Where I Wander

What a perfect day- every aspect of the weather cooperated and we enjoyed it as long as we could as we just don’t get enough days like this in our summer. Low humidity, temps in the upper 70s to the low 80s, a light breeze and a blue sky filled with puffy white clouds.

We took the SxS out for one more ride- just paved roads this time- with our destination being Almon Recreational Area just SE of Rhinelander. It’s a nice park with a beach, shelter, frisbee golf course and two easy loop trails. We hiked them both and enjoyed the classic northwoods mixed hardwood forest, pine ridges and boggy areas, with very few mosquitoes and just the right length to not make it seem like work at only 2 1/4 miles total. We didn’t see any other hikers at all, which was totally ok with us.

Buck Lake seems like it would be a nice quiet lake on days when there aren’t 100 people at the beach. No clue what the depths are or if it has fish worth trying to catch, but it looks to be an ideal lake to explore with my canoe some day. It was a good way to cap the holiday weekend!

It’s been a pretty low key weekend for us up north, other than the barrage of fireworks last night (100% expected). We did get an up close look at a fawn go into full survival instinct mode. We saw mom jump off the trail and into the woods and the fawn instantly drop to this position when we were about 50-75 yards away, so we idled by as slow and quiet as we could, because it wasn’t going to move until the danger (us) passed!

On Sunday, my daughter and I explored Door County and ended up several places I had never been despite it being only 2 hours or so from home. We climbed the tower at Potawatomi State Park, stopped at Door Peninsula Winery, hiked a 3 1/2 mile loop at Newport State Park, and finished our day with short explorations of both Cave Point County Park and Whitefish Dunes State Park. Somewhere in the middle of all that we had a late lunch at Al Johnson’s, the famous goats on the roof restaurant in Sister Bay.

We watched sunny skies turn cloudy and dodged a few rain drops here and there, but it was great to get out of the house for the day and go exploring before this current heat wave hit. We passed dozens of things we wish we had more time to stop and see, but that just gives more reason to head back that way again, hopefully this fall when the colors are best.

Final thoughts and top moments from our trip that I haven’t yet mentioned:

1- My friend and I took about 9 hours and looped Bald Eagle-Gull-Pietro-Camdre-Clearwater-Turtle then back to our site on Gabbro, fishing at least an hour in each lake along the way. We hit amazing fishing on Pietro, a storm front and whitecaps on Clearwater, and also had about a 15 minute observation experience from our canoes with a young bear along the shore of Pietro.

2- In the early night hours on June 18th we were able to see the celestial lineup of the crescent moon, Venus and Jupiter (hard to see in my photo). A bit later Mercury joined the lineup as well but I couldn’t get my camera settings to align well enough to see it. The stars that night were the best of the trip, and we had the perfectly oriented site to enjoy them. It was an amazing sight!

3-Thanks to a tip to my boys from a tandem canoe fishing near our site, we were put right on top a hungry mixed school of crappies, walleye and perch. We caught a well deserved fish dinner in less than 30 minutes. Whoever they were, those 2 paddlers were our heroes that day!

I can’t wait to return for my next trip, but until then, these memories will have to tide me over.

I’ve been a bit slow getting to this after a busy week- but here is part 2 of 3 from our trip.

Tuesday was about the most ideal travel I have ever experienced in the BW. Mid 50s, no wind, virtually zero bugs, overcast skies that gave way to blue skies mixed with puffy clouds and a short paddle through some beautiful island filled lakes. We moved from the Kawishiwi River through Little Gabbro and into the very southern most site on Gabbro Lake after checking several sites that were occupied. It was our base of operations for the next 4 nights.

We fished (Gabbro, Bald Eagle, Gull, Pietro and Turtle), explored, had campfires, looked at the stars and slept when the whip-poor-will would let us. Best though, is we relaxed, had fun and took advantage of our (mostly) lazy days, dodging rain drops and mosquitoes but never having to do so enough to really bother us or change our plans.

On Saturday we got up early, paddled back to the EP 33 portage and left the BW after a short hitch hike (shh, don’t tell) back to EP 32 to pick up the vehicles. It’s always over too fast, but every minute of planning and prepping was worth it to be in the BW with both of my boys at the same time for the first time.

Stay tuned for part 3, which will be my 3 favorite moments from the trip!

Part 1 of 3: We have returned from a successful and eventful trip to the Boundary Waters- myself, my 2 sons, and my friend who introduced me to this amazing place nearly 20 years ago. The first few days of the trip were spent in the South Kawishiwi River area, with a two night camp right on one of the small rapids on the river.

While we didn’t catch as many walleye as we had hoped, many other fish were found in their place. We had intermittent rain and a good mix of sun and clouds, but overall the weather was great and the winds were manageable. 5° warmer both day and night would have been preferred but now that’s being picky. It was a great first couple days close to the EP to get us in the wilderness groove.

More to come soon!

And so it begins! Anytime you wake up to the weather radio saying temperature 46, WINDCHILL 40 in June, you know it’s going to be a great day to start your next Boundary Waters adventure. Hopefully I’ll have many stories and pictures to share in about a week!

The skies on the way “up north” this evening did not disappoint! I met the storm front just south of Clintonville and had a double rainbow by the time I entered Antigo and then a burst of color near Elcho, with a finishing touch over Pelican Lake. Stopping for all the pictures may have made the drive take a bit longer, but it sure made it more interesting!

Five years ago at work I led a tree planting project where we added 300 white oak, red maple, and basswood seedlings to the edge of our forest in an overgrown, messy field area that had been farmed up until 10 years before that. Today, about 285 of those trees remain. I mowed between the rows several times a summer and weeded around the base of the seedlings so they wouldn’t get lost in the grass and clovers. I had the trees in small tree tubes for the first two years, which I then eventually replaced with larger tree sleeves. I have no clue how many hours of time I (and others) spent taking care of them- it was more than I ever expected to put into it, but it’s been working and has been very rewarding to watch them thrive.

Today was “graduation day” for about 35 of those trees. The rest will have their day sometime later this summer. Tree tubes have been removed. No more mowing. I’ll still be here, watching over them from afar, monitoring their progress and helping if absolutely needed, but it’s time they do their thing.

Oh, btw, this isn’t only a post about trees 🙂

Been down in northern Georgia visiting my brother and his family for my nephews graduation, but was able to get out for a hike today. We drove up to Blood Mountain and hiked the access trail and a short section of the Appalachian Trail. It was a surprisingly cool day by Georgia standards, which made it perfect for hiking and my first ever in-person view of an official AT shelter. Thanks Travis and Amy for the mini-adventure!