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Item 10 - Solar Panel -The Baker’s Dozen of Outdoor Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos from Worthless to Essential

10/31/2012

Item 10 – Goal Zero Guide 10 Plus Adventure kit Solar Panel

SCORE 15 MSRP: $159.99

http://www.goalzero.com/shop/p/79/Guide-10-Adventure-Kit/1:1/

The Goal Zero Guide 10 Plus Adventure kit is a ultra-lightweight solar panel along with a USB charging system. Although it only came in 10th place I’d bring it with me again in a heartbeat. I have used other backpacking solar panels and they were a bust. This got low scores for a number of reasons.

I didn't use it every day. When I did use it however it worked great.
Although it is light weight, it is delicate. It must receive gentle care.
It isn't essential to our safety.

However I now know I can bring fewer alkaline batteries because this works so well. It charged my NiMh batteries that I used in my Steri-pen UV water purifier and they lasted the entire trip. It charged my Kindle reader in a short time and kept my GPS batteries charged without a problem.

Although this item’s list price is high, with a little shopping around, you can find it for around $100. It is worth every penny and will pay for itself over time.

FINAL EVALUATION: Great! If you bring electrical gadgets this is a great addition.

To see item 11 click HERE
To see the evaluation criteria click HERE

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Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, MN – Part 3 of 3 by Doug

10/31/2012

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Canoe Trip with Broadwing Adventures guides Doug Fitzgerald and Jack Drury - August 30 to September 13, 2012

Likes and learns from the trip

Jack & Phyliss enjoying our last sunset

Towards the end of a trip and afterwards are the times for contemplation and taking stock of the experience. There are lessons learned about gear, food, travel, the area, other people and ourselves. There are aspects of every trip that the members like and dislike. In the final installment of this blog series, I will reflect on these things and attempt to
give the reader an idea of what we are left with after the journey.

Light boat with a balanced load

Thoughts about gear
Our canoe - In 2007 we had Swift Canoe from
Ontario make us a 16’6” Kipawa tandem touring canoe. It is light, but has a limited payload.
This works fine for us, because when we need a light canoe we also carry a light load. We ordered bow and stern skid plates, which were a definite plus for protecting the boat from the rocks in the BW. On a couple of previous local
trips I have overloaded this boat and have been nervous about how it handled, on this trip the boat and load were well matched and it performed well.

Gourmet meals prepared on reliable stoves

Our stove – I have relied on a Coleman Peak 1 for years. They are bombproof and work like a charm. Coleman has moved away from this model, which is unfortunate. As readers may recall I used an MSR Pocket Rocket canister stove on the Northville Placid Trail (NPT) and really liked it, but on this trip we planned to do more complex cooking, plus frying some fish. Thus, the Peak 1 was our stove of choice. In addition, the other two cooking groups were using liquid fueled stoves, so it made sense for all of us to carry the same type of fuel.

Water purification – On the NPT we used Leo’s Steri Pen to treat our water, it worked great to treat 5 to 6 liters per day with just 2 sets of batteries. The device uses ultraviolet light to eliminate pathogens in the drinking water. Unfortunately on this trip, battery life for my pen was an issue. The pen worked fine with fresh batteries, but after a few days it became less reliable. It eventually required us to take out the batteries and keep exchanging them with others, it was frustrating. On a recent weekend trip the group I was with used a Katadyn Base Camp water filter. I liked how it worked and think that while the Steri Pen worked well for backpacking, for paddling trips I might try a hanging bag filter like the Katadyn.

Communications – For our Thelon River trip two years ago, Karen and Ed bought a satellite phone to use for emergencies and contacting our charter flight service. They renewed the service for this trip and brought it along. In a world where all of us are connected at all times, it seems natural that we should have that connection even in the wilderness. While it might make sense to be able to be contact the outside world “in case of an emergency”, having a phone along does have an effect on my wilderness experience. Generally I would prefer to not have a phone. Even though I have started to carry a cell phone when I paddle in the Adirondacks, the effects of never being completely separated from civilization is a factor to be considered.

