My next opportunity to go canoeing came along with a new boyfriend.  He loved to go on wilderness canoe trips through Lake Trails Base Camp located on Oak Island in Lake of the Woods Minnesota.  The summer before our Senior year in High School he chose to spend the entire summer as a canoe guide there.

     I heard stories of how fun these wilderness canoe trips could be.  Drinking the water from the lake, going to the bathroom in the woods and no electricity did not have one iota of an appeal to me during that time of my life.  My one and only question I had as I considered whether or not to participate during one of the camper sessions was, "Where could I plug in my curling iron?"

     Needless to say I did not attend canoe camp that summer.  However, the next summer found me still with the same boyfriend who had some cash in his pocket to purchase a canoe.  While most boys his age saved money to buy a car his purchase was an Old Town Canoe.

     While most boyfriends took their girlfriends to movies mine took me elsewhere.  We paddled some small lakes in Central Minnesota, chose a couple of rivers to explore and even duck hunted from the trusty canoe.  Next on the list was our own voyage to Lake of the Woods for a canoe camping trip with his family. 

     We spent a week exploring the interior lakes of the Lake of the Woods.  We portaged, camped and canoed and had a great trip.  It was my first real canoe camping experience in the wilderness.  It was the first time I had ever experienced anything like it.  While I had traveled to many different places in the United States over the years I hadn’t ever camped out in the middle of nowhere.

     I found I loved the quiet solitude of the wilderness and everything about it.  Twenty years later I find myself still in love with the wilderness and still with the same boyfriend.

     I was recently asked this question by a fellow blogger and area resident Bryan Hansel.  I figure the only way I’m going to write about it is if I do it in a blog post or two or three as I’m not getting around to it any other time. 

     My first experience with a canoe was as a Girl Scout in Central Minnesota.  The troop went out to Peck’s Farm to do an overnight camping trip and there was a small river on the property.  I remember walking down to the river bank, seeing some girls struggle while getting in or out of the canoe and then I’m pretty sure I walked away.  I don’t remember actually canoeing but if I did get into a canoe then it was either traumatic and I repressed it or it wasn’t an awe inspiring moment. 

     The next opportunity I had to go canoeing was during High School.  We were fortunate to have Lake George right across the road from our school and we actually got to go canoeing for gym class.  To say I didn’t take gym class seriously would be an understatement.  I loved to pretend I was left handed in gym class and my goal was to never break a sweat. 

     Lake George wasn’t much of a lake.  It maybe had been one day but over the years it had been filled in and a large fountain was placed in the middle of the lake and a small one on the edge of the lake.  Geese and ducks loved to hang out there year around preventing areas of the ice from freezing solidly enough for skating. 

     My canoe partner the first day of canoeing gym class was Cheryl.  My blonde haired, blue eyed, 80’s big haired girlfriend.  Between her and I if a match would have been lit anywhere near our heads there would have been a small explosion from all of the Aqua Net Hairspray it took to keep our hair in the position we had carefully sculpted it into in the wee morning hours before school.  Our makeup job took almost as long to apply as the ceiling work on the Sistine Chapel.  We were girls doing our best to look good while most likely looking really awful with blue eyeshadow and a streak of blush that looked like warpaint but that’s what we did when we were young.

     Oh it would have been easy to just get into the canoe and paddle around the lake mindlessly but it would also have been boring.  I wanted anything but boring that fine spring day and of course I craved attention.  What better way to get attention than to almost tip over while getting into the canoe?

     One thing I have always loved about Cheryl was her loud voice and her ability to say whatever she was thinking.  This came in handy during her years of transporting criminals from jail to prison in her later life.  Oh how I loved to aggravate Cheryl and hear her yell and that is exactly what she did as I pointed the canoe towards the fountain.

     She hollared at the top of her lungs threatening me with every stroke I took.  I somehow managed to learn how to steer in those first moments of canoeing because I carefully angled her end of the canoe beneath the pounding water of the fountain.  

     To say Cheryl screamed wouldn’t come close to what came out of her mouth that beautiful day.  I’m sure it wouldn’t be appropriate to write what she yelled either.  I just remember the look of horror on her face and her long, blonde locks dripping the recycled water from the fountain. 

     Lake George was the toilet for all local waterfowl including the many geese I mentioned earlier.  It was nothing like the water of a Boundary Waters lake and you would never have thought about swimming in it.  It had a particular smell to it that only a lake that collected water from the run off of a busy town would have.  

     After I was sure every stitch of her clothing and body had been soaked I attempted to get out from beneath the water pounding fountain but not without receiving a severe drenching myself.  I tried to convince the teacher it was my first time in a canoe but just like he didn’t believe I was left handed he didn’t believe it was my first canoe ride.

