097: Top 5 Wilderness Rivers-Part 1

Episode Transcript

[0:00:02 – 0:00:05] UNKNOWN: Thank you.
[0:00:42 – 0:00:47] Adam: Welcome to Tumble Home, a Boundary Waters podcast.
[0:00:47 – 0:00:50] Adam: We’re coming to you live from Studio V with The View.
[0:00:50 – 0:00:52] Adam: Today, my name is Adam.
[0:00:52 – 0:00:55] Adam: Joining me here in studio is my good pal, Eric.
[0:00:55 – 0:00:56] Adam: Hello, Eric.
[0:00:56 – 0:00:57] Adam: Hi, Adam.
[0:00:58 – 0:01:04] Adam: Tumble Home is, as always, sponsored by our very good friends on Reddit.
[0:01:04 – 0:01:09] Adam: Thank you, each and every one of you, for your support and continuing support.
[0:01:10 – 0:01:12] Adam: We got an email from a new Patreon.
[0:01:12 – 0:01:17] Adam: I’m pretty sure they joined just because of our coverage of Gone Fishing.
[0:01:17 – 0:01:18] Adam: Yeah, basically.
[0:01:18 – 0:01:19] Adam: I think that’s basically what the email said.
[0:01:20 – 0:01:20] Adam: Yeah.
[0:01:20 – 0:01:21] Adam: It was very touching.
[0:01:23 – 0:01:28] Adam: And episode 097, we’re going to be ranking some rivers today.
[0:01:28 – 0:01:29] Erik: River rankers.
[0:01:31 – 0:01:35] Erik: Also the folks on Patreon, not just Reddit.
[0:01:36 – 0:01:37] Adam: What did I say?
[0:01:37 – 0:01:44] Erik: You said Reddit, although they are supporters of the show by responding to the questions of the week and just generally being involved in the tumble tourney.
[0:01:45 – 0:01:47] Erik: But I think you meant Patreon.
[0:01:47 – 0:01:49] Adam: I think I said Patreon at some point in there.
[0:01:49 – 0:01:50] Erik: At some point?
[0:01:50 – 0:01:50] Erik: Yeah.
[0:01:50 – 0:01:52] Erik: You definitely started with Reddit.
[0:01:53 – 0:01:54] Adam: Son of a gun.
[0:01:55 – 0:01:56] Adam: Start over.
[0:01:56 – 0:01:56] Adam: Start over.
[0:01:56 – 0:01:58] Adam: Three, two, one.
[0:01:59 – 0:02:00] Adam: Thank you, friends on Patreon.
[0:02:01 – 0:02:04] Adam: And this week’s episode, 097, we are ranking Rivers.
[0:02:05 – 0:02:09] Adam: We are also brought to you by Birch Bumblies.
[0:02:10 – 0:02:12] Erik: Can you hear the clinking?
[0:02:14 – 0:02:14] Adam: Cheers, friend.
[0:02:19 – 0:02:21] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[0:02:21 – 0:02:24] Erik: 60, 65 degrees and sunny out there.
[0:02:24 – 0:02:26] Erik: It’s almost a shame we’re inside recording, but…
[0:02:26 – 0:02:27] Erik: It’s too windy to be outside.
[0:02:27 – 0:02:28] Erik: It is very windy.
[0:02:28 – 0:02:29] Erik: That’s a delicious drink.
[0:02:29 – 0:02:30] Erik: What’s all in that?
[0:02:31 – 0:02:32] Adam: So, I tapped a birch tree.
[0:02:34 – 0:02:43] Adam: You came over and helped me chainsaw some balsam, and it freed up a beautiful birch tree in the corner of the yard, which has some very interesting branches.
[0:02:43 – 0:02:45] Adam: And, you know, maple’s pretty much done.
[0:02:46 – 0:02:48] Adam: But I’d heard you can tap a birch tree.
[0:02:49 – 0:02:50] Erik: Oh, that is the one you tapped.
[0:02:50 – 0:02:54] Adam: Yeah, I tapped it and let it ran for like two days.
[0:02:55 – 0:03:01] Adam: And I filled a five-gallon bucket and then I filled like every growler in the house with this beautiful birch water.
[0:03:01 – 0:03:02] Adam: It’s a superfood.
[0:03:04 – 0:03:05] Adam: It will expand your mind.
[0:03:05 – 0:03:12] Erik: That beautiful, like, Japanese ornamental birch that you somehow had hidden behind a bunch of balsams.
[0:03:12 – 0:03:17] Erik: After it was exposed, it was just like, that’s maybe one of the prettiest birch trees I’ve ever seen in my life.
[0:03:17 – 0:03:21] Adam: I feel very fortunate to have that birch in our yard and in our life.
[0:03:22 – 0:03:22] Adam: Yes.
[0:03:22 – 0:03:27] Adam: So, anyways, I brought over one of the growlers at Birchwater.com.
[0:03:27 – 0:03:39] Adam: And we got a tall glass of ice, birch water, and I believe it was a cherry sparkling water, and then a generous portion of Ron Diaz rum.
[0:03:40 – 0:03:40] Erik: Only the finest.
[0:03:41 – 0:03:47] Adam: Only the finest for us here in Studio V. So, you know, it’s pretty much a summer day here.
[0:03:47 – 0:03:51] Adam: And this is one of my favorite times of year when you get these days like this.
[0:03:51 – 0:03:51] Erik: No bugs.
[0:03:52 – 0:03:54] Adam: Just wandering around the yard this morning with the loppers.
[0:03:54 – 0:03:55] Adam: No bugs.
[0:03:55 – 0:03:55] Adam: No bugs.
[0:03:56 – 0:04:03] Adam: And you can kind of see where everything is, make your plans for the year as far as yard maintenance and landscaping projects.
[0:04:04 – 0:04:06] Adam: Yeah, it’s a beautiful day here on the North Shore.
[0:04:07 – 0:04:10] Adam: And I’m jacked to talk rivers today.
[0:04:11 – 0:04:16] Adam: After I got my yard work session, then I got out the maps and I drank about two pots of coffee.
[0:04:17 – 0:04:17] Adam: I’m ready to go.
[0:04:18 – 0:04:18] Erik: Nice.
[0:04:18 – 0:04:20] Erik: Yeah, I’m very excited too.
[0:04:20 – 0:04:22] Erik: It’s been a long time since we’ve ranked anything.
[0:04:22 – 0:04:28] Erik: I think the last time we ranked anything was about this time last year when we did Liquid Vistas.
[0:04:30 – 0:04:30] Adam: Waterfalls.
[0:04:30 – 0:04:31] Adam: Yeah, Liquid Vistas.
[0:04:32 – 0:04:32] Adam: Mm-hmm.
[0:04:33 – 0:04:35] Adam: It was a spring episode, I believe.
[0:04:35 – 0:04:36] Erik: Yeah, I think.
[0:04:36 – 0:04:37] Erik: And then we’ve done…
[0:04:39 – 0:04:41] Erik: Just straight up vistas.
[0:04:42 – 0:04:43] Erik: That one’s a fun one.
[0:04:44 – 0:04:46] Erik: I don’t think we’ve ranked anything else.
[0:04:46 – 0:04:47] Erik: I don’t know if we’re going to do 10, though.
[0:04:47 – 0:04:49] Erik: Those were both top 10s.
[0:04:49 – 0:04:57] Erik: I think we’re going to do five of our favorite Quetico, Superior, Wilderness, Boundary Waters, Canoe Area, Rivers.
[0:04:57 – 0:05:00] Erik: I guarantee you’re still going to throw in a Shore River.
[0:05:00 – 0:05:01] Erik: I can almost guarantee you that.
[0:05:02 – 0:05:02] Adam: Absolutely.
[0:05:02 – 0:05:02] Adam: Yeah.
[0:05:03 – 0:05:04] Adam: Absolutely.
[0:05:04 – 0:05:04] Adam: Absolutely.
[0:05:05 – 0:05:07] Adam: They might not all even be in the state of Minnesota.
[0:05:07 – 0:05:08] Adam: Oh, wow.
[0:05:08 – 0:05:10] Adam: Well, this is a Boundary Lives podcast.
[0:05:10 – 0:05:11] Adam: It is a Quetico Superior podcast.
[0:05:11 – 0:05:14] Erik: It’s going to be hard to not mention a couple of the big ones out there.
[0:05:14 – 0:05:17] Adam: I could have easily done 10 with all my honorable mentions.
[0:05:17 – 0:05:18] Adam: We’ll get to those.
[0:05:18 – 0:05:22] Adam: But I was able to whittle it down.
[0:05:24 – 0:05:52] Adam: no uh what’s it when you the opposite of whittling no like when you like strike steel i forged it into a top five this list has been forged two pots of coffee i got the forge going red hot this morning i poured in my top 10 and i struck the hammer quenched it in a bath of birch water so you metal you you forged it down to 10
[0:05:53 – 0:05:55] Adam: I’m down to five, but I still have a lot of honorable mentions.
[0:05:55 – 0:05:57] Erik: You went from 10 down to five.
[0:05:57 – 0:05:57] Adam: Yeah, absolutely.
[0:05:58 – 0:06:08] Erik: Well, we’ll definitely do those five, and then we’re going to talk honorable mention, and then maybe after we get through our comments, then we’ll get to yours.
[0:06:08 – 0:06:11] Erik: We’ve got a lot of comments on what your favorite wilderness river is.
[0:06:12 – 0:06:12] Erik: On Reddit.
[0:06:12 – 0:06:14] Erik: See, I have Reddit on the mind.
[0:06:14 – 0:06:14] Erik: Yeah.
[0:06:14 – 0:06:16] Adam: Because I’m excited to see those responses.
[0:06:16 – 0:06:19] Adam: I upvoted that post, but I didn’t read it.
[0:06:20 – 0:06:20] Erik: Yeah.
[0:06:20 – 0:06:22] Adam: So I’m excited to see what’s in there.
[0:06:22 – 0:06:23] Adam: That’s where you’re supposed to do it, right?
[0:06:23 – 0:06:24] Adam: Blindly upvote.
[0:06:24 – 0:06:25] Erik: Blindly upvote.
[0:06:25 – 0:06:26] Erik: And then read it later.
[0:06:26 – 0:06:28] Erik: To read it for at least one week.
[0:06:28 – 0:06:29] Erik: You’ve got to let it age.
[0:06:30 – 0:06:34] Erik: One other thing is I think we could add on.
[0:06:35 – 0:06:41] Erik: After we get through our five honorable mentions, just overall, the whole world is up for grabs, number one.
[0:06:42 – 0:06:43] Adam: Whoa, at the end?
[0:06:43 – 0:06:43] Adam: Yeah.
[0:06:43 – 0:06:44] Adam: Top river of all time?
[0:06:44 – 0:06:47] Erik: Top river of all time, regardless of where it exists.
[0:06:48 – 0:06:49] Adam: The T-A-A-T?
[0:06:51 – 0:06:51] Adam: T-R-A-T?
[0:06:52 – 0:06:52] Adam: The Tart.
[0:06:53 – 0:06:54] Adam: Top all time river time.
[0:06:55 – 0:06:57] Adam: T-A-R-T. Tart.
[0:06:57 – 0:06:58] Adam: Tart stats.
[0:06:59 – 0:06:59] Erik: Yes, exactly.
[0:07:00 – 0:07:01] Erik: Well, I haven’t thought of this at all.
[0:07:01 – 0:07:02] Erik: No, I know.
[0:07:02 – 0:07:04] Adam: Well, actually, I have something I think that would work.
[0:07:04 – 0:07:29] Adam: okay for this actually and that was kind of down at the very bottom of my uh show notes here so i think i’ve got something oh you have notes i have plenty of notes i don’t have any notes i’ve been i’ve been up all morning i’ve got three maps i’ve got the nat geo west and east and the ecuatico chrismar that i have my chrismar out i have some uh some stuff on the chrismar i’d like to i needed to just be able to read it uh so i have that out
[0:07:30 – 0:07:32] Erik: Before we get into Rivers.
[0:07:33 – 0:07:34] Adam: You have a few things.
[0:07:34 – 0:07:35] Adam: No correspondence.
[0:07:35 – 0:07:35] Erik: No.
[0:07:35 – 0:07:37] Erik: Well, yes, but it’s not the kind that.
[0:07:37 – 0:07:39] Adam: It’s sort of a correspondence.
[0:07:39 – 0:07:42] Erik: Well, no, just there has been a lot of nice emails that we’ve been getting lately.
[0:07:42 – 0:07:43] Erik: We appreciate and love.
[0:07:43 – 0:07:45] Adam: He forwarded all of them to me.
[0:07:45 – 0:07:45] Adam: Yeah.
[0:07:45 – 0:07:46] Adam: It warmed my heart.
[0:07:47 – 0:08:11] Adam: yeah it’s really amazing to get the feedback from people like we do um tumblehomecast at gmail.com if you want to reach out for any reason um hey hit us up on instagram too tumblehomecast on instagram i went today and i tried to see if uh just plain old tumblehome and come up available oh yeah i really don’t like that i have to put the cast on the end there yeah it grinds my gears a little hmm
[0:08:12 – 0:08:12] Erik: Does it?
[0:08:12 – 0:08:13] Adam: I like it.
[0:08:13 – 0:08:13] Adam: It wets.
[0:08:13 – 0:08:14] Adam: No.
[0:08:14 – 0:08:16] Adam: It dries my paddle.
[0:08:16 – 0:08:17] Adam: It dries my paddle.
[0:08:17 – 0:08:18] Adam: It dries my paddle.
[0:08:18 – 0:08:20] Erik: It cools your forging stone.
[0:08:20 – 0:08:25] Adam: Yeah, my forge is cooled by the fact that we have to have that cast on.
[0:08:26 – 0:08:27] Adam: I’m going to find a workaround on this.
[0:08:27 – 0:08:29] Adam: Can you change it whenever you want?
[0:08:29 – 0:08:29] Adam: Yeah.
[0:08:29 – 0:08:31] Erik: Why don’t you just change it to Tumble Home Podcast?
[0:08:32 – 0:08:32] Erik: I could.
[0:08:33 – 0:08:34] Adam: That doesn’t exist.
[0:08:34 – 0:08:35] Adam: Oh, that doesn’t exist?
[0:08:35 – 0:08:37] Adam: I’m sure I could get Tumble Home Podcast.
[0:08:37 – 0:08:38] Adam: It’s so long, though.
[0:08:39 – 0:08:39] Erik: It is kind of long.
[0:08:40 – 0:08:43] Adam: Anyways, there’s some schmuck out there that’s got the regular Tumble Home.
[0:08:44 – 0:08:44] Adam: Now we’re going to get an email.
[0:08:44 – 0:08:45] Adam: Shout out to him.
[0:08:45 – 0:08:47] Adam: Yeah, a ransom email.
[0:08:47 – 0:08:51] Adam: If you want to stop posting pictures of your dumb baby and give that account up.
[0:08:51 – 0:08:52] Adam: Oh, you follow him?
[0:08:52 – 0:08:52] Adam: Yeah.
[0:08:52 – 0:08:53] Adam: Oh, I follow him.
[0:08:53 – 0:08:54] Erik: You spite follow him.
[0:08:54 – 0:08:56] Adam: I unlike every one of his posts.
[0:08:57 – 0:08:58] Adam: Give us that account.
[0:08:58 – 0:08:59] Adam: Let’s trade.
[0:08:59 – 0:08:59] Adam: Yeah.
[0:09:00 – 0:09:02] Adam: There’s no reason for this guy to have Tumble Home.
[0:09:02 – 0:09:04] Adam: It has nothing to do with Tumble.
[0:09:04 – 0:09:05] Adam: There’s some other…
[0:09:05 – 0:09:24] Adam: paddling like photographer accounts that have tumble home in their name yeah but this guy has nothing not one picture of a boat ever it’s all just pictures of babies guess what sir oh here we go babies don’t have a tumble home oh give up the name anyways you guys should come on over and join us we’re having a lot of fun on instagram it’s a lot of fun
[0:09:24 – 0:09:28] Erik: There is actually a user on BWCA.com that’s just called Tumble Home.
[0:09:28 – 0:09:30] Erik: He’s been around for a lot longer than we have.
[0:09:31 – 0:09:42] Erik: But every time I’m kind of scrolling through and I see that, it always catches my eye and it kind of makes my heart jump because I occasionally do things that I don’t necessarily 100% fully remember, like start Facebook groups and then leave them.
[0:09:42 – 0:09:43] Adam: Yeah, who would do that?
[0:09:43 – 0:09:44] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:09:44 – 0:09:44] Adam: Weird.
[0:09:45 – 0:09:46] Erik: So, yeah, when I see that, I’m like, oh, no.
[0:09:47 – 0:09:50] Erik: Oh, no, that’s not actually my username on BWCA.com.
[0:09:50 – 0:09:52] Erik: So we got an email.
[0:09:53 – 0:10:21] Erik: correspondence one that’s specifically that was a typewriter that’s a hardcore typewriter um from from quinn at bearskin outfitters um and if you’re not aware they typically put together a bwca expo every year um and if you need to know what an expo is you can just google that um
[0:10:21 – 0:10:23] Erik: But this year it has unfortunately been canceled.
[0:10:24 – 0:10:31] Erik: But they’re trying to put together a, on the same day, a virtual expo where people can tune in.
[0:10:32 – 0:10:33] Erik: I believe they’re going to do it through Facebook.
[0:10:34 – 0:10:42] Erik: And what, you know, they usually would have had presenters and purveyors of outdoor equipment on site.
[0:10:42 – 0:10:44] Adam: We’ve never been able to actually attend.
[0:10:44 – 0:10:44] Erik: No.
[0:10:45 – 0:10:46] Adam: Because it’s always on like a weekend.
[0:10:46 – 0:10:47] Adam: Yeah.
[0:10:47 – 0:10:48] Adam: It’s a super busy day.
[0:10:48 – 0:10:49] Erik: It’s always like one of the first.
[0:10:49 – 0:10:49] Erik: Impossible.
[0:10:49 – 0:10:51] Erik: A couple of weekends in June.
[0:10:51 – 0:10:52] Adam: You’re not getting off for that.
[0:10:52 – 0:10:59] Erik: But he reached out to us and just wanted to see if we would be interested in putting together like a five to 20 minute video on.
[0:10:59 – 0:11:00] Erik: Slash hour and a half.
[0:11:00 – 0:11:01] Erik: I’m sure.
[0:11:01 – 0:11:02] Erik: Slash two hour.
[0:11:02 – 0:11:06] Erik: Who knows how long this could go.
[0:11:06 – 0:11:07] Erik: Video basically on anything.
[0:11:07 – 0:11:11] Adam: I think we should send over the episode where we review Gone Fishing.
[0:11:12 – 0:11:12] Erik: Oh no.
[0:11:13 – 0:11:15] SPEAKER_02: What does this have to do with anything?
[0:11:16 – 0:11:16] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[0:11:17 – 0:11:19] Erik: Yeah, now they’re just pleasing themselves on this podcast.
[0:11:19 – 0:11:20] Erik: They don’t even talk about the Bon Jovi Earth.
[0:11:21 – 0:11:23] Erik: It’s morphed into a movie review podcast?
[0:11:23 – 0:11:25] Erik: It’s mostly about this boat, the Jogas.
[0:11:25 – 0:11:26] Adam: I don’t understand.
[0:11:26 – 0:11:27] Erik: It’s a dinghy?
[0:11:27 – 0:11:29] Erik: It’s a dinghy named…
[0:11:30 – 0:11:32] Erik: If you haven’t heard the episode on Patreon, it’s a real hoot.
