255: BWCA Blowdown III-The Prairie Scenario

Episode Transcript

[0:00:15 – 0:00:16] UNKNOWN: Thank you.
[0:00:36 – 0:00:41] Erik: Welcome to summer, welcome to Tumble Home.
[0:00:41 – 0:00:46] Erik: My name is Eric, joined as always by my good man, Adam, in the shed, back again, hello.
[0:00:47 – 0:01:06] Erik: hello eric it’s good to be in the shed yeah it’s a little still a little stiff yeah i could use an oscillating fan out here yeah we could use a little uh maybe a fan or two but you know i’m not gonna install a ceiling fan out here yeah i got um shorts and a t-shirt which is my preferred outfit
[0:01:06 – 0:01:08] Adam: Anybody out there got a spare ceiling fan?
[0:01:08 – 0:01:10] Adam: That’s really horrendous.
[0:01:10 – 0:01:12] Adam: Yeah, really horrendous.
[0:01:12 – 0:01:17] Adam: Like a chandelier ceiling fan combo we could have for the shed.
[0:01:17 – 0:01:18] Erik: Yeah, nice and noisy.
[0:01:18 – 0:01:19] Adam: Ship it to the co-op.
[0:01:19 – 0:01:21] Adam: We’ll give you a shout out on the show.
[0:01:22 – 0:01:25] Erik: Yeah, ceiling fans, those ship real easily, especially used ones.
[0:01:25 – 0:01:27] Adam: I hope people know I’m joking.
[0:01:27 – 0:01:32] Adam: Do not ship me a chandelier at all, but we should get a ceiling fan in here.
[0:01:32 – 0:01:33] Adam: It would be really nice.
[0:01:33 – 0:01:36] Erik: Yeah, for the four weeks out of the year where it’s real nice.
[0:01:36 – 0:01:40] Adam: It would be good in the cold season, too, because it would help circulate the Mr.
[0:01:40 – 0:01:42] Adam: Buddy heater heat better.
[0:01:43 – 0:01:46] Adam: I actually found, I was down in the crawl space looking for pool toys,
[0:01:47 – 0:02:10] Adam: and the house and there’s a whole bunch of like rigid insulation down there that i had somehow never noticed before wow so we could do some damage out here i would think to make this a little cozier for the fall season sure yeah that plus the ceiling fan we’re gonna get in the mail i mean things are looking up for the shed things are always looking up for the shed yeah by a little week by week
[0:02:11 – 0:02:13] Adam: Week by week.
[0:02:13 – 0:02:13] Adam: Day by day.
[0:02:13 – 0:02:15] Erik: Day by day.
[0:02:15 – 0:02:18] Erik: Step by step.
[0:02:18 – 0:02:18] Erik: I believe.
[0:02:18 – 0:02:18] Erik: Yeah.
[0:02:18 – 0:02:19] Erik: That’s how that goes.
[0:02:19 – 0:02:21] Erik: Minute by minute.
[0:02:22 – 0:02:29] Erik: This is episode 255 brought to you as always by our fine, fine friends on Patreon.
[0:02:30 – 0:02:37] Erik: We are taking a, well, at least a one week hiatus from our onslaught of Mighty Ducks, Mitchum.
[0:02:38 – 0:02:42] Erik: We’ll be back next week with probably Strange Wilderness, I think.
[0:02:43 – 0:02:46] Adam: Yeah, it’s a Hopalicious pick off the middle of the whiteboard.
[0:02:46 – 0:02:48] Adam: It’s been up there for at least two years.
[0:02:49 – 0:02:50] Adam: Yeah, I can’t wipe that one off.
[0:02:50 – 0:02:53] Adam: Hopalicious, do you remember requesting Strange Wilderness?
[0:02:53 – 0:02:54] Adam: Yeah.
[0:02:54 – 0:02:56] Adam: Is this misattributed?
[0:02:56 – 0:02:58] Erik: It’s got plausible deniability now.
[0:02:58 – 0:03:00] Adam: Yeah, well, the whiteboard don’t lie.
[0:03:02 – 0:03:02] Erik: Yeah, that’s true.
[0:03:02 – 0:03:04] Erik: It’s been on the whiteboard for some time.
[0:03:04 – 0:03:10] Erik: So look forward to that one coming out next week when we start whatever we’re going to talk about next week.
[0:03:10 – 0:03:15] Erik: But this week we are finishing up the PWCA Blowdown series.
[0:03:15 – 0:03:26] Erik: And most excitedly for myself, because I don’t know what it’s going to be, is the stories from listeners at home and listeners like you.
[0:03:27 – 0:03:35] Erik: About your experiences with storms and or weather-related stories from the Bungie Waters.
[0:03:35 – 0:03:42] Erik: And I did a little quick scrolling, maybe also from other places, not the Bungie Waters.
[0:03:42 – 0:03:43] Adam: But we’ll get into that.
[0:03:43 – 0:03:46] Adam: Batten down the hatches.
[0:03:46 – 0:03:46] Erik: Them hatches.
[0:03:47 – 0:03:48] Erik: Yeah, the…
[0:03:48 – 0:03:50] Adam: Scary precipitation.
[0:03:50 – 0:03:52] Erik: A good number of responses on that.
[0:03:52 – 0:03:53] Erik: Hopefully…
[0:03:53 – 0:03:55] Erik: We’ll be able to get all those in.
[0:03:55 – 0:03:55] Erik: We’ll see.
[0:03:56 – 0:03:59] Adam: That’s Cary’s brother, Scary P. Griffith.
[0:03:59 – 0:04:00] Adam: Scary P. Griffith?
[0:04:00 – 0:04:03] Adam: Yeah, Scary Precipitation Griffith.
[0:04:03 – 0:04:06] Adam: Brother of Cary Journalism Griffith.
[0:04:08 – 0:04:11] Erik: Or maybe it’s like his, what’s Garth Brooks’ alter ego?
[0:04:11 – 0:04:12] Erik: Maybe it’s just him.
[0:04:12 – 0:04:13] Erik: Chris Gaines?
[0:04:13 – 0:04:14] Erik: Chris Gaines, yeah.
[0:04:14 – 0:04:15] Erik: That’s what he writes on his suit.
[0:04:15 – 0:04:17] Adam: That’s his bad boy persona.
[0:04:17 – 0:04:19] Adam: Yeah, when he writes.
[0:04:19 – 0:04:20] Adam: He’s got frosted tips.
[0:04:21 – 0:04:26] Adam: Maybe a barbed wire tattoo on his bicep.
[0:04:26 – 0:04:26] Adam: Yeah.
[0:04:27 – 0:04:27] Adam: Bicep?
[0:04:28 – 0:04:28] Adam: Bicep.
[0:04:28 – 0:04:29] Adam: Are you okay?
[0:04:29 – 0:04:31] Erik: Yeah.
[0:04:31 – 0:04:31] Erik: Fine.
[0:04:31 – 0:04:34] Erik: He writes all of his scary novels under that name.
[0:04:36 – 0:04:37] Adam: And his erotic fiction.
[0:04:39 – 0:05:05] Adam: scary scary precipitation griffith oh boy the the it’s too sensual too sensual it’s not after dark yet not even close to dark uh enough for us to be talking about this we should probably table this until later in the show yeah it could use some fine tooth uh we’ll comb through that and we’ll get back to you i think there’s something there though eric there’s always something there yeah
[0:05:06 – 0:05:08] Adam: You know, there’s something in the yard today.
[0:05:08 – 0:05:09] Adam: It was a cardinal.
[0:05:09 – 0:05:09] Erik: Hmm.
[0:05:09 – 0:05:10] Adam: Bird of the week.
[0:05:10 – 0:05:11] Erik: Pew, pew, pew.
[0:05:11 – 0:05:13] Erik: Tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet.
[0:05:13 – 0:05:13] Erik: Bird of the week.
[0:05:14 – 0:05:14] Erik: Bird of the week.
[0:05:14 – 0:05:17] Adam: Very boisterous northern cardinal.
[0:05:18 – 0:05:18] Adam: Northern?
[0:05:18 – 0:05:20] Adam: I think it’s a northern cardinal, not an American cardinal.
[0:05:21 – 0:05:21] Adam: Two different birds?
[0:05:22 – 0:05:23] Adam: I think it’s just the cardinal.
[0:05:23 – 0:05:24] Adam: I think there’s one.
[0:05:24 – 0:05:24] Adam: Just the cardinal.
[0:05:24 – 0:05:27] Adam: I don’t think there’s multiple kinds of cardinals in this region, at least.
[0:05:28 – 0:05:28] Adam: Sure.
[0:05:28 – 0:05:30] Erik: Regular standard cardinal.
[0:05:30 – 0:05:31] Erik: Standard cardinal.
[0:05:31 – 0:05:31] Adam: Yeah.
[0:05:32 – 0:05:36] Adam: It was really calling like a crazy lunatic out there this morning by the river.
[0:05:36 – 0:05:37] Adam: Yeah.
[0:05:37 – 0:05:38] Adam: Triple confirmed it on Merlin.
[0:05:39 – 0:05:40] Adam: I thought it was fishy.
[0:05:40 – 0:05:42] Adam: And it was like, that’s something new.
[0:05:42 – 0:05:43] Adam: Yep.
[0:05:43 – 0:05:44] Adam: A damn cardinal.
[0:05:44 – 0:05:45] Adam: Did you see it or just hear it?
[0:05:46 – 0:05:46] Adam: I couldn’t see it.
[0:05:46 – 0:05:47] Adam: It was crazy.
[0:05:47 – 0:05:48] Adam: It was like, again, it was right there.
[0:05:48 – 0:05:50] Adam: Everything’s so lush.
[0:05:50 – 0:05:50] Adam: Yeah.
[0:05:51 – 0:05:52] Adam: It’s a little too lush out there.
[0:05:52 – 0:05:53] Erik: It’s very green.
[0:05:53 – 0:05:55] Adam: But yeah, I don’t know.
[0:05:55 – 0:06:03] Adam: You would think a bright red, pretty good size dry bird in a tree would be easy to spot on a July morning.
[0:06:03 – 0:06:06] Adam: But alas, it eluded my eyeballs.
[0:06:06 – 0:06:07] Adam: But not my ears.
[0:06:08 – 0:06:08] Adam: That’s your bird of the week.
[0:06:09 – 0:06:10] Adam: Congrats on that.
[0:06:10 – 0:06:10] Adam: Love it.
[0:06:10 – 0:06:11] Adam: Yeah, new one though.
[0:06:11 – 0:06:14] Adam: It’s been a while since I got a new one, so now I’m re-engaged.
[0:06:14 – 0:06:15] Adam: Re-engaged.
[0:06:15 – 0:06:16] Adam: They got you.
[0:06:16 – 0:06:17] Adam: Looked back in.
[0:06:17 – 0:06:18] Adam: That’s how they get you.
[0:06:18 – 0:06:20] Adam: That’s how they get their beaks in you.
[0:06:20 – 0:06:23] Erik: Yeah, they’re definitely getting those beaks in you for sure.
[0:06:24 – 0:06:36] Adam: We do have a show sponsor, number two, two of two from the Blue Ribbon Bag series that came in May, I believe, came with a postcard from National Parks.
[0:06:37 – 0:06:40] Adam: And this week we got a real beaut, Eric.
[0:06:40 – 0:06:40] Adam: Oh, nice.
[0:06:40 – 0:06:41] Adam: Congaree National Park.
[0:06:42 – 0:06:44] Adam: Do you know where Congaree National Park is?
[0:06:44 – 0:06:46] Adam: Established in 2003, it says here.
[0:06:47 – 0:06:50] Erik: Isn’t that in like Appalachia?
[0:06:50 – 0:06:50] Erik: Big looking trees.
[0:06:50 – 0:06:53] Erik: South Carolina, North Carolina, something like that.
[0:06:53 – 0:06:54] Adam: Oh, I think you got it.
[0:06:54 – 0:06:55] Adam: Ding, ding, ding, ding.
[0:06:55 – 0:06:55] Adam: Did I?
[0:06:56 – 0:07:00] Adam: Old-growth bottomland forests are the highlights of this South Carolina park.
[0:07:00 – 0:07:00] Adam: Ooh, nice.
[0:07:00 – 0:07:08] Adam: It draws thousands to a yearly festival where synchronous fireflies light up the Fireflies Trail.
[0:07:08 – 0:07:09] Adam: Oh, my.
[0:07:09 – 0:07:10] Erik: Nice.
[0:07:10 – 0:07:11] Adam: Synchronous.
[0:07:11 – 0:07:12] Erik: This is relatively new?
[0:07:13 – 0:07:17] Adam: Yeah, they said it was established 2003, South Carolina.
[0:07:17 – 0:07:19] Adam: Congaree, there’s a large owl.
[0:07:19 – 0:07:19] Adam: Yes.
[0:07:21 – 0:07:22] Adam: What kind of owl do you think that is?
[0:07:22 – 0:07:26] Adam: Why would they talk about the fireflies on the back but then post a picture of the owl?
[0:07:27 – 0:07:28] Adam: Maybe there’s fireflies in the back.
[0:07:28 – 0:07:31] Adam: It looks like there’s somebody kayaking in the background.
[0:07:31 – 0:07:33] Erik: Oh, those are wetlands back there.
[0:07:33 – 0:07:36] Adam: Yeah, is this like a tidal marsh?
[0:07:36 – 0:07:37] Erik: Yeah, maybe.
[0:07:37 – 0:07:38] Erik: I’m not very familiar.
[0:07:38 – 0:07:39] Erik: I just…
[0:07:39 – 0:07:41] Adam: I mean, it looks like a barred owl to me.
[0:07:41 – 0:07:41] Adam: Yeah.
[0:07:42 – 0:07:43] Adam: Barred owl is pretty wide-ranging.
[0:07:44 – 0:07:44] Erik: I think so, yeah.
[0:07:45 – 0:07:49] Adam: Did find an owl feather in the driveway this morning on the morning walk as well.
[0:07:51 – 0:07:59] Adam: Friend of the show and bird expert Joel confirmed that it was probably a great horned owl, though, due to the gray hue.
[0:08:00 – 0:08:01] Adam: The gray hue.
[0:08:01 – 0:08:02] Adam: The gray hue.
[0:08:02 – 0:08:03] Adam: Thank you for the…
[0:08:03 – 0:08:04] Adam: There’s a note, actually.
[0:08:04 – 0:08:06] Adam: There is another… What do you call this?
[0:08:07 – 0:08:09] Adam: Squirrely… Yeah, that’s like… Tailed little…
[0:08:10 – 0:08:13] Erik: Your old little coon tail streamer.
[0:08:13 – 0:08:14] Erik: It’s a streamer.
[0:08:14 – 0:08:15] Adam: You’re going to want to rip that across the current.
[0:08:16 – 0:08:16] Adam: Yes.
[0:08:17 – 0:08:17] Adam: Put it right in the seam.
[0:08:18 – 0:08:27] Adam: Adam and Eric, long-time listener, first-time writer, love your podcast, The Boundary Waters Talk, journeys, inside jokes, all of it.
[0:08:28 – 0:08:32] Adam: You bring me joy and keep the love of the BWCA alive all year long.
[0:08:33 – 0:08:33] Adam: From Liz.
[0:08:34 – 0:08:34] Adam: Thank you, Liz.
[0:08:35 – 0:08:35] Erik: Thank you, Liz.
[0:08:35 – 0:08:37] Erik: I don’t know about any inside jokes.
[0:08:37 – 0:08:38] Erik: It’s all out in the open, isn’t it?
[0:08:38 – 0:08:40] Adam: Yeah, we’re pretty straightforward here.
[0:08:40 – 0:08:41] Adam: More like outside jokes.
[0:08:41 – 0:08:43] Adam: This is real basic joke-age.
[0:08:43 – 0:08:44] Adam: We got ourselves.
[0:08:44 – 0:08:45] Adam: Hold on.
[0:08:46 – 0:08:48] Adam: This is a real nice pink can.
[0:08:49 – 0:08:50] Adam: Hop House Brewing Company.
[0:08:50 – 0:08:52] Adam: It’s a hashtag hazy.
[0:08:53 – 0:08:55] Adam: Hashtag hazy.
[0:08:55 – 0:08:56] Erik: There it is.
[0:08:56 – 0:08:58] Erik: Looks like it’s from Wisconsin.
[0:08:59 – 0:08:59] Adam: Fitchburg.
[0:09:00 – 0:09:02] Adam: Good old Fitchburg, Wisconsin.
[0:09:02 – 0:09:04] Erik: What do you call that artwork?
[0:09:04 – 0:09:05] Erik: Pop art?
[0:09:06 – 0:09:07] Erik: Yeah.
[0:09:08 – 0:09:10] Erik: Very bold colors.
[0:09:10 – 0:09:11] Erik: It’s got the…
[0:09:13 – 0:09:38] Erik: those like the the stream of color coming off the letters a la like i think you should leave with uh tim robinson that intro to the intro and many of the in between cut scenes in between the skits you’re not as familiar with that show as i am though are you we’ve talked about i’m not yeah i mean i’ve seen little clips of it but i’ve never like watched a whole episode of how long are the episodes
[0:09:39 – 0:09:41] Erik: I don’t know, like 15 minutes, I guess.
[0:09:41 – 0:09:42] Erik: So I probably should have had that happen.
[0:09:43 – 0:09:43] Erik: Yeah.
[0:09:43 – 0:09:52] Erik: You’d probably be much more familiar with like, you know, the Instagram memes, you know, where you see just like it just cuts to him.
[0:09:52 – 0:09:52] SPEAKER_00: What?
[0:09:53 – 0:09:54] Erik: Yeah, exactly.
[0:09:54 – 0:09:54] Erik: What?
[0:09:54 – 0:09:59] Erik: All of that is, you know, you can go straight to the source or you can just live vicariously through the memes.
[0:09:59 – 0:10:00] Erik: It’s fine.
[0:10:00 – 0:10:00] Adam: I don’t care.
[0:10:00 – 0:10:07] Adam: For the memes, Fitchburg, it’s outside the Beltline and Hopalicious did confirm it was Beltline and not Beltway.
[0:10:07 – 0:10:08] Adam: Now you…
[0:10:08 – 0:10:09] Adam: Apparently, it’s up to six lanes.
[0:10:10 – 0:10:11] Adam: Tree in each direction.
[0:10:11 – 0:10:15] Adam: They’re going to Fitchburg or Middleton.
[0:10:15 – 0:10:16] Erik: One more lane.
[0:10:16 – 0:10:17] Erik: That’ll surely solve this traffic issue.
[0:10:18 – 0:10:18] Adam: Yep.
[0:10:19 – 0:10:22] Erik: They got to add more lanes.
[0:10:22 – 0:10:23] Erik: Just start by building them six wide.
[0:10:23 – 0:10:24] Erik: Who cares?
[0:10:24 – 0:10:26] Erik: Why do you got to slow down, wait 20 years, and then build another one?
[0:10:26 – 0:10:28] Erik: Just start by building six.
[0:10:29 – 0:10:30] Erik: That’s the American way.
[0:10:30 – 0:10:33] Erik: Get that one person in that F450 and…
[0:10:35 – 0:10:51] Adam: cruise on down the highway absolutely you’re only like 40 minutes to the world’s biggest culvers just kind of hammer it 85 miles an hour culvers is in those parts yeah it’s just down south of the i don’t know if it’s in dane county it’s down south of madison they’re on uh 39
[0:10:52 – 0:11:09] Erik: it’s uh going towards blighter i don’t know what makes it wait is it like the first one or they just decided to build it a little bit bigger i’ve never really heard of like yeah somebody claiming to have the biggest largest colors what’s the big deal yeah like the burgers are bigger it’s not like they’re using more butter burgers are not taking your turn
[0:11:11 – 0:11:15] Erik: Yeah, I mean, I know that there was like that two-story McDonald’s in Dinkytown for a while.
[0:11:15 – 0:11:15] Erik: They tore that down.
[0:11:15 – 0:11:16] Adam: That’s kind of a big deal.
[0:11:17 – 0:11:19] Erik: I think it was mostly just for space reasons.
[0:11:19 – 0:11:22] Erik: You see those in cities a lot, but I’ve never heard of just like… Yeah, upstairs McDonald’s.
[0:11:23 – 0:11:23] Adam: Yeah.
[0:11:23 – 0:11:24] Erik: Yeah.
[0:11:24 – 0:11:28] Erik: Take your goods and go find a nice alcove in the upstairs.
[0:11:28 – 0:11:29] Erik: Smoking’s on the left.
[0:11:31 – 0:11:40] Adam: I’m going to give this hazy, hop house, hashtag hazy beer, I’m going to give it a 10 out of 10.
[0:11:41 – 0:11:42] Adam: It’s been a perfect summer day.
[0:11:42 – 0:11:43] Adam: Perfect day.
[0:11:43 – 0:11:44] Adam: And I’m in a really good mood.
[0:11:44 – 0:11:46] Adam: And I just got back from the beach.
[0:11:46 – 0:11:48] Adam: So my tan’s looking good.
[0:11:48 – 0:11:49] Adam: I’m feeling radiant.
[0:11:49 – 0:11:53] Adam: And this can is a beautiful piece of artwork in my hand right now.
[0:11:53 – 0:11:54] Adam: And it’s delicious.