     That memory still makes me smile especially since it still makes Cheryl furious when I bring it up.  She knew it wasn’t an accident that I beelined for the fountain that fine day all of those years ago.  Who would have thought that silly high school girl would some day become a canoe outfitter in Northern Minnesota?

     Not me, not my gym teacher and certainly not Cheryl.

     It seems like it happened overnight but it’s been happening since December.  The days are getting longer and the nights are getting shorter.  It’s no longer black outside when I take the kids out to the bus stop and it isn’t dark when I pick them up either.  I suppose that would be true for most people but not for us at the end of the Gunflint Trail.  The kids get on the bus at 6:37am and get off of the bus after 4:30pm.  There are alot of days in the winter when the kids don’t see their home in the daylight.

     The longer days are nice in most ways but not so nice in other ways.  The longer the sun shines during the day the better the chance of the snow melting and that I do not want to see.  As long as it is going to be cold outside then we may as well have snow on the ground to play in.  We need a good cover of snow for Mush for a Cure our sled dog fundraiser March 12-13th.

     I am more productive when the days are longer and that’s nice I think.  Sometimes when it starts to get dark I want to call it quitting time but there are way too many things to get done to do that.  The daylight at least keeps me going a little bit longer into the evening.  It’s also easier to get out of bed when it’s getting light outside and much easier to stay neatly tucked in when it’s as black as night. 

     These past few days have felt really long.  On clear winter nights when the moon is waxing it looks like daylight outside.  It shines in the window as bright as the sun as it makes its way across the night sky.  I’ll blame the moon on persuading me to get out of bed this morning when the clock still had a 4 as the first number.  But I suppose it could have been my mind thinking about the loads of laundry to do, the pan of bars to make for the bake sale or the amount of unfinished work sitting on my desk.   Getting an early start on the day should mean an earlier quitting time.

   But when it doesn’t then it makes the days seem so long.  Make the most of your weekend days and every day!

     Anyone can dig themselves out of a major dumping of snow that happens once every couple of years.  Most folks can survive three days of bitter cold temperatures during an entire winter but Gunflint Trail folks earn our reputation by choosing to live in the conditions described above and actually enjoying it.  

    When the deck snaps and moans during the night you know the temperature is dropping.    When I head outside to start the car and it whines about turning over I know it’s a cold morning.  These nose hair freezing mornings are what make people like me proud to say, "Yep, I love winter, bring it on." 

     The past few days we have been away on our annual snowmobile trek.  Starting in Ely, Minnesota on Monday the temperature was way too warm for snowmobiling.  The thermometer was hovering near thirty degrees and one layer of clothing beneath the snowsuit was too much. 

      Fast forward to Wednesday morning with below zero temperatures when four layers of clothing beneath the snowsuit were barely enough to stay comfortable.  The cold was so sharp that even with a head sock and helmet on it took a bite out of Mike’s face leaving a nice piece of frozen flesh.  That is how we earn our reputation and we wear those pieces of frostbit skin like badges of our bravery. 

     Some peope may say our acts are not of  bravery but of stupidity.  I might have to agree most people probably think that.  But then again, most people don’t drive RV’s on frozen lakes, camp in a tent when it’s 20 below zero or jump through a hole cut in the ice into the frigid water below.   These are things only a true northerner would do and like pieces of flare we wear them like a Boy Scout displays his patches and that folks is how we earn our reputation.

     There’s always something to do when you own a resort or canoe outfitting business.  Every month of the calendar marks some deadline for some thing that has to be done.  Whether it’s an order for canoes, freeze dried food or camping equipment there has to be a deadline or we’d never get it done.

     Isn’t it funny how you know you need to have something done but just wait and wait until the due date?  Some times we even have to ask for extensions to get something done we knew had to be done over a year in advance.  We always say things like, "This year let’s just get our food order done when we take inventory at the end of the season."  Wouldn’t that be something?

     It’s that time of the year when clothing sales reps are calling me to meet and I still don’t have a handle on what I need to order.  I need to figure out inventory but Mike says I never use the information when I’m placing my orders anyway so what’s the point?  

     Anyway, it’s always that time of the year and I must just accept the fact I’ll always have things that will need to be done.  Most of the time these things should have been done yesterday but probably won’t get done until tomorrow.

     What if winter went away for good?  When I hear all of the talks about global warming I get really scared.  I love winter and playing in the snow and I love living on the Gunflint Trail. Would I love it as much if I couldn’t go cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, ice fishing or snowshoeing?  I think I would find myself moving farther north in search of a winter season but with all of the crazy weather patterns that may not even be an option.

