Finally getting into the BWCAW...

Kiwishiwi Lake at sunset...

Once and a while you get lucky with your schedule at work.  Usually I don't, as I'm a bottom of the seniority list regional airline pilot, and it's pretty hard to get what I bid for, (I know- complain, complain after taking tons of trips, sorry- I should shut up), but this month ended up pretty sweet due to a mistake in our bidding process.  Long story short, I got to name my days off this month, and it just so happened that Alison had a stretch of days off between flying trips herself, so we got 6 days off together.  Nice.  Seeing as we just bought our first canoe this year, it was time to get out into the BWCAW in Northern MN.  

We couldn't be picky about where we entered, as most people reserve their entry permits sooner than a couple days before.  :)  Oh well.  We ended up entering at Kawishiwi Lake.  Most people were avoiding this area as it was on the far eastern tip of the big P.G. Fire from last year, so there is a stretch of burn zone you end up paddling through early on.  We thought it would be neat to see though, and it was.  A sea of blackened dead trees, surrounded by new growth and lots of wildflowers.  The portages were pretty.  Didn't get any portage pictures though; sorry, I guess I was carrying a boat.  :)

Portage point at the north end of Kawasachong Lake...

Paddling the burn...

If you care to see on a map where we were- we paddled from Kawishiwi Lake, to Square Lake, to Kawawschong Lake, then portaged through Townline Lake to Lake Polly, where we spent a couple days/nights.  The first night we were tired from the day's journey, and got the last campsite on the Lake.  Being that most of the route was burn area, it funnels everyone into Polly or further and camping gets tight.  It was funny being out in a wilderness area and having it feel just like the populated Superior Hiking Trail.  Whether we're bike touring, backpacking, or canoeing, it seems like we're always fighting to find a place to sleep.  There sure are a lot of people in the world.

First Polly campsite in the morning...

The second morning at Polly, we snagged what I think is the choicest campsite- a small island right in the middle of the lake.  We thought it would be a great spot to chill out for a day, so we did.  We swam, napped in our hammock, cooked, fished, and then did more of the same.  Good to relax in the woods once and a while.  

We also got out for some good twilight floats close to camp during the evenings.  Loons calling all over, and fish jumping and the smell of campfires...

Paddling back between Kawaschong and Square...

Beaver dams call for a bit of quick grunt work...

The last night we relaxed some more on Kawishiwi before exiting in the next morning.  Chopped wood, burnt wood, ate food, looked at stars...

I did quite a bit of fishing during the trip (yeah, I started dabbling in this MN pass-time while out in our boat this year), and I watched pretty much every other party we met catch a ton of various fish, with not much luck myself.  I'm much more of a REI type than a Gander Mtn. type, but I did catch, fillet, and eat one small northern pike while out there.  Alison and I have become close to vegetarian at most times, but this is one tasty bit of animal food I enjoy occasionally.   I brought out some seasoning in hopes that I'd find a fish worth cooking up, and it was pretty tasty.  Plus, I think you have to do this to earn you Northern MN badge, so to speak.  

We had a great time floating the water paths of the BWCAW this first time, and will definitely go back when we have the chance between balancing work and so many other types of outdoor obsessions.  I found it to be very much like bike touring and backpacking, being that you are self sufficient, traveling/exploring places you've never seen, and don't have to return home for at least a few nights.  These tend to be my favorite times outside.  It takes some time to unwind and a few nights "on the trail" does the trick.    

A little dose of gravel...

This post is a bit after-the-fact, but thought I'd put it up anyhow.  Sometime last month I took a day trip down to the Nerstand Bigwoods State Park area in southeastern MN to ride some gravel.  While I don't have a bike that is super efficient at throwing down big gravel routes quickly, both of my Surly's do just fine at traveling rough roads at a non-racers pace, which suites me well.  On this ride I chose the Karate Monkey with Kenda small block 8's.  Plenty of meat to roll very comfortably, and I wasn't worried about setting any speed records.