[0:11:54 – 0:11:55] Adam: So thank you, Liz.
[0:11:55 – 0:11:59] Erik: Well, we’ll see if we can do anything about the perfect day you’ve got going on here.
[0:11:59 – 0:12:00] Adam: I’m living it up.
[0:12:00 – 0:12:07] Adam: What’s going on with Chip and his being the 911 center for all the North Country and all those poor people.
[0:12:07 – 0:12:08] Erik: All those poor people.
[0:12:08 – 0:12:09] Adam: Those poor people.
[0:12:10 – 0:12:16] Erik: Well, as we said multiple times up to this point, we know everybody did survive.
[0:12:18 – 0:12:23] Erik: So there’s not going to be any real bad endings.
[0:12:24 – 0:12:27] Erik: We’ll obviously end on a high note.
[0:12:27 – 0:12:28] Erik: Not a lot of attention here.
[0:12:28 – 0:12:29] Adam: I’ll bring it back down a little bit.
[0:12:29 – 0:12:30] Erik: You just don’t worry.
[0:12:31 – 0:12:31] Adam: Yeah.
[0:12:31 – 0:12:33] Adam: Yeah.
[0:12:33 – 0:12:38] Adam: Did you say right away at the beginning of the book, like, at the very beginning, like, nobody died, though.
[0:12:38 – 0:12:38] Adam: Don’t worry.
[0:12:39 – 0:12:39] Adam: Not in Minnesota.
[0:12:39 – 0:12:40] Erik: Pretty much.
[0:12:40 – 0:13:03] Adam: yeah well i guess they did they did mention like there was maybe somebody in maine or a couple of them clam shuckers up in montreal yeah of course did it yeah right in the tidal pool yes right in the tide you’d be shucked no more shucking for you off to the oyster brinies off to the briny shallows
[0:13:03 – 0:13:03] Adam: Yep.
[0:13:05 – 0:13:05] Adam: Yeah.
[0:13:05 – 0:13:10] Adam: Oyster shuckers, when they pass into the next dimension, they’re the shell now.
[0:13:10 – 0:13:11] Adam: Yeah.
[0:13:11 – 0:13:13] Adam: Reincarnated as the shuck.
[0:13:13 – 0:13:18] Erik: Pitch me in there with all the oysters and whatever else gets shucked out there.
[0:13:18 – 0:13:19] Adam: If you’re real good, you become the pearl.
[0:13:20 – 0:13:22] Erik: I don’t think that’s how pearls work.
[0:13:22 – 0:13:24] Erik: That’s what that book’s about, I believe, right?
[0:13:24 – 0:13:25] Adam: That’s what it’s all about.
[0:13:25 – 0:13:25] Adam: Mm-hmm.
[0:13:26 – 0:13:27] Erik: Yeah, we’re going to finish.
[0:13:27 – 0:13:28] Erik: The big book.
[0:13:28 – 0:13:29] Erik: The big book.
[0:13:29 – 0:13:33] Erik: We’ll finish up the Gunflint falling.
[0:13:33 – 0:13:35] Erik: Again, blow down to the Boundary Waters.
[0:13:35 – 0:13:36] Erik: Carrie J. Griffith.
[0:13:38 – 0:13:44] Erik: And his nicely written, well put together, easy to follow.
[0:13:44 – 0:13:50] Erik: It gets a little heavy with the incident command management.
[0:13:51 – 0:13:55] Erik: I think that’s just going to be inherent to any situation like this.
[0:13:55 – 0:13:58] Erik: I don’t know what it would read like without it, but…
[0:13:58 – 0:14:01] Erik: We’re going to probably skip most of that.
[0:14:02 – 0:14:10] Erik: I don’t know if we need to necessarily go over, again, all the different factors that make an incident go from…
[0:14:11 – 0:14:14] Erik: It’s real bureaucratic, let’s just say that.
[0:14:14 – 0:14:19] Erik: The one thing with this event is it’s a bit anomalous in terms of how to take that language…
[0:14:20 – 0:14:34] Erik: and translated into a situation like this with the, with the blowdown and what it was, that’s not really, it was never really intended, you know, to manage a storm like this.
[0:14:34 – 0:14:41] Erik: It’s open-ended enough where they could apply it and make it work, but it’s usually for like fires and storms and active situations.
[0:14:41 – 0:14:43] Erik: Whereas this is reactive.
[0:14:43 – 0:14:44] Erik: Yeah.
[0:14:44 – 0:14:51] Erik: It was way, it’s much more reactive, but it’s not like, you know, time isn’t, I mean, time was a factor right away, you know, in the first couple of days.
[0:14:51 – 0:14:53] Erik: And that was, that was helpful.
[0:14:53 – 0:15:03] Erik: But, you know, moving forward with some of the things that happened, it was, it was a little bit more of like a, well, it’s not going to get any worse than it already is, you know.
[0:15:03 – 0:15:07] Adam: The worst is behind us pretty much immediately in this book.
[0:15:07 – 0:15:09] Erik: Yeah, pretty much immediately, yeah.
[0:15:09 – 0:15:26] Erik: You kind of get the, you know, you get the climax just right out of the way and then it’s all putting together the pieces afterwards and everybody’s tales and struggles on how they all got out and how they all had to sometimes go back in multiple times.
[0:15:26 – 0:15:28] Adam: I got two questions.
[0:15:28 – 0:15:30] Adam: Right off the hop.
[0:15:30 – 0:15:34] Adam: Does he talk to anybody like 20 years after the event?
[0:15:34 – 0:15:34] Adam: No.
[0:15:35 – 0:15:35] Erik: Not really.
[0:15:35 – 0:15:41] Erik: At the end, the very end, it’s not necessarily directly…
[0:15:45 – 0:16:09] Erik: pertaining to the blowdown but it’s more of a forest ecology thing we’ll get some lee freelick freelick uh at the end here okay just right well right before we leave you off on a good note we’ll end we’ll end with some uh some comments from him that will maybe not have you leaving as uh in a high of a spirit but you know it’s just what it is question two then question two moving on
[0:16:10 – 0:16:11] Adam: How did he contact these people?
[0:16:11 – 0:16:12] Adam: These people?
[0:16:13 – 0:16:20] Adam: Did he public information them to pull the trip leaders off all the permits that were in the park that day?
[0:16:20 – 0:16:21] Erik: You’re the journalist.
[0:16:21 – 0:16:21] Erik: Tell me.
[0:16:21 – 0:16:23] Erik: How do you get anybody to say anything about anything?
[0:16:23 – 0:16:24] Erik: My middle name isn’t journalism.
[0:16:26 – 0:16:33] Adam: But I am a trained journalist, so you could probably pull a Freedom of Information request to find out who all had taken out permits that week.
[0:16:33 – 0:16:40] Adam: Or was there ever, in the reports at the end of the book that are published, is there a list of rescued parties?
[0:16:44 – 0:16:46] Erik: Not necessarily.
[0:16:46 – 0:16:50] Erik: I was hoping for a blow-by-blow by the numbers in that regard.
[0:16:50 – 0:16:58] Erik: There’s a little bit of that at the end, but not insofar as parties who were essentially private citizens who were involved.
[0:16:59 – 0:17:00] Erik: I don’t know how he got in touch with any of those people.
[0:17:01 – 0:17:10] Erik: I’m sure a lot of the people in government were pretty easy to get in touch with, especially with the history that he has on writing on the topic of Forest Service.
[0:17:10 – 0:17:12] Adam: He got a lot of contacts at the Forest Service, I’m sure.
[0:17:13 – 0:17:17] Erik: Yeah, probably going all the way back to, I mean, for sure, the Gunflint Burning book.
[0:17:17 – 0:17:20] Erik: A lot of those names were in that book as well.
[0:17:21 – 0:17:23] Erik: Some of the pilots, a lot of the force managers.
[0:17:23 – 0:17:29] Adam: Like right about the process of locating these people 25 years after the fact.
[0:17:30 – 0:17:36] Adam: I mean, maybe nobody died in the storm, but I bet a lot of people that were out there that day are probably dead now.
[0:17:36 – 0:17:38] Adam: It was a long time ago.
[0:17:39 – 0:17:39] Adam: Yeah, maybe.
[0:17:39 – 0:17:42] Adam: The storm didn’t get them, but time did.
[0:17:42 – 0:18:06] Adam: uh yeah there’s i mean there is an epilogue that follows up with some of the people that’s what i guess i was getting but it doesn’t say like this is exactly how i got in touch with them no i guess like i don’t know yeah maybe probably not going to reveal your secret keep you go ahead there carrie keep your secrets uh yeah they’re i don’t know i’m just interested to like in the process of how do you approach a book of this uh magnitude um
[0:18:08 – 0:18:12] Adam: Where the primary sources, most of them are probably still alive, at least.
[0:18:13 – 0:18:14] Adam: And how do you go about that?
[0:18:15 – 0:18:19] Adam: Because probably most of these folks didn’t like 99.
[0:18:19 – 0:18:23] Adam: Most of these folks didn’t have a Twitter or a tick tock.
[0:18:23 – 0:18:53] Adam: right or a vine yeah and i’m i guess none of these folks that were out there in that storm that day had a podcast in 99 and so it’s like nobody out there very few people i would guess like have written about it publicly or talked about it so yeah it’s interesting i would just be as a as a writer and a former journalist interested to like how did he go about like getting a hold of all these folks to get these stories like that’s you know i’m sure a big challenge
[0:18:53 – 0:18:54] Erik: Probably, yeah.
[0:18:54 – 0:18:55] Erik: I mean, I don’t know.
[0:18:56 – 0:19:08] Erik: Like I said, there is an epilogue, and it talks a lot about where people are at and if any of them are still around, what they’re doing, and how they managed to continue on in whatever way, shape, or form.
[0:19:08 – 0:19:12] Erik: But, yeah, there wasn’t really much of how that dialogue began.
[0:19:13 – 0:19:14] Erik: It’s a secret.
[0:19:14 – 0:19:15] Erik: Who knows?
[0:19:15 – 0:19:20] Adam: Somebody on the Discord was claiming that they’re like somebody they know was part of that Boy Scout group on Eddie.
[0:19:21 – 0:19:41] Adam: oh really yeah the collarbone boy yeah it wasn’t collarbone boy but he was like in the group yeah wow claimed he was there the whole time and they told him all about it and then the person like listened to the episode last week and we’re like that’s my buddy dang and then uh i haven’t heard any more details on that but um somebody on there was imploring him to like find out more
[0:19:42 – 0:19:44] Erik: Yeah, that would be great to get a little bit more information.
[0:19:44 – 0:19:45] Adam: There’s our epilogue.
[0:19:46 – 0:19:46] Adam: There it is.
[0:19:47 – 0:19:48] Adam: The khaki scout speaks.
[0:19:54 – 0:19:57] Erik: We’ll try and pick back up here in the best way that we can.
[0:19:58 – 0:20:01] Erik: So Vicki, she’s the woman who was… Pinned.
[0:20:01 – 0:20:04] Erik: Pinned and pulled off of Alpine.
[0:20:05 – 0:20:06] Adam: Damn jackpine.
[0:20:06 – 0:20:08] Erik: Didn’t have to wait for the backboard on that one.
[0:20:08 – 0:20:12] Erik: That was Lisa and her crew down on Pauly, but…
[0:20:13 – 0:20:21] Erik: Uh, Vicky’s camping companions, Jan and, uh, Sue Ann, they were helped off by the crew from the wilderness canoe base who helped lift the tree off.
[0:20:22 – 0:20:23] Erik: And they, uh, they left.
[0:20:23 – 0:20:25] Erik: Heroic, heroic effort.
[0:20:25 – 0:20:34] Erik: They left that night, uh, in borderline darkness in, uh, by running the Alpine river that flows into Seagull.
[0:20:34 – 0:20:35] Adam: Cause the portage was just.
[0:20:35 – 0:20:37] Adam: I’ve never taken that route.
[0:20:37 – 0:20:40] Erik: I did it one time in an aluminum canoe early on.
[0:20:41 – 0:20:41] Adam: What time of year?
[0:20:41 – 0:20:43] Erik: I don’t know, August.
[0:20:43 – 0:20:44] Adam: Is it runnable?
[0:20:45 – 0:20:45] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:45 – 0:20:46] Erik: I mean, they ran it.
[0:20:46 – 0:20:47] Erik: I suppose it is.
[0:20:48 – 0:20:52] Erik: Probably considered borderline flood stage when they did it, you know, Brule Boy style.
[0:20:52 – 0:20:52] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:52 – 0:20:54] Erik: Just flying in the darkness, basically.
[0:20:55 – 0:20:55] Adam: Yeah, I suppose.
[0:20:55 – 0:20:56] Adam: How much rain was it again?
[0:20:56 – 0:20:57] Erik: Four inches in like 10 minutes?
[0:20:57 – 0:20:59] Erik: I mean, anywhere from like four to seven inches, yeah.
[0:20:59 – 0:21:07] Erik: And then it was like, it rained again that night a bunch, and they were talking about how much rain they had gotten over the course of that like 48-hour storm.
[0:21:09 – 0:21:16] Erik: So yeah, they were like, as a canoe base, they’re prohibited from running rapids as guides.
[0:21:17 – 0:21:21] Erik: But the situation, they were like, okay, well, we’ll just get to the river and we’ll line it down.
[0:21:21 – 0:21:25] Erik: But the water was so high and there were so many trees down that they couldn’t like…
[0:21:25 – 0:21:26] Erik: It was dark almost.
[0:21:26 – 0:21:29] Erik: You remember what it was like when we did our stupid thing down the Brule River?
[0:21:29 – 0:21:29] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[0:21:29 – 0:21:32] Erik: There’s not like, you can’t get out and walk the shoreline.
[0:21:32 – 0:21:33] Erik: There’s no stopping.
[0:21:33 – 0:21:36] Erik: You just are in the trees immediately.
[0:21:36 – 0:21:37] Erik: So you just have to go for it.
[0:21:37 – 0:21:38] Erik: And so that’s what they did.
[0:21:38 – 0:21:41] Adam: Yeah, you’re not so much going with the flow in that situation.
[0:21:41 – 0:21:42] Adam: You’re like flowing with the go.
[0:21:43 – 0:21:43] Erik: Yeah, totally.
[0:21:43 – 0:21:44] Erik: Does that make sense?
[0:21:44 – 0:21:47] Erik: There’s no chance to really even think about what’s happening.
[0:21:47 – 0:21:48] Erik: All of a sudden, you’re just running it.
[0:21:49 – 0:21:56] Erik: Uh, so at the bottom they met another wilderness canoe based worker and they had a John boat on top of the one that they took out there.
[0:21:56 – 0:21:57] Adam: Yeah.
[0:21:57 – 0:21:58] Erik: So they had a couple.
[0:21:58 – 0:22:02] Adam: You’re not supposed to be running these rapids and they’re like, you’re not supposed to be driving the John boat past three mile Island.
[0:22:02 – 0:22:03] Erik: Yeah.
[0:22:03 – 0:22:04] Erik: Also we’re all breaking the rules here.
[0:22:05 – 0:22:07] Erik: Also it’s dark and there’s another storm approaching.
[0:22:07 – 0:22:08] Erik: Let’s go.
[0:22:08 – 0:22:21] Erik: So basically they just abandoned all the gear, got in the boats, and then they’d basically take the John boats, get to an island, watch for lightning, listen to see how close it was, and then fire up the engines again and then go.
[0:22:22 – 0:22:26] Erik: And they finally made it all the way across just as another round of storms.
[0:22:26 – 0:22:28] Erik: Not nearly as wind involved.
[0:22:28 – 0:22:32] Adam: I would like to watch that scene play out on the big screen, like directed by the Coen brothers.
[0:22:32 – 0:22:32] Adam: Yeah.
[0:22:32 – 0:22:33] Erik: Yeah, there you go.
[0:22:34 – 0:22:34] Erik: That’d be a good one.
[0:22:35 – 0:22:37] Erik: Seagull lightning night crossing.
[0:22:37 – 0:22:38] Adam: I think they’d pulled off.
[0:22:38 – 0:22:43] Erik: But it was mostly wind and, or not mostly wind.
[0:22:43 – 0:22:44] Erik: It was no wind, really.
[0:22:44 – 0:22:46] Erik: It was mostly rain and lightning and stuff.
[0:22:46 – 0:22:50] Erik: So the winds had kind of, you know, that energy was no longer in the atmosphere as much.
[0:22:50 – 0:22:50] Erik: Ominous.
[0:22:51 – 0:22:55] Erik: Sue Ann recalled when they got back to the canoe base that it felt like heaven.
[0:22:56 – 0:22:57] Erik: It was dry and we were safe.
[0:22:59 – 0:23:12] Erik: Lisa, who was the solo canoeist who was with the group, she was in a solo canoe but was with that group of five up on Lake Pauley, was diagnosed with an epidural hematoma and did require surgery.
[0:23:12 – 0:23:19] Erik: They just shaved her head all the way down to relieve pressure inside of her skull because she basically had a brain bleed is what that is.
[0:23:19 – 0:23:20] Erik: Ah, okay.
[0:23:20 – 0:23:20] Erik: Yeah.
[0:23:21 – 0:23:21] Adam: That’s not good.
[0:23:22 – 0:23:22] SPEAKER_00: No.
[0:23:22 – 0:23:24] Adam: Good thing they had that first aid kit.
[0:23:24 – 0:23:27] Erik: Yeah, the pamphlet, that key pamphlet.
[0:23:27 – 0:23:29] Adam: The key pamphlet and the gauze.
[0:23:29 – 0:23:32] Erik: Mark, it says here she’s in shock.
[0:23:32 – 0:23:33] Erik: Really?
[0:23:33 – 0:23:34] Adam: This is no bueno.
[0:23:34 – 0:23:34] Adam: Yeah.
[0:23:35 – 0:23:37] Adam: Better get her Coghlan’s backboard out.
[0:23:38 – 0:23:40] Erik: Yeah, the Coghlan’s foldable backboard.
[0:23:41 – 0:23:42] Adam: Extra flexible.
[0:23:42 – 0:23:44] Erik: I don’t think it’s supposed to be flexible.
[0:23:44 – 0:23:46] Erik: No, it’s really not supposed to do that at all.
[0:23:46 – 0:23:48] Adam: Thermoplastic isn’t designed to flex.
[0:23:49 – 0:24:00] Erik: After a full day on July 5th to assess the situation from the air, the need to relax multiple BWCA regulations by the forest supervisor was penned.
[0:24:01 – 0:24:02] Erik: We’ve got a quote here directly from the book.
[0:24:02 – 0:24:05] Erik: I’m not going to read it verbatim just because it’s, you know, it’s…
[0:24:05 – 0:24:19] Erik: A little, again, bureaucratic, but the letter here is to document my decision to allow the use of motorized equipment and airplanes within the Bonjewaters Canoe Area Wilderness for emergency aerial and ground search and rescue efforts.
[0:24:20 – 0:24:28] Erik: The search and rescue effort is necessary in response to the large wind and rain event that occurred in northern Minnesota on July 4th, 1999.
[0:24:30 – 0:24:32] Erik: So we’ve got the use of aircraft to fly below 4,000 feet.
[0:24:46 – 0:25:08] Erik: got the use of chainsaws mechanized winches to facilitate ground search of affected portages and campsites the use of motorized winches yeah i’d love to see the mechanized winch in action what size a winch are we talking here i don’t know i’m imagining it’s like the front of the winch on the jeep that uh nedry’s driving in jurassic park that’s the exact winch i was thinking of that’s the only winch that comes to mind
[0:25:09 – 0:25:10] Adam: Get us to the East Dock, Nedry.
[0:25:11 – 0:25:13] Adam: Gotta get this shaving can.
[0:25:14 – 0:25:14] Adam: Cream of can.
[0:25:15 – 0:25:15] Adam: Cream of can.
[0:25:15 – 0:25:16] Adam: Creamed can.
[0:25:17 – 0:25:19] Adam: I’ve got creamed velociraptor in here.
[0:25:19 – 0:25:20] Adam: We gotta get this thing to the East Dock.
[0:25:21 – 0:25:22] Adam: Get the winch.
[0:25:22 – 0:25:25] Erik: Get a little dinosaur cream in here.
[0:25:28 – 0:25:30] Adam: 10 out of 10 for this creamed dinosaur.
[0:25:30 – 0:25:31] Erik: It’s exquisite.
[0:25:32 – 0:25:35] Erik: The use of motorized boats on lakes within the wilderness.
[0:25:36 – 0:25:43] Erik: And then if you have other needs for motorized equipment that I have not outlined, they should be discussed specifically with me or Forest Supervisor Tom Wagner.
[0:25:44 – 0:25:45] Adam: Tom, can we use hang gliders, though?
[0:25:45 – 0:25:47] Adam: Get out of here with that request.
[0:25:47 – 0:25:48] Erik: Get out.
[0:25:48 – 0:25:51] Erik: Yeah, just get one of those…
[0:25:51 – 0:25:54] Adam: He just rips the Forest Service badge right off the person’s chest.
[0:25:54 – 0:25:57] Erik: Just a gaping hole right down to the bare hairs on his chest.
[0:25:57 – 0:26:00] Adam: Don’t ever bring up hang gliders again, you monster.
