On this weeks episode Erik and Adam discuss being situationally aware in the wilderness and go in depth on Winchell Lake. How to get there, its amazing campsites, and the potential for big lake trout and northern pike are what you will find on this lake. Show Notes: Winchell Lake Campsites Winchell Lake Fishing Report […]
The post Tumblehome: A Boundary Waters Podcast – 018: Winchell Lake appeared first on Clearwater Outfitters.
Episode Transcript
[0:00:31 – 0:00:31] Erik: All right.
[0:00:31 – 0:00:32] Erik: Hello.
[0:00:34 – 0:00:34] Erik: We are back.
[0:00:35 – 0:01:00] Erik: tumble home a boundary waters podcast again in studio a2 the outdoor studio we’ve got the beautiful sounds of wind in the trees birds a chirping birds chirping i am eric hello adam thank you for being here yeah i’ve been seeing a lot of grouse in the wood uh just uh strutting around
[0:01:00 – 0:01:04] Erik: Strutting their stuff, waiting to get slammed by vehicles because they don’t get out of the way.
[0:01:04 – 0:01:06] Adam: Yeah, it’s a beautiful time of year out here.
[0:01:07 – 0:01:11] Adam: You can see a long ways through the woods yet right now, and so there’s a lot to see.
[0:01:11 – 0:01:12] Adam: It’s pretty cool.
[0:01:12 – 0:01:18] Adam: But the bird noises are just incredible after a long winter just to hear that and feel the warmth out here in the studio.
[0:01:18 – 0:01:19] Adam: It’s a good thing.
[0:01:20 – 0:01:23] Erik: Full on spring is here.
[0:01:23 – 0:01:26] Erik: Not 100% greened up, but we are close.
[0:01:27 – 0:01:34] Erik: The topic of this week is specifically Winchell Lake, Big Winchy.
[0:01:35 – 0:01:39] Erik: I’m sure most of you have just heard of it as referred to as Big Winchy, as we all know it.
[0:01:39 – 0:01:40] Adam: Or The Winch.
[0:01:40 – 0:01:41] Erik: The Winch.
[0:01:41 – 0:01:42] Erik: Big Winchy.
[0:01:43 – 0:01:45] Erik: I don’t think anybody calls it any of those things.
[0:01:45 – 0:01:45] Erik: Winchell Lake.
[0:01:47 – 0:01:48] Erik: We’re going to get to that.
[0:01:49 – 0:01:57] Erik: Some of the stories we were talking about before we started recording I think are where we might start because it’s a question.
[0:02:00 – 0:02:14] Erik: Really some of the experiences we’ve had out there are ones that I think would elicit different responses from people as to how they would react to what we experienced while we were out there.
[0:02:14 – 0:02:16] Adam: Yeah, like, I don’t know.
[0:02:16 – 0:02:20] Adam: Everybody’s got their own thing they prefer when you’re in the park.
[0:02:21 – 0:02:23] Adam: So that’ll be interesting to see.
[0:02:23 – 0:02:28] Adam: We’ve got our way of looking at it, but it’ll be interesting to see what kind of responses we get from these stories.
[0:02:28 – 0:02:30] Adam: But I don’t know.
[0:02:30 – 0:02:31] Adam: First things first.
[0:02:31 – 0:02:32] Adam: First things first.
[0:02:32 – 0:02:37] Adam: Tumble Home is, of course, brought to you by Clearwater Historic Lodge and Outfitters.
[0:02:38 – 0:02:38] Adam: Beautiful place.
[0:02:39 – 0:02:39] Adam: Check it out.
[0:02:40 – 0:02:42] Adam: And also by Arrogant Bastard Ale.
[0:02:44 – 0:02:45] Adam: Crack it.
[0:02:46 – 0:02:49] Adam: Arrogant Bastard, you’re not worthy.
[0:02:49 – 0:02:50] Adam: Call us up, Arrogant Bastard Ale.
[0:02:51 – 0:02:53] Adam: We got to make this partnership permanent.
[0:02:53 – 0:02:56] Erik: I think it’s the most fitting beer we’ve had sponsored.
[0:02:57 – 0:03:02] Adam: Yeah, we really do come off sometimes like we know everything and we’re the best.
[0:03:02 – 0:03:05] Erik: Hey, we’re going to tell you some fishing stuff, but you’re not going to be able to replicate what we’re telling you.
[0:03:05 – 0:03:10] Adam: You’re never going to be able to go out with a slip bobber and get skunked like we can get skunked.
[0:03:10 – 0:03:18] Adam: But yeah, just inherently in doing a podcast and thinking you know enough about the Boundary Waters to do a podcast, it’s a little bit arrogant.
[0:03:19 – 0:03:20] Adam: I’ll admit it.
[0:03:20 – 0:03:23] Adam: But we’re self-aware, so how arrogant can we really be?
[0:03:23 – 0:03:25] Erik: That makes you even more arrogant.
[0:03:26 – 0:03:29] Adam: You’re aware of your arrogance and still persist in your arrogance.
[0:03:29 – 0:03:29] Erik: I’m aware.
[0:03:29 – 0:03:30] Erik: I’m aware.
[0:03:30 – 0:03:31] Adam: Anyways, it’s a pretty good ale.
[0:03:32 – 0:03:32] Adam: It is.
[0:03:33 – 0:03:35] Adam: And it’s a beautiful ale for a beautiful spring day.
[0:03:35 – 0:03:36] Erik: Beautiful spring day.
[0:03:36 – 0:03:41] Erik: If you ever get the chance to read the nice little description of that beer on the back of that can, it’s a real hoot.
[0:03:42 – 0:03:42] Erik: Yeah.
[0:03:42 – 0:03:43] Erik: A real hoot.
[0:03:44 – 0:03:50] Adam: Yeah, I’m not sure where I fall on the little stories and paragraphs of note they put on the beers these days.
[0:03:50 – 0:03:52] Adam: They kind of played out, but that one’s good.
[0:03:52 – 0:03:53] Adam: That one’s a long one, and it’s one of the better ones.
[0:03:53 – 0:03:54] Adam: It’s more of a story.
[0:03:54 – 0:03:56] Adam: Insight’s got some really good ones.
[0:03:56 – 0:03:57] Adam: I like the Trollway one.
[0:03:57 – 0:04:01] Adam: I don’t know if we’ve been sponsored by Trollway yet, but we’ll get there.
[0:04:01 – 0:04:02] Adam: No, we haven’t.
[0:04:02 – 0:04:03] Adam: A lot of episodes ahead of us.
[0:04:03 – 0:04:05] Adam: This is episode 018?
[0:04:06 – 0:04:06] Adam: It is.
[0:04:07 – 0:04:07] Adam: Oh, boy.
[0:04:07 – 0:04:11] Adam: Every time we name off the number, it’s like, how are we that far into it already?
[0:04:11 – 0:04:11] Adam: But…
[0:04:13 – 0:04:15] Adam: You know, we just got on a regular schedule.
[0:04:15 – 0:04:15] Adam: It’s a lot of fun.
[0:04:16 – 0:04:20] Adam: I hope you can tell that we’re having fun doing this, and I think people are having fun listening too.
[0:04:20 – 0:04:21] Erik: Yeah.
[0:04:21 – 0:04:22] Erik: We got a good thing going here.
[0:04:22 – 0:04:29] Erik: Anytime anybody reaches out that says that they’re enjoying the podcast, I always tell them, I mean, obviously, thank you for listening.
[0:04:29 – 0:04:30] Erik: We met somebody in person.
[0:04:30 – 0:04:32] Erik: We had a really good time recording.
[0:04:32 – 0:04:34] Adam: That was like, hey, we really enjoy the podcast.
[0:04:34 – 0:04:36] Adam: It’s like, oh, my God, no.
[0:04:36 – 0:04:37] Erik: Yeah, that was.
[0:04:37 – 0:04:40] Adam: I was kind of thrown aback by that one.
[0:04:40 – 0:04:42] Erik: Weird and, I mean, awesome and nice.
[0:04:42 – 0:04:43] Adam: It was really great.
[0:04:43 – 0:04:49] Adam: We had a great conversation and just talking generally paddling and fishing a little bit and just the season.
[0:04:49 – 0:04:50] Adam: It’s all great.
[0:04:50 – 0:04:50] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:04:50 – 0:04:52] Adam: It’s been really a lot of fun so far.
[0:04:53 – 0:04:54] Adam: So thank you for listening.
[0:04:54 – 0:04:59] Erik: Yeah, no, definitely it was one of those things that I was not prepared for, too.
[0:04:59 – 0:05:07] Erik: I can prepare for opening an email because I’m expecting that if you’re sending an email, but it’s somebody that just walks up, that was like, okay.
[0:05:07 – 0:05:08] Adam: Yeah, pretty cool.
[0:05:09 – 0:05:10] Erik: Definitely cool.
[0:05:10 – 0:05:10] Erik: It’s…
[0:05:11 – 0:05:15] Erik: Definitely something we’re planning on continuing, the interaction with people.
[0:05:15 – 0:05:18] Erik: You know, last week we were talking about some of the trips people were taking.
[0:05:18 – 0:05:22] Erik: I would really love to maybe do, like, a follow-up at the end of the year.
[0:05:23 – 0:05:24] Erik: Like, how were those trips?
[0:05:24 – 0:05:25] Adam: Yeah, what happened on the South Arm?
[0:05:26 – 0:05:26] Erik: Yeah.
[0:05:26 – 0:05:28] Erik: I’m sure you caught tons of rock bass.
[0:05:29 – 0:05:30] Adam: Yeah, for sure.
[0:05:30 – 0:05:30] Erik: So…
[0:05:31 – 0:05:35] Adam: But, you know, yeah, it’s a lot about like, hey, these are the stories and things that we’ve done.
[0:05:35 – 0:05:44] Adam: But the longer we get into this project, then the more we hear from the people listening, our friends on the internet and just in general.
[0:05:45 – 0:05:46] Adam: That’s what’s been really cool.
[0:05:46 – 0:05:50] Adam: It’s not just what we’re having to say on something.
[0:05:50 – 0:05:51] Adam: It’s still like, what do other people think about this?
[0:05:52 – 0:05:52] Adam: Yeah.
[0:05:52 – 0:05:54] Erik: Yeah, it’s basically a contained…
[0:05:54 – 0:06:07] Erik: I would like to have at least parts of it be eventually kind of a contained version of what I at least for sure do on a daily basis in the summer where we’re talking about, well, how was your trip?
[0:06:08 – 0:06:09] Erik: What did you see?
[0:06:09 – 0:06:10] Erik: What did you do?
[0:06:11 – 0:06:11] Erik: How was the fishing?
[0:06:12 – 0:06:13] Adam: I never get tired of these conversations.
[0:06:14 – 0:06:14] Adam: It’s just I can…
[0:06:14 – 0:06:16] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:06:17 – 0:06:18] Adam: You’re pretty fortunate in that way.
[0:06:18 – 0:06:20] Adam: You get to talk to these people about that every day, whereas…
[0:06:21 – 0:06:25] Adam: I occasionally, where I work, you know, running, people are going on a trip or just getting done with a trip.
[0:06:25 – 0:06:30] Adam: You can kind of talk with them a little bit, but up here, you know, on the trail, you’re a little bit more immediate with it.
[0:06:30 – 0:06:31] Adam: Yeah.
[0:06:31 – 0:06:41] Erik: But starting, yeah, starting it in the winter, you know, we were kind of testing it out, but I think as the season goes on and people start getting out on the water, it will definitely be able to kind of start including some of…
[0:06:42 – 0:07:11] Erik: the experiences the fishing trail conditions on the show a little bit more and as involved as people want to get we will involve them before we get much more underway how about another you want another surprise i love surprises this is really how how are we going to keep topping ourselves because last week we had a like cannonball full of beer a jumbo jumbo beer
[0:07:11 – 0:07:39] Adam: yeah we’ve done the some of the brain teasers which is probably where we should just get back to yeah i always like the brain teasers but you know you can’t just force it it’s more like what what comes naturally but it’s it’s also it was it this is a result of uh cleaning and moving into my summer right you’re moving to the summer home we just moved and i feel like i’ve lost more things than i found i found my ice fishing stuff i thought i had lost the other day and it was like yeah
[0:07:40 – 0:08:02] Adam: oh i thought this stuff had been thrown away or just as long like lost for good and then it comes back to you but on the other hand then i was like looking for my uh stash of little cleos the other day and i couldn’t find them so um you know it goes both ways but i i love moving for that like moving is kind of a pain in the buns but uh it’s great and that you can get rid of stuff you can kind of
[0:08:03 – 0:08:05] Adam: um, pare down on things.
[0:08:05 – 0:08:07] Adam: And then also sometimes you find neat things.
[0:08:07 – 0:08:09] Adam: So you found something interesting.
[0:08:09 – 0:08:10] Adam: Yes, I did.
[0:08:10 – 0:08:12] Adam: We moved twice a year.
[0:08:12 – 0:08:13] Adam: I’m on the edge of my seat right now.
[0:08:13 – 0:08:16] Erik: From our summer cabin and then to a winter cabin and then vice versa.
[0:08:16 – 0:08:20] Erik: So it really does keep us decluttered because when you move, you’re like, what?
[0:08:21 – 0:08:21] Adam: No.
[0:08:21 – 0:08:21] Adam: Yeah.
[0:08:21 – 0:08:23] Adam: It’s like, I’m not moving this again.
[0:08:23 – 0:08:23] Adam: Yeah.
[0:08:23 – 0:08:24] Erik: Get rid of this.
[0:08:24 – 0:08:25] Adam: Burn it or throw it away.
[0:08:25 – 0:08:26] Erik: Give it away.
[0:08:26 – 0:08:26] Erik: Yeah.
[0:08:27 – 0:08:33] Erik: So, yeah, last week we found a jumbo jug of beer I was gifted at Christmas.
