2019/2020 Midwest Stoke Thread

[mbe73b]

[Flyoverland Captive]

I also did something potentially dumb. Bought a 4mm wetsuit. I like paddleboarding and flyfishing off my board. Not sure how fast the water warms here though.

It never really warms; it just gets less cold.

[uglymoney]

Cool video of the Chestnut bike park coming together.



Meanwhile in Western Iowa yesterday. A haboob. Looks like dust bowl era stuff to me. Yikes

https://twitter.com/KopelmanWX/statu...TG1wmxBjA&s=19


https://twitter.com/NStewCBS2/status...hNUoI4jzg&s=19

Souix Falls SD

Armageddon

https://twitter.com/yawngregg/status...rdDO-zk6Q&s=19

Hopefully this sort of thing stays west of us for now. We had a cold wet April over here on the east side and then hot and humid af.

[Squirreljam]

I can see it noW - “Haboobs or GTFO”

[Kopi_Red]

The damage that this Haboob left in its wake throughout South Dakota is immense.

West of Sioux Falls almost every house has some sort of damage to it from the storm (roofers are going to be super busy over the next few weeks to months).

Farms and acreages outside of the towns were ravaged. Just in the small 20 mile radius that I've been in the past couple of days, the total of the damages would easily be 10 of millions in the times long past before our current supply issues.

[uglymoney]

The damage that this Haboob left in its wake throughout South Dakota is immense.

West of Sioux Falls almost every house has some sort of damage to it from the storm (roofers are going to be super busy over the next few weeks to months).

Farms and acreages outside of the towns were ravaged. Just in the small 20 mile radius that I've been in the past couple of days, the total of the damages would easily be 10 of millions in the times long past before our current supply issues.

Sorry man. My wife heard on NPR or somewhere that the top few wind events ever in the midwest have been in the last several years. I know I will never look at any incoming storm the same after our 140 mph hour long derecho blew threw here.

We were driving home from Colorad in April and witnessed a dust storm on out on the Colorado plains. The drought keeps creeping east. Thankfully we have been on the wet and cool side of things till a few days ago and have ample moisture here for the moment.

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[Harry]

Wild Mountain in MN re-opened last weekend.




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[Harry]

What’s going on ?



Details in the Fishing Forum.


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[mcphee]

Muskie! We had a very elusive monster muskie on the lake I lived on. No one ever caught it and it taunted us every spring hanging out by our dock.

[skiJ]

Nice catch, Harry !

enjoyed your TR, too -
Good luck musky hunting !


Thank you !
skiJ

[uglymoney]

Godamned Harry! That is awesome.

Preface: I am pretty specific about locations in this TR. This is the BWCA and everything I post here is widely available and disseminated online elsewhere (check out Paddle Planner). I'm not giving up any 'secret spots' and the area is controlled by permits. 4 a day for entry point 14.

The daughter and I took a little trip to northern Minnesota for a week in the Boundary Waters. The day Beartooth Basin announced they wouldn't open this year I jumped online and found a good permit (obviously a cancellation). The last time I went to the BWCA/Quetico was in 1988 as a junior in high school. Four of us loaded into my Ford Escort and picked up our extremely heavy kit from Cliff Wolds and off we went. The other canoe was miserable all week. Poor guys. Our canoe had a blast and it is insane that I haven't been back in almost 34 years. I called my canoe partner and lifelong friend Steve from the 1988 trip at the last minute to see if he wanted to come along with his daughter but they were already going fishing in Canada the following week so it was just my daughter, dog and I this time.

The weather in N Minnesota was cold, wet, and rainy this spring but everything except the extremely voracious bugs cleared for us last week. We ordered a Granite Gear Superior pack and a 5 ounce Japanese made Silky saw for firewood. Everything else was straight out of our existing backpacking kit. Dehydrated some stroganoff, shrimp marinara (my absolute favorite backpacking meal), banana chips, and bought some last minute freeze dried meals at REI. Off we went, plan in hand.

