Two days after returning from the boundary waters, and it still feels strange to be back in civilization. I can't remember feeling like this the last time I took a trip of this sort, perhaps because it was too long ago, or perhaps because this is one of the longest stints I've done in one shot of very rustic camping. I am beginning to understand Laura's comments about it being hard to remember to flush toilets (neither the camp, and defininitely not the campsites, have flush toilets, they're all latrines and GL's (government latrines - wall-less latrines). And I can't imagine doing that for a summer, I noticed a culture shock after one week. It makes me want to experience that way of life for longer - there is something powerful about realizing how little one can actually live on.
Now some more background - I just spent the last seven days in the boundary waters northwest of Grand Marais, MN, with a small group of girls on an adventure trip. We left last Friday and returned on Thursday - it's going to feel weird to go back to work tomorrow and again on Tuesday. I'm going to do my best to tell the story of the trip here, and recap each day as well as I can remember it.
Friday - I woke up at 3:50 am, my goal being to get ready, grab my last minute things, and pick up one of the girls on the way to the church to meet the rest of the crew. I left my apartment at 4:27am, picked her up, and was at the church a little after 4:30. The girls showed up one by one, and after hugs, well wishes, and a prayer, (we had packed the trailer the night before - an act of pure genious) we actually made it out of town by 5am...my goal. We watched the sun rise over I-90, and stopped in Albert Lea (our first bathroom break of many). One of the girls found a moth that entertained us for a bit, and then we embarked on 4 hours up I-35. We made it past the cities, stopped for gas and grabbed some breakfast in Wyoming, MN, and headed for Duluth. It only took us 5 hours to get there - and then we were off to Grand Marais, about another hour and a half. We stopped in Grand Marais for lunch at Subway (where I learned to back up the trailer), and then took a little time to call parents to let them know we'd made it that far, mostly because cell phone coverage was uncertain the rest of the way up, took a step into Lake Superior (captured on my digital camera), and then phoned the camp to let them know we were on our way. We took off up the Gunflint Trail, and a roadside potty stop, three moose, and an hour and 20 minutes later, we arrived at the camp as rain started to fall. We met Laura, our guide, and loaded our gear on a pontoon and ourselves into a Northland canoe, and paddled to the main camp. We gathered ourselves and our gear and headed up to our cabin - Beavertail. After claiming bunks, we headed off to Pinecliff, where we played Apples to Apples until supper, had a delicious pasta meal, and then went back to the cabin. We had Last Word that night in the form of a Bluegrass version of the Holden Evening Prayer service...bleah. A cool concept, but not well executed...the leaders didn't know the whole thing well, and none of us knew it at all. We headed back to the cabin, and chatted a little about the next morning, then heard a story about Agate the Moose, and went to bed (or at least tried...the girls weren't tired because they'd slept on the way...I, on the other hand, was exhausted after being up for close to 20 hours).
Saturday - Next morning was First Word bright and early at 7am...then breakfast, then orientation. First was Health orientation, then Nature orientation, then Swim and Swamp - where we learned how to get a flipped canoe righted and brought back to shore. We dried off and headed to lunch, ate, and then helped with dishes. We were about to start our work day (finally), but then it started to rain, so we helped out in the kitchen for a bit instead. The rain subsided after a while, so we headed up to one of the former buiding sites to clean and pick up the rubble, and after about an hour at that, it started pouring. We ran to one of the staff cabins and sat on the floor, where we ended up laughing so hard we were crying after telling stories of the previous night's excitement - one of the girls talking/walking in her sleep and looking for plug-ins that she and her sister couldn't find - and asking Laura for help. Eventually, the sun came out again, and we finished up in time to head to supper, with hopes of a dip in the lake afterwards to wash off the layers of soot and dirt that we had accumulated. Our plans changed a bit after learning we were going to do the Bluegrass worship again, so rather than a dip, we headed down to the dock to wash off faces and legs and arms instead. Then it was back to the cabin to pack, and sleep to be ready for the next morning.
Installment one...more to follow tomorrow.
Now some more background - I just spent the last seven days in the boundary waters northwest of Grand Marais, MN, with a small group of girls on an adventure trip. We left last Friday and returned on Thursday - it's going to feel weird to go back to work tomorrow and again on Tuesday. I'm going to do my best to tell the story of the trip here, and recap each day as well as I can remember it.
Friday - I woke up at 3:50 am, my goal being to get ready, grab my last minute things, and pick up one of the girls on the way to the church to meet the rest of the crew. I left my apartment at 4:27am, picked her up, and was at the church a little after 4:30. The girls showed up one by one, and after hugs, well wishes, and a prayer, (we had packed the trailer the night before - an act of pure genious) we actually made it out of town by 5am...my goal. We watched the sun rise over I-90, and stopped in Albert Lea (our first bathroom break of many). One of the girls found a moth that entertained us for a bit, and then we embarked on 4 hours up I-35. We made it past the cities, stopped for gas and grabbed some breakfast in Wyoming, MN, and headed for Duluth. It only took us 5 hours to get there - and then we were off to Grand Marais, about another hour and a half. We stopped in Grand Marais for lunch at Subway (where I learned to back up the trailer), and then took a little time to call parents to let them know we'd made it that far, mostly because cell phone coverage was uncertain the rest of the way up, took a step into Lake Superior (captured on my digital camera), and then phoned the camp to let them know we were on our way. We took off up the Gunflint Trail, and a roadside potty stop, three moose, and an hour and 20 minutes later, we arrived at the camp as rain started to fall. We met Laura, our guide, and loaded our gear on a pontoon and ourselves into a Northland canoe, and paddled to the main camp. We gathered ourselves and our gear and headed up to our cabin - Beavertail. After claiming bunks, we headed off to Pinecliff, where we played Apples to Apples until supper, had a delicious pasta meal, and then went back to the cabin. We had Last Word that night in the form of a Bluegrass version of the Holden Evening Prayer service...bleah. A cool concept, but not well executed...the leaders didn't know the whole thing well, and none of us knew it at all. We headed back to the cabin, and chatted a little about the next morning, then heard a story about Agate the Moose, and went to bed (or at least tried...the girls weren't tired because they'd slept on the way...I, on the other hand, was exhausted after being up for close to 20 hours).
Saturday - Next morning was First Word bright and early at 7am...then breakfast, then orientation. First was Health orientation, then Nature orientation, then Swim and Swamp - where we learned how to get a flipped canoe righted and brought back to shore. We dried off and headed to lunch, ate, and then helped with dishes. We were about to start our work day (finally), but then it started to rain, so we helped out in the kitchen for a bit instead. The rain subsided after a while, so we headed up to one of the former buiding sites to clean and pick up the rubble, and after about an hour at that, it started pouring. We ran to one of the staff cabins and sat on the floor, where we ended up laughing so hard we were crying after telling stories of the previous night's excitement - one of the girls talking/walking in her sleep and looking for plug-ins that she and her sister couldn't find - and asking Laura for help. Eventually, the sun came out again, and we finished up in time to head to supper, with hopes of a dip in the lake afterwards to wash off the layers of soot and dirt that we had accumulated. Our plans changed a bit after learning we were going to do the Bluegrass worship again, so rather than a dip, we headed down to the dock to wash off faces and legs and arms instead. Then it was back to the cabin to pack, and sleep to be ready for the next morning.
Installment one...more to follow tomorrow.
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