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On Sunday, August 6, we packed up and headed via US 71 for the Minnesota Northwoods. Our first stop was in Bemidji to visit Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe. There are many tales told here about Paul and Babe, including the one that portends that Bemidji Lake was formed from one of Babe’s footprints.

We continued to International Falls on the U.S./Canada border. Known as “America’s Icebox”, it seems to always be the coldest place in the nation so we had to go there! We camped at Arnold’s Campground and RV Park, one of only two campground choices in the area. It wasn’t a pristine spot but it would do for one night.

We visited Voyageurs National Park’s Rainy Lake Visitor Center that afternoon. Voyageurs is Minnesota’s only national park and is huge, covering 218,054 acres and stretching 55 miles long. There are over 80,000 acres of water and only 10 miles of roads. There are two other visitor centers in the park - Kabetogama Lake and Ash River. There is also a ranger station at Crane Lake.

The park is named for the French Canadians, called voyageurs, who paddled birch bark canoes for fur trading companies in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries. The voyageurs were famous for their stamina – paddling up to 16 hours a day – and their roisterous songs. Their most prevalent cargo was beaver pelts used to make the famous beaverskin hats that were fashionable for European men at that time. In fact, beavers were hunted so extensively that they almost became extinct before silk took over as the new rage in hats.

On Monday, we headed toward Ely and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Situated within Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota, the BWCAW is a vast preserve of lakes and woods that stretches for about 100 miles along the U.S./Canadian border. The Canadian side of this canoe wilderness is Quetico Provincial Park. The Boundary Waters is one of National Geographic Traveler magazine’s “50 Places of a Lifetime,” their list of the world’s must-see destinations. Simply put, it’s an outdoor enthusiast/canoeist’s dream come true.

Spread within the BWCAW are over 1,500 miles of canoe routes over more than 1,000 lakes, rivers, and streams linked by trails called “portages”. No one lives in the Boundary Waters and, once you enter it, you won’t find any roads or buildings. When you push off into these waters, you leave far behind the trappings of civilization – city lights and sounds, electricity, stores, and crowds. Most of the lakes are designated as “paddle only” – no motors – and there are no commercial airline flights overhead. It’s just you and nature. The hum of the city is gone and the only sounds you hear are the call of the loon, the wind in the trees, water lapping against your canoe and, simply, silence.

We stopped first at Bear Head Lake State Park but couldn’t find a campsite to our liking so we drove on to Ely and a national forest service campground on Fall Lake. It was a beautiful campground – our favorite yet – about seven miles northeast of Ely. Besides the beautiful setting, one of our favorite things about the campground was one of the camp managers, Dianne. She was an employee of the US Forest Service and wore khaki shorts and shirt emblazoned with a US Forest Service patch. For fans of the Beverly Hillbillies, I hope you remember the episode in which Miss Hathaway (Mr. Dryesdale’s secretary) took Jethro Bodene on a bird-watching expedition. Dianne was dressed just like her in that episode and bore a strong physical resemblance to her. In fact, she could have passed as her sister. We couldn’t help ourselves. We immediately nicked Dianne “Miss Hathaway”. She was a real nature lover and outdoors woman and informed us that she and her husband were lucky enough to get to spend each summer working at Fall Lake. They live in their camper within the park. She was a real outdoors woman and loved sharing her experiences from the Minnesota Northwoods. And, ironically, we shared the same birth date.

Miss Hathaway had a wildflower/weed in a jar of water on the registration desk. On a piece of paper, taped to the outside of the jar, were the bold underlined words, BAD WEED. For some reason, that struck us as funny, as if she was scolding this poor piece of vegetation. When asked why it was “bad”, she commented that it was very invasive and hard to get rid of. Hmmmmmm – I’ve known a few people that would qualify as “bad weeds”, too! It’s one of those funny things that will stick with us forever and we’re not sure why. But, driving down the road, it’s hard not to scold other specimens of this little buggery weed.

We paid for two nights, settled in to our assigned site #62 and Jerry began his search for a satellite TV signal. For those who don’t know what this means . . . we have a satellite dish and a tripod that we carry with us that enables us to get 150 channels, just like at home, as long as we have a clear shot of the southern sky so the dish can pick up the signals. Each time we camp, Jerry goes through a host of gyrations and foot shuffles, using a little instrument called Align-A-Site, to find the exact clearing through the trees where the signal comes through. Now, sometimes the signal does NOT come through and life is not good. You know how men are about their remote controls and the History Channel.

