Things will be quiet here for awhile as I head out to the BWCAW. Enjoy this passage from Eric Sevareid's Canoeing with the Cree, an account of his 2,250-mile voyage from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay:
"Coming out of the lake, the river was very small, running in a channel not more than forty feet wide. There were high weeds on each side and everywhere around us was low, marshy swamp. There was no place to stop. The channel wound crazily, seeming to get nowhere. The reeds prevented a breeze from reaching us and, since there wasn't a sign of a tree, the sun beat down on us unmercifully. Salty perspiration ran down into our eyes and the maddening horse flies bit time and again."
*****
". . . Days later, torn, tattered, unshaved, unshorn, looking as though we came from the ends of the world, Walter and I thumped into the Winnipeg Canoe Club. They would not believe our story until we showed them our letters and other evidence. That night we were introduced, unkempt though we were, to the entire club, at a dance.
"'That's what I call some paddling,' the president said."
*****
"All kinds of questions from various individuals about Minnesota and the United States in general finally convinced Walt and me that we were a long way from home, after all.
"'Minneapolis?' Colonel Reid asked. 'Where the deuce is Minneapolis?'
"And when he wanted to know just why we had made the canoe trip and I answered, 'Oh, for pleasure, I guess,' he exploded: "Pleasure! What a jolly funny kind of pleasure!" But he amended his statement with, "Oh well, that's youth. Things look different when you're young, I suppose. My word, I almost believe I envy you."
I'm 28 years older now than Sevareid was then, but the pleasure is still the same, I suppose.
5 comments:
I believe I envy you. Have fun!
Sounds great. And thanks for the wonderful Canoeing with the Cree book. We have read that book aloud to each other on BWCA trips in the past. I remember a night in the tent on Gillis Lake, reading the section about them paddling down Lake Winnipeg in a storm, timing their strokes to the rollers that blew them over, not onto, the rocky reefs. Later that night, a storm did roll in and we heard the thunder echoing all around the lake.
I digress. When/where are you going? If I may ask. We're heading up next Wednesday for a short trip out of Snowbank Lake.
Cheers.
Mistyped: "Canoeing with the Cree quote..."
Thanks, Sass. Dharma: Putting in Monday at Clearwater and will do either the Clearwater loop up along the border or Clearwater, West and East Pike, Little John, Little Caribou loop. Have a good trip yourself.
Sounds great. I've never been on those lakes, but I've heard it's a beautiful area. We almost picked a Gunflint entry point this year, but various reasons ended up pointing us to Ely. One of my favorite trips has been Missing Link Lake to Tuscarora and Little Saganaga... An area pretty badly burned over, I understand. Anyway, have a great time!
Post a Comment