Two Women in the BWCA + a 6-Months Pregnant Adventure
This summer marks the fifth anniversary of my female adventure partner and I diving into the BWCAW on our own, with our two dogs as the only boys allowed on the excursion.
The tradition began when my outdoor savvy friend Nora asked if I wanted to go to the BWCAW with her, just the two of us. Our husbands were too busy with summer work to get away. At first I was unsure that I could accomplish such a feat. I badly wanted to be the type of woman that went into the wilderness without a man, but I wasn’t quite sure of myself. Then I quickly remembered that my friend truly is an experienced outdoors-woman, although she had never been to the Boundary Waters. With that in mind, I excitedly agreed.
That winter we hunted down entry points and dreamed up our ideal trip. For some reason one of the longest portages we could find appealed greatly to both of us. Go figure! We wanted to be remote. We wanted a challenge. We chose the infamous Angleworm entry point out of Ely; a mere 740 rod (2.25 mile) portage to the first lake.
We wanted to experience the ultimate getaway; where you don’t see a single human for days, but hear and witness plenty of wildlife. Remote we sought, remote we found. It was a heckuva time getting through that first portage. We ran into a few issues. I learned a lot within the first 15 minutes of our trip.
On our first portage break, I noticed a hole in our pack: I panicked. “Do we have to go all the way back to town and delay this trip to get another pack? How are we going to be out here for over a week with this hole that will surely grow bigger?!” My friend Nora did not panic. She calmly suggested, “We have duct-tape and a safety pin, right?” Problem solved. Lesson number one I learned from the wilderness and Nora: just stay calm and come up with creative solutions.
Problem solving with humor and ingenuity is all part of the process and experience. Once I embraced this mentality, I had a blast the rest of the day. It took us nearly 4 hours to get to Angleworm lake.. That is a story in and of itself, that luckily did not result in any sprained ankles. Thankfully we single portaged.
We didn’t see any other people that day, or for the next two for that matter. Once we got to Angleworm and dropped our canoe in, I remember thinking, “Holy sh$%&! We are alone in the wilderness...can we actually do this?” Almost immediately a tree fell, plopped right into the lake, and splashed about 200 yards from us. Hmmmm… I, of course, didn’t voice my fear at the time because Nora and I were in our first year of friendship and we didn’t know each other that well. I didn’t want her to know how scared I was. I reminded myself that she was totally in her element, even if I’m not, and we would be fine.
We paddled on to one of the greatest adventures of my life. Seven days and six nights of disconnection to outside stimuli and reconnection with myself. We loved traveling each day, seeing the sights of each lake, and discovering little idiosyncrasies of each new campsite. We stayed on Angleworm Lake, Gun Lake, Boot Lake, Fourtown Lake, and Horse Lake. We did a one-way trip where we came out at Mudro - a much shorter exit than entry, but also much more populated and congested at Mudro entry point.
I can still clearly envision the most brilliant sunset I’ve ever seen in my life on Boot Lake - equipped with a stunning double rainbow. On that first trip, my confidence and contentment with the outdoors grew with each day. We learned so much about our love for the Boundary Waters, how to work as partners, and we solidified a very important lifelong friendship. Nora and I LOVED being out there in the wilderness with no one around but the two of us and her Australian Shepard Sigmund. We were giddy. That trip changed our lives forever.
I left home a hopeful, wannabe wilderness woman and I emerged from the BWCA a satisfied, proud, and nourished, outdoor adventure woman for life.
Nora and I complement each other ridiculously well in the wilderness. She likes to portage with the big canoe pack and day packs. I prefer to portage the canoe and our smaller pack. She is stronger at paddling on her left side and I’m stronger paddling right. She enjoys maps and navigation. I feel useful, and now more confident, steering the canoe. We both really dig finding the perfect campsite, hammocking, journaling, reading, and setting up camp. I enjoy swimming in cool water, and she enjoys neurotically drying everything out. Nora enjoys going for little hikes around camp to try to find a bear, or at a minimum, some bear poo. I prefer sitting in meditation near the water or practicing yoga. Nora loves strategizing and executing the perfect bear hang. I love cooking outside. Nora loves reading Sigurd Olson books in the BWCA. I love falling asleep to Nora reading aloud.
Have you ever read a Sigurd Olson book in the Boundary Waters? It’s insanely perfect. If you can find someone else to read you Sigurd Olson while you fall asleep, I also highly highly recommend that. (Thanks Nora!)