[0:26:00 – 0:26:02] Adam: No hang gliders or no bikes.
[0:26:03 – 0:26:03] UNKNOWN: But…
[0:26:04 – 0:26:05] Adam: But the rest of those are all grandfathered in.
[0:26:05 – 0:26:09] Adam: This is like the Patriot Act of the Boundary Waters.
[0:26:09 – 0:26:11] Adam: They just overreacted.
[0:26:11 – 0:26:17] Adam: No, they reacted in a totally appropriate way, but then allowed for airplanes ever since then.
[0:26:17 – 0:26:20] Adam: They’ve just been having airplanes in there below 4,000 feet forever.
[0:26:20 – 0:26:21] Adam: I guess, yeah.
[0:26:21 – 0:26:23] Adam: Never rescinded the offer.
[0:26:23 – 0:26:25] Adam: I guess they were like, no more chainsaws, but the planes can stay.
[0:26:25 – 0:26:29] Erik: Yeah, no winches or chainsaws, but yeah, I mean, the planes, they’re fine, right?
[0:26:30 – 0:26:31] Adam: Everybody loves them.
[0:26:32 – 0:26:34] Erik: Everybody loves them.
[0:26:34 – 0:26:35] Adam: Dip in the wingtip.
[0:26:35 – 0:26:37] Erik: Yeah, wave at them, boy.
[0:26:38 – 0:26:39] Erik: Toot the horn.
[0:26:39 – 0:26:41] Adam: A helpful government serviceman.
[0:26:42 – 0:26:44] Adam: Do beavers have horns?
[0:26:45 – 0:26:46] Erik: I don’t think planes have horns.
[0:26:49 – 0:26:50] Adam: Why not?
[0:26:50 – 0:26:51] Adam: That’s a good question.
[0:26:51 – 0:26:52] Adam: Toot, toot, come on out.
[0:26:55 – 0:26:59] Adam: Anybody out there know what’s the airplane with the best horn?
[0:26:59 – 0:27:02] Adam: I’m not even going to accept the notion that they don’t have horns.
[0:27:02 – 0:27:03] Adam: I want to know which one has the best.
[0:27:04 – 0:27:11] Erik: Yeah, I think from now on, anytime I see a plane flying, no matter at what height it is, I’m going to do the old semi-arm pull.
[0:27:11 – 0:27:11] Adam: Dip the wing.
[0:27:11 – 0:27:13] Adam: Let’s get him to honk that horn.
[0:27:13 – 0:27:13] Erik: Yes.
[0:27:15 – 0:27:24] Erik: Just not even being able to see the pilot, but knowing that if he sees somebody doing that, just how perplexed they would be.
[0:27:24 – 0:27:26] Adam: Or it’s a full foot pedal.
[0:27:26 – 0:27:27] Adam: Like, ooh, ooh.
[0:27:27 – 0:27:31] Erik: Yeah, you would think that there would be maybe a need for that maybe like on the tarmac or something.
[0:27:31 – 0:27:33] Adam: Yeah, tarmac safety.
[0:27:33 – 0:27:34] SPEAKER_00: Tarmac horn.
[0:27:35 – 0:27:37] Adam: It’s only allowed when you’re on the ground.
[0:27:38 – 0:27:41] Adam: That’s against regulations to blast your horn in the air.
[0:27:43 – 0:27:51] Erik: On the morning of July 7th, Superior National Forest Supervisor Jim Sanders met Pat Lowe at the hangar on Chagua Lake.
[0:27:52 – 0:27:57] Erik: He would be making his first flyover of the BWCA since the blowdown incident.
[0:27:58 – 0:28:03] Erik: As they traveled north out of Ely and then east over the Fernberg Trail, Jim said, well, this doesn’t look too bad.
[0:28:04 – 0:28:09] Erik: Pat kept his eyes on the horizon, climbing high over the trees, knowing this was only the start of the damage.
[0:28:10 – 0:28:11] Erik: Just wait, Jim.
[0:28:11 – 0:28:12] Adam: Lowe went high.
[0:28:13 – 0:28:21] Erik: As they entered the eastern edge of the BWCA, Jim could see several blowdown patches across the forest, similar to what he’d seen elsewhere.
[0:28:21 – 0:28:27] Erik: That doesn’t look too bad, he repeated, glancing north and south to see more patches of fallen trees.
[0:28:27 – 0:28:28] Adam: Not too terrible over there.
[0:28:29 – 0:28:30] Erik: Shut it.
[0:28:30 – 0:28:35] Erik: Pat kept the nose of the plane aimed in a mostly eastern direction toward where he knew the worst damage lay.
[0:28:35 – 0:28:38] Erik: “‘Just wait, Jim,’ he said again.
[0:28:39 – 0:28:41] Erik: The beaver was ideal for their purpose.
[0:28:41 – 0:28:48] Erik: At 4,000 plus feet, the plane was high enough to afford an extensive vista, but low enough to glimpse forest details.
[0:28:49 – 0:28:51] Erik: Beavers don’t travel fast.
[0:28:51 – 0:28:57] Erik: They are reliable and in many ways the perfect aircraft for a wilderness area crisscrossed by lakes and rivers.”
[0:28:58 – 0:29:01] Erik: As Pat continued east, Jim kept his eyes fastened on the distant horizon.
[0:29:02 – 0:29:08] Erik: So far, he had seen extensive damage, but much of it was in patches, much of the forest below still green.
[0:29:09 – 0:29:14] Erik: Then, as Jim peered ahead, he began to see a dramatic borderline where the color of the forest changed to taupe.
[0:29:14 – 0:29:16] Erik: “‘What’s that?’
[0:29:16 – 0:29:16] Erik: he asked.
[0:29:17 – 0:29:20] Erik: Pat knew what it was, but words were insufficient to describe it.
[0:29:21 – 0:29:25] Erik: So again, he could only tell Jim to wait, that he’d get a better view shortly.”
[0:29:26 – 0:29:32] Erik: And then in a few minutes, they were at the edge of it, an area of complete forest destruction unlike anything Jim had ever seen.
[0:29:33 – 0:29:35] Erik: What he saw now forced him into silence.
[0:29:36 – 0:29:42] Erik: He was known as an uber-communicator, not the kind of leader who was typically at a loss for words.
[0:29:42 – 0:29:48] Erik: But as they approached and then passed over the border of total destruction, it was hard to do anything but stare in mute observation.
[0:29:49 – 0:29:54] Erik: The area of the worst blowdown stretched in front of them approximately 30 miles to the eastern horizon.
[0:29:55 – 0:30:02] Erik: As they came upon it, the north-south spread covered at least 4 miles, sometimes stretching as far as 12 miles.
[0:30:03 – 0:30:05] Erik: Across the massive area, the destruction was almost total.
[0:30:06 – 0:30:14] Erik: Occasionally, there was a solitary sentinel left standing, some lucky, strong tree that had somehow managed to remain upright.
[0:30:15 – 0:30:20] Erik: For every tree left standing, there were thousands lying on the ground in a straight line facing east.
[0:30:21 – 0:30:27] Erik: From 4,000 plus feet in the air, the flattened trees looked like giant toothpicks laid out in a row.
[0:30:28 – 0:30:35] Erik: For the next hour, Pat and Jim flew over the center of the worst section of Blowdown, as far east as the Gunflint Trail corridor.
[0:30:35 – 0:30:39] Erik: Then they traced the northern perimeter of the fallen trees along the U.S.-Canadian border.
[0:30:40 – 0:30:45] Erik: Eventually, Pat turned south, traveling to the lower eastern section of the BWCA.
[0:30:46 – 0:30:52] Erik: They traced the southern perimeter of the blowdown, finally turning east, navigating back towards Chagua Air Base.
[0:30:53 – 0:30:56] Erik: That was when I got a full contextual view of the blowdown, Jim said.
[0:30:57 – 0:31:02] Erik: Truth is, I was speechless, looking at it all and getting a sense of what we had in front of us.
[0:31:04 – 0:31:14] Erik: After that, Jim said, we would need to turn our attention to infrastructure protection, repairing roads, trails, and campgrounds outside the BWCA and the portages and campsites inside the wilderness.
[0:31:15 – 0:31:24] Erik: Thinking about the scale of what had happened, Jim realized the health and safety segment of the storm response would continue his team’s efforts for at least the first 7 to 14 days.
[0:31:27 – 0:31:31] Erik: After that, infrastructure protection would take the rest of the summer into the next couple years.
[0:31:31 – 0:31:35] Erik: Your final concern with a disaster of these proportions is resource protection.
[0:31:36 – 0:31:42] Erik: Jim could already see, as could everyone else involved with the event, that forest fires would be inevitable.
[0:31:43 – 0:31:48] Erik: In the span of one July afternoon, the windstorm had arguably created one of the largest tinderboxes in the world.
[0:31:51 – 0:31:53] Erik: You could probably read this one before Gunflint Burning.
[0:31:53 – 0:31:54] Adam: Yeah, he did them in the wrong order.
[0:31:55 – 0:31:57] Erik: Yeah, chronologically.
[0:31:57 – 0:32:01] Adam: Yeah, this is the prologue to Gunflint Burning.
[0:32:02 – 0:32:02] Erik: Yeah, crazy.
[0:32:02 – 0:32:03] Erik: I mean, that’s even…
[0:32:05 – 0:32:14] Erik: My first couple of summers up here when some of the little, those smaller little fires, cavity-like fire, obviously the ham-like fire, that was the bigger one.
[0:32:15 – 0:32:18] Erik: But that was always the first thing anybody would say.
[0:32:18 – 0:32:20] Erik: It’s like, well, the blowdown, it’s just waiting to happen.
[0:32:20 – 0:32:21] Erik: It’s just a matter of time.
[0:32:22 – 0:32:44] Adam: where was the 12 mile wide swath of total destruction because that’s uh that’s insane i don’t know i would say that’s the peak derecho there probably but the map we looked at in part one it didn’t really have that kind of detail to it but it sounded like the main swath was like four miles wide up to 12 miles wide is what i gathered from that yeah did i hear that right
[0:32:45 – 0:32:45] Erik: Yeah, pretty much.
[0:32:46 – 0:32:46] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:32:47 – 0:32:54] Erik: If I were to guess, I would say probably starting at, like, Kakakabic Lake and going up towards Seagull.
[0:32:55 – 0:32:56] Erik: Ogish-Kamunsee.
[0:32:56 – 0:32:57] Erik: Right in Ogish.
[0:32:57 – 0:32:59] Erik: Kind of in that neck of the woods, I would say is…
[0:33:00 – 0:33:05] Erik: Where it was the worst, especially based on the fires in the past.
[0:33:05 – 0:33:06] Erik: Mueller Falls.
[0:33:06 – 0:33:07] Erik: Yeah, Mueller Falls.
[0:33:07 – 0:33:08] Erik: The heart of it right there.
[0:33:08 – 0:33:09] Erik: Yeah, very well could be.
[0:33:10 – 0:33:14] Erik: But yeah, there isn’t really like a map of very like, I’m sure you can go online and find them.
[0:33:14 – 0:33:15] Adam: I want a LiDAR map of this.
[0:33:16 – 0:33:34] Erik: potential you know percentage of trees blown down and like you know like an actual perimeter like you see when after a fire you know the perimeter of the fire except for the blowdown something about that passage too or the lonely like sentinel that had survived yeah kind of root work you’re doing there
[0:33:34 – 0:33:37] Erik: There’s still a few of those that you can see.
[0:33:37 – 0:33:40] Erik: I always remember the one out on Gabba Michigami.
[0:33:41 – 0:33:47] Erik: You can still see just one mega pine up on a ridge that goes up over.
[0:33:47 – 0:33:49] Adam: That thing took it and it was like,
[0:33:51 – 0:34:19] Erik: that’s the best you got yeah still waiting just surrounded all of his friends are gone he’s like the you know the twilight zone guy who breaks his glasses with all the books or whatever i have no idea what you’re talking about but i do oh it’s the guy the twilight zone where he’s got like all the time in the world and all like humanity is gone and he’s like all right now he can spend the rest of my life getting to do what i’ve always wanted to do and read all these books and then like immediately drops his glasses and steps on them oh
[0:34:20 – 0:34:21] Adam: Of course.
[0:34:21 – 0:34:28] Adam: That’s why you always bring a spare set of glasses on every Boundary Waters trip if you’re wearing the spectacle.
[0:34:28 – 0:34:33] Erik: There’s probably, I’m probably conflating it with like a Simpsons episode in there too, but that’s the gist, you know.
[0:34:33 – 0:34:34] Adam: Yeah, you got the gist.
[0:34:34 – 0:34:49] Erik: But yeah, I know that that’s right in that, the northwest edge where that, I can still like, I can see the picture in my mind’s eye, that tree on the northern big ridge above Gabby, which is basically right near Mueller Falls.
[0:34:49 – 0:34:49] Erik: It is, yeah.
[0:34:49 – 0:34:50] Erik: So probably.
[0:34:50 – 0:34:51] Erik: We went through there.
[0:34:51 – 0:34:52] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[0:34:53 – 0:34:55] Adam: Remember, that was the day we saw the northern lights in the middle of the day.
[0:34:55 – 0:34:56] Erik: During the day.
[0:34:56 – 0:34:58] Erik: We saw northern lights during the day at this time of day.
[0:35:00 – 0:35:02] Erik: Directly localized in your kitchen.
[0:35:02 – 0:35:03] Erik: Yeah, we did.
[0:35:03 – 0:35:03] Adam: We saw them.
[0:35:03 – 0:35:04] Adam: Wild.
[0:35:04 – 0:35:11] Erik: So starting on July 5th, three key incident statistics were kept track of.
[0:35:12 – 0:35:17] Erik: The estimate of the size of the incident, personnel on the incident, and the cost to date.
[0:35:18 – 0:35:21] Erik: July 5th, those numbers were $200,000, $114,000, and $20,000 total.
[0:35:24 – 0:35:39] Erik: And by July 18th, those numbers were 487,000 acres, 172, including 46 overhead, and almost a million dollars, $800,000 cost of the, which I was actually surprised.
[0:35:39 – 0:35:40] Adam: It’s a bargain.
[0:35:40 – 0:35:40] Adam: Seemed a little low.
[0:35:41 – 0:35:41] Adam: Yeah.
[0:35:41 – 0:35:43] Adam: Well, that was a 99 bucks.
[0:35:43 – 0:35:44] Erik: 99 bucks, yeah.
[0:35:44 – 0:35:47] Adam: Them dollar bucks went a lot longer than these dollar bucks go.
[0:35:47 – 0:35:48] Adam: Don’t get me started.
[0:35:48 – 0:35:52] Adam: Don’t even get me started on the cash dang inflation.
[0:35:53 – 0:35:58] Erik: Yeah, so that’s, I mean, that’s pretty much it in terms of the story.
[0:35:58 – 0:36:00] Adam: All right, so how many beavers, though, are we talking?
[0:36:01 – 0:36:24] Erik: uh i mean do you just look at the number of uh personnel included yeah you know 172 plus 46 overhead so 46 pilots i mean that’s what i’m assuming i don’t know yeah maybe even if you do two pilots per plane that’s still 23 planes flying around i don’t think there’s two pilots of those planes probably not i mean they can fly the planes and honk the horns all at once they’re fine
[0:36:25 – 0:36:29] Erik: Depending on how many – I mean some of them probably right away had like a pilot and an EMT.
[0:36:30 – 0:36:30] Erik: Right, right.
[0:36:30 – 0:36:44] Erik: But yeah, there’s not too much more specifically on the – again, for the thousandth time, this podcast is not a replacement for you reading it.
[0:36:44 – 0:36:49] Erik: And I haven’t gotten the sense ever that people that want to also read the book –
[0:36:50 – 0:36:52] Erik: There’s plenty more in this book.
[0:36:52 – 0:37:02] Erik: If you’re into the incident command and the reasons that a certain incident gets elevated from one level to the next, there’s a lot of that.
[0:37:04 – 0:37:08] Erik: There’s just obviously a whole host of more information there.
[0:37:09 – 0:37:22] Erik: I will take a couple of final passages here from the addendum that got added on here, which I think I could honestly just read the entire addendum.
[0:37:23 – 0:37:25] Erik: I think it’s probably one of the more…
[0:37:26 – 0:37:31] Erik: One of the more enjoyable passages, not necessarily enjoyable, but just really kind of puts it all into perspective.
[0:37:31 – 0:37:41] Erik: And the blowdown is a microcosm of the wind, the fire, and the warming, specifically as how it relates to the boundary waters.
[0:37:42 – 0:37:46] Erik: And, uh, the addendum is specifically about the forest ecology.
[0:37:46 – 0:37:47] Erik: All right.
[0:37:47 – 0:37:47] Erik: Yeah.
[0:37:47 – 0:37:54] Erik: With, uh, Lee Freelick, the director of center, the director of the center of forest ecology at the university of Minnesota.
[0:37:55 – 0:37:57] Erik: And, uh, Freelick freaks out here.
[0:37:58 – 0:37:58] Adam: Freelick freaks.
[0:37:59 – 0:37:59] Erik: Yep.
[0:37:59 – 0:38:02] Erik: It’s a lot about the, uh, you know, the changes potentially coming.
[0:38:03 – 0:38:04] Erik: Um,
[0:38:05 – 0:38:07] Erik: Some of it’s kind of scary if you really…
[0:38:07 – 0:38:11] Adam: It wasn’t until after the blowdown that all those damn basswood showed up on basswood.
[0:38:12 – 0:38:13] Erik: Yeah, basically.
[0:38:15 – 0:38:20] Erik: So this is a little bit more, again, adjacent, but I think it’s in the same…
[0:38:21 – 0:38:23] Erik: I mean, it’s the same reason that Kerry decided to do the addendum.
[0:38:23 – 0:38:27] Erik: I think it is definitely still something worth thinking about.
[0:38:27 – 0:38:28] Erik: Yeah.
[0:38:29 – 0:38:37] Erik: So it’s basically a discussion that Lee Freelick is having about the changing climate.
[0:38:38 – 0:38:44] Erik: Climatological history is being forged anew, and what was true yesterday will not be true tomorrow.
[0:38:45 – 0:39:05] Erik: By averages, we are talking about an increase of only a handful of degrees, but the resulting extreme weather events, especially wind in the case of the 99 blowdown, fires, cavity, ham, pagami, and temperature rise, and the resulting impact on the boreal forest, we’re talking about something much more profound.
[0:39:06 – 0:39:14] Erik: Dr. Freelick, if we had two springs in a row like 2012, it could wipe out the whole boreal forest in one fell swoop.
[0:39:15 – 0:39:20] Erik: Remember that winter where it was 75 degrees in March and it didn’t turn back?
[0:39:20 – 0:39:23] Erik: It was just all of a sudden spring.
[0:39:24 – 0:39:25] Erik: That was 2012.
[0:39:25 – 0:39:26] Erik: 2012, yeah.
[0:39:28 – 0:39:31] Erik: So just that comment was just like, dang.
[0:39:32 – 0:39:33] Erik: Two of them in a row?
[0:39:33 – 0:39:40] Adam: I know it takes a long time to come back from a drought year, which we had last year.
[0:39:41 – 0:39:46] Adam: And even though we’ve had all this rain this June, it still doesn’t make up for a whole year of drought.
[0:39:47 – 0:39:50] Adam: which is what we had basically last summer into this winter.
[0:39:51 – 0:39:57] Adam: So it’s going to have to rain like this for three years or four years to make up for it, really, like down to the base root.
[0:39:59 – 0:40:03] Adam: So that comment is pretty devastating, though, still.
[0:40:03 – 0:40:04] Erik: For sure.
[0:40:04 – 0:40:08] Erik: Yeah, I mean, the whole addendum is, you know, essentially about forest succession.
[0:40:09 – 0:40:18] Erik: And again, like the kind of in the same way that we talked about the, what was the bug last fall?
[0:40:18 – 0:40:19] Adam: Spruce budworm.
[0:40:19 – 0:40:20] Erik: Spruce budworm.
[0:40:20 – 0:40:22] Adam: Yeah, those little moths are everywhere right now.
[0:40:22 – 0:40:26] Erik: The spruce budworm is a part of forest succession, though.
[0:40:26 – 0:40:31] Erik: It’s not something that we haven’t necessarily caused that.
[0:40:31 – 0:40:39] Erik: It looks scary and people don’t like it, but it’s not necessarily a direct result of what we’re doing.
[0:40:40 – 0:40:45] Erik: Say whatever you want about climate change, warming, weather changes.
[0:40:45 – 0:40:50] Erik: It’s pretty good science to say that humans are mostly responsible for it.
[0:40:52 – 0:40:57] Erik: Professor Lee Freilich enumerates other factors when combined with wind, fire, and rising temperatures.
[0:40:58 – 0:41:05] Erik: Will, if our continued carbon emissions remain on their current trajectory, very likely alter the boreal forest in dramatic ways.
[0:41:06 – 0:41:15] Erik: Given the totality of threats, it makes a non-scientific observer wonder whether today’s boreal forests could be wiped out over the next 75 to 100 years.
[0:41:17 – 0:41:18] Erik: Oh, absolutely, affirms Freelich.
[0:41:18 – 0:41:24] Erik: In some places, it will be supplanted with maple and oak, but in other places, it could become prairie.