[0:08:33 – 0:08:34] Adam: Yeah, I think you should move more often.
[0:08:34 – 0:08:36] Adam: You’re finding lots of good things, it sounds like.
[0:08:36 – 0:08:37] Erik: It’s a healthy balance.
[0:08:37 – 0:08:40] Erik: You can only move so often before you, like, forget about stuff.
[0:08:40 – 0:08:41] Erik: It’s like a nice half year.
[0:08:42 – 0:08:42] Erik: Yeah.
[0:08:42 – 0:08:44] Erik: It’s a seasonal thing.
[0:08:44 – 0:08:54] Erik: I really, you know, this is probably something that I purchased in the dark depths of winter, and I saw it, and for whatever reason…
[0:08:55 – 0:09:00] Erik: I decided to buy it, and I was planning on giving it to you, and then I forgot about it, and I found it under a bed.
[0:09:00 – 0:09:02] Erik: So here you go.
[0:09:02 – 0:09:06] Erik: This is the first gifting, and it has nothing to do…
[0:09:06 – 0:09:08] Erik: It’s not actually even from the bag.
[0:09:08 – 0:09:09] Erik: It’s not from San Juan Island?
[0:09:09 – 0:09:09] Adam: No.
[0:09:09 – 0:09:10] Adam: Yeah, the bag is a…
[0:09:11 – 0:09:12] Adam: I don’t know what this is.
[0:09:12 – 0:09:15] Adam: It says San Juan Island, toyboxsanjuan.com.
[0:09:15 – 0:09:17] Erik: Yeah, no, disregard the bag.
[0:09:17 – 0:09:19] Adam: All right, we’re going to leave that alone.
[0:09:19 – 0:09:22] Erik: Yeah, it has nothing to do with the bunchwaters, podcasting, or anything.
[0:09:22 – 0:09:23] Adam: All right, we got a t-shirt.
[0:09:24 – 0:09:24] Erik: It is a t-shirt.
[0:09:26 – 0:09:27] Adam: Wow, no.
[0:09:27 – 0:09:30] Adam: Oh, it’s a Fargo t-shirt.
[0:09:31 – 0:09:31] Adam: This is great.
[0:09:32 – 0:09:32] Adam: Yes.
[0:09:35 – 0:09:37] Adam: All right, we’re going to unfurl it here just to get the full effect.
[0:09:38 – 0:09:43] Adam: It is The Breakfast King of Loyola from season two of Fargo.
[0:09:43 – 0:09:45] Adam: My favorite character from Fargo.
[0:09:45 – 0:09:46] Adam: This is amazing.
[0:09:47 – 0:09:48] Adam: There you go.
[0:09:48 – 0:09:52] Adam: He’s got a spatula there and his beautiful plaid pants and a sweater vest.
[0:09:53 – 0:09:55] Adam: It is Nick Offerman.
[0:09:55 – 0:09:55] Adam: Wow.
[0:09:56 – 0:09:57] Adam: What a classic character.
[0:09:58 – 0:10:00] Adam: He’s really a minor character in the show.
[0:10:00 – 0:10:01] Adam: Really?
[0:10:01 – 0:10:01] Adam: Yeah.
[0:10:01 – 0:10:05] Adam: But he has one of the greatest lines of all time.
[0:10:05 – 0:10:10] Adam: Declaring himself self-labeled the breakfast king of Loyola.
[0:10:10 – 0:10:12] Adam: Which I’m not sure where Loyola is in relation to Fargo.
[0:10:12 – 0:10:15] Erik: I don’t know if it’s like a university or like a town.
[0:10:15 – 0:10:16] Erik: It’s just so ambiguous.
[0:10:16 – 0:10:17] Erik: That’s amazing.
[0:10:17 – 0:10:22] Adam: It’s in a beautiful brown with a yellow circle encompassing character here.
[0:10:22 – 0:10:23] Adam: And he has a really sweet
[0:10:23 – 0:10:26] Erik: One of those single slotted spatulas from the 1970s.
[0:10:26 – 0:10:27] Adam: So retro.
[0:10:27 – 0:10:29] Adam: The breakfast king of Loyola.
[0:10:29 – 0:10:34] Erik: So if you’ve seen the second season of Fargo, you will know exactly what we were talking about.
[0:10:34 – 0:10:35] Adam: I hope you have seen it.
[0:10:36 – 0:10:37] Erik: If not, you should see it.
[0:10:37 – 0:10:38] Adam: Absolutely.
[0:10:38 – 0:10:39] Erik: We’re not going to try to explain it.
[0:10:39 – 0:10:41] Adam: No, we’re not going to go any further than that.
[0:10:41 – 0:10:43] Adam: But wow, I’m so pleased.
[0:10:43 – 0:10:47] Erik: So where did you get this?
[0:10:47 – 0:10:50] Erik: It’s like the Australian version of Etsy.
[0:10:50 – 0:10:51] Erik: It’s called Redbubble.
[0:10:52 – 0:10:54] Erik: They have a lot of great stuff.
[0:10:54 – 0:11:03] Erik: If you have a favorite line or scene from a movie or a TV show or cartoon, you go into Redbubble and you search for it, somebody has a t-shirt.
[0:11:04 – 0:11:04] Erik: It’s crazy.
[0:11:06 – 0:11:06] Adam: Quite wonderful.
[0:11:07 – 0:11:07] Erik: Yeah.
[0:11:07 – 0:11:30] Erik: can’t say uh necessarily cannot corroborate the state of mind when i purchased that for you but as though it is for me yes i thought you were just showing me this t-shirt that is for you no i didn’t buy it for myself and then i was like hey i’m gonna surprise you with me with it tease you with something that i’m going to wear now no that’s yours very much i mean i love nick offerman you’re the breakfast king anyway
[0:11:30 – 0:11:31] Adam: I love breakfast.
[0:11:31 – 0:11:32] Adam: I do.
[0:11:32 – 0:11:35] Adam: It’s my favorite thing to cook is breakfast.
[0:11:35 – 0:11:36] Adam: It’s my favorite meal of the day.
[0:11:36 – 0:11:39] Adam: And for five years of my life, I was a breakfast line cook.
[0:11:40 – 0:11:40] Erik: Yeah.
[0:11:40 – 0:11:42] Adam: And I would say a pretty good one.
[0:11:43 – 0:11:44] Adam: That’s where you get your start, too.
[0:11:44 – 0:11:45] Adam: At Clearwater.
[0:11:45 – 0:11:46] Adam: I don’t know if that’s being arrogant, but it’s true.
[0:11:46 – 0:11:48] Adam: I was a very good breakfast cook.
[0:11:48 – 0:11:48] Adam: I still am.
[0:11:49 – 0:11:49] Adam: Yes.
[0:11:49 – 0:11:51] Adam: My hash browns are the stuff of legend.
[0:11:51 – 0:11:54] Adam: Don’t try and order them crispy because they’re hash browns.
[0:11:54 – 0:11:55] Adam: They’re ready crispy.
[0:11:55 – 0:11:55] Adam: They will be crispy.
[0:11:56 – 0:11:56] Adam: Yeah.
[0:11:56 – 0:11:58] Adam: By being hash browns, they are crispy.
[0:11:58 – 0:12:00] Erik: It’s like ordering water wet.
[0:12:00 – 0:12:02] Adam: Yeah, or drink your coffee.
[0:12:02 – 0:12:04] Adam: Hey, I’ll take a cup of coffee and make sure it’s hot.
[0:12:04 – 0:12:04] Adam: Yeah.
[0:12:04 – 0:12:05] Adam: Yeah, give me a break.
[0:12:06 – 0:12:07] Adam: I know you must have been to a Denny’s.
[0:12:09 – 0:12:10] Adam: All right.
[0:12:10 – 0:12:11] Adam: Well, all right.
[0:12:11 – 0:12:12] Adam: This is a great start to the show.
[0:12:12 – 0:12:14] Adam: Yeah, all fun and games aside.
[0:12:14 – 0:12:17] Adam: We’ve done many a great breakfast on Winchell Lake.
[0:12:18 – 0:12:18] Erik: Yeah, Winchell Lake.
[0:12:19 – 0:12:20] Erik: That’s what we’re talking about.
[0:12:20 – 0:12:21] Adam: That’s what we got to get to here.
[0:12:21 – 0:12:22] Adam: Big winchy.
[0:12:22 – 0:12:23] Adam: It’s one of the best lakes up here.
[0:12:23 – 0:12:28] Erik: But before we get into the details, we’re going to talk campsites, we’re going to talk fishing, some of our experiences.
[0:12:29 – 0:12:31] Erik: There was one thing that happened out there to us.
[0:12:31 – 0:12:32] Adam: Let’s get right into it.
[0:12:32 – 0:12:39] Erik: The last time we were out there that I just want to get your opinion on and maybe see if…
[0:12:40 – 0:12:41] Adam: We’re on the same page on this one.
[0:12:41 – 0:12:41] Adam: I think we are.
[0:12:42 – 0:12:43] Erik: Fact check us though.
[0:12:43 – 0:12:46] Erik: If we’re off, if we’re wrong here, you know, let us know.
[0:12:46 – 0:12:54] Erik: But we were, uh, specifically the day that we actually reviewed all of the sites on the lake.
[0:12:54 – 0:12:55] Adam: It was a pretty rare day.
[0:12:55 – 0:13:00] Adam: It was like a day like today, kind of early in the season, pretty light winds, nice and sunny.
[0:13:01 – 0:13:06] Adam: And we started out on the West end and there’s 12 campsites on Winchell and it,
[0:13:07 – 0:13:10] Adam: It wasn’t like the first day we had open water or anything.
[0:13:10 – 0:13:19] Adam: It was, you know, there should have been people out there, but we managed to go all the way down from campsite one all the way down to campsite 12.
[0:13:19 – 0:13:22] Adam: We never saw another person the whole daytime part of our trip.
[0:13:23 – 0:13:23] Erik: No, yeah.
[0:13:23 – 0:13:24] Adam: Not one person.
[0:13:24 – 0:13:26] Adam: We got every single campsite.
[0:13:26 – 0:13:30] Adam: The same thing happened to us when we did Pine, I believe, when we were doing the Pine episode.
[0:13:30 – 0:13:32] Erik: That was way closer to like ice out.
[0:13:32 – 0:13:33] Erik: This was like the Winchell trip was in June.
[0:13:33 – 0:13:35] Adam: Yeah, the Winchell trip was in like the middle of June.
[0:13:35 – 0:13:37] Erik: I was not prepared to be able to get all of them.
[0:13:37 – 0:13:41] Adam: Totally expecting that we would see people and have to do a couple of the reviews where we’d have to just take a camp.
[0:13:42 – 0:13:46] Adam: take a picture from the canoe and kind of eyeball the review, which we don’t like to do.
[0:13:46 – 0:13:46] Adam: No.
[0:13:47 – 0:13:53] Adam: But this one, it afforded us every opportunity to give a legit and thorough review to every campsite.
[0:13:53 – 0:13:54] Adam: We didn’t see a person all day.
[0:13:55 – 0:13:55] Erik: Right.
[0:13:55 – 0:13:58] Adam: And there are many amazing campsites on Winchell.
[0:13:58 – 0:13:59] Adam: I’ll say this right now.
[0:14:00 – 0:14:11] Adam: It’s no secret, but, yeah, I was in physical therapy for my shoulder earlier, and her and her daughter are going out and trying to make it to Winchell.
[0:14:11 – 0:14:12] Adam: She goes, what campsites are good?
[0:14:12 – 0:14:14] Adam: They’re going to come down from Gaskin.
[0:14:14 – 0:14:20] Adam: I said, as long as you don’t stay on the first two on the Gaskin side, everything else is A pluses or B pluses at the worst.
[0:14:21 – 0:14:23] Erik: Yeah, I’m looking forward to going back through and looking at my comments.
[0:14:23 – 0:14:26] Adam: Yeah, no, I always like going back and revisiting these grades.
[0:14:26 – 0:14:29] Adam: But anyways, so yeah, we went down the whole lake.
[0:14:29 – 0:14:30] Adam: We never saw another boat in there.
[0:14:31 – 0:14:34] Adam: Not even somebody passing through until the next day.
[0:14:34 – 0:14:36] Adam: But then this thing happened.
[0:14:37 – 0:14:49] Erik: Yeah, we were on the eighth campsite, which we had kind of deemed as where, like, in the vicinity that we were as one of the best ones, which was sweet, being able to look at every site on the lake and take your pick.
[0:14:49 – 0:14:50] Adam: Yeah, right, we have our pick of the litter.
[0:14:50 – 0:14:56] Erik: Yeah, and, you know, we’re sitting there, the day’s winding, we’re just, I mean, we were just relaxing in some chairs, the sun was going down.
[0:14:58 – 0:15:04] Adam: Um, there was a couple of tough portages in there and, you know, and then we paddled all of Winchell back and forth.
[0:15:04 – 0:15:06] Adam: Cause yeah, I mean, you can’t just come in and hit them all.
[0:15:06 – 0:15:10] Adam: You kind of got to go over and then back across all the way down.
[0:15:10 – 0:15:14] Adam: And then we came all the way back to eight and then set up and we still had a pretty good amount of daylight.
[0:15:14 – 0:15:30] Erik: yeah and so we’re just there i was doing some doodling we had a nice fire going getting our dinner ready it was late afternoon and we finally spied a canoe way off in the distance to the east one down there yeah they’re two of them they were coming from gaskin yeah two aluminums
[0:15:30 – 0:15:35] Erik: And there are four campsites in between where we were camped and where they were coming from.
[0:15:35 – 0:15:36] Erik: Two of them are kind of junky.
[0:15:36 – 0:15:38] Erik: But the two, there’s the two closest ones.
[0:15:38 – 0:15:39] Adam: The other two are gorgeous.
[0:15:39 – 0:15:40] Adam: Really nice.
[0:15:40 – 0:15:42] Adam: The one that has a bench, we’ll get to that later.