GPS and BW map

Travel
Navigation – In all three canoes we used the National Geographic, Trails Illustrated Map, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness West.
There is also an East version. There are at least 3 different makers of maps for the BW, but I am used to the NG maps and like how they represent the area. Jack, Ed and I also use GPS units, Jack prefers to use the GPS as his primary navigation tool, while I rely more on map reading, as I like the larger perspective it provides. I use the GPS to set waypoints, track time and distance to destinations and to record distances traveled. My 10 year old Garmin tends to lose signal under tree cover, while Jack and Ed’s newer units work better in poor signal areas.

Potential for future trips – The unbroken wilderness allows for a lifetime of potential trips. I want to return again and hope to do it sooner than I did this time. I would like to go with a group that is willing to travel more, take on the tough portages and cover greater distances. As a guide, I think the BWCAW would be a good area to lead a group of adventure travelers.

Our group planning the day

Other people
Even with a restrictive permit system we saw a number of people, especially near the entry points. On the southern end of Lac La Croix we struggled to find an empty campsite, but we spent 3 nights on remote Pocket Lake and never saw anyone. Like in the Adirondacks, the farther you are willing to travel away from access points, the less people you will see. Even after days of travel in the BW you will likely see more people when your route comes near other entry points. Almost everyone we saw carried fishing gear and there were many serious anglers out there. For us the fishing was an added bonus to the canoe trip, for some groups the camping is a necessary part of a fishing trip.

The help of others – Our second portage on day one was rough, there was a group of fishermen traveling in our direction and they pitched in to move our gear across. This happened on other occasions too. To try and pay-it-forward, when we encountered a group traveling the opposite way on a portage, I carried one of their canoes across. Unfortunately, I did it without asking and they did not appreciate it. They were from an elite canoe camp and I think I injured their pride. Lesson learned; read people better and ask before helping. Elite paddlers are interesting, but some take the sport a little too seriously for me.

Phyliss's leadership skit

Leader of the day (LOD) – As our group is made up of peers; decisions are generally arrived at by consensus. Although this works much of the time, there are instances where it is more expedient to have someone take a leadership role, make decisions and guide the group. Jack suggested we try a
technique known as Leader Of the Day. Not everyone was willing to accept the role, but this leadership style was fairly successful. Jan and Phyliss did a
great job when each of them was LOD and Phyliss’s skit to start her day was hilarious.

Simple living in the wilderness

Life in the wilderness
In my July blog about the NPT, I expounded on the simplicity of living and traveling in the wilderness. Instead of repeating myself here, I thought I’d use a couple of excerpts from The Lonely Land, by Sigurd Olson. He wrote extensively about paddling in the Boundary Waters and Quetico and is considered to be one of the nation's best nature writers.

After a trip of nearly 500 miles on the Churchill River of Canada he wrote about the final days on the river.
... “One more camp, perhaps two, and we would be at Cumberland House. It became increasingly hard to realize that the trip was drawing to a close and that this was the end of many things for all of us. ... At the moment it seemed as though we had always been together, that our old life was nebulous and unreal. This way of existence, living in tents and traveling together each day, seemed the way life should be. We had shared wind and storm, rapids and portages, and all of that had been good.”...

Unpacking the "outfit"

After Olson’s trip he had this to say,
... “By the time I reached home the whole expedition had begun to seem a little unreal. I spread the equipment out in the yard to give it a final airing before putting it away. ... As I worked over the outfit, the Churchill River seemed far away, ... I knew it would soon be hard even to imagine the music of huskies around the Indian villages or the wild calling of the loons on the open lakes.
I also knew there were some things that would never be dimmed by distance or time,
compounded of values that would not be forgotten: the joy and challenge of the
wilderness, the sense of being part of the country and of an era that was gone, the freedom we had known, silence, timelessness, beauty, companionship and loyalty, and the feeling of fullness and completion that was ours at the end.” ...
Sigurd Olson expresses these sentiments so well.