I didn't really have a route plan, and just wandered wherever the gravel went.  I like to explore with not much of an agenda.  I had heard talk of the small stretch of "Farmer Trail", and rode that.  It was nice, but short does describe it.  My favorite roads go on and on.  I'd like to put together a gravel tour somewhere where one can travel a good distance on the stuff and get out into seriously rural places.  I think the Dakotas are good land for this.  I just flew over the Badlands National Park area in SD a couple days ago, and saw so many options for "out-there" riding.  MN and WI do have their share of good local gravel though, and it's awesome to have it accessible from my home if I just get out of the Cities.  

A bit of grating getting done...

Superior Hiking Trail Overnight...

This past week Alison and I decided to dust off our backpacking backpacking gear and head up to the Superior Hiking Trail, as we hadn't done a trip on it since June of last year.  It was a grab your stuff and run out the door type trip, as we'd both just gotten off work and didn't have a lot of time to think about getting ready, but we made it happen.  We were up there for only a day and a half, but a quick trip is better than no trip, and it was nice to get out on the trail again.
We hiked an out and back from Gooseberry Falls State Park to the Split Rock River.  The weather was sweaty, and I have to say I'm in better biking shape than backpacking.  I am used to my Long Haul Trucker bearing the weight of all my gear, and not my own frame.  It was probably good for me to get out and huff and puff a bit. I should backpack more for strengths sake, but I have too many hobbies, and cycling really does take precedence in most situations.  I do enjoy a good trip out on the trail though, and had fun.
There were a few groups at the various sites along the Split Rock River, but we did find an open tent pad, and enjoyed a soaking in the water, a good dinner of Mexican food, and some needed sleep.
An early rise and hike back to the car in the morning brought us back to the Cities quick, and thinking of a return up North soon.  Glad to have had the chance to get out...

Portland to Cannon Beach Bike Tour...

We got back from Oregon a while ago, but I’m just getting around to posting about it.  Summer is cookin’, which means getting outside as much as possible in between workdays, and trying to finish my super late garage projects that should have been done months ago, so I’m slow to post, but that’s become normal here.  Thanks for still reading if you’re still here. 

The tour was an overall success, and like I mentioned before was Alison’s first real “tour”, and not just an overnighter.  I highlighted the general route and plan in the last post, and we did stick to it save for leaving the route for one night in Ft Stevens State Park.  We ended up riding from Portland to Cannon Beach over 5 days.  We would have easily made it further, however, the spring wet weather that the OR coast is known for wasn’t quite done being wet before the summer transition.  We had relatively good weather from Portland to Astoria, and then the skies opened up.  We really didn’t see much of the coast due to weather.   It wasn’t the first time we got blasted off our plans in the Northwest- Mt St Helens spit of us a couple summers ago with random foul weather that was unseasonable. 

The ride from Portland to Astoria was mostly Highway 30 (after leaving the metro area- North Portland was not fun to ride through- I like country roads and scenery, not riding through the hood), and was all marked bike route with light to moderate traffic, save for around Rainier.  When we rode through Rainier it was Memorial Day, and it happened to coincide with one of our more pronounced climbs, and the only lack of shoulder on the tour.  So, we ended up in heavy traffic, climbing steeply with a tiny gravel/garbage filled shoulder, which sucked and Alison hated.  I didn’t really enjoy it myself.  Luckily, the route switched back to quieter country stuff with big shoulders thereafter. 

Camping the first two nights were in city parks- St. Helens, and Clatskanie, OR.  Cheap and comfortable as usual, but not super scenic.  City park camping  as average I’d say.  We ate pretty cheaply too, but did stop for Mexican food in Clatskanie, which was a good choice. 

The third night we reached Astoria, and the camping options (that we knew about) consisted of a nasty RV park and riding 15 more miles to Ft. Stevens State Park, and since we had ridden enough for Alison’s liking that day already and were looking for some comfort- we made it a “luxury” tour night with a hotel stay and eating at one of the local brew-houses.   Touring doesn’t have to be rough. 

