Erik and Adam are trudging through spring from the Gunflint Trail and on todays show talk about entry point #24 Fall Lake. Our experiences with hitch hiking and hitch hikers for supplies and the stories from listeners are also shared. Pray for spring everybody. Show Notes: Fall Lake Fishing Report Hamm’s, The beer refreshing Subscribe: […]
The post Tumblehome: A Boundary Waters Podcast – 013: Fall Lake appeared first on Clearwater Outfitters.
Episode Transcript
[0:00:46 – 0:01:15] Erik: welcome to tumble home start with songs though yep nice taking up vocal lessons yeah we’re definitely uh we’re gonna have to start charging for this podcast if you guys are gonna get singing out of us so be prepared for that patreon we’re gonna be on there special singing tracks yeah if you want more singing that’s when you can go over to patreon and pay to listen to adam sing more anyway welcome to tumble home my name is adam
[0:01:16 – 0:01:39] Erik: i am eric welcome welcome indeed this is uh episode 13 spooky unlucky bad all the things only good things happen on 13s for me yeah no i mean it’s totally random like yeah 21 is my number but i also like 22s i can’t wait for episode 22 sneak peek sneak peek more singing
[0:01:40 – 0:01:44] Erik: We are brought to you by, as always, by Clearwater Historic Lodge and Canoe Outfitters.
[0:01:45 – 0:01:50] Erik: And also by Ham’s, America’s classic premium beer.
[0:01:52 – 0:01:53] Adam: That’s right.
[0:01:53 – 0:01:55] Adam: It was born in the land of sky blue waters.
[0:01:55 – 0:01:56] Adam: Yep.
[0:01:56 – 0:01:57] Adam: Very refreshing.
[0:01:57 – 0:02:00] Erik: Doesn’t have a picture of the seagull cliffs on it, though.
[0:02:01 – 0:02:01] Adam: No, it doesn’t.
[0:02:01 – 0:02:04] Adam: This is the old plain can with the lion with the sword.
[0:02:05 – 0:02:05] Adam: Yep.
[0:02:06 – 0:02:10] Adam: Pretty good stuff, though, for a beautiful day in the North Country.
[0:02:10 – 0:02:12] Erik: I don’t think they brew hams in Minnesota anymore, though, right?
[0:02:13 – 0:02:13] Adam: Yeah, no.
[0:02:13 – 0:02:17] Adam: It’s in a basement in Milwaukee somewhere, probably.
[0:02:17 – 0:02:18] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:02:18 – 0:02:19] Adam: Miliwake.
[0:02:21 – 0:02:21] Adam: The good land.
[0:02:22 – 0:02:22] Adam: The good land.
[0:02:24 – 0:02:24] Erik: All right.
[0:02:25 – 0:02:26] Erik: So we’re talking about Fall Lake today.
[0:02:26 – 0:02:27] Erik: Hold on.
[0:02:27 – 0:02:28] Erik: Record scratch.
[0:02:28 – 0:02:29] Erik: Oh, I was…
[0:02:30 – 0:02:34] Erik: Before we start, I have something to spring on you.
[0:02:34 – 0:02:38] Adam: And depending on how you react, we may or may not have to edit this out.
[0:02:38 – 0:02:40] Adam: I think you’re going to be fine.
[0:02:41 – 0:02:45] Adam: We’ve paddled a lot of miles together and our friendship is incredibly important to me.
[0:02:45 – 0:02:47] Adam: But this might ruin it?
[0:02:48 – 0:02:49] Adam: No, I don’t think so.
[0:02:49 – 0:02:50] Adam: I think it’s going to be fine.
[0:02:51 – 0:02:55] Adam: So as you know, Natalie and I are getting married this fall.
[0:02:55 – 0:02:56] Adam: Would you be my best man, sir?
[0:02:57 – 0:02:57] Erik: Oh, man.
[0:02:58 – 0:02:59] Erik: Yeah, of course.
[0:02:59 – 0:03:04] Erik: Why would you think that that would be, I mean, for the podcast maybe, but yeah, definitely.
[0:03:05 – 0:03:10] Adam: Yeah, I don’t know if anybody’s ever asked their best mate to be their best man on a podcast before.
[0:03:11 – 0:03:12] Erik: This is an historic moment.
[0:03:12 – 0:03:16] Adam: Yeah, I truly waited until we were recording to ask you this.
[0:03:16 – 0:03:17] Adam: This is the first time you’ve heard of it.
[0:03:19 – 0:03:21] Erik: Yeah, this has not been rehearsed.
[0:03:21 – 0:03:32] Erik: We should just be prepared to upload this to the Podcasting Hall of Fame where it can be stored in the annals of history.
[0:03:32 – 0:03:38] Adam: This should just go to the Library of Congress probably this episode because this is history in the making for sure.
[0:03:38 – 0:03:40] Erik: It’s really something special.
[0:03:40 – 0:04:07] Adam: yes of course um so yeah the wedding is in october it’s up here i was like well it kind of depends on where it’s at but i know that it’s it’s it’s close by plus you’re such a compelling public speaker oh god and so handsome well i didn’t think really the only requirement i have i don’t care what you wear as long as you have a really nice beard okay all like there’s maybe i have three groomsmen tops i will start i will they all have to have incredible beards that’s really my only requirement
[0:04:08 – 0:04:09] Erik: I can handle that.
[0:04:09 – 0:04:11] Erik: Basically, that requires me to do nothing.
[0:04:11 – 0:04:12] Adam: Do nothing.
[0:04:12 – 0:04:13] Adam: Just keep doing what you’re doing.
[0:04:14 – 0:04:15] Adam: It’s going to be a lot of fun.
[0:04:15 – 0:04:19] Erik: Just don’t decide to shave it off for no reason for the first time in 15 years.
[0:04:20 – 0:04:21] Adam: Actually, Natalie was asking me the other day.
[0:04:21 – 0:04:26] Adam: She’s like, you could just shave your beard off for a little bit so I could see what your face looks like.
[0:04:26 – 0:04:28] Adam: And I was like, you’ll never see that.
[0:04:28 – 0:04:29] Erik: Yeah.
[0:04:29 – 0:04:30] Erik: You might…
[0:04:30 – 0:04:34] Adam: Unless I die first and then you shave my face before you spread my ashes.
[0:04:34 – 0:04:39] Adam: That’s the first thing that she does after you die is shave your beard off.
[0:04:39 – 0:04:39] Adam: Yeah.
[0:04:40 – 0:04:44] Adam: And then she’ll know why I never shave my face because my chin is hideous.
[0:04:44 – 0:04:45] Erik: Yep.
[0:04:45 – 0:04:47] Erik: That’s the main reason I have a beard.
[0:04:47 – 0:04:49] Erik: I have horrible, horribly ugly chin.
[0:04:49 – 0:04:50] Adam: We’re all hiding something.
[0:04:50 – 0:04:50] Adam: Yep.
[0:04:51 – 0:04:52] Erik: No, yeah.
[0:04:52 – 0:04:54] Erik: That didn’t really throw me off all that much.
[0:04:55 – 0:05:02] Erik: It’s way less embarrassing than you saying that the International Space Station only flies seven miles over the air.
[0:05:03 – 0:05:04] Adam: I’ll never live that down.
[0:05:04 – 0:05:05] Erik: Yeah, it’s all right.
[0:05:05 – 0:05:09] Erik: There will be more opportunities for us to sound like absolute buffoons in the future.
[0:05:10 – 0:05:11] Erik: Yeah, definitely.
[0:05:11 – 0:05:12] Erik: Looking forward to that one.
[0:05:12 – 0:05:13] Erik: I got to save the date on the fridge.
[0:05:14 – 0:05:37] Erik: yep yeah so here in the studio yeah on this on the studio fridge that’s yeah it’s the studio fridge for sure that’s where i keep all of my uh podcasting sandwiches and uh and the beers that man all our sponsors you can’t even believe we get so many beers shipped to us like every week just please let us sponsor your podcast a lot of competition out there for sponsorships so
[0:05:38 – 0:05:39] Erik: So thank you, hams.
[0:05:39 – 0:05:40] Adam: Yeah, hams.
[0:05:40 – 0:05:43] Adam: We’re happy to have you here, hams, and delighted.
[0:05:43 – 0:05:44] Erik: Yeah, delighted.
[0:05:45 – 0:05:49] Adam: So, episode 13, we’re moving to the west.
[0:05:49 – 0:05:55] Adam: We’ve had a few comments online that we’re really stuck on the east side and we need to…
[0:05:56 – 0:06:00] Adam: you know, branch out a little bit more and being more inclusive with the west side of the park.
[0:06:01 – 0:06:03] Adam: So we’re going to try and do that today.
[0:06:03 – 0:06:05] Adam: Well, we do live on the Gunflint Trail.
[0:06:05 – 0:06:05] Adam: Yeah, we do.
[0:06:06 – 0:06:09] Adam: So it’s pretty obvious we’re going to focus on that side.
[0:06:09 – 0:06:11] Adam: It’s what we know the best.
[0:06:11 – 0:06:12] Adam: It’s the waters we paddle.
[0:06:12 – 0:06:13] Adam: It’s our home waters.
[0:06:13 – 0:06:13] Adam: Yeah.
[0:06:14 – 0:06:17] Adam: But we have had the pleasure of paddling most of the park.
[0:06:18 – 0:06:23] Adam: And so I think these comments are well-intentioned and true.
[0:06:23 – 0:06:25] Adam: We should try and include that as well.
[0:06:25 – 0:06:31] Adam: And certainly I think the idea is eventually we’ll cover every lake in the Boundary Waters.
[0:06:31 – 0:06:32] Erik: To a certain extent.
[0:06:32 – 0:06:34] Erik: I don’t know if we’re going to feature every lake.
[0:06:34 – 0:06:36] Adam: We’re not going to Lake 1.
[0:06:37 – 0:06:40] Adam: Maybe in a future April Fool’s episode.
[0:06:40 – 0:06:43] Adam: Or maybe we’ll do an episode on Hobo Island on Basswood.
[0:06:44 – 0:06:49] Adam: It’s always fun to get these maps out of the west side because you never know what you’re going to notice.
[0:06:49 – 0:06:54] Adam: Every time I look at a map of the park, I notice something new, like Hobo Island.
[0:06:54 – 0:06:55] Erik: Yeah, exactly.
[0:06:56 – 0:06:58] Adam: We paddled pretty close to that, actually, and I never noticed that.
[0:06:58 – 0:07:05] Erik: Yeah, I’ve camped just south of there on another island, and technically the Quetico side on an October trip one year.
[0:07:06 – 0:07:10] Erik: But yeah, obviously a little biased towards the east side.
[0:07:11 – 0:07:13] Adam: Yeah, we fully acknowledge that.
[0:07:13 – 0:07:15] Adam: It’s not by design.
[0:07:15 – 0:07:17] Adam: It’s just by what we know the most.
[0:07:17 – 0:07:21] Adam: We’re trying to focus on what we know the most about, to start at least.
