Boundry Waters 1999 Venture Crew Trip

Free Web Hosting Provider - Web Hosting - E-commerce - High Speed Internet - Free Web Page

June 17, 1999 to June 26, 1999

On June 17, 6 boys and 3 adults left to go on an adventure of a life time. They hopped in a van from Houston, TX and drove up to Ely, MN in three days. The first night they stopped and Wichita, Ks for the night. The second day they made it to the Mall of America in the Twin Cities. As they just got to the door, a security guard stopped them and said that we had to be 16 with a photo ID if we were going to walk around with adult supervision. Eric's luck ran out. He was 2 months away from turning 16, and David was only 14. The only way that they could walk around with out adult supervision is if they were in Snoopy Land!!!§ Though I don't think they minded it very much that they walked around the biggest mall in the country with two old people.

When the crew was out on the water, they had their fair share of laughs at one another. The first day went rather smooth. The only thing major that happened was some gusty winds. The second day was the exciting day. We decided to travel across Alice Lake, which is about 2 1/2 miles across and do the 240 rod* portage. When we were talking to one of the people at Cliff Wolds, our outfitters, he told us that if we take the 240 rod rought that their will be a spot that is muddy and to trust your self and stay in the middle. Even though you cant see the bottom their will be logs in the center. Several times people will walk up to it and think that it will be easier to go around and windup being up thier groins in mud. Well, Chris and Kevin took off with Chris carring a sleeping bag pak and Kevin with a canoe on his shoulders planning to trade about 50 rods or so. After about 100 yds Chris saw a little bit of mud and sticks and said to Kevin "Stay in the center like the guy said." Well another 50 yds past that they heard Jeff yelling for help. This turned out to be what the guy was talking about. Jeff had walked about 30 yards into the mud and slipped. His right leg was covered in mud up to his groin while he had a pack on the front and back, along with a few odds and ends stuff. So Chris went out to help him and took a step to support him self to help jeff up and his left leg fell into the mud around the same hight. What they couldn't figure out is how Mr. Rosing had gotten though there without any problems. After a mintue Jimmy comes along and thinks he will outsmart them and go around them. About ten yards on the other side of Chris and Jeff the fell in th his knees in mud, both of them. It took about 10 minutes to get the three people out of the mud. When Chris decided it was time to take off and carry some stuff to the other end he grabbed a couple of packs and hauled off. About 3/4 of the way, he spotted a black beat on a rock sniffing around. They looked at each other and gave the "oh well" expression. At some other point on the trail David had followed a moose for about 20 yards before it went off the trial.

The second night we were out there we stayed at an island in Thomas lake. It was about 8:30 p.m. with the sun shining through the tops of the trees, when Chris volunteered to go out to the middle of the lake to make a water run. Once he filled up the water he was making a turn back and made a too powerful turn and flipped the canoe over. Everything was fine except that he had a clean dry set of cloths on. The next morning it rained till about 9:00 a.m. or so. After they cooked breakfast they had to come up with a plan. Since they needed to make a couple side trips, they decided to stay there another night and make a side trip up to Fraser Lake. Round trip it was about 5 or 6 miles.

*1 Rod = 16 1/2 feet or 3 1/2 yards
§ = Indoor theme park

That is all I have time for today. I will be adding more things to it. If you where one of the people that went on the trip, I would like for you to give me a short story of something you remember. Thanks.