McQuade Harbor

It was a cool and windy day in Duluth today.  The sun was out and we decided to pack up the family and go for a little drive.  Our dog, Roscoe, was barking and whining worse than usual, so McQuade Harbor was as far as we made it.  I was hoping to at least make it to Russ Kendall's in Knife River so we could pick up some smoked fish, but no such luck.  There were some fishermen out at McQuade today...

A fisherman at McQuade with a pack basket and two fishing rods crossed in an X.   I didn't see anything caught in the short time that I was here today, but it was another good reminder that I need to get into this style of fishing.  How many people are lucky enough to live within walking distance to one of our Great Lakes?  Why haven't I tried this?  One of these days...

It's hard to tell, but Roscoe, our basset hound, was whining in his very loud and unique manner when this photo was taken.  This is his usual position on our road trips.  How can you get mad at a face like that?  What a good buddy!

A Rainy Day In The BWCA

It's Monday tomorrow, and I remember that I took this photo on a rainy Monday last May, while sitting under the tarp. Last year it was the wind that foiled my lake trout fishing plans. I'd gladly trade a paper plate cribbage board under a tarp on a rainy BWCA day for any Monday at work. I never did count how many holes I punched in this plate, and I'm not sure about how many I should have punched, put it passed the time, which was fine by me.

I've been thinking about my first BW trip of the season, which is coming up in May.  There's a good possibility of wet weather that comes with a spring season trip in northern Minnesota, but there's also a good chance that lake trout will be shallow.  With this years early ice-out and corresponding rise in water temps, who knows if "normal" fishing patterns will hold true?  All I know is that I'll be there to find out and that I'll be happy to there, either way.  Finding fish during a transitional period, or when fish aren't "where they're supposed to be" makes any success that much more gratifying.

Boundary Waters Human History

What do a wooden boat, a glass syrup bottle, and rusted 55-gallon barrel have in common?  They are all among the items that I've found in the BWCA.  If you will recall the dreaded video that must be watched each year prior to being issued your first permit of the season, it is actually illegal to remove these items, as they are considered part of the human history of the area.  Of course we remove modern-day garbage from the wilderness, but items of a certain vintage- somewhere around 1960 or earlier if I remember correctly, are to be left in place.  This may seem like a strange rule, but after encountering some of these items over the years, I guess that I agree with it. 

This boat had some markings that were barely legible, the only thing I remember for sure was part of the word "resort".  There were no metal tags with occupancy ratings or hull identification numbers on old boats like this.

 This was a can of "Up Town Malt Liquor".  It's interesting to see how long these items survive and they serve as a good reminder as to why we should all follow the "leave no trace" wilderness ethic.

This piece of metal was located in a camp site on Fourtown Lake and looked like a rail, but maybe it was used for some other purpose.  I assume that it had to do with logging, but maybe it was for something different entirely. 

The print on this vintage Seven-up bottle was in amazing condition.  No high-fructose corn syrup in this bottle!  Several other cans and bottles can be seen in the background.  Based on the amount of garbage here, it was pretty a pretty safe bet that the fishing must be good in the area- and it was.

The Accidental Shed Hunter

Here is my brother Tom (T1) with half of a 10-pointer and a set of lower jaws.  Last weekend, T1, my cousin Tom (T2), and his daughter Katrina were out in the deer woods doing some scouting for next season.  The group was walking through the woods when T1 said that the area looked like a good spot to find a shed.  After a few steps off of the trail, T1 found this dandy shed, leaving T2 and Katrina to wonder if he was either lucky, a skilled shed hunter, clairvoyant, or if he had made a "plant" before their trip.  Well, I can assure you, based on experience, that T1 is not clairvoyant/psychic, or anything of that nature.  He has found two sheds without really looking for them, while I have only found one (moose) shed after spending at least 50 hours shed hunting. 

The shed, as it was found, which shows that you cannot assume that a shed will be found only where a snag will pull it off, or where it will be jarred off by a deer jumping over an obstruction, or any other place where you are supposed to find a deer shed.

Here is the site of a wolf kill, located just about 30 yards behind where my Dad sits during rifle season.  The jaws from the first photo were found here.

Sunday Drive to Brimson and Beyond

Last weekend seemed like a great time to take a Sunday drive. My brother-in-law Ryan was up from the cities and we were both looking for a good excuse to get outside. With the lakes in limbo around here, and the woods still wet from rain, we opted for a little Sunday drive- well, actually a Saturday drive. This rabbit thought that he was a little more camouflaged than he was, but I can't really blame him, considering there should still be snow on the ground. After Ryan took a few photos through the brush, I decided to push my luck and went in a ways, finally taking this shot from about 15 feet away.

I couldn't resist putting in this photo of another rabbit that Ryan spotted.  They were sticking out like sore thumbs!  We saw five on one short stretch of road.  This one was hanging on to a little bit more of his winter coloring than the first one that we saw.  Great photo Ryan!

The eagle's nest at the Indian Lake boat landing was occupied.  There seemed to be only one eagle so far.  I'm not sure when eagle eggs usually hatch, but I heard a news story this morning that said eagle chicks had just hatched somewhere in Iowa.  I know that there was a nesting pair in this nest last spring, maybe during this visit the other one was sitting tight on the nest while we were there and never raised its head.

One more eagle picture for good measure.  What a majestic animal- and to think that the national bird was almost the turkey!

BWCA Trip Planning 2012

This photo, of me tending a fire on Fourtown Lake, was taken on a cool September night when mother nature was cooperating- light breeze, very few mosquitos, and enough moisture throughout the summer that there was not a fire ban.

Well, I recently started a new job, and today I noticed a reproduction of a portage marker sign in a co-workers office.  The sign was a great conversation piece and it also got my imagination going regarding the coming paddling and fishing seasons.  Will there be a BWCA fire ban in 2012?  Will water levels be so low that some river travel is difficult?  Will the water temperatures warming earlier push lake trout out deeper than normal in early May?  Part of what makes a BW trip so mentally refreshing for me is that no matter how much you plan, or how much you think that you are in control of your trip, mother nature always has the final word.

This photo was taken on Lac LaCroix around the Fourth of July, 2009, on a day when mother nature had dealt us a royal flush.  Two years later, I found myself wind-bound on the shores of the same lake, looking across at the same camp site, with no way to get there.  We had paddled from Iron Lake and made the portage, then the wind picked up to over 40 mph sustained.  I would estimate the wave height at 6 to 8 feet- we were on the east shore, and the wind was barreling down the big lake from the west.  After one brief attempt, which ranks in my top 3 most frightening canoe experiences, it was back to the portage landing, which was in a protected bay.  We sat and watched the lake for at least 10 hours before we could finally paddle just before dusk.  We made the paddle to this 5-star site and by the time we got there, the lake was glass, just like in this photo.

Spring Fever

Spring is in the air today and I started thinking about some of wildlife that I've encountered in the past.  In recent years, I've started keeping my camera accessible as much as possible when I'm outdoors.  I've got to give my brother Tom credit for snapping this photo of a ruffed grouse a couple of years ago.  We were both snapping photos, but Tom had the best vantage point and captured this photo.

Snapping turtles can provide great photo ops.  This turtle has probably been photographed by hundreds of BWCA visitors during his life, which has likely spanned several decades.  I'm sure that he's eaten his share of walleyes from unattended stringers during those years.

During an early June trip last year, I was on a large island on Crooked Lake when I heard something rustling around in the woods just behind camp.  To my surprise, I saw a hen mallard rambling through the woods, which had just come off of this nest.  The nest was several feet above water level and approximately 50 feet back in the woods.  The eggs looked like they could have come out of an egg carton.