July 21 - July 29, 2000
Troop 764 Crew Journal #2
(the Scouts' story!)
Crew #: E072200G
St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church
Dunwoody, Georgia
Crew Members:
Mitch S, Crew Leader
Matt P, Asst. Crew Leader & Navigator
Matt F, Navigator
Justin C, Historian & Chef
Scott O, Chaplain Aide & Medic Adults:
Earl Owens, Lead Adviser
Steve French, Advisor
Paul Porwoll, Advisor
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Click on any of the photos for a full-sized picture!
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Day 1 - Atlanta to Ely, Minnesota (July 21)
 World's Largest Hockey Stick |
Day 2 - Ely to Northern Tier
(July 22)
 Crew Photo |
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Day 3 - Sommers to Birch Lake (July 23)  Lunch Time Swim |
Day 4 - Birch Lake to Kekekabic Lake (July 24)  Portage |
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Day 5 - Kekekabic Lake to Ima Lake (July 25)  Peaceful Waterway |
Day 6 - Layover Day at Ima Lake (July 26)  A Walleye! |
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Day 7 - Ima Lake to Newfound Lake (July 27)  Jumping Rock |
Day 8 - Newfound Lake to Sommers (July 28)  The Swing! |
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Day 9 - Sommers to Atlanta (July 29)  Sun Sets On Our Trip |
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| See the entire photo album -- Click here! |
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The Wildlife We Saw On Our Trip: |
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bald eagles loons otters turkey vultures |
ruffed grouse chipmunks great blue heron beavers |
black ducks herring gulls turtles white birds (with black heads?) |
rabbits field mouse pelican owl (heard it) |
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We did not see: |
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wolves (at IWC only) moose bears |
coyotes deer snakes |
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Day One - Friday, July 21
Atlanta, Georgia, to Ely, Minnesota:
Because the flight out of Hartsfield International did not leave until 12:20 PM, five of the crew members decided to meet for a hearty breakfast at Waffle House that morning. Peter Schenck, our comrade from Philmont, gladly joined us as well. After the big breakfasts we all left, four of us rejoin again at 9:45 AM in the Dunwoody Marta Station for the ride down to the airport. At around 10:45 PM we arrive at the airport and those who have baggage to check in, do so. Afterwards we head towards the gate, and upon arriving there greet the Owens, and Mitch. The plane does lift off at 12:20 PM with no delays, and we enjoy a small lunch. We land at the Minneapolis airport at 1:35 PM (CST) and proceed to the baggage claim. Unfortunately we find out that the French’s priceless fishing pole does not arrive with us. This puts quite a damper on our trip. After waiting another half-hour at the car rental checkout we finally leave the airport around 3:20 PM. Mr. Porwoll is driving Mr. French, Matt F. and Justin in one car while Mr. Owens is driving Scott, Mitch and Matt P. in the other. On the way up to Ely we stop at Subway for dinner and Dairy Queen next door for dessert. Meanwhile Mr. Porwoll and Mr. French run into Wal-Mart to buy another fishing pole for Mr. French to use. No sooner do we leave dinner than we come upon the world’s largest hockey stick, in Eveleth, MN. Once we arrive at it we take some pictures and continue on our way. We at last pull in to the Boundary Waters Motel in Ely at 8:20 PM. The adults decide to go cruising around Ely in the cars while the boys choose to walk the strip, watching in awe as the motor scooter guy rolls up and down the strip. Plus we all have another treat at Dairy Queen, the local hangout spot. At the end of the day we all come in to our "bunkhouse", a room with six bunk beds and two showers (one working), and turn off the lights at 10:45 PM.