[0:41:26 – 0:41:32] Adam: Yeah, and I just assumed it would become more northern hardwoods, which is what you get here on the North Shore.
[0:41:32 – 0:41:32] Adam: Yeah.
[0:41:33 – 0:41:39] Adam: Because a lot of people talk about boreal forest, and really what we have here in Grand Marais is not boreal forest.
[0:41:39 – 0:41:41] Adam: It’s northern hardwoods.
[0:41:43 – 0:41:46] Adam: And they are recommending you plant oak, which we’ve done here.
[0:41:47 – 0:41:50] Adam: There’s oak planted very close to the tumble shed here.
[0:41:50 – 0:41:51] Adam: Yeah, for sure.
[0:41:51 – 0:41:55] Adam: On the recommendation from the episodes last year on the spruce budworm.
[0:41:55 – 0:42:02] Adam: And these smart folks understand where it’s going and that our growing zones are changing.
[0:42:02 – 0:42:02] Adam: Yeah.
[0:42:05 – 0:42:09] Adam: you know, trying to like diversify that forest to accommodate what’s coming.
[0:42:10 – 0:42:10] Adam: Yeah.
[0:42:11 – 0:42:15] Adam: Maybe the accommodation is not the right word there to prepare for what’s coming.
[0:42:16 – 0:42:16] Erik: For sure.
[0:42:16 – 0:42:18] Erik: We’ll finish here.
[0:42:18 – 0:42:22] Erik: However, Frelick’s report reads in part, quote,
[0:42:42 – 0:42:44] Erik: Will that trend continue?
[0:42:44 – 0:42:46] Erik: And if so, what does it portend?
[0:42:46 – 0:42:50] Erik: The report uses several different models to explain what the park’s future could be.
[0:42:51 – 0:43:02] Erik: Predictions show that by 2050, mixed forest will remain only for the coolest scenario, whereas the warmest of the nine scenarios would bring the prairie forest border into the park.
[0:43:03 – 0:43:06] Erik: A prairie in Voyager’s National Park?
[0:43:06 – 0:43:06] Erik: Oh, no.
[0:43:07 – 0:43:25] Erik: This section of the report concludes that depending on whether the coolest or the warmest of the most extreme temperature and carbon emission scenarios prevail, by 2070, the park could return to its current mixed forest status or become mostly prairie.
[0:43:26 – 0:43:26] Erik: What?
[0:43:26 – 0:43:27] Erik: What?
[0:43:27 – 0:43:29] Adam: I’ve never heard this, that it could just turn to prairie.
[0:43:29 – 0:43:30] Adam: Yeah.
[0:43:30 – 0:43:32] Adam: I’m assuming that’s not the Vento.
[0:43:32 – 0:43:33] Adam: That’s going to be like…
[0:43:33 – 0:43:34] Erik: Probably not.
[0:43:34 – 0:43:39] Erik: Probably like western sections, mostly, that are kind of already very oaky.
[0:43:39 – 0:43:40] Erik: Yeah, yeah.
[0:43:40 – 0:43:41] Erik: Malign river.
[0:43:42 – 0:43:48] Adam: There’s nine scenarios that they’ve simulated?
[0:43:48 – 0:43:49] Erik: I guess.
[0:43:49 – 0:43:54] Erik: I just thought ending it with going back to the… Hmm.
[0:43:55 – 0:44:03] Erik: The little house on the prairie comment, too, and then thinking about how it could actually become a prairie is just kind of wild.
[0:44:03 – 0:44:08] Adam: So when he got that quote from the pilot about it looking like little house on the prairie, Carrie was like, hell yeah.
[0:44:08 – 0:44:09] Adam: Yeah, maybe.
[0:44:09 – 0:44:10] Adam: This is gold.
[0:44:10 – 0:44:10] Erik: Yeah.
[0:44:11 – 0:44:12] Adam: This is gold.
[0:44:12 – 0:44:19] Adam: I mean, really, as an author, you can’t ask for a quote that good, especially if you already probably had the addendum half written at that point.
[0:44:20 – 0:44:22] Adam: Knew about scenario nine.
[0:44:23 – 0:44:42] Adam: the prairie scenario prairie scenario is that the episode title i’m putting it on the list for sure that’s that or total destruction yeah or just wait jim just wait jim yeah prairie scenario yikes that’s number nine yeah 2070 though what uh
[0:44:44 – 0:45:04] Erik: damn i could still be i could still be kicking around at 85 we’ll definitely be out there paddling oh yeah we’ll be out there doing our best sigurd i’ll be out there uh i don’t know harvesting wheat in the prairies maybe at the bottom of whatever lake has dried up i’ll just be out there pretending to be a bison pretending to be a bison
[0:45:05 – 0:45:08] Adam: Yeah, I will fool people, but don’t worry, Eric.
[0:45:08 – 0:45:09] Adam: I’m not actually really.
[0:45:09 – 0:45:10] Adam: I’m still me.
[0:45:10 – 0:45:11] Adam: I’m not really a bison.
[0:45:12 – 0:45:13] Erik: I’m still me.
[0:45:13 – 0:45:13] Adam: They’re back.
[0:45:14 – 0:45:14] Adam: That’s it.
[0:45:14 – 0:45:15] Adam: To Tonka.
[0:45:16 – 0:45:16] Adam: All right.
[0:45:16 – 0:45:17] Adam: He’s going into the peach.
[0:45:18 – 0:45:18] Adam: Peaches.
[0:45:19 – 0:45:19] Adam: Peaches now.
[0:45:20 – 0:45:23] Adam: Sorry, I shouldn’t have revealed your drink.
[0:45:24 – 0:45:25] Erik: Quit stealing his thunder.
[0:45:27 – 0:45:27] Erik: That’s all right.
[0:45:28 – 0:45:44] Erik: Do we want to have any final thoughts on that before we move into some… My final thoughts are that, yeah, it did set in…
[0:45:45 – 0:45:50] Adam: They talked about it being matchsticks or the trees laying down like matchsticks, but really they were dominoes.
[0:45:52 – 0:46:02] Adam: That whole passage on, you know, that this derecho directly caused numerous other catastrophic events in the park.
[0:46:03 – 0:46:03] Erik: Yeah.
[0:46:04 – 0:46:08] Adam: And set into motion a chain of events that cannot be undone.
[0:46:08 – 0:46:11] Erik: It’s like the Gavrilo Princip of the Boundary Waters.
[0:46:11 – 0:46:12] Adam: It’s the Princip all day.
[0:46:12 – 0:46:14] Erik: The Princip scenario.
[0:46:14 – 0:46:14] Erik: Yeah.
[0:46:14 – 0:46:16] Adam: Is this a World War I reference?
[0:46:16 – 0:46:16] Adam: Yeah.
[0:46:17 – 0:46:17] Adam: Yeah.
[0:46:17 – 0:46:18] Adam: Princip.
[0:46:18 – 0:46:18] Erik: Yeah.
[0:46:18 – 0:46:25] Erik: He’s the guy that was in the crew that was tasked to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
[0:46:25 – 0:46:25] Erik: Yeah.
[0:46:25 – 0:46:32] Erik: And then didn’t end up being successful because the parade got rerouted or like…
[0:46:32 – 0:46:34] Adam: It always comes back to these parades.
[0:46:34 – 0:46:34] Adam: No, they like…
[0:46:35 – 0:46:37] Adam: They didn’t have enough baby Ruths and they screwed them up.
[0:46:37 – 0:46:38] Adam: That’s why…
[0:46:38 – 0:46:43] Erik: So this assassination crew, the whole attempt kind of went awry.
[0:46:43 – 0:46:43] Erik: Yeah.
[0:46:43 – 0:46:47] Erik: But Gavrilo Princip just was like, all right, well, I guess I’ll go get a coffee or whatever.
[0:46:47 – 0:46:49] Erik: And he was at a coffee shop.
[0:46:49 – 0:46:59] Erik: And the open back convertible rig or wagon or whatever that the Archduke was at just pulled up right in front of the cafe he was at.
[0:46:59 – 0:47:02] Erik: And he just walked out, pulled out his pistol, and shot him in the back of the head right there.
[0:47:03 – 0:47:04] Adam: It was like it was meant to be.
[0:47:04 – 0:47:05] Adam: Right place, right time.
[0:47:05 – 0:47:05] Adam: Crazy.
[0:47:05 – 0:47:05] Adam: Yeah.
[0:47:06 – 0:47:10] Adam: Or the completely wrong place, wrong time, depending on your perspective.
[0:47:10 – 0:47:13] Adam: Two wildly different perspectives in this coffee shop.
[0:47:14 – 0:47:16] Erik: But then obviously we all know we’re, you know.
[0:47:16 – 0:47:21] Erik: So yeah, the blowdown has massive ramifications when it comes to that too, you know.
[0:47:22 – 0:47:26] Adam: Now we’re going to end up with prairie portage being a real prairie?
[0:47:26 – 0:47:27] Erik: A real prairie over there.
[0:47:27 – 0:47:30] Erik: Yeah, that would be my…
[0:47:30 – 0:47:34] Erik: I mean, just based on our travels throughout the park.
[0:47:34 – 0:47:34] Adam: Yeah.
[0:47:35 – 0:47:38] Erik: It seems most likely.
[0:47:38 – 0:47:46] Erik: I mean, it almost seems like it’s already kind of… And that could just be the nature of… That’s just how it’s been.
[0:47:46 – 0:47:49] Erik: More oaks, more low level.
[0:47:49 – 0:47:49] Erik: Sure.
[0:47:50 – 0:47:53] Erik: It just feels like anytime you look at the weather, it’s warmer over there.
[0:47:53 – 0:47:54] Erik: Yeah.
[0:47:54 – 0:48:06] Erik: So, yeah, I don’t imagine, I could not possibly imagine, like, looking out at, like, Clearwater Lake and just seeing, like, you know, grasses and, like, a savanna of oaks or something, you know, on top of the Palisades.
[0:48:07 – 0:48:08] Erik: Just, I mean, but who knows?
[0:48:08 – 0:48:13] Erik: I still would have a hard time seeing real prairie, you know, anywhere north of Duluth, really.
[0:48:14 – 0:48:19] Erik: I mean, you see some grassy farmlands and hillsides and stuff, but vast prairies?
[0:48:19 – 0:48:19] Erik: Yeah, I don’t know.
[0:48:20 – 0:48:44] Erik: but if it was going to happen yeah i guess that side of the park the western side prairie really isn’t that far away it’s not i mean how much farther west than like lake vermilion before you’re into the prairie is closer than hudson’s bay it’s right there yes right now yeah i mean winnipeg’s out in the prairie winnipeg’s is right up that’s what that’s where the water goes you know
[0:48:45 – 0:48:48] Erik: So, yeah, I mean, it’s… That’s where the water goes.
[0:48:49 – 0:48:51] Erik: It’s kind of crazy to think about, but it’s awesome.
[0:48:51 – 0:48:52] Adam: More water, but less trees.
[0:48:52 – 0:48:52] Adam: Yeah.
[0:48:53 – 0:48:53] Adam: What’s up with that?
[0:48:54 – 0:48:54] Erik: Yeah, I don’t know.
[0:48:56 – 0:48:56] Adam: Yeah.
[0:48:56 – 0:48:57] Adam: Too much wind?
[0:48:57 – 0:48:58] Adam: Too much heat.
[0:48:59 – 0:48:59] Adam: Probably, yeah.
[0:48:59 – 0:49:00] Adam: Not enough snow.
[0:49:00 – 0:49:01] Erik: It’s probably a heat thing.
[0:49:01 – 0:49:03] Erik: I mean, talking, you know, hearing the…
[0:49:03 – 0:49:09] Erik: If there was a back-to-back spring like 2012, it would have, you know, just had a massive effect on the boreal trees.
[0:49:09 – 0:49:13] Erik: You know, the pine needles, essentially, is what the…
[0:49:13 – 0:49:13] Erik: If you…
[0:49:14 – 0:49:23] Erik: Want to either read that addendum or read some of the specific reports that were cited in that addendum.
[0:49:23 – 0:49:35] Erik: I’m sure it talks a lot about the health of boreal trees, the tamaracks and the trees that much more greatly affected by those heat swings, especially in the winter when you don’t think that they would be as much.
[0:49:35 – 0:49:40] Erik: It’s actually when they’re more susceptible to those changes in temperature on the high end.
[0:49:40 – 0:49:41] Erik: Yeah.
[0:49:41 – 0:49:48] Erik: So yeah, kind of scary, but also not, it’s not something to lose sight of either.
[0:49:48 – 0:49:56] Erik: Not that us lowly pawns can do too much about it, but you know, every little bit helps, I guess.
[0:49:57 – 0:49:57] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:49:57 – 0:49:59] Adam: We should probably retire the private jet.
[0:50:00 – 0:50:00] Adam: Probably.
[0:50:01 – 0:50:03] Adam: We don’t need a tumble home Gulfstream anymore.
[0:50:03 – 0:50:06] Adam: I mean, probably just sell that off and scrap it for parts.
[0:50:07 – 0:50:12] Erik: Sell off the PJ to some, uh, yeah, we can sell that off and some mega church in Colorado would love to have that.
[0:50:13 – 0:50:13] Adam: Yeah.
[0:50:13 – 0:50:18] Adam: Just put that money into a real solid S and P 500 investment.
[0:50:18 – 0:50:21] Adam: It would probably be a better use of our funding at this point.
[0:50:21 – 0:50:22] Adam: Wise.
[0:50:23 – 0:50:24] Adam: Yeah.
[0:50:24 – 0:50:24] Adam: Um,
[0:50:26 – 0:50:28] Erik: Yeah, we’re kind of right on the edge.
[0:50:28 – 0:50:29] Erik: We could start reading some comments.
[0:50:30 – 0:50:32] Adam: All right, let’s batten down the hatches.
[0:50:32 – 0:50:33] Adam: Let’s see what happens here.
[0:50:33 – 0:50:35] Erik: Batten down those hatches.
[0:50:36 – 0:50:41] Adam: Was there any comments from people that were there on July 4th, 1999?
[0:50:42 – 0:50:49] Erik: I have not read close enough to confirm that, but I feel like if there would have been, it probably would have been one of the top few comments.
[0:50:49 – 0:50:51] Adam: You would think that would get some votes.
[0:50:51 – 0:50:53] Erik: And I haven’t noticed that.
[0:50:53 – 0:50:54] Adam: All right.
[0:50:54 – 0:50:58] Adam: I’m going to hop into another hashtag hazy, hashtag hazy.
[0:50:58 – 0:51:01] Erik: Well, I was going to go off of this phone here.
[0:51:02 – 0:51:03] Adam: We’re going to read off your phone?
[0:51:03 – 0:51:03] Adam: I think so.
[0:51:03 – 0:51:04] Adam: Pass the phone.
[0:51:04 – 0:51:06] Erik: I don’t really feel like turning the computer around.
[0:51:06 – 0:51:06] Erik: It’s all plugged in.
[0:51:06 – 0:51:08] Erik: It’s all wired up.
[0:51:09 – 0:51:11] Erik: You don’t have a two-computer situation in here anymore like we used to.
[0:51:12 – 0:51:14] Erik: But Adobe, it’s up to date.
[0:51:14 – 0:51:37] Adam: did you know that adobe flash is no longer oh it’s not it’s yeah it’s my work computer they like how to update it it was like yeah no more flash no yeah they did something else now flash a couple years ago i think give me a break grow up adobe yeah best end to me to start yeah you gotta i gotta cool these pipes off here man looks like you’re gonna get a break here yeah
[0:51:39 – 0:51:43] Adam: All right, thanks again, Liz, for the beautiful Congaree.
[0:51:44 – 0:51:45] Adam: What the hell is a Congaree?
[0:51:45 – 0:51:47] Adam: Is that a type of a mangrove?
[0:51:48 – 0:51:56] Erik: Yeah, I mean, I would have to imagine it’s either named after a plant that grows there or a people that once lived there, maybe.
[0:51:56 – 0:51:56] Adam: I love it.
[0:51:56 – 0:51:57] Adam: I love the word Congaree.
[0:51:57 – 0:52:02] Adam: Thank you for the Congaree postcard and these delicious hashtag hazies from Fitchburg.
[0:52:03 – 0:52:06] Adam: Shout out to all our homies down in Fitchburg.
[0:52:06 – 0:52:07] Erik: That’s their mascot.
[0:52:08 – 0:52:09] Adam: Got me, buddy.
[0:52:09 – 0:52:09] Adam: Cardinals?
[0:52:10 – 0:52:11] Adam: Yeah, maybe it is the Cardinals.
[0:52:11 – 0:52:12] Adam: Nice.
[0:52:12 – 0:52:14] Adam: There’s at least seven high schools down there.
[0:52:14 – 0:52:16] Adam: They’re all the Cardinals.
[0:52:16 – 0:52:16] Adam: They’re all the Cardinals.
[0:52:16 – 0:52:17] Erik: Who are we going to beat?
[0:52:17 – 0:52:18] Erik: The Cardinals.
[0:52:18 – 0:52:18] Erik: Who are we?
[0:52:18 – 0:52:23] Adam: Sun Prairie Cardinals are taking out the Middleton Cardinals, taking out the DeForest Cardinals.
[0:52:23 – 0:52:23] Adam: Got them.
[0:52:24 – 0:52:25] Adam: Pittsburgh Cardinals, you guys are going down.
[0:52:27 – 0:52:49] Adam: too many cardinals pick another bird for crying out loud next up on the show this is from the battenham down uh dear friend of the show bob ross paddler 26 days ago uh i can’t see how many upvotes this is a long one holy moly yeah 13 boxes of wine uh that’s a pretty good vote
[0:52:50 – 0:52:56] Adam: It felt like I spent the entirety of this year’s late May trip in a torrent of sideways rain.
[0:52:56 – 0:53:08] Adam: After a long day of running the Frost River, I was posted up on a gorgeous campsite on the north end of Little Sag, and the weather radio was spouting portents of doom for the following afternoon and the entire day after that.
[0:53:09 – 0:53:12] Adam: Gusts in the 30s with rain and flooding.
[0:53:13 – 0:53:13] Adam: Okay.
[0:53:13 – 0:53:13] Adam: Okay.
[0:53:24 – 0:53:35] Adam: And I kept thinking, I probably should have charged out of here and put a solid morning of travel in, since I was a full day and a half from my exit point with plenty of big water to cross along the way.
[0:53:35 – 0:53:38] Adam: Gabba Michigami and Seagull, amongst others.
[0:53:38 – 0:53:49] Adam: Anyway, the storm blew in about 2pm that day and I spent the day napping, journaling, and sitting under the tarp watching the white caps on Little Sag, confident I’d made the right choice.
[0:53:51 – 0:53:56] Adam: On day two of rain camp, little had changed, except I had grown more stirrer crazy.
[0:53:56 – 0:54:00] Adam: The wind and rain continued to blow, and I was running out of things to do.
[0:54:00 – 0:54:02] Adam: Then it seemed to calm down for a bit.
[0:54:02 – 0:54:04] Adam: The whitecaps subsided.
[0:54:05 – 0:54:10] Adam: A white-throated sparrow began loudly singing in the calm, and that’s what did it for me.
[0:54:10 – 0:54:17] Adam: I said, hell yeah, bird, hastily broke camp and headed out, promising myself to stop if the conditions ever got too rough.
[0:54:18 – 0:54:22] Adam: The wind never got too tough to handle, but there were some difficult moments.
[0:54:22 – 0:54:30] Adam: Getting across Gabby was pretty rough, but I found that as long as I had some rocks in the front of the canoe and paddled directly into the waves, I made steady progress.
[0:54:33 – 0:54:36] Adam: Nearly all the portages that day were flowing with water.
[0:54:36 – 0:54:40] Adam: The Narrows site was open on Ogish, and I should have stopped there.
[0:54:40 – 0:54:43] Adam: But I foolishly chose to press on to Alpine.
[0:54:43 – 0:54:47] Adam: By the time I finished that eight-hour travel day, I was absolutely toasted.
[0:54:48 – 0:54:50] Adam: Cold to the core, tired, and exhausted.
[0:54:52 – 0:54:54] Adam: The site on Alpine was a magnificent site.
[0:54:54 – 0:55:03] Adam: For a summer visitor, I struggled to find a spot for my hammock on the wide-open elevated rock, then realized my hands were too cold to properly rig the tarp.
[0:55:04 – 0:55:09] Adam: I have always struggled with poor circulation of my hands, and they get cold extremely easily.
[0:55:10 – 0:55:18] Adam: At that point, I fully realized how foolish I had been trying to push a little farther in such lousy weather, and that I was still in a precarious situation.
[0:55:19 – 0:55:24] Adam: The day before my trip, I purchased one of those mini butane blowtorch lighters on a whim.
[0:55:25 – 0:55:32] Adam: Even though I had five other Bic lighters, that torch was the only lighter I had the dexterity to light to start my stove and warm my hands.
[0:55:33 – 0:55:43] Adam: All I did on that inhospitable barren rock was set up my tarp, hammock, get into dry clothes and snuggle up with a bowl of dehydrated tomato soup.
[0:55:45 – 0:55:46] Adam: Lessons learned.
[0:55:47 – 0:55:47] Adam: 1.
