Boundary Waters Photos Part III--The Burn Zone

It's still fun to tip over canoes, even in a burn zone. 

Fire damage. 

This is what we saw for two days--the remnants of the Cavity Lake Fire that sparked with lightning on July 14. It burned 38 square miles. (Scroll down to my 9/12 article for more on the fire). 

Entering Mordor. 

Joel and Brian give each other courage before jumping off a 15-foot rock. 

Boundary Waters Photos Part II (Scroll down to 9/12 posts for more photos and an article)

The Fearless Explorers: (from left) Joel, Brian, Paul, Andy, Sus and Stephanie 

I believe Brian took this photo. The campfire ban was lifted the very day we trekked into the wilderness, which made cooking simpler as we didn't have to mess with our stove. However, we did find flecks of ashes and cinders in our food! Sus did a great job planning the food. We feasted on steaks and mashed potatoes and toasted sausage egg muffins and tuna sandwiches and all sorts of other yummy food that was about 100 times better than standard dehydrated camp fare. 

Andy the Englishman insisted on bringing along an American flag and hanging it at all camp sites. This may have been because Canada was across the lake. Andy was not allowed to visit Canada. So he showed good old American patriotism instead. 

Such a blue, blue lake! There's no better place to view it than from a canoe. 

OK, it's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure that this is the young bald eagle we saw when we first started out. (Joel took this picture). Seeing as how we didn't really see any other wildlife on the trip--thanks to the fire--this must be the bald eagle! (We did see dozens of loons). 

There's no place like the Boundary Waters! (Even though you can see the burned area on the far shore). This camp site on Red Rock Lake was still somewhat green, and the island in the middle of the lake was completely untouched by fire. It was bizarre to have miles of devastation with these little pockets of lush green life. 

Tomorrow May Not Be

Tonight I watched my first real Bollywood flick (unless you count "Bride and Prejudice. I don't).

I saw "Kal Ho Naa Ho" or "Tomorrow May Not Be." It's about an uptight gal named Naina who has family problems. Then a new guy called Amman moves in next door and teaches Naina to love life. Meanwhile, she's got a best friend (a guy) called Rohit who certainly complicates matters. The relationships become the ultimate love triangle.

This is an unbelievably melodramatic film where the characters often break into song and dance with passersby on the street. Several of the plot devices are unrealistic, but since when has Bollywood been about realism?

Yet I liked it. There was much beauty, comedy and pathos to this over-the-top production, despite all of the obvious cliches. I wish I had someone else here to talk it over with. Anybody else seen this film?

Link to IMDB site:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0347304/

Boundary Waters photo blitz! (Scroll down for text)

When preparing to go on a canoe trip, it's very important to practice lifting heavy objects ahead of time--like the giant fiberglass cows one finds throughout Wisconsin. 

Andy and Sus confer. 

Sus the Photographer, Joel, Brian and Stephanie take it easy as Andy and Paul (not shown) do all the work. 

The burned areas were desolate, but the water was still sparkling and crystal clear. And great for swimming! 

We had great fun jumping off of very large rocks. Here Brian shows off his canonball form. (Brian was the only adventurer who managed to do a real dive off a tall rock--although he went for a simple jump here). 

Joel, Stephanie, Paul, Andy and Brian blink blearily for Sus the Camerawoman after staring up at the amazing display of stars AND at the Northern Lights. 

Sunrise over a northern lake is a lovely sight, even in a burn zone. 

Paul shows off his sunburn (and begs for a ride) as we prepare to head back down the Gunflint Trail towards Grand Marais. 

Joel limbers up in an Arby's before we head out to the wilderness. 

Intrepid drivers Stephanie and Sus head 12 hours there (and 12 hours back again). 

A different Boundary Waters experience

A travel article I wrote (that didn't appear online)
I sat on a huge white rock that sloped down towards the lapping blue
water. So far, so good. But then I lifted my gaze to the land across
the lake, where a 34-mile wildfire had burned itself out only two weeks
before.

Instead of the crowded green hues of Superior National Forest, I saw
burnt-orange desolation. Huge chunks of earth were lifted out of the
ground, revealing the complex root systems of charred trees that had
crashed down. The perfume of pines was replaced by the smell of one
tremendous campfire.

This was not the Boundary Waters I knew and loved.

News of the Cavity Lake fire, set off by lightning on July 14, never
trickled down to my friends and me. As the fire raged, we sat
blissfully unaware in a stifling Rogers Park apartment and planned our
three-day canoe trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA).
However, despite the surprise challenge of two days camping and
canoeing in a fire zone, the Boundary Waters charmed me once more on
this, my third, visit.

