September 25th, 2016

I just got back from camping out after SIPA's Mabon ritual - it was a very nice evening!

The site for this ritual was over at Devil's Kitchen Lake, on a little peninsula. It was sunny, and very hot - almost 90⁰!

Near the tip of the peninsula was a little shelter with picnic tables, where we eventually set up food for our potluck.

There was also a big stone fire pit, so some of the guys got wood together to build up a ritual fire later in the evening.

This is more of the lake - it was a very pretty view!

Somebody brought bubble wands, so a couple of us stood around for a while blowing bubbles.

I was borrowing the group leader's tent after she kindly agreed to lend it to me, and I ended up pitching it to the side of the trail with a nice view of the water.

There ended up being quite a good amount of food for the potluck, between cakes and mashed potatoes and pasta and fruit. I brought peanuts in the shells, because they're fun to crack open and also make good offerings.

One couple brought this large cow's skull to rest among some of the harvest offerings people brought.

There were also two little dogs, who quickly became good friends!

Starting the fire...

Sunset...

Some toads, who all things considered were pretty good-natured about being handled.

The ritual Circle, outlined with tiki torches and with the fire pit in the center.

The focus of the ritual was balance, recognizing the things which we meant to accomplish this past year and did not, and releasing that energy. It was simple and to the point, which worked well for the intended goal in my opinion. I volunteered to do Quarter calls for West; it was my first time taking on a role like that for a public ritual, so I was a little nervous, but I think it went well.

The stars last night were beautiful - there were so many, and it was such a clear night that there was really good visibility.

And then this image is from this morning, standing on the fishing pier and looking out over the lake.

View from the pier back towards the campsite.

The Samhain ritual will be held at this same spot, so I'm looking forward to that.

September 16th, 2015

I'm very excited - I'm hoping to go to a group Mabon ritual this weekend with some community members and other students on campus!

The ritual is this Saturday at a nearby state park, and we'll also be enjoying a potluck dinner and maybe camping, although that will depend on site availability. I volunteered to help distribute food for the Cakes and Ale ceremony, and we also were asked to bring a piece of produce to put on the altar besides our potluck dish.

I'm planning to bring this red bell pepper; originally, I had just been going to get an apple or something, but the campus' sustainable garden was selling these today for $0.25 each! 

As for dinner, water signs (I'm a Pisces) are supposed to bring a vegetable/side dish, so I'm going to go to Walmart tomorrow to get some things for a salad. I'll keep you all posted!

August 13th, 2015

I had a rather unexpectedly exciting evening last night. My brothers decided they wanted to see the Perseids, so they set up our big tent in the backyard.

Dad got a little bonfire going, and we roasted marshmallows for s'mores. Then we laid a big quilt out on the grass to lay on and look up at the stars. The meteor shower didn't really get going until about 10:00, when we saw several fainter ones and two or three that were quite bright. We stayed up a few hours watching, and then camped out in the tent.

The name of the annual meteor shower is derived from the name Perseus, the constellation through which the shower appears. Perseus, of course, is the hero in Greek mythology who among other things, tamed Pegasus.

Camp Log: Update

I finally got all my camping notes typed up, now complete with pictures! To find them all, check out my BWCAW 2015 tag.

Camp Log: 6/21/15

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

Happy Summer Solstice! It turned out to be a nice one, though you wouldn't have guessed it this morning. The day dawned misty and overcast, though it was calm. I got up around 6:30 and found it was rather chilly. Grandpa had a kettle of lake water on the stove fore breakfast, so I sat by him and just rested for a bit. The plan had been to pick the first nice day from Saturday onward to head back to the Sawbill campground. Yesterday it poured, so obviously that was out. We kept a close eye on the weather this morning to see what it looked like.

For breakfast, we had oatmeal, almonds, and dried berries again. I also washed the dishes, so as to make use of the hot water. By the time we finished up, the sun had burned some of the mist off. I went out on a rock to get a look at the clouds and slipped, sliding into the lake and soaking myself from the knees down. I was able to get a look at the clouds, though. They were still grey, but appeared to be moving off.

Eventually (aka 8:00), we made the executive decision to head out while the weather held, seeing as we had no way to know what tomorrow would be like. The boys and I tore down our tent and the rainfly. The others got the rest of the supplies. By 10:00, we were ready to go. Just before we left, the boys found a little crayfish off shore. A ton of minnows died last night (possibly due to sediment washing into the lake from the rain), and the crayfish was grabbing their bodies and eating them.

The sun broke through the clouds, and with almost no wind, it was one of the nicest days we have had. Nick and I got out way ahead of the others, so we floated along right next to Hog Creek after crossing the lake. The seagulls gave us a bit of a send-off, and we saw the eagle wheeling around by the opposite shore.

When the others got on the lake finally, Nick and I headed onto the creek. There were lots of birds up in the trees - grackles, rad winged blackbirds, and some other songbirds. We were cutting a pretty good pace at first, but the father upstream we got, the more the current picked up, and the harder it was to steer. We kept seeing places we recognized, though, and i saw a couple more Tiger Swallowtails, so we both felt pretty good about where we were headed, at least.

