Hiking with SIPA

There were only a few of us today, and it was a bit chillier than expected, but it was still a lot of fun to meet up with some friends from SIPA for an afternoon hike.

This area has loads of parks and trails and state reserves - I've been down here for school for three years and I've barely scratched the surface - so both of the places we went were new to me.

Our first stop was a local arboretum.

There were a lot of pine and cypress trees.

We saw some ducks and a turtle out on the pond.

Apparently, there is also a bamboo forest, which was beautiful, but which was rather surreal because of how out-of-place it felt. There were old sandstone blocks strewn about, perhaps from a long-since gone house, and little tunnels running through the thick bamboo grove.

We also went over to a second, smaller hiking trail which featured a creek (mostly dry at the moment), lots of shelf fungus, and birds including cardinals and a red-headed woodpecker.

December 3rd, 2016

I've been feeling the Yuletide spirit pretty hard after Thanksgiving; my family went and picked out a Christmas tree, and ever since I've been listening to carols and drinking peppermint hot chocolate. I also got the little Yule tree in my dorm all set up.

Then on Thursday, I received a package from my mom with some more holiday goodies in it, including this little guy:

It's an ornament, but it's a bird wearing a hat! I love it so much, it's adorable!

I didn't have time to put up my larger Yule tree while I was home for Thanksgiving, so I'll have to do that when I get back for winter break in a week and a half. Let me just say - I am ready for this semester to be over with.

I also had Habitat for Humanity's home dedication ceremony to attend this morning. It was a really nice little event, and I'm so happy for the new homeowners. In the midst of all the hardships in the world right now, it was great to be a part of such a meaningful thing in the community. The home is so crucial to any family, and getting to help build the place and then turn it over to the people who will live their lives there is an incredible privilege.

It's been an emotional week for a lot of reasons, but it's these moments that really make it worth it. Blessings to all as we go ever deeper into the dark and rest of winter. May this time of introspection and reflection bring healing and wisdom.

November 5th, 2016

I found the cutest little bird's nest laying on the ground this morning while I was on my way to Habitat for Humanity.

It seemed to be totally unoccupied, and I told myself if it was still there later, I would pick it up. Well, lo and behold, it was in the exact same place this evening when I went to dinner, so I went ahead and took it for my altar. What a unique bit of wildcrafting!

September 20th, 2016

Every time I think 2016 can't get worse, it does. I know I haven't been very active of late, and I can't say that that's likely to change what with how busy school's been, and on top of that, my grandfather, who has leukemia, is in a very bad state and the doctors are guessing he only has a few days.

In light of that, I decided I needed to do something today to try and deal with everything. I've noticed over the past few weeks, a very specific labyrinth design kept popping up. First I saw it on a field trip to the Antheneum, and then there was a display in the theatre building using the same graphic, shown below.

I recognized it as being a slightly smaller version of the labyrinth at Gaia House, which is itself based on the labyrinth in the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France. Since the imagery kept reoccurring, I walked over to Gaia House this morning to spend some time walking their labyrinth.

The geodesic dome sculpture is in homage to Buckminster Fuller, who lived in this town for many years, while the labyrinth turns an old concrete slab into a peace park. It really was nice to enjoy the fresh air for a while before the day got really hot, and I've attended at least one ritual in this space, too, so that brought back good memories. I'd like to spend more time there if I can manage it, I feel like it would be healing.

There's also a really nice fountain and pool just beyond the dome, which is pretty.

The other thing I've noticed a lot lately is bird signs. This is a photo of three crows all sitting on top of a street light taken last week. I saw the trio a second time this morning. Birds always seem to show up at important times in my life. It's nice to see them.

I have done nothing to get ready for Mabon, and it looks like I'll be travelling on Thursday anyway. However, I am planning to attend the SIPA ritual this weekend, so I'm looking forward to that - I daresay I need it. We might even be camping out after the ritual, which would be cool.

July 12th, 2016

I mentioned that it's been kind of a roller-coaster summer, including a lot of family matters. Last Tuesday, my great-grandmother passed away at 97 years of age. I certainly did not know her as well as some, but I do know I was fortunate to have a great-grandmother in my life for so many years. We attended the visitation last night, and the funeral was this morning.

