Boundary Waters - Lady Chain

Dates of Trip: 4-8 August 2023
Adventurers: Travis, Amy, Andrew, Clara, Nate
Location: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, MN, USA
Trailhead: Kawishiwi Lake - Entry point #37
Trip Objectives: Lady Chain (Camps on Lake Polly, Phoebe Lake, and Beth Lake)
Distance: 31.9 miles

Paddle distance: 19.4 mi
Portage distance: 12.6 mi
Longest portage: 287 rods / 0.9 mi
18 portages; 12 lakes and 2 rivers
5 days and 4 nights at 3 campsites

Wildlife spotted: 2 bald eagles, 2 otters, 6 turtles, 1 beaver. Many many loons, grouse, and a bird that looked like a chicken(?!) No moose :( but also no bears :)

Route: Kawishiwi Lake, Kawishiwi River, Square Lake, Kawasachong Lake, Townline Lake, Lake Polly (camp), Phoebe River, Hazel Lake, Knight Lake, Phoebe Lake (camp/layover), Grace Lake, Beth Lake (camp), Alton Lake, Sawbill Lake. Then Travis used his cached bike to ride 20 miles back to Kawishiwi to get the van and close the loop.

Most of the lakes in the BWCA either bear their original Anishinaabe names or were named in English by trappers and loggers. This southeastern section of the area has an abundance named after women - presumably wives, daughters, mothers, or sisters - and are easily linked together into a single route which collectively goes by the "Lady Chain."

Overall, it was a glorious trip. The Lady Chain was challenging - long, for sure, with the longest portage we've ever done at 287 "rods" (1 rod = ~16.5 feet or approximately the length of a canoe) or 0.9 miles. It also featured multiple sections of two rivers - Kawishiwi and Phoebe - which presented obstacles like thick lily pad mats, beaver dams, and rocky channels where we had to get out and walk the boats due to low water levels. The route also offered a lovely paddle-to-portage ratio with some really gorgeous, relaxing sections as well. The Lady Chain is allegedly a "popular route" but the fact is that the vast majority of people stop after a portage or three and turn around. We did not see a single human other than a forest ranger from leaving Lake Polly to entering Beth Lake.

 

This is our second annual trip to the BWCA. Last years trip was quite experimental, and we did an out-and-back route to Cherokee Lake. Building on that success, we thought we'd try something more ambitious - a through-paddle with the takeout at a different entry point (Sawbill) than the put in (Kawishiwi.) We originally had an entry permit for Sawbill, but literally on the way from Duluth to Sawbill, we noticed that there was a same-day Kawishiwi launch permit available, so we snagged it, allowing us to have a smoother, less logistics-heavy and time consuming vehicle transfer. 

Also different from last year, we opted to stay the night before in an AirBnB in Superior, WI (suburb of Duluth), which allowed us to layout gear, repack gear, and organize food more smoothly the night before than being in the NFS campground would have. We rolled into Sawbill Canoe Outfitters around 930am to pick up canoes and our permit, watch the Leave No Trace video, get the canoes on the boat trailer, and make our way to Kawishiwi Lake for an 11:45am launch.

Unlike last year, I spent some time with the route (admittedly, on the road up from Duluth that morning) checking out campsite ratings on BWCA.com and making lists of our preferred sites. This means that we scored amazing sites, all rated 4 stars.

Portaging went super well this year, with the kids a year older and able to help big time. Andrew portaged canoes on shorter transfers. Clara carried lots of bags and often made more than 1 portage. We were so efficient, that often Travis was the only one who did a full double portage, with Clara and me doing 1.5-ish.

We had a few injuries. Notably, Nate fell and skinned the heel of his hand the first day in a place hard to bandaid. Then on Day 2, at the end of a portage on the Phoebe River, he got bit by a deerfly in the soft skin under his eye - he didn't know you were supposed to swipe those guys away! Then at the end of Day 2 at Phoebe Lake camp, he tripped on a rock and reinjured his hand, poor guy. But he rallied well, and he did well for the rest of the trip, coming out with a well established hatred for deerflies. I rolled my ankle on a portage the first day and smacked my hands on the granite rock too. The skin didn't break, but it bruised my hand and made it hard to paddle for the rest of the day, and hard to get up from sitting on the ground because I couldn't put weight on that hand. That was an unfortunate situation for needing to sit in camp chairs. Luckily it healed up the next day. And Clara and Andrew both struggled with a bit of a head cold. They did great pushing through where they could and resting when they needed to.

