BWCA When was your first canoe trip in the BDUB Boundary Waters Listening Point


BWCA Messageboard

BWCA and Quetico Park Books and Magazines

Find Outfitters for the Boundary Waters Quetico

Boundary Waters (BWCA) photo gallery and individual photo journals

Boundary Waters Message Board and Forums.

username

password

Remember Me

Voyageur North Canoe Outfitters
Site Search
	Contact Us
	Route Guide

Chat Rooms (0 Chatting) | Search | Login/Join

* For the benefit of the community, commercial posting is not allowed.

View BWCA Photo and Trip Report Contest Page

Poll: What is your favorite month in the BWCA/Q?
(459 responses)

2012 BWCA Photo Contest Results

Boundary Waters Quetico Forum

Listening Point - General Discussion

When was your first canoe trip in the BDUB

View Boundary Waters Map Locations

Route Guide

community sponsor

River Point Resort

Last Visit: 05/21/2013 05:05AM
Sort by

Author

Message Text

jb in the wild

02/26/2012 01:56PM

First trip was with Diana (Diva) back in 94. I moved here in 91. been hooked since. How about the rest of ya what year and who did you go in with.

JB

You can't explain the obvious to the ignorant.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Sides

02/26/2012 02:40PM

1987 with my wife, before we got married. We went to Crooked Lake.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Naguethey

02/26/2012 02:50PM

Well I actually went to the Q first which I much prefer...

But I was fresh out of basic training back in I believe was 1994. Already being an avid canoist. (had one since I was young) A group of friends asked me to go with them on a canoe trip to canada. I glady joined in. Had no idea what so ever. That it was going to be on big ole lakes. I had only ever canoed on small illinois creeks growing up. But had a blast and was hooked on the north land from that day on... We had entered Nym Lake and paddled to Keats island that trip..

The first time I saw the boundary waters was in 2000 after canoing from Nym lake in the Q down to ely.

You only live once/enjoy it while it last.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Savage Voyageur

02/26/2012 02:54PM

My wife and I first went in 1980 to Sag. The other couple ended up hating it but my wife and I did many trips.

"So many lakes, so little time."

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

MHS67

02/26/2012 03:04PM

Made the first trip with my son in 1998. Three trips with my wife and the rest were solos. Enjoyed everyone of them!

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

bojibob

02/26/2012 03:07PM

1975

"One inch on the map ~ is not one inch on the ground"

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Jackfish

Moderator

02/26/2012 03:24PM

If Quetico counts, it was 1986. My first BW permit has been secured for this upcoming August.

It's only a spot on the map... until you go there.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

schweady

02/26/2012 03:26PM

In 1978, my new bride and I chaperoned a church youth group, LIS to Stuart via LLC.

"You can observe a lot by watching." -- Yogi Berra

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

nctry

02/26/2012 03:31PM

1977... My first trip was the Isabella river with my then girl friend and my "little" sister. I remember paddling out to the Campgrounds off the Kawishiwi River on Hwy 1 where I'd set up my camper for my parents who were waiting with big juicy steaks. Then in July I did the Border Route from So Fowl to Crane Lake. And did weekly trips throughout the next three years with groups mostly. I eventually started trying other options, but ran trips in the BW for several years with groups a friend set up for me. Those were the days of aluminum canoes and the suitcase stove...

Nctry Ben

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

BigZig

02/26/2012 03:34PM

1964 - End of the Gunflint Trail Seagull Lake. That's me on my Mom's lap.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

bellolake

02/26/2012 03:38PM

1971 with my Explorer Post. Looped from Snowbank through Ima, Thomas, etc. to Kekakabic where we camped for several days, then back to Moose via Knife, Vera,Ensign. 40+ years and counting.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

fishguts

02/26/2012 03:39PM

1962

fishguts

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

awbrown

02/26/2012 03:53PM

1967- Into Quetico out of Moose Lake. It's a trip that changed my view on life. Took what seemed like a long time to get back into canoe tripping, what with college, marriage, Army, children and such to quickly follow. It was 1986 before I got back into canoeing.

Keep the open side up

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

AdamXChicago

02/26/2012 03:55PM

1978 - Quetico (Flood River)
1980 - BW (Snowbank)

Wow - where did the time go???