[0:07:21 – 0:07:28] Erik: I don’t think we’re ever going to have that episode, and it’s not necessarily going to be a thing that I would…
[0:07:29 – 0:07:50] Erik: i would not think it would be constructive to a certain extent i could maybe be convinced otherwise but i don’t think a west side versus east side episode would ever be something that i could see myself being very excited to do uh there are differences but i don’t think that they’re big enough to make an episode out of and
[0:07:50 – 0:07:53] Adam: Unless two people over in Ely start a podcast.
[0:07:54 – 0:07:54] Adam: Oh, then it’s on.
[0:07:55 – 0:07:58] Adam: Then we can go on each other’s podcast.
[0:07:58 – 0:08:00] Erik: Then I would be down to rubble.
[0:08:00 – 0:08:00] Adam: Battle it out.
[0:08:00 – 0:08:00] Erik: Yeah.
[0:08:01 – 0:08:08] Erik: I mean, obviously there are, the main reason that I don’t think that would ever need to be an episode is it’s all the Boundary Waters.
[0:08:08 – 0:08:10] Erik: It’s not Quetico versus the Boundary Waters.
[0:08:10 – 0:08:12] Adam: There’s different regulations.
[0:08:12 – 0:08:13] Adam: It’s all one park.
[0:08:13 – 0:08:15] Adam: It’s all one wilderness, really.
[0:08:15 – 0:08:16] Adam: You can paddle amongst them all.
[0:08:16 – 0:08:17] Adam: Yeah.
[0:08:17 – 0:08:38] Erik: in one trip i mean you could you can find a lake in ely that looks like one you can find on the gunflint trail and vice versa i mean i think the only the only thing that you could really say is a like a huge noticeable difference is maybe just a little bit of the weather the ice goes out a little bit earlier it’s a little bit warmer i also just see a lot of like swamps on this map
[0:08:38 – 0:08:39] Erik: It’s a little bit lower lying.
[0:08:39 – 0:08:47] Erik: Yeah, the land isn’t as dramatic, but I mean, there are definitely some big exposed cliffs and rocks on the Ely side as well, I would say in general.
[0:08:47 – 0:08:57] Erik: Yeah, a little bit more low lying, a little bit more connected in terms of like the moving water between lakes with little rivers and big rivers.
[0:08:57 – 0:08:59] Erik: I mean, obviously there’s big rivers over there, but…
[0:09:00 – 0:09:21] Erik: yeah i mean that’s about two minutes right there that’s the those are some of the main differences without getting into you know throwing anything negatively on either side which i think is all that an episode like that throw positively on both sides yeah there’s a lot of there’s a lot on good water to be had on the west side for sure
[0:09:22 – 0:09:30] Adam: And a lot of nice access, and one of the finest access points is Fall Lake and Mile Island.
[0:09:30 – 0:09:43] Adam: It’s a good jumping-off point, and we have camped on Mile Island two nights on a resupply mission into Ely, in which we did a hitchhike into town to get some supplies.
[0:09:44 – 0:09:51] Adam: So, yeah, it’s a good option for people, and there is a lot of people funneling through Fall Lake.
[0:09:52 – 0:10:05] Erik: yeah it’s uh we haven’t talked about a lake the thus far that has the number of individual overnight paddling permits that fall lake does yeah it’s 14 per day that’s a lot of permits
[0:10:05 – 0:10:07] Adam: That’s a lot of permits.
[0:10:07 – 0:10:12] Adam: And I’m seeing eight campsites just on fall there.
[0:10:12 – 0:10:12] Adam: Yep.
[0:10:13 – 0:10:18] Adam: Six of them on Mile Island and then two up north by the portage into Newton.
[0:10:19 – 0:10:19] Adam: Yep.
[0:10:19 – 0:10:24] Adam: And then, you know, you got a couple more on Newton and then you’re into Pipestone Bay.
[0:10:25 – 0:10:25] Erik: Yeah.
[0:10:25 – 0:10:29] Adam: Or you take the old four mile, but…
[0:10:30 – 0:10:35] Adam: Yeah, it’s not like there’s 14 campsites right there on Fall Lake that you can get at.
[0:10:35 – 0:10:45] Erik: Yeah, it’s kind of a, you know, last week we were talking about Poplar and it’s a hub lake, which doesn’t technically have any campsites on it.
[0:10:45 – 0:10:47] Erik: And it’s all outside of the Boundary Waters.
[0:10:47 – 0:10:52] Erik: Fall Lake is kind of an in-between because the majority of it is outside the park.
[0:10:52 – 0:10:57] Erik: There’s the upper northeast section of the lake where the campsites are at is all in the park.
[0:10:58 – 0:11:03] Erik: But it also does allow motor access up into that section.
[0:11:04 – 0:11:06] Adam: Yeah, we’ve raced motorboats on this lake.
[0:11:06 – 0:11:07] Erik: Yes, we have.
[0:11:07 – 0:11:08] Adam: And one.
[0:11:08 – 0:11:09] Adam: And one.
[0:11:09 – 0:11:10] Adam: Take that, motorboats.
[0:11:10 – 0:11:24] Erik: Yeah, and the portages out of Fall Lake, we don’t need to get into the specifics right away, but up into Newton and Pipestone, those are wheeled portages.
[0:11:24 – 0:11:24] Erik: Wheeled.
[0:11:24 – 0:11:24] Erik: Wheeled.
[0:11:26 – 0:11:32] Erik: One of the few areas anymore that you can legally use wheels on portages.
[0:11:32 – 0:11:34] Erik: They’re pretty much prohibited everywhere else.
[0:11:34 – 0:11:35] Adam: There and the timber free air loop.
[0:11:36 – 0:11:36] UNKNOWN: Wow.
[0:11:37 – 0:11:37] Adam: Yeah.
[0:11:37 – 0:11:41] Adam: The timber free air loop is going to be like a ghost that constantly haunts this podcast.
[0:11:41 – 0:11:41] Adam: Yeah.
[0:11:41 – 0:11:42] Adam: There’ll be whispers of it.
[0:11:43 – 0:11:44] Adam: We’ll never actually address it.
[0:11:45 – 0:11:45] Adam: Yeah.
[0:11:45 – 0:11:46] Adam: Leave it at that.
[0:11:46 – 0:11:46] Erik: Yeah.
[0:11:46 – 0:11:47] Erik: So…
[0:11:47 – 0:12:00] Adam: but yeah we’ve seen people with like large boats in newton and then they get to the portage and they load them up on these wheels and yeah kind of got a team of dudes pushing it across this beautiful like gravelly road
[0:12:00 – 0:12:01] Erik: Yeah, they’re not portages.
[0:12:01 – 0:12:15] Erik: They’re like narrow, gravelly roads, which makes for kind of easy portaging and also kind of boring portaging, which also makes you notice it and feel it more because the footing is so easy.
[0:12:15 – 0:12:18] Erik: You’re just focusing on the trudging.
[0:12:18 – 0:12:19] Erik: Yeah, they’re short.
[0:12:20 – 0:12:20] Erik: They are.
[0:12:20 – 0:12:21] Erik: They are definitely short.
[0:12:21 – 0:12:37] Adam: The thing I remember most about these was we were coming south from Pipestone through Newton into Fall, trying to get to Ely by the time the beer store closed, and we still had to figure out a way to hitchhike in from the Fall Lake campground, not having any vehicle over on that side.
[0:12:39 – 0:12:46] Adam: And we were moving south at a pretty good clip, and there’s this group of, like, two motorboats that were up in Pipestone fishing, and
[0:12:47 – 0:12:56] Adam: And they kind of like we portage into Newton and then they kind of went under behind us and then they passed us with their motorboats and then they were on the portage from Newton into fall.
[0:12:57 – 0:13:03] Adam: And they were really taking their time loading everything up on their wheels and we blew by them on a single portage.
[0:13:04 – 0:13:09] Adam: And then we basically end up racing them and we got into the landing just before them.
[0:13:09 – 0:13:10] Erik: Yeah.
[0:13:10 – 0:13:15] Adam: I would say we beat them and that was because of our portaging, our superior portaging speed.
[0:13:15 – 0:13:15] Erik: Yes.
[0:13:15 – 0:13:21] Erik: The wheels are nice for carrying weights, but the work involved in getting your apparatus all put together.
[0:13:21 – 0:13:21] Erik: Right.
[0:13:22 – 0:13:26] Erik: And they were so loaded down, too, that they weren’t really actually moving that fast with their motorboat.
[0:13:26 – 0:13:27] Erik: And they didn’t realize we were racing either.
[0:13:27 – 0:13:31] Adam: We never declared a race or waved a checkered flag at them.
[0:13:31 – 0:13:32] Adam: But they were still going as fast as they could.
[0:13:32 – 0:13:33] Adam: We were secretly racing them.
[0:13:33 – 0:13:37] Adam: And I think they kind of knew we were racing them, but they didn’t really acknowledge it.
[0:13:37 – 0:13:39] Erik: But they were going as fast as they possibly could.
[0:13:40 – 0:13:40] Erik: Yeah.
[0:13:40 – 0:13:41] Erik: There was a motorboat.
[0:13:41 – 0:13:45] Erik: They had the thing fully throttled, so it wasn’t like they were, hey, these guys are racing us.
[0:13:45 – 0:13:47] Erik: Let’s open it up to another gear.
[0:13:47 – 0:13:47] Adam: I think I was a little off.
[0:13:47 – 0:13:55] Adam: They passed us on Pipestone, and then we kind of were neck and neck through Newton, and then we passed them on the Newton to fall portage and got them.
[0:13:56 – 0:13:56] Erik: Yeah.
[0:13:56 – 0:13:57] Adam: We got them.
[0:13:57 – 0:13:59] Adam: Everybody knows it.
[0:13:59 – 0:13:59] Erik: It’s well known.
[0:13:59 – 0:14:00] Erik: I think it was a plaque.
[0:14:00 – 0:14:02] Adam: There is a plaque at the Fall Lake campground.
[0:14:02 – 0:14:02] Adam: Yeah.
[0:14:03 – 0:14:06] Adam: The day that the canoers beat the motor boaters.
[0:14:07 – 0:14:08] Erik: The day that the motors died.
[0:14:10 – 0:14:12] Adam: We’re the John Henry’s of the canoers.
[0:14:13 – 0:14:13] Erik: Yep.
[0:14:13 – 0:14:14] Erik: He lost though, didn’t he?
[0:14:16 – 0:14:18] Adam: No, he won, but then he lost his life.
[0:14:18 – 0:14:19] Adam: Oh, because he died.
[0:14:19 – 0:14:22] Adam: Because he hammered so hard into the rock.
[0:14:22 – 0:14:22] Adam: Wow.
[0:14:23 – 0:14:24] Adam: Yeah, so we didn’t die.
[0:14:24 – 0:14:26] Adam: We beat him and we lived.
[0:14:26 – 0:14:27] Adam: We’re almost better than John Henry at this point.
[0:14:27 – 0:14:32] Erik: I’d say we’re probably better because we have a statue commemorating the event and we’re still alive.
[0:14:32 – 0:14:33] Adam: Now we have a statue and a plaque.
[0:14:35 – 0:14:36] Adam: Absolutely.
