Brigade Swamper

            Thursday afternoon we got back from our swamper trip. Swamper gives new staff the opportunity to get some firsthand training on trail. Our brigade was led by two more experienced guys, Mat and Roni. After a couple of days of showing us how to do things, they stepped back and let us run the show by appointing one of us the “Leader of the Day,” who was supposed to act and lead like an interpreter would. I thought it was a brilliant system, although our brigade was naturally more efficient and trained than a regular crew would be.

            The trip itself was great! Our planned itinerary was changed very quickly after we left base. Instead of doing the Horse River Loop, we decided to extend the trip and go past Horse Lake into Fourtown Lake. Our new itinerary was as follows:

Day 1: Moose Lake (Base) to Back Bay (Basswood) via Wind, Indiana and Good Lake.

Day 2: Back Bay to Fourtown Lake via Pipestone Bay, Jackfish Bay, Sandpit, Tin Can Mike and Horse Lake.

Day 3: Fourtown Lake to Friday Bay (Crooked Lake) via

Day 4: Friday Bay to the mouth of the Basswood River on Basswood Lake

Day 5: Basswood Lake to Basswood Lake

Day 6: Basswood Lake to Moose Lake (Base) via Prairie Portage and the Moose Chain

Our Trek

            The first day, we had breakfast on base, checked out our fuel, PFD’s, and canoes, and finally left. We paddled across Moose Lake and portaged into Wind Lake. From Wind Lake, we portaged into Basswood. We wanted to hit some smaller lakes instead of going around the peninsula, so we paddled down a creek and portaged into Indiana Lake. From there, we went to Good Lake, where we had a floating lunch. I like floating lunches. Instead of pulling over at a campsite and getting eaten by bugs, you pull your three canoes together and eat on the lake. Anyways, from Good Lake we portaged onto Basswood Lake, where we made camp on an island in Back Bay. That evening, a beaver came up and started eating by our campsite! I don’t remember seeing beavers up here before, so it was pretty cool to see one right on the first day.

            The next morning we got up early to get across Pipestone and Jackfish Bay (both of Basswood Lake). From there, we did a little creek paddling through Sandpit and Tin Can Mike Lakes to Horse Lake. We made camp by some small rapids on Fourtown Lake.

Rock area by our campsite

Before we changed into dry clothes, we took the opportunity to practice swamping drills. It was fun to get into the water and swim around, even wearing boots and a PFD (Northern Tier policy).

Fourtown in the Evening

            Our third day was also interesting. It was characterized by creek paddling, portaging and smaller lakes. We traveled through Fourtown, Boot, Gun, Wagosh, Niki, Chippewa, and Papose Lake and finally ended up on Friday Bay on Crooked Lake. Our campsite was next to a nice swimming place, which we took advantage of for a little while before deciding the water was too cold. We stopped for lunch on Niki Lake, where, unfortunately, the bugs were rather bad, which led Roni (who is Jewish), to complain that the horseflies were “Anti-Semitic.” We saw another beaver during breakfast, several eagles throughout the day, and even a river otter on Papose Lake.

Crooked Lake at Sunset

If you ever doubted the bugs here, doubt no more. This is what we would wake up to.

            On the fourth day we ran into weather issues. We got up early and managed to paddle about 3 miles before the storm caught us, but we were forced to pull over and hide erect the dining fly. After the thunder subsided, we got back and the water and finished paddling Crooked Lake to the Basswood River, stopping only at the petroglyphs. The petroglyphs, which you are not allowed to take photos of, are one of the most complete and extensive sets in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Also along the Basswood River are several sets of waterfalls. The falls are spectacular, but I was unfortunately unable to get pictures of them this trip as my camera was packed at the bottom of my bag. We ended up camping at the mouth of the Basswood River on Basswood Lake. Despite the rain earlier, the day actually turned out fairly nice.

Camp on Basswood

            The fifth day was absolutely amazing. We decided to do a dawn paddle on Basswood, as we had a long way to go, no portages, and wanted to beat the wind. We woke up at 3 am and were on the water by 4:00. As we paddled, we watch the sun rise. It is always a beautiful sight. We stopped briefly for breakfast, but we still made it to camp at 8:30, where we learned the wonderful tradition of I.N.T., or interpreter nap time. Alex, Adam, and I had out tent up by 9:30. I slept from then to around 5:30, with a brief break for lunch. It was wonderful.