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Kevlar

02/26/2012 03:58PM

1975 Another teacher (very experienced) and I took 12 8th grade boys and girls thru Moose River north to Agnes, Oyster, Hustler, Shell, and out Little Indian Sioux. Everybody saw a moose but me. 5 aluminum canoes and none of the kids could portage them solo. Paddled the LIS in a thunder and lightning storm. I learned SO much.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

overthehill

02/26/2012 03:59PM

June 1, 1973 . Boy Scouts. It started out as Eagle Scout 'incentive' trip, but there were only two of us and we ended up going with nine total. Our Scoutmaster was a builder. We carried alot of hod,bricks,lumber and shigles to subsidize our trip. I still can't find out exactly where we went; except we used Canadian Waters; stayed on a lake near Ely with a bunkhouse,small bait store, and a lakeside sauna. Short drive next AM to floatplane dock and 20 minute flight to camp. It was like a dream.......majic. All I know as far as location was that it was an easy daytrip to Wheelbarrow Falls. /canvas wall tents, coleman suitcase stove,and freeze dried meals (a new thing for us). Those were the days! I was hooked and was over 10 years making it back up there. There wasn't a Spring that went by that I didn't think about that trip and returning. Finally, in 2007, we got most of those Boy Scouts

together for a 'reunion trip'. Some of us hadn't seen each other in 30+ years! We had all turned 50. Much has changed, but not the landscape......just a few more people there.

Not to Hurry-Not to Worry

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Sierra1

02/26/2012 04:04PM

My first trip was, if I have the date correct, was August 6, 1969 through Charles Sommers. We went across Basswood to Quetico and back on an 8 day trip. It was a big moment in the life of a 14 year old kid who loved to camp...

Watch out for that rock!!!........ Oooo.... That's going to leave a mark...

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

maxxbhp

02/26/2012 04:13PM

quote BigZig: "1964 - End of the Gunflint Trail Seagull Lake. That's me on my Mom's lap.
" That's about as cool as it gets

"Old Nashville still has a song and dance, and the Florida girls still wear no underpants. And we all get drunk at the football game, yeh the new south, thank God is still the same" Hank Williams, jr

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

mr.barley

02/26/2012 04:23PM

1985

Because I'm wearing one and I just did....

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

mooseplums

02/26/2012 04:43PM

1985...have not missed a year since. Many years multiple trips.

"I am haunted by waters"~Norman Maclean "A River Runs Through It"

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

PlumberDave

02/26/2012 04:52PM

1978. I have not missed a year since, sometimes even twice a year

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

AndySG

02/26/2012 05:06PM

In my younger days, I canoed many Ozark rivers, local Illinois waterways and smaller lakes. I always dreamed of going to the BW, it just never happened for me. Then in 2005, my son's scout troop signed me on as an adult leader for a June BW trip. We looped from EP 14 to EP 16 in 4 days and 3 nights. I can't believe how much crap we carried. I jokingly referred to the trip as the Bataan Death March. I've been back every year since, without the scouts.

Sincerely yours, Andy

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

GSP

02/26/2012 05:34PM

1987 on 3 week eagle survey for FS.

German Shorthair Pointers Rule Serenity is found in your mind, not somewhere you seek.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Stumpy

02/26/2012 05:34PM

1975...I'm the kid, near the right, just above the girl in braids & also getting elbowed in the back by the guy behind me....because he liked to beat on the smallest guy.
I still had a great time.

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

PineKnot

02/26/2012 05:40PM

1973. I was 13. Invited to go with older next door neighbor, Phil. We paddled up Moose Lake and stayed at a campsite just before the portage to Splash. Watched a black bear chasing a deer. Used a small frog with a big red and white bobber and caught a really big pike that we took home.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are -- Teddy Roosevelt

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

gsfisher13

02/26/2012 05:43PM

June 17th, 2010 - went with some friends who have been there way more times than I have. My only regret is not starting sooner.

Not all those who wander are lost - J.R.R.Tolkien

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

blutofish1

02/26/2012 05:50PM

1987

blutofish

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

wildernessfan2

02/26/2012 05:59PM

1975 Moose Lake

Freshwater is delicious! Saltwater not so much..

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

arctic

02/26/2012 06:01PM

1979 Quetico. I was 17 and my buddy was 15. Had to have a note from our parents to get into Canada.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

OBX2Kayak

02/26/2012 06:14PM

1961, Gunflint to Big Sag with a bunch of kids from my 6th grade class and our teacher. The area was not yet officially the BWCA.

