Whitefish Lake Canoe Trip 2023

 

Welcome to our warmest ever Labor Day Weekend canoe trip in the Sylvania Wilderness. Typically our Labor Day trips feature cold nights. We gather around the campfire warming ourselves. This time we swam and paddled the standup paddle board around Whitefish Lake not really caring about warm campfires. In fact, at some points we could have used a cold breeze!

Frost River Loop - BWCA 2022

My husband, our teenage daughter and I set aside 10 days to spend together canoe tripping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) in August, 2022. We wanted to single-portage along a loop route, and put in some travel time as well as time laying around on a couple of nice campsites and doing, well, a whole lot of nothing. With an entry permit for Entry Point #50 Cross Bay Lake in hand, we studied our maps.

BWCA 2020

 

Those of you who have visited the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) know that summer trips include cold and rainy days. You come to expect inclement weather days with just enough nice days sprinkled in to inspire deep appreciation. With Covid19, the riots, and stories about how crowded the BWCA might be in mind, our family wasn't super focused on the weather when preparing for this trip. By luck we stumbled into atypical, beautiful warm days, with only a little rain. We've never had an August trip this beautiful before. 

June 2020 Canoe Trip in the Turtle Flambeau Flowage

On a hot, windy June Tuesday morning, we arrived at Fisherman's Landing in the Turtle Flambeau Flowage. A stiff breeze provided a bit of a relief from the hot sun on nearly the longest day of the year. The upper and lower parking overflowed with vehicles and motorboat trailers. We wanted to try a new landing just for fun, and -this looked like the hot-spot landing for motorboats rather than canoes. We loaded the canoe, and paddled against the wind in search of a campsite.

Watching the Boats Go By on a Canoe Trip for Two in the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage

The Turtle-Flambeau Scenic Waters Area offers remote camping on campsites accessible only by water. Located in Northern Wisconsin near Mercer, the flowage offers fishing, boating, and paddling. On a stormy Friday night in July, we headed north. Traffic pulled to the side of the road from time to time due to poor visibility. Wind churned the dark clouds. We wondered how the weather would be spending this night in our tent.

A Romantic Weekend for Two in the Turtle Flambeau

Ams went off to Girl Scout Camp. With a weekend to do anything our hearts desired, my husband and I took our first ever canoe trip in the Turtle Flambeau Flowage. As the day drew near, the weather forecast worsened. With two days of thunderstorms in the forecast, we headed up to the Turtle Flambeau Flowage not entirely sure what might happen.

4 Day Canoe Trip: Sylvania Wilderness 2018

As Northerners do, our family dreams of the distant springtime through the icy season. When it finally arrives, we begin our spring rituals. Spring cleaning, garden planning, keeping an eye out for the first robin. My favorite of our family's spring rituals, my husband's lowering of the canoe from it's resting place among the spiders that hang among the garage rafters, marks the true beginning of summer fun for our family.

Boundary Waters 2017: Meeds Lake Entry Point 48 to Campsites on Meeds Lake, Omega Lake, Gaskin Lake and Vista Lake

On our 2017 trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) our family entered the BWCA at Entry Point #48, Meeds Lake. We spent 8 nights camped on Meeds, Omega, Gaskin and Vista Lakes before exiting at Entry Point #47, Lizz Lake. We stuck our feet into mud holes and slipped and fell on slick rocks and roots. We paddled against 30 mph gusts, sunned ourselves on slabs of bedrock, swam in pristine waters, and marveled at the wonders of nature. We grew closer to one another as we worked as a team to travel, set camp, and overcome the challenges of life away from modern conveniences.

Nine Day Backcountry Menu Plan for our Family of Three

I love everything about canoe tripping, even the preparations. Finding lightweight foods safe to carry without refrigeration that fit the blue barrel and satisfy the divergent palates of the entire family poses a fun challenge. This year I've planned 8 cooked dinners, 4 cooked breakfasts, and additional breakfast and lunch items for eating on the go.