[0:55:47 – 0:55:52] Adam: Don’t leave a good, well-sheltered campsite, then pass up another just because you want to go a little further.
[0:55:52 – 0:55:53] Adam: 2.
[0:55:53 – 0:55:57] Adam: Rain gear, even the good stuff, isn’t perfect when you’re in a steady rain the entire day.
[0:55:58 – 0:56:01] Adam: Between the wet partridges, steady rain, and the clamminess.
[0:56:02 – 0:56:03] Adam: Ooh, the clamminess.
[0:56:04 – 0:56:06] Adam: I wasn’t soaked, but I was definitely wet.
[0:56:07 – 0:56:08] Adam: You wet bird.
[0:56:08 – 0:56:08] Adam: 3.
[0:56:10 – 0:56:10] Adam: Point of order.
[0:56:10 – 0:56:11] Adam: Point of law.
[0:56:11 – 0:56:11] Adam: Point of law.
[0:56:28 – 0:56:31] Adam: Six, dehydrated soup is amazing.
[0:56:32 – 0:56:35] Erik: I’m sure on that day anything would have tasted good if it was hot.
[0:56:36 – 0:56:39] Adam: You probably would have drank tea at that point.
[0:56:40 – 0:56:41] Adam: You old tea horse.
[0:56:42 – 0:56:47] Adam: I made it to where I was going and thus had the time to catch some fish the following day at my targeted lake.
[0:56:47 – 0:56:51] Adam: That wouldn’t have happened had I not pushed through the rainy, windy day.
[0:56:51 – 0:57:02] Adam: I later learned that this storm dropped over three inches of rain that day, but the next time I’ll be a little more careful of letting a white-throated sparrow motivate me to leave camp where I plan to stay put.
[0:57:04 – 0:57:06] Adam: But that song sure was pretty.
[0:57:07 – 0:57:09] Adam: The end, all in caps.
[0:57:11 – 0:57:14] Adam: I love it when they put the end.
[0:57:14 – 0:57:14] Adam: You know me, Eric.
[0:57:14 – 0:57:15] Adam: I love the end.
[0:57:16 – 0:57:19] Adam: And I do love a white-throated song sparrow.
[0:57:20 – 0:57:28] Adam: Absolutely a more beautiful song than the swamp sparrow, which song is, how do I put this kindly?
[0:57:29 – 0:57:30] Adam: ill-intentioned.
[0:57:30 – 0:57:32] Erik: Oh, ill-intentioned, yeah.
[0:57:32 – 0:57:33] Erik: Yeah, that was this May.
[0:57:34 – 0:57:36] Erik: Yeah, this May was brutal with the rain.
[0:57:36 – 0:57:37] Adam: And the wind.
[0:57:38 – 0:57:39] Erik: And the wind, yeah.
[0:57:39 – 0:57:41] Adam: Solo paddling straight into white caps.
[0:57:42 – 0:57:42] Adam: Mm-mm.
[0:57:42 – 0:57:43] Adam: Didn’t sound very fun, no.
[0:57:45 – 0:57:47] Adam: Yeah, also… What’s the narrowest site on Oak Gish?
[0:57:47 – 0:57:49] Adam: I’m drawing a blank on this reference.
[0:57:49 – 0:57:50] Adam: The narrows?
[0:57:50 – 0:57:52] Adam: Yeah, I guess I can look at the map right here.
[0:57:52 – 0:57:53] Erik: I think I’ve camped there.
[0:57:53 – 0:57:54] Erik: I think I… You have?
[0:57:54 – 0:57:59] Erik: It’s like right before the Cavity Lake Fire burn line.
[0:57:59 – 0:57:59] Erik: Uh-huh.
[0:58:00 – 0:58:03] Erik: So it’s still like in the green, but… Oh, I see.
[0:58:03 – 0:58:05] Erik: Right around the corner, it’s like, oh, well, we’re back in town.
[0:58:05 – 0:58:06] Adam: So it’s up in here somewhere.
[0:58:07 – 0:58:07] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[0:58:07 – 0:58:07] Erik: Yeah.
[0:58:08 – 0:58:09] Adam: You could have stopped there.
[0:58:09 – 0:58:11] Adam: Alpine’s not that much farther from there, but still…
[0:58:13 – 0:58:15] Adam: Should have hung out with the sparrow, actually.
[0:58:15 – 0:58:16] Adam: That’s your lesson.
[0:58:16 – 0:58:18] Adam: That’s lesson number seven.
[0:58:18 – 0:58:19] Adam: Just hang out with the sparrow.
[0:58:19 – 0:58:20] Adam: Yeah.
[0:58:20 – 0:58:21] Adam: Sparrows are cool.
[0:58:22 – 0:58:25] Erik: I mean, I do like using that as like, you just need a sign.
[0:58:25 – 0:58:26] Erik: It could have been anything.
[0:58:27 – 0:58:28] Erik: And that’s a good one to use.
[0:58:28 – 0:58:30] Erik: Show me a sign, baby.
[0:58:30 – 0:58:30] Erik: Give me a sign.
[0:58:31 – 0:58:34] Erik: Next up on the show, Scotty Baldwin.
[0:58:35 – 0:58:36] Erik: Total homie.
[0:58:36 – 0:58:37] Erik: Total homie.
[0:58:37 – 0:58:38] Erik: My very first trip.
[0:58:38 – 0:58:39] Adam: Friend of the honey shack.
[0:58:40 – 0:58:46] Erik: My very first trip into the park, I was taken in by a friend of mine who has hundreds of nights in the B-dub.
[0:58:47 – 0:58:54] Erik: He kindly provided everything on the trip, and while he set up a two-person MSR, he gave me a four-person REI half-dome tent.
[0:58:55 – 0:58:58] Erik: In the evening, he noticed the sky was light green coming out of the west.
[0:58:58 – 0:58:58] Erik: Mm-mm.
[0:58:59 – 0:59:02] Erik: And he told me we needed to wrap up dinner because something big was coming.
[0:59:03 – 0:59:08] Erik: He told me that when the storm hit, I should keep an eye on the big dead widow maker.
[0:59:08 – 0:59:11] Erik: I could see out the back ventilation hole of the tent.
[0:59:11 – 0:59:13] Adam: Yeah, just keep an eye on that guy there.
[0:59:13 – 0:59:14] Adam: Keep an eye on her.
[0:59:14 – 0:59:18] Erik: Five minutes later, when the storm hit, it was the most violent thing I’ve ever experienced.
[0:59:19 – 0:59:21] Erik: First came the wind, then the rain.
[0:59:21 – 0:59:27] Erik: It felt like the screaming souls of a thousand ghouls were attacking the tent from all sides.
[0:59:28 – 0:59:31] Erik: The rain was shooting in all of the ventilation holes near the top.
[0:59:32 – 0:59:36] Erik: Kept my eyes pressed up against the screen and watched the Widowmaker intently.
[0:59:36 – 0:59:43] Erik: The only thing to which I can liken the experience was it felt like I was going through a car wash in a tent.
[0:59:44 – 0:59:44] Erik: Hmm.
[0:59:45 – 0:59:45] Erik: Yeah.
[0:59:46 – 0:59:52] Erik: Lasted about 10 minutes and afterwards, as is almost always the case, turned into a glorious sunset.
[0:59:53 – 1:00:00] Erik: When I asked him how bad the storm was compared to others, he told me it was in the top three of the violent storms he’d experienced.
[1:00:01 – 1:00:06] Erik: He said he realized that as he watched his Chaco flip-flop float by the door of his tent.
[1:00:07 – 1:00:08] Erik: Float by.
[1:00:08 – 1:00:08] Erik: Yeah.
[1:00:09 – 1:00:12] Erik: It was a violent and fun experience to have.
[1:00:12 – 1:00:16] Erik: And secretly, I always hope it rains at least one of the days of my trip.
[1:00:16 – 1:00:17] Erik: I kind of feel the same way.
[1:00:17 – 1:00:20] Adam: I love being under the rain fly listening to a horrible storm.
[1:00:20 – 1:00:20] Erik: Yeah.
[1:00:21 – 1:00:24] Erik: Sunny days are a dime a dozen, but storms are something special.
[1:00:24 – 1:00:29] Adam: I feel like you and I over the years have had a lot of really good sits during a storm.
[1:00:29 – 1:00:29] Erik: Totally.
[1:00:30 – 1:00:30] Adam: Yeah.
[1:00:30 – 1:00:31] Adam: We’ve been waylaid.
[1:00:31 – 1:00:32] Adam: We’ve been degraded.
[1:00:32 – 1:00:36] Erik: Sunny days are a dime a dozen, but storms are something special.
[1:00:36 – 1:00:36] Adam: Yeah.
[1:00:37 – 1:00:37] Erik: Honeyman.
[1:00:37 – 1:00:38] Adam: Honeyman.
[1:00:38 – 1:00:38] Adam: 1862.
[1:00:38 – 1:00:45] Erik: That is the first comment from Cheap Dancer, actually.
[1:00:45 – 1:00:46] Erik: Oh, is it?
[1:00:46 – 1:00:48] Erik: Honeyman, 1862.
[1:00:49 – 1:00:49] Adam: That’s great.
[1:00:49 – 1:00:50] Adam: That’s great.
[1:00:50 – 1:00:51] Erik: That’s a good quote, though.
[1:00:51 – 1:00:52] Erik: I feel the same way.
[1:00:54 – 1:01:00] Erik: The first Quetico trip I did, it was just three weeks of pure blue skies, no wind, and you get bored with it.
[1:01:00 – 1:01:05] Erik: It’s almost like just something to kind of break up the…
[1:01:05 – 1:01:07] Erik: It gets monotonous.
[1:01:07 – 1:01:10] Erik: It’s like, I want to actually feel like I’m experiencing being out here.
[1:01:11 – 1:01:16] Erik: It almost got to the point where we’d be sitting around the campfire at the end of the day, like two weeks in.
[1:01:16 – 1:01:17] Erik: I’m just like, do you ever…
[1:01:17 – 1:01:44] Erik: it doesn’t even feel like we’re outside because it was just perfect no bugs no wind blue skies perfect temperatures it was like we’re just living like we might as well be inside like yeah we’re camping there’s dirt and we can have a fire and we’re on the water whatever but there wasn’t anything making you feel uncomfortable at all it was like too easy you know a little bit of weather just adds to it I feel the exact same way it really does
[1:01:45 – 1:01:46] Adam: All right.
[1:01:46 – 1:01:47] Adam: Thank you for that comment.
[1:01:47 – 1:01:50] Adam: Next up on the show, dear friend of the show, Ghost of Ed Abbey.
[1:01:52 – 1:01:56] Adam: 26 days ago with nine battens of the hatches.
[1:01:57 – 1:02:00] Adam: Not BWCA, but general camping story.
[1:02:01 – 1:02:04] Adam: My youngest brother, brother, are you out there?
[1:02:05 – 1:02:06] Adam: Is a decade younger than me.
[1:02:06 – 1:02:09] Adam: I took him out camping when he was about 11 or 12.
[1:02:10 – 1:02:27] Adam: state park walk-in site surrounded by oak and other large mature deciduous trees these were the days before cell phones and weather forecasts at your fingertips also before i even knew about the weather radio a tornado rolls through which ended up being about two miles away
[1:02:28 – 1:02:49] Adam: the trees were dancing every which way i was internally freaking out but i also knew that it was already upon us and we didn’t even have time to get to the vehicle so i told my brother it would be fine we just ride it out in the tent and it ended up fine some large branches were down but not really too bad could have been much worse
[1:02:53 – 1:03:10] Erik: twisters i couldn’t imagine what camping in the banjo in the banjo waters would be like if tornadoes were like more of a factor it’s just one of those things that you never even have to worry about really like realistically maybe going forward you might have to but once the prairie comes in
[1:03:10 – 1:03:14] Erik: Up to this point, it’s like, yeah, it might get crazy, but it’s not going to be a tornado.
[1:03:15 – 1:03:17] Adam: We’re going to see Bill Paxton and some flying cows.
[1:03:17 – 1:03:19] Adam: Yeah, rip Bill Paxton.
[1:03:20 – 1:03:23] Adam: I will take another if you’re okay with that.
[1:03:23 – 1:03:24] Adam: Yeah, totally fine with that.
[1:03:24 – 1:03:25] Adam: Thank you.
[1:03:25 – 1:03:28] Adam: Next up on the show, Amateur Camper 24 Days Ago.
[1:03:30 – 1:03:39] Adam: It was July 2021 and I was out on the island site on Clear Lake in the Kawishui Triangle with three other guys.
[1:03:40 – 1:03:45] Adam: We had two tents, one well back in the woods and one out by the shore and that was it.
[1:03:45 – 1:03:53] Adam: It was mid-afternoon and since lots of drinks had been consumed, we decided we would all take a nap and ride out the incoming rain in our tents.
[1:03:54 – 1:03:59] Adam: As the storm front rolled in, the wind was incredibly strong, especially out by shore.
[1:03:59 – 1:04:03] Adam: I told my buddy to put his rain gear on because we needed to get out of the tent.
[1:04:04 – 1:04:29] Adam: as we were discussing the situation and preparing to get out we heard the first tree snap it sounded like it was right next to our tent and we instinctively dove into the corner of the tent that seemed farthest from the trees and we covered our heads we then scrambled out of the tent as quickly as possible while the sound of dozens of trees snapping and falling was nearly drowned out by the incredible sound of the wind rain and thunder
[1:04:30 – 1:04:38] Adam: I made my way over to the other tent to make sure they got out and came down by the shore, but by the time they heard me and made their way out, the worst of it was over.
[1:04:39 – 1:04:46] Adam: We assessed the damage after the winds calmed down, and we discovered a massive pine had fallen and landed about 10 feet to the side of their tent.
[1:04:46 – 1:04:47] Adam: Truly a close call.
[1:04:50 – 1:04:55] Adam: As we explored further, we discovered dozens and maybe over 100 trees blown down on the island.
[1:04:56 – 1:05:02] Adam: There are so many trees down, we couldn’t find a way to get to the latrine without doing some serious silky boy work.
[1:05:02 – 1:05:03] Adam: Silky boys.
[1:05:06 – 1:05:15] Adam: We got incredibly lucky that nobody got hurt or worse, but it immediately hit me that we had not reacted properly as a group.
[1:05:15 – 1:05:19] Adam: And we could have put ourselves in a much safer position by doing a few things differently.
[1:05:19 – 1:05:24] Adam: First, always remind your group what they should do in different weather scenarios, especially wind.
[1:05:25 – 1:05:28] Adam: Second, you can’t wait until you hear a tree snap to act.
[1:05:29 – 1:05:34] Adam: We had about 30 seconds to notice that the winds were too strong to stay in the tent, but we didn’t act fast enough.
[1:05:35 – 1:05:43] Adam: Third, don’t get in your sleeping bag and try to take a nap during an imminent thunderstorm, no matter how much fireball you’ve had.
[1:05:43 – 1:05:45] Adam: Hashtag red orbs.
[1:05:46 – 1:05:52] Adam: As the storm passed, it gave way to an amazing rainbow and a very peaceful evening.
[1:05:53 – 1:05:53] Erik: Nice.
[1:05:53 – 1:05:54] Adam: All right.
[1:05:54 – 1:05:57] Erik: Those are all good words of advice, I would say.
[1:05:57 – 1:05:59] Adam: Yeah.
[1:05:59 – 1:06:01] Adam: 30 seconds one way or the other can really make a difference there.
[1:06:01 – 1:06:02] Erik: Yeah.
[1:06:02 – 1:06:05] Erik: And that’s, again, we’ve said it, but I mean, it’s just shocking.
[1:06:05 – 1:06:07] Erik: Can’t really be said enough.
[1:06:08 – 1:06:13] Erik: Just how crazy, like that’s, you know, how many other campsites were affected by that storm?
[1:06:14 – 1:06:15] Erik: The one that they were talking about?
[1:06:15 – 1:06:16] Erik: Yeah.
[1:06:16 – 1:06:17] Erik: Maybe a couple, a few.
[1:06:17 – 1:06:17] Erik: Yeah.
[1:06:17 – 1:06:20] Erik: And they were 10 feet away from a tree coming down on their tent.
[1:06:20 – 1:06:21] Erik: Yeah.
[1:06:21 – 1:06:27] Erik: And with the blowdown, it was like, you know, the description that we heard, 12 miles wide, just every tree down.
[1:06:28 – 1:06:35] Erik: And then somebody on the subreddit posted the news clip of them interviewing…
[1:06:35 – 1:06:54] Erik: oh i those scouts and there’s some aerial uh video from a helicopter of a couple of campsites where trees were down and it’s just like how did everybody survive just crazy right how lucky that everybody was that day sounds like these guys were lucky too dang
[1:06:54 – 1:06:55] Erik: Yeah.
[1:06:55 – 1:06:56] Erik: And yeah, I don’t know.
[1:06:56 – 1:06:56] Erik: Living right.
[1:06:57 – 1:07:00] Erik: Sounds like they still made a pretty good decision to get out of those tents at least when they did.
[1:07:00 – 1:07:02] Adam: At least you didn’t wait another 30 seconds.
[1:07:02 – 1:07:04] Adam: But by then it was all over.
[1:07:04 – 1:07:04] Adam: Yeah.
[1:07:05 – 1:07:08] Adam: It’s all about where you pick to put your tent in the first place too.
[1:07:08 – 1:07:09] Adam: Or hammock.
[1:07:09 – 1:07:10] Adam: Yeah.
[1:07:10 – 1:07:12] Adam: You got to always assess.
[1:07:12 – 1:07:12] Adam: I don’t know.
[1:07:12 – 1:07:14] Adam: I mean, I feel like we do that a lot more now than…
[1:07:15 – 1:07:20] Adam: When I was first up here, I wasn’t looking up when we got into a campsite.
[1:07:20 – 1:07:21] Adam: I was looking down, frankly.
[1:07:21 – 1:07:22] Adam: It was never even a thought, yeah.
[1:07:22 – 1:07:28] Adam: But now the first thing I look at when we come into a campsite, it’s a Jack Horkheimer kind of deal.
[1:07:29 – 1:07:30] Adam: Always keep looking up.
[1:07:31 – 1:07:32] Erik: Just looking for those raven nests.
[1:07:32 – 1:07:37] Adam: Yeah, looking for those nests and looking for any rickety old branch you may want to avoid.
[1:07:38 – 1:07:40] Adam: But it is hard to tell where they might land anyways.
[1:07:40 – 1:07:41] Erik: Yeah, who knows?
[1:07:42 – 1:07:45] Erik: The obvious ones are obvious, but if they’re going to start coming down…
[1:07:47 – 1:07:50] Erik: Best place to be is just down by the lakeshore, I guess.
[1:07:51 – 1:07:51] Erik: Jump in.
[1:07:53 – 1:07:54] Adam: Can’t get you if you’re in the water.
[1:07:54 – 1:07:55] Adam: Yeah, just start swimming.
[1:07:55 – 1:07:56] Adam: Absolutely can.
[1:07:57 – 1:07:58] Erik: Hot dish.
[1:07:58 – 1:08:00] Erik: That’s hot with a zero.
[1:08:00 – 1:08:01] Erik: Hot.
[1:08:01 – 1:08:03] Erik: Twas the summer of 2018.
[1:08:03 – 1:08:07] Erik: I led a group of four newcomers and a dog.
[1:08:07 – 1:08:08] Erik: Was the dog a newcomer?
[1:08:09 – 1:08:10] SPEAKER_00: Dog’s a veteran.
[1:08:10 – 1:08:12] Adam: Actually, the dog was trip leader.
[1:08:12 – 1:08:14] Adam: I think we’ve talked about this in the past.
[1:08:14 – 1:08:17] Adam: Has anybody listed their dog as the trip leader or alternate?
[1:08:17 – 1:08:19] Erik: Forest Service doesn’t let you have fun like that anymore.
[1:08:19 – 1:08:22] Erik: We’re going to have to start listing dogs.
[1:08:22 – 1:08:23] Erik: Not after 99.
[1:08:23 – 1:08:23] Erik: Not after 99.
[1:08:23 – 1:08:24] Erik: Yeah.
[1:08:24 – 1:08:28] Adam: How many dogs were listed as the trip leader in 99 out there?
[1:08:28 – 1:08:31] Adam: And did Kerry Journalism Griffith get a hold of the dog?
[1:08:33 – 1:08:34] Adam: They probably were the ones who were.
[1:08:34 – 1:08:35] Adam: That’s who I was talking about earlier.
[1:08:35 – 1:08:36] Adam: They’re definitely dead by now.
[1:08:37 – 1:08:37] Adam: They’re probably gone, yeah.
[1:08:39 – 1:08:40] Erik: Rip all those dogs.
[1:08:40 – 1:08:43] Adam: Sorry old golden retriever with a flower crown.
[1:08:45 – 1:08:49] Erik: We packed entirely too heavy, resulting in about a total of 80 pounds of food.
[1:08:50 – 1:08:50] Adam: Jesus.
[1:08:51 – 1:08:54] Adam: You had like about a half an inch of leeway on that canoe.
[1:08:54 – 1:08:58] Erik: My God, this later proved to be about 40 pounds too much.
[1:08:58 – 1:09:00] Adam: How much hardtack have you boys eaten?