[0:15:42 – 0:15:43] Adam: Yeah, the bench.
[0:15:43 – 0:15:45] Erik: Like a hand-hewn bench.
[0:15:45 – 0:15:46] Erik: The contemplation bench.
[0:15:46 – 0:15:47] Erik: Contemplation bench.
[0:15:47 – 0:15:52] Erik: Yeah, so we’re sitting there and, you know, Winchell’s a long and narrow lake.
[0:15:52 – 0:15:53] Erik: It’s not that narrow.
[0:15:53 – 0:15:54] Erik: It’s pretty wide.
[0:15:54 – 0:15:55] Erik: It’s a good-sized lake.
[0:15:55 – 0:15:58] Erik: And they’re getting closer and they’re getting closer.
[0:15:58 – 0:15:59] Erik: We’re sitting there in our chairs.
[0:16:00 – 0:16:01] Erik: They’re just kind of coming over.
[0:16:01 – 0:16:02] Erik: They’re getting closer.
[0:16:02 – 0:16:04] Adam: They’re really going slow, too.
[0:16:04 – 0:16:06] Adam: It wasn’t like they were just paddling like they were going someplace.
[0:16:07 – 0:16:11] Adam: They were clearly just looking at campsites and enjoying their time on Winchell.
[0:16:11 – 0:16:12] Adam: Nothing wrong with that.
[0:16:12 – 0:16:12] Erik: No.
[0:16:13 – 0:16:14] Erik: No, nothing at all wrong with that.
[0:16:15 – 0:16:18] Erik: The only problem, which is where the question comes in.
[0:16:20 – 0:16:33] Erik: When they paddle right up to your campsite and then, first of all, kind of sit there awkwardly, like 20 yards offshore, and then ask if any of the campsites beyond us are open.
[0:16:34 – 0:16:34] Adam: Right.
[0:16:34 – 0:16:38] Adam: Which, you know, you… Like, and it wasn’t a secret that we were in this campsite.
[0:16:39 – 0:16:39] Adam: We should say that as well.
[0:16:39 – 0:16:40] Adam: No, we were, like, out on a rocky point.
[0:16:40 – 0:16:41] Adam: We were clearly visible.
[0:16:41 – 0:16:46] Adam: We’re sitting out, like, in the sun in our, like, camp chairs, just hanging out.
[0:16:46 – 0:16:47] Adam: Like, I was doodling.
[0:16:48 – 0:16:49] Adam: You were reading a book or something.
[0:16:49 – 0:16:52] Adam: We were just hanging out, having a good old time, enjoying the sunshine.
[0:16:53 – 0:16:56] Adam: Clearly, you know, our canoe is sitting right there.
[0:16:56 – 0:16:58] Adam: We had some hammocks hanging up already.
[0:16:58 – 0:16:58] Adam: Yeah.
[0:16:59 – 0:17:01] Adam: We were clearly occupying this campsite.
[0:17:01 – 0:17:05] Adam: They just paddled by two A-plus campsites and two junkie campsites.
[0:17:06 – 0:17:08] Adam: And then here they are.
[0:17:08 – 0:17:11] Adam: It’s the end of our day where we literally haven’t seen anybody all day.
[0:17:12 – 0:17:13] Adam: And nobody’s really…
[0:17:13 – 0:17:15] Adam: I don’t mind running into somebody on a portage.
[0:17:15 – 0:17:16] Adam: We’ve talked about this.
[0:17:16 – 0:17:19] Adam: If you run into somebody on a portage, there’s a little bit of camaraderie there.
[0:17:19 – 0:17:21] Adam: You’re forced to run into each other anyway.
[0:17:21 – 0:17:22] Adam: Yeah.
[0:17:22 – 0:17:24] Adam: Kind of, oh, where are you heading?
[0:17:24 – 0:17:25] Adam: What are you guys up to?
[0:17:26 – 0:17:26] Adam: That’s always fun.
[0:17:26 – 0:17:28] Adam: Maybe pass the bag of wine around a little.
[0:17:29 – 0:17:31] Adam: It’s an opportunity to socialize.
[0:17:31 – 0:17:34] Adam: You’re kind of forced into it anyway, so you might as well just embrace it.
[0:17:34 – 0:17:36] Adam: But in this instance, you’re not forced into it.
[0:17:36 – 0:17:39] Adam: This is a choice and not by us.
[0:17:39 – 0:17:41] Erik: And it didn’t like ruin my trip or anything.
[0:17:41 – 0:17:43] Erik: It’s just an interesting thought where it’s like.
[0:17:43 – 0:17:45] Adam: No, and it’s not like Winchell specific either.
[0:17:45 – 0:17:49] Adam: Like we’re not ragging on Winchell that, oh, this is where people come up and paddle right.
[0:17:50 – 0:17:54] Adam: Really, they may as well just come and land it on our campsite and hung out for a while.
[0:17:54 – 0:17:55] Adam: It’s a little intrusive.
[0:17:56 – 0:17:56] Erik: It is.
[0:17:56 – 0:17:57] Erik: It’s a lot intrusive.
[0:17:58 – 0:18:05] Erik: Yeah, and I am totally on your side, and maybe we can throw it out there, see if people have other opinions.
[0:18:05 – 0:18:10] Adam: Well, there’s clearly other people that don’t think this way because it’s not the first time this has happened either.
[0:18:10 – 0:18:13] Adam: This has happened on many of my favorite campsites.
[0:18:13 – 0:18:16] Adam: I’ve been in a campsite with a slip bobber out.
[0:18:17 – 0:18:25] Adam: sitting on the shoreline and then people have come and paddled within, in between me and the slip bobber on a big lake.
[0:18:26 – 0:18:26] Adam: Yeah.
[0:18:26 – 0:18:28] Adam: Like what the heck are you doing?
[0:18:28 – 0:18:28] Erik: Yeah.
[0:18:29 – 0:18:29] Erik: I remember that one too.
[0:18:30 – 0:18:32] Adam: Oh, and then they act, Oh, I’m sorry.
[0:18:32 – 0:18:33] Adam: And I paddle away.
[0:18:33 – 0:18:33] Adam: I’m like,
[0:18:34 – 0:18:58] Erik: yeah what were you thinking i don’t know there’s a i mean it doesn’t necessarily ruin the trip for me and it’s not something that i really get mad about but it is just kind of one of those things where it’s like it’s the same reason why whenever i think about like u.s forest service rangers i’m like i could never do that job there’s no way i could just be able to paddle right into somebody’s campsite and being like hey what’s going on how you doing but yeah like
[0:18:58 – 0:19:02] Adam: With no, like, you didn’t, like, you’re not driving over the center line.
[0:19:02 – 0:19:02] Adam: Yeah.
[0:19:02 – 0:19:03] Adam: You didn’t do anything wrong.
[0:19:03 – 0:19:04] Adam: I’m just here.
[0:19:04 – 0:19:08] Adam: You just have to go in there and inspect somebody just for the sake of inspection and that job.
[0:19:08 – 0:19:10] Adam: And that’s very uncomfortable for me.
[0:19:10 – 0:19:11] Adam: Yeah.
[0:19:11 – 0:19:12] Adam: But, yeah, these folks.
[0:19:13 – 0:19:18] Adam: We’re sitting there literally having the time of our lives, super relaxed, haven’t seen anybody.
[0:19:18 – 0:19:22] Adam: I mean, that’s what the wilderness is all about, to get out there and be in that position.
[0:19:22 – 0:19:25] Adam: A long day of paddling, and then just we got this whole lake.
[0:19:25 – 0:19:27] Adam: We hand-picked this campsite.
[0:19:27 – 0:19:30] Adam: We’re not going to see anybody, and then right at the end of the day…
[0:19:31 – 0:19:34] Erik: And it wasn’t like it was across like, hey, there goes a couple of canoes.
[0:19:34 – 0:19:34] Erik: I don’t mind that at all.
[0:19:35 – 0:19:36] Adam: Yeah, no, you’re going to see that.
[0:19:36 – 0:19:40] Erik: It’s like, oh, no, now I have to interact with another human that I was not expecting to.
[0:19:40 – 0:19:44] Adam: It was a little bit awkward just because, yeah, you haven’t seen anybody now in two days besides ourselves.
[0:19:44 – 0:19:46] Adam: And it’s like, oh, here they come.
[0:19:47 – 0:19:48] Adam: Just really…
[0:19:49 – 0:20:15] Adam: um breaking that wall this illusion that you’re out there by yourself yeah especially since they had passed two very fine campsites and that’s the other thing i can understand if it’s they went by a full lake up to our point like hey how much farther do we got to go before we find it yeah if we knew that those campsites were all full and then okay so clearly they can’t stop there and we’re not gonna offer up our campsite as a don’t stay here there’s plenty of other ones
[0:20:15 – 0:20:17] Adam: But then, yeah, okay, we’ll ask about it.
[0:20:18 – 0:20:24] Adam: But yeah, to pass all those campsites and then just to literally paddle and basically almost bring your canoe ashore on our campsite.
[0:20:24 – 0:20:26] Adam: I thought they were just going to land.
[0:20:26 – 0:20:27] Adam: I thought they were going to too.
[0:20:27 – 0:20:27] Adam: They almost did.
[0:20:28 – 0:20:28] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:29 – 0:20:30] Adam: And then just the awkwardness of it.
[0:20:30 – 0:20:37] Adam: And we clearly weren’t receptive to like, we weren’t as friendly as we normally would be in that scenario because we were a little irked.
[0:20:38 – 0:20:38] Adam: Yeah.
[0:20:38 – 0:20:38] Adam: Yeah.
[0:20:39 – 0:20:39] Adam: So I don’t know.
[0:20:39 – 0:20:43] Adam: I mean, you, everybody listening now can clearly hear where we’re coming down on this.
[0:20:43 – 0:20:44] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:44 – 0:20:49] Adam: We can get off the soapbox, I guess, but like, honestly, arrogant bastard ale, arrogant bastard ale.
[0:20:49 – 0:20:51] Adam: It’s the perfect ale for this episode.
[0:20:51 – 0:20:52] Adam: Like get away from our campsite.
[0:20:52 – 0:20:53] Adam: Seriously.
[0:20:53 – 0:20:53] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:53 – 0:20:54] Adam: Don’t do this.
[0:20:54 – 0:20:57] Erik: I understand bad weather nights upon you.
[0:20:57 – 0:20:59] Erik: All the other campsites are full, you know,
[0:21:00 – 0:21:03] Adam: Nobody comes to the Boundary Waters to have somebody paddle right into their campsite like that.
[0:21:03 – 0:21:12] Adam: If I wanted that, I’d just go stay in Sawbill Campsite or go stay in the Muni Campsite in Grand Marais or go stay on Fall Lake Campsite.
[0:21:13 – 0:21:16] Adam: Yeah, we’re going to play some bocce ball together or something with our camp neighbors.
[0:21:17 – 0:21:18] Adam: This isn’t car camping.
[0:21:18 – 0:21:22] Adam: I’m not out there to try and hang out and meet friends.
[0:21:22 – 0:21:35] Adam: You do end up running into people where it just happens, but when you go out of your way to go and intrude on somebody’s private, remote wilderness setting like that, honestly, think about what you’re doing.
[0:21:35 – 0:21:36] Adam: It’s not cool.
[0:21:36 – 0:21:40] Adam: This is probably the strongest language we’ve ever had on this podcast.
[0:21:40 – 0:21:43] Adam: We’re getting a little serious here, but it’s a serious thing.
[0:21:43 – 0:21:43] Adam: Like,
[0:21:44 – 0:21:53] Adam: When I put that much work into getting an A-plus campsite on Winchell and haven’t seen anybody all day, to have somebody literally dock their canoe in your campsite at the end of the day, it’s just damn rude.
[0:21:53 – 0:21:54] Erik: Yeah, it is.
[0:21:54 – 0:21:55] Erik: I’ll leave it at that.
[0:21:55 – 0:22:01] Erik: And just, you know, we’ve said it, there was other empty campsites.
[0:22:02 – 0:22:05] Erik: The other thing is it was 4 or 5 in the afternoon.
[0:22:05 – 0:22:06] Erik: It was later in the day, but it wasn’t like…
[0:22:06 – 0:22:07] Adam: I’m getting a little worked up.
[0:22:07 – 0:22:08] Adam: I’m looking at my levels here.
[0:22:09 – 0:22:10] Adam: You’re spiking.
[0:22:11 – 0:22:12] Adam: Yeah, I’m kind of screaming a little.
[0:22:12 – 0:22:13] Erik: Yeah, we’ll put it through the level later.
[0:22:15 – 0:22:17] Erik: The day was calm.
[0:22:17 – 0:22:21] Erik: It was not like they were struggling into the wind or anything.
[0:22:21 – 0:22:28] Erik: And it wasn’t even, you know, if they would have been up, they were just, as they continued on by paddling, like, hey, how’s the fishing or whatever.
[0:22:28 – 0:22:29] Adam: What’s the appropriate measure then?
[0:22:29 – 0:22:30] Adam: Like, they could see us.
[0:22:31 – 0:22:34] Adam: Like, when I’m paddling or you’re paddling, try and give them a good buffer.
[0:22:34 – 0:22:35] Adam: Give them a nice buffer.
[0:22:35 – 0:22:36] Adam: When you see a campsite occupied.
[0:22:36 – 0:22:40] Erik: If somebody’s down at the waterfront, you kind of just give them a nod.
[0:22:40 – 0:22:42] Erik: I don’t even wave.
[0:22:42 – 0:22:44] Erik: I mean, that’s the other funny thing.
[0:22:44 – 0:22:48] Erik: You get people on shore that’ll wave, but it’s like, well, to wave, I have to kind of break what I’m doing.
[0:22:48 – 0:22:49] Erik: So you give the in-between paddle.
[0:22:49 – 0:22:51] Erik: You give the old one-arm paddle.
