The following is a selection of memories contributed by Monique Reed, who, as a high school student,spent a couple of weeks in the BWCA one summer about 15 years ago. As you can see, the
experience left some indelible impressions. It is such impressions that those of us who can't live there live with in the time we're away.
That was such an incredible trip. We learned so much:
that it's true that blackflies bite only when it's going to rain--and since it at least sprinkles every afternoon...
that the two most useful and precious things may just be clean water and light...
that what looks like solid lake shore may be hip-deep ooze...
that you have to soak* the little chunks of freeze dried meat before you add them to the
stew or they end up like cardboard...
that if you do everyone's dirty lake laundry all in one load everything will turn out a uniform shade of gray...
that you will always want more food than you have packed in (it's a good thing to hide a trail cookie and an apple for
when things run out)...
that if you put wet socks on a warm fire grate to dry they end up with lovely golden grill marks like a perfectly-done fish...
that there is no straight, flat, dry, non-rocky portage...
that you should never spray Off *inside* the tent (cough!)...
that lake water is COLD to wash with...
that little things like shaving your legs don't matter...
that a wool hat may look dorky but it's warm...
that it gets so dark at night you can get lost 10 yards from the campsite...
that portages are marked in rods because by the time you figure out how much the distance is
in miles you've gone to far to go back...
that the wind is *always* against the paddler...
that fish leeches will latch on, but they don't really hurt...
that a plastic cup set down on the fire grate will turn into modern art...
that if two portage heads are close together, one will be hidden and the other will be missing the sign...
that two canoes tied side to side makes an outrigger-type craft that can go *very* fast...
that wearing new hiking boots for two weeks in town does NOT break them in sufficiently for northwoods
walking (moleskin is your friend!)...
that if your group is in two vehicles you had better make a head count before setting out (we were in Duluth
before we realized one girl was back at Lake Supeior State Park--the bus thought that she was on the van & v.v.)...
that if you are tired, wet, and hungry a McDonald's cheesburger is the food of the gods...
that the full moon over a lake makes a light path you'd swear you could walk on..
that daddy long legs will congregate under the tent fly in unbelievable numbers...
that a wool fatigue shirt makes a good pillow AND a good potholder...
that rodents will chew through a backpack to get to gorp...
that not many things smell better than sun on pine trees...
that a sun-warmed rock is a good place to sit...
that it is rather hard to walk while wearing half a canoe on your head (especially if you are short and the canoe
is banging you on the head with every step)...
that a dime for a collect callhome can make you feel comforted even if you don't use it...
that you can get to know someone quickly and well if you share a canoe and a tent for a while...
that pilot biscuits really DO last forever..
that no matter how much you remember, you'll always want to go back and see it all again...
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Ode to Freeze-dried Food
Oh the freeze-dried food isn't really all that bad,
(But it isn't either really all that good...)
Oh, the beef stew and stroganoff!
The dinners that we've had!
Breakfasting and lunching in the wood.
The freeze-dried cheese of the lunches is the best.
The peanut butter-jelly is the worst.
Those freeze-dried peas will put you to the test,
And we've eaten those trail cookies til we burst!
Now all this food starts to lookin' kinda good,
When freeze-dried food's the only food around,
And someone's bound to say
(Just like you knew they would),
"It'll fill you up if you can keep it down!"
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