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Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 4:28 pm
by SkiHeel
Just got back from my second trip to the BWCA. Went with a large group of boy scouts (my son is a former member of the troup) that we also went with 4 years ago.



Left Friday morning, June 17th on a 24 hour bus ride....worst part of the trip....but fun for the kids and cheapest way to travel with all of the required gear.



Arrived in Ely, Minnesota at approximately 5:00 AM on Saturday morning, had a big carb loading breakfast and hit the outfitters about 30 minutes out of town.







These folks are a great outfitter. Out troup has been using them for over 10 years!



The BWCA is located in Northern Minnesota at the Canadian border. There are no motors allowed once you reach the BWCA area.



we left the outfitters at @ 10:00 AM (they took us, by motorboat, @ 6 miles to the entrance to the BWCA...we unloaded our canoes and gear and proceeded to paddle). Our group of 6 canoed approximately 18 miles (with 7 portages...only one of which we had to walk...we pushed the loaded canoes up the others) to our campsite for the next 6 days...



Here is the view FROM our campsite







Here is the campsite from the water





We arrived and set up camp at @ 4:00. Then we quickly set out to do what we had really come for....fish!





Here are some random pictures of the fishing, mostly featuring my 15 year old son and some of his fish.....





































and a few others from the week.....













Nice carcasses AND tats!!













all bass so far....but here's me with a nice walleye





We typically got up and started fishing around 5-6 AM every morning, came in for breakfast at @ 10:00, then fished until 3 or 4, cooked fish for supper, and then went out and fished some more....





the eatin' was always good...pancakes for breakfast and all the fish we could eat every night!























The water was nice and cold....but we still managed to bathe every other day or so. Here's skiheel jr. taking the 15 foot plunge for his rinse cycle







The old Kelty V3 still going strong after many backpacking and canoe trips...





Facilities were very nice...







Scenery was beautiful













but on Friday morning we had to pack up and paddle back the 18 miles to get picked up and taken back to the outfitters.



It was a great trip for my son and me







(Here are 2 pictures from the same spot 4 years ago....wow he has grown up!) Just hits home how important it is to spend time with our kids!













We'll definitely go back again!!



Here's our group, safe and sound back at the outfitters...(ready for the 24 hour ride home!)







If you ever get the chance...and like to paddle, camp and/or fish...I highly recomment the BWCA!!

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 4:47 pm
by skipink
Wow great TR. It is beautiful there.

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 5:13 pm
by Ski Bunny
Enjoyed the TR and beautiful pics! Glad you and your son got to spend some quality time together. Very cool trip!

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 5:18 pm
by MSDOG
My twin sons did that trip with their Scout Troop about 10 years ago. Said they had a blast but like you said, the long trip from down here was brutal.

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:14 pm
by angel
The fish fry looks YUMMY!! Beautiful pics!

Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 10:46 pm
by SKISC
Looks like you shrunk a little over the past four years.

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 8:23 am
by SkiHeel
@SKISC 216776 wrote:Looks like you shrunk a little over the past four years.



yeah...I shrunk from 5'10 to 5'10" .......and he grew from 5' to 6'4";)

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 8:59 am
by Josh
Nice smallies! Do those eat pretty good?

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 12:20 pm
by downhillNC
^ Translation for non-Alabamans: "Nice fish. Did they taste good?"

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2010 3:39 pm
by SkiHeel
The smallies are GREAT eating....but no match for the Walleyes!