[0:22:51 – 0:22:51] Erik: The one-arm paddle wave.
[0:22:51 – 0:22:53] Erik: One-arm paddle with the one finger up.
[0:22:53 – 0:22:53] Erik: Yeah.
[0:22:54 – 0:23:15] Erik: yeah yeah but i don’t know what the appropriate measure is maybe don’t even acknowledge the people because it does it ruins the illusion yeah i just i mean i think that you should always unless it’s an emergency again i can’t say that enough like it wasn’t a situation where they needed help they didn’t they were fine it was beautiful like three adults and a kid yeah if you know you should always just assume that you’re on your own out there
[0:23:16 – 0:23:18] Adam: Then I feel kind of bad because we were a little bit rude about it.
[0:23:18 – 0:23:19] Adam: Like, yeah, I don’t know.
[0:23:20 – 0:23:20] Adam: We haven’t caught anything.
[0:23:21 – 0:23:24] Erik: Well, yeah, and then they kind of asked about fishing, too, a little bit.
[0:23:24 – 0:23:25] Adam: Yeah, like, how’s the lake trout fishing?
[0:23:25 – 0:23:26] Adam: Like, we haven’t even tried.
[0:23:26 – 0:23:28] Adam: We’ve just been paddling around.
[0:23:28 – 0:23:29] Adam: Yeah.
[0:23:29 – 0:23:33] Erik: I know that we’ve established ourselves truly as arrogant bastards.
[0:23:33 – 0:23:34] Adam: That’s our thought on it.
[0:23:35 – 0:23:36] Adam: This isn’t about Winchell.
[0:23:36 – 0:23:39] Adam: We were talking about it before we started recording today.
[0:23:39 – 0:23:40] Adam: And it was like, remember that?
[0:23:40 – 0:23:45] Adam: Yeah, like it’s just something that needs to be said for its etiquette.
[0:23:45 – 0:23:47] Erik: Well, it was a couple years ago, and we still remember it.
[0:23:47 – 0:23:50] Erik: It’s kind of like there’s tons of etiquette things out there.
[0:23:50 – 0:24:03] Erik: We don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of what’s etiquette or what’s not, but I think it’s kind of up there with leaving your canoe and gear right in the middle of a portage as you’re heading over for the first time.
[0:24:03 – 0:24:04] Adam: Right, like nobody else is going to come along.
[0:24:04 – 0:24:05] Adam: Yeah.
[0:24:05 – 0:24:06] Erik: Like just choking the landing up.
[0:24:07 – 0:24:08] Erik: Yeah, we run into that a lot, too.
[0:24:08 – 0:24:08] Erik: Yeah.
[0:24:08 – 0:24:09] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:24:09 – 0:24:19] Adam: People, they get out there and they think they’re the only ones out there and then don’t really have any idea in their head about how they’re maybe impacting other people’s trips or enjoyment of the park themselves.
[0:24:19 – 0:24:20] Adam: So keep it in mind.
[0:24:20 – 0:24:21] Adam: We don’t…
[0:24:21 – 0:24:22] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:24:22 – 0:24:26] Adam: We’re sounding like jerks a little bit and grumpy, but… Yeah.
[0:24:26 – 0:24:31] Erik: After we listen to this, this one might just end up on the cutting floor, but we’re a few episodes in.
[0:24:31 – 0:24:32] Adam: No, it needs to be said.
[0:24:32 – 0:24:33] Adam: Like, that’s fine.
[0:24:33 – 0:24:35] Adam: We can’t just be all happy-go-lucky, but…
[0:24:36 – 0:24:39] Adam: With all of that said, though, that campsite was amazing.
[0:24:39 – 0:24:41] Adam: We ended up having a great time on it.
[0:24:41 – 0:24:41] Adam: Yeah.
[0:24:42 – 0:24:43] Adam: A really good time.
[0:24:43 – 0:24:44] Adam: Got some huge fish.
[0:24:44 – 0:24:47] Adam: Yeah, you caught a monster pike out of that campsite.
[0:24:48 – 0:24:50] Adam: I got some really good doodles out of it.
[0:24:50 – 0:24:50] Erik: Yep.
[0:24:51 – 0:24:53] Adam: Yeah, it was just a beautiful night in the hammock.
[0:24:53 – 0:24:56] Adam: Everything about that trip ended up being amazing.
[0:24:56 – 0:24:59] Adam: We got to… We ended up seeing a moose swimming on Gaskin on that trip.
[0:24:59 – 0:24:59] Adam: On the way in.
[0:25:00 – 0:25:03] Adam: Yeah, with the moose and the mama moose and the baby moose.
[0:25:03 – 0:25:03] Adam: Yeah.
[0:25:04 – 0:25:08] Adam: Caught him swimming in between an island on Gaskin the next morning when we were heading out, so…
[0:25:08 – 0:25:15] Erik: Yeah, we went from basically, what was the, we saw a group on Rush Lake.
[0:25:16 – 0:25:22] Erik: And then we went from them all the way around Bannadad, Long Island, Muskeg, Kiskadena.
[0:25:22 – 0:25:23] Erik: Kiskadena.
[0:25:23 – 0:25:24] Erik: Omega, Winchell.
[0:25:25 – 0:25:27] Erik: We went like a day and a half, you know, we just.
[0:25:27 – 0:25:28] Erik: In the middle of June.
[0:25:29 – 0:25:29] Adam: Where is everybody?
[0:25:29 – 0:25:30] Adam: Abnormal.
[0:25:30 – 0:25:32] Adam: So I think that’s maybe what made it so jarring.
[0:25:32 – 0:25:33] Adam: That was it, too.
[0:25:33 – 0:25:36] Adam: Because it was the time of year where we should be running into people all the time.
[0:25:37 – 0:25:38] Adam: However, we did not.
[0:25:38 – 0:25:43] Adam: And then we had these people who very rudely intruded on our beautiful campsite.
[0:25:43 – 0:25:46] Adam: But we did not let it get us down.
[0:25:46 – 0:25:47] Adam: We persevered.
[0:25:47 – 0:25:49] Adam: And it was a great site.
[0:25:49 – 0:25:59] Adam: Great trip, and I don’t want to make the impression that somebody paddling a little too close to my shoreline, what a surly old grumpy man I am, that it’s going to make me…
[0:25:59 – 0:25:59] Adam: But I’m just…
[0:26:00 – 0:26:01] Erik: It was the whole situation.
[0:26:01 – 0:26:02] Erik: It wasn’t the proximity.
[0:26:02 – 0:26:05] Erik: It wasn’t the fact that they… Well, it wasn’t the first time that’s happened either.
[0:26:06 – 0:26:16] Adam: And just like, hey, anyways, if you’re listening and you think that’s cool to just paddle up and say hi, like, hey, just think about, you know, from the perspective of the people on camp, maybe.
[0:26:16 – 0:26:17] Adam: And they…
[0:26:17 – 0:26:23] Erik: Or at least keep the flow of your paddle moving if you happen to be passing by.
[0:26:23 – 0:26:26] Adam: Don’t throw an anchor out right in front of somebody’s camp.
[0:26:26 – 0:26:28] Adam: We had this happen on Pine with those weirdos.
[0:26:28 – 0:26:28] Adam: Oh, yeah.
[0:26:28 – 0:26:31] Adam: Came up in a camel boat, right, like at twilight.
[0:26:31 – 0:26:32] Adam: Yeah.
[0:26:32 – 0:26:33] Adam: Hey, you see any lakers?
[0:26:33 – 0:26:34] Adam: Like, get out of here.
[0:26:34 – 0:26:34] Adam: Yeah.
[0:26:34 – 0:26:35] Adam: I don’t know what’s with people.
[0:26:36 – 0:26:38] Adam: I mean, humans are by nature a social animal.
[0:26:39 – 0:26:44] Adam: And I get that, but I don’t understand it sometimes.
[0:26:44 – 0:26:51] Erik: Yeah, I mean, everybody is going to try to experience and paddle the park in their own ways.
[0:26:51 – 0:26:55] Erik: I am one who tends to give people as much space as possible.
[0:26:55 – 0:26:57] Adam: Yeah, for sure.
[0:26:57 – 0:26:58] Adam: A buffer, if you will.
[0:26:59 – 0:27:03] Erik: And the places where you can’t avoid it on portages, then yeah, I’m all about it.
[0:27:03 – 0:27:05] Erik: We’re in the struggle of this portage together.
[0:27:06 – 0:27:07] Erik: Those are fun times, I think.
[0:27:07 – 0:27:08] Adam: Yeah, absolutely.
[0:27:08 – 0:27:09] Adam: That’s the time to socialize.
[0:27:09 – 0:27:12] Adam: When you run into somebody on a portage, then it was meant to be, hey, where are you from?
[0:27:13 – 0:27:14] Adam: Want to share a little bit of wine?
[0:27:14 – 0:27:16] Erik: Yeah.
[0:27:16 – 0:27:16] Adam: And so forth.
[0:27:16 – 0:27:17] Adam: Yeah.
[0:27:17 – 0:27:17] Erik: Where are you coming from?
[0:27:18 – 0:27:18] Erik: Where are you going?
[0:27:19 – 0:27:26] Erik: You know, it’s, you know, outside of any emergency situation, let’s give each other some space out there.
[0:27:28 – 0:27:30] Adam: And we do have plenty of space out there.
[0:27:31 – 0:27:35] Adam: We’re not trying to… Anyways, Winchell, it’s a big lake.
[0:27:36 – 0:27:38] Adam: It’s in the middle of the deep part of the wilderness.
[0:27:39 – 0:27:40] Adam: It’s a great place to visit.
[0:27:41 – 0:27:42] Adam: How do you get there?
[0:27:43 – 0:27:47] Adam: A lot of people come in from Brule and they head north.
[0:27:48 – 0:27:49] Adam: Coming out of Brule, you can get there.
[0:27:49 – 0:27:50] Adam: It’s pretty easy.
[0:27:51 – 0:27:56] Adam: You kind of cross through the Misquah Hills, head north, and then you’re into that system and…
[0:27:57 – 0:28:01] Adam: Windchill is kind of the hub of this middle central eastern zone up there.
[0:28:01 – 0:28:08] Erik: Yeah, it kind of connects the grade, which is where you’re going to find Sawbill, Brule.
[0:28:09 – 0:28:10] Erik: Right.
[0:28:10 – 0:28:16] Adam: If you’re coming up out of Brule, you end up in Grassy, which is a real long, narrow one with a long portage into…
[0:28:16 – 0:28:19] Adam: Grassy no longer exists.
[0:28:20 – 0:28:20] Erik: Yeah.
[0:28:20 – 0:28:21] Erik: Keep that in mind.
[0:28:21 – 0:28:27] Erik: That portage that is marked next to Grassy, anything that’s blue, that is now a longer portage because a beaver dam blew out.
[0:28:27 – 0:28:29] Erik: Beavers gave up.
[0:28:29 – 0:28:30] Erik: It’s just a longer portage.
[0:28:31 – 0:28:32] Adam: I can’t read this.
[0:28:32 – 0:28:33] Adam: It’s Wanahegan?
[0:28:35 – 0:28:41] Adam: There’s a little lake just south of Winchell that you’re into, north of what used to be grassy.
[0:28:41 – 0:28:43] Adam: And then from there, you’re in.
[0:28:43 – 0:28:45] Adam: You kind of come in between two cliffs there.
[0:28:45 – 0:28:46] Adam: It’s very majestic.
[0:28:46 – 0:28:54] Adam: And you’re coming in on the western end of the lake, kind of across from campsite number two in our records here.
[0:28:54 – 0:29:01] Adam: And then if you would, the way on the trip we were just discussing, coming from the north out of Omega…
[0:29:02 – 0:29:04] Adam: then you would kind of be across from that too.
[0:29:04 – 0:29:10] Adam: And when you come in from the north on Omega down into Winchell, then you’re kind of in this little bay.
[0:29:10 – 0:29:12] Adam: which is really the outlier on this lake.
[0:29:12 – 0:29:16] Adam: It’s kind of a long, narrow lake, as many of the lakes up here are.
[0:29:17 – 0:29:21] Adam: But then where you’re heading up to Omega there, there’s kind of this weird bay with an island.
[0:29:22 – 0:29:25] Adam: And it looks like that would be a really good spot for fishing.
[0:29:26 – 0:29:27] Erik: We tried fishing in there a little bit, but no luck.
[0:29:27 – 0:29:28] Erik: We did try.
[0:29:28 – 0:29:30] Adam: Yeah, no success in there, but I’m still not.
[0:29:30 – 0:29:31] Adam: I would try it again.
[0:29:31 – 0:29:33] Adam: Honestly, it looks really good in there.
[0:29:33 – 0:29:38] Adam: Just on the map and then also having paddled through there looks great.
[0:29:39 – 0:29:43] Adam: So those are your two entries on the western edge of Winchell.
[0:29:43 – 0:30:02] Adam: And then if you head all the way down to the eastern end, almost to the very end of the lake, then you have a very reasonable 80-rod portage heading north up into Gaskin, which then you can connect out of Gaskin into Allen or Horseshoe heading north.
[0:30:02 – 0:30:05] Adam: And then that eventually ends up in Caribou and Poplar.
[0:30:06 – 0:30:10] Adam: So it’s a big one for people going into Poplar, either of the entry points in Poplar.
[0:30:10 – 0:30:21] Adam: You can worm your way down and then end up in Winchell, and it’s a reasonable spot to end up at, and you’re going to find a really good campsite down there.
[0:30:21 – 0:30:28] Adam: The fishing’s kind of going to be probably awesome, and I can’t say enough about Winchell.
[0:30:28 – 0:30:30] Adam: It’s a beautiful lake.
[0:30:31 – 0:30:32] Adam: It’s definitely a destination.
[0:30:33 – 0:30:37] Adam: You get in there, you can set base camp, and then you can do a nice loop off of it, depending on which way you came in.
