May 2021 Wildflower Canoe Trip in the Sylvania Wilderness

Setting off for four days in the Sylvania Wilderness, my husband looked forward to retesting our gear set, our daughter hoped for a cell signal, and I dreamed of spotting spring wildflowers after a long winter of bare trees and dull coloration. We drove to Michigan's Upper Peninsula and stopped view Burned Dam Falls before entering the wilderness. Burned Dam Falls proved to be home to several wildflower species and I grew excited thinking about what I might see in the wilderness.

2020 July Family Trip to Whitefish Lake in the Sylvania Wilderness

Capturing our precious family canoe tripping memories is one of my favorite things to do. As working parents know, finding the time to do the things we want to do isn't always easy. I feel rather anxious finding myself here in June 2021, recording the events of July 2020. But the memories are precious and few due to my having only a sparse allotment of vacation time. Although I come to the party late, I am glad I made it.

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. 

Our Family's Last Canoe Trip of 2020

You waste weekends in the summer accomplishing obligatory chores. You think to yourself, "It's summer, I can camp and paddle anytime." Then suddenly, night begins to come earlier. The leaves shine brilliant gold, orange, red, and then poof - they're gone. It sneaks up on you, the last canoe trip of the season. Now you wish you had spent more days on the water, in camp, off the grid.

Teen Finds Joy Paddling in the Sylvania Wilderness, September 2020

Our daughter Ams is a teenager now. Everything is boring. On canoe trips it's always a fight. She wants to sit in the middle seat and fiddle with her phone. Canoes, being a part of "everything", eyeroll, are sooooo booooooring. To offer her a bit of independence, not to mention exercise and fun, my husband decided to pick up a kayak and start bringing it on our canoe trips, at least the ones that require a smaller amount of portaging. Let me tell you how it went.

Backpacking in the Porcupine Mountains

2020 rolled in deliciously fat and happy, but by mid-March things looked very different. With the Corona Virus spreading and the government in denial, the virus took off before we realized it posed a threat. My daughter's school closed, my husband began working from home, I took a pay cut and then a period of reduced hours. We didn't complain, we felt lucky to have work and our health. Before long, civil unrest began to spread though cities and towns. When the  fourth of July weekend came along, the entire family needed a break from the 2020 news cycle.

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.