 

We had anticipated based on forecasts that it would rain (like torrential downpour style) on Sunday all day, so we made a plan to have a layover / rest day on Phoebe Lake. It never rained on us more than a few little sprinkles the entire trip, and so we spend our layover day napping, fishing, swimming, and exploring our island. About an hour after we landed at Sawbill, it poured rain for about 10 minutes with epic thunder and lightning. Luckily, it was super local and Travis didn't experience it on his bike ride back to Kawishiwi to get the van. But it only rained after we finished.

The one thing I would say was super disappointing was that we again caught no fish (and not for lack of trying.) After Andrew caught a drum on the Maumee River this summer, we were sure that this would be our year. It was not so. I think I'll need to do some research on where hot fishing spots are for next year, because it feels like a lot of guessing.

An epic trip. And of course, we are already planning what we want to do next year - this one built a lot of confidence. 

Mt Bierstadt

 Date of Trip: 3 September 2022
Climbers: Travis, Clara, Trevor, and G
Location: Front Range, CO, USA
Trailhead: Guanella Pass
Summit Objective: Mt. Bierstadt
Total Time: 7.0 hours
Summit: Bierstadt at 14,065'
Ele. Gain: 2850 feet
Distance: 7.5 mile

Written by Travis

Clara and I headed back to the mountains today to climb 14er Mt. Bierstadt. This time we invited Clara's classmate and carpool buddy G and his dad Trevor. It was Clara's 4th 14er and G's first.  They were both rock stars. 

We arrived at the trailhead at 720am, and sort of amazingly were still able to park fairly close to the trailhead, albeit along the road.  We were on the trail at 730. 

We soon got to see a moose foraging among the willows.  I don't think I've ever seen a moose while climbing a 14er.  To be fair, we wouldn't have seen this one, except some other people had tracked it all morning with a telescope as it wandered from the lake, so we knew where to look.  

We then kept moving through the willows. There are boardwalks now that make it so easy. "Back in my day" finding your way through the willows was literally the crux of the route!  

The trail was packed as usual. Owing to the proximity to Denver, and its relative ease, it's one of the most climbed 14ers. We don't go for solitude.

In addition to my first moose sighting, I also saw my first supplemental oxygen use on a 14er.  You read that right.  A woman was carrying a small canister with a mouth piece as she was slogging up the trail.  I didn't see her use it, but she had it at the ready! (Another guy had one in the pocket of his pack on the way down, kind of like you would carry bear spray.) Now mind you, I just had a friend from MIT climb K2 --  the second tallest mountain in the world, literally twice as high at 28,000' -- WITHOUT SUPPLEMENTAL OXYGEN. But here we are.  

We kept going up. The kids started slowing down, so I busted out the energy chews (basically gummies for adults). That did the trick. Then we reached the summit ridge, and the Class II to the top began. It's funny how Clara can be dragging, but as soon as we transition from boring hiking to rock scrambling, she finds her next gear. "Dad, can we just do more of this?"

We summited shortly before noon, and commenced celebrating G's first 14er. And Clara's 4th (including 3 within 8 days). 

Even before making it to the top, G had declared his goal of climbing all 58 Colorado 14ers by the time he's 41. He also told us (a few times) that this was "the most wonderful thing he has ever done in his life." 

It took me back to my first time summiting a 14er (Mt Elbert, 2000).  And all the friends of mine who climbed their first 14er on a trip with me.  And how he'll probably remember this day for the rest of his life. And how at this point, that's the stuff I really care about. Me summiting this peak for the 3rd time (or is it 4?) is kind of secondary.

The weather was just about perfect, zero wind, so we hung out for nearly 30 mins. The voice in my head said you know better than this.... 

And sure enough, that voice was soon telling me "I told you so" when it started clouding up big time.  Then it was thundering. We were well on our way down by now, nearly off the eastern shoulder, mostly safe, but it was still unnerving. Clara and I started jogging down the trail. We were back in the willows as it started to rain and then pea-size hail. There was occasional lightning on the ridges around us, none too close. I'll have to add this to the list of peaks I've been stormed off (Holy Cross, Crestone Needle, maybe more)

We made it back to the van at 230pm, 7 hours after setting out. G and Trevor soon followed.

