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.