The BWCA is a one-million acre wilderness preserve that stretches
between Ontario and northern Minnesota. Each year thousands of campers
canoe along 1,200 miles of water trails, portaging their canoes and
packs across land bridges that connect hundreds of lakes and rivers.
Yet despite its many visitors, the BWCA looks much as it did when the
French Voyageurs paddled their fur-heaped canoes through the waterways.

These days, primitive campsites feature a firepit, grate and pit
latrine shielded only by trees. Hikers must pack out everything they
pack in to keep the land untouched. The water is clear, the fishing
plentiful and the forests teem with life.

One trip five years ago, I slipped away from my group and took a canoe
out alone in the magical, still moments just after sunset. As my oars
flashed through a lake of glowing glass, beavers splashed on either
side of me and a loon called eerily.

On Aug. 16, the six of us drove 12 hours to the northeastern tip of
Minnesota and arrived at sunset in Grand Marais, a charming town built
along Lake Superior. After a quick dinner at the unabashedly kitschy
Sven and Ole’s pizzeria (one offering, “Da Vild Vun,” comes topped with
wild rice), we drove up the Gunflint Trail until we were just a lake
away from Canada. There we draped our sleeping bags over a rented cabin
floor and enjoyed the convenience of indoor plumbing for one more
night.

The next morning we pulled our canoes into Saganaga Lake and were off.
Only we weren’t. Not with a bolt of speed, anyway. One of the pleasures
of a canoe trip is that you are forced to slow down to the steady,
splashing pace of paddling. Conversation among our lively bunch of
young adults also slowed down as we consulted our map and entered the
wilderness.

Our first turn was a wrong turn (compass and map skills are a must in
the BWCA) but it was a serendipitous mistake, because we spotted a bald
eagle flying low towards a nearby island, shrieking. We quietly pulled
up alongside the island to see three adult bald eagles and one
youngster perched among the trees and rocks.

After lunch on an obliging island, we catapulted into the water for
swimming. Our afternoon paddle was a hard pull against a strong
headwind, so we were happy that evening to pitch our tents and enjoy
our campfire.

Since we only had three days, the group chose an easy route that took
us through four lakes with just two portages. I discovered with
pleasure the lightness of kevlar compared to aluminum when I hoisted a
canoe and carried it myself up and down a hill.

It was on the second day out that we entered the fire zone, a dramatic
contrast to the healthy forest a few steps behind us on the portage
path. The fire had been fueled by miles of dead trees that were felled
in a massive 1999 windstorm and, despite years of prescribed burning to
reduce fire risk near the Gunflint Trail, July’s Cavity Lake fire was
the “big one” that forestry officials had been dreading for seven
years.

After an hour of canoeing through a stark landscape, we found a
campsite that was still mostly green. Yet as I sat on a rock
overlooking miles of devastation, my attempts at optimistic thoughts
of, “This is how the forest regenerates,” and “We need fire to create
new life,” were drowned in sadness. I couldn’t help comparing the scene
around me to J.R.R. Tolkien’s bleak landscape of Mordor.

But then I began to notice the spring-green shoots of aspen, birch,
ferns and grass that were already coming up out of the ashes. I saw,
for the first time, the spectacular white stones anchoring the points
and islands. The rocks, like the lakes, are reminders of the glaciers
that carved out the BWCA so long ago.

Camping in a burn zone was a forceful reminder that nature is its own
force and does not exist solely for human entertainment.

It was on our final evening that a pile of the big white stones
provided a majestic perch for viewing the unspoiled night sky. We
spread out across the rocks watching first the bright blaze of
thousands of stars and then, in wonder, the Aurora Borealis.

It was my first time seeing the Northern Lights and I was enraptured by
the hours-long display of quivering, changing, blue and pink lights
that spread out first in vertical stripes and then in a horizontal
plain over the horizon. Three of my friends spent the night on the rock
in their sleeping bags but, wary of mosquitos, I chose the tent.
(Unlike my previous trips, however, the bugs were barely noticeable on
this visit, possibly because of the fire).

Sunday morning we were up before dawn for a quick breakfast and to
break camp. Two hours of paddling later, we’d left the burn zone behind
and reached our exit point. After one last swim we were back in the car
for another excruciatingly long drive. We were tired, dirty, a little
sore and absolutely content.

And we’re already talking about next year.

A Boundary Waters teaser photo: Brian dives off a 15-foot rock into sparkling blue waters on the border of Minnesota and Canada. More photos (and stories!) to come. I apologize to all of my fans (both of you) for my lack of posting lately.