Venturing Crew headed to Boundary Waters

[purcelce 11]

Saturday morning I take Crew 805 to BWCA. There's 15 of us going (two canoe crews) and I finally get my first vacation in three years away from civilization. Tour permit, med forms, and gas money is all taken care of.

 

If anybody has and last minute tidbits now's the time to let us know.

 

 

Cary P

Crew 805 Advisor

 

 

[dan 10]

I will be heading to the BWCA on Friday with my family.

If you are going to fish, pick up some leeches!

I will be staying around Lake One, if you are going to be around that area let me know and I will keep an eye out for you!

If you see a guy in a green loon Kayak wave.

[dan 10]

purcelce

Did you make it back? Did the 2 fires change your trip plans.

You had great weather starting Monday

[hops_scout 9]

Dan, I talked to Purcelce on Friday or Saturday. He had taken his laptop with him to upload pics off the digital and it turns out he was able to get a wireless connection. He joined us in the chat room while sitting in a tent, he said. I believe he was supposed to return either today or yesterday.

 

Problem is he's coming back to a disaster area so he may not have internet at home currently. The St. Louis region is hurting right now.

[purcelce 11]

Dan,

We got back yesterday afternoon. Great trip, but I still hate portaging. Quick highlights.

 

-Canoe tipped over on first day and I got wet.

-Food was pretty good.

-Fires didn't affect our groups.

-Ran into a Venturing Crew from New Orleans.

-I hate portaging.

-Awesome pics that I will post on a website and send you guys the link.

-Only bear we ran into was the one that hangs around the outfitters.

-hauled fishin' tackle for 70 some miles and didn't catch a stinking thing.

-I hate portaging.

-Got a killer tan.

-I peed on Canada.

-Candian Boarder Outfitters are an awesome group.

 

 

[dan 10]

Maybe you where over packed, A LAPTOP! which is why you do not like to portage!

 

How many portages did you do with a 70 mile trip?

We did a 50 mile trip a few years back and did around 15 portages.

Did you know that portage` is a french word that means uphill both ways?

 

Talked to a scout troop from Tennessee, they said the only bear they saw was in base camp also at Northern Tier.

 

 

 

[purcelce 11]

 

Dan,

We had about 20-23 portages. On our 3rd day we had back to back 120 rod portages. I still don't like em

[Eagledad 2780]

>>Dan,

We had about 20-23 portages. On our 3rd day we had back to back 120 rod portages. I still don't like em

[purcelce 11]

lol Barry!

 

I'm not overweight, sort of in shape, and I still don't like portaging. At one portage I grabbed one of the gear bag and it must of weighed close to 100 lbs. I stood up and whamo, fell on my back. I looked like a turtle upside down. I made it back up to my feet and whamo, fall on my butt number two. Once I made it up to my feet again I leaned forward and headed toward the next lake. Good thing nobody saw me.

[GernBlansten 10]

We just returned from Quentico. Absolutely beautiful country! I never thought you could spend an entire week never seeing any sign of human development. No power boats, airplanes, cabins, just wilderness.

We did 100 kilometers in 7 days with about 20 portages. Longest portage was 850 meters (can't do the math on that rod thing). Caught more fish than we could eat.

We went through the Atikoken BSA base in Canada. Well run program and great guides (er interpreters) EH?.

I found the portages a nice change of muscle groups. After paddling upwind for a couple hours, it was refreshing to put on a 60lbs pack and hoist a 45lbs canoe (we opted for the kevlar models) over your head and stumble along a crude root and mud laden path. We had mostly smaller scouts in our crew, under 100lbs and under 5ft tall. They all did great carrying the heavy food packs and camp gear but were really too small to handle a canoe alone. Pretty funny sight watching a giant gear pack stumble down the path with two spindly legs sticking out from under it. A couple of times they would turn turtle and need assistance getting righted again. Bugs weren't too bad, only on the portages and in camp right at sunset. Everyone had a great time, no injuries or bad attitudes.