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A trip report of my Fall BWCA trip

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This year my daughter Anna asked if she could go with me on my Fall trip. Other then day trips, it would be her first real canoe trip. She is 18 and I knew that there might not be many more opportunities for us to do something like this as her life will get busier in the future. Last spring I headed up north for a trip and ended up car camping and taking day trips instead of a multi night canoe trip due to a ominous gut feeling about tripping . This time I got sick with a head cold the day before we left for vacation. I decided to go anyway and see what happens. We left home on Thursday 9/24 and drove to Fall Lake camp ground where I got a camp site for two nights. Saturday the 26th we left from the Fall Lake entry point and headed for US Point on Basswood Lake. After 16 miles and two ports we arrived at this elevated camp site on the border.
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It had a real easy landing. We took advantage of the easy access later that night and went on a moonlight paddle.
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Canada just across the lake.
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With my daughter along there ended being more pictures with me in them. Here I'm getting water for supper.

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I use a Coleman white gas stove.
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This ended up being our favorite meal on the trip. Beef and potatoes. It consists of 3/4 cup dehydrated ground beef. 1 1/2 cup Hungry Jack dried hash browns. One package of brown gravy mix. Dried minced onion. Feeds Two. I combine ingredients at home and vacuum seal them for individual meals.

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Anna watching the sun set.
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Anna wanted to go for a moonlight paddle. My point and shoot camera didn't know what to do with this shot. Maybe it was operator error.
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There was a T-storm forecast for later the next day so we moved about 7 miles to a campsite on Back Bay I knew of that had shelter from the west wind. On the way I miss judged some wave conditions while skirting a lake and we had some tense paddling till we got to a cove.

Anna made herself at home where ever we went.
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Never got the T-storm but it did rain during the night.
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Anna caught me journalling the day's events.
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The weather stayed nice for several days so after the canoe trip we went back to Fall Lake camp ground for three more nights and took two day trips.

I got to think this "eagle head" shaped rock must have freaked out the first nations people.
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I had just shoved my paddle under the floating bog as far as I could reach to show Anna what was going on here. She thought it was sort of creepy.

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Well all good things must come to an end. Next year! Dave
 
Great bonding time ! The pics were great as well !
Thanks for sharing ! Think I'll go grab a canoe and get some bonding time with the river.

Jim
 
Hope your daughter had a great time and will want to go back with you. Nothing better than having your own kids being you trip partner once in awhile! My little girl took her first trip with me when she was 6 and now 20 years later she still wants to go with the old man. Thanks for all the pics, looks like a great trip.
 
Great stuff and lovely photos. The next best thing to a solo trip I can think of is tripping with you child. Really like pic of the two hammocks set up overlooking another country!
 
Wow, that looks like a nice trip. I can see that might be an option late in the season. It is nice that your daughter wants to spend time with you out there. Memories for her to keep in later years and hopefully share with her kids.

Christy
 
Really nice trip Rippy. A moonlight paddle is a great idea!
Beautiful photos of a gorgeous time of year.
 
Never to late to get the kid out on a long trip!! Good for you to bring her along!
 
Thanks for posting! Looks like it was a great trip! My oldest daughter is 16 now and I'm not too sure how many more family trips she will be willing to go on with me. Enjoy it while it lasts! (Hopefully for ever!)
 
Been back from this trip almost a month now and I have really been struggling with being home. I find myself standing out in the parking lot before work watching the glow in the east and feeling the breeze on my face. Stepping out on the patio at home at night to see if I can see the stars. Wanting to be outdoors allot. And I keep drifting off at work and finding myself in the north woods. It's not the pleasant longing that I normally have a couple weeks after a trip. I have felt a lot of anxiety and been very uncomfortable between the ears. I am planning a spring trip but that's a long ways away. This week I started cleaning and organizing my basement workshop area for my winter activities. I'm going to throw myself into some projects and try to get my mind headed in a different direction during the hard water months. Dave
 
Winter camping! Get a canvas tent and a stove, great fun! Ok, here's my ignorance showing.....do you get any snow down your way?
 
I'd suggest the same thing, as memaquay.

Being out on the same lakes and woods area you have traversed in soft water season...its all the same, yet remarkably different and peaceful and absorbing in a way that a summer trip rarely is.

You'd probably be able to join some other winter loving friends and not take the $$$ on winter gear until you are hooked - Highly recommended! (there are more than a few folks on this forum who share that same 'illness' for winter...)
 
Great trip report Rippy, the pictures are particularly fantastic. Such a gorgeous time of the year. So wonderful Anna went along. I hope and pray our daughter still wants to go canoe tripping with us at age 20, and that we still have our health enough at that time to still do it as a family (yes, I entered parenthood at a time in life that all my friends are already grandparents). I wish these trips could be longer than a week. So many of us share your longing, it is so hard to go back to the old grind knowing there is not another overnight canoe trip until spring. I love your trip report and look forward to the next, even if I have to wait a year. The BWCA is my favorite place in this world, and the memories we all make there are so very precious. Wish these trips could go on forever.
 
Fantastic! Memories to last a lifetime! If you don't mind I would like to send this link to my family and plan a trip just like that. Your living my dream. Where to next?
 
Fantastic! Memories to last a lifetime! If you don't mind I would like to send this link to my family and plan a trip just like that. Your living my dream. Where to next?


I don't mind if you share this with your fam. Where next? I'll be looking at maps all winter and hopefully come up with something by spring for a early trip. It will be in the north woods.
 
I missed any Father Daughter trips after she became a teenager, but now we have a trip planned for next summer, well, not a canoe trip but a rented remote cabin on a quiet pond in northern Maine with her husband, 2 boys and myself. My wife refuses to go that remote right now, but I think she'll give in come summer. Lots of time in canoes for us though, can't wait to get them hooked on a motor less mindset
 
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