Our route. We did 4-6 hours a day traveling and moved every single day. Not too much, but enough time to get out and explore without being in a hurry all day. We can get the tent down and everything packed up in about an hour flat in the morning after a quick breakfast so this left plenty of time to swim, lounge, and fish in the afternoons.

Garmin Inreach tracked our route.



We rented a sweet Northstar Kevlar 17 from Andersons. About $335 with tax and fees for the week. Permit was $30. Non resident license with trout stamp was lilke $65 ish. Daughter fished on my license, that was plenty of limit to fill our frying pan. Andersons is the closest to the North Indian Souix Trailhead #14, which is on the far western edge of the huge boundary waters zone. We left Cedar Rapids at 7 am Sunday, picked the canoe up about 4 and went to well maintained Echo Lake to car camp the first night at a reserved site. The bugs in the woods at the car camping site were horrific, but manageable with head nets, permethrin, deet spray, and long sleeve shirt and pants.

A few portages in the first day above Cascade Falls. Definitely don't want to get sucked down that river.



First night camp on Little Loon Lake. There was another party up the lake at the better campsite by the portage to Slim but it didn't matter. All the sites are nicer than most backcountry sites. Fiberglass toilet over a pit up in the woods down a trail, super nice fire pits with logs, shoreside which helps with bugs.



Deeper into the lakes the next day we lost all the people before noon and saw only one more person the next two days. Cruising the entire private lake and casting spinners the second night. I don't think the lake has any fish, but it was still amazing. The fishing would pick up a bit later on more productive lakes. Word from everybody was it was a slow week fishing but that still seemed to mean the fishing was good.





The route to Gebe was amazing. Through several mid sized lakes with amazing camping. Down a river. Up a river. A bunch of portages. Edge of Canada and Lac La Croix were just a turn of the canoe away.

We single portaged every time. I did my research on how to load the packs, gave my daughter the heavies, carried the bulky stuff in my huge pack and the canoe. Dog carried his share. We never even had to stop to rest on trail which was awesome. We did a bunch of 200 rod portages and two 240 rod portages (about 2/3 to 3/4 mile). We passed two older gentlemen on a portage on Day 5 who were barely moving, double portaging huge packs. Dude was laboring hard going up a hill with his pack. We bounced by them so fast. It seems within a long day of the EP's a lot of people go in with too much shit and base camp. To each their own. I like to explore and was stoked we nailed the fast and light (not ultralight) approach.



Fishing on Gebe was great. Hooked a huge smallmouth that I brought over to the canoe but he snapped my line at that point. At least we both were able to put eyes on it. Fat! Daughter caught the big one on the stringer and we let a couple little ones go once we had the right amount of fish for frying in our little coated aluminum fire pit ready pan. Although not ideal for frying, I used olive oil packets to fill the pan with just enough oil. The excess oil was consumed as calories and given to the dog as a late night snack. Way easier than packing out a bunch of used corn oil.



We were the only people on Gebe. Huge lake. Best campsite was ours. Just incredible.

I lost my bug net on the way here, most likely blown off my head durning a windy crossing. It was a bit scary not to have this tool in my bug defense quiver but I threw a permethrin laden t shirt under my cap that afternoon when the bugs were bad and that did the trick. The bugs seemed to get better the rest of the week with the almost perfectly dry weather and we chose downwind campsites which offered almost total protection as long as the breeze flowed. Early in the morning and late at night the cold kept them down. So even though they were terrible by any standard, they were manageable. I never would have lost that net if I didn't hate wearing it. Bugs don't bother me much.



A splash of whiskey in my coffee. Living large lounging on the Gebe chairs.





Off to Oyster











The last night was on Lynx Lake. Closer to the EP and with the better weather through the week so every site except one was full. We grabbed it. Wife pinged me via the Inreach that it is was the best site on the lake according to Paddle Planner.