Here I am after the fact, still in black.

While my family (my mother and grandmother in particular) grieve, I will honor her in my own way as best I can. I don't have much space in my room for an ancestor altar, but I set aside a little area next to my working altar in which to display some items I've gathered together.

From left to right, I have first a photograph from one of my great-grandma's Christmas parties. I don't happen to have a photo of her personally, but her Christmas parties were always special to her as a way to get the whole family together. Then I have the programs from the funeral and the visitation, an Ammonite fossil because their spiral shape is associated with life and eternity, and a pocket watch which belonged to my great-grandpa, who I never knew seeing as he passed away before I was born. I also have a candle.

Perhaps it's sentimental of me, but when we arrived at the cemetery for the funeral, there was a pair of mourning doves sitting on a telephone pole across from the gate, and I couldn't help but wonder if maybe it was a sign that great-grandma and great-grandpa were together and happy again.

September 20th, 2015

I went out for a walk after lunch today to collect some leaves for my Mabon ritual, and I actually ended up finding all kinds of neat things.

I saw a bunch of birds, including two large hawks or vultures, I'm not sure which, and a hawk at the top of this tree. I also went down by the creek again and spotted more frogs. 

Here's my altar after I added my findings to it. My basket of leaves is in the back. On the left is a big piece of shelf fungus, and next to my little wreath is a collection of seed pods and acorns. I also found a piece of sycamore bark, which I'm now using as a stand on my desk to hold some offerings. 

This was the other thing I discovered: a tiny bird skull. It was lying in a pile of cicada exoskeletons, and I felt drawn to keep it, so I added it to my basket. It's now in a Ziploc bag where it will stay for a week or two, to be sure there aren't any organisms living on it. 

August 15th, 2015

There was a visitor at one of our sunflowers this morning.

He's a little hard to see, but there's a goldfinch in the middle of the picture, picking seeds out of the flower. He sat there for quite some time, enjoying his breakfast.

Later, we had some excitement - we went to the beach today!

I only found out we were going late last night, so it was a bit of a surprise, but the weather was perfect. The drive up took about an hour, after which we stopped for a quick lunch break before heading to the beach itself.

A lot of the lake shore had eroded since last year, which was unexpected, but it did give us a rather different view of the rocks than we were used to. I spent several hours hunting along the beach for neat finds.

These were a couple of the specimens I found. I didn't keep them all, but they made for a good photo. I found beach glass, some kind of purplish Quartz or Chalcedony, Unakite, a rock with a honeycomb of crystals, white Quartz, some glittery pink stone, fossils, and a rock with a green mineral inside it. 

I also found this - the wing of a Luna Moth! I'm sad that the moth was injured, but it was still really interesting to see, especially on a beach.

Later, I stumbled across some really high quality fossils. I'm not totally sure what this one is - some kind of marine creature, I believe, and probably a sponge or a coral.

We went for ice cream afterward, and now I'm sitting at home, enjoying some YouTube videos on altar design and similar. Hope everyone else is enjoying these last days of summer vacation!

August 8th, 2015

What an exciting day! I bought my first laptop this morning, and also restocked on poly pellets for my weighted blanket. I had requested Athena's help in finding the right laptop for the right price, and I was able to get exactly what I needed.

As a thank-you offering, I actually painted this picture frame last night and am adding it to her shrine (temple?) today.

As you can see, I still need to make a picture to go in the frame, but I was very pleased with how it came out. It shows many of Athena's symbols, including olive trees, an owl, a dove, a bowl of gems, Her golden helmet, spear, and Aegis shield, a snake, a spindle, and tiger lilies. I also have quite a bit of Turquoise, which is Her stone, so I plan to put a piece of that on my shrine as well.

August 6th, 2015

It's been a pretty productive day today. I got quite a bit of cleaning done, first with a load of laundry, and then by pulling out the bottom drawers of my dresser and removing all the accumulated junk. While I was at it, I found my little pewter hummingbird stone which I'd never been able to locate after it fell back there a year or two ago.

