| |
|
|
Week 1 Updates Week
2 UpdatesWeek
3 Updates
Week 4 UpdatesWeek
5 Updates Week
6 Updates
Week 7 Updates
|
Previous
weather data
| Posted:
10/10/2002 9 PM Manitou Rapids, Ontario |
Temp
F
|
50 |
Barometric
Pressure
|
30.2 |
|
|
|
Number
of eagles spotted today
|
17 |
%Humidity
|
67 |
Distance
Traveled (miles)
|
17 |
Hours
of travel
|
7.5 |
Alexander MacKenzie once said that the Rainy River is one
of the finest rivers in all of the Canadian North West.
During the past two days, we have let its gentle current
carry us toward Lake of the Woods. The forest has undergone
serious changes. Gone are the pine
and cedar
shorelines we have become accustomed to during our last
three weeks of travel. The Rainy River's shoreline is dotted
with colorful Birch,
Ash, and Maple trees. The forest is more open and the shore
is muddy and sandy. We have both remarked on several occasions
how reminiscent it is of large sections of the Mississippi
River.
We woke up this morning and were greeted by a man out walking
his dog. All of us were quite surprised to see each other,
including the dog. The man, Merv, was very interested in
our journey thus far and was also a wealth of information
about the river's history.
|
Click photo to enlarge
As we portaged through downtown Fort Frances we could help
but laugh when we came across Portage Avenue - proving once
again that we are not the first to follow this path! |
Click photo to enlarge
Last night we found these tracks in the mud by our campsite.
Do you know what type of animal made these tracks? |
Click photo to enlarge
Today we came across this pile of bones along the river.
We even found the skull hidden in the tall grass. Let us know
what kind of animal we found. Post you answers to the message
board. |
|
Merv told us of a Hudson's Bay Company fur post that was
constructed in 1793. It was only used for two years though.
When the North West Company, fierce rival of the Hudson's
Bay Company, learned of the fort, they built their own fort
only three hundred yards away. The competition between the
two companies was very fierce and very serious.
The students from St. Mary's informed us that some frogs
freeze in the winter and then thaw out in the spring! Today
we found dozens of these frogs hopping around in the woods.
Last night a persistent little hopper kept hopping back into
our tent after being tossed out numerous times!
|
|
Click photo to enlarge
After a lot of bushwhacking, we were able to locate this
long lost Hudson's Bay fur post. Where was the Hudson's Bay
Company headquarters? How about the North West Company's headquarters? |
We spent an hour or so looking for traces of the
old forts. Being over 200 years old though, we weren't getting
our hopes up to find much. We did however, find traces of what
we believe was the chimney of the Hudson's Bay post. Reduced
to a small pile of rocks covered in moss, the chimney must have
warmed the men through the cold winters. Finding physical examples
of history really makes it come alive. It's easy to drift back
to 1793 while paddling. We agree with Sigurd Olson when he writes,"The
way of the canoe is the way of the wilderness and of a freedom
almost forgotten, the open door to waterways of ages past and
a way of life with profound and abiding satisfactions."
Under cloudless skies with the rivers steady current helping
us along we could not be any more satisfied. |
Previous
weather data
| Posted:
10/08/2002 9PM Fort Francis, Ontario |
Temp
F
|
42 |
Barometric
Pressure
|
29.2 |
|
|
|
Number
of showers taken
|
2 |
%Humidity
|
87 |
Distance
Traveled (miles)
|
0 |
Hours
of travel
|
0 |
|
After three weeks of paddling through wilderness waterways,
our route has brought us to Fort Francis, Ontario. Fort St.
Pierre, a small wintering post, was built by the French in
1731.
As the fur trade spread northwestward from the Great Lakes
and Hudson Bay in the eighteenth century, an organized system
of transportation and supply formed over a 3000-mile canoe
route between Montreal and Fort Chipewyan on the shores of
remote Lake Athabaska.