We take on journeys like this to experience the joy of the moment and to savor the memories for the rest of our lives. People that have truly experienced living and traveling in the wilderness understand the value it adds to life. As always, this trip has become a part of who I am and I look forward to my next
adventure.

To see part one of the series CLICK HERE
To see part two of this series CLICK HERE
Additional photos are available on our PHOTO GALLERY

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Item 11 - Nikon Camera -The Baker’s Dozen of Outdoor Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos from Worthless to Essential

10/30/2012

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Item 11 – The Nikon D-70 with 35-70 & 70-200mm lenses
SCORE 15 MSRP: >$1200

http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product-Archive/Digital-SLR-Cameras/25214/D70.html

The Nikon D-70 camera with the two lenses is a wonderful DSLR camera and with one extra battery will take wonderful photos of the highest quality for a month long trip. However the camera, lenses, mini-tripod, extra battery and all important waterproof Pelican box weighs in at nearly ten pounds! There are so many high quality point and shoot cameras, some of which are even waterproof, that it is hard to justify bringing this behemoth. I think it’s time to down size.

What do you use? How do you like it?

FINAL EVALUATION: Great but too heavy and bulky

To see item 12 click HERE
To see the evaluation criteria click HERE

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Item 12 - The Camp Towel -The Baker’s Dozen of Outdoor Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos from Worthless to Essential

10/29/2012

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Item 12 – The Original Camp towel by Cascade Design

SCORE: 7 MSRP: $7.95

http://cascadedesigns.com/packtowl

Years ago someone gave me this towel and while I was never impressed I frequently threw it in my pack because it was light and compact. It absorbs water okay but doesn't appear to dry very quickly. I rarely used it because I learned many years ago that if you get wet from jumping in the lake you eventually dry off even without a towel. My wife will tell you. While I use a towel when I get out of the shower I rarely use one when I get out of the lake. Its barely adequate performance and its light weight and low bulk kept it from getting a perfectly awful score of 5. It is last on my list. It is time to retire this item even if though, “it don’t weigh nothin and don’t take up no space.”

FINAL EVALUATION: Worthless

To see item 11 click HERE
To see the evaluation criteria click HERE

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The Baker’s Dozen of Outdoor Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos from Worthless to Essential

10/28/2012

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Doug and I recently completed a two-week trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota. I have now gone on over fifty trips of ten days or more, including twenty-one trips of over a month. I learn something new on each one. On this most recent trip I brought the standard items, some of which have served me well for decades, others which I brought for the first time. Over the next two weeks I thought I would share with you an even dozen of these items which ranged in importance to me from worthless to essential. I’ll throw in one additional item that I think I’ll bring on the next trip to make it a baker’s dozen. I will share my thoughts on how I evaluated them and my candid opinion on why I liked them or not. I’ll do this on a daily basis over the next two weeks. Stay tuned and please feel free to let me know whether you agree or think I’m full of it.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow I will post the first item ranked 12th out of twelve.
Jack

The Evaluation Criteria

I used five criteria for evaluation each of the twelve items on a 1 to 5 scale (5 being best.) Theoretically items could range in score from 5 to 25. Although we didn't have any items get the lowest possible score we did get one perfect score.

1.       How often did I use it during the trip?
2.       How well did it perform?
3.       How heavy, bulky, and durable was it?
4.       How important was it for our health and/or safety?
5.       How much did it contribute to making our trip easier or more enjoyable?