[0:11:32 – 0:11:33] Erik: And it took me, I think…
[0:11:34 – 0:12:00] Erik: well into half of that episode before i realized the name of their boat the joe gus was just a combination of the two main characters joe and gus so like a very idiotic movie really put me in my place yeah but i didn’t know what their catchphrase was so i think we’re even okay fair but uh so we don’t necessarily have anything that jumps to mind right away on like a video to put out what do you say when you only have five to twenty minutes i don’t even know how to make an episode that short
[0:12:01 – 0:12:30] Erik: well we it’s got to be a video yeah we forced ourselves into those express episodes and those like almost always got over 20 man so i’m just getting warmed up at 20 yeah right uh so yeah we’re basically saying and asking you the listener if like basically we’re asking you to do our thinking for us no we’re just asking your opinion on what do you think would be the best yeah truly short episode a nice short episode on what is there something we haven’t talked about i don’t know
[0:12:31 – 0:12:34] Adam: Maybe we could just show our paddles.
[0:12:37 – 0:12:37] Adam: Paddle.
[0:12:37 – 0:12:39] Adam: It’s like the boat show, but for paddles.
[0:12:39 – 0:12:40] Erik: Pull out both of our paddles.
[0:12:40 – 0:12:41] Erik: Yeah, just show.
[0:12:41 – 0:12:43] Adam: I have a couple paddles I could show.
[0:12:43 – 0:12:44] Erik: Yeah, or maybe something.
[0:12:44 – 0:12:46] Adam: My old paddle and my current paddle.
[0:12:46 – 0:12:48] Erik: Yeah, your old paddle has a nice story.
[0:12:48 – 0:12:53] Erik: I’ve got a great paddle that I told the story about on the What’s in Your Bag episode out on Little Sag.
[0:12:53 – 0:12:57] Adam: Yeah, but if we just focused on the paddles, I think we can maybe get that in under 20.
[0:12:57 – 0:12:58] Adam: Yeah.
[0:12:58 – 0:12:58] Adam: Why’d we pick them?
[0:12:59 – 0:13:00] Adam: What do we like about them?
[0:13:00 – 0:13:00] Erik: Yeah.
[0:13:01 – 0:13:02] Erik: I’m not 100% sold on that yet.
[0:13:03 – 0:13:05] Adam: That’s one idea, just as an example.
[0:13:05 – 0:13:06] Adam: We’re just spitballing here.
[0:13:06 – 0:13:13] Adam: Yeah, but if anybody has some thoughts on that, our ears and our hearts are open.
[0:13:14 – 0:13:18] Adam: Let us know what you think would be a good topic for this virtual expo.
[0:13:18 – 0:13:22] Adam: I’ve never been a part of a virtual expo or a fair with an E at the end.
[0:13:23 – 0:13:29] Erik: We’re… Ye old fair.
[0:13:30 – 0:13:31] Erik: Ye old expo.
[0:13:31 – 0:13:32] Erik: Yeah, so…
[0:13:34 – 0:13:42] Erik: Yeah, we’ve never, I mean, things are moving more and more towards the virtual world, so maybe we should get in on the ground floor of the virtual expo.
[0:13:43 – 0:13:44] Erik: So, yeah, I don’t know.
[0:13:44 – 0:13:44] Erik: What are your thoughts?
[0:13:45 – 0:13:47] Erik: What can we talk about in a little video?
[0:13:47 – 0:13:56] Erik: And, you know, we could just have 20 minutes of us sitting, you know, talking into microphones, but it would be much more enjoyable if there were things involved in the video.
[0:13:56 – 0:13:58] Erik: Outdoors, maps…
[0:13:59 – 0:14:01] Erik: Something that would make a video a little bit more interesting.
[0:14:01 – 0:14:05] Adam: We could just riff on like an F-13 for a good hour and a half.
[0:14:06 – 0:14:06] Adam: I think that would be fun.
[0:14:06 – 0:14:07] Erik: Would that be interesting?
[0:14:09 – 0:14:10] Erik: I mean, it would be to me.
[0:14:10 – 0:14:12] Adam: Yeah, I would really enjoy to do that.
[0:14:13 – 0:14:16] Adam: You know, we could just read the Ron Shera’s like the entire month of April.
[0:14:17 – 0:14:33] Erik: off the calendar for instance you know and just riff on that do we have today’s ron sheridan well today is was it is may 3rd 2020 thank you for being here wow you’re retroactively like future casting assuming that this is going to be published tomorrow
[0:14:34 – 0:14:58] Adam: i don’t know isn’t it the third today it is the second but it’s coming out tomorrow oh i see it no i see what my note was confusing so the second is today today is may 2nd 2020 wow 14 minutes in and we’ve just established the which day it is you know which episode we’re on who cares what day it is what day is they all blur together anyways it’s a day i don’t have to go to work that’s what a day it is and it’s a beautiful day out
[0:14:59 – 0:15:04] Adam: And the Ron Sharer’s calendar fact of the day, it is the Wisconsin Fishing Opener.
[0:15:04 – 0:15:05] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[0:15:05 – 0:15:16] Adam: And if I recall correctly, based on my years of service of living in Wisconsin, is that on Wisconsin Fishing Opener, it’s also Kentucky Derby Day.
[0:15:16 – 0:15:24] Adam: So we always go out and fish wherever and then try and find a place to get some lunch and watch the derby and maybe have a mint julep.
[0:15:24 – 0:15:24] Erik: Hmm.
[0:15:25 – 0:15:26] Adam: Yeah, dang it anyways.
[0:15:26 – 0:15:29] Adam: I should have gotten some fresh mint for these Birch Bumblies.
[0:15:29 – 0:15:32] Adam: Could have been a real riff on the old Kentucky classic.
[0:15:32 – 0:15:34] Erik: Are they doing a virtual derby this year?
[0:15:34 – 0:15:35] Adam: I don’t even know.
[0:15:36 – 0:15:37] Adam: Can a horse get the Rona?
[0:15:38 – 0:15:40] Adam: The jockeys surely could.
[0:15:40 – 0:15:42] Adam: The jockeys are probably lousy with Rona.
[0:15:42 – 0:15:42] Erik: Yeah.
[0:15:43 – 0:15:48] Adam: So anyways, I didn’t want to use that as it doesn’t really pertain to the Quetico Superior.
[0:15:48 – 0:15:48] Adam: Okay.
[0:15:48 – 0:15:49] Adam: You can’t fish up here for another week.
[0:15:49 – 0:15:51] Erik: So you’re just jumping around and choosing.
[0:15:51 – 0:15:52] Adam: So I just went a day ahead.
[0:15:52 – 0:15:59] Adam: I just went to Sunday the 3rd, which is why I had on my notes for May 3rd, the fact of the day is watch for hummingbirds.
[0:15:59 – 0:16:00] Erik: Ooh.
[0:16:00 – 0:16:00] Adam: True.
[0:16:01 – 0:16:06] Adam: I believe there has been some reports of hummingbirds in the neighborhood.
[0:16:06 – 0:16:08] Erik: Yeah, isn’t there like a tracker online?
[0:16:08 – 0:16:09] Adam: There is, absolutely.
[0:16:11 – 0:16:16] Adam: It’s on my to-do list this weekend is to get the hummingbird feeder outside.
[0:16:16 – 0:16:16] Adam: Sweet.
[0:16:16 – 0:16:18] Adam: You got to make that sugar water.
[0:16:18 – 0:16:22] Adam: I could use some birch water.
[0:16:22 – 0:16:25] Adam: Maybe I’ll make a little mead, a little birch mead for the hummingbirds.
[0:16:25 – 0:16:28] Erik: Is the birch water sugary enough for the hummingbird?
[0:16:28 – 0:16:29] Adam: No, not nearly.
[0:16:29 – 0:16:33] Adam: It’s pretty weak, but it’s just got a tinge, just a little bit of sugar in there.
[0:16:34 – 0:16:43] Erik: Speaking of sugar water, I just should mention, because it’s kind of fun, we’ve got a hive of bees on the yard now.
[0:16:43 – 0:16:44] Erik: It’s crazy.
[0:16:44 – 0:16:44] Erik: It’s amazing.
[0:16:44 – 0:16:45] Erik: Yeah.
[0:16:45 – 0:16:47] Adam: Every time I see you now, I’m like, how are the bees doing?
[0:16:48 – 0:16:50] Adam: Tell me about your hive.
[0:16:50 – 0:17:19] Erik: Tori’s got a lot of materials she’s been learning a lot this is her project that she’s been ramrodding and essentially she knows well about it and I’m just kind of along for the ride but every time I turn around she’s telling me like a new fact and it’s always just like wow bees are like the most amazing animal that’s out there the way that they like the queen can choose whether she wants to lay a male or a female based on the messaging that she’s getting from the hive and what it needs and
[0:17:19 – 0:17:22] Adam: A leader that actually listens to their people.
[0:17:22 – 0:17:22] Adam: Yeah.
[0:17:22 – 0:17:22] Adam: Interesting.
[0:17:23 – 0:17:23] Erik: Right.
[0:17:23 – 0:17:24] Adam: Lead with confidence.
[0:17:25 – 0:17:26] Erik: So yeah, they’re flying around.
[0:17:26 – 0:17:27] Adam: McQueen.
[0:17:27 – 0:17:28] Erik: McQueen.
[0:17:28 – 0:17:30] Erik: Beautiful sunny day out there.
[0:17:31 – 0:17:40] Erik: We’re weeks away from them going off and wildly finding their own pollen, whether that’s in the wildflowers in the yard or the orchard.
[0:17:41 – 0:17:46] Erik: So we have to supplement them right now with just like bowls of sugar water and like pollen pallets.
[0:17:47 – 0:17:47] Erik: Pollen pallets?
[0:17:48 – 0:17:49] Erik: No, little pollen packets.
[0:17:50 – 0:17:51] Adam: Is that like a mayo packet?
[0:17:51 – 0:17:53] Adam: You just rip one open and dump it in the hive?
[0:17:53 – 0:17:55] Erik: Yeah, you just rip it open and smear it all over.
[0:17:55 – 0:17:56] Adam: How do they think about mayonnaise?
[0:17:56 – 0:17:58] Adam: Do you think the bees would like mayo?
[0:17:58 – 0:17:59] Erik: Probably not.
[0:17:59 – 0:18:00] Erik: It’s mostly a sugar thing.
[0:18:01 – 0:18:02] Erik: Anyway.
[0:18:02 – 0:18:05] Erik: Oh, the other thing I learned is they’re classified as livestock products.
[0:18:07 – 0:18:08] Erik: So I’m now a farmer.
[0:18:09 – 0:18:11] Adam: That explains the hat.
[0:18:11 – 0:18:15] Adam: I thought the hat was for the Kentucky Derby, but it’s actually a Farmer Eric hat.
[0:18:15 – 0:18:15] Erik: Yep.
[0:18:15 – 0:18:20] Erik: That also explains the stick of wheat coming out of my mouth that I’ve been chewing on for the last two weeks.
[0:18:20 – 0:18:22] Adam: It ain’t much, but it’s honest work.
[0:18:23 – 0:18:24] Erik: It’s a living.
[0:18:26 – 0:18:28] Adam: You got to get some overalls, man.
[0:18:28 – 0:18:29] Erik: Oh, man, I should get overalls.
[0:18:29 – 0:18:31] Adam: You can cut them off as like real short, short ones, though.
[0:18:31 – 0:18:35] Erik: Ooh, I should get overalls that I cut with the shorts?
[0:18:35 – 0:18:36] Adam: Yes.
[0:18:37 – 0:18:38] Erik: Isn’t that called something else?
[0:18:38 – 0:18:39] Erik: Isn’t that like a jumper?
[0:18:39 – 0:18:40] Adam: Yeah, it’s a jumper, I guess.
[0:18:41 – 0:18:41] Erik: I should just get some.
[0:18:41 – 0:18:44] Adam: It’s like a Daisy Duke jumper, though.
[0:18:44 – 0:18:45] Erik: Yeah, straight to lederhosen.
[0:18:46 – 0:18:46] Adam: There you go.
[0:18:47 – 0:18:47] Adam: Yeah.
[0:18:48 – 0:18:51] Erik: All right, well, let’s take a quick break here to make sure we’re all in line.
[0:18:51 – 0:18:52] Erik: Check our levels out here.
[0:18:52 – 0:18:56] Erik: Check our levels, and then we will get into River Rankers.
[0:18:56 – 0:18:56] Adam: Oh, boy.
[0:18:56 – 0:19:03] Erik: All right, this segment of River Rankers brought to you by…
[0:19:05 – 0:19:06] Erik: What were these called?
[0:19:06 – 0:19:07] Adam: Bumblebee?
[0:19:07 – 0:19:08] Adam: Birch bumblies.
[0:19:08 – 0:19:09] Adam: Birch bumblies.
[0:19:09 – 0:19:11] Adam: You got a refill on the birch bumbly.
[0:19:11 – 0:19:12] Erik: You got a refill on the birch bumbly.
[0:19:13 – 0:19:17] Erik: The wife came home, yelled at us for putting mayo in the beehive.
[0:19:18 – 0:19:21] Adam: I did not know that bees don’t like mayo, I guess.
[0:19:22 – 0:19:22] Adam: I thought everyone did.
[0:19:23 – 0:19:25] Erik: Yeah.
[0:19:25 – 0:19:26] Erik: But these ones have key lime.
[0:19:26 – 0:19:29] Adam: These are key lime with a little extra lime in them.
[0:19:29 – 0:19:31] Adam: This is a nice twist on the birch.
[0:19:31 – 0:19:33] Adam: I think I kind of prefer these ones a little bit.
[0:19:33 – 0:19:33] Adam: I do too.
[0:19:33 – 0:19:34] Adam: Yeah.
[0:19:35 – 0:19:36] Erik: So we’re getting to River Rankers.
[0:19:36 – 0:19:38] Erik: We’re going to start with five.
[0:19:38 – 0:19:49] Erik: Do we want to start with honorable mentions, or do we want to start by just quickly mentioning, if you are a poppin’ wheeler, or if you’d like to become one, this week we’re going to be talking about another movie.
[0:19:49 – 0:19:52] Erik: We’ve found maybe a little bit of a groove on Patreon.
[0:19:52 – 0:19:53] Erik: It’s something that…
[0:19:53 – 0:19:54] Adam: We can do.
[0:19:54 – 0:19:55] Adam: I hope.
[0:19:55 – 0:19:57] Erik: There’s so many bad outdoors stuff.
[0:19:57 – 0:19:59] Erik: Like we were talking about bad fishing.
[0:20:00 – 0:20:03] Erik: This movie we’re going to watch, I’m hoping, is really bad canoeing.
[0:20:04 – 0:20:04] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:04 – 0:20:09] Erik: Because I got an email, and I’m sorry, I don’t have your name right in front of me, but we’re basing…
[0:20:10 – 0:20:14] Erik: watching this movie later today on this email, and it was very short.
[0:20:14 – 0:20:15] Erik: This was a recommendation.
[0:20:15 – 0:20:17] Erik: I didn’t know that.
[0:20:17 – 0:20:20] Erik: Yeah, basically the email was watch Whitewater Summer.
[0:20:20 – 0:20:23] Erik: It has Kevin Bacon, Sean Astin.
[0:20:24 – 0:20:25] Erik: It’s insane.
[0:20:25 – 0:20:25] Erik: No.
[0:20:28 – 0:20:52] Adam: that was it that was the email all right so yeah that’ll be the next episode of tumble home cinema classics yep we’ll be doing that later after we finish this episode and we’re gonna probably have a sit on the porch in the sun and then maybe watch the the movie yeah put on the film and then we’re then we’ll record that one so that’ll be a fun one that will be fun so we’re starting with honorable mention honorable
[0:20:52 – 0:20:55] Adam: No, let’s just do our top five and then honorable mentions.
[0:20:55 – 0:20:56] Erik: Okay, so we were talking…
[0:20:56 – 0:21:00] Erik: I mean, do we want to just set the table a little bit in terms of parameters?
[0:21:00 – 0:21:02] Erik: We didn’t really… Is there a parameters?
[0:21:02 – 0:21:02] Erik: Is it a feeling?
[0:21:02 – 0:21:03] Adam: Rank rivers.
[0:21:03 – 0:21:04] Erik: We’re ranking rivers?
[0:21:04 – 0:21:05] Adam: Yeah.
[0:21:05 – 0:21:07] Adam: You said I just had to do my top five rivers.
[0:21:08 – 0:21:09] Adam: So that’s what I did.
[0:21:09 – 0:21:10] Adam: Is there parameters beyond that?
[0:21:11 – 0:21:15] Erik: Okay, so what were you thinking when you ranked the rivers?
[0:21:15 – 0:21:20] Erik: What were you ranking in terms of high, low, make the list, didn’t make the list?
[0:21:20 – 0:21:20] Erik: What’s the scoring?
[0:21:21 – 0:21:26] Erik: It’s not a scoring thing, but what was the feeling of why were you choosing some of the rivers?
[0:21:26 – 0:21:29] Adam: Mainly, I was focused on rivers of the Quetico Superior.
[0:21:29 – 0:21:44] Adam: okay that’s generally the focus of this podcast yeah good we got that so we get that you know not just any river it’s got to be up here then um paddle ability how much can you paddle on it yep um wildlife
[0:21:45 – 0:21:46] Erik: Yep.
[0:21:46 – 0:21:47] Adam: Solitude.
[0:21:47 – 0:21:48] Erik: Solitude.
[0:21:48 – 0:21:49] Adam: Slash isolation.
[0:21:50 – 0:21:51] Adam: Campability.
[0:21:51 – 0:21:54] Adam: Can you actually camp near or on the river?
[0:21:54 – 0:21:56] Erik: Yeah, I didn’t really factor that one in too much.
[0:21:56 – 0:21:58] Adam: Or does it give you access to some cool areas to camp?
[0:21:59 – 0:22:00] Adam: I guess that’s all part of one.
[0:22:01 – 0:22:06] Adam: And then I did kind of consider fishing, but I didn’t put that much weight on the fishing.
[0:22:06 – 0:22:13] Adam: Although I guess in cases where two rivers are very close, I went with the one where I’ve caught more fish, I guess.
[0:22:13 – 0:22:13] Erik: Okay.
[0:22:14 – 0:22:20] Erik: Well, those are all really good things that I feel like needed to be quantified a little bit.
[0:22:20 – 0:22:22] Adam: Does that sound about right for how you approached it?
[0:22:22 – 0:22:23] Adam: Oh, for sure.
[0:22:23 – 0:22:23] Adam: Yeah.
[0:22:23 – 0:22:32] Erik: And then I think there’s also always the umbrella of just the memories that you have of it.
[0:22:33 – 0:22:33] Erik: Yeah.
[0:22:33 – 0:22:34] Erik: Like directly…
[0:22:34 – 0:22:35] Adam: Overall experience.
[0:22:35 – 0:22:36] Adam: Yeah.
[0:22:36 – 0:22:41] Adam: Like we were talking… That certainly… That, I guess, impacted the…
[0:22:42 – 0:22:51] Adam: which ones made the top five, and probably at least one just got bumped down to honorable mention due to maybe it wasn’t the greatest memory.
[0:22:52 – 0:22:52] Adam: Sure, yeah.
[0:22:53 – 0:22:55] Adam: Bad, bad, bad memories.
[0:22:55 – 0:22:56] Adam: Bad memories on that river.
[0:22:56 – 0:23:02] Adam: I don’t know if that’s true, but you have better trips and some trips that don’t go as planned.
[0:23:02 – 0:23:02] Adam: Yeah.
[0:23:03 – 0:23:04] Adam: River trips can be tough.
[0:23:05 – 0:23:05] Adam: Yeah, no.
[0:23:05 – 0:23:06] Adam: They don’t always go as planned.
[0:23:07 – 0:23:07] Erik: Exactly.