Grays and Torreys - Travis and Clara

Date of Trip: 27 August 2022
Climbers: Travis & Clara 
Location: Front Range, CO, USA
Trailhead: Grays Peak
Summit Objectives: Grays and Torreys
Total Time: 8.0 hours
Summit: Grays at 14270 feet, Torreys at 14267 feet
Starting Ele: 11280 feet)
Ele. Gain: 3667 feet
Distance: 8.5 mile

Written by Travis

With little more than an hour of planning, Clara and I headed out Friday night for a Daddy-Daughter backpacking-mountainering trip.  We decided we would pack-in for about a mile Friday night, camp, and then attempt to summit two 14,000' peaks on Saturday, Gray's and Torrey's (which are generally considered two of Colorado's easiest 14ers, out of the 58). Amy and the boys were staying home to rest and recover, as the middle school transition, in particular, has not been easy.  

We arrived at the trailhead at 630pm Friday evening in a driving rain. It's been a crazy monsoon summer in the mountains, and there was water flowing everywhere. Worse, it looked like it could keep it up all night. I was considering bailing completely, or at least camping in the Tahoe at the trailhead. But after about 45 mins, it did stop. And the forecast was for great weather today, so we set out. 

We made it past the willows and took about the first flattish spot we could find so as to get the tent up before dark.  Few really pack-in on these mountains (easily done in a day) so nobody was around, but there also aren't really any established sites. It was in the 40s and damp (very un-Colorado!) Clara was cold so we got her in the tent and into a sleeping bag while I cooked dinner just outside the vestibule.  I then filled her Nalgene bottle with boiling water to take to bed, a trick which she thought was amazing.  

The GPS said we were at 12,000'.  I remembered that I never sleep well at 12,000'. This trip was no exception.  We were about 100' off the trail, so we had people walking by shining headlamps at us, and talking, starting at 330am.  I cancelled the alarm I had set for 6, but at 645a, I figured we should get up. Clara said she didn't really feel like climbing a mountain, because of the bad night of sleep. I said, yeah, that's kind of how mountaineering goes. I never sleep well the night before a climb.  Amy and I have a saying, "the best days on the mountain often follow the worst nights".  

Well, she decided she'd give it a go. But only if we had some ramen for breakfast. Deal! I cooked it without leaving my sleeping bag. (It was 30s outside, ice on the tent fly, and the light rain that fell on us was apparently snow up on the mountain).  

We joined the conga line marching past us on the trail at 715am.  We stopped to filter water at the first stream access around 745 (we could hear the water at our hastily chosen campsite, but it was maybe a couple hundred yards away, so we used what I packed in).  

We headed on up to Gray's Peak.  I always do Gray's first for some reason -- maybe because it's Gray's and Torrey's, not Torrey's and Gray's? Clara kept saying she didn't think she wanted to do Torrey's too, so I kept reminding her to focus on the goal of Gray's and that we'd worry about Torrey's later.  We passed the mountain goats in their usual spot on the shoulder toward Edwards. It was a mamma and a kid. Clara also counted 7 pikas on the day. 

Eventually we summited Gray's. The trace of snow and ice had mostly turned to slush by now, so no big deal.  The weather was great as forecast, just some typical wind.  

Gray's was Clara's 2nd 14er, having done Sherman with Amy in 2020. (I had taken the boys back to the car as we feared Nate might be literally blown off the mountain that day.) Anyway, Clara was amazing. She was not the youngest on the summit though as there was a 9 year old girl tagging her 3rd 14er (she had just come over from Torrey's). 

We took some pics (including with the provided signs and brick, lol) and headed down to the saddle between the peaks.  I was pretty sure a little downhill would have Clara ready to go up again and indeed that was the case.  I told it her it always looks harder than it really is. She actually thought Torrey's was easier, because there are less switchbacks, just UP. More pics with provided signs and brick. (I'm so old that I remember when you had to try to remember what mountain you were on in each summit pic!)

We headed down, collecting my cached backpack at the saddle, then the water filter at the stream, before arriving at the tent. The crowds had mostly dissipated by now, but the weather was still perfect. Probably 50's at the tent, with an intense sun. Clara asked for a post-climb snack of mashed potatoes, so I whipped them up before packing up camp. Then we headed out the final 1 mile, getting to the truck at about 3 I think. Did I mention I was exhausted? Maybe this is how I always felt at the end of a day of 14ers, hard to say. Overall, it was a fantastic trip. Clara did her first overnight mountaineering trip and got her 2nd and 3rd fourteeners, and her first "two-fer". I can't be more proud of her. She's learning what it's like to carry a pack, be cold, sleep like crap, and yet that climbing mountains mostly boils down to putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again. I think I got my third climb of G-T (first with my buddy Terry in 2000 then with Amy in 2008 when we missed the turn to 13er Mt Edward's and "settled" for G-T. Maybe more, but that's what I remember at least.) And my first 14er summit in 7 years, my first fourteener post ACL tear #2, and first 14er in my 40's. Still at 42 of 58 overall I think but it's not really about me these days and that's just fine. 8.5 miles round trip. 3667' of elevation gain Clara's wildlife count: 7 pikas 2 mountain goats 2 chipmunks Couple dozen dogs, some of which were even on a leash One injured dog being carried down in a backpack Too many humans to count