            Unfortunately, my nap caught up with me the next night. I wasn’t able to sleep as well that night and ended up waking early and wandering around camp.

Basswood in the morning

After we finally got up, we paddled a short distance to Prairie Portage, where we got small tour. As I have a Quetico Pass this summer, it was useful to hear where everything was done there. We went down the Moose Chain and waited on Scout Island for about 20 minutes before going into camp at 12:30.

            One thing that annoyed me on this trip was the trash. We found a lot of trash in our campsites, from cans, bullet casings, a carpet rug, to a porcelain toilet.

I kid you not, a toilet.

We found the toilet our 4^th night, by the mouth of the Basswood River. As the devoted followers of Leave No Trace that we are, we decided to portage it out. Besides, it was completely hilarious. The next day we ran into some rangers who had been looking for the toilet after getting a complaint. Moral of the story? Pack out your crap!

Mat on his throne

            Overall, the trip was great. It was so different from my other trips up here. I loved getting to know the other brigade members. We ended up doing somewhere between 70 and 80 miles, over 16 lakes, and 2 mile-long portages. 

Swamper II

Back from Swamper! Details to follow...

-Andrew

Swamper I

     Today we leave for our swamper (interpreter training trip). It's a six day, five night trip. Our planned itinerary is the Horse River Loop:
Moose Lake to Good Lake via Wind Bay
Good Lake to Pipestone (on Basswood)
Pipestone to Horse Lake
Horse Lake to Basswood via the Horse River
Basswood to Rice Bay (on Basswood)
Rice Bay to Moose Lake (Base)

       We should see some cool stuff on the trip, including some pictographs and Basswood Falls. We are currently planning a night/dawn paddle on Basswood too. On the down side, we there may be some marshy areas with moose muck and there are lots of open areas that could give us wind problems. I'm pretty sure it should be fine though.
       Although we aren't doing a lot of miles, this is a training trip. For instance, we are taking a piece of every type of equipment the Bay Post has so we can experiment and figure out what works for us. We're also going to be practicing things like swamping recovery, strokes, and cooking with the Northern Tier food.
      See everyone in six days!

Training Continues...

            And so training continues… The last couple of days I’ve been getting certified in Wilderness First Aid. It was a lot of information to process in a short amount of time, but the instructors put on several scenarios to help us practice. It was a humbling experience, as it showed how little I really knew about wilderness first aid. I just hope that I never have to use it out on the trail this summer. Yesterday we had a talk from the Forest Service and then took a short canoe trip to practice some skills. We didn’t go far, maybe four miles in a round trip to the end of Moose Lake and back. We used Alumicraft canoes, which weren’t nearly as bad as I thought they would be. Our brigade leaders had us start by portaging them down to the public landing instead of taking them to our boat landing. Still, not nearly as bad at all. I still need to work on setting them down however. My new boots are also working pretty well. There was a pinch on the top of my left foot (like my ski boots), but since I got them wet it feels like they might have stretched a bit to accommodate my weirdly sized feet.

            Now that they’ve handed out all our complete uniform, it’s a little bit weird to be wearing the same thing as almost everyone else you see, but that should change once crews start arriving. The pants that they gave us are really nice. Very durable but comfortable too.

            Today we plan our swamper trip, learn about food and gear packs, and get ready to leave tomorrow. I’m looking forward to swamper. We have some general plans, but nothing is finalized yet. I think we should be able to handle a good trip though. I think we have a pretty good brigade. It should be a good six days.

            Free time around base has been pretty chill. Every night there are board games, TV, or movies going on in the lounge. Right next door there is a great room with pool, ping pong, and a piano, which is pretty cool. There’s a foosball table too, but it has some issues. Maybe I’ll working on repairing it this summer in my free time.

            Last night I went on down to Blackstone Lake (Fischer Map 10, between Flash and Moose Lake) with a couple of people. We set up a nice fire, despite it being ridiculously windy. One guy brought his fishing rod and caught a Northern Pike, which he showed us how to filet. We cooked it over the fire, and it actually turned out to be OK. It was a cool evening.

            All in all, I’m getting really excited about getting on water again, and even more excited to get crews. Not much longer!