Its a trip I'll never forget.

"I go because it irons out the wrinkles in my soul" -- Sigurd Olson

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

butthead

02/26/2012 06:17PM

Quetico and a bit of the BWCA, 1983.

butthead

“There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.” ? Frank Zappa

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

mc2mens

02/26/2012 06:34PM

The answer to this should have been sometime in the early 1970's. Unfortunately, it wasn't until 2000.

"Big fish eat little fish."

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

yellowcanoe

02/26/2012 06:35PM

June 1973. Six days on small lakes. (I can't remember which!) We were younger stronger and dumber. We wore jeans had a single wall tent and a two year old. And a 15 foot Grumman and a route with 44 portages. It rained everyday.

At the end of the trip at a motel in Grand Marais, the three year rolled out of bed..crawled UNDER the bed and in the morning we were scared out of our wits..thinking she had gotten out.

She was sound asleep under the bed.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

kanoes

02/26/2012 06:46PM

`83

i think bigfoot is blurry. (mitch hedberg)

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

maxxbhp

02/26/2012 06:49PM

quote mc2mens: "The answer to this should have been sometime in the early 1970's. Unfortunately, it wasn't until 2000." I hear ya, my brother. I ordered brochures in about 79, mailed an actual letter to "Chamber of Commerce, Ely MN", there was little or no info on the BW readily available to the general public at that time. Finally made it last year.

"Old Nashville still has a song and dance, and the Florida girls still wear no underpants. And we all get drunk at the football game, yeh the new south, thank God is still the same" Hank Williams, jr

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

JoeWilderness

02/26/2012 06:55PM

88 for both the Quetico and the BWCA.

"You only have one chance at life, so make it an adventure!"

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

boonie

02/26/2012 07:03PM

Sept 2002

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

twston

02/26/2012 07:06PM

Sometime in the early 80's. My dad used to have to force me to go. I hated it then. Not sure what my problem was.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

SunCatcher

02/26/2012 07:24PM

2009 (Rookie)
SunCatcher

Dad Always said "We don't Always catch fish...but we ALWAYS have a good time"

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Scout64

02/26/2012 07:30PM

1973 - Rose Lake

"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit."

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Scout64

02/26/2012 07:31PM

quote BigZig: "1964 - End of the Gunflint Trail Seagull Lake. That's me on my Mom's lap.
"
OMG, is that a canvas tent? I remember those....

"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit."

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

twston

02/26/2012 07:39PM

quote Scout64: "quote BigZig: "1964 - End of the Gunflint Trail Seagull Lake. That's me on my Mom's lap.
"
OMG, is that a canvas tent? I remember those...."

i still own one, stored in the rafters of the garage. Love that tent. The smell of that canvas tent always said lets go camping.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Freddy

02/26/2012 07:48PM

My wife and I had canoe camped and backpacked for many years in the U.S. and Canada where the most often asked question was if we had ever been to the BW. We went in 2007 and have been hooked ever since.

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul" John Muir

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

fitgers1

02/26/2012 08:14PM

I do believe it was 1982

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Ralph Waldo Emerson...and...“Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

KevinL

02/26/2012 08:26PM

1978, SM took us from Fall Lake to Nina Moose to discuss Eagle projects. Three of us had finished our Life Scout. 2 of us made it to Eagle.

KevinL

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

hwdhusky

02/26/2012 08:30PM

1994-1996 (somewhere in there). Sawbill with my brother and cousin. My cousin has led many church groups up. My first time. We sat in the van waiting for the downpour to stop wondering what we were getting ourselves into. It turned out to be a great time. Nasty storm on our last night. I believe someone lost their life in that storm if I am not mistaken. I did not return until 2003 and have been back 3+ times a year since.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Canoeski999

02/26/2012 08:31PM

2008 farm to gabbro. Going for third time this year.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

hwdhusky

02/26/2012 08:32PM

quote BigZig: "1964 - End of the Gunflint Trail Seagull Lake. That's me on my Mom's lap.
"

Many of you have pictures from the past. I think those are wonderful pictures. Reminds me of many pictures from the Reminisce magazine. Keep em coming! That would be an interesting photo contest...'trips from the past'

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

maxxbhp

02/26/2012 08:56PM

quote yellowcanoe: "June 1973. Six days on small lakes. (I can't remember which!) We were younger stronger and dumber. We wore jeans had a single wall tent and a two year old. And a 15 foot Grumman and a route with 44 portages. It rained everyday.

