12/24/2000 --1/17/2001 Training trip
1/31/2001--2/06/2001  Grand Portage and the Pigeon River
2/07/2001--2/17/2001 South Fowl to Moose Lake
2/18/2001--3/8/2001 Moose Lake to Crane Lake
3/9/2001--3/16/2001 Crane Lake to Kabetogama

Posted:  3/8/2001  3:30 PM  (31 degrees F)

Tundra and I flew to Crane Lake on the snowmobile highway between the reservation and Crane Lake.  It was a very pleasant journey and despite the hard packed trail we were on the whole time we did see a lot of wildlife.  It snowed all day yesterday and did not clear up until midday today.  Everything on Trout Lake was covered in a blanket of white.  I love it when the snow covers everything because it feels like I am crossing an unnamed lake in some unexplored land. 

We set up camp about five miles from Crane Lake yesterday as the snow continued to fall.  All of a sudden the sun burst out from behind the clouds and a huge eagle came soaring over our heads.  Flapping its wings to go faster than the gusting winds screeching as it whizzed by.  I soon noticed that there was a large eagle's nest in the top of a large white pine very near our camp.  It seems strange that an eagle is guarding a nest in the middle of the winter.  Of course the days are getting longer and winter will soon give way to spring and there will be eaglets to feed.

Eagle's nest in white pine	the nests can weigh hundreds of pounds so they have to be very careful when they select a tree.

Now I will wait for Harriet to arrive.  She will get here tomorrow, but I came a day early so that I can do a radio interview for the Hibbing radio station tomorrow morning.    I guess they have dollar hamburgers at a local restaurant tonight so I might have to get a taste of local color and eat a few hamburgers!   Sitting in my room at the Norway Lodge in Crane Lake I have started to realize that soon the adventure will be over and I will have to merge back into main stream society.   I feel as if I could stay in the woods forever or at least much longer.  I guess I will have to enjoy the week that remains and remember that I can always come back to the border country for my wilderness fix.

Posted:  3/6/2001  8 PM  (20 degrees F)

Walking back to camp after a visit with some of the students from the reservation I had a wonderful chance encounter with the grand chief, the leader of the Ojibwa Nation.   As I was walking a truck stopped next to me.  A man with long gray hair and a kind, calm face remarked about my beautiful dog and asked where I was going.  This had become a common occurrence over the last few days and I soon found myself getting a ride to my camp.  The man turned out to be the grand chief, head of over 50 reservations that form the Ojibwa Nation.  He grew up in the village and had returned for a short visit to rejuvenate his spirit.  He talked as we drove towards my camp and seeing as our conversation had just begun he invited me to his house for coffee.   We talked of my trip and why I was visiting, but mostly I listened to his stories about:  his life, his people, there history, present circumstances, and future goals.   He showed me his headdress, "peace pipes" , and other ceremonial pieces.   He talked of his grandmother who is over a hundred years old and did not see a white man until she was thirteen years old.  She grew up in a wigwam moving from camp to camp.  Now she is vacationing in Florida and watched the last space shuttle take off.  Hearing him talk of being taken from his family at the age of twelve to be raised in what the government called residential schools I was totally shocked.  I had no idea that persecution of that magnitude was happening into the 1960's.  I had read about the government outlawing the religious practices of native peoples, forcing them to move to and stay on reservations, the demoralizing effects of alcohol and welfare, and "civilizing" them through missionaries and "residential schools".   However, hearing the stories first hand and seeing the painful memories evoked in the storytellers eyes  has brought home the pain and suffering that native people have dealt with and the ramifications that are still very real today. 

My visit here has been a very good one and this visit helped to answer some of the questions that had developed during my stay here.  Like me I find that people here are a bit quite and reserved, but very friendly and quick to smile and laugh.  I look forward to returning again soon to learn more from these remarkable people. 

Posted:  3/4/2001  10 AM  (21 degrees F)

Yesterday we made it to the reservation and indulged in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!  I purchased a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and a jar of jelly for about 20 dollars!  It was by far the best purchase I have made in a long time.   I have already eaten six sandwiches and will probably polish off the rest this afternoon.  The weather has been very warm the last few days.  I was startled out of a deep sleep about 5 AM yesterday by a very strange sound.  At first I thought it was a young wolf or fox crying for its mother.  It was very loud and sounded off like an alarm every ten seconds or so.  This went on for several minutes before I finally was awake enough to realize what was making the sound.  It was an owl and it had to have been very close by because the sounds was piercing through my sleepy head.  Just about the time when I was awake enough to the point where returning to slumber was impossible the owl flew away, satisfied that it had stirred me out of bed.  I was disturbed by the fact that it was 28 degrees out side and the sun had not yet risen.  A light snow was beginning to fall and I was worried that it would turn to rain.  Rain in the winter is about as bad as it gets.  I decided to let technology come to the rescue.  I warmed up the computer battery and jumped on the Internet.  A quick look at the local forecast and radar image showed that the day would be mostly sunny.  By 10 AM we were cruising down Lac La Croix under sunny skies enjoying another wonderful day.  Ravens were everywhere yesterday, circling over head making there caw,caw,caw call which is there call for everything is cool and life is great, I couldn't agree more.  Today we are going to hang around the reservation and relax.  There is a resort about three miles west of the reservation so we might ski down and check it out as well. 

