Our 1995 trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area was, as in all trips, like the start of a dream. Warm days followed by clear cool nights, fabulous fishing, marvelous wildlife encounters and life-long memories of fellowship. If you've been there, you know what I mean. If you haven't, you need to go and make adventures of your own. One of our memorable stories starts like this....
Leaving the parking lot of the lake One landing in the predawn darkness, we silently threaded our way along the shores of the Kawishiwi River accompanied only by the early morning mists and the occasional haunting call of a loon. All too soon the beautiful sun started to do it's trick on the air currents and our family and friends found themselves doing a dance with the waves which were piled up by a brisk southern gale. Now, while most lakes in the BWCAW have an ample supply of sheltered paddling, we all know that there comes the time when you finally have to do battle with the Maymaygwashi as you try to cross a wide bay or round a long point while working towards your night's campsite. This trip was no exception and we were soon hugging the keel as we dug in for life and limb. After what seemed like hours of struggle, all of us arrived safely at the lower end of Lake Three and we finally found a previously overlooked campsite that, by now, looked just perfect (and safe).
Shortly after landing we had all the equipment and tents placed where they were sure to catch a glorious sunset from the top of our "perfect" site. A refreshing swim from our private rock shelf was followed by a welcome lunch and then the first of our daily fishing trips.
After everyone had returned, the fish had been cleaned and the supper dishes supposedly done, we prepared to bed down to a peaceful end of what we felt was a very full day. The kids, however, could not succumb quiet so easily as the elders and so they soon talked us all into enduring the early evening assault of "hummers" in order to enjoy some late night antics around the campfire with some fabulous star viewing thrown in for good measure.
As we watched the sun go down and the first of the evening stars appear, one of the boys remarked that some of the insects were noticeably larger than usual. It was also suddenly agreed upon that there were some winged bombers now arriving in great numbers and seemed to be intent on flying around one of our tents. The air continued to thicken considerably - to the point that breathing became a hazardous pastime! "What's going on," we speculated? Only after a flashlight was found did we discover that the "bombers" were a horde of very hungry dragonflies and their appetite had nothing to do with their normal evening's menu of mosquito entree. One of our tent guy ropes was very tightly attached to a pair of boulders from under which emerged a whole cloud of flying ants! And boy, oh boy, were they flying! Everywhere you looked, they were flying! Everywhere you tried to breathe, they were flying! We couldn't get back into the tents without being covered from head to toe and so had little choice of better cover for the moment than to huddle around the smoke of our dwindling campfire. It created quite a stir among our group for about an hour after which the "feast" was pretty much over (or so we thought). We all trudged off to a much needed night of sleep and looked forward to the start of another wonder-filled day.
As we prepared the start the next morning's breakfast, we discovered that the "feast" wasn't quite done yet. Somebody in the washing detail had forgotten to scrub all of the dishes following our evening's supper and in a large pot, with scraps of leftover beef stew, we found a thick, crunchy coating of flying ant frosting. While our guests did no harm and the pot was quickly cleaned and ready for use again, we all remarked how lucky it was that nobody got the idea of a late night snack of leftover stew!
And as we sit by the hearth, watching the last piles of snow melt into the coming streams of Spring, we dream of the days gone by and say to ourselves,........... Ah, yes, but you should hear of the stories we could tell....!
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