When we got to the portage, it looked like there was a lot more water coming down the rapids this time. Nick and I hauled our things across, and then carried the canoe over together to load it back up. I fell in the water again, because I wasn't paying attention. Also, we put our canoe in on the far side of the portage, closer to the rapids, so we could avoid a huge mud puddle.

We waited there for everyone else to catch up, and I pointed out a red-headed merganser to Nick. He also saw a toad while I was holding the canoe, fishing out spiders with my paddle. The others finally arrived, and once we got back on the creek it was only another 1/4 mile or so to the entry point  - barely two minutes of paddling.

Everyone was totally exhausted when we got back that we just stuffed everything in the cars as quickly as we could. Grandpa had to drain some rainwater out of his truck bed, and then we loaded the three canoes up on top again.

We drove back to the Sawbill campground and took sites 2 and 3. Lunch was ASAP - string cheese, granola bars, peanut butter on bagels, dried coconut, mango, cherries, and apples, beef jerky, freeze dried edamame, and gummy bears. Soon after, I advocated for getting the tents set up in case of another change in the weather. The boys helped me put it up, and then they went down to the lake while I very meticulously brushed out of the tent as I could while letting it air out.

Not long after, I walked down with grandpa and dad to the waterspout to fill up all the water bottles and look at the scenery. There's a very nice pier out onto Sawbill Lake. Apparently, the boys found a snapping turtle there, but by the time I arrived it had gone.

Right around 6:00 we got started on dinner. Mom had a readymade rice package which just had to be heated up, and then we had summer sausage and cheesecake pudding. Somewhere along the line this morning while packing, the soap had gotten mislaid, so that took a while to find, but once everything was washed up, we went over to the Outfitter's.

The Outfitter's had some camp pillows which I liked but were a little outside my budget. The owners have a dog, though, named Pheobe. I pet her for a while, and she lay down on the floor for a tummy rub. Everyone else purchased their necessities, and we walked back to camp.

Grandpa had bought a tent patch kit, so we were finally able to fix the tear in our rainfly. It's not as neat as it probably could have been, but it should stop it getting any bigger.

If the good weather holds, the plan for tomorrow is to day trip on Sawbill. There's a good chance it may rain tomorrow, though, so in that event we'll head out for a hotel in Duluth. Either way, it will probably be eventful.

(As it would turn out, the weather the following day was terrible. We split camp and headed for Duluth.)

June 21st, 2015

Hello, everyone, and happy Litha, Midsummer, and Summer Solstice! I am queuing this post in advance, because today I am celebrating in one of the best possible ways - by camping, literally in the middle of ever-loving nowhere. (If you're the type to do so, please send me some good thoughts for warm, sunny weather.)

Hope you all have a great day, and enjoy the Sabbat!

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!

June 24th, 2012

I lead a busy life, even during the summer, and of course I had to immediately begin preparing for a second trip after our Niagara experience. Nick and I agreed months ago to go with some other teens from my parent's church to Indiana's Shades State Park, a trip which fell on the 21st to the 23rd. Church stuff aside, the yearly trip is actually quite nice, and includes camping and canoeing on the lovely Sugar Creek. This year, Indiana has been very dry, so the Creek was much lower than usual. Therefore, we were all very glad when it rained a bit on the 21st (the rain conveniently held off until we had all our tents set up). Once the rain stopped, we went on a hike through the forest. The trails run near or through the park's many ravines, which can make walking difficult when it is wet. This year, the stream beds were largely dry, so things were less challenging, although given the previous rain, the wooden stairs up and down the ravines were very slick. I fell twice, and would have tobogganed down the stairs if I hadn't grabbed the handrails.
The following day, we went canoeing. Because the Creek was low, we had to drag the canoe in many places, but we still got in plenty of paddling; my shoulders will be sore for several days. The shallow water did have its advantages: we could see all the fish in the Creek. There were thousands of tiny minnows, as well as bigger carp, bass, and some kind of gar or pike. Nick spotted a turtle (not to mention all the frogs and toads), and we spent probably 80% of the trip following a trio of herons, who would fly 50 feet or so, wait for us to catch up, and then fly on again. Nick laughed when I suggested that maybe they were leading us back to camp, but I don't think it was that ridiculous an idea; twice, the Creek split, and we couldn't tell which way to go. Both times, the herons flew the direction we needed to head, and we discovered later that the other fork just led to a blocked area. Perhaps it would have been passable on both sides if the water was higher, but that day, the herons definitely knew what they were doing. And according to Native American tradition, the heron is regarded as having good judgement, as well as being a source of wisdom. I think I was not as far off base as Nick may have believed. Later, we canoed past an entire flock of turkey vultures, saw some kingfishers, and discovered some cool fossils.

When we returned to camp, we roasted hot dog dinners and took another hike. It was strange - I had literally just told Nick that I'd like to see one of the park's white tailed deer when I looked up, and one was picking its way up the side of the hill.
We got back on Saturday. I'd wanted to stay longer, as the park sported a few posters advertising a party that was to be held in honor of the park's 60-year anniversary, complete with Native American music and drum circle. Unfortunately, we had a schedule to keep, so sticking around wasn't possible. Since my return, I've largely been focusing on re-reading some old favorites and doing summer homework. I couldn't be more thankful for this opportunity to see some of the goddess' finest natural beauty. Have you gone on any exciting vacations this summer?