Posted:  3/1/2001  10 PM  (17 degrees F)

March Started with a bang and the temperature reached 40 degrees today.  We made good time across Iron Lake and the Bottle River and were on Lac La Croix by noon.   The sun was blazing and I was stripped down to my long underwear and was still very hot most of the day.  Around 2 PM the snow started to get heavy and stick to my snowshoes making travel very hard.  We pushed on and reached a beautiful set of pictographs where we spent nearly an hour.  Tundra slept while I searched the rock face for the harder to spot paintings.  Warm weather made the break very enjoyable.  Shortly after leaving the paintings a slight south breeze came up and helped make travel cooler.  We rounded a small point and startled a lone wolf crossing the lake.  We looked each other over from about 50 yards for a long while, his black coat shining in the setting sun.  He took off down the lake turning back every few seconds to stop and look back at us.   It was the longest wolf sighting I have experienced and was a wonderful way to end the day.  We are camped on the western most point of Coleman island.  Tomorrow we will rest and on Saturday an early start should allow us to travel the remaining ten miles to the Ojibwa village.  Remember to send me questions for the villagers.  I am looking forward to spending a few days there.

Tundra sleeping in front of the painted cliffs	Comparing my hand to prints from the past.  It is important to remember that like many works of art oils from your hands can damage them.  Never touch the paintings.

Posted:  2/27/2001  10 PM  (-5 degrees F)

I am proud to report that we covered 8 miles today.  It was not easy and Tundra and I are both tired.  Considering we only traveled ten or eleven miles in the previous three days we were hauling today.

Last night was a picture perfect night;  33 below zero, northern lights glimmering on the horizon, set against a dark, clear, starry backdrop.  It was a wonderful way to end a hard but interesting day.  Filled with: slush, open water, deep snow, bushwhacking, and oh yes pictographs!  I spent a long time marveling over the pictographs on the Basswood River.  I hope you enjoy seeing a few of the many amazing drawing.

This morning I awoke just before 6 am and started breakfast.  The sun was soon warming the tent and before we knew it we were headed towards our first narrows of the day.  The sun was beating down on us all day and it wasn't long before I was down to my long underwear top to try and stave off the heat.  We spent the day winding in and out of narrows and islands separating the many large bays of Crooked Lake.   It is a beautiful  place and I enjoy having it all to myself.  In the morning we will leave Friday Bay where we are camped and head north west into Iron Lake.

Posted: 2/25/2001  10 PM  (8 degrees F)

The Basswood River has proved to be quite a challenge.  The last two days have been the hardest so far. About a foot of snow has fallen during the last two days and it has made going very slow.  The deep snow combined with a lot of open water which I have had to bushwhack or make a trail around have made travel very hard.  Here is how a typical bushwhack goes.  I get to some open water and determine that I have to bushwhack.  I leave the sleds and scout out a trail.  Even with snowshoes I sink in about 18 inches.  Going is very slow and I have to find the best way around or over all of the downed trees, cliffs, hills, tight alder, etc.  After I find a good way to solid ice at the end of the bushwhack I go back to the sleds, trying to connect all of the zigging and zagging that I did to find my way the first time.  If I am lucky I find a pretty straight forward path to pull the sleds across.  If not, well too bad I have to pull them over any way!  After I get to the sleds, I usually take a drink of water and rest for a minute or two.  Then I start hauling the first sled across the new portage.  If it is a long bushwhack I will leave the sled after 100 yards or so and go back for the second sled and continue leap frogging until both sleds are across.  Tundra is not much help because of the deep snow and all of the obstacles such as downed trees that he can't pull the sled over.  He ends up following me back and forth six times as we break trail and shuttle sleds across.  He always looks a little confused when I turn around and go the other way but is happy to follow along.   When I get tired and frustrated I can count on Tundra being right there happy as ever to cheer me up. 