At the end of the trip at a motel in Grand Marais, the three year rolled out of bed..crawled UNDER the bed and in the morning we were scared out of our wits..thinking she had gotten out.

She was sound asleep under the bed." That's a good story. The uninitiated would ask "why did you continue to do this?" I guess there's not really an answer.

"Old Nashville still has a song and dance, and the Florida girls still wear no underpants. And we all get drunk at the football game, yeh the new south, thank God is still the same" Hank Williams, jr

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Orion52

02/26/2012 09:06PM

With the Boy Scouts Carl Sommers Canoe Base 1968. It change my life.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Basspro69

02/26/2012 09:26PM

Eighties, Tin Can Mike is where I basecamped, and I really was unprepared but it worked out ok.

" I want to know Gods thoughts , The rest are details " Albert Einstein.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

nojobro

02/26/2012 09:50PM

August 1997

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

BWPaddler

02/26/2012 10:38PM

September, 1996. Made LOTS of mistakes, but hooked me line and sinker.

Wherever there is a channel for water, there is a road for the canoe. -Thoreau

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

hwdhusky

02/26/2012 10:53PM

quote Basspro69: "Eighties, Tin Can Mike is where I basecamped, and I really was unprepared but it worked out ok. "

LA Raiders hat... That takes me back...I had one similar when Bo Jackson played in the late 80's.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Tony

02/27/2012 01:26AM

1974-75 time frame

Sag to Ester to Ogish to Seagull

tony

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

outdooraddict

02/27/2012 06:53AM

last September with 3 other giys I grew up with.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

The Great Outdoors

02/27/2012 07:11AM

Took a canoe trip to Western Lake in 1962, then helped tear down Basswood Lodge on several weekends in the winter of 1962/63/64???????
Both before the Wilderness Act of 1964 established the official Bdub.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

burntsider

02/27/2012 07:13AM

Before the BWCA was created.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

canoe212

02/27/2012 07:26AM

1993, I was 12.

If you can earn it, why did He die?

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Stumpy

02/27/2012 07:47AM

quote The Great Outdoors: "Took a canoe trip to Western Lake in 1962, then helped tear down Basswood Lodge on several weekends in the winter of 1962/63/64???????
Both before the Wilderness Act of 1964 established the official Bdub."
Wow!...Cool & yet sad.
Bob Cary told us the floor of the Cookshack at CBO, used to be the floor or Basswood Lodge.

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Northwoodsman

02/27/2012 07:48AM

1980 with a church group. We split into several smaller groups of around 8 and I was with the over-achiever group. We planned a 115 mile route but due to all of us getting sun-burned on day 1, we made it about 20 miles that week (base camped). When we arrived back at the entry point everyone cheered us on for our accomplishment. We all wanted to beat the guy who came clean and told everyone what we did on the bus trip back!

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

izzy

02/27/2012 07:53AM

Basspro - Small world. Believe I camped on that very site On Tin Can on my first trip , think it was 1987. We caught some walleyes just to the right of that campsite.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Unas10

02/27/2012 08:08AM

2002. We put in at Sawbill and went to Cherokee for lake trout. Everyone caught at least one.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Wally13

02/27/2012 08:24AM

1979 a week long trip to Basswood out of Don Belands on Moose Lake. Never had fished for walleye or northern before. Was raised fishing saltwater in Connecticut ( stripers, bluefish, shark). Had a ball camping, paddling and fishing Basswood. Will never forget my 1st trip.

Got hooked on "goin' north" for sure. Been to Quetico every year but one since.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Mashuga

02/27/2012 08:43AM

1978 or '79. It's hard to remember anymore. I do remember we put in on the Kawishiwi River and had a good time.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Twins87

02/27/2012 08:46AM

Alice Lake August 1991

Our story of white caps and sand pancakes here
Most Memorable trip

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

wb4syth

02/27/2012 08:48AM

Bicentennial week (1976) - the Granite river loop.
I was 4 and loved it.

I remember:
Being afraid of crawfish (but not leeches)
Playing in a swamped (on purpose) canoe
Being proud of carrying my own pack
Whining about the long time in the canoe

"I'm not superstitious. I'm a little stitious" - Michael Scott

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Basspro69

02/27/2012 09:16AM

quote izzy: "Basspro - Small world. Believe I camped on that very site On Tin Can on my first trip , think it was 1987. We caught some walleyes just to the right of that campsite." Cool Izzy, yep we would get walleyes and Smallmouth from that shoreline at night, the smallies would follow a jitterbug right up to shore and blow up on it, almost gave me a heart attack with the anticipation. One of my favorite campsites ever.