[0:23:07 – 0:23:16] Erik: And, I mean, I think it’s one of those things, obviously, we’re closing in on 100 episodes here, and we’ve just finally kind of had an episode fully based on rivers.
[0:23:16 – 0:23:21] Erik: And I think that kind of speaks to, you know, the kind of wilderness area that the Bon Jovi Aquatico is.
[0:23:21 – 0:23:23] Adam: It’s mostly lake paddles.
[0:23:23 – 0:23:27] Adam: And then even at best, some of these rivers are still pretty short sections of a bigger trip.
[0:23:27 – 0:23:27] Erik: Yeah.
[0:23:28 – 0:23:31] Adam: Very few where you’re just on a river for multiple days.
[0:23:31 – 0:23:32] Adam: No, there’s not.
[0:23:32 – 0:23:34] Adam: Really, that never happens.
[0:23:34 – 0:23:38] Erik: No, I don’t think that you could really do that unless you were really breaking it up in a couple of different spots.
[0:23:38 – 0:23:39] Adam: Yeah.
[0:23:39 – 0:23:40] Adam: I have some ideas.
[0:23:40 – 0:23:41] Erik: Yeah.
[0:23:41 – 0:23:46] Adam: It’s crazy that we’re… Maybe late, late in the episode, I have a section in my notebook on goals.
[0:23:46 – 0:23:47] Erik: Ideas and goals.
[0:23:47 – 0:23:48] Erik: Yeah.
[0:23:48 – 0:23:54] Erik: So the movie that we’re watching later isn’t even The River Wild, which is also a Kevin Bacon movie.
[0:23:54 – 0:23:56] Erik: That one’s about rafting, so…
[0:23:57 – 0:23:58] Adam: Oh, okay.
[0:23:58 – 0:23:59] Erik: We’ve talked about this a little bit in the past.
[0:23:59 – 0:24:01] Erik: We’ll eventually watch that one.
[0:24:02 – 0:24:10] Erik: So, yeah, it’s no real surprise that it’s not a huge topic of discussion because of the nature of the park.
[0:24:10 – 0:24:25] Erik: But when you find yourself on a river and you get those little afternoons or maybe in some cases a full day where you’re just spending time on a river, the memories definitely stand out a little bit more because it is, I would say, relatively unique.
[0:24:26 – 0:24:27] Adam: Yeah, for sure.
[0:24:27 – 0:24:30] Adam: And I love a good river, you know, living in Wisconsin.
[0:24:30 – 0:24:41] Adam: I spend a lot more, I don’t have a lot more, but I spend a lot of time on river, in river, going up river, floating with the current, you know.
[0:24:41 – 0:24:41] Adam: All the things.
[0:24:42 – 0:24:43] Adam: I’ve spent a lot of time in rivers.
[0:24:44 – 0:24:46] Erik: Well, you used to spend a lot of time down in the Driftless.
[0:24:46 – 0:24:47] Adam: I did, yeah.
[0:24:47 – 0:24:49] Adam: That was when I ended up moving up here.
[0:24:49 – 0:24:53] Adam: That was like the other option was like I moved to Viroqua and become a real trout bum.
[0:24:53 – 0:24:54] Adam: Yeah.
[0:24:54 – 0:24:58] Adam: But that didn’t work out that way, but it could have.
[0:24:59 – 0:24:59] Adam: Still a bum.
[0:24:59 – 0:25:00] Adam: Maybe in an alternate universe I have.
[0:25:00 – 0:25:01] Adam: A trout bum.
[0:25:01 – 0:25:01] Adam: Yeah.
[0:25:02 – 0:25:11] Adam: So, you know, to be up here now in Lake Country, when you do get to spend time on a river like that, it’s a little more special, I guess, than it used to.
[0:25:11 – 0:25:13] Adam: It’s just, you know, it’s a rare thing.
[0:25:13 – 0:25:14] Erik: Yeah, for sure.
[0:25:16 – 0:25:20] Erik: So I think we’ve set the table.
[0:25:20 – 0:25:21] Adam: All right, number five.
[0:25:21 – 0:25:21] Erik: Number five.
[0:25:22 – 0:25:22] Erik: Who’s going first?
[0:25:23 – 0:25:24] Erik: This is crazy.
[0:25:24 – 0:25:27] Erik: I think this is the least… We have our list hidden from each other, too.
[0:25:28 – 0:25:35] Erik: This isn’t even like any of the other rankers that we’ve had before where we’ve kind of talked a little bit about it, and it’s like, well, I’m pretty sure what number one’s going to be.
[0:25:36 – 0:25:40] Erik: I’m going in completely blind on what you’re thinking here, and I could get completely blown out of the water.
[0:25:42 – 0:25:45] Erik: this also leads me to think that I’m going to be very excited to see what the comments are.
[0:25:46 – 0:25:47] Erik: For sure, yeah.
[0:25:47 – 0:25:51] Erik: So I’m going to do my five first, and I’m going with its original name.
[0:25:51 – 0:25:51] Erik: Okay.
[0:25:52 – 0:26:03] Erik: And maybe if I offend some people, I’m sorry, but this river has always been called this in my heart because the first time I paddled it, it’s what it was called on the map.
[0:26:04 – 0:26:06] Erik: It does have a different name now.
[0:26:06 – 0:26:06] Erik: Yes.
[0:26:06 – 0:26:08] Erik: Do you know which one I’m talking about?
[0:26:08 – 0:26:08] Erik: I do.
[0:26:09 – 0:26:36] Adam: okay so i’m talking about i thought for sure you’re gonna have this on your list yes i love because i’ve paddled it three times what yes i’ve never been there oh it didn’t work out uh due to kasaka quag oh we go listen to the journals oh because kasaka quag held us up for three days yes so two times so then we had to divert and go like the more direct route to lac la croix yeah so this is so i didn’t get to see this one it’s uh yeah a real shame because i’ve heard good things
[0:26:37 – 0:26:43] Erik: It’s a Tequetico River, and it’s the Darkie River flowing into Darkie Lake.
[0:26:44 – 0:26:46] Erik: And I don’t know what the origins of that name is.
[0:26:46 – 0:26:52] Erik: If it is based on a slur of any kind, then yes, let’s call it the Darkwater.
[0:26:52 – 0:26:58] Adam: Yeah, on my map, it’s listed as the Darkwater.
[0:26:58 – 0:26:58] Adam: Yes.
[0:26:59 – 0:27:00] Adam: Just south of Tanner.
[0:27:02 – 0:27:03] Erik: Yeah, it’s not.
[0:27:03 – 0:27:06] Adam: So how did you run this when you’ve gone?
[0:27:07 – 0:27:11] Adam: Did you come out of Min and begin at the very top?
[0:27:12 – 0:27:14] Adam: Or did you take the eat-em-up portage out of Tanner?
[0:27:14 – 0:27:16] Erik: Yep, so I’ve done it multiple different ways.
[0:27:17 – 0:27:22] Erik: The first time was with my first trip into Quetico with James.
[0:27:22 – 0:27:24] Erik: We did the eat-em-up portage.
[0:27:24 – 0:27:29] Erik: I believe we had an episode talking about terrible portages, and that was one of my worst ones that I remember.
[0:27:29 – 0:27:30] Adam: Yeah, 1,000 meters.
[0:27:30 – 0:27:31] Adam: That’s terrible.
[0:27:32 – 0:27:33] Adam: Um, 1010 meters.
[0:27:33 – 0:27:34] Erik: Yeah.
[0:27:35 – 0:27:38] Erik: Um, and that’s just out of Tanner.
[0:27:38 – 0:27:38] Erik: Yeah.
[0:27:38 – 0:27:42] Erik: Which is kind of like a, basically a part of the malign river.
[0:27:42 – 0:27:42] Erik: Um,
[0:27:45 – 0:27:51] Erik: But the other time, the last trip, we came in from the west, which allowed us to paddle more of the river.
[0:27:52 – 0:27:54] Erik: And that is coming in from Min Lake.
[0:27:55 – 0:28:03] Erik: And then it flows into Darkwater Lake or, depending on how you want to really argue it, potentially Wicksteed.
[0:28:03 – 0:28:04] Erik: Okay.
[0:28:05 – 0:28:14] Erik: But yeah, this is the one that is on my list primarily because of just the way that it’s felt when we’ve been in there.
[0:28:17 – 0:28:21] Erik: There’s a really cool portage that goes around, some moving water with like a sheer cliff.
[0:28:22 – 0:28:27] Erik: Ultra clear waters that I swear I can’t prove this, but I swear I saw like trout swimming.
[0:28:29 – 0:28:32] Erik: Probably just a regular old bass or something.
[0:28:32 – 0:28:36] Adam: This looks like Wicksteed and Darkwater are actually higher up than Minsk.
[0:28:37 – 0:28:41] Adam: Is it flowing down to Min and then eventually into the Malign?
[0:28:41 – 0:28:41] Erik: Yeah.
[0:28:41 – 0:28:42] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[0:28:42 – 0:28:42] Adam: I see.
[0:28:42 – 0:28:42] Adam: Okay.
[0:28:43 – 0:28:43] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:28:43 – 0:28:45] Adam: For whatever reason, just looking at it.
[0:28:45 – 0:28:47] Erik: The way I was describing it did make it sound like it was going downstream.
[0:28:47 – 0:28:49] Adam: That’s the way I saw it initially.
[0:28:49 – 0:28:54] Adam: What I love about these maps is the elevations are listed for all lakes.
[0:28:54 – 0:28:55] Erik: The Chrismars are nice.
[0:28:55 – 0:28:57] Adam: The Chrismars are real class acts.
[0:28:57 – 0:28:59] Erik: Yeah, so it’s not a long river.
[0:29:00 – 0:29:11] Erik: It’s basically a morning of a paddle, but beautifully deep as far as the eye can see, dense, mysterious.
[0:29:11 – 0:29:13] Erik: You know those spruce bogs you get where it’s like…
[0:29:14 – 0:29:16] Erik: Kind of spooky on one hand, but it’s also like…
[0:29:16 – 0:29:17] Erik: Very spooky.
[0:29:17 – 0:29:20] Erik: Also kind of a little comforting.
[0:29:21 – 0:29:27] Erik: It’s almost entirely surrounded by like dense spruce bogs and highly, you know, highly paddleable.
[0:29:27 – 0:29:29] Erik: Even when we were in there in…
[0:29:31 – 0:29:46] Erik: uh late you know low waters we were able to easily paddle it and the portages that are there i mean they’re always going to be there so um the chicken coop man is here and we will be back with adams number five
[0:29:50 – 0:29:55] Erik: Oh, boy, I tell you, trying to run a podcast and a homestead, it’s really difficult.
[0:29:55 – 0:30:00] Erik: But we got the coop up, and we’re moving to Adam’s number five.
[0:30:00 – 0:30:01] Erik: For the bumble ducks.
[0:30:02 – 0:30:03] Erik: Just multiple hours later.
[0:30:03 – 0:30:04] Erik: Brimble ducks.
[0:30:04 – 0:30:05] Erik: Brimble ducks.
[0:30:06 – 0:30:12] Adam: Yeah, I finished my birch bimbly, so now I’m back into just regular old canoes.
[0:30:12 – 0:30:13] Adam: Regular old beer.
[0:30:13 – 0:30:14] Adam: For bent paddles.
[0:30:16 – 0:30:18] Adam: All right, so my number five, Eric.
[0:30:18 – 0:30:18] Adam: Are you ready?
[0:30:19 – 0:30:19] Erik: I am excited.
[0:30:19 – 0:30:21] Erik: If it’s the dark water, I will be shocked.
[0:30:21 – 0:30:27] Adam: I don’t have the dark water on my list because, like I said earlier, I was certain you were going to have it.
[0:30:27 – 0:30:29] Adam: I’m still wearing my sunglasses.
[0:30:29 – 0:30:30] Erik: It’s bright in here.
[0:30:30 – 0:30:37] Erik: I’ve also had many hours to reflect over the assemblage of the chicken coop, and I do retract my previous statements.
[0:30:37 – 0:30:40] Erik: I am going to start respecting the maps, calling it the dark water.
[0:30:41 – 0:30:42] Adam: Okay.
[0:30:43 – 0:30:46] Adam: I would love to see it someday, but it’s not on my list.
[0:30:46 – 0:30:50] Adam: My number five is the home river, Cadence.
[0:30:50 – 0:30:51] Adam: The Cadence.
[0:30:52 – 0:30:53] Adam: The Cadence.
[0:30:53 – 0:30:54] Adam: I mean, it’s…
[0:30:54 – 0:30:55] Adam: Number five.
[0:30:55 – 0:30:55] Adam: It’s not…
[0:30:55 – 0:30:58] Erik: Pretty hard not to put the river that’s in your backyard.
[0:30:58 – 0:30:58] Adam: Yeah.
[0:30:58 – 0:31:04] Adam: Well, for one, I own frontage on it, and it’s a trout water, and it’s a beautiful river.
[0:31:04 – 0:31:07] Adam: And then on top of that, the whole canyon complex is…
[0:31:08 – 0:31:37] Adam: uh down south of us heading to the big lake it’s both an incredible hike in the winter great waterfalls as we’ve discussed previously and now i’m it’s been really great water for me to get skunked on trying to catch a steelhead i’m still without a steelhead but that river will give me one eventually i believe it and it’s right there yeah and so yeah you really can’t paddle it the section um out back of the house you can put a little kayak and actually i’ve had the canoe in there
[0:31:38 – 0:31:45] Adam: There’s enough room and there’s kind of a neat little island around the Beaver Lodge up north of us where you can kind of paddle up and go around that.
[0:31:46 – 0:31:48] Adam: So it’s not real paddling water.
[0:31:48 – 0:31:50] Adam: It’s not really been good fishing water for me.
[0:31:50 – 0:31:59] Adam: There’s zero camping I’ve done on it, although there are some campsites near it from the Superior Hiking Trail, which some people I know have recently camped at.
[0:32:00 – 0:32:07] Adam: And but, you know, so a lot of the metrics that you asked me about at the start of the show, it doesn’t grade high.
[0:32:08 – 0:32:09] Adam: But it’s the home water.
[0:32:09 – 0:32:11] Adam: It’s the home river, Eric.
[0:32:11 – 0:32:15] Adam: And so it had to make the list, and it came in at number five.
[0:32:16 – 0:32:18] Adam: And I’m happy to have it there at number five.
[0:32:19 – 0:32:26] Adam: I still feel very lucky every morning when I take Arrow out for a walk, and I can, especially this time of the year, you hear the peepers out there.
[0:32:26 – 0:32:29] Adam: You hear just the water moving again.
[0:32:29 – 0:32:34] Adam: And at this time of the year, kind of rushing even, even though there’s not a lot of elevation near the house.
[0:32:35 – 0:32:37] Adam: You can still just feel that water moving.
[0:32:37 – 0:32:38] Adam: It’s a great thing.
[0:32:38 – 0:32:38] Adam: I love it.
[0:32:38 – 0:32:39] Erik: Do you get the breathing?
[0:32:40 – 0:32:40] Adam: Yeah.
[0:32:40 – 0:32:44] Adam: I don’t hear it as much by us just because, like I said, it’s not a lot of elevation drop.
[0:32:44 – 0:32:47] Adam: It’s kind of flat water up by the house.
[0:32:47 – 0:32:49] Adam: So I don’t feel like you get that breathing.
[0:32:49 – 0:32:50] Erik: It’s more of a falls thing.
[0:32:50 – 0:32:58] Adam: But to the south of it, especially right after ice goes out and it’s really rushing, if you just step out on the porch at night on a calm night…
[0:32:58 – 0:33:04] Adam: And you can hear it out back moving, but then to the south where it starts to drop, you can hear it roaring.
[0:33:04 – 0:33:05] Adam: Nice.
[0:33:05 – 0:33:09] Adam: And that, I have heard the breathing of the river happen.
[0:33:09 – 0:33:12] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:33:12 – 0:33:15] Adam: I feel very lucky to have it as my home waters, basically.
[0:33:15 – 0:33:15] Erik: Yeah.
[0:33:16 – 0:33:20] Erik: It seems, you know, we’re living in times of like graphs and charts.
[0:33:20 – 0:33:29] Erik: So I’m like picturing, you know, you started the conversation with quantifying some of the thoughts on why you decided to place rivers on the list and why you didn’t.
[0:33:29 – 0:33:33] Erik: You know, you would have some of those things like paddle ability, camping, fishing.
[0:33:33 – 0:33:33] Erik: Yeah.
[0:33:33 – 0:33:39] Erik: And those, you know, if you were to have like a little chart where it was going across and then like the bar would be higher for those things or lower.
[0:33:39 – 0:33:40] Erik: Yeah.
[0:33:40 – 0:33:45] Erik: Like, yeah, you’d have pretty low, like really tangible things.
[0:33:45 – 0:33:52] Erik: But I feel like the Cadence is like one of the most intangibly like great rivers just in general.
[0:33:52 – 0:33:56] Erik: Like there aren’t very many rivers that you can just like hike up in the winter.
[0:33:56 – 0:33:59] Adam: Yeah, not a lot of canyons in Minnesota, for one.
[0:34:00 – 0:34:08] Adam: I would say, too, on one of the metrics that I mentioned earlier, but that would be as high as you could possibly rate, it would just be the proximity.
[0:34:08 – 0:34:13] Adam: Every day, being able to see it, to smell it, to hear it, to feel it.
[0:34:13 – 0:34:16] Adam: It’s very presence of that water moving through your yard.
[0:34:17 – 0:34:18] Adam: Increable.
[0:34:18 – 0:34:19] Adam: Yeah.
[0:34:19 – 0:34:27] Adam: Can’t say enough about the proximity and just that ever-presence, the being itself of that water moving across the land.
[0:34:27 – 0:34:28] Adam: I love it.
[0:34:28 – 0:34:44] Erik: Yeah, and I threw it on my honorable mention just because of a lot of those same reasons, but specifically just the, like you said, the proximity and just the uniqueness of like there’s nothing.
[0:34:44 – 0:34:54] Erik: Like there’s some angles at a certain time of day where if the light’s right in some of those canyons within the first mile that you can walk up,
[0:34:55 – 0:35:05] Erik: that I guarantee you could post somewhere and give somebody 10 guesses and Minnesota would not be on that list of guesses in terms of like, where do you think this is from?
[0:35:05 – 0:35:18] Adam: And, you know, I mentioned the Instagram account earlier and anybody who follows us on Instagram will know like at least a third of the pictures I post are all basically like Cadence River, you know, pictures.
[0:35:18 – 0:35:18] Adam: Yeah.
[0:35:18 – 0:35:22] Adam: Even though it has nothing to do with Quetico Superior Country pretty much at all.
[0:35:23 – 0:35:39] Adam: not a paddling destination no but it’s home and i so i spend a lot of time there it’s the also the flip side of proximity is then time yeah i you know i interact and enjoy this river on a daily basis and i can’t say that about anything else on this list
[0:35:39 – 0:35:44] Erik: Yeah, and it’s probably the only reason that it’s not higher is just because it’s not quite that boundary water.
[0:35:45 – 0:35:48] Adam: Right, it didn’t meet any of the, like you asked at the beginning, all those metrics.
[0:35:48 – 0:35:51] Adam: It is low scores on all of those, and that’s fine.
[0:35:52 – 0:35:55] Adam: There’s a lot better camping and fishing rivers that didn’t make the list.
[0:35:55 – 0:35:56] Erik: But it does have decent fishing.
[0:35:56 – 0:36:06] Erik: I know the staff at Clearwater last year, probably more so than any other staff that we’ve had, spent a lot of time fishing there.
[0:36:06 – 0:36:09] Adam: It’s a pretty good fishing river, or so I’ve been told.
[0:36:09 – 0:36:11] Adam: I’ve not had the luck.