[0:30:39 – 0:30:44] Adam: You could spend a night or two there and then continue on on a wider loop.
[0:30:44 – 0:30:45] Adam: A lot of possibilities.
[0:30:46 – 0:30:47] Adam: Tons of possibilities.
[0:30:47 – 0:30:48] Adam: To include Winchell in your plans.
[0:30:49 – 0:30:56] Erik: And it might be just anecdotal, but at the time we were out there, there was just that one group we saw on Winchell the whole time.
[0:30:57 – 0:31:01] Erik: And then we were kind of like, okay, well, maybe there’s not too many people out there.
[0:31:01 – 0:31:04] Erik: We went up to Gaskin and like every campsite was full.
[0:31:04 – 0:31:05] Adam: Yeah, we ended up in Gaskin and it was packed.
[0:31:06 – 0:31:27] Adam: yeah so i mean maybe that’s what happened with these people we saw because they saw every campsite and gas can was packed they came down and they saw these couple were open and they’re like well i don’t know maybe they were gun shy yeah could have been so yeah um it’s a middle f f13 and on the fishers it’s um can’t miss it to zoom in and it’s right there in the middle it’s uh
[0:31:28 – 0:31:29] Adam: It’s right in the middle of it all.
[0:31:30 – 0:31:32] Adam: A lot of great things going on around it.
[0:31:32 – 0:31:33] Adam: Highly recommend you get in there.
[0:31:33 – 0:31:43] Adam: Just due to the quality of the lakes around it, the routes in and out, the variety of ways you can get there, and then the icing on the cake here is the campsites.
[0:31:43 – 0:31:44] Adam: There are 12.
[0:31:44 – 0:31:45] Adam: Some very nice sites.
[0:31:45 – 0:31:47] Adam: And 10 of them are knockouts.
[0:31:47 – 0:31:50] Adam: Just fine, fine campsites.
[0:31:50 – 0:31:51] Adam: Yeah, that’s a good base camp.
[0:31:51 – 0:31:54] Adam: The other two ain’t terrible or anything if you ended up there.
[0:31:54 – 0:31:57] Erik: No, there is one that we’re going to have a good time making fun of.
[0:31:57 – 0:31:58] Adam: Yeah, there’s some bad ones.
[0:31:58 – 0:32:00] Adam: But we’ll start on the west end as we always do.
[0:32:01 – 0:32:03] Adam: Campsite one, way down on the west end.
[0:32:03 – 0:32:04] Adam: Pretty private.
[0:32:05 – 0:32:07] Adam: If you get down there, it is pretty and private.
[0:32:09 – 0:32:10] Adam: Two tent pads.
[0:32:11 – 0:32:13] Adam: The landing’s a B-, the fire grate’s a B.
[0:32:13 – 0:32:14] Adam: Overall, we gave it a B.
[0:32:15 – 0:32:17] Adam: First spot on the lake, it’s a solid choice.
[0:32:17 – 0:32:18] Adam: Well-rounded amenities.
[0:32:19 – 0:32:22] Adam: And it feels pretty quiet because you’re way down on the end there.
[0:32:22 – 0:32:29] Adam: And a lot of people aren’t even going to paddle over there, especially if they’re coming in from any of the entries we discussed.
[0:32:29 – 0:32:31] Adam: You’d have to go kind of out of your way to get over there.
[0:32:31 – 0:32:34] Adam: And so, yeah, I mean, this is a really great option.
[0:32:34 – 0:32:36] Adam: And we didn’t really spend a ton of time down there.
[0:32:36 – 0:32:38] Adam: We kind of paddled over and took some pictures.
[0:32:40 – 0:32:41] Adam: I really like this one.
[0:32:41 – 0:32:46] Adam: You got kind of a nice rock slab going out from the campsite that you can kind of walk out on.
[0:32:46 – 0:32:48] Adam: The landing’s pretty decent.
[0:32:48 – 0:32:50] Erik: Maybe not the greatest fishing because it’s a little shallow there.
[0:32:50 – 0:32:54] Adam: But yeah, you could easily like wade out, do a little swim off of there.
[0:32:54 – 0:33:20] Adam: some really nice trees it’s got a great blend of like openness on the shoreline but then also some nice trees for privacy and like like we’ve said it’s on the end of the lake so yeah really you could definitely nude camp down here and nobody would ever give you anything any grief over it nobody would see your bits campsite two just just down the way and around the bend yeah far enough away where you can’t see campsite one
[0:33:20 – 0:33:28] Erik: Yeah, that’s the one nice thing about all of these sites is they’re all on the north side and you can really, it’s really not, there’s no sight lines between any of them.
[0:33:29 – 0:33:29] Adam: Yeah, yeah.
[0:33:29 – 0:33:31] Adam: It’s hard to see one from the other.
[0:33:31 – 0:33:38] Adam: There’s maybe a couple where you can maybe in the distance see the very edge of a campsite or something, but they’re all going to be very private.
[0:33:38 – 0:33:42] Adam: I mean, it’s quintessential Boundary Waters campsites up and down the lake.
[0:33:43 – 0:33:46] Erik: But campsite number two, I guess we kind of forgot about this one.
[0:33:46 – 0:33:49] Erik: This is probably up there with one of the worst ones on the lake.
[0:33:50 – 0:33:55] Adam: Well, yeah, I mean, there’s so many good ones, though, so I think we’re being a little tough on the grades here.
[0:33:55 – 0:34:03] Erik: Yeah, but I actually did camp here with the geologist wife at one point.
[0:34:04 – 0:34:05] Adam: The geology is crap here.
[0:34:05 – 0:34:12] Erik: The geology is real junk, and there are a bunch of old trees that have come down in the site that have kind of been cut up.
[0:34:12 – 0:34:15] Adam: It looks like it got whacked by a little bit of a microburst here or something.
[0:34:15 – 0:34:17] Adam: Maybe a lightning bolt strike at some point.
[0:34:18 – 0:34:19] Erik: Camp site number two.
[0:34:19 – 0:34:24] Adam: Yeah, now that we’re looking at the pictures, it looks a little junky, and compared to everything else on the lake, it’s like, meh.
[0:34:25 – 0:34:29] Adam: It’s like going to a fine restaurant and then trying to order chicken nuggets, I guess, trying to stay here.
[0:34:29 – 0:34:30] Adam: It’s not terrible.
[0:34:30 – 0:34:35] Adam: I’m sure a fine dining establishment would make a great chicken nugget, but try something nicer.
[0:34:35 – 0:34:36] Adam: Come on.
[0:34:36 – 0:34:40] Erik: Yeah, one tent pad, C-minus landing, C-fire great.
[0:34:41 – 0:34:44] Erik: Overall, D-plus.
[0:34:44 – 0:34:51] Erik: There are not very many nice things to say about this spot directly north of the Wanahegan Lake Portage.
[0:34:52 – 0:34:53] Adam: Yeah, I guess, you know, that’s the thing.
[0:34:53 – 0:35:00] Adam: It’s a little far enough over, so anybody coming out of the south from Brule would then, you know, be coming right at you maybe.
[0:35:00 – 0:35:02] Adam: I don’t know why anybody would be going for this one.
[0:35:03 – 0:35:05] Erik: Well, you’re just going to get all the good ones.
[0:35:05 – 0:35:08] Adam: Yeah, I guess, well, all the rest of them are pretty good until the end now.
[0:35:08 – 0:35:10] Adam: Campsite 3, it’s a big one.
[0:35:11 – 0:35:40] Adam: this is a real beaut you can see it from a ways off got these big smooth beautiful rocks on a nice point sticking out on the lake kind of looks like an elephant’s butt just laying upside down in the lake 10 pads 4 plus landing a plus fire grade area is a b overall this is an a this is a blue ribbon site oh my god if you get this site i want to kiss you on the mouth it’s a really nice spot for big groups
[0:35:40 – 0:35:56] Adam: yeah if you have a lot of people and this one’s open like your wildest dreams have come true site features a massive and unique rock point uh one of the nicest on the lake and easily easily one of the nicest ones in the area in general especially for large groups yeah
[0:35:57 – 0:35:58] Adam: A ton of room in the back of the site.
[0:35:58 – 0:36:00] Adam: So, like, yeah, it’s impressive up front.
[0:36:00 – 0:36:03] Adam: But then once you wander on back, there’s all these, like, open spots.
[0:36:03 – 0:36:04] Adam: It’s like a campground almost.
[0:36:04 – 0:36:05] Adam: No, it’s really great.
[0:36:05 – 0:36:08] Adam: I mean, I would love to hear the history of this site.
[0:36:08 – 0:36:10] Adam: This must have been, like, an ancient campsite.
[0:36:11 – 0:36:12] Adam: It’s so natural.
[0:36:12 – 0:36:14] Adam: It’s been in use for a long time, obviously.
[0:36:14 – 0:36:14] Adam: Yeah.
[0:36:14 – 0:36:21] Adam: This is one where you can feel the age and, like, the other people who have camped there with you, the spirits of them.
[0:36:21 – 0:36:22] Erik: Definitely.
[0:36:22 – 0:36:22] Erik: Yeah.
[0:36:23 – 0:36:33] Adam: The only downside you’ve noticed, the fire grade, is kind of on the backside of this prominent elephant butt rock feature, but I don’t mind it because, as you noted, it does help on the windy days.
[0:36:34 – 0:36:35] Adam: It’s kind of cool looking.
[0:36:36 – 0:36:38] Adam: You can see the lake off to the left.
[0:36:38 – 0:36:43] Adam: You can kind of dry gear up on those rocks or kind of lean up against them and stare at the stars.
[0:36:44 – 0:36:49] Adam: Honestly, you’re not going to find many campsites out there better than number three on Winchell.
[0:36:50 – 0:36:51] Adam: It’s a beaut.
[0:36:51 – 0:36:53] Adam: Is there any way we can get the big map up?
[0:36:53 – 0:36:53] Adam: Yeah.
[0:36:54 – 0:36:59] Adam: Yeah, so this one is straight across from the Wanahegan Portage, too.
[0:36:59 – 0:37:02] Adam: So I’m sure this one is in use a lot.
[0:37:02 – 0:37:05] Adam: The fact that we saw it open pretty rare in mid-June.
[0:37:06 – 0:37:07] Adam: Well, it’s a real beauty.
[0:37:07 – 0:37:13] Adam: And if you’re coming south from Omega, then you’d get out of the bay and take a right, and it’s pretty much right.
[0:37:13 – 0:37:16] Adam: You’re right on top of it immediately coming out of Omega and that little bay.
[0:37:16 – 0:37:20] Adam: So easily accessible from either direction.
[0:37:21 – 0:37:22] Adam: Ideal conditions.
[0:37:23 – 0:37:26] Adam: I mean, it looks like you could honestly rollerblade around on these rocks.
[0:37:26 – 0:37:28] Adam: It looks like something we would have seen in Canyonlands or something.
[0:37:29 – 0:37:30] Adam: The smoothness of the rock and…
[0:37:31 – 0:37:33] Erik: Fish off that tip too really nice.
[0:37:33 – 0:37:37] Adam: Yeah, you got multi-directional casting for a little Cleo or a Rapala off that point.
[0:37:37 – 0:37:38] Adam: I mean, we could go on and on.
[0:37:39 – 0:37:40] Erik: How did I not give this an A plus?
[0:37:40 – 0:37:41] Adam: Yeah, I don’t know.
[0:37:41 – 0:37:46] Adam: I think you might have to up it to an A plus because really this is one of the better campsites I can remember ever having seen.
[0:37:47 – 0:37:57] Adam: For as much time as we spent ranting about the rude campers who paddled into our campsite down the lake, we should have spent 20 minutes just extolling the virtues of this beautiful campsite.
[0:37:57 – 0:37:58] Adam: It is really a one of a kind.
[0:37:59 – 0:38:05] Adam: And boy, I’m kind of jealous that I wish we would have maybe just stayed here, but the one we did stay at was great as well.
[0:38:05 – 0:38:10] Erik: We were able to take advantage of the empty lake that day to get all of these.
[0:38:10 – 0:38:18] Adam: Yeah, it was really a special thing just to be able to stop at each campsite and then just to hang out for a little bit and enjoy them for micro-camping.
[0:38:19 – 0:38:19] Erik: Yeah.
[0:38:19 – 0:38:19] Erik: Yeah.
[0:38:20 – 0:38:23] Erik: No, that’s kind of why I love these campsite reviews is you get a little bit.
[0:38:23 – 0:38:24] Adam: I love our trips where we get out to do these.
[0:38:24 – 0:38:25] Adam: Yeah.
[0:38:25 – 0:38:25] Adam: It’s a lot of fun.
[0:38:25 – 0:38:30] Adam: You get to see like in a normal trip, you wouldn’t actually stop and get out of the canoe at each campsite.
[0:38:30 – 0:38:32] Adam: And then to do a big lake like this and get all of them.
[0:38:32 – 0:38:32] Adam: Yeah.
[0:38:33 – 0:38:34] Adam: It’s really a special thing.
[0:38:34 – 0:38:34] Erik: Yeah.
[0:38:34 – 0:38:35] Erik: And we’re spoiled.
[0:38:35 – 0:38:38] Erik: Especially to have all of them empty like that.
[0:38:38 – 0:38:40] Erik: It was just exceptional.
[0:38:40 – 0:38:41] Erik: I couldn’t believe it.
[0:38:41 – 0:38:43] Erik: Moving on campsite four to the east.
[0:38:44 – 0:38:44] Erik: Again, I think we’re.
[0:38:44 – 0:38:45] Erik: A little more intimate.
[0:38:45 – 0:38:45] Erik: Yeah.
[0:38:45 – 0:38:46] Erik: We’re going back and forth here.
[0:38:46 – 0:38:48] Erik: You’re getting on the A’s and I’m getting the.
[0:38:48 – 0:38:51] Adam: This one’s in that bay kind of going towards Omega then.