" I want to know Gods thoughts , The rest are details " Albert Einstein.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Newbster

02/27/2012 10:11AM

1994 We went to Agnes lake in Quetico. It was my first trip and one i will never forget.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

wawasee

02/27/2012 10:51AM

Started late 1998.. Had been fishing in Minnesota on several occassions in the Grand Rapids area. First trip took my nephew with friends been going back ever since.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

jwartman59

02/27/2012 10:57AM

1971, my 16 yo brother and i, 12, overnight camped to alder lake while the rest of the family car camped at bearskin.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

QuietWaters

02/27/2012 11:02AM

September 1997, Quetico with two of my brothers. My only regret in life is that I didn't know how much I enjoy canoeing, camping and the BWCAW and Quetico until I was older.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

inspector13

02/27/2012 11:04AM

1983. I went with a biology professor and a few students. Other type of camping trips in the SNF outside of the BWCAW–Quetico proper starting in 1974 with parents and siblings.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

jcavenagh

02/27/2012 01:41PM

August 1978
I found my maps in an old box in the garage last summer.

And so I posted a trip report!

LNT - The road to success is always under construction. http://hikingillinois.blogspot.com/

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

The Great Outdoors

02/27/2012 02:21PM

quote Stumpy: "quote The Great Outdoors: "Took a canoe trip to Western Lake in 1962, then helped tear down Basswood Lodge on several weekends in the winter of 1962/63/64???????
Both before the Wilderness Act of 1964 established the official Bdub."
Wow!...Cool & yet sad.
Bob Cary told us the floor of the Cookshack at CBO, used to be the floor or Basswood Lodge."
I don't think anything from Basswood Lodge itself was at CBO. Other buildings (perhaps the cookshack) may have ended up there as they auctioned them off when the government bought it.
We helped Emery Bulinski take it down, then it was put back up at the Snowbank Lodge site that he owned.
When the Forest Service bought out SBL, they moved/reassembled it at their headquarters, either in Madison or Milwaukee Wisconsin.
I'd like to visit it, one for the road if you will! :)

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

The Great Outdoors

02/27/2012 02:29PM

quote Basspro69: "Eighties, Tin Can Mike is where I basecamped, and I really was unprepared but it worked out ok. "
It used to be called Murphy Lake in the old days, & still is as far as I'm concerned! :)

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

MrBreeze

02/27/2012 02:44PM

Was out of the Boy Scout Camp on Moose Lake in 1977. Spent first 6 nights in the Q, through Agnes, Kawnipi up into Sturgeon, Darky and Argo, back into Crooked, up Basswood river into Basswood then back to Moose through Wind. Have been going back ever since, hiking as well as canoeing.

I wish I were, I wish I might, I wish I was in the BWCA tonite!

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Thwarted

02/27/2012 03:24PM

Mid eighties. Round lake EP50 and out the creek from Horseshoe to Rd 315. Used Beymer's book and map from the book. Did not use an outfitter or other help. Not too bright! I was smart enough to plan to move from west to east so the wind would help us, but the wind blew out of the east for four straight days!!! Party of four with my brother, his buddy, my wife and me.

Glorious days!!!

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

izzy

02/27/2012 03:33PM

TGO - Murphy it is. I have heard it called that too.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

ozarkpaddler

02/27/2012 03:35PM

August 14, 1984. I can easily remember the date, because we embarked on my birthday. Granite River, started at Gunflint Lake public landing. Down to Sag, over to Ester, Hansen, down to Fish, Faith, Gift, back to Hansen and through Knife, Ogish, Gabi, over to Little Sag. Out through Tuscarora, Snipe, to the Cross River. Nice, long trip somewhere around 10 days. Traveled every day but one; we stayed on Gift two nights. I was back by May 1985 and made 2 trips that year; I was hooked!

"Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." Mark Twain

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

SpiritsofAdventure

02/27/2012 04:13PM

May, 2010

The only way to look within is to explore without.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

ron1

02/27/2012 08:10PM

Around 1990; a few years out of college. didn't think it was all that great. Went back again in 2009 and had a wonderful experience and have dreamed about it ever since. Went back in 2010 and have an entry permit for Snowbank this June.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Boppa

02/27/2012 08:37PM

We finally made it to the BW in 2006.Have done a trip every year since.
Boppa

"Yesterday is the past, Tomorrow is the future, Today is a GIFT, that is why it is called the present".