The fourth day we had marked as a light day of riding to let new touring legs catch up, and we just rolled down to Ft. Stevens, which has the biggest campground I’ve ever seen.  People don’t seem to use tents either due to all the rain- it’s RV country everywhere.  There was a hiker/biker section, but it had standing water and tons of mosquitoes, so we opted for a big strip of pavement RV site, and the bugs were way better.  We had a good night of camp made Mexican and possibly a nip of whiskey, and rested up nice. 

The fifth day, which was to be the start of two days down the coast, met us with lots of water falling from grey skies.  We followed the Oregon Coast Bicycle Route until we made it back to the ACA route (we left it to get to Ft Stevens the day before).  Until Seaside it was pretty blah- just a moderate traffic highway with not much scenery.  But after riding out of Seaside things got pretty, as much as we could see in the funk weather.  We made it to Cannon Beach in no time, and really hadn’t ridden much that day, but Alison wasn’t really enjoying the riding with all the rain, so we decided to chill out in Cannon Beach, as it’s a great place to spend some time eating and relaxing.  We found some fish and chips with a live bluegrass band that was pretty good, and a place to camp, and the rain even broke for a bit and we took a beach walk out to see Haystack Rock. 

The middle of the night then brought pouring rains that would not let up for the remainder of our time out there.  Alison doesn’t have the affinity for bicycle suffering that seem to have (she is a normal reasonable person and something is wrong with me J  ), so we decided to call the riding done at that point and get a room for the last day to clean up, pack bikes, eat more seafood and be dry.  If we had a bigger route and more time for touring, we’d have put up with riding more crummy weather, but seeing as our ride back to Portland was offering to pick us up wherever we happened to be (thanks again Mark!), and the only major goal was to see Alison enjoy her first tour, we thought we may as well quit without suffering.  We feel good about the amount of touring we got in.

I do plan on riding more of the coast at some point when I get the time off from work, as it looks like it gets pretty awesome south of Cannon Beach.   There is quite a bit of traffic, but good shoulders most of the time, and it’s marked as a bike route whatever that’s worth. 

We’re not sure where the next tour is, we’re finishing the garage projects now that I’ve neglected.  J  We’ll let you know, and for now enjoy the pics of this adventure…

Leaving Mark's in Clackamas...

Crossing the St. John's Bridge in Portland...

Camping in St. Helens (the city park camping was actually better than most places- creekside with showers and it was quiet...)

No pouring rain yet!

Columbia River valleys on the way to the coast...

A lot of areas didn't look incredibly different from MN...

Flowers, wife, and bike...color coordination.

X-Bus!  I love the weird crap that presents itself on tours...

Crab enchiladas...

Climbing between Clatskanie and Astoria...I liked this section a lot.

My wife showing she can push a beastly touring bike up a climb above the Columbia...

Had a good rest on top...

Gnat creek...I would have loved to camp here but we hadn't gone very far yet that day- it's a three site State Forest campground that seemed to be geared towards fly-fisherman...very pretty back in there.

Gravel off route at Gnat Creek...

Astoria!

Don't fall in the train tracks on the boardwalk, and slippery when fabulous!

Fresh sea air and cycle-touring...yes please.

You can take a spur route into Washington over this bridge from Astoria and ride to Cape Disappointment State Park over there...looked like it would have been a good time...

Bridge and causeway out of Astoria on the way down to Ft. Stevens...we should have covered some good miles on this day since it was still nice out, but you can't always forecast well...it was a good short day nonetheless...

Pacific and two Surlys...

Wreck of the Peter Iredale...part of the "Graveyard of the Pacific"...

Rolling through the laid-back roads of Ft. Stevens...

Camp food tastes awesome after riding...

I wonder if we have enough room for out tent is this RV site??

Promenade in Seaside...the coast is there somewhere amongst the clouds and rain...

Climbing over the hill to Cannon Beach in the rain...

Haystack and well-fed touring cyclists...

Super soggy view out of our tent the last morning...we'll see what weather we get next time!