[0:38:51 – 0:38:52] Adam: It’s not in the main lake.
[0:38:52 – 0:38:54] Adam: It’s the only one that’s not really in that main lake.
[0:38:55 – 0:38:59] Adam: It’s kind of wrapped around that point facing the bay and that little island.
[0:38:59 – 0:39:07] Adam: So, you know, if it’s like a real windy scenario where you wanted to, you know, get a little more protection, this might be a good spot for that.
[0:39:08 – 0:39:13] Adam: Or if you’re just like just getting out of Omega late and this one’s open, pretty good option, especially for a smaller group.
[0:39:13 – 0:39:15] Adam: But you got some tough grades on here.
[0:39:15 – 0:39:16] Erik: Campsite 4.
[0:39:17 – 0:39:18] Erik: Two tent pads.
[0:39:19 – 0:39:22] Erik: Landing is really the only thing it’s got going for it.
[0:39:22 – 0:39:23] Erik: Yeah, it’s got a nice rock slab going down.
[0:39:23 – 0:39:25] Erik: It’s got a C- fire grate.
[0:39:25 – 0:39:27] Erik: I gave it a C- overall.
[0:39:27 – 0:39:29] Erik: It’s to the south of the portage from Omega.
[0:39:29 – 0:39:30] Erik: Yeah, again, nice landing.
[0:39:31 – 0:39:44] Erik: The only issue is just compared to the other sites in the area, it’s generally, I would say, a little bit substandard, especially when it’s put up against the other campsites in the area.
[0:39:44 – 0:39:44] Erik: Right.
[0:39:44 – 0:39:48] Adam: If you put this campsite on another lake, it maybe would get a higher grade.
[0:39:48 – 0:39:48] Adam: It might.
[0:39:48 – 0:39:50] Erik: I would say it’s just your average.
[0:39:50 – 0:39:52] Adam: We’re taking everything into consideration.
[0:39:52 – 0:39:53] Adam: It’s pretty average.
[0:39:53 – 0:39:54] Adam: Nothing wrong with it.
[0:39:55 – 0:39:56] Adam: Nothing great about it, really.
[0:39:57 – 0:39:57] Adam: No elephant butts.
[0:39:58 – 0:39:59] Erik: No, maybe a mini one there.
[0:39:59 – 0:40:02] Erik: Yeah, maybe just a tiny little elephant baby, but…
[0:40:02 – 0:40:03] Erik: Campsite 5.
[0:40:03 – 0:40:04] Adam: Wow, you’re right.
[0:40:04 – 0:40:05] Adam: I am getting all the good ones here.
[0:40:05 – 0:40:07] Adam: Campsite 5, tent pads 3.
[0:40:07 – 0:40:10] Adam: Wow, this is another huge open rocky point.
[0:40:11 – 0:40:13] Adam: You can see this thing from a mile away.
[0:40:13 – 0:40:14] Adam: The landing is an A.
[0:40:14 – 0:40:16] Adam: The fire grate’s an A.
[0:40:16 – 0:40:17] Adam: Overall, this is an A.
[0:40:17 – 0:40:19] Adam: Another excellent campsite.
[0:40:19 – 0:40:20] Adam: Oh, man.
[0:40:20 – 0:40:21] Adam: Prominent rock point.
[0:40:22 – 0:40:24] Adam: Really great fire-grade area with a great view.
[0:40:25 – 0:40:26] Adam: Easy landing.
[0:40:26 – 0:40:27] Adam: Oh, man.
[0:40:27 – 0:40:32] Adam: Best views on the lake from the campsite, especially from right for the campfire on sunset.
[0:40:32 – 0:40:34] Adam: Yeah, it’s facing directly west.
[0:40:35 – 0:40:35] Adam: Oh, boy.
[0:40:36 – 0:40:39] Adam: Yeah, my heart’s beating a little faster looking at these pictures.
[0:40:39 – 0:40:41] Erik: Nice, even footing.
[0:40:41 – 0:40:47] Erik: It’s just a smooth, yeah, it’s just one of those sites that you can spot from a mile away and know it’s going to be a nice area.
[0:40:47 – 0:40:53] Adam: I mean, I’d still prefer three over this one just due to the neat rock structures on there, but this one’s just wide open.
[0:40:53 – 0:40:55] Adam: You’ve got even a little grass there.
[0:40:55 – 0:40:56] Adam: It’s so wide open and big.
[0:40:57 – 0:40:58] Erik: It’s no bocce ball court on Pine.
[0:40:58 – 0:41:05] Adam: No, but if you had a big group here and three was taken, this isn’t like a consolation prize.
[0:41:05 – 0:41:08] Adam: This is like you also got the grand prize.
[0:41:08 – 0:41:14] Adam: That’s the thing with Winchell and maybe what we should call this episode is the grand prize because so many of these campsites, it feels like you won.
[0:41:15 – 0:41:16] Adam: lottery when you get these sites.
[0:41:16 – 0:41:19] Erik: Whatever the grand prize translates into German.
[0:41:19 – 0:41:23] Adam: Yeah, we gotta find that German translation.
[0:41:23 – 0:41:24] Erik: Campsite 6.
[0:41:24 – 0:41:25] Erik: Yeah, we’re just going off.
[0:41:26 – 0:41:28] Erik: Yeah, this is the bottom line of this campsite.
[0:41:28 – 0:41:31] Erik: The final word of the sentence that I used to describe it.
[0:41:32 – 0:41:32] Erik: Serviceable.
[0:41:32 – 0:41:33] Erik: Serviceable.
[0:41:33 – 0:41:34] Erik: Two tent pads.
[0:41:34 – 0:41:35] Erik: Got a nice pine tree in there.
[0:41:35 – 0:41:35] Erik: C-.
[0:41:36 – 0:41:36] Erik: Double.
[0:41:37 – 0:41:55] Adam: landing see fire great see overall this is a pretty standard bwca campsite and that it is yeah but i mean i don’t know that’s a nice bench you got some good open spot around the fire there not bad it’s not bad at all no that would be fine it is it’s serviceable like ever you know
[0:41:56 – 0:42:01] Adam: I can’t imagine there’s many times where every campsite in Winchell is even taken, though, because it’s a nice spot.
[0:42:01 – 0:42:06] Adam: It’s a big lake, a lot of campsites, but you do have to put in quite a bit of work to get there from any direction.
[0:42:06 – 0:42:08] Adam: It’s not easy to get to in any way.
[0:42:09 – 0:42:13] Adam: So probably isn’t used a lot, and maybe that’s part of it, but wow.
[0:42:15 – 0:42:16] Adam: This one, seven.
[0:42:17 – 0:42:18] Adam: It’s only got one tent pad.
[0:42:18 – 0:42:27] Adam: The landing is nice and rocky, but a bit steep, so we gave it a B-, but if you’ve got the ability to get your feet wet, that shouldn’t be an issue.
[0:42:28 – 0:42:31] Adam: Just making a safe landing and pulling those packs out of the canoe.
[0:42:31 – 0:42:38] Adam: And then the fire grade is a solid B, and we just gave it a C+, but I would say it could probably be a B- easy.
[0:42:38 – 0:42:40] Adam: It’s a nice, beautiful view of the lake.
[0:42:41 – 0:42:43] Adam: Really cool rocks going down into the water.
[0:42:43 – 0:42:49] Erik: I do remember it being like the whole site kind of had that little angular feel to it.
[0:42:49 – 0:42:52] Adam: I feel like this one got forced in there, but it’s still a really cool site.
[0:42:53 – 0:42:56] Adam: I like the little patio that they’ve set up around the fire grate.
[0:42:57 – 0:42:59] Adam: Some mason has camped here.
[0:43:00 – 0:43:00] Adam: But, you know.
[0:43:00 – 0:43:01] Adam: I don’t mind that.
[0:43:02 – 0:43:05] Adam: That’s a little intrusive in its own way, like doing woodwork or masonry.
[0:43:06 – 0:43:13] Adam: We’ve talked about putting a table in or somebody who’s built a little rock recliner out of these nice flat rocks you find sometimes.
[0:43:13 – 0:43:14] Adam: Yeah.
[0:43:14 – 0:43:17] Adam: This has kind of got a nice little patio set up around there.
[0:43:17 – 0:43:18] Erik: It feels natural.
[0:43:18 – 0:43:18] Erik: It feels all right.
[0:43:18 – 0:43:19] Adam: No, it looks fine.
[0:43:19 – 0:43:21] Adam: Yeah, I like it a lot.
[0:43:21 – 0:43:25] Adam: Yeah, there’s not any huge trees in here, but C-plus, I guess, is fair.
[0:43:25 – 0:43:27] Adam: It’s just, yeah, it’s a bit of a steep landing.
[0:43:27 – 0:43:30] Adam: Oh, I get to talk about our site.
[0:43:30 – 0:43:34] Adam: Yeah, so you’ve got the one that really counts here is number eight.
[0:43:34 – 0:43:39] Erik: Yeah, this is the site where we had the infamous arrogant bastard incident.
[0:43:39 – 0:43:39] Erik: Yeah.
[0:43:41 – 0:43:42] Erik: Excellent spot.
[0:43:42 – 0:43:45] Erik: I would say it’s probably up there with three and five.
[0:43:45 – 0:43:46] Erik: Three, five, and eight.
[0:43:46 – 0:43:51] Adam: Three, five, and eight are the really ones you want to get if you have your pick of the litter, as we say.
[0:43:52 – 0:43:58] Erik: And it’s almost set up that it has a marina-style landing, little slots.
[0:43:58 – 0:44:03] Adam: Yeah, you can just basically pull in and never touch the boat, but easily pull everything out of it.
[0:44:03 – 0:44:04] Adam: You never touch the boat to the rock.
[0:44:04 – 0:44:05] Adam: And on both sides.
[0:44:05 – 0:44:06] Adam: You never, ever touch the boat.
[0:44:07 – 0:44:07] Erik: A-plus landing.
[0:44:08 – 0:44:08] Erik: Wow.
[0:44:08 – 0:44:08] Erik: Yeah.
[0:44:08 – 0:44:09] Adam: A minus fire grip.
[0:44:09 – 0:44:11] Adam: This is probably the nicest landing.
[0:44:11 – 0:44:12] Erik: Yes, it definitely is.
[0:44:12 – 0:44:13] Erik: A minus overall.
[0:44:14 – 0:44:15] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:44:15 – 0:44:17] Erik: You can’t be all A plus.
[0:44:17 – 0:44:29] Erik: I think the biggest issue I had with it is it’s very heavily used, so there was a lot of those two-foot tall trees that for whatever reason get hacked off or chopped with that boy scout.
[0:44:29 – 0:44:30] Adam: Yeah, they got boy scouted pretty bad.
[0:44:30 – 0:44:31] Adam: Yeah.
[0:44:32 – 0:44:38] Adam: We’ll get to this later, but then we’re getting to the eastern end of the lake, and there’s been a little burn down there.
[0:44:38 – 0:44:46] Adam: So we were able to just go down, finishing our campsite reviews, and we really loaded up on firewood and then came on back down here.
[0:44:46 – 0:44:47] Adam: So it wasn’t an issue.
[0:44:47 – 0:44:50] Adam: Oh, there’s that cedar tree right by the fire grate.
[0:44:50 – 0:44:53] Adam: This is the focus of one of my doodles I did.
[0:44:53 – 0:44:53] Adam: Oh, yeah.
[0:44:54 – 0:44:59] Adam: There’s a little strange warbler that we had captured in there and then eaten.
[0:44:59 – 0:45:00] Adam: I’m just kidding around.
[0:45:00 – 0:45:00] Adam: Yeah.
[0:45:02 – 0:45:08] Erik: And I think the only other thing that I remember, we were hammocking, but the tent pad selection was a little small.
[0:45:08 – 0:45:09] Erik: Yeah, but yeah.
[0:45:09 – 0:45:11] Erik: I mean, you could just sleep in that grassy knoll right there.
[0:45:11 – 0:45:12] Adam: You could have.
[0:45:12 – 0:45:13] Adam: I thought about it, honestly.
[0:45:13 – 0:45:17] Adam: Just who even needs a hammock when you have that kind of grassy knoll down there, so.
[0:45:17 – 0:45:17] SPEAKER_00: Yep.
[0:45:18 – 0:45:20] Adam: Yeah, nine.
[0:45:20 – 0:45:21] Adam: We’re getting down there now.
[0:45:22 – 0:45:23] Adam: Tent pads, there’s two.
[0:45:24 – 0:45:25] Adam: The landing is a little rough here.
[0:45:25 – 0:45:27] Adam: We gave it a D+.
[0:45:27 – 0:45:33] Adam: The fire grade’s a C-, and then overall a C-, but it kind of sits up.
[0:45:34 – 0:45:35] Adam: It’s a steeper landing again.
[0:45:35 – 0:45:36] Adam: Not great.
[0:45:38 – 0:45:42] Adam: It seems much nicer than it is from the lake.
[0:45:42 – 0:45:43] Adam: The landing is tough.
[0:45:43 – 0:45:48] Adam: The fire-grade area is very small, and there’s two tent pads and a sitting rock.
[0:45:48 – 0:45:58] Adam: So, yeah, that rock it has in there, it’s kind of got this table sitting rock you can kind of arrange gear on or pack stuff up on or just kind of lay down there and enjoy yourself.
[0:45:59 – 0:46:02] Adam: It’s a beautiful big rock by the fire-grade area.
[0:46:02 – 0:46:05] Adam: It’s a nice kitchen setup potential right there.
[0:46:05 – 0:46:05] Adam: Mm-hmm.
[0:46:06 – 0:46:06] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:46:06 – 0:46:08] Adam: I mean, it’s got a big pine tree.
[0:46:08 – 0:46:13] Adam: It’s nothing between you and the lake, but that big pine and a nice open kind of ledge rock going down in.
[0:46:13 – 0:46:16] Adam: It looks like you could probably fish pretty well off this one, too.