[0:14:36 – 0:14:42] Adam: There’s an eternal flame on Fall Island, on Mile Island, on Fall Lake.
[0:14:42 – 0:14:44] Adam: There’s an eternal flame commemorating that event.
[0:14:44 – 0:14:46] Erik: You can’t have a plaque without a statue.
[0:14:46 – 0:14:47] Erik: No, you can’t.
[0:14:47 – 0:14:47] Erik: I mean, geez.
[0:14:48 – 0:14:49] Erik: Oh, that was glorious.
[0:14:49 – 0:14:51] SPEAKER_00: Well, that’s the end of the episode, so thanks for listening.
[0:14:51 – 0:14:55] Erik: I don’t think we can get any… Yeah, we can’t top the fact that we have a statue already.
[0:14:55 – 0:14:58] Adam: Well, we should talk about the fish, though, before we cut out.
[0:14:58 – 0:14:59] Adam: Yeah.
[0:14:59 – 0:15:02] Adam: This is also one of the lakes that has black crappies.
[0:15:02 – 0:15:06] Adam: We just did a Pomper Lake episode, and we’re talking about the rarity of the black crappie.
[0:15:07 – 0:15:07] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[0:15:08 – 0:15:11] Adam: I have not caught a crappie on Fall Lake, but they’re in there.
[0:15:12 – 0:15:18] Erik: No, unfortunately, we have always spent our time in mid to late October on Fall.
[0:15:19 – 0:15:19] Erik: Yeah.
[0:15:19 – 0:15:22] Erik: So the fishing opportunities are pretty slim.
[0:15:23 – 0:15:26] Adam: I bet right now you could do some really good crappie fishing out on Fall, though.
[0:15:27 – 0:15:30] Adam: They show a couple big ones in here, 12 to 14-inch crappie.
[0:15:30 – 0:15:30] Erik: Yep.
[0:15:30 – 0:15:31] Adam: In a net?
[0:15:31 – 0:15:32] Adam: That’s crazy.
[0:15:32 – 0:15:33] Adam: That’s what they’re catching in the net.
[0:15:33 – 0:15:34] Adam: What’s still out there?
[0:15:35 – 0:15:37] Adam: You know, those big crappie are probably the smartest fish out there.
[0:15:37 – 0:15:37] Erik: Yeah.
[0:15:38 – 0:15:47] Erik: Fall Lake, yeah, I mean, it’s kind of interesting to look at the lake species considering what we’ve been looking at recently.
[0:15:47 – 0:15:51] Adam: There’s a bunch of different… Yeah, the shift to the west really is noticeable here.
[0:15:51 – 0:15:52] Adam: We have bluegill.
[0:15:52 – 0:15:56] Erik: Bluegill, which I don’t think we’ve seen in any lakes, at least in terms of like anything reasonable.
[0:15:56 – 0:15:57] Erik: Not anything we’ve featured on the podcast.
[0:15:57 – 0:15:58] Erik: Eight to nine inches.
[0:15:58 – 0:15:59] Erik: That’s a pretty big bluegill.
[0:15:59 – 0:16:01] Adam: Yeah, that’s a respectable bluegill.
[0:16:01 – 0:16:03] Erik: Looks like some big pike.
[0:16:03 – 0:16:03] Erik: Yeah.
[0:16:03 – 0:16:04] Erik: Pretty good numbers.
[0:16:04 – 0:16:05] Erik: I believe that.
[0:16:05 – 0:16:05] Erik: Yep.
[0:16:05 – 0:16:05] Erik: Rock bass.
[0:16:06 – 0:16:06] Erik: Rock bass.
[0:16:07 – 0:16:08] Erik: Hmm.
[0:16:08 – 0:16:09] Erik: Haven’t seen any lakes with rock bass yet.
[0:16:10 – 0:16:11] Adam: Those are a scourge.
[0:16:11 – 0:16:11] Erik: Yeah, they are.
[0:16:12 – 0:16:13] Erik: Well, moving on.
[0:16:13 – 0:16:13] Erik: Yeah.
[0:16:14 – 0:16:18] Erik: The most interesting one that comes up is the shorthead red horse.
[0:16:18 – 0:16:20] Adam: Super excited that there’s shorthead red horse.
[0:16:21 – 0:16:22] Adam: Why just the shorthead?
[0:16:22 – 0:16:23] Erik: Yeah.
[0:16:24 – 0:16:30] Adam: There are five different kinds of red horse, and people really give the red horse grief, but that is a native species to this area.
[0:16:30 – 0:16:32] Adam: Not a rough fish at all.
[0:16:32 – 0:16:33] Adam: No, it’s not a rough fish, and they’re beautiful.
[0:16:34 – 0:16:48] Adam: And, like, I like to do a trip on the Namakagan River, shout out, and they have all five types of red horse in that river, and it’s actually a goal of that trip to our group of friends tries to get all five different kinds of red horse, but…
[0:16:49 – 0:17:14] Adam: uh the short is a beautiful with a really nice bright red tail uh beautiful fish i i’m i’m pretty shocked but not that shocked that they’re in there it’s pretty neat totally yeah i gotta be in like a river or something i would imagine it has a lot to do with the the moving water through there both from the west end of the shagwa river yes and then uh dumping down into newton falls yeah they like the current the red horse do
[0:17:15 – 0:17:40] Erik: and then there is a little falls that comes down from garden like but that’s mostly because there’s a an impoundment and a gauging station that kind of blocks the water so i’m not sure how that affects it naturally but it’s probably has a lot to do with those three aspects of moving water through there yeah smallmouth bass of course what would a lake in minnesota be without a smallmouth that should be our question of the week some week what name a lake where there’s not smallmouth
[0:17:41 – 0:17:44] Erik: Well, I can think of a few, but they’re just designated trout lakes.
[0:17:44 – 0:17:47] Adam: Yeah, but I bet there’s still smallmouth in there.
[0:17:47 – 0:17:49] Adam: I would never be surprised.
[0:17:49 – 0:17:49] Erik: No.
[0:17:50 – 0:17:59] Erik: I think there’s some ciscos, of course, white sucker, and yellow perch, predominantly walleyes in this lake.
[0:17:59 – 0:18:22] Erik: yeah it’s a walleye lake for sure um there is uh some netting for white sucker again to follow up uh from last week and the uh the the poplar comparison um and we have actually seen some of that netting activity a lot of that takes place below the uh or not oh sorry white fish there are no white fish in uh
[0:18:23 – 0:18:40] Erik: in fall lake white sucker though and they are the white fish that i was referring to are the uh the netting operations that happen below the falls on newton and pipestone so apparently there’s no white fish in fall but there are definitely white fish below the falls so
[0:18:42 – 0:18:43] Erik: I’ve seen them netting out there.
[0:18:43 – 0:18:46] Erik: Unless they’re netting something that I don’t know that you can net besides whitefish.
[0:18:46 – 0:18:47] Erik: Cisco?
[0:18:47 – 0:18:48] Erik: Yeah, maybe.
[0:18:48 – 0:18:55] Adam: Yeah, because there are some lakes where they allow you to use the smaller gauge netting for the Cisco or smelt.
[0:18:56 – 0:18:57] Erik: Well, we haven’t had a fact checker in a couple weeks.
[0:18:57 – 0:18:59] Erik: Yeah, we’ll have to get back to that.
[0:18:59 – 0:19:02] Adam: I’m pretty much guaranteed we’re going to be doot-dooting that one.
[0:19:02 – 0:19:02] Adam: Doot-dooting?
[0:19:03 – 0:19:03] Adam: Doot-dooting.
[0:19:03 – 0:19:12] Erik: Yeah, fact check me on the netting operations below Newton and Pipestone Falls that I have seen almost every time I’ve gone through there in October.
[0:19:13 – 0:19:15] Erik: White sucker, white fish, or tulipy?
[0:19:15 – 0:19:16] Erik: That is the question.
[0:19:18 – 0:19:19] Adam: Rock bass.
[0:19:19 – 0:19:21] Erik: Yeah, just going for rock bass.
[0:19:21 – 0:19:23] Adam: Just getting our limit on rock bass.
[0:19:23 – 0:19:35] Erik: Yeah, the Ely, they’ve got the Blueberry Festival, they’ve got a canoeing expo, and then they’ve also got Rock Bass Week, where it’s all things rock bass, all the delicacies that come with those beautiful, beautiful fish.
[0:19:35 – 0:19:37] Adam: That’s the secret ingredient in the Bucky Burger.
[0:19:37 – 0:19:41] Erik: Rock bass eyes.
[0:19:41 – 0:19:43] Erik: One poached rock bass on top.
[0:19:44 – 0:19:45] Erik: It’s like a poached egg.
[0:19:46 – 0:19:47] Erik: Yeah, so…
[0:19:49 – 0:19:49] Erik: fall Lake.
[0:19:50 – 0:19:55] Erik: Like we don’t have, uh, in depth experience on fishing the Lake.
[0:19:55 – 0:19:57] Adam: This is what happens when we get this far from home.
[0:19:57 – 0:19:58] Adam: We’ve been there.
[0:19:58 – 0:19:58] Adam: Yep.
[0:19:59 – 0:20:04] Adam: We haven’t really fished it a ton, so it’s not going to try and represent it in that way.
[0:20:05 – 0:20:08] Adam: But all we can do is kind of lean on the numbers here a little bit.
[0:20:08 – 0:20:09] Adam: And, uh,
[0:20:09 – 0:20:32] Erik: let you know what uh what you can probably expect yeah but it’s a big lake so it’s probably got some nice ones in there one of the the last things on the uh dnr website here that uh just to throw it out doing our psa here the uh rusty and clearwater crayfish both non-native species present in fall lake
[0:20:33 – 0:20:39] Erik: And they averaged 30 entangled crawfish per gillnet.
[0:20:39 – 0:20:44] Erik: So there is a serious problem with the non-native crawfish in the lake.
[0:20:44 – 0:20:48] Erik: And they suggest that it is mostly due to anglers releasing unused bait.
[0:20:48 – 0:20:49] Erik: So…
[0:20:50 – 0:20:50] Erik: If you’re fishing with crawfish.
[0:20:50 – 0:20:53] Adam: I’ve never used crawfish as a bait, I guess.
[0:20:53 – 0:20:57] Erik: No, I mean, I think people trap them and then fish with them.
[0:20:57 – 0:20:57] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:58 – 0:20:59] Erik: And they bring them over from other lakes.
[0:20:59 – 0:20:59] Erik: Sure.
[0:21:00 – 0:21:07] Erik: I mean, in general, you shouldn’t be just dumping your bucket of minnows out after you’re done fishing for the day or leeches or anything.
[0:21:08 – 0:21:09] Adam: Pack it in.
[0:21:10 – 0:21:30] Erik: it out yeah um other aspects that we should just briefly hit on uh fall lake fishing i think is uh that’s about the best we can do for it there in terms of our experience but yeah the uh the access to it just outside ely on the fernberg trail
[0:21:31 – 0:21:32] Erik: kind of like the Gunflint Trail a little bit.
[0:21:32 – 0:21:42] Erik: You get out into the woods, not really driving along very many lakes, but at access is quite a few entry points, basically like 24, 25, 6.