I have it sitting as part of a miniature shrine to the element Air on top of my dresser. With it is a yellow candle and matching knit bunny, as well as a replica arrowhead and a watercolor painting of an owl I did. I have similar mini shrines for the other elements as well. This one probably gets the most use, since I stand in front of it to do my hair.

June 30th, 2015

I painted my second fairy house today! I spent most of the day on it, except for an interlude of a few hours where I went to Destiny's house.

The front.

The right side.

The back.

The left side.

I took inspiration from Celtic Women's song, "Fairies", in picking my imagery.

Camp Log: 6/20/15

(From Hummingbird’s logs, edited and transcribed 7/2/15)

Well, it started off as a nice morning. I woke up about the same time as yesterday, and found that it was warmer than it's been this whole trip; that is, I could go out with one sweater on rather than two. When I got out of the tent, grandpa was still trying to solve our water dilemma, but we found another full water bottle in the cooler bag, so that helped.

Out on the lake, the seagulls were calling, the pair of loons were diving for breakfast, and the eagle was sitting up in his tree across the lake.

We had been going to do pancakes for breakfast, but discovered that the brown sugar (for syrup) had somehow been left behind, so we decided to have them a different day and and ate oatmeal instead. I had the raisin date walnut again, with hot chocolate, almonds, and freeze dried berries.

That's me second from the left.

Right as we were finishing up breakfast, it started to rain. Unlike yesterday, it didn't stay just a sprinkle. Pretty soon, we were all huddled around the fire grate under the rainfly. When we went to boil water for dishes, we were able to just collect a bunch of rainwater, but we did have some difficulty getting the camp stove to light in the rain. We got it eventually, and Ben washed the dishes. I rinsed them in the water pouring off the rainfly, and mom put them away.

I then went to huddle in the tent and played Quiddler with everyone but mom. It was a bit damp in there, mostly from people tracking in water. My sleeping bag got wet, though, which was irritating.

We ate lunch not long after we finished our card game (which I won, incidentally). We had the usual - granola bars, carrot chips, peanut butter granola, dried coconut and pineapple, string cheese, peanut butter on bagels, crackers, fruit strips, and Twizzlers. It was still raining, though every once in a while, it would stop for a few minutes. Everyone was cold and varying degrees of miserable, so we opted to boil some more rain water for hot drinks. I went with another round of hot chocolate.

Dad decided to get a fire going in the grate, but I was sick of standing around trying to stay dry under the rainfly, so I went back in the tent. I found a couple of puddles pooling up in the corners, so I wiped them away as best I could. Then I moved all the sleeping bags over, because I was also tired of sleeping on top of a big, awkwardly shaped boulder and a pile of tree roots. I also wanted to sweep up all the cedar needles that people had tracked in, but mom thought I should wait until it dried more.

I snuggled for warmth in my sleeping bag, and ended up taking a nap of several hours (I've slept more on this trip than I have all year, I swear). It was around 6:00 when I woke up. By then, the rain had taken a respite, so I walked over to the lookout point, where dad had just had a perch slip his fishing line. Mom and Nick wanted to go around the island to get a better look at the weather, so I accompanied them. Nick turned just in time to see a wall of rain blowing our direction, so we ran back to camp. Ben and I piled in the tent, where we rode out the latest squall with my paraphrasing some Celtic legends for him.

When we got out after the rain, we made dinner plans. We decided to conserve dishes by using our cups from earlier to eat wild rice soup, and then make vanilla pudding. While the boys did the dishes, I tried to get the fire going again, but the wood was soaked so I gave it up as a lost cause. Instead, I refilled the water filter bag and got a towel and brush kit from mom. I was finally able to clean out the inside of the tent; it's so much better now, especially since it's also drier.

Headed to bed now!

Camp Log: 6/19/15

(From Hummingbird’s logs, edited and transcribed 7/2/15)

This entry actually begins with a bit of an addition to last night. I woke up in the middle of the night, probably around 11:00 or 12:00 by my amateur estimation, and since I wasn't completely exhausted, I decided to get up and look at the stars. The boys had said previously that they would like to do the same, so I woke them up and crawled out of the tent.

