MCA HUT! Archive

by Christopher Steele

ed. (Read the first part of this artical here.)

Seagull Lake is near the end of the Gunflint Trail. Our cabin on Seagull has been the starting point for many trips into near and not-so-near lakes. From this vantage/entry point, I’ve observed and occasionally learned a few things. To wit:

Observation 1

Those folks attracted to canoes have a different perspective about hygiene. This is especially noticeable after several days on the water. Food dropped on the forest floor, particularly Oreos, cheddar cheese and chunks of sausage, is fine. Dirt on hands has no germs. Body odor can easily be masked by the smell of fish cleaned yesterday, and if your paddling partner doesn’t fish, being aware of the wind direction is all that’s needed.

A couple years ago during a snowy October trip, Jeff Couture and I met two earthy guys on a portage. We stopped and enjoyed lunch and the exchange of tales of past adventures with them. That night when reliving the day I said to Jeff, "Man, those guys were a couple of filthy, rough looking characters." Jeff delivered his response to my observation with five carefully chosen words, "You look just like them."

Observation 2

Post-canoeing bath water and Guinness Stout have a similar color and texture. After a week in the woods, I like to return to the cabin and soak in the tub. I fill the tub with hot water and bring two bottles of beer into the bathroom with me. When both bottles of beer are gone, the bath is done. If I bring Guinness Stout instead of Miller, my beer is the same color as the bath water. [I trust that I’ll never return from canoeing where the amount of grime is so little that bath water color can be matched by an MGD.]

Observation 3

Perfect footwear for canoeing is no easier to find than the perfect canoe. I could go into the used sandal/boot/shoe business. I feel like I’ve tried everything, and satisfaction remains elusive.

I always used to wear sandals, Alps and Teves (Alps stay on better). I am not especially sensitive to cold weather and found sandals to be good in the fall and early winter, yeah even in the snow. They are comfortable, go on dry in the morning and they are darn good for wading through water. Unfortunately, when I wear them in the woods, cuts and scrapes are inevitable. Bloody feet are impossibly irritating during the spring and summer months. The cuts attract a biting fly that enjoys laying eggs in my O+. No big deal, except that (1) these housefly size monsters are nasty biters, worse than back flies and (2) cuts sprinkled with eggs take months to heal. Because of these limitations I tried leather boots.

Leather boots were wonderful. My wife bought an expensive pair of 8" work boots for me expecting that I’d clear brush and fix our road. Nope. I wore them into the water, through bogs and portage muck. Sure my feet puckered up and were always wet, but they were also quite comfortable. Unfortunately the boots couldn’t tolerate the wet environment and they fell apart shortly after completion of a one-week trip. Next, Patagonia rafting shoes.

The Patagonia shoes had great traction, drained nicely and were capable of creating nifty, silver dollar size blisters. [If you want to know if the blisters were the size of the old or the new silver dollar, you’ve got too much time on your hands. Go paddling.] I retired the shoes after one season.

I figured the Navy Seal Boots [NSB] would be perfect. I saw the NSB’s advertised in the Northwest River Supply catalog and believed every word of the ad copy. The ad was mostly accurate. NSB’s are warm, traction is good and the gusseted top keeps sand and crud out of the boot. But they don’t drain and like the Patagonia shoes they make blisters. But a different denomination: Quarters.

Rubber boots are good late in the season when ice forms along the shore. But I am incapable of keeping water on the outside of the boot. If my feet are going to be wet, there are easier ways to achieve this inevitability.

Next BWCAW shoe: Converse canvas high tops. Red.

Observation 4

A McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with cheese value meal has about 1200 calories. Most freeze-dried foods have half that and a less palatable flavor at a higher cost. Keep this fact in mind when considering the meal alternatives, foil packages or grocery store cuisine.

Lesson 1: Willing paddling partners

If you insist on bringing a teenager on a canoe trip against his/her will, it will be memorable time in the same way root canal leaves a lasting impression. A while back my wife and I spent a week canoeing in the rain. We had days of gentle, soothing rain, days of torrential rain, days of driving rain and days with all of the above. We had a delightful time! On the final portage of the final day, a torrential rain day, we met a family, mom, dad and kids. Most of the family was cheerfully sloshing their gear across the portage. One family member, a 16-ish girl, was not. Instead she was sitting on a stump with feet in the mud at the end of the portage. She was clutching a cosmetic case and applying make-up in the rain. The expression on her face was similar to what I imagine the neighbor’s cat would look like if I threw it off the dock. I believe this family would have been better off with the cat.

Lesson 2: Day trips

I used to think that canoeing in the BWCAW or Quetico meant 7-10 days of humping Duluth Packs across portages. It still means this but it can also mean day trips. Some of my best times have been long days with light loads that begin and end 12 to 14 hours after they started. Don’t have a cabin? Campgrounds abound. Don’t like campgrounds? There are always empty campsites on Seagull on Sag and I suppose most entry-point lakes. Voyageur Canoe Outfitters [http:/www.canoeit.com] has nice bunkhouses at a nice price. Pick a starting point and do a bunch of day trips. Traveling and portaging unencumbered by gear is a phenomenally fun way to canoe the BWCAW.

Lesson 3: Spices

Ron Berg, master chef who wrote The Gunflint Lodge Cookbook and Northwoods Fish Cookery, fishing guide and cabin neighbor, told me about spice kits one evening while quaffing Anchor Steam Beer. Ron’s advice is to bring a variety of spices to enhance the flavor of bland camping food. I keep my spice kit in the small stuff sack. Salt, pepper, garlic granules and powder, dried onion and green pepper, paprika, cayenne, basil, parsley flakes and Pace Picante Sauce are sufficient. The Pace travels in a Nalgene bottle and can be used to enhance the flavor of fish, potatoes, sausage and cheese & tortilla sandwiches. Pace is a perfect addition to most meals.