[0:21:42 – 0:21:47] Erik: You have Moose Lake, Snowbank, the Numbers Chain.
[0:21:48 – 0:21:51] Erik: So one of the biggest roads on the west side for accessing.
[0:21:52 – 0:21:55] Erik: There’s actually a little town on Fall Lake.
[0:21:55 – 0:21:55] Erik: You know what town that is?
[0:21:56 – 0:21:57] Erik: Winton.
[0:21:57 – 0:22:00] Erik: We’re getting a little more Winton.
[0:22:00 – 0:22:21] Erik: winton winton winton there’s the shagwa river that flows in from the west that i have had the privilege of uh of paddling from shagwa lake to fall one uh one october years ago i wish i was there for that that was an experience we didn’t we didn’t do the river on our trip it was uh that time of year i think the uh
[0:22:23 – 0:22:33] Erik: The podcast does not have the little E for explicit, but I think I can get away with saying that it was a hellish experience.
[0:22:33 – 0:22:33] Adam: I think that’s okay.
[0:22:34 – 0:22:34] Erik: Yeah.
[0:22:34 – 0:22:36] Erik: It’s not a river.
[0:22:36 – 0:22:37] Erik: Not a recommended route?
[0:22:37 – 0:22:40] Erik: No, not a river I would recommend paddling on.
[0:22:40 – 0:22:41] Erik: especially in October.
[0:22:41 – 0:22:52] Erik: Maybe it’s okay early in the year, but we basically were hauling canoes over boulder fields, trying to portage around it in places where there are culverts, all no portages.
[0:22:52 – 0:22:52] Erik: Yeah.
[0:22:52 – 0:22:54] Erik: It’s not a wilderness experience.
[0:22:54 – 0:22:59] Erik: You’re going through like people’s backyards and you know, some people don’t keep their backyards in very good order.
[0:23:00 – 0:23:03] Erik: Not casting any aspersions at the fine residents of Winton.
[0:23:04 – 0:23:06] Adam: I don’t think most people are trying to paddle that river either.
[0:23:07 – 0:23:08] Adam: No, most people aren’t.
[0:23:08 – 0:23:14] Erik: I’ll never forget coming around a bend and seeing an exercise bike just out in the open right on the shores of the lake or the river.
[0:23:15 – 0:23:19] Erik: Like, I’m going to go work out, hun, down on the shores of the Chagua River.
[0:23:19 – 0:23:19] Erik: Yeah.
[0:23:20 – 0:23:30] Erik: And then, yeah, we ended up coming out under, like, yeah, we went under the Fernberg Trail under a bridge to a huge culvert.
[0:23:30 – 0:23:38] Erik: And as we came out on the other side, there was, like, a class being taught about, like, it was, like, a survey class or something from the community college.
[0:23:38 – 0:23:41] Adam: Trying to figure out how to net crawfish or something.
[0:23:41 – 0:23:41] Adam: Yeah.
[0:23:41 – 0:23:44] Erik: No, I think they were looking at the construction of the culvert.
[0:23:44 – 0:23:45] Adam: Oh, it was like an engineering class?
[0:23:45 – 0:23:47] Adam: Yeah, it was like an engineering slash survey class.
[0:23:47 – 0:23:51] Adam: When you told this story in the past, I always assumed they were doing some sort of naturalist work.
[0:23:52 – 0:23:53] Erik: No, I think it had to do with the highway.
[0:23:53 – 0:23:54] Adam: Highway department.
[0:23:54 – 0:24:07] Erik: So they were very shocked when two people came out popping out of a culvert in late October that looked like they hadn’t had a warm meal in two months and hadn’t showered in at least two.
[0:24:08 – 0:24:10] Erik: One of those statements is true, but…
[0:24:11 – 0:24:16] Adam: Did they try and give you a sandwich or a coupon for a bowl of soup or something?
[0:24:17 – 0:24:21] Erik: No, they did not really say anything.
[0:24:21 – 0:24:23] Adam: Living on the Chagua River, it’s a tough life.
[0:24:24 – 0:24:31] Erik: They were too rattled to even be able to comment on the situation.
[0:24:31 – 0:24:34] Erik: The one other thing that the lake does offer is a fine campground.
[0:24:35 – 0:24:37] Adam: Yeah, that campground was nice.
[0:24:37 – 0:24:44] Erik: I think we’ll probably do an episode on the extracurricular camping slash car camping options.
[0:24:44 – 0:24:45] Adam: Car camping option.
[0:24:45 – 0:24:48] Adam: There’s nothing wrong with the car camping, like before or after a trip.
[0:24:48 – 0:24:49] Erik: No, yeah.
[0:24:49 – 0:24:49] Adam: It’s a good option.
[0:24:49 – 0:24:56] Adam: There’s a lot of nice spots around the Boundary Waters, but the Fall Lake Campground, I just found out they have showers.
[0:24:56 – 0:24:58] Adam: They didn’t have them running when we were there.
[0:24:58 – 0:24:58] Adam: No, yeah.
[0:24:58 – 0:24:59] Adam: Too bad.
[0:25:00 – 0:25:10] Erik: I think it’s like Memorial Day to Labor Day that the water’s running, but the facilities there are in tip-top shape, probably one of the best campgrounds in terms of facilities that I’ve seen.
[0:25:10 – 0:25:15] Erik: Everything is really new, clean, like the water.
[0:25:15 – 0:25:21] Erik: I mean, you don’t find very many of those campgrounds run by the Forest Service in the Superior National Forest with…
[0:25:22 – 0:25:47] Erik: nice water like that especially the showers i don’t think any of the campgrounds on the gunflint trail have water like that they’re all latrines they have water but it’s just like a spigot you know yeah pour it in a bucket and then dump it on your head yeah or get the uh the solar bag out you can do that it’s uh 64 campsites um and it’s open most of the year not in the winter though you can access the lake still in the winter but none of the
[0:25:48 – 0:25:52] Erik: None of the access roads to the campsites are open there, but that is a great option.
[0:25:52 – 0:26:00] Erik: Even if you’re not going out, you know, the next day camping, you know, camping at the campground and doing day trips from there would be a fine option as well.
[0:26:03 – 0:26:08] Erik: But, yeah, anything else we have to say on Fall Lake?
[0:26:08 – 0:26:20] Erik: I think the things that we will maybe get to in the question of the week on the hitchhiking, we’ll have maybe a few more things from the fine folks out on the Internet.
[0:26:21 – 0:26:23] Adam: Yeah, I can’t wait to hear about that.
[0:26:23 – 0:26:28] Adam: But it’s definitely one of the best spots I’ve ever done a resupply out of.
[0:26:28 – 0:26:28] Erik: Yeah.
[0:26:29 – 0:26:35] Adam: Real handy and very friendly people picking up the hitchhikers, even though we were definitely a little rough looking.
[0:26:36 – 0:26:39] Adam: The showers were not open when we went through there and they still picked us up.
[0:26:40 – 0:26:40] Erik: Yeah.
[0:26:40 – 0:26:42] Erik: The pro tip is to always carry a paddle.
[0:26:43 – 0:26:51] Adam: Yeah, if you have a paddle with you while you’re walking down the highway, it signals to the drivers that you’re just going into town to get beer and maybe some fresh bacon, maybe some vegetables.
[0:26:51 – 0:26:54] Erik: You’re not going to jack them with a sock full of pennies.
[0:26:57 – 0:26:58] Erik: I’m just a friendly paddler.
[0:26:58 – 0:27:00] Adam: Yeah, just a friendly paddler.
[0:27:00 – 0:27:04] Adam: That’s my number one hitchhiking recommendation if you’re on a canoe trip is definitely keep…
[0:27:05 – 0:27:32] Adam: you know put the put the canoe in the woods somewhere hide that away you’re not going to try and hitchhike that all the way and that would be insane but yeah if you have the paddle with you it signals that you are a reasonable person and can be trusted yeah i think anybody carrying a paddle in any circumstance in life you could be in a skyscraper in tokyo or on the fernberg trail in ely if you have a pad if you see somebody with a paddle they can be trusted i would say friendly yeah yeah
[0:27:34 – 0:27:50] Erik: Yeah, and the friendliest of folks that we have dealt with in our hitchhiking experiences have clearly been the folks, the fine, fine folks up in Canada on some of our Atikokan resupplies.
[0:27:51 – 0:27:53] Erik: I have done that three times already.
[0:27:53 – 0:28:17] Adam: you’ve been involved in uh one just the ones but it was memorable yeah you would like yeah that was one part i was really looking forward to because you’d gotten to go the year before and then all this story of like yeah and then we just hide the canoes in the woods and then walk out and the first car that comes along will pick us up and take us right to a hotel i was like that sounds pretty great yeah no it’s uh it sounded a little too great but no basically that’s how it worked
[0:28:18 – 0:28:25] Erik: Yeah, it’s an interesting dynamic to those trips, the Atikokan hitchhiking dynamic.
[0:28:25 – 0:28:43] Erik: We would paddle out to the Nim Lake Public Access and manage that squirrely floating dock that they have from a canoe, which is never easy, and then stash the canoe in the woods, walk up to the ghostly abandoned parking lot because it’s the…
[0:28:43 – 0:28:44] Erik: third week in October.
[0:28:44 – 0:28:49] Erik: Well, it’s usually like mid-October because it’s usually like Canadian Thanksgiving when we’ve been up there.
[0:28:50 – 0:28:55] Erik: And you have to walk the road from the Nim Lake Public Access out to the highway.
[0:28:56 – 0:28:58] Adam: Yeah, you’re not going to see a lot of traffic out there.
[0:28:58 – 0:28:58] Adam: No.
[0:28:58 – 0:29:02] Erik: But once you get out to the highway, you’re almost always immediately picked up.
[0:29:03 – 0:29:08] Erik: And the funniest thing about getting picked up by the Canadians is they just do it.
[0:29:08 – 0:29:15] Erik: They feel like it’s their duty, even though they aren’t necessarily the most friendly people when they pick you up.
[0:29:15 – 0:29:17] Erik: They’re just like, yeah, we just pick up hitchhikers.
[0:29:17 – 0:29:21] Erik: And you would assume somebody who’s picking up a hitchhiker is going to be like,
[0:29:21 – 0:29:22] Erik: Hey, tell me your story.
[0:29:22 – 0:29:23] Adam: Yeah, they don’t care.
[0:29:23 – 0:29:25] Erik: Fellow hitchhiker, I used to do this.
[0:29:25 – 0:29:29] Erik: No, they’re just like, yeah, we’ll pick you up, but don’t expect me to be like your best friend or talk.
[0:29:29 – 0:29:29] Erik: Where are you going?
[0:29:29 – 0:29:30] Erik: Yeah, where do you need to go?
[0:29:31 – 0:29:35] Erik: And I think it’s like, he’s supposedly like a rite of passage up there that they…
[0:29:36 – 0:29:51] Erik: uh take the summer after their senior year of high school and just hitchhike around i don’t know if it’s necessarily as much of a thing anymore but that was one of the things that we heard when we were up there from some of the uh some of the locals
[0:29:53 – 0:30:06] Adam: Yeah, that time when I was there, we got to the main highway, and then we ended up actually sitting there for a while, and then a few big trucks went by, and we had big packs with us and our paddles, of course, signaling our trustworthiness.