[0:36:12 – 0:36:12] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:36:13 – 0:36:18] Adam: The steelhead have been very elusive for me, but you can also get brook trout in there.
[0:36:18 – 0:36:25] Adam: I’ve caught quite a few creek chubs in there, and I was just talking to our friend, the coop man, about…
[0:36:26 – 0:36:28] Adam: I’m possibly getting my hands on a minnow trap.
[0:36:28 – 0:36:31] Adam: I’d love to try and trap some creek chub.
[0:36:31 – 0:36:33] Adam: At the beginning of this entire pandemic, I was joking.
[0:36:34 – 0:36:38] Adam: I could live off of basically maple and birch water and creek chubs indefinitely.
[0:36:38 – 0:36:39] Erik: And burdock root now.
[0:36:39 – 0:36:44] Adam: And burdock root, we found out, is a medicinal root.
[0:36:45 – 0:36:47] Adam: I’ve got a lot of it around the property.
[0:36:48 – 0:36:49] Adam: And unlimited supply.
[0:36:49 – 0:36:51] Adam: I’ll never be able to get rid of that burdock root.
[0:36:52 – 0:36:58] Erik: We were just out in the yard pouring gasoline on it, and we just were informed you should not do that.
[0:36:58 – 0:36:59] Adam: You’re not going to want to do that.
[0:37:00 – 0:37:04] Adam: But, yeah, apparently it’s an amazing aphrodisiac.
[0:37:04 – 0:37:04] Adam: Yes.
[0:37:06 – 0:37:08] Erik: But it’s all spoiled now by the gas.
[0:37:09 – 0:37:11] Adam: Now we can’t use it, so we have to find a new source.
[0:37:11 – 0:37:17] Erik: It’s one of the only rivers I can think of that you can literally hike, which is awesome.
[0:37:17 – 0:37:17] Adam: It is cool, yeah.
[0:37:17 – 0:37:22] Adam: There’s a lot of sections of it too, both lower river, middle river, upper stretches.
[0:37:23 – 0:37:38] Adam: uh it’s neat you know we can bike shore from our house and kind of go up the trout you know the trout lake road it crosses there a few times kind of a neat area to go up it kind of feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere good one good spot to stop and let the dog get some drinks yep
[0:37:40 – 0:37:41] Adam: And just what a fun name, too.
[0:37:41 – 0:37:42] Erik: The Cadence.
[0:37:42 – 0:37:43] Erik: It is fun.
[0:37:43 – 0:37:44] Erik: It’s way more fun.
[0:37:44 – 0:37:51] Erik: Like, did they take a day off when they were naming rivers in the area when they got to Durfee?
[0:37:52 – 0:37:53] Adam: No.
[0:37:53 – 0:37:55] Adam: Poor Durfee Creek.
[0:37:55 – 0:38:00] Adam: There’s some good stories behind the name Durfee, which we will reach, you know, maybe in episode 180s, 170s.
[0:38:01 – 0:38:02] Erik: Well, maybe it’s my number one.
[0:38:03 – 0:38:05] Adam: We will see in due time.
[0:38:06 – 0:38:08] Adam: Very excited to hear your number one.
[0:38:08 – 0:38:28] Adam: yeah um i’ll i will leave it at that for now and move on to my number four we’ll kind of do it as a snake draft coming back snake draft style i like that with you oh yeah because number five and number four to me um they kind of um they kind of fit together um you know we asked the coop man what his favorite river was he said the onion river
[0:38:29 – 0:38:52] Adam: yeah of all time we said of all time we didn’t even specify i’m ready to do some coop things for these ground bumblies and he goes uh i go no just stop right there what’s your favorite river all time he kind of thought he goes i don’t know onion river yeah he said i like the onion i like the onion river so that’s another shore you know it’s a lot of north shore rivers up here very strong river country here on the north shore
[0:38:52 – 0:38:58] Erik: Yeah, both underappreciated, and I don’t think we’ve got a large enough audience that I would worry about affecting that.
[0:38:58 – 0:39:02] Erik: But another one of those rivers that you can just basically walk up.
[0:39:02 – 0:39:07] Adam: There’s a lot of good ones, and, you know, so obviously I didn’t want to.
[0:39:07 – 0:39:13] Adam: The Cadence being on the list, I’m not going to probably have any other North Shore rivers other than this one.
[0:39:13 – 0:39:13] Erik: Okay.
[0:39:14 – 0:39:17] Adam: And this is one that you actually can paddle and fish and camp on.
[0:39:17 – 0:39:19] Adam: It’s the Pigeon River, number four.
[0:39:20 – 0:39:20] Adam: Ooh.
[0:39:20 – 0:39:23] Adam: And we just did a trip last year on the Grand Portage.
[0:39:23 – 0:39:26] Adam: It’s essential that you take the Pigeon River.
[0:39:26 – 0:39:30] Adam: You cannot reach the Grand Portage without paddling the Pigeon River.
[0:39:30 – 0:39:34] Adam: It’s also the border between Minnesota and Ontario.
[0:39:35 – 0:39:43] Adam: And it is ripe with history of being the trading route of the days of yore.
[0:39:43 – 0:39:46] Erik: Well, I’ll just say that is my number three.
[0:39:46 – 0:39:56] Erik: I’m going to go grab a beer and then we can, you can keep talking, but we can also make it a little bit of a longer discussion just knowing that it is further down the list on my list.
[0:39:56 – 0:39:56] Erik: Right, right.
[0:39:56 – 0:39:56] Erik: Okay.
[0:39:56 – 0:39:59] Adam: Yeah, I would say it’s mostly the history.
[0:40:03 – 0:40:08] Adam: Yeah, you know, as a paddling river, it wasn’t like challenging.
[0:40:08 – 0:40:10] Adam: All the sections we paddled were,
[0:40:11 – 0:40:11] Adam: Pretty much flat.
[0:40:12 – 0:40:15] Adam: The English Rapids, we had to kind of bounce a few rocks.
[0:40:16 – 0:40:21] Adam: And then, you know, the Partridge Falls where we got to camp.
[0:40:22 – 0:40:23] Adam: One of the coolest campsites ever.
[0:40:23 – 0:40:24] Erik: Yeah, that’s for sure.
[0:40:24 – 0:40:27] Erik: Like the camping aspects on that, you were right on it.
[0:40:28 – 0:40:29] Erik: You were at the precipice.
[0:40:29 – 0:40:29] Adam: Absolutely.
[0:40:29 – 0:40:35] Adam: You know, and then I’ve also hiked up to High Falls just as a hiking option.
[0:40:35 – 0:40:37] Adam: Very cool.
[0:40:37 – 0:40:40] Adam: Once again, knowing it is the border is interesting.
[0:40:41 – 0:40:45] Adam: But, yeah, you almost feel haunted by ghouls when you’re on that river.
[0:40:46 – 0:40:50] Erik: There’s a little bit of a haunting, you know, and also with the way that we took that trip.
[0:40:50 – 0:41:02] Erik: You know, it’s hard to, you know, it’s the association with the Grand Portage as well and that, you know, hardship slash, you know, notch in the belt that kind of goes along with it.
[0:41:03 – 0:41:07] Erik: You can’t really not think about the Pigeon River because, I mean, unless you had a real…
[0:41:08 – 0:41:15] Erik: I guess you could drop a vehicle and not do the Grand Portage, but still paddle the Pigeon River.
[0:41:15 – 0:41:30] Erik: But it’s like, if you’re paddling the Pigeon River, you almost for sure either have done or are going to do the Grand Portage, which is just kind of one of those transformative experiences that adds to the whole experience of being on the river, which…
[0:41:30 – 0:41:35] Erik: even if you took that away from the Pigeon River, the river itself is beautiful.
[0:41:35 – 0:41:39] Erik: There were stretches on there where, you know, you got those knobs and…
[0:41:39 – 0:41:40] Erik: The melanave.
[0:41:40 – 0:41:41] Erik: The melanave.
[0:41:41 – 0:41:42] Adam: Yeah, absolutely.
[0:41:42 – 0:41:45] Adam: I have a whole knob on that river named just for us.
[0:41:45 – 0:41:52] Erik: Yeah, it’s kind of the end of the Logan intrusion where the geology kind of stops making sense.
[0:41:53 – 0:41:56] Erik: We were like, oh, there’s just big cliffs on all the south sides of the lake.
[0:41:56 – 0:41:58] Erik: And then it just turns into like a pockmarked, like…
[0:42:00 – 0:42:01] Adam: As a valley, incredible.
[0:42:01 – 0:42:09] Adam: And then if you can see it from the top via the Rango and that overlook on that road, just see it from there.
[0:42:10 – 0:42:18] Adam: Not a lot of rivers I’ve paddled where you also have the opportunity to either before or after drive up and then kind of overlook the entire valley like that.
[0:42:18 – 0:42:20] Erik: Yes, Rango Road National Park.
[0:42:20 – 0:42:24] Adam: Just go look at the Pigeon River on Google Maps in terrain mode.
[0:42:25 – 0:42:29] Adam: Absolutely stunning levels of terrain variation in there.
[0:42:29 – 0:42:32] Adam: Super weird, super interesting spot to look.
[0:42:32 – 0:42:36] Adam: Every time you turn around, you’re seeing some other different kind of nabe off in the distance.
[0:42:36 – 0:42:52] Erik: Yeah, it’s, again, one of those scenes that if you were to properly display an image of what the horizon looks like in that area with the undulations and the palisades that just abruptly stop.
[0:42:52 – 0:42:52] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[0:42:53 – 0:42:59] Erik: If you were to show a picture of that to somebody, it’d be like Minnesota wouldn’t be the first thought that you would have.
[0:42:59 – 0:43:04] Adam: How many rivers do you know of where you get also the goose rock aspect?
[0:43:04 – 0:43:04] Erik: Yeah.
[0:43:04 – 0:43:09] Adam: Literally like you’re climbing right out of the valley up to a goose rock.
[0:43:09 – 0:43:09] Erik: Yeah.
[0:43:09 – 0:43:10] Adam: And the view from that thing.
[0:43:11 – 0:43:12] Adam: The view from that thing is…
[0:43:12 – 0:43:14] Adam: So many vistas are associated with the Pigeon River Valley.
[0:43:14 – 0:43:15] Adam: It’s almost obscene.
[0:43:15 – 0:43:26] Erik: Yeah, and it’s the waters of the Pigeon River are a culmination of the entire Vento and essentially all of the waters of the eastern BWCA.
[0:43:26 – 0:43:28] Adam: All of our favorite lakes to paddle.
[0:43:28 – 0:43:28] Adam: Yeah.
[0:43:28 – 0:43:30] Adam: All flow basically into the Pigeon.
[0:43:30 – 0:43:31] Adam: Yeah, exactly.
[0:43:31 – 0:43:37] Adam: I would also like to rope in, before I forget, that I thought about putting the Royal River onto the initial list.
[0:43:38 – 0:43:41] Adam: And really, I’m just going to consider the Royal River to be upper Pigeon.
[0:43:42 – 0:43:44] Erik: Oh, for sure.
[0:43:44 – 0:43:47] Adam: I don’t really care for the Royal River very much.
[0:43:48 – 0:43:49] Adam: I’ve had some fun times in there.
[0:43:49 – 0:43:53] Erik: There’s some nice spots on it, but it’s very short.
[0:43:54 – 0:43:58] Adam: That whole section coming from McFarland, you basically feel like you’re in the river at that point.
[0:43:59 – 0:44:04] Adam: The Fowls, if it weren’t for the dam, the Fowls too would be much more river-like.
[0:44:04 – 0:44:05] Erik: Oh, for sure.
[0:44:05 – 0:44:07] Adam: And more considered part of the Pigeon River, too.
[0:44:07 – 0:44:11] Adam: So, yeah, that whole area, just very special.
[0:44:11 – 0:44:20] Adam: And the fact that, you know, Natalie and I got to paddle that with you and Tori in the big four-person canoe, very recent in the mind, too.
[0:44:20 – 0:44:21] Adam: Yeah.
[0:44:21 – 0:44:27] Adam: I had considered moving it up higher on the list, but again, it’s technically not in the park.
[0:44:27 – 0:44:28] Adam: True.
[0:44:28 – 0:44:29] Adam: That’s kind of what kept it.
[0:44:29 – 0:44:31] Adam: And I’ve never really caught a fish in there either.
[0:44:31 – 0:44:34] Adam: Not that I really, we didn’t try at all to fish.
[0:44:34 – 0:44:34] Adam: Oh, God, no.
[0:44:34 – 0:44:35] Adam: But I believe you could fish in there.
[0:44:35 – 0:44:37] Erik: Portaging rods down the ground.
[0:44:37 – 0:44:37] Erik: Yeah, no thanks.
[0:44:39 – 0:44:40] Adam: You got to get your priorities straight if you’re doing that.
[0:44:40 – 0:44:50] Adam: And, you know, just that I had Cadunce at five, I felt that the Pigeon was in that same kind of grouping as kind of more shore rivers.
[0:44:51 – 0:44:56] Adam: So I felt they were appropriate to put those at five and four on my list.
[0:44:56 – 0:45:04] Adam: You obviously felt it was a very wonderful river to paddle as it made your list at three.
[0:45:04 – 0:45:18] Erik: Yeah, there was no, I mean, besides the English Rapids, which were still, like, that’s a fun experience if the weather is right to be kind of half in, half out of the boat.
[0:45:19 – 0:45:20] Erik: You know, you’re going to just be wet.
[0:45:21 – 0:45:25] Erik: I mean, on a beautiful, we were doing it in the rain, and it was fine.
[0:45:25 – 0:45:25] Erik: Yeah.
[0:45:26 – 0:45:33] Erik: I could imagine on, like, a beautiful day where it’s hot, just jumping in and out of the boat and kind of experiencing the river really, like, firsthand.
[0:45:33 – 0:45:33] Erik: Yeah.
[0:45:34 – 0:45:42] Erik: Um, that, I mean, that wouldn’t be a problem at all, but like, yeah, I guess I could see like low water might not be the greatest or the most fun river to paddle.
[0:45:42 – 0:45:42] Erik: Sure.
[0:45:43 – 0:45:49] Erik: But yeah, it’s, uh, it’s mostly again for me, like tied to the memories and the experience of it.
[0:45:50 – 0:45:52] Adam: Yeah, that one was one where it was a great trip.
[0:45:52 – 0:45:54] Erik: Yeah, I mean, that was at the end of last year.
[0:45:54 – 0:45:57] Erik: We were talking about our best trip of the year.
[0:45:57 – 0:46:01] Erik: We both said the Grand Portage trip was our most memorable and most fun trip.
[0:46:01 – 0:46:04] Adam: And that was the meat of the trip was the Pigeon River.
[0:46:04 – 0:46:07] Erik: Yeah, I know, yeah, it’s not directly in the Boundary Waters, but I mean…
[0:46:08 – 0:46:09] Erik: I feel like it is.
[0:46:09 – 0:46:09] Erik: It is.
[0:46:09 – 0:46:11] Adam: It’s part of the Quetico Superior.
[0:46:12 – 0:46:17] Adam: And yeah, the history of the river, the way that all the water flows there.
[0:46:18 – 0:46:18] Erik: Yeah.
[0:46:19 – 0:46:21] Adam: I feel like that’s the true river of the Vento.
[0:46:22 – 0:46:26] Adam: And I really, I was glad to finally have gotten to paddle it.
[0:46:26 – 0:46:28] Adam: And it did not let me down, even though we got kind of stormed on.
[0:46:29 – 0:46:29] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[0:46:30 – 0:46:31] Adam: Yeah, very cool.
[0:46:31 – 0:46:33] Erik: And the remoteness of it.
[0:46:33 – 0:46:38] Erik: And nobody, not nobody, but close to nobody is paddling that river.
[0:46:38 – 0:46:39] Adam: Yeah, it’s a pretty quiet route.
[0:46:39 – 0:46:53] Erik: Yeah, because the logistics, you’ve either got to have two vehicles and have one dropped at the campsite just above the falls there, which we could talk about that campsite for the rest of the show.
[0:46:53 – 0:46:56] Erik: Just that campsite and getting to be there on its own is fine.
[0:46:56 – 0:46:58] Erik: So unless you’re putting together a shuttle,
[0:46:59 – 0:47:04] Erik: It’s a Grand Portage scenario, and that’s definitely not something very many people want to do, I don’t think.
[0:47:05 – 0:47:06] Adam: Yeah.
[0:47:06 – 0:47:10] Adam: High Falls is amazing and actually a pretty easy hike if you’re ever up this way.
[0:47:11 – 0:47:12] Adam: Highly recommend High Falls.
[0:47:13 – 0:47:16] Adam: But I also have never done it, but I want to do Middle Falls.
[0:47:16 – 0:47:24] Adam: There’s a separate spur trail off of that trail, and then you can get up to Middle Falls, I’ve heard, is kind of a challenging hike depending on the time of year.
[0:47:24 – 0:47:25] Adam: I’ve never been up there.
[0:47:26 – 0:47:27] Adam: That would be pretty neat to see.
[0:47:27 – 0:47:31] Erik: It’s been probably almost 10 years since I’ve been up there.
[0:47:32 – 0:47:33] Erik: But it’s nice because it’s a loop.
[0:47:33 – 0:47:39] Erik: So you can go past the high falls and then there’s just one little tiny spot that you have to hike over twice.
[0:47:39 – 0:47:44] Erik: Otherwise, you can essentially, it’s essentially like everything is new.
[0:47:44 – 0:47:45] Erik: You know what I mean?
[0:47:45 – 0:47:46] Erik: Right on.
[0:47:46 – 0:47:47] Erik: But yeah.
[0:47:47 – 0:47:50] Erik: So Pigeon River, glad it was on your list.
[0:47:51 – 0:47:52] Erik: Definitely on mine.
[0:47:52 – 0:47:54] Adam: Yeah, that one was no question.
[0:47:54 – 0:47:59] Adam: I was kind of talking with Natalie this morning, kind of trying to finalize the list, and we both said it immediately.
[0:47:59 – 0:48:00] Adam: It was like one of our first.
[0:48:01 – 0:48:03] Adam: The case could be made that it should be higher on the list.
[0:48:03 – 0:48:05] Erik: It could be, but then you start looking at what’s higher.
[0:48:05 – 0:48:08] Adam: Yeah, but then what are you going to bump?
[0:48:08 – 0:48:09] Adam: So what was your number four then?
[0:48:10 – 0:48:18] Erik: My number four is the Granite River, which I also noticed on maps was also listed as the Pine River.
[0:48:20 – 0:48:21] Erik: Why is that?
[0:48:21 – 0:48:21] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:48:21 – 0:48:26] Erik: There’s nothing associated in that area as pine.
[0:48:26 – 0:48:27] Adam: Yeah, what map is that?
[0:48:27 – 0:48:28] Adam: I remember seeing that.
[0:48:29 – 0:48:31] Erik: It’s on these, and it’s also on the…
[0:48:31 – 0:48:32] Adam: It’s on the Nat Geos, the pine.
[0:48:32 – 0:48:35] Erik: Yeah, the Nat Geos have it, and the McKenzie’s have it.
[0:48:35 – 0:48:36] Erik: Makes no sense whatsoever.
[0:48:36 – 0:48:37] Erik: There’s the pine portage.
[0:48:38 – 0:48:39] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:48:39 – 0:48:39] Erik: Yeah.
[0:48:39 – 0:48:44] Erik: So the Granite River, which we have a Tumble Home Express episode on…
[0:48:46 – 0:48:51] Erik: Essentially, again, directly associated is my second trip I ever took.
[0:48:52 – 0:48:53] Erik: And it’s close to home.
[0:48:54 – 0:48:55] Adam: I was going to say that about it, too.