Day Two - Saturday, July 22
Ely, Minnesota, to Canoe Base:
Most of us wake up around 6:45 AM, but Justin is up bright and early at 5:30 AM getting in an early shower! We all take our time using the shower and checking out the outfitter store in the front of the motel. We head for breakfast at Britton’s Café around 8 AM and enjoy a fabulous feast. Afterwards we head to the International Wolf Center, just outside of Ely. There we learn much about wolves and even get to "Meet the Pups" in a special presentation involving two Artic Wolf pups. We then go to lunch at Hardees, stopping by the Dorothy Molter (a local legend) Museum to take some pictures first. We arrive at the Northern Tier Canoe Base at 1:00 PM and promptly meet our "Charlie Guide", Curt Gibbs, from Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Owens goes with Curt to turn in necessary paperwork while the rest of the crew looks at different maps of the area. Curt then takes us to our hexagon cabin, which has only four beds and four cots. After that we go over to the Commissary and pick out our food and go over to the Bay Post and pick out our gear. We had earlier determined to take two 4-man tents and one 2-man tent for our eight-man crew. So, we take our tents and set them up outside to make sure they are in good condition. Once confirming their merit, Mr. French jumps into one of the cars and drives back to the Ely airport in town to retrieve his fishing pole that the airline has finally delivered. Meanwhile the rest of the crew look over a map and decide the itinerary for our trip. We originally wanted to head out west of base, but after discussing the pros and cons with Curt, we vote on going east. We then hang out at the trading post until dinner at 5 PM and end up buying some neat things. Dinner is excellent and consists of both ravioli and fried fish. We take our Crew Picture after dinner and then go to the Orientation and Chapel service. At the orientation they tell us of a storm that came through on July 4, 1999, and blew down many of the trees in the area. We had already seen some damage back by our cabin. The chapel service is very uplifting, as the chaplain tells of two different courageous stories, both involving atrocities that happened to Northern Tier crews during the storm in 1999. Once the service is over we head back to our cabin for a shakedown of our gear. When everyone finishes the shaken-down of their gear we go to take our camp items and put them into the car trunks. Unfortunately Mr. Owens cannot find his wallet and does not get into bed until 10 PM. The crew members that went this year all know what happened later, but for those of you reading this not in our crew I will try to best explain what occurred. The temperature inside of the cabin must have been at least 85 degrees to start out with, plus the screens all had holes in them, which of course did not stop the wild mosquitoes. On top of all that half of the crew was sleeping on thin mattresses while the other half slept on shoddy cots. Mr. French was having a snoring contest with Mr. Porwoll at one point, and Justin appeared to be choking on something or drowning while he was sleeping. The only person that really slept that night was Scott, and well, Scott is like that. We had planned to wake up at 6 AM but we can all remember hoping that it was already 6 AM so that we could get up. We have rightly named this night, the Night of Hell.
Day Three - Sunday, July 23
Canoe Base > Moose Lake > Newfound Lake > Sucker Lake > Birch Lake:
We all get up at 6 AM and hurriedly pack up and head for breakfast. Breakfast in the morning includes waffles and hashbrowns. We meet Curt for breakfast and then tidy up at the cars where Mr. Owens ends up finding his wallet. We then went to the Bay Post to retrieve our gear, fuel, and packs. Afterward we go to the commissary and pick up our food. We quickly grab paddles, PFDs, and three canoes and head down to the water. At our shakedown trip at Lake Alatoona earlier in the year, we had discussed the canoe arrangements, Justin, Mitch, and Matt P. were in one, the three adults in another, and Scott and Matt F. were with Curt. We leave the base around 9:30 AM and paddle across Moose Lake. After Moose Lake we paddle into Newfound Lake, where we see an unlucky canoe get swamped by a passing motorboat. Luckily the motorboat turns around and helps get the canoe and guys back upright. We then paddle into Sucker Lake, where we see the customs office for Canada. After that we stop for lunch on an island that is actually on Canadian soil. For some this is their first time outside of America. Although the water is chilly we all take a dip before lunch, reaching our campsite on Birch Lake around 2 PM. Unfortunately this is the farthest site away from the portage on Birch Lake, and to add to that the last people here left dead fish remains lying on the beach. After disposing of the fish and setting up crew items, the fishermen (Mr. French, Mr. Porwoll, Matt F. and Scott) head out to fish while the others stay in camp enjoying another refreshing swim. Mitch and Justin prepare the dinner that night of beef stew, with chocolate pudding for dessert. We clean up dinner and prepare all the smellables for the bear bags. We finally hit the sack around 9 PM after the bear bags are raised. Even though it is still light, because of our last night of sleep (or no sleep) we all fall asleep quickly.
