We decided to keep going and see what the other campsites were like. Well, the rest were already taken. We hurried back to the island campsite, hoping we hadn't make a grave mistake in leaving. If it had been taken, we would have to move on to Good Lake, and I didn't want to do another portage like the last one. We were in luck - it was still open. We unloaded the canoe and started setting up camp. Upon landing at the camp, Weston exclaimed, "There are lots and lots of trees!" A true North Dakota boy... Rohan hung out on his green pad while we got everything ready.
Weston wanted to get in the water as soon as possible. We thought it would be too cold for him, but it didn't seem to bother him. He spend much of the next two days wading in the water trying to catch minnows. A couple of minutes later, he ran up to us yelling that he had caught one - and he had!
After getting most of camp set up, it was lunch time. Yum!
After lunch, Mom made Wes a little bow and arrow, which he had fun with the next two days. Then he went back out into the water, this time joined by Mom.
Rohan hung out and played with his toys.
Then it was time for dinner. We brought Bear Creek tortilla soup. It turned out lumpy the first night, but I did much better the second night.
And don't forget about dessert!
Finally it was time for bed.
Our last view of the lake that night was pretty spectacular.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Sometime during the night, Wes woke up and was doing something that I couldn't figure out. Auralee turned on the light. Wes was all the way down at one end of the tent, apparently trying to get in a sleeping bag. However, he was half (or completely) asleep. I asked him what he was doing. He said, "I want to sleep in the beautiful one." (Meaning sleeping bag) Auralee and I burst out laughing. We asked him in the morning which sleeping bag was the beautiful one. I don't think he remembered anything from the night before.
This would be our only full day in the Boundary Waters this trip. The day started early (as they all do) with Rohan waking up hungry. He looked cute in his sleeping bag, though. Weston soon followed. Dad was tired...
The morning was peaceful and serene.
Breakfast was oatmeal. Weston likes oatmeal. (He also loves pancakes, but I was being lazy this trip.)
Then I wanted to explore the lake a bit more. There were two campsites that I hadn't seen yet and didn't know if anyone was staying there. Since it was a calm morning, I took Weston with me. While we were still a ways away from the first campsite (northwestern one on the lake), I saw someone standing there. Apparently it was occupied. Soon we saw someone else join the first person. We turned around and headed back towards camp. I had fun taking some pictures of Weston, though.
When Wes and I got back to camp, we decided to attempt to go fishing as a family. We would just try out the little bay by our campsite. Rohan lasted less than 5 minutes. We didn't get much fishing in. No bites...
We dropped Mom and Rohan back at camp. Wes and I headed back out to try to catch dinner and visit the second campsite I hadn't seen yet. It is hard trying to fish with a 4-year-old. I didn't get much fishing in, and neither of us had any luck. By the time we reached the campsite (and found that it was occupied), the wind had picked up, and I was having a hard time controlling the canoe. I tried switching with Wes (me in the bow and him in the stern) since we had to go back into the wind. While we were able to make progress, the canoe fishtailed down the lake. Every time the canoe started turning, I couldn't make it stop. It felt like a car skidding on ice. We made it back to camp eventually. On the way, though, we were treated to an awesome spectacle - a loon on a nest. I tried to keep our distance and used the zoom on the camera to get a good picture.
When we finally got back to camp, Weston wanted to go "exploring." He had gone with his mom in the morning and wanted to go again. I decided to go with him this time and take the camera. We had an adventure!
The people in the campsite west from us had left, so we decided to all go over and check it out. It was a nice, big campsite, but I think ours was better for kids because of the grass and shallow wading area.
We went back to the campsite, and what did Wes want to do? Fish for minnows. Then for a try at real fishing - no luck, though.
Rohan continued to have fun - and so did we.
Weston then wanted to go hunting... for dragons!
Catching minnows before dinner...
Dinner Time!!!
You may also ask how we dealt with a six-month-old on this trip. He was very good on feeding with the bottles. For diapers, I had remembered a tip I had read about wrapping the diapers up in duct tape so they wouldn't smell. It worked pretty well. We started calling them "tiny torpedoes" since I probably wouldn't want to get hit by one.
Then it was time to go swimming. We all went. It was very cold! Weston wanted me to take him out and put him in the water. As soon as I put him in, he immediately (without a sound) turned back towards shore and started swimming. We asked him what he was doing. He said, "It's cold..."
Even Rohan got a bath! However, his water was warm. We had left a solar shower out all day, and the water was amazingly warm. He enjoyed it!
Then it was time to build a fire and roast marshmallows.
Before going to bed, Weston went over to where we had been fishing earlier. He yelled that there was a fish there - and there was! It was a fairly large smallmouth that seemed to be patrolling the shoreline. I grabbed my rod, but by the time I got there, it was gone. I tried a few casts without luck. Everybody then went to bed. I stayed up to take some pictures of the campsite and the beautiful evening.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Today was the day to go home. We woke up and started packing everything. We had also been trying all trip to get a good family picture without luck. We tried one more time this morning. It turned out fairly well - not perfect, but the best one on this trip.
Auralee and I packed up everything while Weston ate breakfast and Rohan hung out.
While I was packing, Weston ran up to me and exclaimed, "I found dinner!!!" I followed him to the shore, where he pointed out that the bass was back. I had already packed up the rods, so I couldn't try to catch the fish. But I at least got a fuzzy picture this time.
The paddle back to the portage was uneventful. Rohan was a lot better this time. We portaged everything across in two trips this time. In Ely, we stopped at Spirit of the Wilderness to pick up some maps for our next trip and talk to Steve Nelson. Then we had to do our traditional end-of-trip lunch - Dairy Queen!!!
Overall, the trip turned out much better than Auralee and I ever thought it would. There were no bugs, it was warm, and the campsite was great for kids. We were able to take Rohan on his first trip a lot sooner than we ever anticipated. Weston is now hooked and can't wait to go on his next BWCA trip!