[0:48:55 – 0:48:57] Adam: And I’ll just go ahead and tell you it was my number three.
[0:48:59 – 0:49:04] Adam: So we just flipped those two, which, you know, we haven’t we didn’t coordinate on this.
[0:49:04 – 0:49:05] Adam: We didn’t discuss it at all.
[0:49:05 – 0:49:07] Adam: I’ve been actually hide actively hiding my list.
[0:49:07 – 0:49:09] Adam: Yes, you have been during recording here.
[0:49:09 – 0:49:10] Adam: So you can’t even see it.
[0:49:11 – 0:49:18] Adam: But I had Granite River as three for me, and a big reason because of that was it was one of my first entry points and trips I did.
[0:49:18 – 0:49:20] Erik: Yeah, formative experience.
[0:49:20 – 0:49:24] Adam: As somebody who worked up on the Gunflint Trail as a youth, it’s kind of a rite of passage.
[0:49:24 – 0:49:28] Adam: I feel like all summer staff have to do a Granite River trip.
[0:49:28 – 0:49:29] Erik: Do the Granite River run in a day?
[0:49:29 – 0:49:31] Adam: Yeah, and then I also did it in one day.
[0:49:32 – 0:49:47] Erik: yeah no and all the you know obviously it’s one of those things that you can talk about at length probably with you know what are your favorite albums or movies a lot of those are going to be tied with the granite river is like as a teen or a youth when you’re like forming very close relationships with things for the first time
[0:49:48 – 0:49:51] Erik: Some of the first trips I ever took are some of the fondest memories.
[0:49:51 – 0:49:53] Adam: It’s like the dark side of the moon of river trips.
[0:49:55 – 0:49:55] Adam: Yeah.
[0:49:55 – 0:49:56] Adam: Pretty much.
[0:49:56 – 0:49:57] Erik: Yeah, it’s like Led Zeppelin 2.
[0:49:58 – 0:49:59] Adam: Yeah, absolutely.
[0:50:00 – 0:50:08] Adam: For one, the Grand River, and this is true of everything on my list, this one is the one where I’ve actually caught some fish and like really nice fishing.
[0:50:09 – 0:50:09] Erik: Yeah.
[0:50:09 – 0:50:14] Adam: And, you know, last year we just, again, I think it’s a recency thing that it was high on my mind.
[0:50:14 – 0:50:30] Adam: because we had just gone there through arch uh last year and done some fishing with ty raider yes plus seeing that’s the memory of ty raider doing that beautiful backflip swan dive into the river that is a snapshot in my mind that exquisite yeah breaks me out of any funk i’m in yeah thanks ty
[0:50:31 – 0:50:36] Adam: He never did get back to me on whether or not I had to go to his wedding or not in 2011.
[0:50:36 – 0:50:42] Adam: I believe that there’s one point in the Quetico journals where I was like, I got to get back by the end of the month.
[0:50:42 – 0:50:46] Adam: And yeah, I haven’t heard from him on that one, but I’m pretty certain that’s the case.
[0:50:47 – 0:50:50] Adam: Ty Rader has been up here on quite a few trips, and that was another one.
[0:50:50 – 0:50:54] Adam: We got down there last year and did some really nice fishing on the Granite River.
[0:50:55 – 0:50:55] Adam: Yeah.
[0:50:55 – 0:50:56] Adam: Didn’t even do the full river on that one.
[0:50:56 – 0:50:58] Erik: Just adjacent, kind of made a day trip over the river.
[0:50:58 – 0:50:59] Adam: It was pretty sweet.
[0:51:00 – 0:51:03] Adam: You know, June, early season, that’s a beautiful trip to do.
[0:51:03 – 0:51:03] Erik: Yeah.
[0:51:04 – 0:51:09] Adam: And one I believe everybody should do, and like I said, it’s kind of a rite of passage if you’re on the Gunflint Trail.
[0:51:09 – 0:51:11] Adam: You got to do the Granite River.
[0:51:11 – 0:51:13] Adam: It originates in Gunflint Lake.
[0:51:13 – 0:51:15] Adam: If anything, it should be called the Gunflint River.
[0:51:15 – 0:51:15] Adam: Yeah.
[0:51:16 – 0:51:16] Erik: Yeah, it could be.
[0:51:16 – 0:51:18] Adam: Maybe the North River.
[0:51:18 – 0:51:22] Erik: I feel like there’s too many things that have that name associated with it now.
[0:51:22 – 0:51:23] Adam: I like that it’s got its own thing going.
[0:51:23 – 0:51:23] Adam: Yeah.
[0:51:24 – 0:51:25] Adam: There’s a granite lake in there.
[0:51:26 – 0:51:26] Erik: There is.
[0:51:26 – 0:51:27] Erik: It starts with…
[0:51:27 – 0:51:29] Erik: I would say it starts at Gunflint.
[0:51:30 – 0:51:30] Adam: Yeah.
[0:51:31 – 0:51:33] Erik: And ends at Saginaw.
[0:51:33 – 0:51:34] Adam: And this is going to be…
[0:51:35 – 0:51:39] Adam: I’d like to maybe talk more about, too, like, is the Granite River part of the Malign?
[0:51:40 – 0:51:42] Erik: Well, that is exactly where I was going with…
[0:51:42 – 0:51:43] Erik: I could tell you were going there.
[0:51:43 – 0:51:47] Erik: Which question on… Again, we love maps.
[0:51:48 – 0:51:52] Erik: Refer back to maps one and two from last year if you have any question about…
[0:51:52 – 0:52:14] Erik: on how much we love maps i love them and one of the things that i’ve seen on some maps is i like tracking back to see how far the malign river is listed as the malign river and i have seen it listed all the way back to the granite river on fisher maps yes which is like who made that decision
[0:52:14 – 0:52:15] Adam: Yeah.
[0:52:16 – 0:52:20] Erik: Was this just like some wild man in the map company who was like, hey, you want to call it the river?
[0:52:20 – 0:52:21] Erik: You can call it a river.
[0:52:21 – 0:52:22] Erik: But where does it start?
[0:52:22 – 0:52:23] Erik: Where does it end?
[0:52:24 – 0:52:28] Erik: Is the Pigeon River, is it like, is Johnson Falls the Pigeon River?
[0:52:28 – 0:52:28] Erik: Yes.
[0:52:28 – 0:52:29] Erik: You know?
[0:52:29 – 0:52:29] Erik: It is.
[0:52:29 – 0:52:32] Erik: So if it’s all connected and it’s all flowing, ultimately.
[0:52:33 – 0:52:34] Adam: We are all water.
[0:52:34 – 0:52:35] Erik: We are all water.
[0:52:36 – 0:52:38] Erik: I feel like that’s how a river runs through.
[0:52:38 – 0:52:39] Erik: It should have ended.
[0:52:42 – 0:52:43] Adam: I’m scared.
[0:52:43 – 0:52:44] Adam: It rises from the grave.
[0:52:44 – 0:52:45] Adam: We are all water, son.
[0:52:45 – 0:52:46] Adam: We are all water.
[0:52:48 – 0:52:48] Adam: Now I’m really crying.
[0:52:49 – 0:52:50] Adam: Truly.
[0:52:50 – 0:52:51] Adam: I was crying.
[0:52:51 – 0:52:51] Adam: Now I’m weeping.
[0:52:52 – 0:52:53] Erik: All right.
[0:52:53 – 0:52:58] Erik: Well, let’s not get too down that rabbit hole of a conversation because I’m pretty sure now I’ve got it figured out.
[0:52:58 – 0:53:00] Erik: I guarantee I can nail your next two.
[0:53:01 – 0:53:03] Adam: I think I, well, I don’t know.
[0:53:03 – 0:53:07] Adam: I think I’m certain that my number one, that you have it.
[0:53:07 – 0:53:09] Adam: I’m not sure that you have my number two.
[0:53:09 – 0:53:09] Adam: Okay.
[0:53:10 – 0:53:10] Adam: Possibly you do.
[0:53:10 – 0:53:15] Erik: Well, let’s finish up with just a little bit more conversation on the Granite River.
[0:53:15 – 0:53:19] Erik: I just, I love the way that that river feels as you paddle through it.
[0:53:20 – 0:53:21] Erik: It starts super wild.
[0:53:21 – 0:53:21] Adam: Yeah.
[0:53:21 – 0:53:23] Adam: Super, super wild.
[0:53:23 – 0:53:24] Adam: Very cool falls.
[0:53:24 – 0:53:25] Erik: Oh, it’s like aggressive.
[0:53:25 – 0:53:28] Erik: Like those portages, you’re like, if you miss this portage, you’re a goner.
[0:53:29 – 0:53:31] Adam: It’s got an element of danger to it.
[0:53:31 – 0:53:32] Adam: There is an element of danger.
[0:53:32 – 0:53:37] Adam: A lot of these Quetico Superior rivers, a lot of them are these like Tamarack Swamp type rivers.
[0:53:38 – 0:53:38] Erik: Yeah.
[0:53:38 – 0:53:40] Adam: And not the Granite River.
[0:53:40 – 0:53:42] Adam: The Granite River is like serious business.
[0:53:42 – 0:53:43] Erik: That’s a moving water.
[0:53:44 – 0:53:44] Erik: Yeah.
[0:53:44 – 0:53:50] Erik: You get that tingle off to your side when you know you’re coming up to that portage landing and it’s like, oh, I can see the lip of the falls there.
[0:53:51 – 0:53:51] Adam: Mm-hmm.
[0:53:51 – 0:53:55] Erik: All right, let’s, joke time’s over.
[0:53:55 – 0:53:59] Erik: Let’s make sure we get, keep an eye on the canoe and just, you know.
[0:54:00 – 0:54:01] Erik: But then when you’re, you know, you’re doing.
[0:54:01 – 0:54:02] Adam: Ain’t no screwing around time.
[0:54:02 – 0:54:02] Erik: Right.
[0:54:02 – 0:54:06] Erik: The physical portaging, you’re like right there next to it too.
[0:54:06 – 0:54:14] Erik: So like something about like fully gushing falls and water next to you while you’re portaging just takes the pain away.
[0:54:14 – 0:54:15] Adam: A lot of energy.
[0:54:15 – 0:54:15] Adam: Yeah.
[0:54:15 – 0:54:16] Adam: A lot of energy in the air.
[0:54:17 – 0:54:18] Erik: Don’t even feel like you’re portaging.
[0:54:18 – 0:54:23] Adam: I also like that there’s some sections where you just get to run some quick water.
[0:54:24 – 0:54:24] Erik: Yeah.
[0:54:24 – 0:54:29] Adam: Some stuff you can run where you’re feeling a little bit bad, but you’re feeling good.
[0:54:29 – 0:54:30] Erik: Yeah.
[0:54:30 – 0:54:33] Erik: There’s no rules on a couple of parts in there where it’s like, wait, wasn’t there a portage?
[0:54:33 – 0:54:34] Adam: There’s some stuff you get to move through.
[0:54:34 – 0:54:35] Adam: Yeah.
[0:54:35 – 0:54:35] Adam: And you’re really cooking.
[0:54:36 – 0:54:36] Adam: Yeah.
[0:54:36 – 0:54:38] Adam: And then there’s stuff where you definitely should portage around it.
[0:54:38 – 0:54:39] Adam: Oh, yeah.
[0:54:39 – 0:54:40] Adam: Or you will wreck your boat.
[0:54:40 – 0:54:41] Erik: No, exactly.
[0:54:41 – 0:54:45] Adam: You’re going to crash the tuna boat, Eric, if you try and run it through that rapids.
[0:54:45 – 0:54:45] Erik: Don’t do it.
[0:54:45 – 0:54:50] Erik: The first few portages are like, yeah, like if you miss those portages, you’re done.
[0:54:50 – 0:54:58] Erik: But then like midway through, it’s like it kind of eases out a little bit where you’re like, hey, I think you could maybe handle this little bit of a hard turn backwards.
[0:54:58 – 0:55:04] Erik: But then if you forget your fishing poles and you have to bushwhack back through the woods, then it’s not as much fun.
[0:55:04 – 0:55:12] Erik: But then it’s also got the aspect of kind of opening up into more of a Boundary Waters feeling route with some lakes.
[0:55:13 – 0:55:18] Erik: But it’s always like, there’s always a sense that it’s like more connected and more moving.
[0:55:19 – 0:55:22] Erik: The water that is, not me personally.
[0:55:22 – 0:55:23] Erik: Then, you know,
[0:55:25 – 0:55:47] Erik: any other part of like big lake travel so yeah you’d be on like marabouf or um towards the end uh getting up to like sag falls yeah it feels like a big lake but anytime it kind of gets pinched down it’s like oh dang look how that’s what the rivers are up here though i think the granite river is like one of the best examples of what a quetico superior river is
[0:55:47 – 0:55:48] Erik: Kind of a microcosm of the whole system.
[0:55:48 – 0:55:54] Adam: It’s a bunch of lakes kind of in a system together with some really nice, you know, rivery sections in between.
[0:55:55 – 0:55:59] Adam: Some falls that you have to portage around and some stuff you can actually kind of scoot.
[0:55:59 – 0:56:00] Erik: Yeah, and I don’t know why.
[0:56:00 – 0:56:06] Erik: I get the sense based on permit availability when I’m looking for people.
[0:56:06 – 0:56:09] Erik: It seems like that’s a permit that’s generally available.
[0:56:09 – 0:56:10] Adam: It’s always open.
[0:56:10 – 0:56:10] Erik: I don’t know why.
[0:56:10 – 0:56:13] Adam: I would love to do it again.
[0:56:14 – 0:56:16] Adam: Every year I’m like, I would do the Granite River this year.
[0:56:17 – 0:56:20] Adam: I would literally do it every year if I had unlimited amounts of time.
[0:56:20 – 0:56:22] Erik: Yeah, well, we have to discuss not necessarily.
[0:56:22 – 0:56:24] Adam: Even if I don’t, I want to go and do it again.
[0:56:24 – 0:56:26] Erik: Yeah, not right here and now, but…
[0:56:26 – 0:56:26] Adam: In June.
[0:56:26 – 0:56:27] Adam: I want to go back through in June.
[0:56:27 – 0:56:29] Erik: We have to discuss some upcoming trips at some point.
[0:56:29 – 0:56:30] Erik: Absolutely.
[0:56:31 – 0:56:31] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:56:31 – 0:56:38] Erik: I don’t want to be not heeding the warnings of our current shutdown, so I have to stay relatively local.
[0:56:38 – 0:56:42] Adam: Yeah, but, you know, I mean, there’s some other stuff I’d like to try, but we also have the…
[0:56:43 – 0:57:08] Adam: you know benefit of it being right there for us yeah one of the coolest you know pretty easy to get at river sections yeah with excellent fishing excellent fishing excellent camping uh yeah the the the metrics are off the church a lot of things to like there um so that’s why i had it up at number three yeah that’s it kind of bumped above the pigeon river at one point i had it down at five and i was like well no actually you can really camp it up you can fish the heck out of it
[0:57:09 – 0:57:14] Adam: And, you know, you’re actually in the boundary waters, so that’s helpful for our angle.
[0:57:15 – 0:57:15] Erik: I could be argued.
[0:57:15 – 0:57:17] Erik: I could be easily swayed.
[0:57:17 – 0:57:18] Adam: I thought about moving it.
[0:57:18 – 0:57:20] Adam: It was all over my list this morning.
[0:57:21 – 0:57:22] Adam: It could have been one.
[0:57:22 – 0:57:23] Adam: It could have been five.
[0:57:23 – 0:57:24] Adam: And I settled at three.
[0:57:25 – 0:57:26] Adam: I feel like that’s fair.
[0:57:26 – 0:57:29] Adam: Anything in the top five is definitely a river worth exploring.
[0:57:30 – 0:57:31] Erik: Exactly.
[0:57:31 – 0:57:31] Erik: Well put.
[0:57:32 – 0:57:33] Erik: So we’re down to our two and one.
[0:57:34 – 0:57:35] Adam: Yes.
[0:57:35 – 0:57:40] Erik: Out of your two and one, what is the percentage of BWCA to Quetico?
[0:57:41 – 0:57:42] Adam: I have one of each.
[0:57:42 – 0:57:43] Erik: Okay.
[0:57:43 – 0:57:47] Erik: Well, I’m going to go ahead and say that we’re both on the same page in what we’ve got for two and one.
[0:57:47 – 0:57:47] Adam: Okay.
[0:57:48 – 0:57:49] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:57:49 – 0:57:50] Adam: Are we?
[0:57:51 – 0:57:55] Adam: You go first on your number two because I’m certain my number one, you have it.
[0:57:55 – 0:57:57] Erik: We’re both on the same page with number one?
[0:57:57 – 0:57:58] Adam: I believe we are.
[0:57:58 – 0:57:58] Erik: Okay.
[0:57:58 – 0:58:00] Erik: So my number two is the Frost River.
[0:58:01 – 0:58:02] Adam: Wow, no, we’re not then.
[0:58:02 – 0:58:04] Adam: I have Frost as number one.
[0:58:04 – 0:58:06] Adam: Okay.
[0:58:06 – 0:58:07] Adam: Well, then what’s your number?
[0:58:08 – 0:58:09] Adam: Let’s do the Frost River.
[0:58:09 – 0:58:15] Erik: Well, we’ve talked about the Frost River more than I think any other river for multiple periods of time.
[0:58:15 – 0:58:16] Erik: We have an Express episode.
[0:58:16 – 0:58:20] Erik: We talked about a trip you took two years ago over the course of two different episodes.
[0:58:21 – 0:58:23] Erik: So there’s not a whole lot that I feel like we need to sit and say.
[0:58:23 – 0:58:25] Adam: I don’t think anybody would be shocked that the Frost River made it.
[0:58:26 – 0:58:26] Erik: No, no.
[0:58:26 – 0:58:27] Erik: It is…
[0:58:31 – 0:58:33] Erik: it’s like almost a character.
[0:58:34 – 0:58:35] Erik: Is that the right word?
[0:58:35 – 0:58:36] Erik: A caricature?
[0:58:36 – 0:58:37] Erik: Caricature.
[0:58:37 – 0:58:40] Erik: That’s the, you know, you go to the state fair and you get your caricature made.
[0:58:40 – 0:58:40] Erik: Yeah.
[0:58:40 – 0:58:46] Erik: It’s like that for like what you think of if you’re like, I want to go and do a Boundary Waters River.
[0:58:47 – 0:58:47] Erik: Yeah.
[0:58:47 – 0:58:51] Erik: It’s like, God, it’s like almost like excessively like, okay, this is like,
[0:58:52 – 0:58:54] Erik: Blown out of proportions for what this is offering me.
[0:58:55 – 0:59:08] Erik: With the amount of wildlife interaction, just the vast majority of different, like, sizes and experiences that you’re going to actually experience when it comes to the water itself.
[0:59:08 – 0:59:09] Erik: Yeah.
[0:59:10 – 0:59:16] Erik: The ruggedness, probably not necessarily the camping as much, but just the overall feel.
[0:59:16 – 0:59:20] Erik: Every time I’ve ever paddled the Frost River, it is like, it’s given me…
[0:59:22 – 0:59:25] Erik: Half a year’s worth of positive energy.
[0:59:25 – 0:59:31] Adam: As soon as we mentioned the idea of doing a River Rankers episode, it was like, well, Frost River’s number one, obviously, for me.
[0:59:33 – 0:59:38] Adam: I’ve only done it once, the entire river, and I can’t wait to go back and do it again.
[0:59:39 – 0:59:42] Adam: It’s one of my favorite trips that Natalie and I have ever taken.
[0:59:42 – 0:59:46] Adam: It was, this was back when we were like, you know, still getting to know each other.
[0:59:47 – 0:59:51] Adam: And this was definitely the, like the toughest early camping trip we did together.