[1:09:00 – 1:09:02] Adam: Food anxiety is real.
[1:09:02 – 1:09:02] Adam: Uh-huh.
[1:09:03 – 1:09:04] Adam: Uh-huh, it is, yeah.
[1:09:04 – 1:09:10] Erik: But, you know, sometimes a forced intermittent fast never killed anybody.
[1:09:10 – 1:09:12] Adam: A little forced starvation.
[1:09:12 – 1:09:12] Erik: Yeah.
[1:09:13 – 1:09:18] Erik: Despite the extra pack weight against us, we were able to make it to Lake Polly.
[1:09:18 – 1:09:19] Adam: Polly.
[1:09:19 – 1:09:19] Adam: Polly.
[1:09:20 – 1:09:21] Erik: God dang Polly.
[1:09:22 – 1:09:25] Erik: For the next six days, we base camped and took trips to Coma.
[1:09:25 – 1:09:26] Erik: Coma.
[1:09:27 – 1:09:27] Erik: Yeah.
[1:09:27 – 1:09:28] Erik: Bream Weavers.
[1:09:28 – 1:09:29] Erik: Big Bream Weaver country.
[1:09:29 – 1:09:30] Erik: You guys Bream Weaving up there?
[1:09:31 – 1:09:33] Adam: Bream Weaver.
[1:09:34 – 1:09:36] Erik: Malberg and across the east portage on Pauley.
[1:09:37 – 1:09:39] Erik: This was the first trip that I brought a weather radio.
[1:09:40 – 1:09:44] Erik: Listening to the weather radio once per day allowed us to better plan our day trips.
[1:09:45 – 1:09:52] Erik: Throughout the week, we witnessed several storm cells pass by us and only had to experience a few bouts of increased wind and a single rain shower.
[1:09:53 – 1:09:55] Erik: On the fifth day, I listened to the weather radio.
[1:09:55 – 1:09:58] Erik: There was a warning for severe weather on our final day.
[1:09:58 – 1:10:02] Erik: Therefore, we made a decision to move camp closer to the entry point.
[1:10:03 – 1:10:08] Erik: We made a plan to camp on Kawasashang and Kawishui as a backup.
[1:10:09 – 1:10:13] Erik: On the morning of the sixth day, we were able to settle in on the southeast site of Kowasashang.
[1:10:13 – 1:10:16] Erik: I’m still not sure on the Danielson scale.
[1:10:16 – 1:10:21] Erik: If it starts at the west side and works clockwise, then for question mark?
[1:10:21 – 1:10:22] Adam: I’d have to look at a map.
[1:10:22 – 1:10:24] Adam: There’s no clocks involved in the Danielson scale.
[1:10:24 – 1:10:26] Adam: There’s no clocks wise or otherwise.
[1:10:26 – 1:10:27] Adam: It’s on an axis.
[1:10:29 – 1:10:30] Adam: Time is not linear.
[1:10:30 – 1:10:31] Erik: Yeah, it’s a flat circle.
[1:10:32 – 1:10:36] Erik: The plan was to wake up early and exit before the severe weather could strike.
[1:10:37 – 1:10:42] Erik: On the morning of the seventh day, we were awoken at 6 a.m. to thunder rumbling in the distance.
[1:10:43 – 1:10:47] Erik: Broke camp, made it out onto the water in record time, but it was too late.
[1:10:48 – 1:10:52] Erik: We made it across the lake, only to be met by a wall of black clouds.
[1:10:53 – 1:11:00] Adam: Wall of Black Clouds is my favorite Chris Gaines album, for sure.
[1:11:00 – 1:11:01] Erik: You bad boy.
[1:11:01 – 1:11:04] Erik: It could also be a scary Precipitation Griffith novel, too.
[1:11:04 – 1:11:05] Adam: It could be, actually.
[1:11:06 – 1:11:07] Adam: It’s the prequel to this novel.
[1:11:08 – 1:11:10] Erik: Upon seeing lightning, we turned back to our campsite.
[1:11:11 – 1:11:11] Erik: Yeah.
[1:11:12 – 1:11:18] Erik: After we landed on shore, we stashed the canoes in tall grass and made haste, pitching the lean-to.
[1:11:18 – 1:11:26] Erik: The storm finally arrived, casting 35-mile-per-hour winds, 60-mile-per-hour gusts, and produced golf-ball-sized hail.
[1:11:26 – 1:11:27] Adam: I’m never going to Kawasachung.
[1:11:28 – 1:11:28] Erik: Apparently that, yeah.
[1:11:29 – 1:11:33] Adam: That’s where the people got blown into the lake by the Pagami Creek fire.
[1:11:33 – 1:11:34] Erik: Yeah, that’s right.
[1:11:34 – 1:11:38] Erik: Man, hail would be a real bummer out there to get just pummeled.
[1:11:38 – 1:11:47] Erik: Not enough to like, I mean, you can get brutalized and probably killed by some mega hail, like if you’re down in like Tornado Alley.
[1:11:47 – 1:11:49] Erik: But, you know, I think most of the time it’s like golf ball.
[1:11:49 – 1:11:55] Erik: Can you imagine just being out in the open, just getting hacked apart and pummeled by little…
[1:11:55 – 1:11:56] Adam: What happened to you guys?
[1:11:56 – 1:11:57] Adam: You got hailed on.
[1:11:57 – 1:11:58] Adam: You got hailed on.
[1:11:58 – 1:11:59] Erik: I’m all bruised.
[1:12:00 – 1:12:03] Erik: Looks like you got bludgeoned with a sock full of doorknobs.
[1:12:04 – 1:12:07] Adam: I really need some ibuprofen and some hollandaise sauce immediately.
[1:12:07 – 1:12:07] Adam: Help.
[1:12:09 – 1:12:11] Adam: What’s the hollandaise for eating?
[1:12:11 – 1:12:12] Adam: No, I want to rub it on my bruises.
[1:12:12 – 1:12:13] Adam: Yeah, you got to rub that.
[1:12:13 – 1:12:14] Adam: Yeah, I want to eat it.
[1:12:14 – 1:12:14] Adam: What’s wrong with you?
[1:12:15 – 1:12:16] Erik: I got to rub it on my welts.
[1:12:19 – 1:12:23] Erik: So it seemed like an eternity, but was probably closer to 10 to 15 minutes.
[1:12:23 – 1:12:27] Erik: The deafening pounding on the tarp subsided and the weather lightened up.
[1:12:27 – 1:12:30] Adam: Deafening Pounding is my second favorite Chris Gaines album, for sure.
[1:12:30 – 1:12:31] Adam: Deafening Pounding.
[1:12:31 – 1:12:32] Adam: That’s definitely an album.
[1:12:32 – 1:12:34] Adam: That one’s the penultimate.
[1:12:34 – 1:12:34] Adam: Yeah.
[1:12:34 – 1:12:40] Erik: As soon as it was safe to come out of the lean-to, we heard cheering from the group at the campsite to the north and joined in.
[1:12:40 – 1:12:41] Adam: Huzzah!
[1:12:41 – 1:12:42] Adam: We did it!
[1:12:42 – 1:12:44] Erik: We survived the hail onslaught.
[1:12:44 – 1:12:45] Erik: Yeah.
[1:12:45 – 1:12:50] Erik: To this day, I haven’t been in a worse storm in the wilderness, but I think we were all better for it.
[1:12:51 – 1:12:57] Erik: One of the members from our group I haven’t been in touch with, but for the other two newbies, they mainly stick to car camping now.
[1:12:57 – 1:12:58] Adam: That’s too bad.
[1:12:59 – 1:13:01] Erik: Despite the storm on our final day, our trip was a success.
[1:13:02 – 1:13:08] Erik: I learned some lessons about the importance of meal planning, packing light, and respecting nature’s power.
[1:13:09 – 1:13:15] Erik: Tired but triumphant, we concluded our trip after beers and burgers at Canal Park Brewing.
[1:13:16 – 1:13:19] Adam: That’s what a Congaree is all about right there.
[1:13:20 – 1:13:20] Adam: Huh?
[1:13:20 – 1:13:21] Erik: Fien.
[1:13:21 – 1:13:21] Adam: Oh, Fien.
[1:13:22 – 1:13:22] Adam: Not to the end.
[1:13:22 – 1:13:23] Adam: Oh, I like that.
[1:13:23 – 1:13:24] Adam: Is it all in caps?
[1:13:24 – 1:13:24] Adam: Yes.
[1:13:25 – 1:13:26] Adam: And italics.
[1:13:26 – 1:13:28] Erik: Not italicized, just caps.
[1:13:28 – 1:13:28] Adam: Thank God.
[1:13:28 – 1:13:29] Adam: I was joking.
[1:13:29 – 1:13:29] Adam: Yeah.
[1:13:30 – 1:13:30] Adam: You better not.
[1:13:31 – 1:13:33] Erik: I’m going to take this next one because it’s a little shorter.
[1:13:33 – 1:13:33] Erik: I’ll give you the big one.
[1:13:34 – 1:13:35] Adam: Bless your heart.
[1:13:35 – 1:13:36] Erik: Eagle 98MN.
[1:13:37 – 1:13:38] Adam: Dear friend of the show.
[1:13:39 – 1:13:43] Erik: This sounds like a radio station voice there for you guys.
[1:13:43 – 1:13:44] Erik: Sorry.
[1:13:44 – 1:13:47] Erik: I’m fortunate not to have encountered any major storms.
[1:13:47 – 1:13:47] Erik: All right.
[1:13:48 – 1:13:49] Adam: Thanks for chiming in.
[1:13:49 – 1:13:51] Adam: Thanks for chiming in.
[1:13:51 – 1:13:54] Adam: Maybe next time tell us about some of this.
[1:13:55 – 1:13:58] Erik: But if I could teleport myself to any campsite.
[1:13:58 – 1:13:58] Erik: Bill Ubell.
[1:13:58 – 1:14:01] Erik: Well, this is campsite tip advice here.
[1:14:01 – 1:14:04] Erik: It’s probably like the cracked erratic.
[1:14:04 – 1:14:05] Adam: Yeah, there you go.
[1:14:05 – 1:14:10] Erik: A good place to be if you’re in need of some protection.
[1:14:12 – 1:14:17] Erik: As a storm blows in, we’ve got number 503 on Gillis.
[1:14:17 – 1:14:20] Erik: Don’t know where exactly that would be, but I know where Gillis is.
[1:14:21 – 1:14:22] Adam: Yeah, we’re seeing it right now.
[1:14:22 – 1:14:23] Adam: It’s on the map here.
[1:14:24 – 1:14:30] Erik: There’s a crevice trench that’s more impervious than a root cellar.
[1:14:30 – 1:14:31] Erik: A crevice trench.
[1:14:31 – 1:14:32] Erik: Nice.
[1:14:32 – 1:14:32] Erik: Wow.
[1:14:32 – 1:14:37] Erik: Check out the campsite on Paddle Planner for a photo of me standing in a portion of it.
[1:14:37 – 1:14:39] Adam: At 503 Crevice Trench?
[1:14:39 – 1:14:40] Adam: Yeah.
[1:14:40 – 1:14:41] SPEAKER_00: 503 Crevice Trench.
[1:14:41 – 1:14:49] Erik: And of course, if I could teleport as a storm blows in, it would be reasonable to question why I wouldn’t teleport to a campsite outside of the storm.
[1:14:49 – 1:14:50] Erik: But yeah.
[1:14:50 – 1:14:51] Adam: Because storms are fun.
[1:14:52 – 1:14:53] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I still would love to be.
[1:14:53 – 1:14:54] Adam: If you survive them.
[1:14:54 – 1:14:59] Erik: If you know that you can be in a safe place, yeah, I would prefer to be experiencing the storm always.
[1:15:00 – 1:15:01] Adam: He’s cracking.
[1:15:01 – 1:15:02] Erik: Cracked erratic.
[1:15:02 – 1:15:03] Erik: Cracked trench.
[1:15:04 – 1:15:05] Adam: Trench crevasse.
[1:15:06 – 1:15:07] Adam: Yikes.
[1:15:07 – 1:15:10] Adam: We’ll have to look that one up after we end recording tonight.
[1:15:10 – 1:15:11] Adam: Paddle planter.
[1:15:11 – 1:15:13] Adam: We’ll find 503.
[1:15:13 – 1:15:14] Adam: I’m going to go check that one out.
[1:15:14 – 1:15:16] Adam: I’m bookmarking it in my mind right now.
[1:15:16 – 1:15:17] Adam: Thank you for the comment.
[1:15:18 – 1:15:27] Adam: Next up on the show, dear friend of the show, Gobi in my pants 22 days ago.
[1:15:28 – 1:15:34] Adam: I’ve been fairly lucky as far as storms go, and you may hear me knocking on wood as I write this.
[1:15:36 – 1:15:39] Adam: But I’ve been through some thunderstorms and three-day soakers.
[1:15:39 – 1:15:40] Adam: Nothing real bad.
[1:15:41 – 1:15:46] Adam: Even in the following events, the weather wasn’t awful, just not good to be out in big open water.
[1:15:47 – 1:16:03] Adam: In late July 2020, during the COVID crush that the BWCA experienced, I was adding to it by taking first-timers that comprised of my brothers-in-law and 10-year-old nephew, in addition to my father, 71, who had a handful of trips on his stamp card.
[1:16:04 – 1:16:09] Adam: We were on the aluminum highway, Lake 3, just past the narrows into Lake 2.
[1:16:09 – 1:16:14] Adam: It had been windy for two days, and now the wind was really ripping.
[1:16:14 – 1:16:18] Adam: Working on the Laxento rolling whitecaps.
[1:16:18 – 1:16:25] Adam: Sitting in camp, we were amusing ourselves with a game of spades while praying it would blow out so we could get out and fish.
[1:16:26 – 1:16:31] Adam: Sometime after a few hands, we saw a pair of canoes start working up into the wind.
[1:16:31 – 1:16:35] Adam: The lead canoe was three college-age boys and the other three similar-age girls.
[1:16:36 – 1:16:44] Adam: The canoes were coming from the southern portion of Lake 3, and once they cleared the mid-lake islands, the boys had really put some distance between the two boats.
[1:16:45 – 1:16:47] Adam: As the girls got past the islands, they seemed in trouble.
[1:16:48 – 1:16:52] Adam: They couldn’t keep the canoe straight or pointed in the general direction of the boys.
[1:16:53 – 1:16:55] Adam: The wind pushed them as it pleased.
[1:16:55 – 1:17:01] Adam: Something to note is that both canoes were unladen, no packs or gear, just paddlers.
[1:17:02 – 1:17:07] Adam: The girls were looking tired and often were making little to no progress north and frequently losing ground.
[1:17:07 – 1:17:10] Adam: They all wore PFDs, which was a relief.
[1:17:10 – 1:17:13] Adam: We wondered what they were even doing out like that.
[1:17:13 – 1:17:15] Adam: It was practically blowing a gagger.
[1:17:15 – 1:17:17] SPEAKER_00: Pew, pew, pew.
[1:17:17 – 1:17:17] SPEAKER_00: Pew.
[1:17:18 – 1:17:19] Adam: Gagger counter.
[1:17:19 – 1:17:20] Adam: Oh, no.
[1:17:20 – 1:17:20] UNKNOWN: No.
[1:17:21 – 1:17:22] Adam: It’s on.
[1:17:22 – 1:17:24] Adam: It’s about time we had a gagger on this episode.
[1:17:25 – 1:17:25] Erik: Yeah, really.
[1:17:25 – 1:17:30] Adam: We can batten the hatches all we want, but everybody wants to hear about the damn gagger.
[1:17:30 – 1:17:30] Erik: That’s right.
[1:17:31 – 1:17:31] Erik: What was that from?
[1:17:31 – 1:17:34] Erik: Was that from the Edmund Fitzgerald?
[1:17:34 – 1:17:34] Adam: Blowing a gagger.
[1:17:36 – 1:17:39] Adam: When we first saw them start to struggle, a debate started amongst us.
[1:17:40 – 1:17:41] Adam: Who was going out to help them?
[1:17:42 – 1:17:47] Adam: We had a Min-2, a Min-3 tied down on shore and figured the Min-2 would be the better choice for this.
[1:17:48 – 1:17:51] Adam: I was going no matter what, as I had the most experience paddling.
[1:17:51 – 1:17:55] Adam: It was between my two in-laws as to who would be taking the bow seat.
[1:17:56 – 1:17:59] Adam: Right as we had gotten that settled, the younger of the two brothers had been chosen.
[1:18:00 – 1:18:07] Adam: The girls did a 180 and best back south with the wind pushing them back to camp.
[1:18:09 – 1:18:10] Erik: I think that might be a typo.
[1:18:10 – 1:18:12] Adam: They headed back south anyways.
[1:18:12 – 1:18:14] Adam: They turned and went with the wind.
[1:18:14 – 1:18:14] Adam: Yeah.
[1:18:15 – 1:18:19] Adam: We all agreed we were glad they turned around since the plan for helping them wasn’t great.
[1:18:20 – 1:18:25] Adam: And the likelihood of us having problems was far greater than zero with that wind and lake chop.
[1:18:27 – 1:18:28] Adam: Thank you for the story.
[1:18:28 – 1:18:29] Adam: Yeah, I don’t know.
[1:18:29 – 1:18:33] Adam: Almost a rescue scenario for some college-aged girls.
[1:18:33 – 1:18:34] Erik: Yeah.
[1:18:34 – 1:18:35] Adam: Why were they?
[1:18:35 – 1:18:36] Adam: What’s with the?
[1:18:36 – 1:18:37] Adam: Yeah.
[1:18:37 – 1:18:37] Adam: What were they doing?
[1:18:38 – 1:19:03] Erik: don’t know you know what people do you don’t know nobody let’s hey let’s go out for a paddle yeah there’s a good fishing spot let’s just get out of the wind first i don’t know it could be a number of things like the fact that they didn’t have gear with them makes you think that it was absolutely unnecessary for them to be out there they’re not looking for a good time yeah maybe they were out looking for a good time maybe they’re out looking for firewood i don’t know my god
[1:19:03 – 1:19:08] Adam: Yeah, if you’re out in a gagger like that, maybe stick closer to your fellow canoers.
[1:19:09 – 1:19:14] Erik: Yeah, also- Don’t let the distance- College boys, you guys are going to get real talking to when you get back to camp.
[1:19:14 – 1:19:16] Erik: College boys, what are you thinking?
[1:19:16 – 1:19:17] Erik: Ah, they’ll be fine.
[1:19:17 – 1:19:18] Erik: They’re fine.
[1:19:18 – 1:19:18] Erik: Don’t see them.
[1:19:18 – 1:19:19] Adam: Everybody’s fine.
[1:19:20 – 1:19:23] Adam: Women can paddle just as fine as a man.
[1:19:23 – 1:19:26] Erik: Regardless of who’s in the canoe, you don’t want to just take off.
[1:19:26 – 1:19:27] Adam: Still stick close.
[1:19:27 – 1:19:28] Adam: You’re buddies, no?
[1:19:28 – 1:19:31] Erik: Yeah, I don’t know what the rescue operation would have looked like, though.
[1:19:31 – 1:19:33] Adam: Why would you pick the Min 2 over the Min 3?
[1:19:34 – 1:19:35] Erik: Maybe it was the makeup of the group.
[1:19:35 – 1:19:36] Erik: I don’t know.
[1:19:36 – 1:19:37] Erik: It sounded like it was a lot of newbies.
[1:19:38 – 1:19:42] Adam: More nimble, for sure, but less cargo space if you had to rescue anybody.
[1:19:43 – 1:19:44] Erik: Yeah, I don’t know.
[1:19:44 – 1:19:47] Erik: I probably would have gone for the men, too.
[1:19:47 – 1:19:51] Erik: It’s a little bit more strategic out there if you’ve got to try and make some kind of a maneuver.
[1:19:52 – 1:19:53] Adam: Did you bring any ropes with you?
[1:19:54 – 1:19:54] Erik: Yeah, I don’t know.
[1:19:54 – 1:19:57] Adam: I guess they never left the camp, so it didn’t come to that.
[1:19:57 – 1:20:00] Erik: You know, a paddle up to them and just be like, turn back.
[1:20:00 – 1:20:00] Adam: Y’all cool?
[1:20:01 – 1:20:01] Erik: Yeah.
[1:20:01 – 1:20:02] Erik: Now we’re both out here.
[1:20:02 – 1:20:03] Erik: Why are you out here?
[1:20:03 – 1:20:04] SPEAKER_00: Go back.
[1:20:05 – 1:20:06] SPEAKER_00: Come back from whence you came.
[1:20:06 – 1:20:08] Adam: Whence you came.
[1:20:08 – 1:20:12] Adam: Next up on the show, a dear friend of the show, Old Canoe Guy.
[1:20:12 – 1:20:12] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[1:20:14 – 1:20:15] Adam: 23 days ago.
[1:20:16 – 1:20:17] Erik: Huh?
[1:20:17 – 1:20:19] Erik: I think the mosquitoes have found us somehow.
[1:20:19 – 1:20:20] Erik: How’d they get in here?
[1:20:20 – 1:20:21] Adam: It’s the witching hour.
[1:20:21 – 1:20:22] Adam: I guess so, yeah.