UPDATE 11/13/2012
I've completed this series so here are links to each item and a table with the ratings.
Enjoy
Here's a link to a table showing the scores and ratings for each item. Click Here

See the Bonus Item HERE
See Item 1 HERE - Map & Compass
See Item 2 HERE - SteriPEN Classic
See Item 3 HERE  - Hand Sanitizer
See Item 4 HERE - Nokero Dome Light
See Item 5 HERE - Bungee Dealy Bob
See Item 6 HERE - Leatherman
See Item 7 HERE - Garmin 62s GPS
See Item 8 HERE - KODAK PLAYSPORT Video Camera / Zx3
See Item 9 HERE - Kindle Reader
See Item 10 HERE - The Goal Zero Guide 10 Plus Adventure Kit Solar Panel
See Item 11 HERE - The Nikon D-70 with 35-70 & 70-200mm lense
See Item 12 HERE - The original Camp Towel

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CONTEST – Win a Broadwing Adventures – Outdoor Products water bottle

10/28/2012

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Friday was a beautiful day for paddling. Warm, sunny with light winds. Doug took an awesome paddle in his Spitfire and explored a couple of less visited ponds. Here are a few pictures from each pond. Can you identify them? Take a guess or two. The first correct guess for each pond will win a Broadwing Adventures – Outdoor Products stainless steel water bottle. Please, only one winner per household.
You can submit your guesses as comments here or on our facebook page. Be sure to “like” us while you are there. Click on a picture below and scroll through to enlarge each one. Submit your guesses for pond #1 and pond #2. Good luck and have fun.

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Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, MN – Part 2 of 3 by Doug

10/15/2012

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What we saw, did and experienced while on the trip

Fauna (animals)
I have read that Minnesota has the largest population of bald eagles in the lower 48. Our sightings would certainly confirm that fact. We saw eagles everyday and most days we saw multiples. There were an abundance loons, beaver and otter. The campsites were so well established that each had a resident population of red squirrels, chipmunks and mice. I expected to see grey jays, a.k.a. camp robbers, but they only made a couple of appearances and they didn’t steal any of our food.

Trumpeter Swan

While we were camped on an island, a black bear paid our site a visit. It was the middle of the day and Phyliss was the only one there. She did a good job scaring the bear away, but she got a canoe ready to put in the water in case she needed to make a fast getaway. We had hoped to see a moose and hear wolves; we saw scat and track of both, but no sightings. One night Jan and I heard a faint howling, but it sounded like coyotes to us. The one bird we saw that I had not expected was a trumpeter swan. I was able to take enough pictures of it to make a good identification once I got home.

Flora (plants)
I took great interest in the forest. There were so many similarities with the Adirondacks that it could be difficult to see the differences, but there were many of those also. Those readers that don’t have a forestry background please bear with me. Soils have so much to do with tree growth, there were many rocks, there didn’t appear to be much glacial outwash, but there was an abundance of glacial till. All that may not mean much to some of you reading this, but it means a lot to the trees.

Jack Pine

The majority of hardwoods appeared to be either yellow birch or aspens, both big tooth and quaking aspen. Despite the abundance of aspens, there was not a large corresponding population of white birch. In the Adirondacks our only “super dominant” tree (taller than the other trees) is the Eastern White Pine. There were tall white pines in the Boundary Waters, but only a few that seemed as old and misshapen as ours, additionally, on the ridges bigtooth aspen tower above the surrounding canopy. Even though it was early September, the yellow birch and sugar maples had turned color and their leaves were falling. The aspen were still green. There were only a few red maples or oak, so there was not the display of colors we see in the Northeast.

On the softwood side, I did not see any hemlocks, but there were many jack pines on the poor soil sites and some of the largest red pines I have ever seen. In addition to red spruce there were also many white spruce and of course black spruce in the wet sites.
It was evident that fires have had an impact on the forest. We saw burnt over areas and could smell smoke on occasion. For a couple of days we watched planes and helicopters carrying water drops to a nearby fire.

Rocky campsites were a challenge

Land and Water
With all the rock we saw there was no doubt that we were truly on the Canadian Shield, a vast geological shield covering over half of Canada. This rock makes the area both beautiful and rugged. Even on large campsites; level, rock free tent sites were hard to find. The maximum camping party size in the BW is nine, but on most sites even our party of six had a difficult time finding three areas to pitch our tents. Jan and I had the smallest tent and usually settled for a place that the other tents would not fit on.