[0:59:51 – 0:59:52] Adam: Yeah.
[0:59:52 – 0:59:58] Adam: And which, I don’t know if you know that feeling when you like do a trip with somebody like that and you’ve never done a trip of that caliber before.
[0:59:59 – 1:00:01] Adam: You come out of it and you’re like, that went great.
[1:00:02 – 1:00:02] Adam: That was amazing.
[1:00:03 – 1:00:05] Adam: You just feel like you know somebody a lot better after it.
[1:00:06 – 1:00:10] Adam: That was the point in our relationship, just trying to figure things out.
[1:00:10 – 1:00:13] Adam: It was like, that trip went really well.
[1:00:13 – 1:00:14] Adam: We had a lot of fun.
[1:00:15 – 1:00:16] Adam: One of my favorite trips of all time.
[1:00:18 – 1:00:21] Adam: I’ll never forget the start to finish of that.
[1:00:21 – 1:00:23] Adam: I can picture every single paddle stroke of that trip.
[1:00:24 – 1:00:33] Erik: I just was like, I’ve kind of been talking over the last few weeks and episodes about how I’ve been re-listening to the early episodes for a potential my favorite moments.
[1:00:33 – 1:00:45] Erik: And yeah, I was just getting through the couple of episodes where you were talking to me about the trip and then you were back from it and talking about how you got zapped.
[1:00:45 – 1:00:58] Erik: on those early portages into snipe yeah and made it up to baloney and how you’re talking about you’re going to leave a note for potential nudists to make sure that they didn’t come over to the campsite to save somebody some time um so
[1:00:59 – 1:01:06] Adam: Yeah, and actually I was looking at the big map in Studio K this morning, and I noticed that I still hadn’t somehow markered that one in.
[1:01:07 – 1:01:07] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[1:01:07 – 1:01:11] Adam: That one wasn’t on there, so I actually found a nice marker and penciled it in.
[1:01:12 – 1:01:14] Erik: Commensurate with the year, right?
[1:01:14 – 1:01:14] Adam: Yeah.
[1:01:15 – 1:01:16] Adam: Okay.
[1:01:17 – 1:01:20] Adam: That would have been 2017?
[1:01:20 – 1:01:20] Adam: Yeah.
[1:01:22 – 1:01:23] SPEAKER_03: I don’t know.
[1:01:23 – 1:01:23] Adam: I’ll have to go back.
[1:01:24 – 1:01:26] Erik: Our wives don’t listen to the show anymore, so it doesn’t matter.
[1:01:26 – 1:01:27] Adam: It was 2018.
[1:01:29 – 1:01:31] Adam: But that was one where it was like, I’m taking PTO.
[1:01:31 – 1:01:32] Adam: We’re doing this one right.
[1:01:33 – 1:01:34] Adam: It was 2018.
[1:01:34 – 1:01:35] Adam: What a trip.
[1:01:35 – 1:01:36] Adam: Perfect.
[1:01:36 – 1:01:36] Adam: We got baloney.
[1:01:37 – 1:01:38] Adam: We went through pencil.
[1:01:38 – 1:01:38] Adam: Yep.
[1:01:40 – 1:01:42] Adam: Just fantastic.
[1:01:42 – 1:01:52] Adam: And the river sections, that one still has some drop and quite a few beaver dams, so you really get the sense of moving water, but it does have that small river feel that I really like.
[1:01:53 – 1:01:59] Adam: Honestly, not a lot of fishing going on in the river itself, but Frost Lake, Long Island…
[1:02:00 – 1:02:20] Adam: mora then you end up coming back through tuscarora so like fishing can be had on that trip oh yeah just not necessarily in the river section i would be there’s gotta be fish in there but i don’t know if that’s really worth the fishing in there um yeah but jesus that is just it’s that small river feel with like the big river energy does that make sense
[1:02:21 – 1:02:22] Adam: Oh, yeah, exactly.
[1:02:22 – 1:02:23] Adam: It’s got some attitude.
[1:02:23 – 1:02:24] Adam: Some sass.
[1:02:24 – 1:02:36] Erik: I feel like the first few that we’ve discussed, those are kind of coming from a little bit more… Obviously, we’re hoping that we’re relating to people with where we’re coming from.
[1:02:38 – 1:02:40] Erik: But you can tell.
[1:02:41 – 1:02:44] Erik: The Frost River is a river that resonates with people.
[1:02:45 – 1:02:45] Erik: who have done it.
[1:02:46 – 1:02:51] Erik: I mean, for Christ’s sake, there’s a whole leather goods company in Duluth named after the river.
[1:02:51 – 1:02:54] Adam: Um, I’m surprised there’s a beer out there at this point.
[1:02:54 – 1:02:54] Adam: I know.
[1:02:54 – 1:02:55] Adam: Seriously.
[1:02:55 – 1:02:56] Adam: It’s famous.
[1:02:56 – 1:02:56] Adam: Yeah.
[1:02:56 – 1:03:04] Erik: It’s essentially low key famous, low key famous for what is essentially a low key, like national, maybe a one day of paddling on the river.
[1:03:05 – 1:03:10] Adam: The way we did it, we kind of started in the morning, camped on Bologna, finished at the next morning.
[1:03:10 – 1:03:21] Adam: So it’s about 24 hours of real, if you’re taking your time, river immersion, keeping your feet wet, moving over the beaver dams, really moving with nature, not so much against it.
[1:03:22 – 1:03:22] Erik: Oh, wow.
[1:03:22 – 1:03:25] Adam: It’s really one of the best ones where you just go with the flow.
[1:03:25 – 1:03:26] Adam: Go with the flow, Eric.
[1:03:43 – 1:03:48] Erik: We’ve had a nice talk now just a little bit more on like overarching things about it.
[1:03:48 – 1:03:52] Erik: If you want really like hard info details on it, just refer back.
[1:03:54 – 1:03:55] Erik: Enough cannot be said about the Frost River.
[1:03:55 – 1:03:57] Erik: It is a gem of the Boundary Waters.
[1:03:58 – 1:04:07] Erik: And before we get to our number ones, it should be said, obviously at this point, you know, we’re a little skewed to the east.
[1:04:08 – 1:04:08] Erik: Yes.
[1:04:09 – 1:04:10] Erik: So that’s not to say that it is…
[1:04:12 – 1:04:15] Erik: This is not the end-all, be-all list.
[1:04:15 – 1:04:15] Erik: Definitely not.
[1:04:15 – 1:04:17] Erik: There’s a lot of rivers I haven’t seen yet.
[1:04:17 – 1:04:19] Erik: There’s a lot of rivers out west.
[1:04:19 – 1:04:22] Adam: A lot more rivers out west.
[1:04:22 – 1:04:23] Erik: Actually, quite a bit more rivers.
[1:04:23 – 1:04:25] Erik: And there’s a couple that I have.
[1:04:25 – 1:04:26] Adam: We’ve got to get out of our shell.
[1:04:27 – 1:04:32] Erik: I’ve had the opportunity of paddling a couple of them, and there are a couple that I’m going to throw on my honorable mention.
[1:04:32 – 1:04:41] Erik: But, you know, anytime I’ve done the fresh river route four times, you know, so Granite River was my second trip, and I’ve done it two times since then.
[1:04:42 – 1:04:48] Erik: It’s really hard to not put rivers like that on the list when I’ve got such familiar experiences with them.
[1:04:48 – 1:04:49] Adam: Yeah, absolutely.
[1:04:50 – 1:04:55] Erik: So are you willing to bet that my number one is your number two?
[1:04:56 – 1:05:01] Adam: No, I’m not, even though I guess you’ve said it’s a Canadian river.
[1:05:01 – 1:05:06] Erik: Well, right, because when you said 50-50 Bon Jovi’s Quetico, then I was like, well, that’s exactly what my setup is.
[1:05:06 – 1:05:08] Adam: I thought maybe there was another one.
[1:05:10 – 1:05:15] Adam: At first, there was like three I have left, two in my honorable mentions and my number two.
[1:05:16 – 1:05:20] Adam: And then when you said that, though, then it’s like, well, it could be this one, but I think it’s this one.
[1:05:21 – 1:05:22] Adam: It’s the one I have.
[1:05:23 – 1:05:25] Erik: Is it the one that we’ve kind of discussed a little bit already?
[1:05:26 – 1:05:30] Adam: I don’t, yeah, I mean, we have, I just don’t know if, I don’t know.
[1:05:30 – 1:05:32] Erik: Okay, well, my number one is the Malign River.
[1:05:33 – 1:05:34] Adam: Wow, see, I haven’t been there, though.
[1:05:35 – 1:05:37] Erik: Well, yes, you have, if you include the Falls Chain.
[1:05:37 – 1:05:41] Adam: That is the upper Malign, which is really the lower granite.
[1:05:42 – 1:05:45] Adam: It’s not mine, and it’s not the one I thought you were going to maybe say.
[1:05:45 – 1:05:47] Erik: All right, well, now I’m very excited.
[1:05:47 – 1:05:49] Erik: So let’s talk about the Malign River before we get to your number one.
[1:05:49 – 1:05:50] Erik: We have so many rivers to talk about.
[1:05:50 – 1:05:51] Adam: That’s my number two.
[1:05:53 – 1:05:53] Adam: Frost was my number one.
[1:05:53 – 1:05:54] Erik: Oh, that’s right.
[1:05:55 – 1:05:56] Adam: This is your number one.
[1:05:56 – 1:06:00] Erik: My number one, and then I’m very excited to find out what your number two is, which is not the Malign River.
[1:06:00 – 1:06:00] Erik: Yes.
[1:06:01 – 1:06:05] Erik: Which, again, you can kind of get bogged down a little bit into like…
[1:06:06 – 1:06:32] Erik: cartography semantics when it comes to like where does a river start where does a river end especially when there’s a bunch of lakes in between you know it’s not like the Mississippi but even then you know it’s really you look at where a river starts and where a river ends you know if you were to rename the Mississippi something different between where it starts in Minnesota and where it runs into the Missouri it would be the longest river in the world
[1:06:33 – 1:06:35] Adam: Yeah, technically it all should be the Missouri.
[1:06:35 – 1:06:36] Adam: Yeah.
[1:06:36 – 1:06:40] Adam: If they were following current river naming rules, it would be the Missouri.
[1:06:40 – 1:06:45] Erik: Yeah, and I don’t know if what I just said is 100% true, but it would definitely be longer than the Mississippi.
[1:06:45 – 1:06:46] Adam: It is.
[1:06:46 – 1:06:47] Adam: Fact-checked on the fly, it is.
[1:06:47 – 1:06:47] Adam: Okay.
[1:06:47 – 1:06:48] Adam: I’ve already looked into this.
[1:06:48 – 1:07:02] Erik: So with that, you know, again, with all of that in mind, I have very familiar experiences with where the Malign is literally called the Malign River, and it is a full-blown river experience.
[1:07:03 – 1:07:15] Erik: But the reason that I went to my number one is because I extended it out to the Falls Chain, which we’ve talked about again at length, which doesn’t have… That one doesn’t really have a river label to it.
[1:07:15 – 1:07:17] Erik: It doesn’t really on most maps, but I’ve seen it.
[1:07:18 – 1:07:18] Adam: Yeah.
[1:07:19 – 1:07:19] Erik: Well, yeah.
[1:07:19 – 1:07:20] Erik: Labeled on some.
[1:07:21 – 1:07:24] Adam: So does that mean then Silver Falls is also part of it?
[1:07:24 – 1:07:29] Erik: That’s kind of where I’m, in my mind, that’s where I feel like the river starts.
[1:07:30 – 1:07:30] Adam: At Silver Falls.
[1:07:31 – 1:07:32] Erik: Sag, basically.
[1:07:32 – 1:07:32] Erik: Yeah.
[1:07:32 – 1:07:33] Erik: It’s like the headwaters.
[1:07:33 – 1:07:34] Erik: Because it’s so big.
[1:07:34 – 1:07:35] Erik: There’s such a big, vast difference.
[1:07:35 – 1:07:35] Erik: Right.
[1:07:35 – 1:07:37] Erik: And so water goes a different direction.
[1:07:37 – 1:07:38] Adam: That’s true.
[1:07:38 – 1:07:42] Erik: And so like Silver Falls, with that in mind as being like the origin…
[1:07:43 – 1:07:46] Adam: So is there a malign lake somewhere?
[1:07:46 – 1:07:47] Adam: Why did it get the name?
[1:07:47 – 1:07:47] Erik: I don’t know.
[1:07:48 – 1:07:49] Erik: Because that’s typically…
[1:07:49 – 1:07:50] Adam: It should be Sag River.
[1:07:50 – 1:07:52] Erik: That’s not really a great term, right?
[1:07:52 – 1:07:56] Erik: To malign something is like… You’re kind of talking bad on it, right?
[1:07:57 – 1:07:57] Erik: Yeah.
[1:07:57 – 1:07:59] Erik: I don’t know what the… Look up a definition.
[1:07:59 – 1:08:02] Adam: I need to know what the French definition is of malign.
[1:08:03 – 1:08:12] Erik: But in my map’s eye, I see it as like the artery of Quetico.
[1:08:13 – 1:08:15] Adam: It means smart in French.
[1:08:16 – 1:08:17] Adam: The Smart River?
[1:08:17 – 1:08:18] Erik: Wow.
[1:08:19 – 1:08:20] Adam: We’re learning on the fly.
[1:08:20 – 1:08:21] Erik: How did I not include this?
[1:08:22 – 1:08:23] Adam: I didn’t know that.
[1:08:24 – 1:08:24] Adam: Yeah.
[1:08:24 – 1:08:25] Adam: The Smart River.
[1:08:25 – 1:08:26] Adam: The Smart River.
[1:08:26 – 1:08:30] Adam: It’s also basically the entire northern border of the Hunter’s Island Loop.
[1:08:30 – 1:08:31] Erik: Well, and that’s, again, why…
[1:08:31 – 1:08:37] Erik: So they call it an island, the Hunter’s Island Loop, which leads me to believe that… What the hell are they talking about?
[1:08:38 – 1:08:38] Erik: Yeah, it’s like, well…
[1:08:39 – 1:08:40] Adam: It’s a big island.
[1:08:40 – 1:08:43] Erik: Where do you decide that island ends and starts?
[1:08:43 – 1:08:47] Erik: Because you could technically say that a lot of different things out there are islands.
[1:08:48 – 1:08:54] Erik: But so the Falls chain, which is like every Quetico trip I’ve ever taken has gone through.
[1:08:54 – 1:08:55] Erik: Yes.
[1:08:55 – 1:08:56] Erik: It’s just an incredible.
[1:08:56 – 1:08:57] Adam: So I’ve done that part of it.
[1:08:57 – 1:08:57] Erik: Yeah.
[1:08:57 – 1:09:00] Erik: An incredible experience going through there, which again.
[1:09:00 – 1:09:01] Adam: I’ve done Silver Falls.
[1:09:01 – 1:09:02] Adam: So I’ve done part of the Malign.
[1:09:02 – 1:09:03] Erik: Yeah, you’ve done part of it.
[1:09:03 – 1:09:07] Erik: But the actual, like the river where it’s labeled as the Malign.
[1:09:07 – 1:09:08] Erik: From Sturgeon.
[1:09:08 – 1:09:12] Erik: On most maps is from Sturgeon down to Lac La Croix.
[1:09:12 – 1:09:12] Erik: Okay.
[1:09:12 – 1:09:13] Adam: Right, through Tanner.
[1:09:14 – 1:09:15] Adam: Through Tanner, yeah.
[1:09:15 – 1:09:17] Adam: Which Tanner is just a fat section of the line.
[1:09:17 – 1:09:19] Erik: It’s like the marabouf of granite.
[1:09:21 – 1:09:21] Adam: Yes.
[1:09:21 – 1:09:21] Adam: Yes.
[1:09:22 – 1:09:22] Adam: Accurate.
[1:09:22 – 1:09:23] Erik: Accurate.
[1:09:23 – 1:09:26] Erik: And I’ve had multiple wonderful… Look at all those rapids.
[1:09:26 – 1:09:28] Erik: There’s a lot of rapids.
[1:09:28 – 1:09:32] Erik: Excellent camping experiences right above the river and down at the end.
[1:09:32 – 1:09:36] Erik: There’s one of the greatest campsites I’ve ever stayed at.
[1:09:36 – 1:09:38] Erik: Right where the Malign River dumps out.
[1:09:39 – 1:09:40] Erik: What is the falls?
[1:09:40 – 1:09:41] Erik: Twin Falls.
[1:09:41 – 1:09:45] Erik: Ever get the opportunity to camp adjacent to Twin Falls?
[1:09:45 – 1:09:47] Adam: Yes, on Lou Island.
[1:09:47 – 1:09:48] Erik: Yeah, it’s like a…
[1:09:48 – 1:09:48] Erik: It’s like a…
[1:09:49 – 1:09:50] Erik: Not on the island, actually, on the North Shore.
[1:09:51 – 1:09:52] Erik: It splits around that island.
[1:09:52 – 1:09:56] Erik: So there’s two big sets of falls that dump into this massive pool.
[1:09:57 – 1:10:00] Erik: And it is just festooned with waterfowl, birds.
[1:10:01 – 1:10:02] Erik: It’s crazy.
[1:10:02 – 1:10:04] Adam: Yeah, that looks like an amazing spot.
[1:10:04 – 1:10:06] Adam: I didn’t include this section on my list.
[1:10:07 – 1:10:13] Adam: This is the section of my map I have open that I wanted to talk about, even though it didn’t make my top five.
[1:10:14 – 1:10:18] Adam: It did make my goals list for the end of the episode.
[1:10:18 – 1:10:18] Adam: Nice.
[1:10:18 – 1:10:22] Adam: I would love to see this section from Sturgeon to Lac La Croix.
[1:10:22 – 1:10:24] Erik: Yeah, it’s pretty incredible.
[1:10:24 – 1:10:29] Erik: There’s multiple old Boy Scout canoes dashed on the rocks.
[1:10:29 – 1:10:35] Adam: I’m pretty sure this is rated as one of the most haunted sections of the Quetico Superior as well.
[1:10:35 – 1:10:41] Adam: This is the one where I heard the story about the people would wake up to booming and then the sound of people singing in French.
[1:10:42 – 1:10:45] Erik: wow where did you read that it was in the star tribune
[1:10:46 – 1:10:47] Erik: Oh, that’s right.
[1:10:47 – 1:10:48] Erik: I forgot about that.
[1:10:48 – 1:10:48] Erik: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:10:48 – 1:10:49] Adam: Haunted Boundary Waters.
[1:10:49 – 1:10:52] Adam: Like, this was back when we were doing our EVP session crap.
[1:10:52 – 1:10:53] Adam: Yeah.
[1:10:53 – 1:10:53] Erik: Crap.
[1:10:54 – 1:10:54] Adam: Yeah.
[1:10:54 – 1:10:55] Adam: That was some crap.
[1:10:55 – 1:10:57] Adam: I mean, you know.
[1:10:57 – 1:10:57] Erik: Science.
[1:10:58 – 1:10:59] Adam: Yeah.
[1:10:59 – 1:11:07] Adam: Yeah, that was the one where multiple people at the same campsite on the Malayan River, which I’m not sure where it is, but it’s somewhere in this section.
[1:11:07 – 1:11:08] Adam: I’m convinced.
[1:11:09 – 1:11:16] Adam: They wake up to hearing booms and, like, ruckus, and then people singing in French very loudly, and then,
[1:11:16 – 1:11:38] Adam: gone it’s back to total silence multiple different parties over decades have reported this phenomenon on them on the malign river part of the reason i want to go check it out i want to see these i want to hear maybe even see if i’m lucky these french ghouls french ghouls uh i believe they’re french just based on the singing i feel like ghouls is a little bit of a um
[1:11:40 – 1:11:41] Erik: I mean, they’re friends.