Technology. I have mixed feelings. Later that day I took my phone off of airplane mode and discovered I had service. Called the wife and my dad which was really cool...but also a bit disorienting...and maybe made getting to the car and back in service a little less exciting. So many mixed emotions on the fact the closer in lakes have cell service. I turned my phone back off after checking my text messages and had to smile that one of them was that huge fucking muskie that Harry caught. I was literally holding a fishing pole and casting a #4 when I saw that. FKNA! Twitter and Stupid Book would have to wait, plus battery burn on the edge of service limits connective stupidity.

A short walk up a trail found a deep fishing hole that produced almost every cast. If only I had more time to fish! Time seems to move slowly in the BWCA, but there is still a lot to do in order to have a fish dinner while it is still light out.



This my friends, is the proper use of Shore Lunch fish coating. Except this was dinner, on one of the longest days of the year, at one of the highest latitudes on the continental USA. Flashlights weren't needed at all till after 10 pm and with the moon even then it seemed optional. Turns out my daughter is a bad (b)ass wood fired fish fryer.



Back at the car after 6 days and 5 nights in the buggy woods! Semi cold Heineken. Always such a great moment.

[skiJ]

Great TR, ugly- ! Thank you ! skiJ

[Harry]

My fish might have been a little bit bigger, but your kid caught more fish.

KID WINS !




















edit to add: your kid will remember that trip the rest of her life. I did several BWCA trips with my Dad when I was a kid. I’m glad your daughter had the same opportunity I did. Long after you are gone she will be telling her grandkids about the canoe trip she took with their great-grandfather…



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[jerlane]

Great TR on the b-dub. How old is your daughter? I’m anxious to get mine up there one of these days.


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[uglymoney]

She is 12. Very helpful that she is big and strong enough to mule a bunch of weight around and paddle hard enough to help keep the canoe pointed into the wind. I think you could have fun with younger kids but it would mean more weight and slower portage transits.

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[yeahman]

Awesome TR UM. I have great memories of Boundary Waters trips with my family and friends. A special place for sure.

[skuff]

Well done!

When she's older, I'll bet your daughter will be taking her friends to the boundary waters because she had such a fun time with you up there

[lifelinksplit]

Man! You guys really bringing the midwest stoke! Despite growing up in Illinois I didnt make a boundary waters trip until I had moved to MT. Bachelor party for my best friend. We went full car(canoe) camping style with tons of booze and shrooms and way less portaging. Rained five days straight and we almost didnt make it home since the road near Ely was nearly washed out.

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[Buster Highmen]

Posting historical stoke for Buster and skiJ

Drove over to the former site of Hardscrabble and took some pics for you guys.

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I split in 74, but I skied that place a bunch, raced some CUSSA races there when I was still C class. Sure looks weird to see all those trees grown up.

[Norseman]

BWCA TR

I love this, man. Bravo.

[mcphee]

^yea, uglymoney. That’s a rad trip!

[tgapp]

This thread legit might have the best stoke on TGR in it. Rad trip uglymoney, and Harry's stoke, as always, is excellent.

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[uglymoney]

Thanks all!

My daughter and I are pretty synced up mentally which makes trips like this an absolutey great adventure. I know from my not as close relationship with my stepson how special this is and trust me, I cherish every minute of the time I get to spend with her now. Time only goes in one direction.

Tgapp,, hope things are going well, pulling for you mang.

[Harry]

Christie Mountain proposed expansion headed to a public meeting. Sounds like a good deal for both the taxpayers and Christie Mountain.

https://www.ladysmithnews.com/news/a...bd4fb7c03.html




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[bio-smear]

Thanks all!

My daughter and I are pretty synced up mentally which makes trips like this an absolutey great adventure. I know from my not as close relationship with my stepson how special this is and trust me, I cherish every minute of the time I get to spend with her now. Time only goes in one direction.

Tgapp,, hope things are going well, pulling for you mang.

Good shit, man. I got a BWCA permit for mid august. Trying muster the courage to take a 4 and 6 year old in for an overnight.

When it's super buggy I feel like I'm closer to snapping mentally than usual.