[0:46:16 – 0:46:18] Adam: Maybe closer to a C+.
[0:46:18 – 0:46:20] Adam: C+, maybe, yeah.
[0:46:20 – 0:46:21] Adam: Maybe a little bit more.
[0:46:21 – 0:46:28] Adam: But when we just had come from eight, which was such a nice campsite to see this, it’s all relative.
[0:46:28 – 0:46:29] Adam: So not bad, though.
[0:46:31 – 0:46:34] Adam: And I think this one, next one, is right up there, though.
[0:46:34 – 0:46:35] Adam: This is the one at the bench, no?
[0:46:35 – 0:46:35] Adam: Yeah.
[0:46:36 – 0:46:36] Erik: Yes, it is.
[0:46:36 – 0:46:39] Erik: Campsite 10, it is definitely contemplation point.
[0:46:40 – 0:46:41] Adam: Contemplation point.
[0:46:41 – 0:46:45] Erik: It’s got completely away from the fire grate.
[0:46:46 – 0:46:55] Erik: It has a handmade log bench, which does go against the rules of the bargeoirs in terms of leaving no trace.
[0:46:56 – 0:47:01] Adam: I don’t think anybody’s going to have it in them to take that apart because it’s very charming.
[0:47:01 – 0:47:03] Adam: It’s a very charming bench.
[0:47:03 – 0:47:03] Erik: Yes.
[0:47:04 – 0:47:10] Erik: But Beyond the Bench has plenty of tent pads, three tent pads, a nice A-rated landing.
[0:47:11 – 0:47:13] Erik: Across the board, we’ve got A’s here.
[0:47:13 – 0:47:14] Adam: Yeah, see, this is the reason.
[0:47:14 – 0:47:16] Adam: We go back to the beginning of the episode.
[0:47:16 – 0:47:18] Adam: Those people paddled right past that damn bench.
[0:47:19 – 0:47:19] Erik: Yes.
[0:47:19 – 0:47:20] Adam: It’s beautiful.
[0:47:20 – 0:47:23] Adam: Like, this campsite is everything you could possibly ask for.
[0:47:24 – 0:47:25] Adam: It was late in the day.
[0:47:25 – 0:47:28] Adam: I think there was literally firewood stacked in there, too.
[0:47:28 – 0:47:29] Erik: There may have been.
[0:47:29 – 0:47:30] Adam: Somebody left s’mores.
[0:47:31 – 0:47:32] Adam: Just pull in and camp.
[0:47:32 – 0:47:34] Adam: You know, what more do you want to have a campsite?
[0:47:35 – 0:47:41] Adam: How could somebody pass this campsite by at five in the afternoon in the middle of June?
[0:47:41 – 0:47:42] Erik: Fire grade A.
[0:47:43 – 0:47:44] Erik: Overall A.
[0:47:44 – 0:47:47] Erik: This is yet another exceptional site.
[0:47:47 – 0:47:50] Adam: I’m begging you people to just take the campsite.
[0:47:50 – 0:47:51] Erik: Yeah, when you find one that’s this nice.
[0:47:52 – 0:47:53] Adam: How do you pass a campsite like this by?
[0:47:54 – 0:47:54] Adam: Snap it up.
[0:47:54 – 0:47:55] Erik: It’s unbelievable.
[0:47:55 – 0:48:00] Erik: It’s probably up there with campsite five in terms of views, even more expansive.
[0:48:00 – 0:48:03] Adam: This one goes way, you got a whole lake ahead of you here.
[0:48:03 – 0:48:04] Adam: Like you’re way down there.
[0:48:04 – 0:48:09] Erik: This was one where we dropped our gear and almost thought about going back and picking it up and coming back over here.
[0:48:09 – 0:48:10] Adam: Yeah, we did.
[0:48:10 – 0:48:11] Adam: We were right there.
[0:48:11 – 0:48:14] Adam: I don’t really know what the tiebreaker ended up being.
[0:48:14 – 0:48:16] Erik: I think it was just because we dropped our gear off.
[0:48:16 – 0:48:18] Adam: Yeah, like, well, we’ll just go back to where we left the gear.
[0:48:18 – 0:48:20] Erik: Yeah, we were like, well, we’ve gotten eight.
[0:48:20 – 0:48:23] Erik: Let’s drop our stuff, go look for firewood, and then maybe review.
[0:48:23 – 0:48:27] Adam: Because they’re a horse piece, and it’s like, well, we don’t want to really paddle the extra at this point.
[0:48:27 – 0:48:28] Adam: That was the only tiebreaker.
[0:48:28 – 0:48:30] Adam: Otherwise, we would have totally just taken this one.
[0:48:30 – 0:48:30] Adam: Yeah.
[0:48:30 – 0:48:33] Adam: And then to see somebody later in the day pass this site by.
[0:48:33 – 0:48:34] Adam: You’re crazy.
[0:48:34 – 0:48:40] Adam: Whoever you are, if you’re listening, take your aluminum boats and go back to Wisconsin or Indiana or wherever you came from.
[0:48:40 – 0:48:41] Adam: Yeah.
[0:48:42 – 0:48:43] Adam: These people, I tell you.
[0:48:43 – 0:48:44] Erik: Notice it.
[0:48:44 – 0:48:44] Adam: They got my blood up.
[0:48:45 – 0:48:48] Erik: A distinguished dip in downloads this week.
[0:48:48 – 0:48:50] Adam: Yeah, especially from the southern parts.
[0:48:52 – 0:48:54] Adam: Oh, this will be fun.
[0:48:54 – 0:48:54] Adam: We love this one.
[0:48:54 – 0:48:55] Adam: Yeah.
[0:48:55 – 0:48:56] Adam: Campsite 11.
[0:48:56 – 0:48:57] Adam: So we’re moving on to 11.
[0:48:58 – 0:49:00] Adam: Zero tent pads.
[0:49:00 – 0:49:09] Adam: The landing is an F. The fire grate is an F. And overall, it’s an F. And we’ve talked about how fun it is to get these terrible campsite reviews.
[0:49:09 – 0:49:09] Adam: Yes.
[0:49:10 – 0:49:15] Adam: We got a picture of me in the campsite giving a really unenthusiastic thumbs up.
[0:49:15 – 0:49:19] Adam: There’s literally grass growing through the fire grate, which is never a good sign.
[0:49:20 – 0:49:20] Adam: No.
[0:49:20 – 0:49:21] Adam: It’s not a good sign.
[0:49:22 – 0:49:24] Adam: Just rocks, things to trip over.
[0:49:24 – 0:49:28] Adam: Looks like it got windblown and or burned at the same time.
[0:49:28 – 0:49:29] Adam: Let’s read the review.
[0:49:29 – 0:49:31] Adam: I’m just going to do it word for word.
[0:49:31 – 0:49:32] Adam: I love these terrible reviews.
[0:49:33 – 0:49:37] Adam: This spot is on a short list of the worst campsites in the Boundary Waters.
[0:49:37 – 0:49:41] Adam: If it were not for the really bad ones, though, the nice ones wouldn’t seem as nice.
[0:49:41 – 0:49:42] Adam: There’s your silver lining, folks.
[0:49:43 – 0:49:48] Adam: The landing is actually okay at this spot, but it still deserves an F because it’s a landing for a terrible spot.
[0:49:49 – 0:49:49] Adam: Amen.
[0:49:49 – 0:49:50] Adam: Huzzah, huzzah.
[0:49:51 – 0:49:56] Adam: It’s an old burn, has no discernible tent pads, and weeds growing in the fire grate.
[0:49:56 – 0:49:57] Adam: Stop by for a laugh.
[0:49:59 – 0:49:59] Adam: Which is what we did.
[0:50:00 – 0:50:04] Adam: We just took a really condescending picture and then moved on.
[0:50:04 – 0:50:06] Adam: So I don’t think anybody’s ever camped here, actually.
[0:50:07 – 0:50:08] Adam: At least not in the last decade.
[0:50:08 – 0:50:09] Adam: I don’t know why you would.
[0:50:09 – 0:50:11] Adam: See, this is one where I totally understand.
[0:50:11 – 0:50:12] Adam: You see that?
[0:50:12 – 0:50:13] Adam: Yeah, keep paddling.
[0:50:14 – 0:50:15] Adam: Do not stop there.
[0:50:15 – 0:50:20] Adam: And if it means you’ve got to paddle really close to somebody else’s campsite later, then you’ve got to do it because that campsite sucks.
[0:50:21 – 0:50:22] Adam: Then there’s that other one.
[0:50:22 – 0:50:26] Adam: So the final campsite on Winchell, number 12, we’ve made it.
[0:50:26 – 0:50:27] Erik: 12, one tent pad.
[0:50:28 – 0:50:31] Erik: It’s in that burn again a little bit, but it’s not too terrible.
[0:50:31 – 0:50:33] Erik: You’ve got tons of firewood.
[0:50:34 – 0:50:36] Erik: The landing is whatever, so-so.
[0:50:37 – 0:50:37] Erik: Fire great.
[0:50:38 – 0:50:40] Erik: Again, pretty good views, but it’s all right.
[0:50:40 – 0:50:41] Adam: This one isn’t as bad as I remember.
[0:50:41 – 0:50:42] Adam: No.
[0:50:42 – 0:50:44] Adam: Number 11 was the worst one by far.
[0:50:44 – 0:50:46] Adam: That was laughably bad.
[0:50:46 – 0:50:47] Erik: 11 was hilarious.
[0:50:47 – 0:50:48] Adam: This one’s not so bad.
[0:50:48 – 0:50:49] Adam: I mean, it’s a C-, but…
[0:50:49 – 0:50:50] Erik: Yeah.
[0:50:50 – 0:50:52] Erik: And it’s right next to the portage over.
[0:50:52 – 0:50:53] Adam: Did you winter camp here?
[0:50:54 – 0:50:55] Erik: I did not winter camp here.
[0:50:55 – 0:50:56] Erik: I winter camped on Gaskin.
[0:50:56 – 0:50:57] Erik: Oh, no, you guys did on Gaskin.
[0:50:57 – 0:50:58] Erik: We ice fished in front of it, though.
[0:50:58 – 0:51:00] Adam: Just kind of came down and fished there.
[0:51:00 – 0:51:00] Erik: Yeah.
[0:51:00 – 0:51:07] Erik: Which, when we were paddling by it that spring, it did look like there was some really nice structure, which we tried fishing in the winter.
[0:51:07 – 0:51:08] Adam: We did, yeah.
[0:51:08 – 0:51:10] Adam: There’s kind of a reef that comes off of here.
[0:51:10 – 0:51:18] Erik: Yeah, I don’t know if it necessarily comes off of it, but there’s like a huge boulder field that’s like right out in front of that whole area, basically between like 11th and 12th.
[0:51:18 – 0:51:21] Adam: Yeah, no, I mean, it looks like it should have been dynamite.
[0:51:21 – 0:51:22] Adam: I remember noting that.
[0:51:22 – 0:51:24] Adam: You guys went back that winter.
[0:51:24 – 0:51:27] Erik: That’s kind of why we targeted that place because we’d seen it.
[0:51:27 – 0:51:31] Adam: It should have been Lake Trout City, and it did not turn out to be that.
[0:51:32 – 0:51:45] Adam: But anyways, in hindsight, so we’ve got, let’s say, 1, 3, 5, 8, and 10 are all off the charts, unrateable.
[0:51:45 – 0:51:45] Adam: They’re so good.
[0:51:46 – 0:51:46] Adam: Yeah.
[0:51:46 – 0:51:50] Erik: Those are nice spots to have that many really great sites on one lake.
[0:51:50 – 0:51:51] Adam: And it’s really far in there.
[0:51:51 – 0:51:56] Adam: So if you’re going to make it to Winchell, like really good chances one of those will be open for you.
[0:51:56 – 0:51:56] Erik: Yeah.
[0:51:57 – 0:52:00] Adam: So the rewards are worth the paddle right there.
[0:52:00 – 0:52:05] Adam: I mean, even if you end up with one of the medium sites on there, there’s plenty of those and they’re all great too.
[0:52:05 – 0:52:06] Adam: I mean, just the chance to be in Winchell.
[0:52:06 – 0:52:10] Erik: Yeah, there’s only a couple that you really would want to avoid.
[0:52:10 – 0:52:12] Adam: Really, 11 and 2, really.
[0:52:12 – 0:52:15] Adam: If you end up on 11 or 2, then God have mercy on your soul.
[0:52:15 – 0:52:16] Erik: I mean, even 2 is capable.
[0:52:16 – 0:52:19] Erik: If you end up on 11, you’re not working hard enough.
[0:52:19 – 0:52:22] Adam: That’s like you might as well have went to the timber free air loop.
[0:52:23 – 0:52:24] Erik: And eaten some pizza biters.
[0:52:24 – 0:52:25] Adam: And eaten some pizza biters.
[0:52:26 – 0:52:27] Adam: Because that’s about as good as that.
[0:52:27 – 0:52:29] Adam: I can’t believe how bad 11 is.
[0:52:29 – 0:52:31] Adam: They really need to erase that one from the map.
[0:52:31 – 0:52:38] Erik: Yeah, they should just get out there and get the hacks on, cut that fire grate out, remove the latrine, and erase the red dot from the Fisher map.
[0:52:41 – 0:52:43] Erik: All right, let’s hit you with some fishing facts.
[0:52:44 – 0:52:45] Adam: Let’s get to the numbers.
[0:52:48 – 0:52:48] Adam: Numbers.
[0:52:49 – 0:52:49] Erik: Winchell.
[0:52:50 – 0:52:50] Erik: Big winch.
[0:52:50 – 0:52:51] Adam: That was a new theme song.
[0:52:51 – 0:52:53] Adam: I don’t know if you noticed the variation.
[0:52:53 – 0:52:54] Erik: No, that was much different.
[0:52:54 – 0:52:57] Adam: It’s a really peppy version of the Fact Checker song.