Jan on the portage trail

The rocks also made portages more difficult than they tend to be in the Adirondacks. The beavers added further difficulty to the portages by damming up small ponds and streams and inundating the trail, forcing us to reload the canoes so we could float across the flooded areas in the middle of the path.

A walleye for the frying pan

There were a lot less campsites per lake or pond than we tend to have in the Adirondacks. A BW lake the size of Middle Saranac would only have about 6 sites on it. We learned to scout sites early to finds places
that worked for us. In 14 nights, we only used 8 campsites, meaning that we had many layover days. Jan and I had hoped to get a lot of fishing in, but didn’t get as much as we were looking for. Fishing from a canoe on windy lakes is not easy, but when we did get out at good times of the day for fishing, we were pleased with the results. Both Jan and I like to fish for bass and walleye and there seemed to be plenty of those. We only kept and ate walleye, they are the best.

Ed reading his Kindle and napping

I found layover days when we could not fish to be boring. Everyone spent a great amount of time reading and most were please to have so much relaxation time. I on the other hand wanted other things from the trip. We spent so much time getting to Minnesota and the area is so vast that I wanted to see more of it and experience a greater sense of adventure. Most in our group found the portages to be extremely difficult. They were tougher than Adirondack carries, but in general our group was not in good physical condition and we had too much stuff, so that just compounded the difficulty.

We found pictographs on rock faces at the edge of two different lakes. That always adds a sense of mystery for me. What do they mean, who put them there, how old are they? In many cases, no one knows.

Pictographs on Rocky Lake

Pictographs on Lac La Croix

The August blue moon

In the Sky
We started camping the day before the blue moon in August. It is always nice to be out during a full moon when the nights are clear and the weather is warm enough to sit out and enjoy it. We had many campsites with good sunset views and some where we could watch both, sunrise and sunset. Some nights we watched the sunset and sat out on the rocks watching planets and stars appear.

Blisters dice game

At total darkness the stars were amazing and the Milky Way was very bright. We saw shooting stars and plenty of satellites. I found it hard to leave the open rocks on clear nights. We often played a dice game called “Blisters”at night, so that would usually drag me away from star gazing. Most of our campsites faced south or west, but one night we saw a nice display of the Northern Lights before the moon got too bright.

After 3 days of rain

Weather
Weather during the first week could not have been better. We comfortably swam the first 6 days; sometimes even while we were on the move.
Then the weather started to change and it cooled down. For a few days in the middle of the trip we had some rain which accompanied the cooler temperatures. We were wind bound at various times and were stuck hanging out waiting for it to
be safe enough to paddle. On one such day we watched as 3 canoes came into view out on the dangerously rough lake. They were all aluminum boats, which perform well in big water. The first boat made it past us OK and stopped to wait for the other two boats. Those paddlers weren’t so lucky, both canoes took on a lot of water, but somehow managed to stay upright. With our encouragement they navigated to the sheltered bay behind our site where we were able to grab them and help empty the boats that were full of water and wet gear. Once they recovered they made the short crossing to join their friends. Surprisingly, they did not wear their PFDs even after the incident. They were nice guys that were on a fishing trip, but we had to wonder why they weren’t wearing their vests. Some people just don’t get that part.

Many nice sunsets

Next blog
In the final installment of this blog series I will write about some of the other people we encountered and what we liked and learned while we were in the wilderness. Join me for that chapter of this story. Please share this with anyone that may be interested.

To see part one of this series CLICK HERE
To see part three of this series CLICK HERE
Additional photos are available on our PHOTO GALLERY

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Last Guided Paddle for the Year???

10/14/2012

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Doug worked with our friends at St. Regis Canoe Outfitters to lead a two night trip for seven guys from the metropolitan area. We had all varieties of Adirondack weather. Cold and snow with a low of 23 F on Friday, beautiful sun and a slight head wind on Saturday, then rain overnight, finishing with a “soft” (read wet), calm morning for our paddle out. Bill, Bob, Jim, Elliot, Alex, Wayne and Paul were a fun group to spend the weekend with. See you guys on the next adventure.