[1:11:41 – 1:11:43] Adam: Is that too negative of a connotation?
[1:11:43 – 1:11:44] Adam: I think it’s a little bit of a slur.
[1:11:44 – 1:11:45] Adam: I think ghouls is fine.
[1:11:46 – 1:11:47] Adam: It’s a friendly way to talk about ghosts.
[1:11:48 – 1:11:49] Adam: I just like the word ghouls.
[1:11:49 – 1:11:51] Erik: I just associate ghoul with them being like mean.
[1:11:51 – 1:11:57] Adam: Yeah, no, I’ve never heard that they’re malicious other than the banging and the loud noises waking up campers.
[1:11:57 – 1:11:58] Erik: Sure.
[1:11:58 – 1:11:59] Adam: That’s a little rude.
[1:11:59 – 1:12:01] Erik: That’s obnoxious and rude, but that’s more like rascally.
[1:12:01 – 1:12:02] Erik: That’s playful.
[1:12:02 – 1:12:02] Erik: Yeah.
[1:12:03 – 1:12:03] Adam: It is playful.
[1:12:03 – 1:12:08] Adam: So they’re probably just more considered hauntings.
[1:12:09 – 1:12:35] Adam: hauntings sure yeah that’s haunting I would say spirits spirits yes playful spirits playful spirits or dirty French ghouls waking me up in the night yeah I hope they wake me up in the night honestly and then I will say damn you ghouls thank you for visiting I respect you and continue on with your clay pipes downstream au revoir au revoir bonjour
[1:12:37 – 1:12:38] Erik: The Malign River, yeah.
[1:12:38 – 1:12:40] Erik: I’ve been down it a couple of times.
[1:12:41 – 1:12:41] Adam: Damn.
[1:12:42 – 1:12:46] Adam: And you could couple this in to a Darkwater River.
[1:12:46 – 1:12:46] Adam: Oh, yeah.
[1:12:47 – 1:12:50] Adam: But you’d have to cut off before the Twin Falls down into Min.
[1:12:50 – 1:12:53] Erik: Well, so we were coming down the Malign River on our last trip up into Quetico.
[1:12:53 – 1:12:54] Erik: Then you’d be going up the Darkwater.
[1:12:55 – 1:13:01] Erik: And we wanted to cut down directly into Min and we got in there and it was just a quagmire.
[1:13:01 – 1:13:03] Erik: So we turned back and ended up paddling.
[1:13:03 – 1:13:06] Erik: And that’s the main reason we found out about Twin Falls.
[1:13:07 – 1:13:10] Erik: I have to like thinking back on it afterwards, I was like, how, what?
[1:13:11 – 1:13:12] Erik: It would have been so disappointing.
[1:13:12 – 1:13:14] Adam: You’d be going upstream into Min there.
[1:13:14 – 1:13:18] Adam: So there’s a lot of little portages going up there from the Malign to Min.
[1:13:18 – 1:13:21] Erik: It would have been so disappointing to have made that cut down to Min.
[1:13:22 – 1:13:22] Adam: Yeah.
[1:13:22 – 1:13:35] Erik: I would have never known, really, but getting the opportunity to finish the whole length of the river, camp on the campsite on Twin Falls, and then get out onto Big Lac La Croix the next day, essentially just to turn the corner and cut back up into Min.
[1:13:35 – 1:13:35] Erik: Yeah.
[1:13:36 – 1:13:40] Erik: Um, and then the day after that paddled the dark water.
[1:13:41 – 1:13:44] Erik: So yeah, that was a, a river heavy end to that trip.
[1:13:45 – 1:13:46] Adam: Very cool.
[1:13:46 – 1:13:51] Adam: I just had this map section out, A, because I wanted to talk about this one in my goals.
[1:13:52 – 1:13:53] Adam: Like, I have to paddle this.
[1:13:53 – 1:13:56] Adam: I want to do the whole Hunter’s Island thing.
[1:13:56 – 1:13:56] Erik: Yeah.
[1:13:57 – 1:14:01] Adam: But just all these great French names for the rapids in here, Eric.
[1:14:01 – 1:14:02] Erik: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:14:03 – 1:14:04] Adam: Can we just read a couple?
[1:14:04 – 1:14:05] Adam: Yeah.
[1:14:05 – 1:14:07] Adam: The Portage des Gros Rochers.
[1:14:07 – 1:14:08] Erik: Have you looked any of these up?
[1:14:09 – 1:14:09] Adam: No.
[1:14:11 – 1:14:13] Adam: I’m just glad to know that it’s the Smart River.
[1:14:14 – 1:14:14] Erik: I think you should…
[1:14:15 – 1:14:17] Adam: The Portage des Petites Rochers.
[1:14:17 – 1:14:19] Adam: The Portage des Petites Eslés.
[1:14:21 – 1:14:22] Adam: So many good ones.
[1:14:22 – 1:14:23] Adam: What do you think this is?
[1:14:24 – 1:14:26] Adam: Portage des Rochers Grenvoliers.
[1:14:28 – 1:14:29] Adam: I’m butchering the hell out of these.
[1:14:29 – 1:14:30] Adam: It’s great.
[1:14:30 – 1:14:34] Adam: French listeners, let me know how badly I’ve mangled your beautiful language.
[1:14:34 – 1:14:35] Erik: We should look up one.
[1:14:35 – 1:14:36] Erik: Which one do you want to look up?
[1:14:37 – 1:14:39] Adam: Well, I want to know what the Gros Rocher is.
[1:14:39 – 1:14:40] Adam: It’s the first one.
[1:14:41 – 1:14:42] Adam: And then there is the Petit Rocher.
[1:14:42 – 1:14:44] Adam: I assume it just means the big rapid.
[1:14:46 – 1:14:51] Adam: Portage de Gros, G-R-O-S, R-O-C-H-E-R. Groscher.
[1:14:54 – 1:14:56] Adam: Spell it one more time.
[1:14:56 – 1:15:01] Adam: Gros, G-R-O-S, R-O-C-H-E-R.
[1:15:01 – 1:15:01] Adam: It’s two words.
[1:15:02 – 1:15:03] Adam: Gros Rocher.
[1:15:04 – 1:15:07] Adam: And then there’s Petite Rochere downstream.
[1:15:07 – 1:15:08] Erik: Ah, it’s Big Rock.
[1:15:08 – 1:15:09] Adam: Big Rock.
[1:15:09 – 1:15:10] Adam: Oh, yeah.
[1:15:11 – 1:15:12] Erik: Gross Rochere and Small Rock.
[1:15:12 – 1:15:14] Adam: Yeah, on the Smart River.
[1:15:15 – 1:15:16] Erik: And then what’s the other one?
[1:15:17 – 1:15:21] Adam: Downstream, there’s the Rock Grenoviege.
[1:15:21 – 1:15:22] Erik: What’s the Islette?
[1:15:23 – 1:15:23] Adam: Island?
[1:15:24 – 1:15:24] Adam: Island, for sure.
[1:15:25 – 1:15:26] Adam: The small island.
[1:15:26 – 1:15:27] Adam: Yep.
[1:15:27 – 1:15:28] Adam: What is this word?
[1:15:29 – 1:15:29] Adam: Grano.
[1:15:30 – 1:15:35] Adam: It’s G-R-E-N-O-V-I-L-L-E-U-S.
[1:15:36 – 1:15:39] Erik: This is riveting podcast material here.
[1:15:39 – 1:15:39] Erik: I don’t care.
[1:15:40 – 1:15:40] Adam: I don’t care.
[1:15:40 – 1:15:41] Erik: Rocher.
[1:15:41 – 1:15:41] Adam: I want to know.
[1:15:42 – 1:15:42] Adam: All right.
[1:15:44 – 1:15:44] Adam: What’s that?
[1:15:44 – 1:15:48] Adam: The big rock on May Island there.
[1:15:49 – 1:15:50] Adam: Spell it again.
[1:15:50 – 1:15:51] Adam: G-R…
[1:15:52 – 1:16:02] Adam: E-N-O-V-I-L-L-E-U-S. No translation.
[1:16:02 – 1:16:04] Erik: It says Portage of Grock Grenovillius.
[1:16:04 – 1:16:06] Adam: It’s probably just somebody’s name then.
[1:16:06 – 1:16:07] Adam: That’s probably the haunt.
[1:16:07 – 1:16:07] Erik: Yeah.
[1:16:08 – 1:16:08] Adam: That’s the ghoul.
[1:16:08 – 1:16:09] Adam: Grenovillius?
[1:16:09 – 1:16:09] Adam: Yeah.
[1:16:10 – 1:16:11] Adam: That’s the singer.
[1:16:11 – 1:16:11] Adam: Ha!
[1:16:12 – 1:16:17] Adam: If it were to come up as like Bouty Singer or Festive Party.
[1:16:18 – 1:16:19] Adam: Bouty or Hottie?
[1:16:20 – 1:16:20] Adam: Both.
[1:16:20 – 1:16:21] Adam: Bouty, but Hottie would work.
[1:16:22 – 1:16:23] Adam: So I don’t know.
[1:16:24 – 1:16:26] Adam: I just loved all the like French names of the rabbits.
[1:16:26 – 1:16:30] Adam: It’s one of my favorite parts about Quetico compared to the park down here.
[1:16:30 – 1:16:31] Adam: They really embrace the French.
[1:16:31 – 1:16:34] Adam: They’re a little more playful with their naming of the portages.
[1:16:34 – 1:16:36] Adam: I love the eat them up portages in that section.
[1:16:36 – 1:16:38] Adam: A lot of fun ones.
[1:16:38 – 1:16:38] Adam: Yeah.
[1:16:40 – 1:16:42] Adam: Have you ever been into Puba or Wink?
[1:16:43 – 1:16:44] Erik: So I’ve not been into Puba.
[1:16:44 – 1:16:48] Erik: My first trip into Quetico, me and James ended up at Canoe Canada Outfitters.
[1:16:49 – 1:16:51] Erik: And we were looking at the map with old Dale.
[1:16:51 – 1:16:55] Erik: And we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to get back down to America.
[1:16:55 – 1:16:55] Adam: Yeah.
[1:16:56 – 1:16:59] Erik: And we were telling him that we were going to go through Puba.
[1:16:59 – 1:17:01] Erik: And he’s like, you don’t want to go through Puba.
[1:17:01 – 1:17:02] Erik: There’s nothing in there.
[1:17:02 – 1:17:04] Erik: And I couldn’t tell because he was so aggressive.
[1:17:04 – 1:17:06] Adam: Was he being secretive about it?
[1:17:06 – 1:17:09] Adam: You know, Lady Doth protest too much.
[1:17:09 – 1:17:10] Adam: Seriously.
[1:17:10 – 1:17:11] Adam: I was like, huh.
[1:17:11 – 1:17:12] Adam: He’s in the middle of nowhere.
[1:17:12 – 1:17:14] Erik: But I took him as being relatively…
[1:17:16 – 1:17:42] Erik: sincere yeah and so he ended up putting us through a bunch of different trout lakes um off beyond that but that was also after his first recommendation which was taking the eastern most route along the edge of cuetico down through the those two massive portages yes um i think he was thinking we wanted to get back like as soon as possible right right so he’s like you got to go down too far out of the way
[1:17:42 – 1:17:49] Erik: You got to go down through Trousers and Cache and to McKenzie, and then you can take the Wawiag River and into Saginaw.
[1:17:49 – 1:17:51] Erik: So it’s like, well, we’re thinking about Puba.
[1:17:51 – 1:17:52] SPEAKER_03: You don’t want to go to Puba.
[1:17:52 – 1:17:53] Erik: There’s nothing in Puba.
[1:17:54 – 1:17:54] Adam: Yeah.
[1:17:54 – 1:17:55] Adam: Don’t ever visit there.
[1:17:55 – 1:17:56] Adam: Yeah.
[1:17:56 – 1:17:58] Erik: So, no, I have never been to Puba.
[1:17:58 – 1:18:05] Erik: I have heard it is one of the more difficult lakes in Quetico to access, but I have also heard that it could potentially be…
[1:18:05 – 1:18:10] Adam: What I like about Puba is that you get to take the memory lane portages.
[1:18:11 – 1:18:15] Adam: They measure in at 1220, 1670, and 970 meters.
[1:18:15 – 1:18:17] Erik: I think it’s a difficult lake to get to.
[1:18:17 – 1:18:20] Adam: Well, you either do that or you go up the Puba Creek off the malign.
[1:18:21 – 1:18:22] Erik: Well, and that’s the other thing.
[1:18:22 – 1:18:23] Erik: Even that doesn’t look easy.
[1:18:23 – 1:18:24] Erik: Yeah, no, the portage is through there.
[1:18:25 – 1:18:27] Erik: He’s like a Boy Scout group got lost in there one time.
[1:18:27 – 1:18:28] Erik: Look at this one, though, too.
[1:18:28 – 1:18:29] Adam: Southern now?
[1:18:29 – 1:18:40] Adam: Coming out of Brent, if you went down through Puba and came over through Williams down to Brent, then the Darkwater River is listed as starting in Brent, actually, on this map.
[1:18:40 – 1:18:40] Erik: Sure.
[1:18:41 – 1:18:44] Erik: I’m so glad it’s not called the Brent River.
[1:18:44 – 1:18:46] Erik: Yeah, if it was the Brent River, it probably wouldn’t have made your list.
[1:18:46 – 1:18:46] Adam: No.
[1:18:47 – 1:18:47] Adam: All right.
[1:18:48 – 1:18:53] Adam: I need to take a quick break, and then we’ll come back with my number two.
[1:18:53 – 1:18:56] Erik: Your number two, which is not the malign.
[1:18:56 – 1:18:57] Erik: It’s not the malign.
[1:18:57 – 1:19:00] Erik: I am very interested to find out what your number two is going to be in Quetico.
[1:19:00 – 1:19:02] Erik: We’re pushing an hour 20 here.
[1:19:03 – 1:19:04] Adam: It’s going to end up being two parts.
[1:19:04 – 1:19:04] Adam: All right.
[1:19:05 – 1:19:05] Adam: Let’s just take a break.
[1:19:05 – 1:19:07] Erik: We’ve had so many two parts lately.
[1:19:07 – 1:19:09] Erik: Every episode is either part one or part two.
[1:19:09 – 1:19:10] Adam: That’s fine.
[1:19:10 – 1:19:10] Adam: Fine.
[1:19:10 – 1:19:11] Adam: Whatever.
[1:19:11 – 1:19:11] Adam: We’re doing it.
[1:19:11 – 1:19:12] Adam: It’s going to be that way.
[1:19:12 – 1:19:13] Adam: We’re not having a three-hour episode.
[1:19:13 – 1:19:14] Adam: All right.
[1:19:14 – 1:19:16] Erik: We did push the limits on that sag, too.
[1:19:16 – 1:19:17] Erik: That was almost two hours.
[1:19:17 – 1:19:18] Adam: Hashtag go with the flow, Eric.
[1:19:18 – 1:19:19] Erik: All right.
[1:19:19 – 1:19:20] Erik: We also have to watch a movie today.
[1:19:20 – 1:19:22] Adam: Yeah, well, I don’t know if that’s going to happen.
[1:19:22 – 1:19:23] Erik: Whoa, what?
[1:19:24 – 1:19:24] Erik: I already bought it.
[1:19:25 – 1:19:26] Erik: Kevin Bacon.
[1:19:26 – 1:19:27] Adam: We can watch it.
[1:19:27 – 1:19:28] Adam: But then we got to, I don’t know.
[1:19:29 – 1:19:29] Adam: We’ll see.
[1:19:29 – 1:19:30] Adam: We’ll see what time it is.
[1:19:31 – 1:19:35] Adam: We can watch it.
[1:19:35 – 1:19:43] Adam: Okay, so the last one on both of our top fives is my number two, which is not the Malign River.
[1:19:44 – 1:19:44] Erik: Shocked.
[1:19:44 – 1:19:47] Erik: I can’t wait to find out.
[1:19:47 – 1:19:48] Adam: It’ll probably make sense to me.
[1:19:48 – 1:19:52] Adam: I didn’t consider the Falls chain to be part of any river.
[1:19:52 – 1:19:55] Adam: But if it was, it would certainly be part of the Malign.
[1:19:55 – 1:19:59] Adam: So I agree with your reasoning there, and I have been to that section.
[1:20:01 – 1:20:06] Adam: But that seems like its own thing, and it’s not necessarily labeled that way.
[1:20:06 – 1:20:07] Adam: So that’s why I didn’t make my list.
[1:20:07 – 1:20:13] Adam: Although it was, and we’ll discuss it more in my goals list, which I guess will come in the next episode now.
[1:20:13 – 1:20:14] Erik: At this point?
[1:20:14 – 1:20:15] Adam: Yeah.
[1:20:15 – 1:20:18] Adam: I really wanted to go see the ghouls of the Malayan River.
[1:20:18 – 1:20:19] Adam: The smart ghouls.
[1:20:20 – 1:20:21] Erik: I think you’re too aware.
[1:20:22 – 1:20:24] Erik: You want it too much.
[1:20:24 – 1:20:28] Adam: If you’re not open-minded to it, they’re never going to…
[1:20:28 – 1:20:30] Erik: Well, no, I think that that’s the debate.
[1:20:30 – 1:20:37] Erik: It depends on your open-mindedness, but if you want it too much, then it doesn’t happen.
[1:20:37 – 1:20:38] Adam: I could agree with that.
[1:20:39 – 1:20:41] Erik: Also, there’s no such thing as ghosts.
[1:20:41 – 1:20:42] Adam: That is also true.
[1:20:45 – 1:20:49] Adam: So, my number two, and I don’t know.
[1:20:49 – 1:20:52] Adam: I’m interested to hear what you have to say about this.
[1:20:52 – 1:20:54] Adam: The Quetico River is my number two.
[1:20:54 – 1:20:55] Erik: Oh, wow.
[1:20:55 – 1:21:01] Adam: It was in a part of our big trip where we’re finally getting to move again.
[1:21:01 – 1:21:06] Adam: It’s the namesake of Quetico, coming off of Quetico Lake, one of the coolest lakes in the Quetico.
[1:21:07 – 1:21:12] Adam: And we had camped on a beautiful sand beach site on Eden Island, I believe, the night before.
[1:21:13 – 1:21:18] Adam: Got to eat the marshmallow tritos right at the headwaters for lunch.
[1:21:18 – 1:21:18] Adam: Yes.
[1:21:18 – 1:21:20] Adam: And then embarked down the Quetico River.
[1:21:20 – 1:21:21] Adam: Caught a couple nice fish in there.
[1:21:22 – 1:21:25] Erik: Yeah, that was the discovery of the FZ.
[1:21:25 – 1:21:28] Adam: Super remote, and just I really enjoyed that day.
[1:21:31 – 1:21:34] Adam: We didn’t really camp on the Quetico.
[1:21:34 – 1:21:37] Adam: By the time we camped that night, we had made it all the way to the Namakan River.
[1:21:37 – 1:21:39] Adam: Which is definitely not on the list.
[1:21:39 – 1:21:41] Adam: Definitely it was my least favorite river we’ve been on.
[1:21:42 – 1:21:44] Erik: That river has garbage and the hatch.
[1:21:44 – 1:21:46] Adam: Hatches and trashes.
[1:21:46 – 1:21:46] Erik: The hatch.
[1:21:46 – 1:21:47] Erik: The hatch.
[1:21:47 – 1:21:48] Adam: So that one’s definitely not on the list.
[1:21:48 – 1:21:53] Adam: And so does the Quetico River lose points because it flows into the Namekin?
[1:21:54 – 1:22:01] Erik: No, but my memory from the Quetico River had us ending up in essentially like a mud field to get off.