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

sleepnpad

02/27/2012 09:08PM

August 2001. Sleepnbag somehow got me to go. I had never camped before in my life... I was scared - had no clue what I was getting myself into. Enjoyed it and we have continued to go every year since.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

bbrown6057

02/27/2012 09:13PM

July of 1993 on Sags. Here we are almost 20 years later and I'm taking my 2nd trip back in.

"You have a cough? Go home tonight, eat a whole box of Ex-Lax, tomorrow you'll be afraid to cough."

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Stumpy

02/27/2012 11:05PM

quote The Great Outdoors: "quote Stumpy: "quote The Great Outdoors: "Took a canoe trip to Western Lake in 1962, then helped tear down Basswood Lodge on several weekends in the winter of 1962/63/64???????
Both before the Wilderness Act of 1964 established the official Bdub."
Wow!...Cool & yet sad.
Bob Cary told us the floor of the Cookshack at CBO, used to be the floor or Basswood Lodge."
I don't think anything from Basswood Lodge itself was at CBO. Other buildings (perhaps the cookshack) may have ended up there as they auctioned them off when the government bought it.
We helped Emery Bulinski take it down, then it was put back up at the Snowbank Lodge site that he owned.
When the Forest Service bought out SBL, they moved/reassembled it at their headquarters, either in Madison or Milwaukee Wisconsin.
I'd like to visit it, one for the road if you will! :)"
But...The Harristhal family (who I worked for), bought CBO from Emery Bulinski, who was also partnered with Bob Cary. So Bob saying the Cookshack floor came from the lodge makes sense. I can certainly see Emery using that flooring. Ask him if you see him.

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

bhouse46

02/27/2012 11:11PM

May 1979. Army buddy took me in through Moose to the Quetico. Camped the north end of Newfoundland the first night and paddled out from Isabella to CBO on Moose the last day with headwinds. Much better shape than going in. Bought a canoe that summer and paddled most of my life since.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

The Great Outdoors

02/27/2012 11:34PM

Stumpy,
The flooring from Basswood Lodge could have been at CBO. When we tore the lodge down, all we did with the hardwood flooring was strip it up, then band it with metal straps.
When Emery moved the Lodge itself to Snowbank, he may have sold the flooring, or any other cabin's he bought, to someone else.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Wables

02/28/2012 12:01AM

1987 Basecamping on Agnes, with daytrips to LLC and Iron. I was 12 at the time and didn't realize that my dad was testing me for some serious tripping in the Q! The next few years we went chasing walleyes all over the Quetico. In those years we did the Badwater portage 6 times, which is a feat to do once. I will never forget each of those trips. After High School I moved to Michigan for college and stayed for another 8 years, but found my way back to MN almost 4 years ago and have been making 2 trips a year since we moved back. I brought my daughter to Agnes for her first trip when she was 12 as well, and will probably be bringing my 5 year old to Baker for his first trip this year. Hopefully I can get my wife to come with someday.

"Hold on, I think I can get in without getting my feet wet."....SPLASH...

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Miami1

02/28/2012 09:59AM

1987 Started at french lake after driving all night from Ohio camped on the second big island in Pickerel lake. Then paddled to russell lake and base camped for 6 nights. It rained every day but the fishing was better than anything I had experienced before. Paddled from Russell to french and drove home just in time to go to work, I was bushed but satisfied. Been going almost every year since. Anthony

Rod King

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

BRic

02/28/2012 11:53AM

1987 with my Dad and brother plus two other groups of dads and sons we were in Indian Guides with. (Maybe 1986 now that I think about it.)

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

gutmon

02/28/2012 03:58PM

1982- Numbered lakes with my (now) wife.

"The trouble with the world isn't that people know too little, but that they know so much that just ain't so." Mark Twain

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

CORIOLIS

02/28/2012 04:41PM

Foolishly I was content to paddle around in the lakes and rivers around home (not the greatest) until the opportunity arose in 2005 for a BWCA visit. Been there every year since. No more time to waste; planning two for this year.
Went with a prior coworker andhis friends, brothers. They have kinda fallen by the wayside. Now I go with my best friend ( went my second trip and he's been there ever since) and whoever. Dory went in 2010; not her cup of tea. Last year with my best friend and two other friends. We are all born in 51. That four old fart crew had one swell time for a week up there last year. Can't wait to do it again (August).

