Took a 4 day 3 night trip into the BWCA this past weekend. Built myself a new trekking sled and a simple Wanigan (based on Robins YouTube build of his) for this trip. The sled was a vast improvement from using a plastic 4' sled and the Wanigan served multiple tasks as a gear hauler and table. Rented a Snow trekker tent and stove to give that a try too. Hit the trail late morning on Thursday at the South Hegman entry point, we knew this would be as busy an entry point as the BWCA has in the winter but like everyone else we want to see the pictographs that are on North Hegman. Most people were doing this as a day trip. Decided to pull into a secluded bay away from the main trail to the pictographs and set up camp. The new sled worked great, seemed like there was almost no friction compared to sleds in the past. I actually put most of the heavy stuff on my sled to test it out. This ended up being one of our shorter hauls into a winter site but hey, that's ok once in a while too. Spent Thursday afternoon getting camp set up, setting up the canvas tent (way too many poles and guy lines), setting up the stove and finding some fire wood. The weather was great, sky was clear and the stars were amazing.
Friday morning brought another clear beautiful day. After breakfast of egg, bacon, sausage and cheese sandwiches we headed off to see the pictographs. Was like a highway because it was a beautiful day but they were great. There was one group of 8 ladies headed to see them and 6 of the 8 turned around about 200 yards away because they had to get back for lunch! After seeing and of course photographing the pictographs we headed on past them and lost ALL of the traffic. Hiked up a couple of more lakes and found the remains of an old fire tower and then headed back to camp. Had another night of clear skys, no moon and beautiful stars.
Saturday morning brought about another clear sunrise and the beginning of a gorgeous day. Actually almost too nice, got to 48F and all the snow was getting pretty mushy. Did some fishing, only caught 1 small one and bummed around camp most of the day. Ended up with a 3rd straight night of clear skys so I drug my bedroll out of the tent and spent the night under the stars, was fantastic.
Sunday morning after bacon and pancakes we packed up and headed out. Was cold enough during the night to freeze up and we managed to get back to the vehicles before it got too slushy again.
Took my 9 month old pup on the trip and she just loved it. Her mom is a Siberian Husky and her dad a Tibetan Mastiff so she is a now dog through and through.
Here's a link to a google photo album, hope it works.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pSLq8ARr5doyNtG19
Friday morning brought another clear beautiful day. After breakfast of egg, bacon, sausage and cheese sandwiches we headed off to see the pictographs. Was like a highway because it was a beautiful day but they were great. There was one group of 8 ladies headed to see them and 6 of the 8 turned around about 200 yards away because they had to get back for lunch! After seeing and of course photographing the pictographs we headed on past them and lost ALL of the traffic. Hiked up a couple of more lakes and found the remains of an old fire tower and then headed back to camp. Had another night of clear skys, no moon and beautiful stars.
Saturday morning brought about another clear sunrise and the beginning of a gorgeous day. Actually almost too nice, got to 48F and all the snow was getting pretty mushy. Did some fishing, only caught 1 small one and bummed around camp most of the day. Ended up with a 3rd straight night of clear skys so I drug my bedroll out of the tent and spent the night under the stars, was fantastic.
Sunday morning after bacon and pancakes we packed up and headed out. Was cold enough during the night to freeze up and we managed to get back to the vehicles before it got too slushy again.
Took my 9 month old pup on the trip and she just loved it. Her mom is a Siberian Husky and her dad a Tibetan Mastiff so she is a now dog through and through.
Here's a link to a google photo album, hope it works.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pSLq8ARr5doyNtG19