[0:30:07 – 0:30:14] Adam: We’re just sitting there, and then finally a minivan came driving up the gravel road from Nim Lake that we had just hiked.
[0:30:14 – 0:30:17] Erik: Oh, yeah, an older couple that were coming to check the mail.
[0:30:17 – 0:30:22] Adam: Yeah, and they stopped, and we were across the way from that road over by the mailboxes,
[0:30:23 – 0:30:28] Adam: And they kind of stopped and then, oh, they like pulled up real slow and were like, where are you headed?
[0:30:29 – 0:30:30] Adam: Hop on in.
[0:30:30 – 0:30:33] Adam: So, oh, man, feel bad for that minivan, though.
[0:30:33 – 0:30:35] Adam: We were probably pretty stinky.
[0:30:35 – 0:30:36] Erik: Yeah, we stunk it up for sure.
[0:30:36 – 0:30:37] Erik: Yeah.
[0:30:38 – 0:30:41] Adam: Sorry about that van, if you’re listening, kind couple.
[0:30:42 – 0:30:43] Adam: But they were really nice.
[0:30:43 – 0:30:45] Adam: And actually, they were kind of like, oh, where are you going?
[0:30:45 – 0:30:46] Erik: That’s neat.
[0:30:46 – 0:30:50] Adam: They didn’t really seem amazed or that interested, but they were friendly enough.
[0:30:50 – 0:30:51] Erik: They did engage in conversation, yeah.
[0:30:52 – 0:30:56] Adam: Yeah, and they had a nice van, and we barely got all our stuff and all our stinky butts in there.
[0:30:56 – 0:30:59] Adam: And then they basically dropped us right at the hotel.
[0:31:00 – 0:31:04] Adam: Yeah, that’s a nice thing on a trip to be able to just, on a long one like that.
[0:31:04 – 0:31:08] Adam: I always tell people we did a 28-day trip.
[0:31:08 – 0:31:12] Erik: Don’t tell them that there was a day in kind of a dirty hotel.
[0:31:12 – 0:31:14] Erik: A luxury hotel in Atacocan.
[0:31:15 – 0:31:20] Adam: And then another resply later into Ely, which we’ll get to, but no hotel there.
[0:31:21 – 0:31:24] Erik: The night out at the Union Bar.
[0:31:25 – 0:31:29] Adam: Unfortunately, it was league night for the bowling, so we couldn’t get a lane there.
[0:31:29 – 0:31:44] Erik: i was really hoping we were gonna get a lane yeah we had uh one of the bartenders told us to put our boots back on because we took our boots off and they were so smelly she’s like yeah you’re gonna want to put those back on yeah sorry what kind of person takes their boots off at a tavern
[0:31:45 – 0:32:14] Adam: page may that’s who actually i think it was me i think it’s probably your feet probably me yeah and then on the way back out on that trip i think that was the one where we got picked up by the opp we did yeah we’re we almost made it all the way out of town in like a snow sleet storm it’s kind of more raining i guess than snowing at that point but it’s definitely pretty nasty and miserable and we’re just sadly walking down the highway with our paddles and packs and uh yeah all of a sudden the opp pulls up
[0:32:16 – 0:32:41] Adam: i thought we were like in trouble or something they’re like no that was the american mindset we’re like oh god here it comes the the authorities we’re in we’re in for it now trespassing on the shoulder or some offense yeah um no they were totally guy was totally cool he’s like oh yeah going to nimm huh giving us bass fishing tips on the way out talking about batchawang and yeah yeah he was pretty nice uh we got everything in there and
[0:32:42 – 0:32:43] Adam: Yeah, no questions.
[0:32:43 – 0:32:46] Adam: Didn’t, you know, give us any grief or nothing.
[0:32:46 – 0:32:49] Adam: Didn’t really offer… You know, he was pretty encouraging, I guess.
[0:32:50 – 0:32:53] Erik: Yeah, considering the time of year and the weather conditions.
[0:32:53 – 0:32:54] Adam: Yeah, like, didn’t bat an eye.
[0:32:54 – 0:32:58] Adam: Like, you know, going back out, huh?
[0:32:58 – 0:32:59] Adam: You know, there’s snow on the way.
[0:32:59 – 0:33:01] Adam: It is currently downpouring.
[0:33:01 – 0:33:06] Erik: Yeah, and that’s a little different than the year after that where I was up there with…
[0:33:07 – 0:33:10] Erik: There was four of us that year, and…
[0:33:10 – 0:33:14] Erik: On the way back out, same situation, we were walking back out.
[0:33:14 – 0:33:15] Erik: It was even worse, though.
[0:33:15 – 0:33:29] Erik: I was, like, off and on spitting these, like, just globs of snow, and then it would stop, and the sun would come out, and then another cloud would roll over, and it would just, like, spit these, like…
[0:33:30 – 0:33:34] Erik: piercing chunks of basically like small little snowballs.
[0:33:35 – 0:33:36] Erik: It was just dead quiet.
[0:33:36 – 0:33:39] Erik: So it wasn’t anybody on that road between the highway and Anacokan.
[0:33:39 – 0:33:45] Erik: And we made it all the way down to the turn on the highway where there’s like a rest area, tourist information.
[0:33:45 – 0:33:45] Adam: Mm-hmm.
[0:33:45 – 0:33:50] Erik: And we were just sitting there in like the snow, just on the side of the highway with our thumbs out.
[0:33:51 – 0:33:53] Erik: And a van went by.
[0:33:53 – 0:33:56] Erik: And then like two minutes later, it came back.
[0:33:56 – 0:33:58] Erik: And it was just like very friendly.
[0:33:58 – 0:33:59] Adam: Turn around, Herb.
[0:33:59 – 0:33:59] Erik: Yeah.
[0:33:59 – 0:34:01] Erik: No, they were like, oh, my God, look at these.
[0:34:01 – 0:34:26] Erik: poor kids standing on the side of this canadian highway and it’s just in the snow and they like literally offered up their house yeah they’re like you guys can’t go back out camping yeah they’re like no just come like we have uh we have a spare bedroom a couch and you can take hot showers and like we just come from uh indoors and hot showers and we’re like no it’s amazing that you would offer that but we have to go like
[0:34:27 – 0:34:28] Erik: Things are getting cold.
[0:34:29 – 0:34:29] Erik: Yeah.
[0:34:29 – 0:34:29] Erik: Things are freezing.
[0:34:30 – 0:34:30] Erik: Time to get back south.
[0:34:31 – 0:34:31] Erik: Yeah.
[0:34:31 – 0:34:33] Erik: We have many miles and days ahead of us to get back to.
[0:34:33 – 0:34:35] Erik: You’re like a goose with the itch.
[0:34:35 – 0:34:36] Adam: Gotta go.
[0:34:36 – 0:34:36] Erik: Yeah.
[0:34:36 – 0:34:47] Erik: But, I mean, so you’ve got that end of the spectrum, and then you’ve got the guy that picked us up on the way in that year who basically picked us up and only responded with grunts.
[0:34:47 – 0:34:52] Erik: And, like, we asked him one too many questions, and he, like, turned up the radio on us.
[0:34:52 – 0:34:52] Erik: Yeah.
[0:34:53 – 0:34:55] Erik: It’s like, you picked us up, but it is understandable.
[0:34:55 – 0:35:01] Erik: I really appreciate it, but it’s just one of those things where it’s like, yeah, hitchhikers, I guess it’s my turn to pick them up.
[0:35:02 – 0:35:02] Adam: Yeah.
[0:35:03 – 0:35:08] Adam: So I’ve picked up a few, but you don’t see them too much around here these days.
[0:35:08 – 0:35:09] Erik: No, you really don’t.
[0:35:09 – 0:35:10] Erik: I mean…
[0:35:11 – 0:35:20] Erik: Gunflint Trail, sometimes, Grand Marais on the North Shore, you’ll see people usually, especially if they’re doing the Borderot Trail or some day trips where you end up in a different spot.
[0:35:21 – 0:35:24] Adam: You don’t see people just planning that into their trip these days, I guess.
[0:35:24 – 0:35:24] Adam: No.
[0:35:24 – 0:35:25] Adam: You really can, though.
[0:35:26 – 0:35:26] Adam: Yeah.
[0:35:26 – 0:35:27] Adam: It’s an option.
[0:35:27 – 0:35:28] Adam: It is definitely an option.
[0:35:28 – 0:35:30] Adam: It’s a fun option if you’re willing to take that chance.
[0:35:31 – 0:35:40] Erik: It’s a nice extension of the kind of adventure that the Boundary Waters is to finish up or start a trip with.
[0:35:40 – 0:35:50] Erik: It really is kind of like a Boundary Waters trip in and of itself, but totally different because you don’t know what to expect.
[0:35:50 – 0:35:58] Erik: It’s going to be something completely out of your hands, but it typically is going to end up with a good story.
[0:35:58 – 0:36:18] Adam: yeah as you said in the little caribou episode you just got to kind of be prepared for anything and just go with it and enjoy it for what it is yeah each trip can have its own perks and uh you know high points and that can be one of them or it could just be a weird thing but either way it’s going to be part of your story you always remember that as part of that trip
[0:36:18 – 0:36:20] Erik: Yeah, totally.
[0:36:20 – 0:36:27] Erik: There is the potential that it could not work out, but I’ve done it almost 10 times.
[0:36:27 – 0:36:28] Erik: I’ve never been murdered.
[0:36:28 – 0:36:29] Erik: Yeah.
[0:36:30 – 0:36:31] Erik: I haven’t died yet.
[0:36:32 – 0:36:36] Erik: But yeah, I mean, I’ve been on trips where we have planned…
[0:36:39 – 0:36:58] Erik: had contingency plans for getting to and from vehicles, and those have worked out, but not necessarily saying that you shouldn’t hitchhike, but those are probably the better ways to go, not necessarily planning on hitchhiking, but at least on the United States side, Canada, they seem a little bit more up for it.
[0:36:58 – 0:37:03] Adam: Yeah, but I’ve never really had any problems on the U.S. side either, you know, in Fall Lake.
[0:37:04 – 0:37:09] Erik: Yeah, dead calm, just quiet, off-season, middle of October, Fall Lake, and we still get picked up.
[0:37:09 – 0:37:16] Adam: Hiking out, and yeah, we’re just hiking and hiking, and nobody’s around.
[0:37:17 – 0:37:20] Erik: It was like the first vehicle that drove by after like 40 minutes of walking.
[0:37:20 – 0:37:22] Adam: Yeah, we went quite a ways.
[0:37:23 – 0:37:26] Adam: We were basically thinking like, oh, it’ll be real easy.
[0:37:26 – 0:37:27] Adam: We’re on a paved road.
[0:37:28 – 0:37:28] Erik: Or was it?
[0:37:28 – 0:37:31] Erik: Yeah, it was paved from the campground.
[0:37:31 – 0:37:33] Adam: Once you get out of the campground, it’s paved right there and then…
[0:37:34 – 0:37:36] Adam: Yeah, you’re going and going and it’s like, how is there nobody out here?