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

fishonfishoff

02/28/2012 04:45PM

June 2011 Mudro-Crooked loop. Hopefully get to the BWCA evry year. This year we are trying a Sept trip.

"JUST TRY IT!"

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

oldnewbie

02/28/2012 04:59PM

1965, with big brother, his wife, and her little brother. flew (don't ask me why) into Fourtown, stayed in cabin on Gun owned by a "Mackie". didn't go back till 2000, and every year since.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

rmessner

02/28/2012 05:06PM

I believe it was either 1980 or 81. From Sawbill lake.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

RainGearRight

02/28/2012 05:15PM

1986. Stuart lake. I was six. It was a long day.

There's always money in the banana stand.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Jeriatric

02/28/2012 06:19PM

2007, at age 60 I organized a group trip. My subsequent trips have been solos.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

GraniteCliffs

02/28/2012 07:42PM

In the late 1950's.
I was lucky enough to grow up on a lake adjoining what is today the BWCA. My first real memory of a canoe trip was with my dad, two older brothers and another dad and his two sons---our friends.
I have been at it ever since. On one of my Quetico trips this year I expect to go for a week with those same two brothers, my youngest brother and one of those two other friends we traveled with all those years ago.
But it sure makes me feel old!

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

vinnie

02/28/2012 08:03PM

2004, wish i would of discovered the bwca sooner.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Dennisal

02/29/2012 08:34AM

My first trip was in the early 60's. Picnic tables, portage marker signs, canoe rests... All part of the BW back then. Oh, and a few boat/canoe docks @ some lakes were a common scene.

NEVER LOST. ALL PORTAGES AND ROADS GO SOMEWHERE OR THEY WOULD NOT BE THERE.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Mike5914

02/29/2012 08:46AM

I still remember my first trip - I believe it was 1992 with my dad, izzy. We left Milwaukee and for an 11 year old kid, that trip up to the BW took forever. I can still remember paddling in to Alpine Lake when it was 80 degrees the first day. Shirts off, paddling through the middle of nowwhere - it was pretty cool. I thought it could never get worse. I was wrong.

The next morning, it was 20 degrees and snowing. I dont think I left my sleeping bag most of the day. A cold front went through and it was very cold for the next 5 or 6 days. I didnt really warm up until we left....go figure. I played a lot of Nintendo Game Boy on the big campsite during that trip.

Fast forward two years for my brother's (Paddle Monster) first trip. I was 13 and Jimmy was 10. We used a motor boat on Sag and camped at Gold Island. After that trip, we went fishing on Lake Superior with one of Izzy's friends....

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

jb in the wild

02/29/2012 10:26PM

Wish my Dad would have done half the things your Dad does with you. You guys are very lucky.

JB

Oh yeah that reminds me of a joke.

You can't explain the obvious to the ignorant.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Spartan1

03/13/2012 10:31AM

1967 with counselors from Camp Easton.

1971 with Spartan2

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Cedarboy

03/13/2012 11:16AM

1976

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

outdooraddict

03/13/2012 02:52PM

last september

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

schweady

03/13/2012 04:33PM

quote outdooraddict: "last september"

Now, THAT's what I'm talkin' 'bout! A little birthday trip?

"You can observe a lot by watching." -- Yogi Berra

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

Spartan2

03/13/2012 05:16PM

I started to say 1971, but I guess it wasn't a bwca trip, as we went in at Crane Lake and went up to the Namakan River loop. My first bwca trip was 1973 and my first Quetico trip was 1977.

Spartan1 did the Namakan River trip in 1967 with some friends. He has two more trips than I do.

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

HikingStick

03/13/2012 05:25PM

Ten days with my Scout troop back in (around) '84. Went in Moose Lake, went across Wind Lake. Winds were bad that day. The outfitter (Don Beland) was shocked when we came out and showed him where we camped the first night. We made 21 miles on our first day, into the wind. That's youthful enthusiasm, I guess.

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ? J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

RustyBoldt1

03/14/2012 01:39PM

2011 Better late then never right?

RUSTY BOLDT

Reply Reply with Quote Print Top Bottom Previous Next

BWCA Messageboard