|
Click To Enlarge
Fort St. Pierre still sits on the shore of Rainy Lake. It
greeted us like it would have any other passing canoe brigades
(except for the celebratory canonfire!). The fort's wall and
towers welcomed us into our first glimpse of a city in almost
350 miles of endless canoe country. |
| The "Voyageur's Highway" that threaded
this vast northern wilderness included some 120 exhausting portages,
200 treacherous rapids, and 50 lakes large enough that stormy
weather could imperil even the huge 36' Montrealer canoes. At
Rainy Lake, which now separates the US from Canada, voyageurs
traveling from far outposts in the Interior who could not make
the journey to Grand Portage and back before freeze up met crews
on the westward journey from Montreal, exchanged cargoes at
Fort St. Pierre. Fort St. Pierre was later changed to Fort Francis,
and the city was born. |
Click to Enlarge
Fort Frances, ONT and International Falls, MN are home to
some very large paper plants. The paper plants use logs from
the boreal forest to create the pulp needed to produce the tons
of paper. The paper plants were a sure sign that we were leaving
the wilderness (at least for a little while). We'll be excited
to get back in the canoe, and head down the Rainy River. |
We have enjoyed a day of rest and the chance to
catch up on e-mail, answer messages on the message board, and
do all of the other things that are hard to do while traveling
through the wilderness. Our most recent poll indicates that
we should continue traveling at the same pace in our quest to
reach Winnipeg before freeze up. It feels really strange to
walk down the street surrounded by sights, sounds, and smells
that are unheard of in the wilderness. We are excited to get
back on the trail tomorrow after our chat and look forward to
the adventures that the Rainy River are sure to provide. |
Previous
weather data
| Posted:
10/06/2002 9PM High Falls, Kaman River |
Temp
F
|
38 |
Barometric
Pressure
|
30.2 |
|
|
|
Number
of times it has snowed in the last 5 days!
|
2 |
%Humidity
|
49 |
Distance
Traveled (miles)
|
18 |
Hours
of travel
|
8 |
Click
to enlarge
Watching the leaves change is one of the best reasons to
travel by canoe in the Fall. |
We slept well on Thursday night. The lull of High Falls and
the steady pattering of rain on the tent induced the deep
sleep needed to relax our sore muscles. The rain also served
as an alarm clock the next morning as it picked up the relentless
force that it carried throughout the day.
Friday was spent paddling the last section of the Namakan
River, struggling to stay dry and warm. After a few hours
though, we accepted our cold, damp fate, spurred on only by
the thought of a nice warm tent and a cup of tea that would
end the day. The Namakan River twists and turns its way until
eventually depositing itself into the giant Namakan Lake.
|
| After lunch the wind began to stir the water into
a frenzy. Waves were getting bigger as each minute passed. Each
paddle stroke was a fight to stay on course. If we were to drift
off course, waves could easily crash into the canoe, or worse
yet, tip us over into the dark, icy water. We ducked between
islands that offered us refuge from the wind and pounding waves.
Soon we would run out of the protective islands, left to battle
the weather in open water. |
Click
to enlarge
October weather in the north woods can be strange: snow
one minute, warm sunshine the next. Taking advantage of a
sunny afternoon to recharge our computer batteries with solar
energy. |
Click
to enlarge
We have been seeing a lot of these birds on portage trails
and in our camp sites. If you think you know what type of
bird it is post your answer to the message
board. |
A concerned gentleman left the warmth and security
of his cabin to come check on us. He donned raingear and pulled
his fishing boat along side our canoe. He asked if we were looking
for a campsite and warned us of the dangers that storms bring
to Namakan Lake. In our cold and wet state, we must have looked
desperate. However, since we had only covered ten miles, we
felt that in order to stay on schedule we would have to keep
going. He told us of a campsite on an island just ahead and
wished us luck. |
|
We dipped our paddles in deeper, determined not to let a
little rain and wind slow us down. However after passing the
campsite the man had mentioned, the wind picked up even more
force, causing the lake to roar with white-capped, canoe-sinking
waves. We accepted defeat and hastened a retreat back to the
campsite. In the immortal words of Kenny Rogers," You
gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em".
We set up camp quickly and within an hour, we were warming
ourselves by the woodstove, reading, napping and of course,
snacking.
|
Click
to enlarge
We let this monster go so that it can grow even bigger!
Do you know what Smallmouth Bass like to eat? Post your answers
to the message
board so we can try to catch some more. |
|
|
Traveling through the large lakes that make up Voyageurs
National Park has really made us feel like true voyageurs.
Yesterday we stopped to talk with a few fisherman for a minute
and they exclaimed," you are following the route of the
voyageurs!" I think that no one explains this feeling
better than Calvin Rutstrum, an author and longtime wilderness
traveler."If the plight of the voyagers seems awesome
just to imagine, we truly begin to comprehend their great
adventure when we journey into wilderness lakes that require
days on end to cross with canoe and paddle."
We have been seeing and hearing some frogs lately as well.
What do frogs do in the winter? Do they hibernate, or live
under the ice? Let
us know what you think.
|
|
|
|
The Wilderness Classroom Organization
4605 Grand Ave.
Western Springs, IL 60558
(630) 204-0420
All content copyright (c) The Wilderness Classroom, 2002. All
rights reserved.
|
|