[0:37:37 – 0:37:38] Adam: It was a Sunday, middle of the day.
[0:37:38 – 0:37:40] Adam: You’d think people would just be out for a Sunday drive.
[0:37:41 – 0:37:47] Adam: And going and going and all of a sudden the person that finally picked us up, they recognized Paige.
[0:37:48 – 0:37:49] Adam: That’s why.
[0:37:49 – 0:37:49] Adam: That was helpful.
[0:37:50 – 0:37:57] Adam: Some lady with some dogs that knew Paige somehow and was going out to the Fall Lake campground for some reason to run the dogs.
[0:37:57 – 0:37:58] Erik: Yeah, I think she was just walking her dog.
[0:37:59 – 0:38:01] Adam: Yeah, so she gave us a ride in and then
[0:38:03 – 0:38:04] Adam: It was a Sunday, though.
[0:38:05 – 0:38:05] Adam: Yes.
[0:38:05 – 0:38:06] Adam: Is that right?
[0:38:06 – 0:38:07] Adam: It couldn’t have been.
[0:38:07 – 0:38:08] Adam: We went back in on Sunday.
[0:38:08 – 0:38:09] Erik: It was Saturday.
[0:38:09 – 0:38:11] Adam: It was Saturday because we were going for the beer.
[0:38:11 – 0:38:13] Adam: And then there wasn’t going to be beer.
[0:38:13 – 0:38:16] Adam: This was back in the days before you could get beer on a Sunday.
[0:38:16 – 0:38:17] Erik: Ah, the days before beer on Sundays.
[0:38:18 – 0:38:18] Adam: Wow.
[0:38:18 – 0:38:20] Adam: That’s going to make us sound old.
[0:38:20 – 0:38:21] Erik: Dark, dark days.
[0:38:21 – 0:38:26] Adam: I remember back, rotary phones calling the liquor store on Saturday to see how late they’re open.
[0:38:27 – 0:38:32] Erik: No, yeah, we had to buy toilet paper.
[0:38:32 – 0:38:34] Erik: It was like a quintessential supply.
[0:38:34 – 0:38:35] Erik: We had to get toilet paper.
[0:38:35 – 0:38:40] Adam: It’s literally the second thing on the list after beer and some brandy or I don’t know what we were picking up.
[0:38:41 – 0:38:42] Adam: Probably tequila at that point.
[0:38:42 – 0:38:43] Erik: I don’t remember.
[0:38:44 – 0:38:51] Adam: Something for the sipper and then some beers for just that night while we’re in civilization.
[0:38:51 – 0:38:51] Adam: Yeah.
[0:38:51 – 0:38:52] Erik: And yeah, we had been like… At Fall Lake.
[0:38:53 – 0:38:54] Erik: This was after like two weeks of…
[0:38:54 – 0:38:56] Erik: I think we talked about it on a previous episode.
[0:38:56 – 0:38:56] Erik: Yeah, we have.
[0:38:56 – 0:39:01] Erik: The nasty wind and getting waylaid and we’d like… Rations were low.
[0:39:01 – 0:39:02] Erik: It was rum.
[0:39:02 – 0:39:03] Erik: We were super…
[0:39:03 – 0:39:03] Erik: I think it was Kraken.
[0:39:04 – 0:39:05] Erik: We were super low on rations.
[0:39:06 – 0:39:09] Erik: And so by the time we got to Ely, we were just like maniacs.
[0:39:09 – 0:39:11] Erik: We went to town and…
[0:39:12 – 0:39:13] Erik: We went to the Ely Steakhouse.
[0:39:13 – 0:39:13] Erik: Must have liquor.
[0:39:13 – 0:39:17] Erik: And we each bought like a pound of wings and a Bucky Burger.
[0:39:17 – 0:39:18] Erik: Yes.
[0:39:18 – 0:39:18] Erik: Each of us.
[0:39:18 – 0:39:19] Erik: That’s what we each had.
[0:39:19 – 0:39:19] Erik: Yeah.
[0:39:19 – 0:39:23] Adam: And I remember that whole like two days before then you guys were telling me about the Bucky Burger.
[0:39:23 – 0:39:25] Adam: I was so excited.
[0:39:25 – 0:39:26] Adam: I was salivating.
[0:39:26 – 0:39:26] Adam: Yeah.
[0:39:26 – 0:39:32] Adam: I think we’ve previously mentioned somewhere that when we were going through the reservation.
[0:39:32 – 0:39:32] Adam: Megalagon.
[0:39:32 – 0:39:35] Adam: We were hoping for like a cafe or something.
[0:39:35 – 0:39:35] Adam: Maybe.
[0:39:35 – 0:39:37] Adam: Just maybe there’s some sort of like…
[0:39:37 – 0:39:56] Adam: tavern on the river there uh catering to boaters that have burgers no such no such things open in october no no so yeah and we ran really we ran out of fresh supplies we ran out of we’re down all of our booze supplies dehydrated food only and water yeah and no toilet paper
[0:39:56 – 0:40:03] Erik: And we made a huge burn in from the campsite, the Table Rock campsite, into Ely in one day.
[0:40:04 – 0:40:04] Adam: Impressive.
[0:40:04 – 0:40:12] Adam: And yeah, previously in this episode, we talked about passing motorboat portagers going out of Newton into fall.
[0:40:12 – 0:40:14] Adam: We were chasing this group of fishermen.
[0:40:15 – 0:40:15] Adam: I need a beer.
[0:40:15 – 0:40:18] Adam: And we were going faster than them with motorboats.
[0:40:18 – 0:40:20] Adam: That’s how much we were trying to get into Ely.
[0:40:20 – 0:40:20] Adam: Yep.
[0:40:21 – 0:40:23] Adam: And it all required us to get a ride.
[0:40:23 – 0:40:46] Erik: yeah and then it was we did yeah and we got in and we pretty much acted like we had never been to a grocery store or a restaurant before and just ordered all the food and went to a liquor store and bought all the booze and then ended up waking up that next morning the sunday morning back on our yeah well we got a ride back out to fall lake from like one of page’s friends then we didn’t really have to hitchhike back out that night yeah
[0:40:47 – 0:41:00] Adam: So we got a ride out, and then it was like, oh, some other people showed up, and we had kind of a party going on at the Fall Lake parking lot, just hanging out with some people, and then had to paddle our way back out to the island campsite we were set up on.
[0:41:00 – 0:41:01] Erik: In the dark.
[0:41:01 – 0:41:02] Adam: In the dark.
[0:41:02 – 0:41:05] Adam: We almost titanicked a rock.
[0:41:05 – 0:41:06] Erik: Yeah, we almost destroyed a rock.
[0:41:06 – 0:41:07] Adam: I was up front, I remember.
[0:41:07 – 0:41:09] Adam: I saw the rock in my weak headlamp.
[0:41:09 – 0:41:11] Erik: I goes, gee!
[0:41:11 – 0:41:11] Erik: Yeah.
[0:41:11 – 0:41:12] Erik: Gee!
[0:41:12 – 0:41:12] Erik: Yeah.
[0:41:12 – 0:41:14] Adam: And we just missed it, and I think it worked.
[0:41:15 – 0:41:15] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[0:41:15 – 0:41:16] Erik: Well, we didn’t hit the rock.
[0:41:16 – 0:41:18] Adam: No, we just barely missed it.
[0:41:18 – 0:41:20] Adam: We got to our campsite and…
[0:41:21 – 0:41:29] Adam: Yeah, hunkered down, and then the next morning we woke up pretty late, as you might expect, and discovered we had failed to get the toilet paper.
[0:41:29 – 0:41:34] Erik: Yeah, no toilet paper, and none of our arms or bodies really wanted to go out into the…
[0:41:34 – 0:41:36] Adam: It wasn’t like a nice day either.
[0:41:36 – 0:41:38] Adam: Yeah, it was kind of crummy and gray.
[0:41:38 – 0:41:43] Adam: It was Sunday, too, and I knew that there was going to be a Packers-Vikings game, too.
[0:41:43 – 0:41:46] Adam: Yeah, so we got to ride back into Ely.
[0:41:47 – 0:41:50] Adam: Packers at Vikings, October so-and-so of 2000 and…
[0:41:52 – 0:42:08] Erik: 11 yeah we got a ride back into ely and spent the afternoon after buying toilet paper and we did the steakhouse drinking big friendlies premiums and watching football yeah more wings yeah these are the yes more wings these are the high stakes adventures that we go on like i mean it’s life or death out there in october
[0:42:10 – 0:42:13] Adam: If you had seen the things we had seen on Kasakaquag and that wind.
[0:42:14 – 0:42:14] Adam: Oh, boy.
[0:42:15 – 0:42:17] Adam: We needed two days of decompression.
[0:42:17 – 0:42:18] Adam: Recuperation, R&R.
[0:42:19 – 0:42:20] Adam: Yeah, and we got it.
[0:42:20 – 0:42:21] Adam: Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
[0:42:23 – 0:42:26] Adam: The Vikings got out to an early lead and then succumbed.
[0:42:26 – 0:42:27] Adam: Spoiler.
[0:42:27 – 0:42:49] Adam: aaron rogers aaron rogers hit like jordy for like three second half touchdowns end up being like 35 17 if i recall it was a kind of a blowout and i was having a great time yeah everybody else in the everybody else in there not so much no i think i was the only packers fan in that bar that day it’s yeah i imagine so but so yeah after that we got our toilet paper and we got out of dodge
[0:42:50 – 0:42:52] Erik: And then we got windbound immediately on Basswood.
[0:42:52 – 0:42:58] Adam: Yeah, we made it to Basswood the next day, pretty easily up to a good, you know, halfway down Basswood.
[0:42:58 – 0:43:00] SPEAKER_00: And then, yeah, I don’t know.
[0:43:01 – 0:43:04] Adam: And it was the last leg of the trip there.
[0:43:04 – 0:43:10] Adam: So that was, those are more unusual kinds of hitchhiking experiences.
[0:43:11 – 0:43:18] Adam: More often what I would see and what seems more reasonable is like when we did a day trip out to Mueller Falls.
[0:43:18 – 0:43:18] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[0:43:19 – 0:43:25] Adam: And so we left the car at Round Lake and went in, but then we ended up wanting to finish on Segal.
[0:43:25 – 0:43:28] Adam: And so it’s like, well, you could walk that if you had to.
[0:43:28 – 0:43:34] Adam: And we did just start walking basically after we got back to Segal towards the car.
[0:43:34 – 0:43:36] Adam: But you don’t want to walk that.
[0:43:36 – 0:43:36] Adam: Yeah.
[0:43:36 – 0:43:42] Adam: And pretty quickly, a couple from like Texas picked us up and took us all the way back to Round Lake.
[0:43:42 – 0:43:43] Adam: And they were really friendly too.
[0:43:43 – 0:43:47] Erik: Well, except for the fact that he almost drove off before I was in the vehicle full.
[0:43:47 – 0:43:48] Erik: I remember I was like… Yeah, I got in.
[0:43:48 – 0:43:53] Erik: My foot… My toe was like dragging on the asphalt at like 5 to 10 miles an hour.