     Melting icebergs, ski hills without snow and bare ground in Minnesota in February aren’t things I want to see. It bothers me to even hear or read about all of the bad things in our environment.  Mike always knows when I get a new issue of Sierra Magazine because I start telling him about a coal mine here, toxic waste there and how we better get to Glacier National Park before the glacier is gone. 

     They say not to believe everything you read but even if you only believe half of what is in a regular issue of Sierra Magazine it sounds really bad.  What would I do all winter long if there wasn’t enough snow and I couldn’t help plan Winter Tracks or Mush for a Cure? I hope I will never find out.

     The weekend weather was wonderful and I was able to get out and make some tracks in the snow.  I went cross-country skiing on Saturday and Sunday and the trails were incredible.  I’m always in awe of all of the other tracks I see in the snow.

     Today there were tracks all over the ski trails.  Most of the tracks were from skiiers but there were a number of deer and wolf tracks scattered everywhere.  Some of the deer paths were so well trodden it looked like a snowmobile had gone through.  I spotted a couple of deer and some spots of blood on the trail.  I imagine if I had followed the blood trail there would have been a fresh wolf kill somewhere.  The dogsled trail criss crosses the ski trails as does the snowmobile trail and a number of snowshoe trails.  In the woods on a ski trail is just an interesting place to be.

     If you want to learn about different animal tracks you may find in the woods then be sure to come to the Gunflint Trail next weekend during Winter Tracks.  There are plenty of activities planned throughout the weekend and Steve Robertson of the USFS will be speaking on Saturday at Gunflint Pines.  He’ll talk about tracks and then take the group out into the woods to find some tracks and make some of their own. 

     There are plenty of activities scheduled throughout the weekend so come join us on the Gunflint Trail.

     I have to admit I’m getting kind of caught up in this Pink Prom idea for Mush for a Cure.  I have found myself all over the internet searching for murals, tiaras, robes and decorations.  I had no clue there was so much out there for High School Proms.  I guess my high school didn’t have a very big budget because I don’t remember any of our dances looking as elaborate as those on the websites.

     The perfectionism bone in my body makes me want everything to be perfect.  Balloons, pillars, archways, disco balls and more fill my imaginative mind with pictures of pink grandeur.  Reality or Mike reminds me this really isn’t a high school prom and we don’t have a $1000.00 budget to work with.  Just blow up some balloons, hang a backdrop and you’re good to go for the photo spot.

     What about the tiara for the Prom Queen?  There are $3.00 ones from Oriental Trading or $300.00 ones with real gemstones and everything in between.  1 inch high or 3 inches high, how does one decide?  A crown, cape or scepter for the king?  So many things to consider when you’re planning a Prom!

     I’m just hoping I’ll get an invitation from someone so I won’t have to spend the entire evening at the punch bowl.  Oh wait, I still need a punch bowl, anyone have one I can borrow?  Or maybe a fountain?  Wouldn’t that be cool with pink punch flowing over the sides and twinkling lights around the base and…

     According to Spaceweather.com things are looking up for viewing the northern lights in 2010.  With increased solar activity already this year sky watchers are hopeful we’ll see more northern lights than we have in the past couple of years. 

     The unfortunate thing about viewing the northern lights is you have to be awake and outside in order to see them.  When we first moved up to the Gunflint Trail in 1993 we used to always see the northern lights thanks to no indoor plumbing.  On my nightly treks to the outhouse I would frequently be rewarded with the sight of dancing lights in the sky. 

     When we completed the lodge in 1997 it ended my nightly adventures to the outhouse and my frequent sightings of the northern lights.  Things have changed over the years and I don’t find myself outside much when it’s dark outside, especially during the summer. 

     I cherish the nights I get to camp underneath the stars because at least then I know I have a chance at seeing the lights dancing in the sky.  And with the help of Spaceweather forecasts I might just have a better idea of when to make it a point to look up to the sky in search of the magical show.

     Are you dreaming of warmer days and open water for paddling?  I’m not quite ready for that yet but it’s never too early to plan your next wilderness canoe camping trip.  We’re keeping busy answering emails and phone calls from eager paddlers who know when and where they want to go on their canoe trip this summer. 

     There are so many lakes and routes to choose from in both the Quetico Park and Boundary Waters Canoe Area.  It’s fun to gaze at wilderness maps and plan route after route while thinking about the campsites and fishing opportunities that await you there.  How far can we get in one day?  I wonder what type of fish are in that lake?  Questions abound and that’s where we at Voyageur Canoe Outfitters come in.

     We can’t give you exact totals on how long a particular trip will take but we can give you the best estimates.  We can also tell you about what fish are found in what lakes and about our favorite routes, lakes and campsites.  We are here to help you plan your next wilderness canoe trip and we’re just a phone call away, 1-888-CANOEIT. 

     Whenever you are ready, we’re here and ready to help!