Well, the campsite was too wooded and none of old Jer’s dance steps around #62 resulted in a signal. I was horror-stricken. God forbid that we would spend two nights in silence. He fretted and fumed for an hour or so. But, never one to give up, he finally had the brilliant idea that he would position the dish and its tripod on Bubba’s rooftop. Since we would be there for 2 nights, he reasoned, it would be worth the extra effort. Now, these are not lightweight items that would have to be hoisted to the 12-foot high rooftop. But determined he was. I would serve as his assistant and chief hoister, of course. I would also be the one who kept screaming, “Be careful and don’t fall!” Well, we got the equipment on the roof but then the challenge was how to secure it. There’s nothing more frightening than flying satellite equipment in a rainstorm – not to mention the damage it would do to the roof, the air conditioners, the vent covers, etc. But I had no doubt he would solve this challenge.

With 50 feet of bright green ski rope tied around the tripod, our poor dish looked like it was being pulled between two contestants in a tug-of-war. But, alas, it was secure and we honed in on Satellites 119 and 110, just like at home. Life was good . . . real good until the campground host came over and told us that we would have to move to a new campsite the next morning because they had made a mistake and double-booked our site. Uh-oh. Life is no longer so good.

Well, to make a long story longer, Jer enjoyed his remote that night and we broke camp the next morning and moved to site #39. It was an even nicer site than #62 so we were pleased. However, the gyrations and side-steps were not productive – too many trees again. He did finally manage to get one of the satellites tuned in from the ground so, fortunately, he didn’t roof-mount again.

Tomorrow, we would go on our first canoe trip and we were pumped. We’d hauled our canoe thousands of miles on this trip and had yet to put it in the water. We checked with the campground staff about canoeing Fall Lake but found that it is a lake that allows small motors so we opted to skip that one. We wanted wilderness.

One of our camping neighbors stopped by Monday evening with his two dachshunds (we got some puppy-time with them and loved it!). He recommended that we try North and South Hegman Lakes. He’d canoed them on several occasions and said they were beautiful. He mentioned something about having to portage 80 rods but that meant little to us. How the heck would I remember how long a rod is and what did they mean, we had to “portage”?

Tuesday morning, we headed out for Ely to get organized for the trip. We stopped in at the Spirit of the Wilderness Outfitters and bought a dry-bag to hold the stuff we didn’t want to get wet. Never mind that we have several dry-bags back in Little Rock. It just never occurred to us to bring one. Oh, well. We got a confirmation from the store’s staff that the Hegman Lakes would provide us with a real wilderness experience. A young female store clerk said it was an easy put-in. Ha!

Naively, we drove up the Echo Trail to access the BWCAW and Hegman Lakes. Now, bear in mind that our canoe is an Old Town, made primarily for whitewater/river floating. It weighs about 80 pounds. Well, let me tell you how long a rod is (a fact that I will never forget again). A rod is 16 ˝ feet. Multiply that by 80 and you have 1,320 feet. And “portage” means you have to carry your canoe to the put-in point. So - that meant we had to portage (i.e. CARRY) our 80-pound canoe over a rough and rocky trail for almost Ľ mile. Do you get the picture? Trust me . . . these two old farts were not built for that.

At least it was downhill – ha! It was our roughest hike yet. But we made it, by golly, and off we went. We traversed South Hegman Lake for a couple of miles, then made a short portage (again having to carry the canoe) to North Hegman Lake, paddled another couple of miles, then went through a narrow inlet into Trease Lake. It was phenomenal. We even ran into our campground advisor and his two dachshunds, who floated with him in his kayak, at the second portage.

There were absolutely no sounds except an occasional bird, our paddles gliding through the water, and the whisper of our canoe as it skimmed the surface. The sky was a brilliant blue and the temperature was around 75 degrees. It was as close to Heaven as I think I’ve ever been. How could anyone doubt that God painted this picture?

Along our route, we saw “one of the finest examples of original Native American pictographs in the country”, according to the literature. We stopped for lunch and shared it with a friendly chipmunk. Jerry had a great time tracking us on his GPS so we didn’t get lost. But I must admit that our five hours of paddling in this pristine setting was clouded by the question of how the heck we were going to get that boat back up that 80 rod hill. Jerry had several ideas throughout the afternoon:

1. Abandon the boat with a note “free to a good home”.
2. Pay two strong young men to carry it up the hill for us.
3. Chop holes in it and leave it for scrap.
4. Wait until dark and drive the truck down the trail.
5. Paddle until dusk when everyone else would be gone and couldn’t see these two old farts trying to drag this 80-pound boat up that 80-rod hill.

