The Boundary Waters

So, just in case Peru wasn't adventurous enough for us, we planned a canoeing trip for the Boundary Waters the weekend after our return.  We actually got a groupon to be completely outfitted, including canoes, tents, food....pretty much everything except our clothes!  We went to the boundary waters up in Minnesota/Canada border for a four day, three night canoe trip with Missy & Kyle.  It was a long drive, but we saw a few wolves and a MOOSE along the way!  

It was really funny, because we got to the lodge at 2am the night before we were supposed to set off.  They put us in this tiny cabin with ONLY bunk beds....felt like I was at camp!

Getting started!  Setting off from a lake...

 Portaging past the rapids

Portaging!

Portaging was EXTREMELY tiring!  I had totally UNDERestimated the weight of the bags and canoe, and totally OVERestimated my strength in being able to carry them easily!  By the last day, we were avoiding the portages altogether by walking the canoe down the rapids or just trying to go through the rapids!  Don't worry - we didn't have any accidents!  Brad estimated that the packs were about 70 pounds....I had to hunch over to be able to carry them.  Once I accidentally started tipping backwards and Brad had to catch me.  I think poor Missy fell sideways twice from the weight of the packs!

But the scenery was BEAUTIFUL!  And it was very peaceful in the canoe when my arms weren't killing me and I wasn't dying of sunstroke and thirst!  Obviously we couldn't bring a cooler on the trip, so we had to just fill out water bottles with lake water and use purifying tabs which took thirty minutes to work....so even if the lake water had been cold at some point, after sitting in the sun for thirty minutes, it was pretty luke warm.  Not too refreshing!

Of course we took some time for fishing!  At some point our worms died from the heat, so that was tricky....but we got a good day or two in there!

Getting the food bag up out of the way of bears was SUPER tricky and took a lot of unique planning.  Until the last night (when let's face it - we didn't have much food left anyway) we were able to get it up pretty high.  And when I say "we," I mean the boys.  :)  The winning method included tying the end of the rope to a rock, tossing it over a tree branch (repeat on other tree), with one boy pulling the rope and the other using the canoe oar to hoist the bag up!  Tricky!

The first night the boys went fishing and Missy and I successfully made the fire ourselves!  We were so proud!

At night, we would meet in one of the tents to play some games....one night we had a pirate themed night.  It was supposed to be a joke, but Missy & Kyle came like this:

Taking a break on the second to last day...

By the last morning, I was just so ready to be done canoeing.  It was so hot being in the sun with nothing cold & refreshing to drink and my arms were SO sore.  I seriously thought I would have third degree burns from the sun...no matter how much sunscreen I put on, I was burning!  I actually put on a long sleeve shirt and covered my legs, despite the fact that it was a million degrees out!  I kept wanting to just stop oaring and let Brad do all the work, but then I felt guilty, so I had to keep pushing myself.  Once we made it to the pick-up point on the last day, I felt relief and a sense of accomplishment...but I think next time I would pack lighter and work out my arms way more first!!!  And maybe try to find a way to get cold drinks!

We made it!