Spent all of last week in the BWCA. It was the first big trip in my hammock. It performed just as I expected. Flawless. My trip partner was secretly envious of my set-up....after ribbing me for the last year for doing something so silly as buying a hammock.
We started from Rockwood Outfitter on Poplar lake and made our way down to entry #47. Our route took us through Lizz, Caribou, Horseshoe, and finally to Gaskin lake on our first day. The wind was a big presence. Finding a good spot to hang at that site was tricky, but I got creative and made it work. We brought a couple of 10 oz. ribeyes for dinner. We ate REAL well.
On day 2 we set out mid-morning and made the portage into Winchell lake and paddled against a stiff wind. We found a nice East facing site on the West end of Winchell that provided a much needed break from the wind. This site was an improvement over the night before, but still found it not ideal for my hammock. There were a plethora of trees, but either they were too close, or the more common issue: there would always be a pest of a tree just to one side of the other which made deploying the tarp frustrating. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful site and was one of our favorites on the trip. Dinner was some home dehydrated spaghetti, meat sauce, garlic fry bread, and a small box of wine. Delizioso!
Day 3 sent us North into Omega lake and then East into Henson lake. The wind.never.stops. blowing. But, the sun was shining and it was gorgeous. Hard to complain when surrounded by all that beauty. We arrived to our site early in the afternoon. A slip of a hand left us with just one fishing pole, so that part of the trip has now changed drastically. We roll with the punches and trudge on. Someone (me) forgot one of our trail meals back in the pickup, so we ate a pack of au gratin potatoes, toasted bagels that we turned into garlic toast, and summer sausage. The wind finally dies down, but the cold rolls in. No mind, my Hammock Gear incubator 0 does it’s job effortlessly. It got down to 37°. I got hot at times; My ground-dwelling trip partner, not so much.
Day 4 kept us moving easterly as we moved through Henson into Pillsbery and then into Allen lake. We sailed right to the eastern end and set up camp by 1 p.m. This was my favorite site of the trip. A little smaller than other sites, but a perfect hang spot to look out over the lake. I propped my tarp up into porch mode and relaxed the afternoon away. Dinner presented a challenge as we realized our reserve pan oil was in the truck with the missing trail meal. DOH! We ate dehydrated hash browns. We doctored them up pretty well with some seasoning and followed them with dehydrated apple crisp. Overnight temp dipped down to 33°.
Day 5 Continued East into Horseshoe lake and North into Caribou. The portages the whole trip were relatively easy with nothing noteworthy popping up. Today’s route took us back through portages we had already conquered on our way in. We spent the day checking out all the sites on Caribou. Clouds were moving in and with the wind still blowing hard we wanted to make sure we had good protection. Many sites along our travel were positioned out on points with wide open visibility. Great if the weather is calm, but leaves you totally exposed in not so nice weather. We ended up settling on the site on the Northeast corner of Caribou and hunkered down. Just as I got the last of my gear out of the back sun started beating on my back. I look up and the clouds were gone. I was ready for the worst, but glad I didn’t have to break out the Frogg Toggs. Dinner was Packit gourmet Texas State Fair Chili. Man-o-Man! That stuff is great! The temp while we were cooking dinner dropped suddenly. It was 40 degrees while the sun was still out. I predicted an overnight low of 27, but it leveled off at 31°. The ground dweller cussed as he entered his tent. I smiled and laid back into the hammock, pulled up my top cover and was lulled to sleep by a howling wolf. A wonderful way to cap a trip. A true gift from Mother Nature.
Here are a few photo’s; I am going to attempt to splice together some video in the coming weeks:
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Tight hang on Gaskin Lake
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2QZQ UQP saved the day with all of the wind we faced!
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Spaghetti , aglio pane fritto , vino
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Fog greated us every morning
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Your humble author
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Originally Posted by OutdoorEnvy
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