The weather has turned decidedly and the water is getting cold, so there are not likely to be many more paddle trips this fall. Time to get bindings on the new skis and get ready for some snow.

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Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, MN – Part 1 of 3 by Doug

10/7/2012

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Canoe Trip with Broadwing Adventures guides Doug Fitzgerald and Jack Drury - August 30 to September 13, 2012

After waiting too long, Jack and I returned to Minnesota to paddle in the Boundary Waters. For two weeks we paddled with our wives, Phyliss and Jan. Long time friends and adventurers, Karen and Ed Hixson also joined us. Their journey with us was only part of a longer trip they were doing.

My plan is to post three blogs about this trip. Here’s what they will cover:
#1 - Area history, trip planning and preparation, travel to and from MN, and what we did in Ely before putting on the water.
#2 – What we did and experienced while on the trip
#3 – Likes and learns from the trip

There are pictures and a video already posted on this site, so be sure to take a look at them. Jack will also be adding blogs related to this adventure, so stay tuned.

History
Before the appearance of Europeans, “Indians of the Woodland Tradition” were the predominant culture that inhabited this area. They depended upon wood products, hunting, fishing and gathering natural food, such as the wild rice that the region is still known for. The first non-natives came to the area mostly in search of fur bearing animals to supply pelts to the European markets. Trade goods came from the east and furs moved east to places like Montreal. Men known as Voyageurs were at the heart of this trade. They carried the loads and paddle the large canoes that moved the goods back and forth. The traditions and feats of these rugged individuals are still held in high esteem by today’s paddlers. Even the international boarder was shaped by the routes traveled by the voyageurs.

By the early 1900’s loggers and miners were removing trees and minerals from northeastern Minnesota. Fortunately, the area was also noted for its’ aesthetic and recreational value, so some portions of land were set aside. The establishment of a “roadless” area in 1939 and the designation of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area as a wilderness in 1964 has not been without controversy. Much like places in the Adirondacks, there has been conflicts between recreational users that favor mechanized use and those that prefer not to see any motors in the area.

Today, around 250,000 people visit the 1 million acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness every year, making it the most visited wilderness in the country. Add the adjacent 1.2 million acre Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario and you have a true paddler’s paradises.

Trip Planning and Permitting
Before Christmas last year we started to talk about
paddling in the Boundary Waters. There are so many varieties of paddling trips that can be done in this area, that it took us awhile to reach consensus for a
trip. BWCAW regulations restrict the number of permits per day at each entry point. By the end of January we agreed upon a route. We chose Entry Point #16 at Little Indian Sioux River. The daily limit for this point is six groups; we acted early to ensure we received a permit.

The group had a number of competing desires for the trip, so our plan was truly a compromise for everyone. Sometimes compromises work out well, with everyone getting a little something of what they are looking for and other times they remain just a compromise and some disappointments persist.

Food Preparation
A friend of mine once told me that you should eat better in the outdoors than when you are at home. Everyone in a group has different tastes, to help deal with this we planned to have each couple do their own food prep and cooking. Jack and Phyliss like to bring bulk ingredients and use recipes to create unique meals. Karen and Ed dehydrate many of the ingredients they bring and pack their food by individual meals. Jan and I used to do a combination of these techniques, but since I hiked the Northville Placid Trail, we have moved to packaging our food by meals. We have even started to experiment more with pre-packaged “freeze dried” foods. These have come a long way since I first tried them 38 years ago. On this trip, the food we brought could not have worked better. We started with less than 40 lbs. and brought very little back with us. Some of what was left over was because we ate a few walleye instead.

All three cook groups used liquid fuel stoves. Jan and I brought a gallon of Colman fuel and returned with less than a pint. Between fuel and food, we had just enough extra that we could have covered an emergency, but not so much that we carried a lot of extra weight.