High Line Canal - Segments 2 & 3

 Date of Trip: 21 August 2022
Adventurers: Travis, Amy, Andrew, Clara, Nate
Location: Douglas County, CO, USA
Trailhead: Highline Canal - Waterton Trailhead
Trip Objectives: Highline Canal - Segments 2&3
Total Time: 2.5 hours
Distance: 9.7 mile

We've started a new family adventure project - to section-cycle the Highline Canal Trail, a 71-mile mixed use trail that runs next to a historic irrigation ditch that enabled the settlement of Denver. Segment 1 is in Waterton Canyon, which we have biked many times. Today we tackled sections 2 & 3 on the southern edge of Chatfield State Park. It was a fun ride on a glorious day! ... Until 1.5 miles before our end point, I noticed that Nate's rear tire was flat. 

He and I walked back to the shelter where Travis was going to pick us up in the van after riding fast back to the start. When I explained to Andrew and Clara what took us so long, they said, "Oh we both have flat tires too!" And Travis said, "yeah my front tire went flat."

After thoroughly inspecting all tires at home, it appears we rode through a patch of thorns. Out of 10 tires on this expedition, only 2 tubes survived. I thought I had escaped, but really there was just a thorn in my back tire sealing the hole it had made. 

So we spent the afternoon on bike maintenance -- picking thorns out of tires and replacing tubes. Oops!

Boundary Waters - Sawbill Lake to Cherokee Lake

Dates of Trip: 5-8 August 2022
Adventurers: Travis, Amy, Andrew, Clara, Nate
Location: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, MN, USA
Trailhead: Sawbill Lake - Entry point #38
Trip Objectives: Cherokee Lake
Distance: 23.7 mile

An epic summer (with no small amount of stress) requires an epic conclusion (with some off grid time to decompress.) A canoe trip in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) National Wilderness has been on Travis's bucket list for approximately 30 years. I had never heard of it until I met him, but it rapidly went on my bucket list too. Though permits are a bit hard to come by right now, because the Forest Service has reduced daily quotas to limit wilderness impacts from humans, Travis got on the ball when permits became available in January and speculatively grabbed one. We then spent the next 7 months (right up to the week before the trip) wondering if life circumstances would allow us to actually use the permit. Many other things were cut from our summer docket, but we fought hard as a family to keep this one. When we rolled into the Sawbill Lake Campground it felt surreal that we actually made it. 

The BWCA is 1M+ acres of pristine northwoods wilderness in northeastern Minnesota, west of Lake Superior. It flanks the Canadian border, and there is a corresponding wilderness preserve on the Canadian side as well, bringing the wilderness area to well over 2M acres, combined. In the Land of 10,000 Lakes, the BWCA is a network of big and small lakes, ponds, rivers, and navigable creeks and marshes linked by short hiking segments over which you can portage your canoe and gear. On a single entry permit you are allowed to stay inside practically indefinitely. Fish abound - large and smallmouth bass, lake trout, northern pike, and walleye - and many of them have never even seen a hook. There are almost infinite numbers of route variations you can take. 

Prior to this trip, we had built nearly all the skills we needed (both adults and kids) -- we've backpacked, hiked in varied terrain under heavy loads, canoed in various conditions, and this summer, we were able to do a shake down canoe camping overnight trip to put the final piece in place. The only thing we hadn't practiced was the portage itself. 

Typically you rent some gear from a local outfitter. Outfitters can supply literally all the gear for your trip, or if, like us, you are already well outfitted for backpacking and general light wilderness travel, you can simply rent the super lightweight Kevlar canoes that are "easy" to portage - which you do by bearing the 40lb canoe on your shoulders via a yoke designed for the purpose. The portage weight can get up to about 50lb if you strap in your paddles and canoe chairs for the journey, which we did. Of course you can then throw a backpack on your back to add another 20-30lbs, which we often did as well.  Portages are measured in "rods" - a 16.5 ft length intended to approximate the length of one canoe (our canoes were 18ft.) As we were putting in at Sawbill Lake, we rented our canoes and paddles from Sawbill Canoe Outfitters . We spent the night prior to our trip in the frontcountry National Forest Service campground at the launch spot. 