[0:43:53 – 0:43:56] Erik: And I shut the door going like 15.
[0:43:56 – 0:43:58] Erik: Like, all right, dude.
[0:43:58 – 0:43:59] Erik: Thank you for picking me up.
[0:43:59 – 0:44:03] Erik: But at the same time, don’t give me road rash.
[0:44:03 – 0:44:04] Adam: Safety first.
[0:44:04 – 0:44:04] Erik: Yeah.
[0:44:05 – 0:44:06] Erik: But yeah, the…
[0:44:06 – 0:44:11] Adam: I think that’s a more like typical use of hitchhiking in a boundary water situation.
[0:44:11 – 0:44:13] Adam: Because a lot of times where you want to finish…
[0:44:13 – 0:44:39] Adam: isn’t where your car is and you know that’s what transports are for but hitchhiking’s free hitchhiking’s free and it allows you to just do some other stuff that you really can’t do with a transport i guess like that instance or you know like frost river um if you want to leave out across bay and then end at rum lake then it’s a real that’s a pretty short walk but i mean who wants to walk a road at the end of their trip that’s not too bad
[0:44:39 – 0:45:04] Adam: or if you want to do something on a clear water and then somehow end up at the west bearskin or vice versa it’s like a short you know less than a mile down a really nice road yep it just feels weird walking on a road after you’re on a trip there’s no routes to trip over no puddles usually it’s too flat too easy too easy too wide but yeah we uh we did pose the the question to uh
[0:45:05 – 0:45:07] Adam: I figured it was a wild card question.
[0:45:07 – 0:45:10] Adam: It’s an April kind of question.
[0:45:10 – 0:45:13] Erik: It’s a little specific, borderline hyper-specific, but, you know.
[0:45:15 – 0:45:17] Adam: That’s the kind of stuff we’re going to cover on this podcast.
[0:45:17 – 0:45:19] Adam: We’re not going to just cover the beans.
[0:45:19 – 0:45:21] Adam: Yeah.
[0:45:21 – 0:45:22] Erik: Throw a curveball.
[0:45:22 – 0:45:23] Erik: Also the spices.
[0:45:23 – 0:45:25] Erik: A bean ball every once in a while.
[0:45:26 – 0:45:26] Adam: Yeah.
[0:45:26 – 0:45:31] Adam: You got maybe 15 pounds of beans in the soup.
[0:45:31 – 0:45:33] Adam: You also got a little bit of garlic.
[0:45:33 – 0:46:02] Erik: favorite time of year to paddle the week before I mean that’s like anybody can respond to that but you really get the potential for something special if you ask a question like what’s your go-to hitchhiking story which so we didn’t get much on the responses not surprised yeah but you know we got one we did get one from RBWCA and do 042 thanks for the response do thanks do friend of the podcast
[0:46:02 – 0:46:09] Erik: Yeah, one of the things that Dew had to say was that there was…
[0:46:10 – 0:46:24] Erik: I like to think that he’s telling the truth when he says that five to ten years ago on a BWCA trip, their brother volunteered to run from exit point to reclaim a vehicle at an entry point.
[0:46:25 – 0:46:26] Adam: See, that’s kind of the scenario.
[0:46:26 – 0:46:27] Adam: He could have just put his thumb out.
[0:46:28 – 0:46:29] Adam: He didn’t have to run.
[0:46:30 – 0:46:38] Erik: My second trip that I ever did was we put in at Gunflint, did the Granite River up to Sag.
[0:46:39 – 0:46:40] Erik: And we…
[0:46:42 – 0:47:06] Erik: got dropped off we had one vehicle there was four of us two canoes and we got dropped off at gunflint and then a friend of mine drove up to the end of the trail and then left a bike and i don’t know how did he do it i don’t remember how he how it ended up there was a bike though yeah no they the we left uh uh uh no he drove the truck up and biked back on the same day
[0:47:07 – 0:47:11] Erik: So we would end at the truck, and then we had to pick up the bike on the way home.
[0:47:12 – 0:47:14] Erik: So he did the biking.
[0:47:14 – 0:47:16] Erik: Yes, on the first day.
[0:47:16 – 0:47:20] Erik: So he biked from the end of the trail to Gunflint, which is like 10, 12 miles.
[0:47:20 – 0:47:20] Erik: Was he okay?
[0:47:21 – 0:47:24] Erik: And then we went on a canoe trip, and it was really windy.
[0:47:24 – 0:47:29] Erik: So he got done biking on the Gunflint, which in that stretch is really hilly and curvy.
[0:47:29 – 0:47:32] Adam: I wouldn’t want to be biking on that stretch or any stretch of the Gunflint.
[0:47:32 – 0:47:33] Adam: There’s no shoulder.
[0:47:33 – 0:47:33] Erik: No, not at all.
[0:47:34 – 0:47:39] Erik: So he bikes like, you know, a pretty good distance and then gets in a canoe and has to like tackle a headwind.
[0:47:40 – 0:47:49] Erik: But, uh, anyway, the, uh, second story that Dew has to share is, uh, definitely not hitchhiking to a certain extent.
[0:47:49 – 0:47:52] Erik: Part of it is, but just an interesting story.
[0:47:52 – 0:47:59] Erik: And, uh, sounds like he kind of got, uh, uh, helped out by some strangers out on, uh, Lac La Croix.
[0:48:00 – 0:48:01] Erik: And, uh, the, uh,
[0:48:03 – 0:48:05] Erik: We’ll just go quote for quote here, verbatim.
[0:48:06 – 0:48:07] Erik: Yeah, that’s pretty good.
[0:48:08 – 0:48:11] Erik: Yes, the ill-fated Quetico trip.
[0:48:11 – 0:48:23] Erik: Certain details elude me, but I believe we came in on Beaver House down in Disturgent and followed the Malign River out to Lac La Croix, hoping to hook up on the Namakan River and head back up to Beaver House.
[0:48:25 – 0:48:32] Erik: We should have taken it as a sign that despite heading downriver on the malign, we were blown upstream when we stopped paddling.
[0:48:33 – 0:48:35] Erik: Yeah, that sounds like some wind there.
[0:48:36 – 0:48:36] Erik: Yep, reverse current.
[0:48:37 – 0:48:41] Erik: By the time we got to Lac La Croix, there was no going back and already tired.
[0:48:41 – 0:48:43] Erik: I know how that feels for sure.
[0:48:43 – 0:48:47] Erik: The waves were breaking at three to four feet, headwinds straight in our faces.
[0:48:47 – 0:48:55] Erik: My brother and I and two others nearly made it across the most dangerous stretch when we turned our heads and the horizon behind us was empty.
[0:48:55 – 0:48:56] Erik: Hmm.
[0:48:57 – 0:49:03] Erik: Rather than take the safe route along the backs of islands and near shore, our companions swamped well offshore.
[0:49:03 – 0:49:04] Erik: Yeesh.
[0:49:04 – 0:49:06] Erik: We flagged a fishing boat down.
[0:49:07 – 0:49:08] Erik: They got dragged in.
[0:49:10 – 0:49:10] Erik: Yeah.
[0:49:10 – 0:49:13] Erik: Well, I couldn’t even imagine if there wasn’t a fishing boat out there.
[0:49:14 – 0:49:20] Erik: And there you were, soaked, worn out, on shore, in the middle of tribal land.
[0:49:21 – 0:49:30] Erik: And I had never heard these stories before, but it kind of doesn’t necessarily surprise you, but they said that they’d heard stories about trespassing can result in confiscation.
[0:49:31 – 0:49:37] Erik: And somehow or another, my brother convinced some locals to help us out and hitched a ride back to our entry point.
[0:49:38 – 0:49:38] Erik: It ended up…
[0:49:40 – 0:49:41] Erik: Being no big deal.
[0:49:41 – 0:49:43] Erik: Well, it kind of sounds like at the time it was kind of a big deal.
[0:49:43 – 0:49:47] Erik: Well, with a little help, everything was fine.
[0:49:48 – 0:49:49] Erik: I like the last sentence.
[0:49:49 – 0:49:51] Erik: I have no idea how we made it out of our 20s alive.
[0:49:51 – 0:49:53] Erik: I think a lot of people can say that.
[0:49:53 – 0:49:54] Erik: I know I can.
[0:49:55 – 0:49:55] Erik: I can relate.
[0:49:56 – 0:49:57] Erik: Yeah.
[0:49:57 – 0:50:08] Erik: So, man, I couldn’t imagine being out on a trip with somebody else and seeing them capsize or swamp on a nasty day like that and trying to manage them and you.
[0:50:08 – 0:50:13] Erik: It’s kind of like the first thing that I learned in EMT school was to never put yourself down.
[0:50:14 – 0:50:43] Erik: in danger to help somebody else you know is the scene safe um and yeah but it would also be incredibly hard especially considering i would assume you’re probably paddling with some good friends or family to not try to help them but what uh can make that situation worse is if you go over and then you find yourself swamped as well so unless you’re an expert at water rescues i think you’re kind of in the bad situation yeah i don’t want to be in that situation
[0:50:43 – 0:50:44] Erik: No.
[0:50:45 – 0:51:05] Erik: So the only other thing that kind of comes to mind with some of these things, and I don’t know if it’s necessarily worth saying like what we’re going to talk about here for a minute is necessarily fact because I wasn’t able to find anything on it.
[0:51:05 – 0:51:10] Erik: I did a quick little search, but this happened last year.
[0:51:10 – 0:51:11] Adam: I think it was two summers ago.
[0:51:11 – 0:51:12] Erik: Two summers ago?
[0:51:12 – 0:51:12] Adam: Yeah.
[0:51:12 – 0:51:15] Adam: There was this like rumored story we’d heard about.
[0:51:15 – 0:51:15] Erik: It’s true.
[0:51:16 – 0:51:16] Erik: It is true.
[0:51:17 – 0:51:19] Erik: But some of the details may or may not be rumors.
[0:51:19 – 0:51:23] Adam: Yeah, like we still don’t know like really why, which is the big question.
[0:51:23 – 0:51:23] Erik: Yeah.
[0:51:23 – 0:51:27] Erik: It kind of plays into the rescuing, hitchhiking thing a little bit.
[0:51:28 – 0:51:35] Adam: But yeah, there was these two guys on a trip out of Sawbill, and they were quite a ways in, apparently.
[0:51:35 – 0:51:43] Adam: It’s still very unclear as to what happened, but apparently there was a real fight ensued between the two gentlemen.
[0:51:44 – 0:51:45] Adam: Nobody knows over what.
[0:51:46 – 0:51:49] Adam: It must have been serious, because the one guy up and left his buddy.
[0:51:49 – 0:51:49] Adam: Yeah.
[0:51:49 – 0:52:12] Adam: yeah he just got his canoe yeah so like soloed out in a tandem canoe just left his buddy on a campsite like what do you gotta do yeah right to your buddy to get left i think it’s gotta be pretty bad yeah or what do you had to say i don’t know or maybe the guy was real thin skinned butchered the fish or something butchered his 30 inch walleye yeah you got too many bones in the fish i’m leaving you
[0:52:13 – 0:52:13] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:52:13 – 0:52:15] Adam: I figured it was something pretty serious, though.