Sylvania Wilderness 2017 Part 2

Loons swam with their chicks calling loud warnings as eagles swooped down from warm, sunny skies. They called mournful calls as night fell wrapping the lake in a blanket of cool darkness. Bullfrogs croaked. Thousands of tadpoles in various stages of development filled the shallow waters along the lake shore. Turtles sunbathed on logs. Wildflowers waved in the breeze. Fungi and moss thrived on fallen trees. Cool green ferns lined serene footpaths. Reflections of clouds on the lake mirrored the tranquil sky. The Sylvania Wilderness gave our family all of this plus so much more.

Sylvania Wilderness 2017 Part I: Loons, Lakes, and Love of the Wilderness

Time in the wilderness is good for our family. It brings us closer together, and closer to nature. For our first wilderness adventure of 2017, we headed north to the Sylvania Wilderness in the Ottawa National Forest in Upper Michigan near Watersmeet. What a luxury to get away from the distraction of work, school, homework, electronics, and evening conference calls. On this trip, I showered my family with attention. I don't care if the mosquitoes bit or how much it rained, I enjoyed every minute with my family in this wonderful place, the Sylvania Wilderness.

Sylvania Wilderness 2016 - Part 2

Mama's Basecamp proudly presents the second and final part of our Sylvania Wilderness 2016 video series. With summer in the distant past, it feels great to relive the moments and dream of paddle trips to come. Part 1 of this series documents our time at Eagle 1 Campsite on Loon Lake, and Part 2 documents our paddle to Birch Campsite on Clark Lake.

Syvania Wilderness 2016: Part I

Yes, I know. It's taken me entirely too long to find the time to put together our canoe tripping videos from last summers outings. I'm excited to present the first of these after long last, part 1 of a two part series focussed on our 2016 camping trips to the Sylvania Wilderness. In this video, we put in on Clark Lake and paddle and portage over to Loon Lake. I hope you enjoy it.

Boundary Waters 2016 - Little Indian Sioux EP#14 to Campsites on Shell, Hustler, Gebeonequet, Little Beartrack, and Loon Lakes.

The  BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area) is the kind of magical place that casts a spell over visitors, drawing them back. Our family first visited the BWCA three years ago. We now return each year for our fix of loons, lakes, and love of the wilderness. Each year we add a day or two, and leave feeling that we could have used a bit more time.

Sylvania Wilderness Canoe Camping on Clark Lake, July 2016

In the Sylvania Wilderness, blue skies, plentiful wildlife, and the relative lack of 4th of July crowds made the mosquitoes much more tolerable. After a wet Memorial Day in the Sylvania Wilderness, our dry Fourth of July weekend felt great - not a drop of rain, cool nights, and sunny days. Arriving on Saturday afternoon, we unloaded and paddled 2.5 miles (4 km) across Clark Lake to the Birch  campsite. Tucked away in a little bay, not too many paddlers ventured by and we enjoyed relative privacy despite the holiday weekend and a fairly busy scene at the put-in.

Sylvania Wilderness Canoe Canoe Trip - Memorial Day Weekend 2016

Our first family canoe camping trip of 2016 in the Sylvania Wilderness in Michigan's Upper Peninsula begins with a downpour. We paddle and portage what dry makes for an easy 4.3 miles (6.9 km) across Clark Lake and Loon Lake to our campsite, Eagle 1. Our daughter, less than pleased to have been caught in the downpour without rain gear on, puts her rain jacket on over her wet clothes. She then takes 30 minutes to drag herself across the normally 5 or 10 minute portage in the rain. It is clear we should have put on our rain gear before jumping into the canoe.

Sylvania Wilderness Canoe Trip to Whitefish Lake

As the loons prepared to gather, and the leaves began to turn, Labor Day brought our last canoe tripping adventure of the summer to a close. Sure, we'll get a few chances to dip our paddles out day tripping. But there is nothing like canoe camping on a motor-free lake to make our plastic and concrete world go away, if only for a few short, relaxing days.