We opted for #5 and, I’m happy to say, we had no witnesses. I’m also happy to report that we made it and were quite proud of ourselves . . . until we tried to get out of bed Wednesday morning. Jerry was stuck to the recliner most of the day and I wasn’t much better. I have never been so sore.

Thursday turned out to be cloudy and cold with threats of thunderstorms. However, I did spend some time journaling and Jerry went grocery shopping.

Friday morning, we signed up with Miss Hathaway for two more nights at Fall Lake – six nights total. We left the campground around 11:45 headed for LakeOne – original name, huh? We chose this option because we were told it was beautiful and, most importantly, there was no portage. We could drive our truck within five rods of the put-in! That cinched it for us.

The reports on Lake One were absolutely on target – it was a beautiful trip. We began by paddling up the Kawishiwi River for a couple of miles to enter Lake One. We paddled around the shoreline of the lake for a while then stopped for a lunch of Petit Jean summer sausage, cheese, crackers and apple. Finding an appropriate shoreline lunch spot is a challenge on these lakes as they are all lined with large rocks but we found just the perfect place. It was a beautifully bright day with the high in the mid-seventies. The sky was vivid blue with a few small white fluffy clouds painted here and there. It was a day to behold! And, to top it off, we saw our first loons today! They are absolutely beautiful birds with very distinct markings and red eyes. Additionally, we saw a bald eagle, several batches of mama ducks with their babies, a water snake, a number of painted turtles, and several other unknown birds. And the smells of the Northwoods are heavenly – deep scents of Christmas trees and clean, clean air. We ended the day with almost 11 miles of paddling under our belt, loaded up our canoe and headed for our home at Fall Lake.

On Saturday, August 12, I went in to Ely to peruse all the gift shops while Jerry stayed behind to do some work on the computer. I had an absolutely wonderful day and stayed so long that Jerry called to see if we had any money left or if I had spent it all. I also made a stop at the grocery store to restock our supplies for tomorrow, as we would head toward Grand Portage and the Gunflint Trail on the north shore of Lake Superior. We decided to go on a short hike late that afternoon and chose the Kawishiwi Falls Trail, about one mile in length. “Kawishiwi” is an Ojibwe Indian word, meaning “river full of beaver or muskrat houses”. It was a nice hike that led us to a beautiful waterfall flowing out of Lake One. Along the way, we crossed a portage trail for canoers who needed to get from Lake One, above the falls, to the Kawishiwi River below the falls. Ugh. Brought back painful memories. Minnesota has been very dry this summer but, in spite of that, the falls were spectacular. I can’t imagine how big the falls must be with the spring snowmelt. No doubt, the sight and sound must be thrilling. We learned that the water from Kawishiwi Falls flows north for 2,000 miles into the Hudson Bay. Most of Minnesota was logged out in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. You can still see evidence of huge trees that were harvested during that time with remaining tree stumps as big as four feet across.

The Native American influence in this area can be felt everywhere. There is much evidence of the camaraderie between European settlers and the native people. Without the natives, the Europeans could never have survived and they obviously lived together in peace for many years. There are Indian names for everything from towns to rivers to lakes to counties – pronouncing them correctly is definitely a challenge. Much credit is given, across the state, to the various tribes who were instrumental in helping the white man settle this part of the country.

We left Fall Lake Campground around 10:00 Sunday morning, August 13. Since the campground did not have a sanitary station, we had to go into Ely to the Chamber of Commerce to use theirs. We then headed toward the northern shore of Lake Superior via Highway 1, a very crooked and bouncy road (not a perfect Bubba road), but a very beautiful one. There were ferns everywhere! I can’t imagine what it must be like during a rainy summer. And there were lots of aspen trees – one of my favorites.

I kept my eyes peeled for moose, as we hadn’t seen any since we entered the state. I had asked Miss Hathaway and several other natives why we hadn’t spotted any. Heck, I thought they would be so numerous we’d have to dodge them while driving down the road! We learned that an unidentifiable disease has been killing seemingly healthy moose during the past decade and the overall moose population has declined dramatically. Since the Department of Natural Resources can’t identify the disease, they can’t figure out how to prevent it. I am sorely disappointed that we haven’t seen even one.