[0:52:15 – 0:52:20] Adam: But yeah, so these other paddlers just came upon a guy stranded on a campsite.
[0:52:20 – 0:52:21] Adam: Quite a ways in, if I remember.
[0:52:21 – 0:52:23] Adam: I don’t know what lake he was on.
[0:52:23 – 0:52:24] Erik: I think it was on Pauley.
[0:52:24 – 0:52:27] Adam: Yeah, so it’s a pretty good way from where they started.
[0:52:29 – 0:52:31] Erik: Man, I don’t know.
[0:52:31 – 0:52:35] Erik: The people that came upon this guy, they were fully loaded exiting the park.
[0:52:35 – 0:52:38] Erik: They got no room for another paddler, so basically they had to come.
[0:52:39 – 0:52:43] Adam: They exited and then had to alert the authorities to go and grab this guy.
[0:52:43 – 0:52:50] Erik: I think they got in touch with Sawbill, and some staff from Sawbill went out and rescued the guy.
[0:52:50 – 0:52:50] Erik: Rescue mission.
[0:52:51 – 0:52:51] Erik: Yeah.
[0:52:52 – 0:53:19] Adam: how crazy is that though like you were working at sawbill this summer and happen to know about this hit us up yeah we need deets yeah so that was an interesting one but then i think my the best part of the story if i remember correctly was then they they got the other guy back but the the first guy was still like hanging out at sawbill he hadn’t actually left and then they still like rode home together in the same vehicle anyways oh man boy and they’re i’m sure going to like chicago or something
[0:53:19 – 0:53:22] Erik: Yeah, like 10 hours in the car talking about what?
[0:53:22 – 0:53:23] Erik: Awkward.
[0:53:23 – 0:53:24] Erik: So, Cubs this year, eh?
[0:53:25 – 0:53:25] Erik: Oh, boy.
[0:53:25 – 0:53:26] Erik: Yeah, that’s funny.
[0:53:27 – 0:53:34] Adam: So, I thought there was somebody on our Facebook, too, that had, like, basically kind of a similar story that he heard from somebody who heard from somebody.
[0:53:34 – 0:53:39] Adam: Somebody had basically, like, gotten lost and this group left to, like, go get help or something.
[0:53:39 – 0:53:43] Adam: He was left behind and Boy Scouts found him and brought him in.
[0:53:43 – 0:53:45] Adam: The Boy Scouts rescued somebody in a similar fashion.
[0:53:45 – 0:53:46] Adam: I don’t think there was…
[0:53:47 – 0:54:12] Adam: so much drama with that one but i thought somebody sent us something on facebook about that uh yeah i guess i don’t remember seeing that um maybe it was on insta we got too many channels open i know anyways thanks to sending that one along it was uh yeah boy scout rescue in the same way so that’s like in the park hitchhiking which you sometimes hear of yes yeah i know there’s uh i’ve always been so worried about you wake up and somehow even though you’ve
[0:54:12 – 0:54:30] Adam: pulled your canoe way up on shore yeah and it’s tied off three different ways to three different trees that somehow you’re gonna wake up and that canoe is just gonna be gone i’ve had them like blow away when you’re on a trip with other people like at the landing or something oh yeah at a portage and when you take the other canoe to quick go get it before it gets away that can happen pretty quick
[0:54:31 – 0:54:32] Adam: And it’s always…
[0:54:32 – 0:54:34] Adam: It’s been like a nightmare scenario for me.
[0:54:34 – 0:54:36] Adam: Like, you wake up in the morning and it’s been windy or something.
[0:54:36 – 0:54:37] Adam: Canoe’s gone.
[0:54:37 – 0:54:38] Adam: You just go and look and there’s no canoe.
[0:54:38 – 0:54:39] Adam: Like, what would you do?
[0:54:40 – 0:54:41] Adam: That’s what you’d have to do.
[0:54:41 – 0:54:43] Adam: You’d have to… On the time of year, I suppose.
[0:54:43 – 0:54:48] Adam: Unfurl a white flag and hang out until somebody came along or try and swim for it.
[0:54:48 – 0:54:49] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:54:49 – 0:54:49] Erik: Yeah, I guess.
[0:54:49 – 0:54:52] Erik: Depends on the time of year and if you can see it or if not.
[0:54:52 – 0:54:53] Adam: I definitely…
[0:54:53 – 0:54:57] Adam: Yeah, I’ve always been like, that’s in the back of my mind always.
[0:54:57 – 0:55:01] Adam: So that’s why I always pull it way up on shore and tie it down at least twice.
[0:55:02 – 0:55:06] Erik: Worst case scenario, we should have a question on that sometime.
[0:55:06 – 0:55:12] Adam: It was scary enough when I woke up and one of our life jackets was kind of floating in the bay there.
[0:55:12 – 0:55:13] Adam: How’d that get in the water?
[0:55:13 – 0:55:21] Erik: I remember there was that portage that we were on the fall trip into Quetico where we ran across the portage once with gear.
[0:55:21 – 0:55:25] Erik: And then we came back and our tandem canoe was just blowing out in the middle of the lake.
[0:55:25 – 0:55:28] Adam: So we had to jump in the solo we had and go and chase it down.
[0:55:28 – 0:55:33] Adam: It’s amazing what a little canoe and a little bit of wind can, how they can wiggle themselves free.
[0:55:33 – 0:55:34] Adam: Yep.
[0:55:34 – 0:55:35] Erik: They’re wily.
[0:55:35 – 0:55:36] Adam: They just want to be in the water.
[0:55:36 – 0:55:36] Adam: Just
[0:55:38 – 0:55:39] Erik: Yeah, so there you go.
[0:55:40 – 0:55:40] Erik: Hitchhiking.
[0:55:41 – 0:55:42] Adam: It happens.
[0:55:42 – 0:55:42] Erik: It’s a thing.
[0:55:42 – 0:55:43] Adam: Yeah.
[0:55:43 – 0:55:45] Erik: Think about it.
[0:55:45 – 0:55:51] Erik: Maybe if these podcasts end up in the Hall of Records, which they probably will.
[0:55:51 – 0:55:53] Erik: In the Smithsonian, probably, eventually.
[0:55:53 – 0:55:57] Erik: Yeah, they’ll be deciphering and trying to figure out what exactly.
[0:55:58 – 0:56:00] Erik: What was hitchhiking back 100 years ago?
[0:56:00 – 0:56:02] Erik: People used to pick up strangers?
[0:56:03 – 0:56:04] Erik: No.
[0:56:05 – 0:56:07] Erik: So, yeah, that’s about it, huh?
[0:56:07 – 0:56:10] Adam: Yeah, and that’s all the stories I’ve got on hitchhiking, I guess.
[0:56:10 – 0:56:13] Adam: Well, no, that’s not true, but… Well, there’s more.
[0:56:13 – 0:56:16] Adam: That’s the only ones that I want to get into today that are pertinent.
[0:56:17 – 0:56:18] Erik: Yeah, we don’t need to get into the Keck Crawler.
[0:56:18 – 0:56:20] Erik: We’ll tease the Keck Crawler.
[0:56:20 – 0:56:21] Erik: The Keck Crawler.
[0:56:21 – 0:56:22] Adam: Does anybody remember him?
[0:56:22 – 0:56:24] Erik: Who was the Keck Crawler?
[0:56:27 – 0:56:28] Adam: That could be its own episode.
[0:56:28 – 0:56:31] Adam: When we do the Kekakabek Trail episode.
[0:56:31 – 0:56:33] Erik: If you’re out there, please get in touch.
[0:56:33 – 0:56:35] Erik: Episode 304.
[0:56:35 – 0:56:39] Erik: We need more handbooks on how to spot jaundice in the wild.
[0:56:39 – 0:56:39] Erik: Kekcrawler.
[0:56:41 – 0:56:49] Adam: Alrighty, well, as always, you can connect with us on email, tumblehomecast at gmail.com.
[0:56:50 – 0:56:56] Adam: We have our Facebook page pretty active on there, and an Instagram account as well.
[0:56:57 – 0:56:59] Adam: So thanks to those who are following on those.
[0:57:00 – 0:57:02] Adam: We’re kind of on our BWCA.
[0:57:03 – 0:57:07] Adam: I don’t know if we’ll be doing a question next week or not at this point, but…
[0:57:07 – 0:57:08] Adam: We’re always on there.
[0:57:08 – 0:57:09] Adam: You can find us that way too.
[0:57:09 – 0:57:13] Erik: You can always respond to previous stuff.
[0:57:13 – 0:57:24] Erik: We always get notifications on past posts that we’ve made, but it’s kind of nice to see a little bit more activity on that subreddit than in the past.
[0:57:24 – 0:57:28] Erik: Not to say that we are the direct result of that, but it’s just nice to see a little bit more.
[0:57:28 – 0:57:29] Erik: I think it could be
[0:57:29 – 0:57:32] Adam: It feels like we’re kind of on there almost too much.
[0:57:33 – 0:57:33] Erik: Yeah.
[0:57:33 – 0:57:36] Adam: But it’s the offseason.
[0:57:36 – 0:57:36] Adam: Yeah.
[0:57:36 – 0:57:39] Adam: Hopefully that subreddit kind of grows over the next couple years.
[0:57:40 – 0:57:41] Erik: It would be cool to see it do it.
[0:57:41 – 0:57:50] Erik: I mean, there’s message boards out there that are specifically about the Bajau waters that are pretty popular, and maybe that’s why people are just hanging out on that one.
[0:57:51 – 0:57:59] Adam: So, anyways, it was nice to get over to the west side of the park and to talk a little Fall River and some unusual hitchhiking stories.
[0:57:59 – 0:58:02] Erik: I think there’ll be more western lakes in the future.
[0:58:02 – 0:58:03] Adam: Yeah, we’ll try and spread it around.
[0:58:04 – 0:58:09] Adam: I know it’s natural to focus on the lakes around your home region, but the park’s a big and beautiful place.
[0:58:10 – 0:58:13] Adam: We’ve been to a lot of it, and there’s a lot of places we still want to get to.
[0:58:13 – 0:58:15] Adam: So we’re going to try and cover them all for you.
[0:58:17 – 0:58:19] Adam: Until next time, folks, I’m Adam.
[0:58:19 – 0:58:20] Adam: I’m Eric.
[0:58:20 – 0:58:21] Adam: This has been Tumble Home.
[0:58:22 – 0:58:25] Adam: Thanks for listening, and happy paddling.
[0:58:25 – 0:58:26] Erik: Bye-bye.
[0:58:28 – 0:58:56] SPEAKER_00: Out in the frosty night so pale All dogs tremble a spark At the moon shining stark Hanging like a veil At the back of the backyard At the back of the backyard
[0:58:59 – 0:59:07] SPEAKER_00: Out when the world is all shadow, there are creatures standing still.
[0:59:08 – 0:59:24] SPEAKER_00: Brings an unsudden chill All doors have been barred At the back of the backyard At the back of the backyard
[0:59:37 – 0:59:38] UNKNOWN: Ah
