North MN in March

I was overdue for a weekend at my granparent's cabin up north. Here are some pictures of the ice going out as well as walking some of our family's land. The weather was beautiful and just right for a t-shirt aka 50-60 degrees. Went for a walk in the woods doing some scouting for better deer spots for november.

There was a good deal of ice left on friday, but with a little wind saturday it made a nice dent in what is left.

Old stand built who knows how long ago.

My Kind of Woods :)

Not Blackberries. Ants.

More BWCAW Pics

I thought I'd throw some more Boundary Waters pictures up. These are a mix of pictures from the eastern side of the BWCAW, either starting at Brule Lake or Seagull Lake looping somewhere. This one will be less wordy, enjoy the pics.

Tent on Rabbit Lake

Lake Trout Jambalaya, like the old
Coleman Stove?? Haha.

Friendly Loon on Rabbit Lake

Monument Portage

Getting ready for some pretty crappy weather
at Ester Lake

Monument on Monument Portage

On our way back to Ottertrack

Some clouds over Brule Lake

Heading to Wench Lake

Wench Lake. Didn't catch a single trout here...

Devastation after the fire, leaving Alpine

Leaving Kekekabic for Knife. Looking south at the western half of the lake

Lady Slippers on Rabbit Lake

At Trail's end campground.

Few Lake Trout from Kek

Knife Lake at night, playing around with my camera.

Knife Lake

Hey ALICE

This one is dedicated to my ALICE pack. I purchased a used basic old school ALICE pack last year and took it out for a spin. It wasn't nearly as comfy as my larger REI pack but was the perfect size. Reading up on it it souded like most people disliked this pack and deemed it uncomfortable, but I didn't find it too bad to be honest. Anyway, I decided to modify it looking at various forums out there; here are some pictures a before and after kind of thing.

I definitely recommend getting this in pieces otherwise you are stuck with the old school kidney pad and crummy shoulder straps.

Also bought MOLLE 2 shoulder straps and waist belt with my pack and they are pretty comfortable. (Top Left)

Two other modifications I did right away were add a carrying handle, just a double cobra for this. I also added some fastex buckles for the pockets and straps, a nice improvement.

Overall this is a great 3-4 day pack for me with those mods. In any event, I wanted to make this a little more comfortable and I wanted to add on a tad bit more storage. On to the bottom pics.

Directly above is a pic of my pack with my new Alipad from Highspeed gear, not only does this fill the comfort gap but it also adds two pockets between the pad and the frame which I greatly appreciate.

I also added two canteen holders for the sides, one of which holds my filter and stuff for water, as well as anything else I want.

The photo to the right shows my fastex buckle additions. It makes getting stuff a heck of a lot easier.

Paracord Fun

Well other than the outdoors, I love knives and paracord. I'm a big fan of taking normal stuff and wrapping it with cord. A big thank you goes out to Grog's Knots on this one and any paracord junkies out on Bushcraft for getting me started with paracord. Above is a paracord lanyard I made last year since my dog thought my old one was a great chew toy. If I did this again, I would have gutted the cord, but live and learn.

To the right is a paracord rescue bracelet I made. It has an ID tag on it as well, mainly because of an allergy I have that anybody medical should know of, and it looks better than the typical med bracelets out there.

To the left is something I got off of ITS Tactical's website, a paracord storage sinnet. Its a great way to keep your cord, but it does get somewhat kinked. And it takes a while to do this, but with practice it goes quick. You can find information to do this here.



The bottom right is a ridgeline I made for bushclasses at BushcraftUSA. That was a fun one to made, just a basic three stranded braid on this one, with a whipped end I ended up sealing  with paracord anyway just to make sure.

The bottom left is a paracord belt I made for backpacking, got a little carried away I know. It has over 100 feet of cord on it just in case I need it. Better safe than sorry.

Below this is a shot of my paracord wrapped Izulas from ESEE, yeah I caught that bug but luckily I stopped with these. Though I would love an Izula folder when they come out.

Chengwatana & WBBB :)

Well I'm having a lazy Sunday so I figured why not post some more. Here are some pics of my Warbonnet Black Bird hammock I bought last year. Hopefully going to use this more this year. Here is their site as an FYI http://warbonnetoutdoors.com/blackbirds.php Mine is the double 1.7, olive green with a Mambajamba tarp. I've gotta say I never want to camp on the ground again after I started using this. Its cool in the summer and so dang comfy. I originally heard about them on BushcraftUSA and didn't know anybody with one but decided to take the plunge and I'm not looking back on it at all.

Inside!

Turning a non-believer into a comfy camper.

Chengwatana St. Forest is pretty nice, I didn't say much about it up top, but it is just the right kind of woods, it's pretty close to the St. Croix and Kettle Rivers, actually right on them. There is an abundance of wildlife here, and I've got to say its a pretty hopeful place for crayfishing, tasty little buggers.

Arm of the Kettle River

Bear track :) 

Hey there Iris

BWCA

Well its about time to start this puppy up. I love the outdoors and can't get enough of everything mother nature has to offer. So to really kick this off, here is a post on the Boundary Waters, probably my favorite place to be on earth. I've been there pretty much every summer since I moved to Minnesota in 2000. You can find this awesome place up in northern Minnesota sitting on the Canadian border. It has much to offer, whether this is camping, canoeing, fishing or just listening to quiet. So here are some pics.

 

This shot is from Knife Lake, one of my favorites because of how clear the water is. The fishing is pretty good here as well. The shot below this is yet again Knife, with more daylight. This was taken at one of my favorite campsites looking at a small island. The water is about 15 feet deep at the midpoint.  

Of course, you can't travel here and not expect to see some wildlife. Below is a picture of a bear that walked into our camp 2 years ago, the famed Kekekabic Black Bear. Our Lake Trout just smelled too tasty I guess.

 

Then there are Moose, like this cow in the above right. We usually see these along the Gunflint, though I've encountered them at Rabbit and North Temperence Lakes as well. 

Anyway, I will post more eventually, as well as anything from upcoming trips. I'll probably put some older trips in here too and other stuff.