Date: 2016-09-08
From: Green Bay, Wisconsin

To: Boundary Waters, MN
Miles today: 0.0

First of all, thank you for your kind words of support after announcing my decision to leave the trail, as well as the encouraging comments to continue writing. I am now seriously considering becoming a LASH (Long Ass Section Hiker¢no earthly idea why ¢A¢ was a necessary addition to this acronym, except it needed a vowel) and finishing next year, so I will keep this journal going for as long as it seems reasonable.It is the eve of my post-Appalachian Trail self-rediscovery tour back in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Let's see how much I really love large lakes. I'll be paddling on more than a few of them. Since summiting Katahdin, I¢ve spent the past two weeks visiting family, re-evaluating what I like and don't like about our house and planning this 130-mile paddle trip. (Apparently the mileage for both my major trips this year must include the numeral ¢13¢ followed by a zero or two.) I also hit a yoga class, but my knees and toes informed me that. It. Is. Just. Too. Soon. I continued to think about painting rooms, making beef jerky and reorganizing my leftover backpacking meals.Tonight finds me happily ensconced within a $19 outfitter¢s bunkhouse in Ely, Minnesota¢436 miles and seven hours, by car that is, from my home in Wisconsin. Like boots and backpacks lined up outside a hostel¢s door, the sight of a disproportionately high number of vehicles, with canoes strapped to their roofs lining the streets of Ely, cheers my little paddling heart. And even though I¢m the only one staying here tonight, it feels as comfortable as any trail town lodging¢right down to the pinned wall map (although of course, it is of northern lakes and not a certain eastern trail,) mismatched common room chairs and familiar plastic covered mattresses. Bless their little hostel hearts.Canoeing gear differs a bit from backpacking. For one thing, the ultralight 68 liter ULA Circuit pack and food bag has been replaced with a 70 liter waterproof rubberized SealLine dry bag AND a 30 liter blue plastic food BARREL, the latter crammed full of ramen recipes, tortillas and jerky, among other things. The dry bag is weighing in at just under thirty pounds¢so I guess that isn't too bad. I¢m packing about twice as many clothes¢both for the fall temperatures and because there is always a possibility of a dunking when you spending the majority of your time on lakes and rivers. There are no resupply stops, hotels, hostels or even shelters where I¢m headed for the next fifteen days. And where I¢m headed is literally water that separates the U.S. and Canada. (See what they did? Such a clever eponym, ¢boundary waters,¢ indeed.) My usual luxury item, a pillow, this one a micro-suede covered, compressible Thermarest model, is almost twice as big as the nylon, inflatable version I carried out East. Then there is the larger¢and heavier¢Goretex rain jacket AND rain pants, because you can't get much wetter than sitting out like a duck on an open lake, during a cloudburst in a vessel that collects and holds water. Unless you find yourself in the lake. In pouring rain. I¢ve also packed my more spacious two-person Mountain Hardware tent which, after carrying the 13-oz., one-person Tarp Tent Notch for the past four months, appears to have turned into a sack of cement. But heck, this is the tent that¢s been to the BWCAW many times before. Apparently I will manage. Another difference? Way fewer people. The Boundary Waters requires that you camp at designated campsites. These appear as red dots on the large plastic topographic maps and are typically obvious as you approach them from the water. Unlike AT shelters and campsites, if a BWCAW site is occupied, the courteous thing to do is to paddle on in search of an open one. So instead of finding a little temporary village assembled at the end of each day, I¢ll be camping alone every night. I'll see other paddlers on the water and perhaps cross paths while portaging, but there is a very high likelihood that I'll rarely speak to another person for the next two weeks.If that doesn't sound like a whale of a time, there is still some hiking to be had. It's not all floating fun and games. This route includes 51 portages (the trails that connect unconnected lakes or bypasses dangerous rapids or obstructions). The upside is that my longest portage is no more than one-half mile. There will be the carrying of the gear, but not nearly as efficient or¢and this may come as a shock¢as light¢as backpacking. Transporting a canoe, paddles, large dry bag and a food barrel ensures that I will be making two trips over every portage¢tripling each distance. And while the geology of the Canadian Shield is such that not all the land surrounding the lakes is flat, the elevation changes aren't nearly as drastic as Appalachia profiles. Or as sustained. My hands will only be needed to steady the canoe being balanced upon my shoulders, not clutch a rock face as I heave my body up over a giant monolith. Unless I climb the smooth granite ledges of Warrior Hill, on the Canadian side of Lac La Croix. In which case I will not be carrying any gear, but will still to be concerned about falling¢into the hands of any border patrol, that is. And you won't find about that for a few weeks since there is also no electricity or WiFi up here in these there parts. At least I only expect to be off the grid for a few weeks. Then I need to get some rooms repainted. Side note: For those of you familiar with the BWCAW, or even for those of you who aren't, I'm entering through Crane Lake, permit entry point #12/Little Vermillion Lake adjacent to Voyaguer National Park. From Lac La Croix, I'll be dropping into the interior through Iron Lake and the Basswood River, looping through Horse, Fourtown and Stuart and eventually returning back through Loon Lake to Little Vermillion and Crane.