A wilderness experience in North America - Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness!

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness!

The anticipation turns to the happening and I stare out over the water where we are about to launch the canoe, knowing that this vessel will be taking us out into the wilderness where I am even more of a foreigner and alien in a place I know very little of.

This wilderness area is different from the one I am used to roaming. The principle however the same. As we drift away from the shore I start to zone into what may happen next and what I am surrounded with. North America has a sad history with very little regard for wildlife and conserving trees, The mindset of convenience and ease converted any wilderness into green cut lawns. Ironically as North America is now regarded as the iconic place for Wilderness, Celebrating 50 years of their Wilderness act (National Geographic Wilderness-act). However now there are few places where one can venture and be surrounded by trees grown naturally, where one is left to fend for themselves with out a green cut lawn or maize field nearby. 

Despite this history I find myself in a place where trees are left to age with time and in time. They push to the sky looking like they weighted down by gravity as their branches droop down while the main stem pushes higher. Or maybe they cry for the loss they experienced over the last 100 years. regardless of their history its in the present that our journey exists. One sees the difference in tree species from the shore line up onto the ridge as different species survive different wind strengths and water dependencies. Water is not a problem here in fact its a problem because of its abundance. However I am reminded there is no problems when out in wilderness just a means of adjustment to what is around me.

Our journey takes place in a canoe, no one is allowed to enter the Wilderness zone in a motorized boat, car or anything with a motor. The area we in is known for its lake system and so its easiest to maneuver through the area in canoe. This also gets us out from underneath the tree canopy and out onto the lakes, watching for Bald Eagles, Common Loon, Common Merganser and anything else fluttering on the forest edge. Sights of the horizon are laden with mountains, cliff faces, flat lakes and towering trees. When out in the middle of the lake one sees no-one but still water on your own reflects as you stare through it to see the lake bottom.

The Boundary of the wilderness area.

There is a different sense to this wilderness, as the car dependencies and noise fades into the back memory the quietness in the lapping of the waters takes over. As sudden as our canoe starts to glide over the water we reach our first portage and cross between two mountains into Pine Lake where we will spend our first day and night. This long lake extends into the horizon and lies between two ridges. It is here I sense the escape of chaos and emerge into the American Wilderness.

It is quiet here, we pass one or two groups of other journeyers on a wilderness experience, they are quiet and a gentle greet is all they give. The culture of wilderness is strong although discouraged by their site, I am encouraged by their will and respect to where they are. We fish for our supper, struggle to find dry wood as I learn which wood burns better than others and what makes good kindle. I was to learn later that Birch wood bark is the best kindle and I gain confidence in wanting to light a fire from rubbing sticks together like we do back home. Learning which woods are best set for the task. Having a bit of rain the day we left, the forest floor is wet and although the sun has been shining since we left it is still wet and dry wood is hard to find.

A Beaver lodge

We move out of the Pine Lakes network and go through the most amazing vegetative channels, we give up rowing as the wind is so strong behind us that we need only steer our oars in the direction we want to go and use one or two oars as a sail. This gives us time to relax and reflect. The vegetative channels are the rivers that link the lakes and at times they edge large rocks or Beaver houses. This type of habitat is what Moose love. although we didn't see any we sure did find their tracks, some of the largest ungulate tracks I had ever seen. Getting use to the idea of deer being present still baffled my mind as almost all their ungulates loose their horns each year, and moose are one of the largest ungulates which do this. We come across a beaver lodge, this huge dome of sticks baffle the mind when seen up close as to how big they are. The closest we came to bears however were their paw prints. Black bears are the common bear in the area, yet they some of the smaller bears and seldom weigh as much as a full grown male lion. Made me feel pretty safe wondering around. Despite this our food is always airlifted using large trees to keep it from the bears at night while we sleep.

When camping along the shore, we rest on the forest edge. venturing into the forest to collect fire wood, brings about a unique experience on its own. The still darken forest floor brings about a deafening silence, I realized the “noise” that African wilderness areas produce. I recall maybe one or two still nights when not even the Scops owl would let us know they were around. Here it has been like that ever night, listening for the whip-poor-will ends off with me drifting into dream land as I reminiscence the roll this bird played in Chief Seattle's letter to the European settlers.

In Amazement we rowed the last stretch of lake to where we parked the car, knowing we were heading back to where time management was to the second and noise was accepted. However that last row we took, was one of reflection in a world I thought I would never set eyes on. As wild the area we were in was, it was different to the wild areas of Africa. Not better or worse, but different! For how can one compare two areas, dare I say, that God created uniquely to those areas. The American North Woods do not have the large elephants and rhino. They have bears and moose, the climate and vegetation brings about creatures that are specific to that environment that we can't fully fathom here on the continent of Africa. How does an African grasp the concept that a Woolly Caterpillar freezes through 7 winters before he emerges into a moth or how a frog freezes solid to endure a harsh winter? I was there for the summer escaping the harsh winter, but its the winter that tests the spirits of the wilderness like the dry season tests them here...

Late afternoon relaxing row