Upon reaching the coastline, we turned north on Highway 61, also called the Northshore Scenic Byway, which follows Lake Superior to the Canadian border. It is a beautiful drive with several state parks along the way. There are also many waterfalls as numerous creeks flow into Lake Superior. Early Sunday afternoon, we settled in to the Judge C.R. Magney State Park situated on Highway 61 between Grand Marais and the Canadian border. We would be staying there for two nights to enable us to drive the Gunflint Trail and to spend a day at Grand Portage National Monument. This state park had no electric or water hookups. There was no dump station. They didn’t even have a water spigot from which we could fill our fresh water tank. Arkansans would never stand for this in our state parks! But we knew this ahead of time so we were prepared.

We settled into site #21 and didn’t even try for satellite reception as it was very wooded. We decided to go check out the Gunflint Trail that afternoon, even though the skies were full of clouds and a light rain was falling. The trail is a scenic highway that runs north then west out of the town of Grand Marais. While it offered views of several beautiful remote lakes, the forests were not nearly as pretty as those around Ely. Many acres had been burned and a huge storm damaged and killed thousands of acres of trees in 1995. However, the good news is that we finally saw a moose! It was a female so there were no antlers – but it was a moose, none the less. I stood in the pouring rain as long as I could, waiting for her to raise her head from her grazing frenzy so I could take the perfect photo. She did not cooperate.

At the end of the Gunflint Trail, there is a lovely campground, Trail’s End, with a few spots for RV’s. We made the roughly 100-mile round trip that afternoon, stopped by the grocery in Grand Marais, and headed home for the night. The temperature only reached the upper 60’s and it rained all day and into the night. Sleeping with a slow rain pitter-pattering on Bubba’s roof is even better that the tin roofs of our childhood. We slept like babies.

Monday morning, August 14, was a chilly one and, for the first time, we had to turn on the central heat. We headed up Highway 61 to the Grand Portage National Monument located just a few miles south of the northeast Minnesota/Canada border. Once on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation, we were surprised to find that the price of gas at $2.899 per gallon, cheaper than anywhere else on the trip. I guess, being their own nation, the Indians don’t have to pay all the taxes we do. Of course, we had filled up just down the road at a significantly higher price.

The Grand Portage National Monument is a reconstructed outpost where the North West Trading Company concentrated its business activities from 1784 until 1803. The site commemorates the role of the Grand Portage in the fur trade history of Canada and the U.S. The Portage bypasses the rapids of the Pigeon River linking Lake Superior with the navigable waterways of the Canadian northwest. Exhibits focus on the contributions of the voyageurs on the development of trade in this country. As we learned earlier at Voyageurs National Park, these men were responsible for transporting trade goods between the St. Lawrence Seaway/Great Lakes area and the canoe routes of the northwest. They paddled up to 16 hours a day living on Indian corn (hominy) mixed with pork fat. When they reached a part of a river that could not be paddled, such as this stretch of the Pigeon River, they had to portage their huge canoes and tons of goods, around the obstacle, on their backs. The larger canoes, paddled by up to 14 voyageurs, were 36 feet long and carried up to 3˝ tons of cargo. The Grand Portage, “or great carrying place”, was the longest portage on their trip, 9 miles through rugged terrain. The men would have to carry as much as 180 pounds of trade goods one way and fur bundles the other way, doing the 18-mile round trip in six hours. Jerry says “Grand Portage” is an Indian term meaning “a hell of a walk”. Ha!

There are 17 buildings that have been reconstructed on their original foundations. We toured the Great Hall where there was a costumed interpreter who explained the bartering process for goods at that time. The trading company used items such as metal tools, hand-painted beads, thimbles, woolen goods, linens, knives, muskets, gunpowder, etc. to pay Indian and other trappers for beaver and other fur pelts. They even gave the trappers free guns and a month’s worth of gunpowder. The pelts they brought to the depot were pressed into 90-pound bales, wrapped, and transported by the voyageurs back east to manufacture goods for purchase by the wealthy. Many of the pelts were shipped to Europe. Most of the company’s business was conducted in the Great Hall and it was also used as a dining hall for the trading company’s employees and visitors. Additionally, the comptroller’s office was there, along with bedrooms for the well-to-do shareholders when they visited. The multi-story log building was very sturdy and well-built and had a number of windows for light and ventilation.