It was a great night for it. The only clouds were very low over the horizon, so the sky was clear, and I could see hundreds of little pinpricks of light. I thought I saw a tiny shooting star, but it was hard to tell for sure with all the tree branches. I turned around and walked down to sit on a rock overlooking the lake, and right as I did so, a huge purplish shooting star blazed across the sky. I was so in awe that it took me a minute to remember to make a wish.

Over the lake, many of the stars were very bright, including the Big Dipper, which was the clearest I'd ever seen it. It was so bright, in fact, that I could see the reflection of it and some of the other stars in the water. It was chilly, so the boys and I didn't stay up real late, but it was gorgeous.

I slept in a little this morning (all the way to 6:45), so the others were mostly already awake. There was some fog rolling across the lake, but the sun was already high enough to have burned a lot of it off. I sat out on a rock watching the water foam up (along with watching pollen collect in the water), and then headed back to camp for breakfast. Grandpa toasted hot dog buns on his skillet, and then scrambled us two eggs apiece. We had it with hot chocolate (and SPAM, for the boys) - it was really excellent.

After breakfast, the adults prepped some things for a day trip, and the boys took me around to see some more things on the island. We saw the "fish graveyard", where someone/thing had left a bunch of Northern Pike skeletons. Those guys have a lot of teeth. I also found a black feather about the length of my forearm (eagle?), and stumbled across a pink ladyslipper orchid with three flowers on it. The boys had seen another one like it the other day, so they showed me that one as well. There were also some white pine seedlings, which Nick wanted to show grandpa.

Once everything was in order, we set out for our day trip. Nick and I were out on the water first, so we decided to investigate a big rock across the lake where the seagulls always sit. They got a bit agitated as we approached, but I was unsure if they were trying to dive-bomb us or some other nearby gulls. One settled on the water and floated around for a while. Ben and dad had to turn around to grab another pack, because they didn't have enough weight balancing the front of the canoe, but eventually they got it worked out.

We canoed out onto Hog Creek, but of course as we did so, the wind came up and was a pain, even though the creek was pretty sheltered. Ben tried fishing for a while but didn't catch anything. I was hoping to see some wildlife, but except for a few birds, there wasn't much out. We did try testing the ease with which one could paddle over the beaver dams going upstream, and it seemed pretty straightforward.

Eventually, people were tired and hungry, so we paddled back out on the lake to where we had eaten lunch on Wednesday. As a campsite, it was still nothing special, but it was out of the wind and sunny, so it was fine for a picnic. There were more butterflies, including Tiger Swallowtails, and some black ones I couldn't name. The chipmunk was back, this time with a friend (or rival); I named them Flotsam and Jetsam.

For lunch, I had my Tang, and then we passed around peanuts, bagels with peanut butter, carrot chips, granola bars, fruit strips, string cheese, dried apricots, cherries, and apples, and peanut butter granola. While we were eating, two locals paddled by who said our lunch site is actually one of the oldest campsites in the BWCAW, and that a log cabin used to be there.

By the time we finished eating, the wind had died down. dad decided to hang out at that campsite for a while longer, but I let myself get talked into canoeing some more. First we explored a little bay next to our lunch site, which had some reeds and lily pads. Then we went around the peninsula to another little creek beyond. This one had lots of lily pads at the beginning, and Nick thought he saw a turtle bobbing in the water. As we got farther in, there were more water weeds and grasses. We passed a beaver lodge, but no one seemed to be home. The creek dwindled out in a bunch of rocks we couldn't navigate in the canoes, so we turned around and went back to pick up dad. The others played musical canoes, but Nick and I just sat in our offshore and watched a chipmunk clambering over the rocks.

As we set out for the campsite, the wind - of course - decided to pick back up again. Nick and I were able to fight it, but it got to be a real struggle back near our island. We landed finally, and mom and dad did as well, but Ben and grandpa really had to work to get their canoe back to shore. Still, it was probably the least traumatic day trip I've ever been on.

