Hey all. Took a trip up to the Bog River and Low's a couple weeks ago. Rained Wed, Th, and Friday, and I had a great Sat/Sunday. Learned a lot about myself and my gear. This is my 2nd trip with my 'new' 1950 Old Town Yankee, and my first (and last) solo trip with it. At 74#, it is entirely too heavy to handle alone, even on short portages. It's not easy to carry, but I can do it. But getting it up on my shoulders was a near impossibility by myself, and I will be bringing my uncle's OT Fifty-Pounder on future solo trips.
I tried cooking over a fire again, something I've not routinely done since Scouts, using a tripod to hold my pot. Worked great. The only time I burned the bacon was on the last day, when, feeling lazy, I used my stove for breakfast. It took a lot of effort to process as much wood as I did (a 12' section off a dead maple about 8" thick), but the next guy in my site got a nice gift of firewood. I'd forgotten how nicely maple splits, especially in short (7-9") lengths.
It rained Wednesday night as I went in, but cleared enough for me to have a fire at Campsite 3 on the Bog River. Thursday morning was overcast, but the rain held off until I got to Campsite 21 on Low's. Then it cut loose, alternating on and off for hours. I used that time to cut down the standing dead maple, and just jumped in the lake to cool off when I needed to. Thursday night around 1130pm, it really cut loose and didn't stop til noon Friday. The lake was up about 6" the next morning. I spoke with a guy on the way out Sunday who said they'd left a 5-gallon bucket out overnight, and it had 9" of water in it. My gear held up, and I stayed mostly dry. I learned though, that firestarters are a great thing to have, so always bring some.
On the other end of the scale, I met some folks who camp differently than I do... full coolers (beer, milk, eggs, chicken), one guy with a bunch of chemically-laden fire logs (NO fire skills at all), and one group that brought pretty much everything you could imagine... tables, chairs, large stoves, lanterns, giant tents, wine, cigars, etc... not criticizing, just sorta surprised me that they made it that far in having to portage it all... about like car camping. I digress.
Spent a glorious day out on Saturday... spent 4 hours up on a mountain top, and another 2-3 hours paddling around Grass Pond, returning to my camp on Site 21 in the early evening for dinner and a fire. Caught about 9 bass (all little, but they're all fun) over the time I was there (so, about $4 a fish). Pics are here:
https://www.facebook.com/almarte/media_set?set=a.10201027836996105.1073741830.1172884947&type=1
I tried cooking over a fire again, something I've not routinely done since Scouts, using a tripod to hold my pot. Worked great. The only time I burned the bacon was on the last day, when, feeling lazy, I used my stove for breakfast. It took a lot of effort to process as much wood as I did (a 12' section off a dead maple about 8" thick), but the next guy in my site got a nice gift of firewood. I'd forgotten how nicely maple splits, especially in short (7-9") lengths.
It rained Wednesday night as I went in, but cleared enough for me to have a fire at Campsite 3 on the Bog River. Thursday morning was overcast, but the rain held off until I got to Campsite 21 on Low's. Then it cut loose, alternating on and off for hours. I used that time to cut down the standing dead maple, and just jumped in the lake to cool off when I needed to. Thursday night around 1130pm, it really cut loose and didn't stop til noon Friday. The lake was up about 6" the next morning. I spoke with a guy on the way out Sunday who said they'd left a 5-gallon bucket out overnight, and it had 9" of water in it. My gear held up, and I stayed mostly dry. I learned though, that firestarters are a great thing to have, so always bring some.
On the other end of the scale, I met some folks who camp differently than I do... full coolers (beer, milk, eggs, chicken), one guy with a bunch of chemically-laden fire logs (NO fire skills at all), and one group that brought pretty much everything you could imagine... tables, chairs, large stoves, lanterns, giant tents, wine, cigars, etc... not criticizing, just sorta surprised me that they made it that far in having to portage it all... about like car camping. I digress.
Spent a glorious day out on Saturday... spent 4 hours up on a mountain top, and another 2-3 hours paddling around Grass Pond, returning to my camp on Site 21 in the early evening for dinner and a fire. Caught about 9 bass (all little, but they're all fun) over the time I was there (so, about $4 a fish). Pics are here:
https://www.facebook.com/almarte/media_set?set=a.10201027836996105.1073741830.1172884947&type=1