Yesterday during one of these bushwhacks we came across three otters   playing in some open water.  I was very tired and it was nice to take a few minutes to watch them watch us.  It seems like as soon as I start getting really tired or frustrated the solid ice comes into view or a beautiful scene like the otters makes me remember that there are far worse things that I could be doing.  Slow going over the past few days has made me stop and take in the immense beauty and power that surrounds me.  Most of the time we are traveling quickly through and do not trudge by the same tree over and over again.  We have made it past the last set of rapids on the Basswood River and tomorrow we will head up the long narrows into Crooked Lake.  The worst of the open water should be behind us and I hope to find the going easier. 

Posted:  2/23/2001  9 PM  (0 degrees F)

After Mike Clark headed back to Moose Lake yesterday, Tundra and I took the day off. It snowed most of the day and I spent a lot of time reading a new book The Voyageur, by Grace Lee Nute. I can picture gleeful, short, stocky, French-Canadians paddling and portaging for twelve to eighteen hours a day. They led hard lives sleeping under their canoes and eating only two meals a day.  I feel privileged to follow in their footsteps realizing that Tundra is the true voyageur.   He is the one that sleeps outside, pulls his weight all day long, and eats two meals a day.

There was not a cloud in the sky today. With the sun beating down the temperature jumped from 21 below zero to 31 above zero. Travel was good on the wind swept expanses of Basswood Lake and we were able to cover about 10 miles without much trouble. In the morning we will travel the remaining two miles to Basswood falls and follow the Basswood River into Crooked Lake. It should prove to be an interesting day.

Posted:  2/21/2001  9 PM  (14 degrees F)

Wintry weather is upon us, with a low of 34 below zero last night.  It is already 14 below at our camp on Basswood Lake.  Mike Clark, who has joined me for three days, and I just finished collecting a second round of fire wood so that we can keep the fire going and the tent cozy. 

       Wolf and fox tracks abound, but the beaver lodges have been scarce.  As we portaged into Basswood Lake from the Moose Chain I startled a Bald Eagle.  As it floated across the sky in front of me, I was reminded of summer when eagles are more abundant.  The sound of an eagle's wings beating as it drops out of a tree is something to behold. 

       Mike and I stopped to admire one of the greatest treasures in the border country this afternoon.  The area's oldest tree, a huge, gnarled cedar that is thought to be over a thousand years old.  A magical tree set in a little cove where it has stood the test of time.   

A question for the students.  What animal in the border country changes the color of its fur from season to season?

Posted:  2/19/2001  1 PM  (23 degrees F)

  Mike Clark, a teacher who is meeting me for a few days, was detained in Chicago.  He will be arriving here late tonight so Tundra and I are spending another day resting and relaxing on Moose Lake before we head north again.  It is a bright sunny day and I am looking forward to doing some exploring and maybe talking to Harriet, my girlfriend, again before we take off in the morning.  It is nice being ahead of schedule and not having to worry about how far we go each day or if we take another layover day.  This leaves a lot of time for exploration, observation, relaxation, and reflection.  I sure do enjoy this life.  Last night I talked to a room full of Boy Scouts about the adventure.  It was nice to talk to a large group of people. I left with added energy brought on by their interest and excitement.  In some ways I am ready to move on today, but I am content to enjoy my surroundings and work on the website.

Posted: 2/18/2001 4PM  (25 degrees F)

  Tundra and I enjoyed a wonderful rest day yesterday.  I did a lot of reading and Tundra did a lot of sleeping.  It was sunny all day so I was able to charge the batteries fully, which is always a nice bonus.  This morning we broke camp and traveled the remaining four miles down to the Scout Base at the south end of Moose Lake.  I am spending the afternoon calling family and friends, answering e-mails from friends and students, and getting our new supplies ready for our departure in the morning.   The next leg of the adventure is our longest about 70 miles to the reservation on Lac La Croix.  There are many Ojibwa people that live on the reservation and I am looking forward to spending a few days with them.  If you have any questions that you would like to ask the students that live on the reservation e-mail them to me so that I can ask them for you.  The weather continues to be warm and sunny and wish I was out on the trail instead of spending much of the day inside working on the computer, but that's OK there will be plenty more nice days.  The people at Northern Tier National High Adventure Base, located on Moose Lake have been very helpful and I might even take a shower and a sauna later today!  They help thousands of boy scouts visit the border country in the summer and winter.  If you would like to learn more you can visit their website www.ntier.org  .

Archive: 12/24/2000 --1/17/2001 Training trip 1/31/2001--2/06/2001  Grand Portage and the Pigeon River 2/07/2001--2/17/2001 South Fowl to Moose Lake 2/18/2001--3/8/2001 Moose Lake to Crane Lake 3/9/2001--3/16/2001 Crane Lake to Kabetogama