[0:52:57 – 0:52:59] Erik: Well, we’ve got all kinds of crazy fish in there.
[0:52:59 – 0:53:00] Adam: We have a lot of species in Winchell.
[0:53:00 – 0:53:01] Adam: Rightly so.
[0:53:01 – 0:53:02] Adam: It’s a big lake.
[0:53:02 – 0:53:05] Adam: So, you know, I don’t know if everything that’s listed here is still in there.
[0:53:06 – 0:53:11] Adam: There’s a chance that it’s not, but anyways, it’s still funny to see all these things in here.
[0:53:11 – 0:53:20] Erik: Yeah, we’ll just run down a couple of the more interesting ones, but your main sport fish we’ll get to.
[0:53:22 – 0:53:26] Erik: They were the ones caught in the gill nets, the seine nets.
[0:53:28 – 0:53:30] Erik: They found some black-nosed shiners.
[0:53:32 – 0:53:33] Erik: Some green sunfish.
[0:53:34 – 0:53:36] Erik: I love that they capitalized the J in this one.
[0:53:36 – 0:53:37] Adam: Johnny.
[0:53:37 – 0:53:38] Adam: Johnny Darter.
[0:53:38 – 0:53:38] Adam: Darter.
[0:53:40 – 0:53:42] Adam: Sounds like an insult from Tombstone.
[0:53:42 – 0:53:43] Adam: Yeah.
[0:53:43 – 0:53:44] Adam: I’ll be your Johnny Darter.
[0:53:44 – 0:53:45] Adam: You’re a real Johnny Darter.
[0:53:46 – 0:53:47] Adam: Lay him down, won’t you?
[0:53:48 – 0:53:51] Erik: And they did also catch some smallies in the Seine.
[0:53:52 – 0:53:52] Adam: I bet.
[0:53:53 – 0:53:54] Adam: The 15-inch beach zane.
[0:53:54 – 0:53:56] Adam: I’ve never seen that net before.
[0:53:56 – 0:54:00] Adam: That’s where they got the Johnny Darters.
[0:54:00 – 0:54:01] Adam: So we all know where the Johnnies go.
[0:54:01 – 0:54:02] Adam: It’s at the beach.
[0:54:03 – 0:54:08] Erik: Four Johnny Darters and 536 green-eared sunfish.
[0:54:08 – 0:54:09] Adam: Oh, boy.
[0:54:09 – 0:54:11] Adam: That’s a lot of green-eared sunfish.
[0:54:11 – 0:54:11] Erik: Yeah.
[0:54:12 – 0:54:14] Erik: The ciscos, a plenty.
[0:54:14 – 0:54:16] Erik: These were caught in the gill netts.
[0:54:16 – 0:54:20] Adam: Yeah, it’s a big cisco lake, so keep that in mind if you’re trying to fish it.
[0:54:20 – 0:54:23] Adam: You want to try and replicate that with your lure selection.
[0:54:23 – 0:54:26] Adam: Bigger the better, flashier the better.
[0:54:27 – 0:54:31] Adam: Anything in a nice iridescent purple, probably going to be banging.
[0:54:31 – 0:54:37] Adam: I’m trying to remember what the colors were of the Rapalas we were hucking, and I believe it was like that purplish.
[0:54:37 – 0:54:38] Adam: Probably hot steel.
[0:54:39 – 0:54:40] Adam: Yeah, it’s a hot steel.
[0:54:40 – 0:54:41] Adam: It’s perfect.
[0:54:41 – 0:54:45] Adam: Yeah, a hot steel Rapala extract would be just amazing in here.
[0:54:45 – 0:54:50] Erik: One individual, one lone zero to five inch green sunfish.
[0:54:50 – 0:54:51] Adam: How is that possible?
[0:54:51 – 0:54:53] Adam: So what were all the other greener sunfish?
[0:54:53 – 0:54:54] Erik: Those ones were caught on the beach seine.
[0:54:54 – 0:54:55] Adam: That’s in the nets.
[0:54:55 – 0:54:56] Adam: Yeah.
[0:54:56 – 0:54:57] Adam: This is a sampling down here.
[0:54:58 – 0:55:00] Erik: No, these are the gill net fish.
[0:55:00 – 0:55:01] Erik: I see.
[0:55:01 – 0:55:03] Erik: The other ones were the beach seine.
[0:55:03 – 0:55:06] Adam: So yeah, they still got one deep, I guess.
[0:55:06 – 0:55:07] Erik: Just got one deep.
[0:55:08 – 0:55:11] Adam: Lake trout, yeah, there is some nice lake trout in this.
[0:55:11 – 0:55:16] Adam: And, you know, the numbers here reflect that, but I’m sure there’s bigger ones than even were caught here.
[0:55:16 – 0:55:17] Adam: It’s a big lake.
[0:55:17 – 0:55:18] Adam: It’s deep.
[0:55:18 – 0:55:23] Adam: You know, you can let your mind run wild, if you will, as to what kind of lake trout could be in this lake.
[0:55:23 – 0:55:31] Adam: But there’s plenty of cisco in there for them to eat and a lot of green-eared sunfish and johnny darter to put on that feed bag and grow, so…
[0:55:33 – 0:55:39] Adam: I’m going to go ahead and say this, even though we’ve never caught a lake trout out here, that this has got to be a really great lake trout lake.
[0:55:39 – 0:55:43] Erik: Well, considering that the northern pike don’t really show up in their samples.
[0:55:43 – 0:55:44] Erik: That’s odd.
[0:55:44 – 0:55:45] Erik: Yeah, they only show one.
[0:55:45 – 0:55:46] Adam: We’ve got tons of them out there, tons of big ones.
[0:55:46 – 0:55:47] Adam: One 10 to 11 inch?
[0:55:48 – 0:55:50] Adam: Like, why is that even a frame?
[0:55:50 – 0:55:50] Erik: Yeah.
[0:55:51 – 0:55:51] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[0:55:51 – 0:55:54] Erik: There’s 0 to 5, and then they really hone in on that midsection.
[0:55:54 – 0:55:56] Erik: They really narrow it down for the small ones.
[0:55:56 – 0:55:58] Erik: 6 to 7, 8 to 9, 10 to 11.
[0:55:58 – 0:56:02] Adam: So they caught a little pike phone, basically, and then recorded it.
[0:56:02 – 0:56:08] Adam: But we have talked about it in the past, and it is a true rock fact that there are numerous
[0:56:09 – 0:56:25] Adam: tank wolf pack pike out there yeah they’re out there they are mean big and aggressive and they will attack your lure there’s definitely some rhinos out there for sure god so don’t let the numbers fool you there’s really fine pike fishing to be had out there
[0:56:26 – 0:56:37] Erik: And the small moth numbers, although they always are purported to be netted lower than they do actually account for, I haven’t ever actually caught a small moth out there.
[0:56:37 – 0:56:40] Erik: I think it’s maintained.
[0:56:41 – 0:56:43] Erik: The pike and the lake trout are native to the lake.
[0:56:43 – 0:57:03] Adam: right it’s a little too i don’t know it’s just too big and deep for them and i don’t know they don’t thrive there but yeah i’m sure you’d catch them if you really spend some time in there fishing yeah if you you know brought your wacky worm in one i’ve never fished there with a wacky worm so i can’t really say yellow perch yeah a little tiny perch hey
[0:57:03 – 0:57:05] Adam: Every lake has to have one tiny perch.
[0:57:05 – 0:57:06] Erik: Yep.
[0:57:07 – 0:57:12] Adam: So, yeah, lake trout in Winchell Lake, fairly abundant in 2012 when this assessment was done.
[0:57:12 – 0:57:15] Adam: Some larger fish present, lake trout gill net catch.
[0:57:16 – 0:57:22] Adam: Mean weight for the lake trout taken in the gill nets were within the normal ranges for a lake of this class, similar to past values.
[0:57:23 – 0:57:24] Adam: So, yeah.
[0:57:25 – 0:57:28] Erik: Seems like it’s a naturally producing lake trout and trout lake.
[0:57:28 – 0:57:30] Erik: It’s overall… Or lake trout and pike lake.
[0:57:30 – 0:57:32] Adam: Overall, a really great lake.
[0:57:33 – 0:57:34] Adam: Highly recommended.
[0:57:35 – 0:57:37] Adam: Even if you’re just going in for a camping trip, but…
[0:57:38 – 0:57:44] Adam: If you want, you know, you can do that and probably get some really good fish out of it, too, if you want to spend some time trolling.
[0:57:45 – 0:57:45] Adam: My God.
[0:57:45 – 0:57:47] Adam: You know, that was the thing.
[0:57:47 – 0:57:47] Adam: We were in there.
[0:57:48 – 0:57:50] Adam: We’ve been there a couple times on that last trip.
[0:57:50 – 0:57:52] Adam: We didn’t even really spend a lot of time trolling.
[0:57:53 – 0:57:55] Adam: I think we did troll for maybe an hour.
[0:57:56 – 0:58:01] Adam: Coming back from the end of the lake, back towards 8, I think we did troll.
[0:58:01 – 0:58:03] Adam: We did troll a little bit of X-Wrap there and…
[0:58:04 – 0:58:12] Adam: Didn’t come up with anything, but it ended up not mattering based on what happened the next morning when we beached that killer whale of a pike.
[0:58:12 – 0:58:15] Erik: Yeah, that thing, that was a hog for sure.
[0:58:15 – 0:58:16] Adam: Pretty cool.
[0:58:16 – 0:58:17] Erik: Yeah.
[0:58:17 – 0:58:18] Erik: Again, highly recommended.
[0:58:18 – 0:58:19] Erik: Winchell Lake.
[0:58:20 – 0:58:21] Erik: Fun times.
[0:58:21 – 0:58:23] Erik: Crossroads of many different routes.
[0:58:24 – 0:58:26] Erik: You can do all kinds of different things.
[0:58:26 – 0:58:26] Erik: Base camp.
[0:58:27 – 0:58:28] Erik: Travel through.
[0:58:28 – 0:58:29] Erik: Out and back.
[0:58:29 – 0:58:30] Erik: It’s kind of a crossroads lake.
[0:58:31 – 0:58:31] Erik: Not…
[0:58:32 – 0:58:45] Erik: Not necessarily quite as much of a crossroads as maybe some of the lakes farther to the west, but it’s probably one of those big first ones that you get to where it’s kind of Sawbill area, Gunflint Trail area.
[0:58:45 – 0:58:47] Adam: It’s where everything comes together.
[0:58:47 – 0:58:54] Adam: And I don’t mind talking this one up because it is kind of difficult to get there, so I just know not a lot of people are going to end up there.
[0:58:55 – 0:58:56] Adam: And that’s another great reason to go.
[0:58:57 – 0:59:01] Adam: So, anyways, if you get there, you will get an amazing campsite.
[0:59:02 – 0:59:02] Adam: We hope you do go.
[0:59:03 – 0:59:08] Adam: But, yeah, bottom line, it’s one of the best up here.
[0:59:09 – 0:59:09] Adam: Put it on your list.
[0:59:10 – 0:59:11] Adam: As we say, put it on your list.
[0:59:12 – 0:59:16] Erik: If you’re out there paddling around looking for campsites.
[0:59:17 – 0:59:19] Erik: You paddle right up and ask us where to go.
[0:59:19 – 0:59:22] Erik: We will give you all of the information that you want.
[0:59:22 – 0:59:26] Adam: Yeah, we’ll give you friendly information, as we always do.
[0:59:26 – 0:59:26] Adam: Yep.
[0:59:27 – 0:59:35] Adam: So, yeah, we appreciate you listening, and we always appreciate when people ask us things about the Boundary Waters, like, oh, the campsite’s open.
[0:59:35 – 0:59:36] Adam: No problems there.
[0:59:36 – 0:59:40] Adam: You know, we’re super friendly, and we do appreciate the feedback.
[0:59:40 – 0:59:46] Adam: We didn’t really do a question of the week this week, just mainly focusing on one of our favorites, which is Winchell, so…
[0:59:46 – 0:59:50] Adam: If you have any cool Winchell stories or experiences, hit us up.
[0:59:50 – 0:59:53] Adam: We’re on Facebook under Tumblehome.
[0:59:53 – 0:59:56] Adam: Gmail, tumblehomecast at gmail.com.
[0:59:56 – 0:59:59] Adam: And on Instagram, tumblehomecast.
[1:00:00 – 1:00:01] Adam: So, come on and find us.
[1:00:02 – 1:00:03] Adam: We’re always friendly.
[1:00:03 – 1:00:06] Adam: We don’t mean to put up this rough and tough demeanor, but…
[1:00:08 – 1:00:08] Adam: Yeah.
[1:00:08 – 1:00:13] Adam: If you have any stories to share, though, we’d be happy to include them on a future episode.
[1:00:13 – 1:00:15] Adam: We just didn’t get around to it this week.
[1:00:15 – 1:00:18] Adam: But we thank you again for listening.
[1:00:19 – 1:00:20] Adam: I’m Adam.
[1:00:20 – 1:00:20] Adam: I’m Eric.
[1:00:21 – 1:00:24] Adam: And happy pedaling.
[1:00:25 – 1:00:27] SPEAKER_00: Goodbye.
[1:00:35 – 1:00:38] SPEAKER_00: I may not feel the need to let you know.
[1:01:03 – 1:01:07] SPEAKER_00: I may not hang my head in single hell.
[1:01:07 – 1:01:10] SPEAKER_00: That don’t mean I won’t have sins to show.
[1:01:10 – 1:01:14] SPEAKER_00: So call me a bastard child.
[1:01:15 – 1:01:19] SPEAKER_00: Don’t want you digging at my roots.
[1:01:20 – 1:01:21] SPEAKER_00: Don’t call me Mrs.
[1:01:21 – 1:01:22] SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
[1:01:22 – 1:01:23] SPEAKER_00: You don’t
