Out of the woods

We are in Duluth, two days after emerging from the woods. Dan and I spent three nights in the Boundary Waters wilderness. It had been a long time since I had been canoe camping, and Dan had never done it.


Dan fills his water bottle with our filter pump while a beaver swims by in the upper-right corner - a living warning of the dangers of unfiltered water! (the beaver, I mean).



Things got a bit interesting our last night when we noticed the unmistakable plume of a forest fire wafting over our camp.



As we paddled towards the resort the next day, it seemed to get bigger. Not very comforting, and we weren't organized/competent enough to fix the location by taking multiple bearings. It felt like we were paddling right into a fire, and the smoke, falling ashes and overwhelming smell of burning tree weren't comforting. Fortunately, the fire - which is now called the Cavity Lake Fire, and is still growing - was about 7 miles northwest of our destination.



Here I await the truck from the resort at the final landing; Dan had to hike up to the resort to fetch them.

I will have more later, but you should visit Dan's place to see a more detailed retelling of our adventures. (OOPS- Bad link, now fixed)