[1:20:22 – 1:20:27] Adam: I was out in the garden last night messing around at this time of night, and they were awful.
[1:20:27 – 1:20:28] Adam: Yeah.
[1:20:28 – 1:20:30] Adam: Like clouds of them.
[1:20:30 – 1:20:33] Erik: In 2012, we were camped on Carp Lake in Quetico.
[1:20:34 – 1:20:35] Adam: I like this story already, Eric.
[1:20:35 – 1:20:36] Adam: Nice.
[1:20:36 – 1:20:40] Adam: One of my favorite lakes in all of the world, Carp Lake.
[1:20:42 – 1:20:48] Adam: At about 1.30 in the morning, we heard a bunch of loons flying overhead, wailing very loudly.
[1:20:48 – 1:20:51] Adam: A couple of us got out of the tent.
[1:20:51 – 1:20:54] Adam: The loons were so loud, we thought it was very curious.
[1:20:55 – 1:21:02] Adam: In the far distance, we saw a few flashes of lightning, said we might get a storm later that night in a few hours.
[1:21:03 – 1:21:08] Adam: Five minutes later, the storm blew in with wind, thunder, lightning, and torrential rain.
[1:21:08 – 1:21:09] Erik: Five minutes later.
[1:21:09 – 1:21:10] Erik: Yeah.
[1:21:11 – 1:21:11] Erik: So it’s moving quick.
[1:21:12 – 1:21:16] Adam: It was incredible how hard it rained, how quickly the storm came in.
[1:21:16 – 1:21:23] Adam: We did fine with it, but the next morning my 20-year-old niece got out of her tent and looked at the standing water all around the campsite and said,
[1:21:23 – 1:21:25] Erik: Did it rain last night?
[1:21:25 – 1:21:26] Erik: Classic 20-year-old.
[1:21:26 – 1:21:27] Adam: Oh, to be young again.
[1:21:27 – 1:21:27] Adam: Yeah.
[1:21:28 – 1:21:31] Adam: As a side note, this year, we were all camped up there.
[1:21:32 – 1:21:40] Adam: We’d seen the forecast that called for rain Monday and Tuesday, but on Monday, it was a beautiful day, so we decided not to bail out early and stayed for our whole trip.
[1:21:41 – 1:21:44] Adam: Oh, we woke up Tuesday at 4.30 in the morning to light rain.
[1:21:45 – 1:21:46] Adam: Then some lightning and thunder came in.
[1:21:47 – 1:21:52] Adam: It was our pickup day near Prairie Portage, so we knew we had to leave.
[1:21:52 – 1:21:57] Adam: The forecast called for heavy rain later that day, but we were hoping for a window.
[1:21:58 – 1:22:02] Adam: At about 6 o’clock, the rain stopped and the thunder and lightning moved off.
[1:22:02 – 1:22:08] Adam: We were pretty much packed up the night before, so we got our stuff in the canoe by 6.30 and we were paddling and got picked up at 9.00.
[1:22:10 – 1:22:19] Adam: Which was a good thing, as it appears the area got very hard hit by rain yesterday with flooding and roads washed out and a lot of bad weather going on.
[1:22:19 – 1:22:22] Adam: Oh, so they were in there for that storm 23 days ago.
[1:22:22 – 1:22:22] Adam: All right.
[1:22:23 – 1:22:24] Adam: Just made her out.
[1:22:25 – 1:22:26] Adam: Didn’t get stuck in the parking lot.
[1:22:26 – 1:22:27] Erik: Made her out.
[1:22:28 – 1:22:33] Adam: It’s all about, yeah, the little bit of itty-bitty timing between the major things.
[1:22:33 – 1:22:34] Erik: Going help Jeep.
[1:22:35 – 1:22:54] Adam: at prairie partage down here in my pit my name is jeep jeep called clinton or what was his name chip called chip chip elkins hey chip everybody’s calling here we’re stuck up here we got some crazy loons up here chip yeah that’s what we’re gonna do what are we gonna do chip
[1:22:55 – 1:23:24] Adam: get out of the tent because of that many loons flying overhead it must have been don’t worry if you got that many loons flying overhead you’re next up on the list to get picked up yeah we’re gonna be there you’re at the top of the list we promise you buddy we will never die jip that was a good story carp beautiful lake it only takes a couple hours to get from carp to prairie portage i guess so yeah yeah i guess so prairie portage full of trees for now for now
[1:23:26 – 1:23:27] Erik: Man, what do we got?
[1:23:27 – 1:23:30] Erik: One, two, three, four, five, six.
[1:23:31 – 1:23:33] Erik: Think we can get these in yet?
[1:23:34 – 1:23:35] Adam: How are we sitting for time there, homie?
[1:23:35 – 1:23:38] Erik: It’s like an hour and a half.
[1:23:38 – 1:23:41] Adam: Although the final episode of these series always ends up being long.
[1:23:42 – 1:23:42] Erik: Yeah.
[1:23:42 – 1:23:46] Adam: I do kind of have to visit the outdoors soon, though.
[1:23:47 – 1:23:48] Adam: I can’t stay in this shed much longer, Eric.
[1:23:50 – 1:23:52] Erik: You’re going to go out there with the bugs, huh?
[1:23:52 – 1:23:52] Adam: No, I’m not.
[1:23:53 – 1:23:54] Adam: Read faster.
[1:23:54 – 1:23:54] Erik: Okay.
[1:23:55 – 1:23:57] Erik: Distracted underscore loon.
[1:23:59 – 1:24:08] Erik: A few years ago, while staying on Cherokee Lake, we had a very windy day, causing large whitecaps and forcing us to have an extra day on our island oasis.
[1:24:09 – 1:24:16] Erik: I always look for widowmakers or questionable trees when scouting a campsite, but hadn’t spotted any tree of concern on this site.
[1:24:17 – 1:24:22] Erik: Regardless, after a particularly impressive gust of wind, two trees blew over on top of our canoes.
[1:24:22 – 1:24:24] Erik: T-O-C. Oh no.
[1:24:24 – 1:24:25] Adam: Tree of concern.
[1:24:25 – 1:24:28] Erik: Tree of concern and also top of our canoes.
[1:24:31 – 1:24:53] Erik: top talks top our canoes these weren’t old or diseased trees but seemingly healthy specimens whose root systems just couldn’t hold up to that big gust luckily the canoes were not damaged and after some time with the folding saw we had cleared the landing created a decent pile of firewood to season for the following year i’m sure some people tried burning it that next weekend
[1:24:53 – 1:24:54] Adam: This looks good.
[1:24:54 – 1:24:55] Erik: Yeah, this is dry, right?
[1:24:55 – 1:25:00] Erik: Pa, I’ve wondered about the best action to take during inclement weather in the park.
[1:25:00 – 1:25:03] Erik: The Forest Service guidance boils down to be prepared.
[1:25:03 – 1:25:04] Erik: Yeah.
[1:25:04 – 1:25:09] Erik: But when I pressed them at a ranger station to explain further, they just told me to be prepared.
[1:25:11 – 1:25:12] Adam: Real sternly.
[1:25:12 – 1:25:12] Erik: Yeah.
[1:25:12 – 1:25:17] Erik: Given how windy this year seems to be, we may have more layovers in camp than usual.
[1:25:19 – 1:25:28] Erik: Yeah, the Forest Service, I don’t know if it’s like a litigious thing where they’re like, we don’t want to give any specific instructions because if somebody does it and then dies, we don’t.
[1:25:28 – 1:25:30] Erik: Just be prepared is ambiguous enough.
[1:25:30 – 1:25:35] Adam: Yeah, they’ve been prepared by human resources on how to answer that question.
[1:25:35 – 1:25:38] Adam: Don’t put anything in writing, whatever you do.
[1:25:38 – 1:25:39] Erik: Yeah, except fish guts.
[1:25:39 – 1:25:41] Erik: Change that every six to eight months.
[1:25:42 – 1:25:43] Erik: Keep them on their toes.
[1:25:43 – 1:25:45] Erik: Yeah, that’ll keep them on their toes.
[1:25:45 – 1:25:46] Erik: They won’t think about the wind.
[1:25:47 – 1:26:10] Erik: suddenly literate good for you june 22 while no stranger to the bwca it was only my second season as a sky camper we were base camped on ogish and after a beautiful but windy afternoon we watched some large cumulonimbus clouds from the northwest whilst enjoying our after dinner bourbon we listened to the
[1:26:10 – 1:26:17] Erik: trusty old weather radio, only to hear National Weather Service call for lime-sized hail.
[1:26:17 – 1:26:18] Adam: What?
[1:26:19 – 1:26:21] Adam: Getting real creative down there in Duluth.
[1:26:22 – 1:26:25] Erik: It’s a dwarf coconut-sized hail this evening.
[1:26:26 – 1:26:28] Adam: It’s a Myers lemon-sized hail.
[1:26:28 – 1:26:31] Erik: Not key limes, Myers-sized limes.
[1:26:31 – 1:26:31] Erik: Thank you.
[1:26:32 – 1:26:35] Erik: And 75 mile per hour question mark?
[1:26:35 – 1:26:36] Erik: Wind just…
[1:26:36 – 1:26:37] Erik: Hey.
[1:26:37 – 1:26:40] Erik: That must have been that day where there was literally, like, tornado warnings.
[1:26:40 – 1:26:41] Erik: That was the day, yeah.
[1:26:41 – 1:26:46] Erik: And there was, like, I think there was an active, like, BWCA camper beware, like, post.
[1:26:46 – 1:26:46] Erik: Advisory.
[1:26:47 – 1:26:47] Erik: Uh-huh.
[1:26:47 – 1:26:48] Adam: Like, get your ass together.
[1:26:49 – 1:26:49] Erik: Yeah.
[1:26:49 – 1:26:50] Adam: Advisory.
[1:26:50 – 1:26:51] Erik: Loon bleeps puckered.
[1:26:52 – 1:26:56] Erik: We hastily cleaned up camp, tied down what we could, and made a game plan.
[1:26:56 – 1:27:00] Erik: Although I don’t think my Kevlar canoe is rated for lime-sized hail.
[1:27:01 – 1:27:01] Erik: Yeah.
[1:27:02 – 1:27:05] Adam: You wouldn’t think so, but it is, though, friend.
[1:27:05 – 1:27:05] Adam: Don’t worry about it.
[1:27:05 – 1:27:07] Erik: I rode the storm out in my hammock.
[1:27:07 – 1:27:08] Adam: Yeah, that’s smart.
[1:27:09 – 1:27:10] Erik: Yeah, what else are you going to do?
[1:27:10 – 1:27:11] Erik: The wind moving?
[1:27:11 – 1:27:14] Adam: If you’re not touching the ground, you can’t be electrocuted.
[1:27:14 – 1:27:18] Erik: Yeah, and you’re not going to get struck in the temple by a lime coming out of this, an ice lime.
[1:27:20 – 1:27:31] Erik: I roared the storm out in my hammock with the wind moving the hammock trees with such gusto I was rocking up and down vertically a good six to eight inches in addition to the normal back and forth.
[1:27:33 – 1:27:44] Erik: Thankfully, no hail was had, and I was only left with an incredible view of mighty Zeus battling it out as the lightning danced across the lake and the thunder roared overhead.
[1:27:44 – 1:27:47] Erik: Yeah, I remember that day where it was like…
[1:27:47 – 1:28:11] Adam: active like hail advisories right yeah i never heard lime sized i missed that one that’s crazy it’s so funny next up on the show dear friend of the show friere jacuzzi 17 days ago my worst was a may storm on the fowls after a morning of drizzle the rain turned to outright downpour with headwinds over 20 miles per hour
[1:28:11 – 1:28:19] Adam: Waves were two feet tall and coming at us about 45 degrees off of what the wind was doing, which is always more challenging.
[1:28:19 – 1:28:20] Adam: Indeed.
[1:28:20 – 1:28:25] Adam: The real trouble is that in the thick of this, a rivet came out of my bowman seat.
[1:28:26 – 1:28:26] Adam: Oh, no.
[1:28:26 – 1:28:29] Adam: Which put him down to just one rivet on one side.
[1:28:29 – 1:28:32] Erik: Hanging on to my one rivet back here.
[1:28:32 – 1:28:34] Erik: I’m down to one rivet, bud.
[1:28:34 – 1:28:39] Adam: An outfitter that shall not be named sent us out with two rivets already missing.
[1:28:39 – 1:28:40] Adam: Oh, no.
[1:28:40 – 1:28:42] Adam: I’ll never forget to check that again.
[1:28:42 – 1:28:43] Adam: Probably saw a bill.
[1:28:44 – 1:28:47] SPEAKER_00: No, they would never do anything like that.
[1:28:48 – 1:28:51] Adam: What?
[1:28:51 – 1:28:51] Adam: What?
[1:28:51 – 1:29:00] Adam: It was a pretty tense moment since neither of us were familiar with knee paddling, and it was going to be impossible to advance without two fully engaged paddlers.
[1:29:01 – 1:29:10] Adam: Fortunately, we were able to rig it up to the crossbar with some cord that was accessible and managed to hold on for the remainder of the trek.
[1:29:10 – 1:29:14] Adam: Yeah, you didn’t find a bungee at the next portage for that one, I bet.
[1:29:15 – 1:29:17] Erik: Two fully engorged paddlers?
[1:29:18 – 1:29:19] Erik: Is that what the line was?
[1:29:19 – 1:29:23] Erik: Or is that a Carrie Griffith, Scary Griffith now?
[1:29:23 – 1:29:28] Adam: That was a scary precipitation, lime-sized engagement.
[1:29:29 – 1:29:36] Adam: Next up on the show, first-time caller, welcome to Tumble Home, a proud independent podcast.
[1:29:37 – 1:29:39] Adam: Next up on the show, Canoe 2.
[1:29:40 – 1:29:44] Adam: Canoe spelled with a K, two spelled with a number.
[1:29:44 – 1:29:44] Erik: Oh.
[1:29:45 – 1:29:53] Adam: About 20 years ago, five foolish fellas, myself included, made our way to IMA out of the Snowbank EP.
[1:29:54 – 1:30:00] Adam: We base camped, and on the second day, we were a couple miles south of our campsite fishing for some lakers.
[1:30:00 – 1:30:05] Adam: We noticed a dark cloud to the southwest and foolishly continued fishing.
[1:30:06 – 1:30:07] Adam: You are a foolish group, aren’t you?
[1:30:08 – 1:30:08] Erik: You fools.
[1:30:09 – 1:30:10] Erik: You foolish fools.
[1:30:10 – 1:30:16] Adam: There were three of us in an aluminum tandem canoe, and the middle guy ended up tying into a good-sized laker.
[1:30:16 – 1:30:17] Erik: Well, now it’s all worth it.
[1:30:17 – 1:30:19] Adam: That wanted to stay down.
[1:30:19 – 1:30:22] Adam: Yeah, they do bite in front of a front.
[1:30:22 – 1:30:23] Erik: Right in front of the front.
[1:30:24 – 1:30:28] Adam: By the time that fish was landed, it was clear we needed to start heading back to camp.
[1:30:29 – 1:30:33] Adam: As the light had gone out in the west and a dark cloud bank was almost upon us.
[1:30:34 – 1:30:34] UNKNOWN: Eeeeee.
[1:30:35 – 1:30:41] Adam: As we made our way north, we could hear rips of thunder and the wind started picking up and pushing cool air.
[1:30:42 – 1:30:51] Adam: About halfway the distance back to camp, I looked behind us and saw a white wall of heavy rain and strong wind whipping up the lake.
[1:30:52 – 1:30:55] Adam: All of this coming across the lake towards our canoes.
[1:30:55 – 1:31:00] Adam: Holy, you guys, I shouted from the stern as I realized we were in trouble.
[1:31:01 – 1:31:08] Adam: We did not have the sense to paddle near shore either, thinking in our foolishness that the most direct route was preferable.
[1:31:08 – 1:31:15] Adam: We paddled like hell, but the white wall overtook us, and we were about a mile, about a half mile from camp.
[1:31:16 – 1:31:22] Adam: Pouring rain and wind made it difficult to hear the shouted expletives from my friends.
[1:31:23 – 1:31:28] Adam: The white caps were rolling along with us, helping to push us towards our destination.
[1:31:29 – 1:31:32] Adam: Oh, but I could see the rollers were cresting over each of the gunnels.
[1:31:33 – 1:31:37] Adam: As we neared the site, lightning struck shore about a quarter mile to our east.
[1:31:38 – 1:31:42] Adam: With the waves and water and a canoe, our landing was very rough.
[1:31:42 – 1:31:44] Adam: But we were very glad to be on shore.
[1:31:45 – 1:31:50] Adam: We pulled up the canoe onto the rocky outcropping, flipped it, and ran for the tent.
[1:31:50 – 1:31:55] Adam: The rest of our group were surprised we showed up when we did, as they had made it back well before us.
[1:31:55 – 1:31:57] Adam: The wind continued increasing.
[1:31:58 – 1:32:04] Adam: Trees started to come down in and around camp, and we could hear the canoes shifting on the rocks.
[1:32:04 – 1:32:08] Adam: Those canoes we also failed to secure with ropes when we arrived.
[1:32:09 – 1:32:16] Adam: We made one good decision and abandoned the tent, making for the large boulder near camp to hunker down and wait out the worst of the wind.
[1:32:17 – 1:32:21] Adam: When the storm relented, the sun came out pretty quickly.
[1:32:21 – 1:32:26] Adam: We surveyed the damage, and the canoes had somehow not been flipped from their positions,
[1:32:27 – 1:32:30] Adam: But my tackle box had been thrown into the lake.
[1:32:30 – 1:32:30] Erik: Oh, no.
[1:32:30 – 1:32:33] Adam: I was able to retrieve it and most of my lures.
[1:32:34 – 1:32:35] Adam: Lures!
[1:32:35 – 1:32:39] Adam: We knew we had gotten very lucky with the wind, waves, water, and lightning.
[1:32:40 – 1:32:50] Adam: I think about that one when people talk about the hubris of youth, hubris of youth, or the times we’re surprised we made it to middle age.
[1:32:51 – 1:32:51] Erik: Yeah, I’d say.
[1:32:52 – 1:32:53] Erik: Thank you.
[1:32:53 – 1:32:54] Erik: That’s a tough situation there.
[1:32:54 – 1:32:55] Erik: My God.
[1:32:56 – 1:32:57] Erik: Sounds like…
[1:32:57 – 1:32:58] SPEAKER_00: Lightning strike.
[1:32:58 – 1:32:59] SPEAKER_00: Lightning strike.
[1:32:59 – 1:33:21] Adam: That reminds me of our last adventure on Winchell when we were already on shore by the time the surprise lightning strike occurred, but it was still like, we were on the water like two minutes ago, and that is truly a matter of minutes of difference between being in a really awful position as opposed to one that was just merely scary.
[1:33:21 – 1:33:25] Erik: Yeah, we’ve never been fully caught out on the water.
[1:33:25 – 1:33:30] Adam: I don’t ever want to be in a canoe where I see a tree get zapped right over there.
[1:33:32 – 1:33:34] Adam: I’ve been in a few bad ones, but I’ve never seen that.
[1:33:35 – 1:33:38] Erik: I don’t know if there was lightning involved.
[1:33:39 – 1:33:54] Erik: or like really heavy rain, but this, one of my favorite quotes from a story, a friend of the show and friend in real life, he was paddling with a guy coming across a lake just right into a headwind.
[1:33:54 – 1:33:58] Erik: All they had to do was get across the other side to the landing.
[1:33:58 – 1:33:59] Erik: They needed to be done.
[1:33:59 – 1:33:59] Erik: The trip was over.
[1:34:00 – 1:34:01] Erik: They were just like grinding it out.
[1:34:02 – 1:34:02] Adam: Last segment.
[1:34:02 – 1:34:03] Erik: Last segment.
[1:34:04 – 1:34:08] Erik: And this guy just out of nowhere drops his paddle, picks up his rod and just goes,
[1:34:08 – 1:34:10] Erik: One last cast.
[1:34:10 – 1:34:14] Erik: It’s just pitches a spoon out and he’s just like digging in.
[1:34:14 – 1:34:16] Erik: He just can’t even believe like, what?
[1:34:17 – 1:34:17] Erik: No, we can’t.
[1:34:17 – 1:34:19] Erik: We’re not fishing right now.
[1:34:19 – 1:34:20] Adam: What are you doing?
[1:34:20 – 1:34:23] Adam: I can’t be going home without one last cast.
[1:34:23 – 1:34:24] Erik: I get it.
[1:34:24 – 1:34:26] Erik: Chuck that lure in.
[1:34:26 – 1:34:28] Erik: The sentiment of the one last cast.
[1:34:28 – 1:34:28] Erik: That’s funny.
[1:34:28 – 1:34:30] Erik: Right now we’re fighting for our lives to get to shore.
[1:34:30 – 1:34:31] Erik: That’s great.
[1:34:31 – 1:34:32] Erik: That’s one of my favorite quotes.
[1:34:32 – 1:34:34] Erik: One last cast.
[1:34:34 – 1:34:35] Erik: Oh, no.
[1:34:35 – 1:34:36] Erik: That’s not happening.
[1:34:36 – 1:34:37] Erik: Reel that in.