[1:22:01 – 1:22:03] Adam: The Wawa Island, like, get out?
[1:22:03 – 1:22:04] Adam: Yeah.
[1:22:04 – 1:22:07] Adam: The ending wasn’t as satisfying as you’d like, but…
[1:22:08 – 1:22:12] Adam: That to me was like the heart of that Quetico trip was that river run.
[1:22:13 – 1:22:14] Erik: It felt the most wild.
[1:22:14 – 1:22:18] Adam: That was like the farthest out there we got, it felt like.
[1:22:18 – 1:22:19] Erik: I would agree with you too.
[1:22:19 – 1:22:20] Erik: It was like bitterly cold.
[1:22:21 – 1:22:23] Erik: It felt like seldom.
[1:22:24 – 1:22:27] Adam: I would love to run that again in nicer weather for sure.
[1:22:28 – 1:22:29] Adam: That was one of the lowest water levels in the last 10 years.
[1:22:29 – 1:22:34] Adam: I also recognize that there’s a very good chance I will never see the Quetico River again in my life.
[1:22:35 – 1:22:35] Erik: How dare you.
[1:22:36 – 1:22:38] Adam: I mean, seriously, it’s so far out there.
[1:22:38 – 1:22:38] Adam: Yeah, you’re right.
[1:22:39 – 1:22:44] Adam: How are you ever going to find the time to do that again, especially with all these other rivers out there that I’ve not yet seen?
[1:22:44 – 1:22:45] Erik: Time is precious.
[1:22:45 – 1:22:47] Erik: We’re just going to have to make time.
[1:22:47 – 1:22:50] Adam: But I just remember, and I lost my favorite lure.
[1:22:50 – 1:22:51] Adam: The FZ.
[1:22:51 – 1:22:54] Adam: The FZ Slim to a gigantic pike.
[1:22:55 – 1:22:56] Adam: Oh, it was a big one.
[1:22:56 – 1:22:57] Adam: In the moving water.
[1:22:57 – 1:23:03] Adam: And it didn’t even matter, Eric, that I lost the fish because I had my sunglasses on.
[1:23:03 – 1:23:13] Adam: I could see the lure coming back across the riffles in through the current and then just saw that massive pike strike it, feel it,
[1:23:15 – 1:23:16] Adam: And then it was gone.
[1:23:17 – 1:23:19] Adam: The gaping maw of e-socks.
[1:23:19 – 1:23:23] Adam: The true ghoul of that trip was that fish that took my half set slam.
[1:23:24 – 1:23:29] Adam: And I had caught a couple nice pike and a good bass in a section just above that.
[1:23:30 – 1:23:35] Adam: When we got done with the portage, I would basically get my rod out and cast below the moving current there.
[1:23:36 – 1:23:37] Adam: I’d caught a couple of nice ones.
[1:23:37 – 1:23:39] Adam: Did you have your sunglasses on?
[1:23:39 – 1:23:41] Erik: I recall that day being very cloudy.
[1:23:41 – 1:23:45] Adam: It was cloudy, but anytime I’d be casting, I’d try and put the glasses on just to help see.
[1:23:45 – 1:23:45] Adam: Yeah.
[1:23:45 – 1:23:46] Adam: You know?
[1:23:47 – 1:23:50] Adam: And, uh, so I’d already caught a couple in there and that really helped to warm me up too.
[1:23:50 – 1:23:50] Adam: Um,
[1:23:53 – 1:24:05] Adam: catching those fish and then that one in particular I still to this day can see that cast and see the lure coming back and then see that giant pike take it from me
[1:24:06 – 1:24:08] Adam: And that’s okay.
[1:24:08 – 1:24:15] Adam: I’m perfectly fine leaving that lure where it was at that point.
[1:24:15 – 1:24:17] Adam: I had already grand slammed that lure.
[1:24:17 – 1:24:19] Adam: I wish it was hanging on my wall.
[1:24:19 – 1:24:21] Adam: I wish I still had that FZ slim.
[1:24:22 – 1:24:27] Adam: But that exact moment on the Quetico River, that’s why it’s at number two.
[1:24:27 – 1:24:37] Erik: Yeah, and that’s something that a creator of a list and anybody criticizing it can never take away.
[1:24:37 – 1:24:44] Erik: Your personal experience with anything is your own personal experience and the memories that you have associated with it.
[1:24:45 – 1:24:58] Erik: If that makes it year number two, if that makes it year number one, if you saw a hatch and it isn’t even considered a river worth considering, that’s your personal memories.
[1:24:59 – 1:25:03] Erik: Again, we’re not here to say that this is the list.
[1:25:03 – 1:25:05] Erik: This is not a BuzzFeed thing.
[1:25:05 – 1:25:09] Erik: It’s fun to put things in order, especially when we’re comparing them back and forth.
[1:25:10 – 1:25:13] Erik: My memories of the Quetico River are vastly different than that.
[1:25:13 – 1:25:14] Erik: I remember that day kind of
[1:25:14 – 1:25:39] Erik: sucking it was like it was terrible weather still and ending in that muck pile and then getting onto the namekin and then that first campsite we ended up at was like super cold and wind blown and had a bunch of like lumber strewn about yeah it was rough times we were also low on rations i hadn’t had like a drink in three days so you know i was shaking um yeah not from the cold i feel like it was you know we had been trapped on kasaka quag
[1:25:40 – 1:25:43] Adam: And then getting down to Quetico and feeling like we’re moving again.
[1:25:43 – 1:25:44] Erik: The feeling of movement was…
[1:25:44 – 1:25:48] Adam: I just remember being very excited for the Quetico River just because of the namesake of it.
[1:25:48 – 1:25:51] Erik: And it’s like the defining edge of the park, too.
[1:25:51 – 1:25:53] Adam: Yeah, and I really felt like we were out there.
[1:25:53 – 1:25:55] Adam: I mean, anybody who’s paddled the Quetico…
[1:25:57 – 1:26:01] Adam: It takes a lot to get out there, and then once you’re done with it, it takes a lot to get back.
[1:26:02 – 1:26:09] Adam: By doing that route, you’re dedicating yourself to a very long and tough trip with great rewards, I would hope.
[1:26:09 – 1:26:12] Adam: We hit it basically in the early winter.
[1:26:12 – 1:26:13] Adam: Essentially.
[1:26:14 – 1:26:19] Adam: And so it was very, but, you know, we were talking about the forging earlier.
[1:26:19 – 1:26:21] Adam: I feel like that was the point in that trip.
[1:26:21 – 1:26:22] Adam: It wasn’t Kasaka quag.
[1:26:23 – 1:26:25] Adam: It wasn’t going through the wildfire.
[1:26:25 – 1:26:34] Adam: It was like that cold day going down the Quetico where, like, I truly felt that I had reached my full potential as a paddler for the very first time.
[1:26:34 – 1:26:38] Adam: To know what that feeling is like, irreplaceable.
[1:26:39 – 1:26:41] Adam: I’ll probably never have a day like that again in my life.
[1:26:42 – 1:27:02] Adam: i probably will never see that river again i hope i will but i certainly can accept that there’s a lot of rivers to see and i might not get back there but that was the moment where like i knew i could handle this long-term tripping like it doesn’t matter what the weather’s doing it doesn’t matter as long as you have a positive mindset and you keep you know paddling just keep the tempo
[1:27:03 – 1:27:04] Adam: You’re going to get there.
[1:27:04 – 1:27:05] Adam: You’re going to get through the mud.
[1:27:05 – 1:27:06] Adam: It didn’t even matter.
[1:27:06 – 1:27:10] Adam: We ended up with a really nice island campsite on the Namakan that night.
[1:27:10 – 1:27:11] Erik: Yeah, it was a nice spot.
[1:27:11 – 1:27:12] Erik: It was a pretty good spot.
[1:27:12 – 1:27:18] Erik: So you could say that the Quetico River was the water that you quenched your sword of memories into.
[1:27:18 – 1:27:18] Adam: Exactly.
[1:27:18 – 1:27:24] Erik: You forged it into the full Quetico sword that is now hanging off of your scabbard.
[1:27:25 – 1:27:26] Adam: I couldn’t have said it better myself.
[1:27:26 – 1:27:27] Adam: Thank you.
[1:27:27 – 1:27:28] Adam: That was perfectly said.
[1:27:28 – 1:27:29] Adam: That’s exactly how I felt.
[1:27:30 – 1:27:33] Adam: And then every day after that on that trip, I felt hardcore.
[1:27:35 – 1:27:37] Adam: That was a hardcore trip, man.
[1:27:37 – 1:27:43] Adam: That was where I turned from just a white boy from Wisconsin into like an actual voyager.
[1:27:43 – 1:27:45] Adam: That’s where I became… That was my Lubunga moment.
[1:27:46 – 1:27:47] Adam: That was my George.
[1:27:47 – 1:27:47] Erik: Yeah.
[1:27:48 – 1:27:48] Adam: That river.
[1:27:49 – 1:27:59] Adam: So, you know, the frost still holds much finer memories, but the Quetico was… Well, I could imagine if Natalie was involved in the Quetico River, it probably would be your number one.
[1:27:59 – 1:28:00] Erik: I feel like that’s…
[1:28:01 – 1:28:01] Adam: Yeah, I don’t know.
[1:28:01 – 1:28:04] Adam: You know, every circumstance of time and space is different.
[1:28:05 – 1:28:11] Adam: But that one, that day, I’d have to say it was probably day 16 or so of our trip.
[1:28:11 – 1:28:12] Adam: Right in the middle of it.
[1:28:13 – 1:28:13] Erik: Yeah, right in the middle.
[1:28:14 – 1:28:22] Adam: You know, we’re on our way back for extra supplies and you’re just, you know, feeling like a bit of an animal out there.
[1:28:23 – 1:28:23] Adam: Yeah.
[1:28:23 – 1:28:26] Adam: Really feeling like I was actually part of the park.
[1:28:26 – 1:28:27] Adam: Yeah, exactly.
[1:28:28 – 1:28:28] Adam: I don’t know.
[1:28:28 – 1:28:31] Adam: I can talk about the Quetico River for a long time.
[1:28:31 – 1:28:32] Erik: No, I get what you’re saying.
[1:28:32 – 1:28:33] Erik: And I totally like.
[1:28:34 – 1:28:44] Erik: The hardship of it for me, I guess I just have spun it in my head as being… And there’s been plenty of different hardships in the past that I have now.
[1:28:45 – 1:28:51] Erik: Like, yeah, the limping down the Grand Portage was terrible while we were doing it.
[1:28:51 – 1:28:53] Erik: But now I look back on it, it’s like…
[1:28:54 – 1:29:18] Erik: crazy that we did that but like i don’t know for whatever reason the quetico river it just it’s never had that like spin around like i look more favorably and like uh have like fond memories of bad experiences um a little bit more in the days before that where we were you know going into those headwinds and and just sitting in camp kind of twiddling our thumbs um
[1:29:19 – 1:29:33] Erik: Yeah, it crossed my mind, but I think it was just a combination of its proximity to the Namakan River, which is, unfortunately, you listen to some of our trip journals and our thoughts on the Namakan River.
[1:29:35 – 1:29:38] Erik: But I can totally see it, though, too.
[1:29:38 – 1:29:40] Erik: It’s in the eye of the mind.
[1:29:40 – 1:29:41] Erik: For sure.
[1:29:41 – 1:29:41] Erik: Yeah.
[1:29:42 – 1:29:53] Erik: So that is our top five rivers, and you can print that on a forge somewhere, because it’s the truth, and nobody can ever question us on it.
[1:29:54 – 1:30:02] Erik: But we have gone well beyond the time that would really allow us to get into…
[1:30:04 – 1:30:05] Erik: Your thoughts on the matter.
[1:30:06 – 1:30:08] Erik: Classic tumble home.
[1:30:08 – 1:30:09] Adam: Yeah, absolutely.
[1:30:09 – 1:30:10] Adam: Sorry, guys.
[1:30:10 – 1:30:12] Adam: We’ll get to your stuff next week.
[1:30:12 – 1:30:13] Erik: Yeah, we’ll get to your stuff next week.
[1:30:14 – 1:30:19] Erik: Actually, I think it’s kind of been a while since we’ve really kicked the responses to the end.
[1:30:21 – 1:30:22] Erik: We’ve been doing responses to start.
[1:30:22 – 1:30:25] Adam: Yeah, I didn’t want to pollute our mindsets.
[1:30:25 – 1:30:26] Erik: Pollute.
[1:30:26 – 1:30:26] Erik: Nice.
[1:30:26 – 1:30:27] Erik: That’s really going to make them happy.
[1:30:28 – 1:30:31] Adam: With your thoughts first.
[1:30:32 – 1:30:36] Adam: I didn’t want to influence our list by listening to what you guys had to say.
[1:30:36 – 1:30:38] Adam: I’ve avoided it for a good reason.
[1:30:38 – 1:30:39] Adam: I want to be surprised.
[1:30:40 – 1:30:43] Adam: In this sense, I felt like it made sense since we’re ranking.
[1:30:43 – 1:30:47] Adam: Just get our stuff out there, and then we’ll see what the real people have to say.
[1:30:47 – 1:30:54] Erik: Yeah, we talked about it, and it would have really thrown off our discussion on our list if, oh, this one’s on my list.
[1:30:54 – 1:30:59] Adam: Yeah, it would be like if we discussed gone fishing before we actually watched gone fishing.
[1:30:59 – 1:30:59] Adam: Yes.
[1:30:59 – 1:31:00] Adam: It wouldn’t make any sense.
[1:31:00 – 1:31:12] Adam: So with that said, I think we’ll wrap up episode 097 right here, River Rankers 1, and we’ll come back next week with your ranks.
[1:31:13 – 1:31:16] Erik: We’re going to come back with your ranks and then our goals.
[1:31:16 – 1:31:17] Adam: And honorable mentions.
[1:31:17 – 1:31:18] Adam: Yeah, we still have a couple.
[1:31:18 – 1:31:22] Adam: I still have many rivers to shout out in honorable mentions.
[1:31:22 – 1:31:24] Adam: Yeah, a couple of participation awards to hand out.
[1:31:24 – 1:31:25] Adam: Absolutely.
[1:31:25 – 1:31:27] Adam: So we got a lot to talk about.
[1:31:27 – 1:31:31] Adam: And then, yeah, I’m very excited to get to goals, rivers I’d like to see.
[1:31:32 – 1:31:33] Erik: Yes, exactly.
[1:31:33 – 1:31:40] Erik: And in the interim, the meantime, for the next week, I want you to think about this.
[1:31:40 – 1:31:42] Erik: This is just for you, Adam.
[1:31:42 – 1:31:42] Adam: Okay.
[1:31:44 – 1:31:47] Erik: What are your thoughts on catch and release?
[1:31:49 – 1:31:50] Adam: For fish?
[1:31:50 – 1:31:50] Adam: Yes.
[1:31:52 – 1:32:08] Erik: Because there is an argument that can be made that if you’re not catching and keeping that fish to eat, there’s a little bit of a diabolical slash kind of wrongness in just ripping a fish out of the water just to put it back.
[1:32:08 – 1:32:09] Adam: Yeah, just take its picture.
[1:32:09 – 1:32:10] Adam: Yeah.
[1:32:10 – 1:32:11] Adam: Yeah, no, it’s pretty sick.
[1:32:12 – 1:32:16] Adam: That’s why in Quetico especially, you use barbless hooks.
[1:32:16 – 1:32:16] Erik: Right.
[1:32:17 – 1:32:19] Adam: To make it a little easier on the fish.
[1:32:20 – 1:32:22] Adam: But yeah, just for catching fish for sport.
[1:32:23 – 1:32:24] Erik: Yeah.
[1:32:25 – 1:32:25] Erik: Yeah.
[1:32:25 – 1:32:29] Adam: You have to be some kind of weird monster to take enjoyment from that.
[1:32:29 – 1:32:29] Adam: Yeah.
[1:32:30 – 1:32:32] Erik: Now we’re pissing off the fishermen.
[1:32:32 – 1:32:32] Erik: Yeah, I’m like, all right.
[1:32:32 – 1:32:34] Adam: Oh, the anglers are not going to be happy.
[1:32:35 – 1:32:39] Erik: We’re setting the record for how many listeners we can lose over the course of an hour and a half.
[1:32:39 – 1:32:40] Adam: There goes all our patrons.
[1:32:40 – 1:32:40] Erik: There goes the fishers.
[1:32:40 – 1:32:48] Erik: The only people we have with us now are people that make the marshmallow tritos up at the grocery store in Atikokan.
[1:32:48 – 1:32:49] Adam: Yeah, they’re still on our side.
[1:32:49 – 1:32:50] Adam: Oh, they always will be.
[1:32:51 – 1:32:51] Adam: All right.
[1:32:52 – 1:32:56] Adam: For Tumble Home, this has been River Rankers 1.
[1:32:56 – 1:32:58] Adam: My name is Adam, and…
[1:32:59 – 1:33:06] Adam: That has been Eric, my good pal, the man with the laptop and all the production gear.
[1:33:06 – 1:33:08] Erik: Your pilot in ranking.
[1:33:09 – 1:33:14] Adam: Yeah, I can’t wait to hear what kind of music you’re going to lay onto this outro.
[1:33:14 – 1:33:15] SPEAKER_03: Who knows?
[1:33:15 – 1:33:16] Erik: Who knows?
[1:33:16 – 1:33:19] Erik: I’ll probably steal something that we will eventually get in trouble for.
[1:33:20 – 1:33:22] Adam: All right, let’s get out so we can get back into it right away.
[1:33:23 – 1:33:24] Erik: Oh, hey, we’re waiting a week.
[1:33:24 – 1:33:24] Erik: You have to ruminate.
[1:33:25 – 1:33:28] Adam: I want to think about it, but I’m not going to be able to sleep all week.
[1:33:28 – 1:33:31] Adam: I cannot wait to hear what the people have said.
[1:33:31 – 1:33:32] Adam: The people must speak.
[1:33:33 – 1:33:36] Adam: I want to hear what they have to say about the current.
[1:33:38 – 1:33:39] Erik: What kind of flow are they going with?
[1:33:40 – 1:33:45] Erik: Which, yeah, question of the week next week, which way do you prefer your river to flow?
[1:33:45 – 1:33:47] Erik: North to south, south to north?
[1:33:48 – 1:33:49] Erik: Joe to Gus.
[1:33:51 – 1:33:51] Adam: Gus to Joe.
[1:33:51 – 1:33:52] Erik: Gus to Joe.
[1:33:52 – 1:33:54] Erik: Holy smokes, Joe.
[1:33:55 – 1:33:56] Adam: Enjoy the rest of your Saturdays.
[1:33:58 – 1:33:59] Adam: Enjoy the rest of your Saturdays.
[1:34:01 – 1:34:02] SPEAKER_03: Party time.
[1:34:02 – 1:34:02] SPEAKER_03: Party time.
[1:34:02 – 1:34:03] SPEAKER_03: Party time.
[1:34:03 – 1:34:03] SPEAKER_03: Party time.
[1:34:24 – 1:34:38] SPEAKER_03: It’s party time Drink your drinks and eat your eats It’s party time Laugh your laughs and eat your eats It’s party time
[1:34:40 – 1:34:43] SPEAKER_03: Smile your smiles and do your blues.
[1:34:43 – 1:34:45] SPEAKER_03: It’s party time.
[1:34:45 – 1:34:50] SPEAKER_03: Dance your dance and shoe your shoes.
[1:34:50 – 1:34:52] SPEAKER_03: It’s party time.
[1:34:52 – 1:34:56] SPEAKER_03: Howl your howls and suck your socks.
[1:34:57 – 1:34:58] SPEAKER_03: It’s party time.