Had a fun little camping trip this weekend. My folks arrived on Friday night and on Saturday morning we (my parents, my Wonderful Bride, and Super Kid) got the final gear packed and hit the road in two vehicles. We wound our way north and went to a Forest Service campground near Ely. The campground was fairly quiet and the sites were pretty nice. We got camp set up, had some lunch, and then hit the beach. The wind was blowing out of the south pretty strong, but it was warm and the swimming was nice. We relaxed in camp that afternoon and listened to the Twins game. After a supper of pesto noodles, mom, dad, and I took the canoe out for an evening spin. It was a pleasant night, but the fish were not found. We enjoyed a campfire and popcorn that night.
On Sunday we ate breakfast and then mom, dad, and I drove to a nearby BWCAW entry point for a day trip. We portaged the 3-person canoe and our fishing gear the 200 rods to the lake. The landing at the end of the portage was a quagmire of mud. There was only one way to get the canoe launched-we had to wade in the mud that was up to our thighs. It was again very windy, and we were confined to fishing the channel/river between a small lake and a big lake. Dad caught a walleye and a big crappie, but both flipped out of his hands before he got them on the stringer. The wind cut the trip short on a hot sunny day. We made the portage back to the truck and got back to camp around 2:30pm. We immediately gathered up my Wonderful Bride and Super Kid and hit the beach again. We had the place to ourselves as we washed the mud off. Listened to the Twins again and then had a supper of red beans and rice with sauteed Northern Waters Smokehaus Salamini and some fresh peppers from my mom's garden. We had a rousing game of 4-handed cribbage that night.
On Monday morning we woke to a small rain shower and got camp packed up. The sun came out and it was a hot day as we checked out another campground's sites on the way to Ely. In Ely we bought showers from an outfitter and then checked out the International Wolf Center, which was very nice. We ate lunch and then did some shopping. From there, the folks and family went back to Duluth and I headed up the back roads from Ely to International Falls for a work meeting. I checked out the sites in three more USFS campgrounds on the way.
Nature Moment: Our campsite was full of wildlife-squirrels, chipmunks, and voles. The squirrels in particular were interesting-one gathered pine cones from a nearby tree and buried them in a hole on the other side of camp continuously. Back and forth with a pine cone carried each return trip. Must have carried over a hundred pine cones over the course of the weekend.
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