The following summer we went again. This time in August into Kawishiwi Lake near Tofte, MN. We both brought our dogs; Nora’s then 6-year-old Australian Shepherd Sigmund and my 1-year-old black lab Sunny. The stories we could tell. We have two stories in particular that make us laugh so hard we cry. One incident involving me desperately saving a bagel from rolling off a cliff, and the other causing a dog to catapult out of the canoe and into the lake. Both of those stories occurred on the same day. I have such vivid amazing memories of that day. That whole trip, really.
That second-year trip was a little less remote until we portaged our way up to the middle of nowhere on the Kawishiwi River. We stayed for 9 days and 8 nights that time around. We were more seasoned, and much more familiar with each other’s ways. We went on fun day trips to ancient pictographs, and jumped off a cliff like 10 year-old children on Fishdance Lake. We lounged on a sandy beach that looked more like Mexico than the BWCA on Amber Lake. We picked wild blueberries at a campsite on the river. We also spent one entire day relaxing in our hammocks under a rain tarp, reading, journaling, and laughing as we relished the rest day. We had a night on Lake Polly where we got caught in a thunderstorm, and with no open campsites, we stayed on a large island with two fellows that were nice enough to offer to share space with us. With each day offering something completely new, we soaked in the entire experience again.
Summer 2018 was our third year. We went for 10 days and 9 nights in June: entry point 14 on the Little Indian Sioux River. We almost didn’t go. Catastrophe struck a week and a half before our date to enter the wilderness. First, Nora’s father-in-law passed away, followed by her beloved fur-baby Sigmund tragically dying, all within a matter of days. The pain was unreal. The thought of Nora leaving home during such a time, and a trip to the BWCA without our buddy Sigmund was unbelievably heart-wrenching. Somehow we made it. I told Nora to get herself up north and I would take care of the rest. Just the two of us and my then 2-year-old black lab Sunny went. We brought our loving memories of Sigmund with us as well. That was perhaps the most important part of this trip. Siggy absolutely loved the Boundary Waters.
Three years in, and we had somewhat of a system: getting more and more refined each time. Thank goodness for that, because we were NOT on our “packing A-game” this time around. It was more of a late-night scramble than our typical nicely planned out packing session. Somehow we have it down just good enough and we didn’t forget anything too terribly important. Despite entering heavy with grief, the cooling water of the BWCAW provided healing.
We cried, we marveled at the sunsets, we listened to the sounds of nature, and with each day we found contentment in the face of tragedy. We lounged in our hammocks at every campsite. One night we slept in our hammocks on Upper Pauness Lake just to see what it was like. We fought the wind in a paddling fury in our light-as-air Wenonah canoe while on Loon Lake. We both twisted an ankle in knee-deep mud on a portage (thankfully I didn’t break the canoe that was on my shoulders at the time), as we made our way to Finger Lake. We heard rumors of bears as we passed other portagers.
We enjoyed two days mid-trip of not seeing a single human while on Finger Lake. That was my favorite lake due to the vast quiet. We stayed on Ge-be-on-quet Lake one night. We felt that unique rising thrill upon discovering a gem of a campsite more than a few times. In particular, we found a “double-sided” campsite on Oyster Lake that had us all kinds of excited. We came out the way we entered on this trip.
Throughout the stay, we thoroughly enjoyed and relished in the simple life. More than that, we again felt that beautiful weight of the world slip off of our shoulders as we paddled further and further into the wilderness. We gracefully fell into old habits. We became more comfortable with “our thing”. We learned, relaxed, and reset in canoe country again.
Last year, 2019, Nora’s 1-year-old Aussie pup Stryder got to experience his first BWCA trip. My 3 year-old black lab Sunny showed him the ropes. Unfortunately for Stryder, the two have separate interests. Sunny likes to swim and relax in the hammock. Stryder likes to stay dry, keep the perimeter safe, and hike. Both dogs agree that the canoe is for the birds, but they will comply with some coaxing (and treats).
In addition to both dogs, we had the added element of my being 6.5 months pregnant. Thankfully for me, my friend Nora readily agreed to carry the heavy packs, and canoe, and largely set everything in camp up.
There was a period of time when we took the idea of a trip off the table completely. It took us some time to talk through potential issues to ultimately decide that yes, we could go, although for a much shorter amount of time, and with significantly less travel and portaging. We chose an entry point that allowed for zero portaging. We also chose one campsite and decided to take day trips. My husband enthusiastically agreed that we absolutely should keep to our important tradition. And Nora agreed that she could take care of everything heavy. Basically, I have the best people in my life. I hope to repay the favor in the future.
