Chemo-Man Survives the BWCA

My family and I are back from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and I’m happy to report we all survived. However, I did injure my leg and probably won’t be running for at least a couple of days. While swimming in Cherokee Lake I smashed my shin on a rock. That may have started the injury. Then later a strong pain started to develop and strengthen during portages, where I carried both a canoe and portage pack over some very rough terrain. I think the injury is a muscle or tendon in the shin area. I’ll try icing it and babying it for a couple of days. Hopefully it will heal fast so I can get back on my training schedule.

My family and I had the most wonderful time in the BWCA. I wouldn’t describe it as a vacation, but rather an adventure. It’s very hard work and there are elements of danger. It requires careful decision making and problem solving to stay out of trouble. The portages through the dense forest are not marked, thus finding them requires some detective work. Then you have to figure out the safest way to approach the portage, make your landing, get out of the canoe and unload. You don’t want to ram a Kevlar canoe into the shore; otherwise a sharp rock could puncture it. So landings involve getting as close as possible then stepping out into the lake. But watch out! You could sink into bottomless muck, or slip on a slanted rock, off a ledge and into an Abyss. Some portage landings have deep drop offs with only a narrow slanted, slippery slimly green shelf to step on.

On the second to the last day we did a monster 240 rod portage among other portages. Then latter in the day we couldn’t find an open campsite on our destination lake. (You can only camp at designated campsites in the BWCA). So we had to soldier on to the next lake which required trudging through another 230 rod portage. If we didn’t find a campsite on the next lake, then we would have to continue on another portage and another lake to keep looking. The problem was we getting close to the Sawbill entry point, which means easy access to the neighboring campsites and thus high chances of no vacancies. We were running out of daylight and energy. We finally found an open campsite and it was perfect. We quickly setup camp because there were sounds of thunder and it was getting dark. We started making dinner in the dark, but a storm hit with rain and heavy winds (no lighting) so we threw everything under a canoe and took refuge under some pine trees. We were so lucky we were at a camp on not on a lake when the storm hit. On the last day we encountered very strong winds that made it challenging to cross the lake without being flipped over. Everybody managed to stay dry.

We had three canoes, one for my brother and his wife, one for my oldest son (16) and my wife, and one for my youngest son (13) and me. I let my boys and wife do much of the navigation and decision making. Actually, they just did it because they knew that dad is not always right. Everyone carried heavy packs and did their part. An adventure like this is really a growth experience in many ways. I could see confidence build in my boys as they tackled challenges. The experience also brings us much closer together and will last a life time.

Expect some pictures in a few days.