I crawled into the tent pretty much right away to lay down and warm up a little. Mom joined me to read, and Ben also came in to mess around. I caught a bit of a nap, and when I woke up, it was just starting to sprinkle. I added some more layers and went out to help grandpa, dad, and Nick rig a fly over the fire pit to keep it dry. It only sprinkled on and off, and we were able to make dinner without any problems. We had shell pasta with a soupy cheese sauce, potato chips, and chocolate pudding. The water filter was working really slowly for some reason, so we tried rigging some pots to catch rainwater, but it was picking up so much pollen from the trees that it was undrinkable.

As we set up to do dishes, it started raining again, but the sun was out, so I ran over to one of the lookout rocks and could see a big rainbow stretching over the lake, its top hidden in the clouds. I went to go dry dishes, but went back over again later when it became a double rainbow, and then to see a pair of loons bobbing on the water.

Dad got a nice fire going in the grate, so we all sat around it and snuggled, swapping stories. Several hours later, the fire has burned down, and I'm ready now for bed. I wanted to get up to see the stars again, but it looks like it's going to be overcast, so that's a bust. Oh well. G'night!

Camp Log: 16/18/15

(From Hummingbird’s logs, edited and transcribed 6/23/15)

We had some excitement this morning!

I woke up periodically through the night, first to a sound like rain which I realized eventually was the waves whipping the shoreline, and then to the wind lashing the tent. Then around 6:30, I became concerned that the whole tent was going to blow over. The boys and I piled out and with grandpa's help were able to shift it to a more sheltered location, but as we did so, one of the hooks slid off the pole and caught on a nail which some dolt had nailed into a cedar tree. It punched a big hole in the rainfly. We were lucky, though; the hole was only in the part which became an awning over the door, not in the part actually covering the top of the tent. It still got blown around a little after that, but it was pretty clearly an improvement. Dad and grandpa took an extra rainfly and hung it up in front of the tent to divert even more of the wind.

Then, as if we hasn't damaged enough equipment already, mom discovered that a mouse or some other small rodent had chewed a hole in our red food pack. We hadn't bothered to hang the bags last night, as there were pretty clearly no bears on our small island, but in retrospect, maybe we ought to have anyway.

Not long after, the boys and I explored some more of the island, looking at all the neat mosses and lichens, and Nick pointed out some big red and black shelf fungi. I helped grandpa pull some water off the lakeshore (it was far too rough to go out on the lake) and we got the water bottles filled up. 

Grandpa moved the camp stove out of the wind and put the water on for breakfast. I had hot chocolate, raisin-date-walnut oatmeal, and some freeze dried berries. While we ate, Ben pointed out a big dragonfly nymph pupating on a log. 

After breakfast, I volunteered to wash the dishes so I could stick my hands in the hot water. Then I went to huddle for warmth in the tent (the wind was cold), and ended up napping for an hour or so. When I woke up, the boys and I played Quiddler, and dad and grandpa took an extra rainfly and hung it up in front of the tent to divert even more of the wind. The sun decided to come out circa 11:00, so I went out to lay instead on a flat, sunny spot near the fire grate.

I napped outside until lunch, when we had peanuts, crackers, summer sausage, bagels with peanut butter, granola bars, fruit strips, dried mango and coconut, strong cheese, and Twizzlers. I drank most of a quart of Tang.

After lunch, I moved to a different sunny rock to lay on for a while as the others went out on the lake to look around and fish. Eventually, the rotation of the earth moved my patch of sun, so I went down to the mini beach where there was sun and pretty rocks to look at. Ben found a leech, and I saw another Tiger Swallowtail and a teeny tiny dragonfly nymph in the lake. Later, I too was talked into going canoeing on the windy lake, so I went and paddled around with Nick for a bit, until I got nervous and wanted to get back to shore (windy lakes are dangerous in canoes).

Once back on shore, I went over to the fire grate. By this time, the dragonfly had pupated, and was drying off next to his old skin. I sat watching him while grandpa told Nick and I some stories from other countries he's visited. The dragonfly spread his wings eventually, but couldn't vibrate them fully without poking himself on a sharp piece of wood, so I helped him onto a nearby rock. He sat there a moment longer before taking off. A big flock of geese passed overhead, as did a bald eagle, which Nick saw swoop right over camp.

