Back to Reality

The Boundary Waters was a great trip.  We really moved, camping on Moose Lake, our entry point, Friday night, then covering half our intended distance on the first full day.

I broke (in this order)

• My Paddle
• Our Tent
• Our Portage Yoke

I was able to repair them all with a little tape and some cord, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid for the structural integrity of most of the objects I touched.

I brought my dog, Ole, along.  This was his first trip to the Boundary Waters, and also his first time in a canoe, so he tried my patience.  Eventually I got him to behave pretty well in the canoe, but that was just about the time we pulled out of the water.

The wind on the last paddle was an absolute bear, and it felt like if we didn’t blow backward too quickly we were doing pretty well.  Finally my partner and I simply had to kick it into high gear.  We looked like human washing machines, and if that lake had been cream there’d have been butter in our wake.  I don’t think either of us will be using our arms too much over the upcoming week.

The weather was absolutely beautiful and other than the wind, the dog, and all the things I broke, there’s little to complain about, and even those don’t seem to be so much when I stack them up against the good time I had.

BWCAW

Haven’t been able to write for a while as I’ve been without the internet.

Labor day weekend three friends and I will be paddling around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It’s going to be nice to get away for a while.

In other news I’ve got an ‘09 Trek 1.5 on order that should be assembled and ready to go at the end of the week, and I’m pretty excited. It’s a decent bike.

I’ve been running lately trying to get my basic conditioning up and its going quite well. I’m essentially trying to prepare myself for Finlandia, a 50K XC Ski race that happens here in Bemidji (I believe there are also 25K and 100K races at this event). I figure the best I can do without some training equipment that I can’t afford is just get my cardiovascular system into shape and train skiing once the snow falls (in Bemidji that won’t be too long of a wait).