On Friday morning we launched into Sawbill Lake with two canoes, gear, and around 50lbs of food. After checking in with the outfitter the previous evening, we had decided to aim to take three nights / four days and do the Cherokee Loop - a rather ambitious trip over the Laurentian Divide (which separates the Atlantic Ocean watershed from the Arctic Ocean watershed) around a 23 mile loop. The first day's journey took us up Sawbill Lake, across a 72 rod portage into Ada creek, paddling past sheer rock faces to a 78 rod portage to Ada Lake, followed by a challenging paddle up a marshy section that allowed us to cut off most of a 96 rod portage and make it about 8 rods instead, on a short paddle across Skoop Lake to the most challenging 189 rod, level 7 portage across the Laurentian Divide (approximately 0.6 mile one way), then a buggy though beautiful paddle down Cherokee Creek, across two beaver dams, into Cherokee Lake. It was... challenging, to say the least. All the kids helped to carry packs across portages and we were able to "double portage" all of them - meaning two trips across for me, Travis, and Clara, one of the trips with canoes on Travis and my shoulders. By the time we were working our way down Cherokee Creek, we were hearing thunder rumbles in the distance. We took the first campsite available on Cherokee Lake (site 900) after seeing a lightning bolt strike the opposite shore. We threw up camp - two tents and a tarp - just in time for the rain to start. Laying in sleeping bags, sore, banged up, and listening to the rain pound, we seriously questioned the wisdom of the expedition. 

But the morning dawned a new day, and everyone woke up mostly dry and in good spirits. We adjusted our trip plan to spend a low key day on Cherokee Lake with a second night, then go back the way we came and spend the final night back on the north side of Sawbill Lake, still inside the Wilderness. We made this decision feeling significantly challenged by the 189 rod, level 7 portage the day prior and knowing we'd be facing a 233 rod, level 10 portage if we continued on around the loop. We figured the devils we knew were better than those we didn't. This turned out to be a brilliant decision, as we had a lovely trip after that, with just the right amount of challenge. 

We spent Saturday hanging out in camp, conducting canoe explorations of Cherokee Lake, swimming, and fishing. A friend of ours had given us a shopping list to set us up with "everything you need to catch fish." After some practice casting from shore, we headed out in boats to the middle of the lake. Within a few minutes of casting with a jig and some fluorescent yellow artificial bait, Andrew had attention and then a bite... but as he was reeling in, the line broke. We ended up "catching" 5 fish, but every one of them broke the line and got away. It turns out that I didn't realize that fishing line gets brittle with age. Though I did know I was using old line, I hadn't bought any new line. Alas, I never got to use my brand new filet knife, my MN fishing license, or my new knowledge of how to dismantle a fish from studying YouTube videos before we left. We assume, based on the lake we were in that the buggers that got away were lake trout, but there is a chance they were northern pike. Somewhere out in Cherokee Lake there are 5 fish looking badass with our hooks in their lips. Sorry, fish. I wish you'd have been dinner. 

After our second night on Cherokee Lake we packed up camp and headed back out the way we came in. This time things felt a lot less challenging (though still challenging) because we were acclimated to the work and knew what to expect. There was much rejoicing after each portage that each, in turn, was done. Once back on Sawbill Lake we headed out to look for a cool site on an island (site 916) which did not disappoint. The sheer rock slabs of the island's sides made for some fun running leaps into the water. There was more shore fishing with no luck, a cool evening, and a little more gentle rain overnight. 

On our last day, we explored the north end of Sawbill Lake, scoping some of the other campsites for future reference, before making our way back to the outfitter at the south end of the lake. The dock where we took out seemed unreasonably peopley after four days in the wilderness with two large families there to swim. 

This trip was epic, and it was incredibly awesome. Mostly type 1 fun with only a few moments of type 2 fun. All of the kids expressed how awesome they thought it was and how much they wanted to come back and, well, after you've made your kids paddle and shlep gear through 23+ miles of wilderness, you can't really ask for much more than that, as a parent. We are all contributing ideas to what we want to do on our next trip to the BWCA, and topping the list is "BUY GOOD FISHING LINE."

All of the Simpkinses highly recommend the Boundary Waters for gorgeous, peaceful, invigorating wilderness adventure.