Not long later, we boiled water for three-cheese soup, which we ate with crackers, carrot chips, dried pineapple, and banana chips. We had banana cream pudding for dessert. While we were eating, we heard a seagull cawing loudly, and then we saw it was chasing a bald eagle across the lake. They turned and came back past our campsite, diving toward the lake, and we could see that the eagle was carrying a big fish, maybe a bass. The seagull was very obviously after the fish, and they flew all the way across the lake pecking at  the eagle's feet before they gave up.

After dinner, dad lit a fire and we did dishes. A tiny little caterpillar was hanging down from a tree on some silk until dad ran into it and dragged him off somewhere. I hope the little guy is okay. We all sat around poking the fire for a while. The wind finally just died down, and I'm going to bed.

Camp Log: 6/17/15

(From Hummingbird’s logs, edited and transcribed 6/23/15)

Whew! It has been a long day! It rained last night; I slept well, but woke up a couple of times and heard it. Probably around 7:00 or so, the boys and I got up, dressed, and packed up our things. We joined the others at the picnic table for breakfast – glazed apple fritters, a banana, cranberry juice, and banana-flavored Greek yogurt. A hungry red squirrel kept sneaking up on us, and looked like they might jump onto Nick’s back or something.

We took down the tents, and got everything into the car and grandpa’s truck. The boys and I went to the pump and filled up all the big one-quart water bottles. Then we went to the Outfitter’s again, this time to get ice and fishing bait. Grandpa drove his truck around to the back and lashed the two rental canoes up on top of his rig, along with his own third canoe. We also rented paddles and PFDs, and locked up cell phones and wallets in the Outfitter’s safe.

I rode with grandpa on the drive over to Hog Creek. It was about 14 miles on a gravel road. We actually crossed over upstream portions of the creek twice. We also saw a large bird of prey, maybe an osprey, flying over the road in front of us.

The entry point was nearly empty, which was nice, and there were many spring flowers, including lots of strawberry plants (no strawberries, though – too early). We had to climb down a pretty steep staircase to get down to the water, but at least it wasn’t too far. Everything got unloaded from the vehicles, and we sorted it according to what was going in which canoe. Then we brought the equipment down to the beach, and I carried a canoe on my shoulders for the first time. Cross that off the bucket list!

I was still worried about the weather, so I made it a point to introduce myself and my family to the creek spirits. Right as I did so, a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly flew right in front of me, so I took that as a good omen.

When we finally set out, right around 11:00, mom and dad were in one canoe, Nick and I took the second, and grandpa and Ben went in the third. Right out of the gate, we saw two turtles, one big and one small, sitting on a rock.

We hadn’t been on the creek for even five minutes when we came to a portage over a series of rapids, which hadn’t been indicated on our map. We were all a little irritated to have to get right back out of the canoes, but it turned out not to be too long, at least. The bigger issue was that the area was only wide enough for one canoe at a time, so it took a while to get everyone over. While we were there, however, Ben spotted the first bald eagle of the trip, flying overhead. I saw some kind of butterfly there, maybe a Painted Lady, and another Tiger Swallowtail.

Back on Hog Creek, things were going pretty well. The day, which had dawned grey and cold, had cleared up nicely to the point of almost being hot. The Creek was narrow, lined thickly with short Alder trees and something which I thought might be sagebrush. The route turned frequently, with the vegetation just tall enough to stop one from being able to see around the bends. There were some rocks, but more problematic was the sharpness of the turns. Nick couldn’t steer fast enough to get around them, so we kept running into the bank and getting stuck in the plants. I saw two more big turtles as we paddled along, and some more Swallowtails, which was reassuring.

Traversing the creek took much longer than any of us had anticipated. Luckily, the water was high enough that we were able to canoe right over the many beaver dams, rather than having to portage around all ten or 15 of them, but by the time we reached Perent Lake it was after 2:00, and we were all starving.

We paddled straight for the first campsite we saw, and hauled the canoes up on the rocks. Then we sat down and went straight for the lunch stuff. A curious chipmunk was excited to see that. We had granola bars, carrot chips, sunflower seeds (chip-chip's favorite), dried coconut strips, dried mango, peanut butter granola, fruit strips, and Twizzlers. I made Tang in my water bottle. 

