Had a good weekend at the Boundary Waters Expo. I’ve never been to one of these gatherings, so had no idea what to expect. The gathering is held at Bearskin Lodge, a beautiful spot owned and operated by Quinn McCloughan, a canoetripping.net regular.
Its only about five hour drive from Geraldton to the lodge. Got processed through the Border painlessly and were on our way Friday afternoon. When we arrived at the lodge, I was absolutely stunned by the accommodations. There are several cabins, although cabin is hardly the proper descriptor. Our cabin, which was about the size of our actual house, had its own private dock and hot tub.
The cabin was very new and extremely well thought out.
Beautiful screened in porch, bigger than many houses.
Main room with natural stone chimney.
Fully equipped kitchen.
After getting to know the place, we headed off to the dock to soak up some sun and relax. We had an entire bay to ourselves.
It was difficult to move from the big chairs, so we just sat and soaked up the relaxation.
Dock selfie
The next day, everything started up. There were several presentations held. Highlights for me were Bear Paulsen and
The Land of Sand and Dan Cooke with a tarpology course. Cliff Jacobson was there, and is always a treat to listen to. Didn’t get any pics of the presenters, maybe Quinn will be able to post a few. There were many vendors present as well, and we supported them well, lol. There were a couple of things I really wanted, but we had to have enough dough left for gas money to get back. Bear Paulsen had a full contingent of Northstar canoes there, would have been nice to come home with one of those!
My wife bartered a sweet deal with the Nemo rep for the cadillac of canoe tripping party chairs, the Stargazer. It is made out of extra large aluminium tubing that snaps together in less than 30 seconds.
Then with the application of two pinch clips, the complete chair is ready in less than a minute.
Pinch clip
You can recline and rock in this chair, and it is complete with a couple of pockets and a drink holder. Can’t wait to set them up in the party barge.
When Ostrom was producing barrel dividers, I always wanted to try them, but their price was too much. Dan Cooke gave me a great buy on a set of four, and I will be trying them out next week.
Irene bought a few books, the latest one from Rob Kesselring about canoeing with his daughter, and Cliff’s latest offering too. My last purchase before we left was two solid mugs, made to look like the old tin mugs, but very substantial.
All in all, a great weekend. I was supposed to go down to the bonfire Saturday night and play guitar with Quinn and the bunch. However, Bear gave me a couple of the local craft beers, very hoppy hippy stuff, and all of a sudden I was passed out by 8:30, after only four beer. I was a disappointment to all Canadians, and to myself, lol.
Thanks to Quinn for inviting me down, Bearskin Lodge is a very special place!