I slightly repaid the favor by allowing Nora to laugh at my appearance for the entire trip. A few days before we left, baby really popped out and my hiking pants no longer zipped. I didn’t want to invest in new hiking pants, so I waddled about with my pants unzipped. You’re welcome for the humor!
Not only was the trip shorter than our usual, and significantly less portaging/traveling than we prefer, but it was also more cold and wet than ever before. Not in the way that you are thinking either, I assure you…. We decided to go at the end of May so that I would be a little less pregnant. While the weather was beautiful, and there were not too many people around at that time of year, the water was cold, and for the first time ever we TIPPED OUR CANOE! I kid you not.
We used entry point 30 on Lake One due to the recommendations being an “entry-level trip”. We thought that would be the best decision for a very pregnant woman. However, when we arrived, we forgot the research we had done months prior for the best way to get to Lake One. You can either paddle easily down a river, with zero portaging, or you can go to the other way and do two very short portages. Whoops, we went the portage way, and the rapids in front of the first portage were RUNNING FAST. We underestimated their power, with that spring flow mighty and strong, thinking we could paddle across the base of them… and nope. We could not. That rapids swept us and the dogs right over into the ice cold river. My lab Sunny thought that was the most thrilling BWCA trip he’s ever been on. Poor Stryder pup felt the exact opposite.
Thankfully, Nora and I had all of our gear strapped into the canoe. Luckily there was a rock cutout and we were able to swim ourselves, the canoe, and the dogs up onto it within a few short minutes. The water was FREEZING, we were perfectly fine, drenched, wide-awake, and safe. The sky was blue and the sun was out in full force. We laid on our rock haven to dry out, warm up, and formulate a plan. We decided to pop over to the good ole’ Kawishiwi River for the night to dry out, as there was a close campsite to where we had dumped. We made plenty of clotheslines to hang everything out to dry. We settled into the wilderness and our old routine, we relaxed, cooked, hammocked, and laughed about our horrible misstep on our very first day…while I was 6.5 months pregnant!
The next day we made our way over to Lake One - the easy way! We spent two more nights at just one campsite and enjoyed exploring the island nearby. While we were out on a day-paddle another canoeist suggested that we paddle to the end of the lake to get a nice view of the rapids. We thanked him for the tip, and gladly stayed far, far away from the sound of the rushing water. We had our fill of that kind of thrill for one trip.
The Boundary Waters - she never disappoints! There is always an adventure to be had, and a story to tell.
As for me, I will continue to go into this gorgeous, quiet place. Nora and I plan to continue the tradition.
This year is our fifth anniversary: two women heading into canoe country. We are revisiting our original induction into the wilderness, but this time we will paddle our loop backwards. We are entering into Mudro and exiting out of Angleworm. I don’t find a heavy 2.25 mile portage as thrilling after 5 years (Nora disagrees with me). However, we do both want to laugh at ourselves, get really remote, and experience the nostalgia of that first year. Have we (I) gone soft, or are we just smarter? I’ll let you be the judge.
In addition to our annual trip with the dogs, Nora and I are also leading a group of women in a Boreal Bliss Yoga Retreat this August. This is an intimate group heading up to Birchwood Wilderness Camp at the end of the Gunflint Trail. The unexpected twist for this trip is the major COVID-19 health and safety precautions and plans in place. Nevertheless, Nora and I plan to safely share our love of the BWCA with this group of women. We will all enjoy yoga, meditation, journaling, swimming, and more.
Because the bwca is so near and dear to us, please check out the following:
Save the BWCA
The Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters is leading the effort to ensure permanent protection for the Boundary Waters Wilderness, America's most visited Wilderness and Minnesota's crown jewel, from proposed sulfide-ore copper mining. Boreal Bliss Yoga Retreats is now part of the Save the BWCA Business Coalition. Please visit www.savetheboundarywaters.org and support in anyway you can.
Leave No Trace Principles
The Seven Principles of Leave No Trace provide an easily understood framework of minimum impact practices for anyone visiting the outdoors. Although Leave No Trace has its roots in backcountry settings, the Principles have been adapted so that they can be applied anywhere — from remote wilderness areas, to local parks and even in your own backyard. They also apply to almost every recreational activity. Each Principle covers a specific topic and provides detailed information for minimizing impacts. Read more here: https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/