After lunch, we decided to move. The campsite where we had landed was very buggy, muddy, and without a good view of the lake. (There was a pretty little blue butterfly, and another Swallowtail, though.) Instead, we headed to the middle of the lake, where there was an island with a campsite. We passed some seagulls, and I got out on shore to scout around. The site looked good, so I reported back to the others, and we decided to call it a night. 

The campsite has several flat rocks which fed down into the lake, and a tiny cove with a pebbly beach. The island is covered in White Cedar, which grandpa says could actually be hundreds of years old. There are some big standing boulders, and a humongous White Pine, which is similarly ancient. Mom spotted a Pink Ladyslipper orchid, and then a second one further out. 

I pitched our tent with a view of the lake, and mom and dad have theirs back behind the fire grate. I found grandpa a spot higher up in the trees. We worked to get everything else set up, and dad got a fire going. Nick and I paddled out a ways to pull up some debris-free lake water, and mom chopped and fried some potatoes and onion. We roasted hot dogs on the fire, and saw a toad hop under a log. For dessert, we made up some butterscotch pudding.

Ben had a bit of a meltdown washing dishes (me too, buddy, me too). I'm pretty wiped out, so I'm going to bed shortly. We finally just heard a loon...

Camp Log: 6/16/15

(From Hummingbird’s logs, edited and transcribed 6/23/15)

We had the car packed and ready last night, so after a shower and breakfast at 6:00 this morning, we were on the road by 7:15. I finished reading the last 150 pages of my Celtic mythology text, and then spent the rest of the long drive alternating between napping and looking out the window.

It was about 9:00 or 10:00 when we crossed into Wisconsin, and at noon pulled off in Eau Claire for lunch. The boys went to Culver’s (after we found it), and mom and I went to Taco John’s. I had a burrito with a hard taco shell inside, along with beef, cheese, sour cream, and salsa. Then the two of us joined the boys at Culver’s, where we split a coconut chocolate almond custard.

It was 1:00 by the time we left Eau Claire. Ben spotted a turkey vulture, and Nick saw some sort of bird of prey, maybe a kestrel, catching a snack.

We entered Minnesota via Duluth (I didn’t care for the big bridges), and stopped briefly at an overlook of Lake Superior. It was another two and a half hours from Duluth to Tofte, and then about a half hour’s drive along a dirt and gravel road through The Superior National Forest before we got to the Sawbill Lake Outfitter’s and campsite.

Grandpa had arrived earlier in the afternoon and had already set up his tent and one of ours on sites 3 and 4. We got the food moved into waterproof packs and double checked our supplies. We also saw a chipmunk sitting by the cars.

Once everything was sorted, we walked over to the Outfitter. While grandpa took care of the permits, I looked around for anything my friends might like, but nothing really caught my eye. We watched the instructional video as per the usual (it basically explains the rules and regulations of the BWCAW), and then went back to camp for dinner.

On the drive up, we had stopped briefly in Two Harbors for some food – eggs from the supermarket, and then Subway sandwiches to bring along for later. I got roast beef, pepperjack cheese, tomato, green pepper, and cucumber on flatbread with a bit of honey mustard. I’d been wanting to try the flatbread for a while, and found it was quite tasty. I also had a small bottle of milk.

We pitched the bigger tent after dinner, and Nick, Ben, and I took that one. Mom and dad took the smaller tent, and grandpa is in his one-man tent on the next site over. I got all my things settled, changed into pajamas, and then went down the trail with the others to look at the sunset over the lake. It was a perfect night – a little buggy, but calm, and the water reflected the sky like a mirror. I introduced us to the spirits of the place, and asked for their blessings and permission to enter. I also left a small offering of my hair, since food and drink mostly shouldn’t be left out where wildlife might consume them. I spotted a turquoise crayfish claw lying in the sand right afterward.

We stayed and looked for some time, and now we are back at the tent. This campground has some bold red squirrels, mom saw a toad, and every so often, the call of a loon echoes over the lake. It will be cold tonight, but here’s to good weather tomorrow!