Day Four - Monday, July 24
Birch Lake > 40r > Carp Lake > 10r > Crawford Lake > 180r (Knife Portage) > Knife Lake > 33r > Bonnie Lake > 25r > Spoon Lake > 25r > Pickle Lake > 80r > Kekekabic Lake:
Wake-up is at 5:45 AM. Scott and Matt P. cook a breakfast of eggs and hashbrowns. Not bad! We hit the water at 8:10 because of a lengthy cooking process and pass the other two campsites on Birch Lake on our way to our first portage of the trip. For those of you who do not know what a portage trail is, it is simply a piece of land between to lakes through which people traveling from lake to lake walk on. Each canoe had three men in it and three main items to carry, the gear bag, personal gear bag, and canoe. Each member would grab one item and carry (portage) it across the trail to the next lake. We would rotate who carried what except in Curt, Scott, and Matt F.’s canoe, where Curt always carried the canoe (being the guide and all). Our first portage is 40 rods and for a quick math lesson, 1 rod equals 16.5 feet and 320 rods equal a mile. We continue on paddling up into Canada through Carp Lake and remain in Canada through Bonnie Lake. The 180r portage from Crawford Lake into Knife Lake is called Knife Portage and is located on Canadian soil. This trail is definitely in need of some maintenance especially as it is so long. We really push it to get across this one. This would turn out to be the longest portage of our trip. We stop at 11:45 AM in Knife Lake for lunch and the wind picks up heavily. Mr. Owens goes out solo to get some water and because of the wind he has to paddle over to the shore and walk his canoe back up to where we are having lunch. We do not get back onto the water until 1:10 PM, after a brief swim. We hit a number of lakes and portages on our way to our destination campsite, the island site in Kekekabic Lake. We find the site already taken so settle for a site closer to our next day’s journey. We arrive in camp around 3:30 PM and find it to be quite ugly, with devastating blow down damage. We horse around in the water with one of the canoes, swamping it and such. Adults take over the cooking and cleaning tonight of Pork Chow Mein and Cheesecake. While the adults go to bed, the boys try to stay up past 9:30 PM and endure the mosquitoes to see the Northern Lights. Although Curt stresses to us the importance of being in our tent by 9:20 PM to avoid the horde of mosquitoes we simply shrugged him off, I mean they could not be that bad! We were in for a surprise. Even though we meticulously cover ourselves from head to toe so the mosquitoes cannot get to us, they do anyway. One can just wave his hand in the air and hit at least 50 of them. Needless to say by 10:00 PM we are all inside of our tents, beat by the mosquitoes. The Northern Lights will have to wait.
Day Five - Tuesday, July 25
Kekekabic Lake > 85r > Strup Lake > 10r > Wisini Lake > 90r > Ahmakose Lake > 30r > Gerund Lake > 15r > Fraser Lake > Thomas Lake > 10r > Thomas Pond > 10r > Thomas Rapids > 50r > Ima Lake:
Wake up at 5 AM and mosquitoes are almost as bad as they were the night before. Skip breakfast as we are trying to get to a premier site called the "Hilton" as soon as possible, plus we can not stand the mosquitoes! Leave there at 6:40 AM and go smoothly until our first portage when it starts to downpour and lightning. Those carrying big metal canoes over their heads are not too happy about that. At the end of the portage we sit for about an hour as we wait for the lightning to leave. We paddle across Strup Lake and portage into Wisini Lake hoping for the Hitlon, but find it already taken for the day. We eat breakfast at the head of the portage trail to Ahmakose Lake. We make good time as we head into Gerund, Fraser, and Thomas Lake. Between Fraser and Thomas Lake is a narrow, probably ten feet wide area you paddle through for about 300 feet. It was simply majestic! Towards the end of Thomas Lake we stop to have lunch and fool around for a bit, at around 11:50 AM. At 12:45 PM we leave our lunch spot and portage into Thomas Pond, which has some areas with small, shallow rapids we are allowed to paddle through. Once we portage out of Thomas Pond we head for the island site in Ima Lake. Unfortunately both island sites are already taken, but we end up finding a nice spot with it’s own private beach at 2 PM. We had decided to take our layover there so we set out our stuff for a couple of days. We find a neat rock to jump off of and have much fun in the water. Some try to fish some more without any luck. We have dinner around 5 PM and hang out till bedtime. Mr. Porwoll captures the shot of the year with a beautiful sunset in the background. The rain starts around 8 PM and is off-and-on all night. We retire before 9:30 tonight.
Day Six - Wednesday, July 26
Layover Day at Ima Lake:
Layover day so no set wakeup time. Matt F. and Justin are up early and fish a little from the beach. Mr. Porwoll and Mitch take care of preparing our pancake breakfast with eggs. After Matt F. and Matt P. clean up, the Owens and Frenchs go out fishing. Curt, Mr. Porwoll, Mitch and Justin play spades while back in camp. The fishermen return and at 12:30 PM we have a lunch with Hudson Bay Bread, a delicacy in these parts. Mr. Porwoll, Justin, Matt P. and Mitch all take turns going out solo in a canoe to experience the wild alone. Then the Owens go on a little adventure of their own, while Justin with the Frenchs, and Mitch with the Porwolls, go out fishing some more. Again we are all unsuccessful in catching anything. Macaroni and peas are cooked tonight and after a dreary day (the sun had not come out until 4 PM) it is good to have some warm food. Curt makes us all some garlic bread which we cook in our backcountry oven. We have to skip dessert because we had two desserts the night on Kekekabic Lake. Adults do the clean up. We rush with the bear bags to get in the tents by 9:30 PM.
