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Monthly Archives: May 2008
Canoe Camping with Kids (Part 1 of 2): Planning Your Trip
So, did your Boundary Waters camping experiences become limited at best after having kids? Do you feel like you need everyone potty-trained before you set your sights on a jack pine again? If you have borderline feelings about hefting the canoe while chasing the two year old for 160 rods, let us assure you: Camping the Boundary Waters with kids –even toddlers– can be done enjoyably. We made a deal with ourselves shortly after we married, that the kids would be a part of, not the death of, our camping trips. Along the way, we’ve learned a few lessons we’d like to pass along.
Today in Part 1 of 2, we’ll cover how to plan smart for your trip, with kids in mind. Let’s go!
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Best camping t-shirt ever
No packing list will ever be complete now, without one of these S’more 101 t-shirts. Gotta get me one o’ them…
Maybe there’s a reason they call it Fall Lake
Saturday, rescue teams had to bail out two separate parties of canoers –– ten people in all –– from the rapids off of Fall Lake in Ely.
A sure reminder that even in the otherwise serene and placid Boundary Waters, be sure you know what you’re getting into, before you get into it. End of lecture.
A portage of 62,720 rods
Think you’ve had a few grueling portages worth bragging about (or whining about)? Before you do either, meet Jim Kurz. The 63-year old resident of Ladysmith, WI is toting his aluminum canoe and 320 lbs of gear, on a very long portage to the BWCA. Seeing as how he’s not been there since his days in the Boy Scouts, he felt was “time to take another look”. Reportedly, he’s done a similar cross-country jaunt to the Missouri River headwaters as well.
That’s roughly 62,720 rods, according to my little friend Google. Thankfully, folks Kurz has met along the way have done him many kindnesses, from rides to brownies and milk. But if you see this man, please buy him some moleskins for the blisters. And please, out of mercy, tell him you’re sure the end of the portage is just around the next bend.
Get ticked off
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, 2007 was a record-setting year for contraction of tick-borne diseases, Lyme disease being only one of them. In a recent report, they blame the rise on too few precautions being taken.
And of course you know what that means, don’t you? Yep, time to tuck your jeans into your socks and try to figure a way to discreetly wear a canine flea ‘n’ tick collar. Yuck. Or see this list of other preventative tips, put out by the CDC. Warning to those with weak stomachs: Some of their recommended places to check for ticks, are mildly horrifying. You be careful out there, kids. Via Outside.
Brushing up on casting
Seeing all the fly-fishermen in the local rivers got you feeling the tug to try it yourself? Maybe, like me, you don’t want to look like a weenie and ask your buddies to teach you because you’ve forgotten all you learned years ago?
Takemefishing.org has a handy collection of step-by-step tutorials on casting. And they’re not restricted to fly-casting either. Notably absent, though, are tips on un-snagging your fly from the tree branch behind you (I think that’s why I quit fly-fishing, in fact).
Visit MN State Parks for free on June 1
As Minnesota commemorates its Sesquicentennial, it’s great to see a number of the celebrations are in the best places our state has: the Outdoors.
On June 1st, for example, day admission to all state parks will be free, as they host the “Great Minnesota Picnic.” The aim is to encourage folks to bring their picnic lunch, perhaps even to state parks less-familiar to them. Overnight rates will remain in effect, so plan ahead and make reservations if you want to camp out.
Here’s a short list of state parks are high on our recommended list. If by some odd chance, you’ve never been to one of them, now’s a great time:
Temperance River
Judge C.R. Magney
Cuyuna Country
Cascade River
Afton
Bears at play
These photos made me smile. A family in Alaska had only assembled their backyard playset the night before they spied these bears breaking in the new equipment.
This is exactly why the idea of ‘fun-looking’ family tents like REI’s Hobitat 4, worries me just a tad. I’ll stick with plain and utilitarian, thank you.
via Treehugger.
Listening Point now on Nat’l Register of Historic Places
The thirty acres of preserved landscape on Burntside Lake in Ely, was originally a personal retreat for Olson. He named the land Listening Point, “…because only when one comes to listen, only when one is aware and still, can things be seen and heard.” Though the revered author died in 1982, The Listening Point Foundation continues his legacy of wilderness education, and makes the original property available for visits. It’s good to see it acknowledged as the piece of history that it is.
Mother’s Day – Give her the outdoors
Last Mother’s Day, I packed my wife in a boat and sent her down the river.
I didn’t buy any presents. There were no flowers or truffles, no pomegranate-clove scented facial scrubs in a gift bag with curlicue paper confetti; not this time. Instead, I launched her and her kayak into a half-day’s worth of solitude and quietude, with only the company of Nature. She loved it.
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