[1:34:38 – 1:34:39] Adam: Reel that in very quickly.
[1:34:39 – 1:34:39] Adam: We have to go.
[1:34:39 – 1:34:40] Erik: Oh, man.
[1:34:40 – 1:34:41] Erik: Strange Brew 0105.
[1:34:44 – 1:34:46] Erik: Oh, thanks for episode 253.
[1:34:46 – 1:34:51] Erik: Listening to it today, July 4th in the morning while cutting my grass down in the cities.
[1:34:52 – 1:34:54] Erik: Yeah, you got to stay on top of the grass this year.
[1:34:54 – 1:34:54] Erik: My God.
[1:34:55 – 1:34:56] Erik: It’s growing like weeds.
[1:34:56 – 1:34:57] Erik: It’s thick.
[1:34:57 – 1:34:59] Erik: Brought back a flood of memories.
[1:34:59 – 1:35:04] Erik: I was on Namakan Lake just west of the BWCA on a rented houseboat.
[1:35:04 – 1:35:04] Erik: Oh, my.
[1:35:05 – 1:35:07] Erik: With my extended family during the event.
[1:35:07 – 1:35:08] Erik: Oh, no.
[1:35:08 – 1:35:10] Adam: I heard all the docks are flooded.
[1:35:11 – 1:35:11] Erik: Oh, I bet.
[1:35:12 – 1:35:17] Adam: I actually noticed I may have to cancel a Voyager’s trip because the water levels are too high.
[1:35:17 – 1:35:18] Adam: All the docks are floating away.
[1:35:18 – 1:35:19] Adam: Oh, no.
[1:35:19 – 1:35:19] Erik: Yeah.
[1:35:19 – 1:35:21] Adam: That’s where all the water goes.
[1:35:22 – 1:35:22] Erik: Yeah.
[1:35:22 – 1:35:26] Erik: Well, this is the closest story to any of the listeners who were there.
[1:35:27 – 1:35:31] Erik: I was 14, and the description of the mugginess was spot on.
[1:35:31 – 1:35:37] Erik: Also, it was the absolute worst year for stables slash horseflies, the old ankle biters.
[1:35:37 – 1:35:41] Erik: Only way to escape the flies was to be in the top deck of the houseboat.
[1:35:42 – 1:35:49] Erik: Our family had towed our aluminum fishing boats with, but the flies were so bad they would bite your ankles even through the socks if you went out fishing.
[1:35:50 – 1:36:10] Erik: the night of july 4th i will never forget the lightning storm we stayed up and watched the houseboat site we were at was tucked back in a bay and that was far northwest there was minimal storm damage we had no idea of the extent of the damage to listening to the radio on the car ride back yeah do you want to read the last one
[1:36:12 – 1:36:12] Adam: Yeah, I’ll take it.
[1:36:12 – 1:36:13] Adam: Okay.
[1:36:13 – 1:36:14] Erik: Friend of the show.
[1:36:15 – 1:36:15] Erik: Four days ago.
[1:36:15 – 1:36:17] Erik: Hey-oh.
[1:36:17 – 1:36:19] Erik: Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew.
[1:36:19 – 1:36:20] Erik: Thanks for all the responses from everybody.
[1:36:21 – 1:36:22] Erik: Thank you.
[1:36:22 – 1:36:24] Adam: Final comment batting down the hatches.
[1:36:24 – 1:36:29] Adam: Dear friend of the show and my lover, Aldi1.
[1:36:29 – 1:36:30] Adam: Oh, dear.
[1:36:31 – 1:36:33] Adam: I shouldn’t have said that out loud.
[1:36:34 – 1:36:35] Adam: Everybody loves Aldi.
[1:36:35 – 1:36:36] Adam: We love Aldi1.
[1:36:39 – 1:36:40] Adam: Two stories from the same trip.
[1:36:40 – 1:36:44] Adam: Not horrible storms, but just fun memories.
[1:36:45 – 1:36:52] Adam: May 2021, out of Clearwater, a group of seven of us, a couple trips of sorts, went north into West Pike.
[1:36:53 – 1:36:57] Adam: Our plan was to check out the sights on the lake, and if we liked them, call it a day.
[1:36:57 – 1:36:59] Adam: If not, head back to Pine.
[1:37:00 – 1:37:05] Adam: West Pike to Pine involves a 300-rod portage that is straight up and down a hill.
[1:37:05 – 1:37:06] Adam: Have you ever done it?
[1:37:06 – 1:37:06] Adam: Yeah.
[1:37:07 – 1:37:07] Adam: Yeah, I have not.
[1:37:07 – 1:37:14] Erik: It’s basically, it’s almost there just to access the hike-end site on Pine for the Border Rock Trail.
[1:37:14 – 1:37:16] Adam: It’s not intended to be a real portage.
[1:37:16 – 1:37:18] SPEAKER_00: No, but I mean, it is definitely.
[1:37:19 – 1:37:19] Adam: It’s listed.
[1:37:19 – 1:37:22] Erik: You’re going against the grain in those parts going east to west.
[1:37:22 – 1:37:24] Erik: Or going north to south, I should say.
[1:37:24 – 1:37:26] Adam: You’re traveling directly through an intrusion.
[1:37:26 – 1:37:26] Adam: Yeah.
[1:37:27 – 1:37:28] Adam: Heard it was pretty bad.
[1:37:30 – 1:37:33] Adam: Well, we stopped at West Pike site number three on the northern shore.
[1:37:33 – 1:37:34] Adam: Number two is taken.
[1:37:34 – 1:37:42] Adam: I got out of the canoe with another paddler, and while the site is highly reviewed and looked pretty nice, it just felt off.
[1:37:42 – 1:37:45] Adam: So I suggested we push on to Pine Lake.
[1:37:45 – 1:37:48] Adam: The group was somewhat tired after the long clearwater paddle.
[1:37:49 – 1:38:11] Adam: but it felt like the right choice as we arrived at the portage to pine it started to downpour as we began to unload two guys come from the pine portage i asked about the campsite scene on pine and they said every site was taken and forced them up here they asked if the sites we were just on was open and after i said yes they were super pumped that’s when i started to think
[1:38:13 – 1:38:20] Adam: I just made my group pass on that, and now we have to do the worst portage in pouring rain to a lake with no available campsites.
[1:38:21 – 1:38:22] Adam: You didn’t race them?
[1:38:22 – 1:38:24] Erik: Yeah, you should have just raced back.
[1:38:24 – 1:38:26] Erik: Actually, yeah, it’s occupied.
[1:38:26 – 1:38:28] Erik: You should probably head over to East Pike.
[1:38:28 – 1:38:30] Adam: We did the long portage in the hard rain.
[1:38:31 – 1:38:36] Adam: Not real fun, but also made you laugh at the situation, thinking we could be dry under a tarp right now.
[1:38:37 – 1:38:43] Adam: As luck has it, we go to our targeted site, and it was open, and it was great.
[1:38:43 – 1:38:50] Adam: Moral of the story is we got lucky, but also information provided by other paddlers should be taken with a grain of salt.
[1:38:50 – 1:38:51] Adam: Absolutely.
[1:38:51 – 1:38:55] Erik: Yeah, I was going to say that would be the biggest lesson is just don’t trust anybody out there.
[1:38:55 – 1:38:56] Adam: Yeah, they don’t know what they’re talking about.
[1:38:57 – 1:38:59] Adam: Everybody is a khaki scout at heart, really, out there.
[1:39:00 – 1:39:02] Adam: We’re all more Bobby than Rex.
[1:39:02 – 1:39:02] Adam: Yeah.
[1:39:03 – 1:39:05] Erik: Yeah, make sure you’ve got a good supply of flares.
[1:39:05 – 1:39:07] Erik: That’s the third lesson.
[1:39:07 – 1:39:12] Adam: I always keep at least a cartridge or two of flare powder on my hip at all times.
[1:39:13 – 1:39:13] Adam: Just powder.
[1:39:13 – 1:39:15] Adam: In a little satchel.
[1:39:16 – 1:39:20] Adam: On our second night, we checked the weather report using my friend’s Garmin inReach.
[1:39:20 – 1:39:25] Adam: It had been pretty nice out at the time and an otherwise very rainy trip.
[1:39:25 – 1:39:33] Adam: As we huddled to listen for the report, it notified us that there is a 100% chance of rain at 7 p.m. We checked the time.
[1:39:33 – 1:39:34] Adam: It was 6.50.
[1:39:35 – 1:39:42] Adam: So we battened down the hatch in record time, and sure enough, at about 7 p.m., a wall of white came across the lake.
[1:39:42 – 1:39:45] Adam: A lot of rain and wind pummeled us.
[1:39:46 – 1:39:49] Adam: But it was no problem because we had just enough time to prepare.
[1:39:50 – 1:39:55] Adam: We all had a good time under our tarps cooking dinner while the rain came down in sheets.
[1:39:56 – 1:39:58] Adam: Thank you, Aldi1.
[1:40:00 – 1:40:04] Adam: Excellent stories from an excellent person.
[1:40:04 – 1:40:04] Adam: Thank you.
[1:40:06 – 1:40:07] Erik: It was my lover.
[1:40:08 – 1:40:10] Adam: From a past life.
[1:40:14 – 1:40:15] Adam: Who knows?
[1:40:15 – 1:40:17] Adam: Maybe she has the same number.
[1:40:17 – 1:40:19] Adam: Ring, ring, ring, ring.
[1:40:19 – 1:40:21] Adam: Tame Impala now.
[1:40:30 – 1:40:32] Erik: I don’t think we’ve ever ended on it with Tame Impala.
[1:40:32 – 1:40:35] Adam: I was just listening to Tame Impala on the ride to the beach this morning.
[1:40:35 – 1:40:37] Adam: It’s a Tame Impala kind of day.
[1:40:37 – 1:40:40] Adam: Yeah, summer, Tame Impala.
[1:40:41 – 1:40:41] Adam: Absolutely.
[1:40:41 – 1:40:42] Adam: It’s apropos.
[1:40:43 – 1:40:44] Adam: Apropos.
[1:40:44 – 1:40:47] Adam: Thank you for all the great stories on the Batten Down the Hatch post.
[1:40:48 – 1:40:49] Adam: Hatches have been battened.
[1:40:50 – 1:41:14] Erik: and uh thank you for all staying safe out there you’re gonna want to make sure to always keep looking up and uh crank that weather radio if you have it yeah crank that radio up it’s such a nice tool to have especially in the the summer uh july especially uh one of the other little factoids in the back of the gunflint falling book is uh july is the month of the derecho always the highest likelihood you will uh
[1:41:14 – 1:41:17] Erik: experience one necessarily in these parts.
[1:41:17 – 1:41:21] Erik: Very rare occurrence, but if it’s going to happen, it’s going to be in July.
[1:41:21 – 1:41:21] Erik: So…
[1:41:22 – 1:41:27] Adam: I’ve heard it said that the derecho is the jet stream literally just touching the surface of the earth.
[1:41:27 – 1:41:30] Adam: Is that addressed at all in the book?
[1:41:30 – 1:41:38] Erik: Yeah, there’s a whole chapter right before the addendum that’s just kind of on the mesoscale derecho facts, like how it got its name.
[1:41:39 – 1:41:49] Erik: The first one that was documented in Iowa in 1888 and kind of a full actual meteorological description of how and why it happened.
[1:41:50 – 1:41:50] Erik: Right.
[1:41:50 – 1:41:51] Erik: It’s a little dry.
[1:41:51 – 1:41:56] Erik: I feel like if I was to read that whole description, it would, you know, sounds kind of… Might take the wind out of our sails.
[1:41:56 – 1:41:57] Erik: Yeah, exactly.
[1:41:57 – 1:42:03] Erik: It sounds exciting right away when you’re starting to read it, but then, you know, it’s lots of like… Yeah.
[1:42:04 – 1:42:12] Erik: Kind of nomenclature that’s highly specific to people in the industry, you know, like sheer and convectivity.
[1:42:12 – 1:42:16] Adam: Now we’re getting back into our Doppler terminology.
[1:42:16 – 1:42:16] Adam: I love it.
[1:42:16 – 1:42:20] Erik: But even those are like kind of like relatively layperson terms.
[1:42:20 – 1:42:22] SPEAKER_00: I was like, I don’t want to read this whole description.
[1:42:22 – 1:42:36] Erik: It’s a good one if you’re really interested in the actual weather event of it and not the people’s story and how derechoes are created and how they can sustain such force for as long as they do.
[1:42:37 – 1:42:38] Erik: There is a lot of that in the book as well.
[1:42:40 – 1:42:42] Erik: Another winner from Cary.
[1:42:42 – 1:42:43] Erik: Definitely recommend it.
[1:42:44 – 1:42:44] Erik: Another one.
[1:42:44 – 1:42:46] Adam: Another one from Cary.
[1:42:47 – 1:42:55] Erik: I don’t know if there’s what I could see him doing in the future in terms of, you know, he’s kind of like disaster adjacent.
[1:42:56 – 1:43:02] Adam: I want one on logging, the extreme clear-cut logging of the old growth.
[1:43:03 – 1:43:12] Adam: sure and that ultimately led to the forest that was then thus impacted by the derecho and have you ever read any of the going backwards in time carrie
[1:43:13 – 1:43:15] Erik: Yeah, just keep going back.
[1:43:16 – 1:43:21] Erik: The ecology of the Bajau waters, the Heinzelman, like the thick, like it’s this big square.
[1:43:22 – 1:43:25] Erik: It’s about an inch thick, kind of like a glossy book.
[1:43:25 – 1:43:26] Erik: Have you ever read any of that?
[1:43:26 – 1:43:26] Erik: No.
[1:43:27 – 1:43:28] Erik: You’d be very interested in that.
[1:43:28 – 1:43:40] Erik: That is almost all of the current science is all predicated on vast history of logging that is all laid out in that with tons of good maps.
[1:43:40 – 1:43:40] Erik: Yeah.
[1:43:40 – 1:43:42] Adam: Oh, well, you know, I love a good map.
[1:43:42 – 1:43:45] Erik: Yeah, I think you could probably find that at, like, the trading post in town.
[1:43:45 – 1:43:47] Erik: I bet you the library has it.
[1:43:47 – 1:43:48] Adam: I bet they do, actually.
[1:43:48 – 1:43:49] Adam: I’m almost certain they do.
[1:43:49 – 1:43:51] Erik: Yeah, I would highly recommend that.
[1:43:51 – 1:43:53] Adam: I heard about this from somebody else, actually.
[1:43:53 – 1:43:55] Adam: This is jogging a memory, yeah.
[1:43:55 – 1:43:57] Erik: Yeah, Myron Henselman.
[1:43:57 – 1:44:03] Erik: He’s the guy that aged with Lee Freelick, the 3,000-year-old cedar on Seagull.
[1:44:03 – 1:44:04] Adam: Freelick and Henselman.
[1:44:04 – 1:44:05] Erik: Yep, a classic.
[1:44:06 – 1:44:08] Adam: They also wrote The Year Without the Santa Clause.
[1:44:09 – 1:44:10] Erik: That was a bad year.
[1:44:10 – 1:44:11] Adam: I know.
[1:44:11 – 1:44:13] Adam: It was a real drought.
[1:44:15 – 1:44:17] Adam: No snow at all.
[1:44:17 – 1:44:19] Adam: Not even in North Town, let alone South Town.
[1:44:20 – 1:44:21] Erik: That was last year, wasn’t it?
[1:44:21 – 1:44:22] Erik: It was.
[1:44:22 – 1:44:23] Adam: It was a real bummer.
[1:44:25 – 1:44:27] Adam: For me, Ron, and the Henselmen.
[1:44:29 – 1:44:30] Adam: Sons of bitches.
[1:44:31 – 1:44:32] Erik: Yeah, I don’t know.
[1:44:32 – 1:44:35] Erik: Yeah, again, Guns and Falling, check it out.
[1:44:35 – 1:44:36] Erik: Excellent.
[1:44:36 – 1:44:37] Erik: Well, thanks for the book report, Eric.
[1:44:37 – 1:44:38] Erik: It’s been a while.
[1:44:38 – 1:44:41] Adam: It was a really good one.
[1:44:41 – 1:44:43] Adam: I always enjoy the book report episodes.
[1:44:43 – 1:44:44] Adam: Yeah, for sure.
[1:44:44 – 1:44:50] Adam: Somebody suggested, I think on the Reddit, they were like, is there a list of all the books in the Tumble Home Book Club at this point?
[1:44:50 – 1:44:55] Adam: I don’t think there is, but we’ll get Trevor on it as soon as he comes back from Vienna.
[1:44:56 – 1:45:04] Erik: Well, like I said, I think last I heard he was washing dishes in a Lithuanian hostel, I think, to pay for his stay.
[1:45:06 – 1:45:07] Adam: He’s finding himself.
[1:45:07 – 1:45:07] Adam: Yeah.
[1:45:07 – 1:45:08] Adam: I’m proud of him.
[1:45:08 – 1:45:09] Erik: We’re not going to hound him too much.
[1:45:09 – 1:45:13] Erik: We might have to either find another intern or just do it ourselves.
[1:45:13 – 1:45:13] Erik: I don’t know.
[1:45:13 – 1:45:15] Adam: We could do it ourselves on this one.
[1:45:15 – 1:45:17] Adam: But yeah, we’ve had a lot of really good books on the show.
[1:45:17 – 1:45:19] Adam: And this is right up there.
[1:45:19 – 1:45:21] Adam: I always enjoy these episodes.
[1:45:21 – 1:45:26] Adam: So thank you very much for reading and outlining.
[1:45:26 – 1:45:29] Adam: And there’s a lot of work that goes into these behind the scenes episodes.
[1:45:29 – 1:45:31] Adam: More so than a normal episode of Tumblr.
[1:45:32 – 1:45:35] Adam: So I hope the readers and listeners appreciate.
[1:45:36 – 1:45:36] Adam: Yeah.
[1:45:36 – 1:45:36] Adam: Because I do.
[1:45:37 – 1:45:37] Erik: Yeah.
[1:45:37 – 1:45:38] Erik: Happy to do it.
[1:45:38 – 1:45:40] Erik: I figured I was going to read it anyway.
[1:45:40 – 1:45:54] Erik: Might as well do a little bit of, you know, it’s kind of one of those old school things that you learned in high school that actually kind of still has an application today.
[1:45:54 – 1:45:56] Erik: And that is reading comprehension.
[1:45:56 – 1:45:56] Erik: Yeah.
[1:45:57 – 1:45:58] Erik: And regurgitating.
[1:45:58 – 1:46:04] Erik: And in my opinion, best way to learn something and retain it is to teach others.
[1:46:04 – 1:46:06] Adam: Daddy made you some content.
[1:46:06 – 1:46:07] Erik: Here it is.
[1:46:07 – 1:46:08] Adam: Open wide.
[1:46:08 – 1:46:08] Adam: Kitties.
[1:46:11 – 1:46:11] Erik: All right.
[1:46:11 – 1:46:12] Erik: Thanks, bud.
[1:46:12 – 1:46:12] Erik: Yeah.
[1:46:12 – 1:46:14] Erik: Thank you for being here.
[1:46:14 – 1:46:15] Erik: Thank you, listeners.
[1:46:15 – 1:46:20] Erik: Thank you for the responses to get us close to two hours on this one.
[1:46:20 – 1:46:22] Erik: We’ll be back next week, obviously.
[1:46:22 – 1:46:26] Erik: Not sure where we’re going with that one, but we’ll figure it out.
[1:46:26 – 1:46:27] Erik: And in the meantime…
[1:46:27 – 1:46:28] Erik: Packs?
[1:46:28 – 1:46:29] Erik: Packs.
[1:46:29 – 1:46:30] Erik: Probably some packs.
[1:46:30 – 1:46:30] Erik: Packs?
[1:46:31 – 1:46:36] Erik: The Reddit gun has been held to our collective heads on this one.
[1:46:36 – 1:46:38] Erik: We’re maybe going to talk portage packs.
[1:46:39 – 1:46:44] Erik: See how long we can ring that one out to get through July.
[1:46:44 – 1:46:46] Adam: There’s a lot to unpack.
[1:46:46 – 1:46:53] Erik: Man, it just slips through your hands like fine sand at this time of year.
[1:46:53 – 1:46:55] Erik: Like wind through a pine needle.
[1:46:55 – 1:46:55] Erik: Yeah.
[1:46:55 – 1:46:59] Erik: Like a wind through the branches of an old gnarly jack pine.
[1:47:00 – 1:47:02] Adam: Oh, foot long, foot wide.
[1:47:02 – 1:47:04] Adam: Foot long, foot wide.
[1:47:04 – 1:47:06] Adam: I don’t think so.
[1:47:06 – 1:47:07] Erik: Yeah.
[1:47:08 – 1:47:08] Erik: All right.
[1:47:08 – 1:47:10] Erik: This has been episode 255.
[1:47:10 – 1:47:15] Erik: We’re closing the book on the blowdown of the Bajau waters 25 years later.
[1:47:15 – 1:47:16] Erik: Good night.
[1:47:16 – 1:47:17] Erik: Good night.
[1:47:26 – 1:47:27] SPEAKER_00: Continue to tell us.
[1:50:08 – 1:50:12] UNKNOWN: We’ll be right back.