Travel
Each couple drove to Ely separately. Ed and Karen went earlier than us and did some paddling before we got there. We took our time, stopping along the way to visit our one week old granddaughter and other relatives and friends. Jack and Phyliss caught up with us in Two Harbors, MN where we stayed at a B&B located in a working lighthouse on the western shore of Lake Superior.

Ely, MN
Once in Ely it was only a couple of hours before we met up with Karen & Ed. While there we stayed at Fenske Lake Cabins. One night we stayed in a rustic bunkhouse and the next in a nice housekeeping cabin. It was hot and we appreciated being able to swim and to eat dinner outside. Main St. in Ely has more outfitters than anywhere else in the world, so it was a fun place to explore.

We enjoyed visiting the International Wolf Center. It is a high class museum devoted entirely to telling the story of the wolf throughout the world. There are live wolves that can be viewed from an auditorium with large glass windows. A must see place if you ever visit Ely.

Putting on the water
After four nights on the road and two in Ely, we were
ready early on Thursday, 8/30 to leave the front country and start our wilderness journey. We drove on the gravel surfaced Echo Trail for about 20 miles from Fenske Lake to Little Indian Sioux River. Once we got everything out of the vehicles; Jan, Phyliss and Karen shuttled cars seven miles back down the Echo trail to our take out at Moose River, Entry Point #16. In the meantime, Jack, Ed and I portaged our boats and gear 43 rods (700 ft.) to the river. By the time our wives returned we were ready to go. Before long we were paddling into the wilderness.

Next blog
In part 2 of this blog series I will write about the things we saw and did while on our adventure.

To see part two of this series CLICK HERE
To see part three of this series CLICK HERE
Additional photos are available on our PHOTO GALLERY

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Wild Center Trip

10/5/2012

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We had a great trip with the Wild Center today. Thanks to all involved for making it a successful day. The weather cooperated, the conversation was stimulating, and the wild life was exhilarating.

Once Upon a Wilderness, by Calvin Rutstrum
Mornings can break so clear, calm, and insect-free that the first awakening call of a loon over placid water starts a day of serenity, a measure of comfort and pleasure that the most idealistically preconceived canoe journey could scarcely visualize. The leisurely paddle along a rock-bound, forested shore can, under these conditions, bring such inspiring surprises and memorable experiences as to leave them etched upon one’s memory for life.

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Item 10 - Solar Panel -The Baker’s Dozen of Outdoor Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos from Worthless to Essential

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, MN – Part 3 of 3 by Doug

Canoe Trip with Broadwing Adventures guides Doug Fitzgerald and Jack Drury - August 30 to September 13, 2012

Likes and learns from the trip

Item 11 - Nikon Camera -The Baker’s Dozen of Outdoor Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos from Worthless to Essential

Item 12 - The Camp Towel -The Baker’s Dozen of Outdoor Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos from Worthless to Essential

The Baker’s Dozen of Outdoor Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos from Worthless to Essential

CONTEST – Win a Broadwing Adventures – Outdoor Products water bottle

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, MN – Part 2 of 3 by Doug

What we saw, did and experienced while on the trip

Last Guided Paddle for the Year???

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, MN – Part 1 of 3 by Doug

Canoe Trip with Broadwing Adventures guides Doug Fitzgerald and Jack Drury - August 30 to September 13, 2012

Wild Center Trip

Jack Drury
& Doug Fitzgerald

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Canoe Trip with Broadwing Adventures guides Doug Fitzgerald and Jack Drury - August 30 to September 13, 2012Likes and learns from the trip

What we saw, did and experienced while on the trip

Canoe Trip with Broadwing Adventures guides Doug Fitzgerald and Jack Drury - August 30 to September 13, 2012

Jack Drury & Doug Fitzgerald

"Like" us on Facebook Page

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Canoe Trip with Broadwing Adventures guides Doug Fitzgerald and Jack Drury - August 30 to September 13, 2012

Likes and learns from the trip

Jack Drury
& Doug Fitzgerald