Day Seven - Thursday, July 27
Ima Lake > 5r > Jordan Lake > 55r > Cattyman Lake > 25r > Gibson Lake > 105r > Ashigan Lake > 55r > Ensign Lake > Splash Lake > 30r > Newfound Lake:
Everyone kind of wakes up on his own around 6:15 AM. Pack up fairly fast even though there was a light drizzle. We have a breakfast of horse oats (or so we called them) and fruit leather. We are on the water at 8:20 AM. When we arrive at our first portage of the day Curt has eight people pick up one fully loaded canoe at a time and take it across the portage, since it was only 5r. Although this method was supposed to be faster, by then we were so fast doing it the other way I believe we would of done just fine. We continue on and into Cattyman Lake. To the side of the portage between Cattyman and Jordan is a beautiful waterfall. We stop for a while and take some pictures. We continue on and stop at 11:45 AM to have lunch about halfway through Ensign Lake. Many stay in the water catching crawfish, one as big as a small lobster. Our lunch is quite plentiful, as we had requested extra food because of the crew’s size. We are back on the water around 12:50 PM and head into Splash Lake through a pretty narrow. We portage 30r to Newfound Lake and realize this is our last portage of the trip. As we paddle into Newfound we are suddenly faced with the modern world again as motorboats speed by us. I forgot to mention that all of the lakes we had been in after Sucker Lake were motorboat free. We are saddened that our trip is coming to a close. We head for Horseshoe Island, hoping to at last get an island site. We reach the first site on Horseshoe Island, taken, paddle quickly to the second site, taken, paddle as hard as possible to the third and final site on Horseshoe Island... Yes! It is ours! I personally find this site to be the best one of the entire trip. It is relatively bug free (which means a normal person could stand it) plus there is a five-foot cliff we can jump off of into the water. Tonight our dinner is supposed to be "Kraft Walleye" a favorite of Northern Tier crews, but since we have no fish we use MRE hot dogs in our Mac & Cheese. We also have some more garlic bread and cook brownies as well. Many go out to fish during the last minutes of daylight trying desperately to catch anything edible. Matt F. even hooks a huge one, but once he gets it alongside the boat it spits the hook. Oh well, the trip is great anyway. We stay up till 9:15 PM admiring the beauty around us.
Day Eight - Friday, July 28
Newfound Lake > Moose Lake > Base Camp:
We only have about 3 miles to go till Base Camp so we sleep in a little and sit around camp awhile. Another great breakfast of eggs and hashbrowns is eaten around 8:45 AM. While we have breakfast we work on our skit for tonight’s Rendezvous. We slowly pack up and we all end up jumping off the cliff once more. We leave there around 11:45 AM and head for an island with a rope swing, just south of Base Camp, where we plan to have lunch. We arrive at the island around 1 PM, have lunch and then all take turns on the rope swing. We have to be careful though because where you fall it is only about five or six feet deep. Mr. French hurts his leg a little on one jump. At 2:15 PM we head for the Canoe Base, we are not supposed to be in until 3 PM but we figure if we are a little early they will not kill us. We pull up to the dock at base around 2:45 PM, and it is mighty crowded. We return canoes, paddles, PFDs, and all crew gear. They assign us a different cabin, this is not hexagon and does have four bunk beds. We hope to have a better night’s sleep than last time, especially since we are leaving here at 3 AM to catch a 9 AM flight back home. Since we have rental cars (a luxury we do not usually have at High Adventure Bases) we head into town for dinner. We plan to eat at the Ely Steakhouse but because of limited seating we eat dinner at Britton’s Café. It is great and a couple of the guys get the all-you-can-eat fish fry, making up for the lack of fish on the trip. We were going to stop at Dairy Queen for dessert but after such a large dinner no one had any more room for food, except Justin. We get back to camp at 7 PM and head to the Rendezvous, which began at 7:30 PM. They put on a little show and each crew goes up and presents a different skit. Our skit was "The Top 10 Reasons you know you have been to Northern Tier". After the Rendezvous is over we say goodbye and thanks to Curt, and distribute patches. We go to bed thinking it will be better than the first night. Although the mosquitoes do not attack us, the heat is there and many of us do not get much sleep again.
Day Nine - Saturday, July 29
Ely, Minnesota, to Atlanta, Georgia:
We wake up around 2 AM and are lucky to catch the Northern Lights outside. It appears to be a green light jumping up and down, and at one point an orange shooting star goes by. What beauty! Justin goes up and takes a shower while the others get up. At 2:55 we leave for the Minneapolis airport. In Ely one car stops for some coffee and a small snack. We go on to the airport and stop at Hardees around 6:30 AM. We get to the airport at around 7:45 AM and those who have to check baggage do so. We go to the gate and wait for our flight. At 9 AM we all say goodbye to Mitch who is taking a separate flight to Wisconsin to meet his sister and Dad and stay there awhile. At 9:25 AM we take off for Atlanta. We land in Atlanta around 1 PM (EST) and are greeted by our family. Our trip is over, but the memories will last a lifetime!
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