Thinking about packing….

Challenge Accepted

Staying warm while winter camping…

Fast Fall

It seems as the fall has just flown by.  I can’t believe its already Christmas break this coming week.  Erin and really enjoyed our time a week ago when we went up to Canada.  It was great to get away just the two of us and spend some time together.  Thunder Bay was nice, and our time on the shore of Lake Superior was nice and relaxing.

This past week seemed to go pretty quick.  I think when your down in the trenches it can seem like its moving awfully slow, but when you look back you seem to forget those times.  Anyway it was a good week.  I went to a wrestling meet on Tuesday night and watched a few of my students who are on the Virginia high school wrestling team.  It was fun to see them compete.  They did a very nice job winning both of their dual meets.  I went to the meet after our weekly curling match.  Tony our high school art teacher, Chuck our superintendent, Tom one of our P.E. teachers and myself all curl in the early league.  We’ve competed three times so far and are sitting at 2 for 3.  I played pretty well our last game getting most of my rocks in the general area they were supposed to be, so that was good.

On Friday I was signed up to take tickets at the hockey game.  Since I was tied up with this Erin spent the evening making lefsa.  It turned out really well and I think she ended up getting about 70 pieces.  The hockey game was fun to watch.  Virginia beat International Falls after a bit of a shaky start.

Saturday night Erin and I went to her schools Christmas party at the wooden table.  It was fun spending time with the people she works with on a daily basis.  After dinner we headed to Hibbing to pick up Katie who was just finishing up about 28 hours of travel getting down here from St. Michael for her Christmas break.

Today we did a little bit of ice skating.  I don’t know how the rink will be tomorrow.  We got a little bit of snow this evening.  It seems the moment you get the ice cleared enough for skating mother nature decides to spoil the fun by dropping more of that white stuff.  There us rumored to be a pretty big storm that is supposed to hit us on Christmas eve.  If that’s the case we need to make sure we take advantage of the skating while its available.

Erin has two days of work this week and I have three, so our Christmas break is just around the corner.  I am really looking forward to relaxing and getting outside some over break.

I hope you all have a nice holiday season

Every 5 min

Last spring I set up a laptop looking out our window at the lake while the ice was going out.  In a week span I got a little video of the ice melting.  Its fun to see this slow change happen in just a minute or so.  I just set up another one this morning to film the ice forming this fall.  Its set to take a picture once every 5 min at 10 frames per second.   I don’t know if this is the best set up, but I’m kinda shooting from the hip.  The smart person would do the math to figure out what they want there outcome to look like.  I figure I can tweak it a bit in Final Cut after its done shooting.  We’ll see how it comes out.  I’ll basically get about on second of video every hour its running.  I turn if off in the evening because its usually too dark to see anything anyway.  Tonight would have been pretty with the full moon arching across the lake.  I’ll be posting the finished product so you all and take a peak and maybe leave a little feedback on what you think of it.

Hokey Pokey Camping

Our feeble attempt at camping this weekend began Thursday night after work.  We pulled together most of the gear we would need for a BWCA camping trip in the fall.  We were pretty tired, so we didn’t get finished with the packing, just got a decent start to the venture.  Friday morning I helped Erin get the canoe on her car and threw what we had ready into her car as she left for work.  I still had to pull together the rest of the gear hoping against hope that I wouldn’t forget anything.  I finally got on the road about a half an hour later than usual, but I made it to school with a few minutes to spare.  So to follow the hokey pokey theme Thursday night we put our right foot in and took our right foot out.  Friday morning we put our right foot in and shook it all about.

After work that day Erin and I met up at the Y-store and drove to Soudan where we dropped my car off at Erin’s grandparents house.  We transferred the rest of the gear from my car to hers and headed to Ely.  Mind you at this time of the year dusk is showing up earlier and earlier each day.  We pulled into Ely and had to pick up some last minute things that we had forgot to pack for the trip and grab something for dinner.  At this time we assessed how much time it’d take us to actually get to the Moose Lake entry point and decided we would be just putting into the water when the darkness would be settling in over the lake.  We made the decision to hold off actually starting the trip till the next morning.  We ended up staying the night in Ely where we watched the twins throw their game two against the Yankees away in the bottom of the 9th inning.  The next morning we awoke to a blanket of snow on the ground and a pretty brisk wind whipping across the tree tops.  We decided to push on and headed down the Fernberg Road to the Moose Lake entry point.  As we approached the lake I was beginning to second guess our trip.  There were some fairly decent waves rolling across the lake.  Now if this had been a summer day it wouldn’t have been as big a deal, but since the temps were below freezing it added a whole new level of concern.

We pushed on and loaded up our canoe and headed out in the waves.  The wind was blowing in the same direction we were paddling, so we were making some pretty good time without much effort.  Our concern was that if we had to paddle back against this same wind the next day it would make the 8 or so miles pretty tough.  We paddled about a mile and decided it be smarter and safer to call the trip off.  There’s no reason to force on when things could turn quickly for the worse.  Truly we probably would have been fine, but it would have been a chilly wet trip.  So back to the hokey theme, we started our trip Friday night, then stopped it not too much longer, only to start it the next morning and stop it again an hour or so after beginning.  Lots of back and forth.

Instead of camping we went to a tea shop in Ely, and then to a movie in Virginia.

Rain + March = ICE

I’m not sure what time the rain began falling last night, but by 6:30 AM there was a glistening new layer of ice on the ground.  Our driveway was nearly impossible to get out of and the following downhill seemed more like a luge run than a gravel road.  Needless to say I only managed to avoid going into the ditch at the bottom because of my heroic Bond-like driving skills.  I promptly parked the car and hopped in with Erin since she has the sweet escape which seems to handle the slippery roads a bit better than the bald rear tires on my KIA.  The next 3 miles took us about 20 minutes to navigate doing our best not to end up in the ditch.  When we finally made it to the highway the roads were fine.  The rest of the day was less hectic as Mondays should be.  The rain is supposed to continue for the first half of the week and then turn to snow sometime Wednesday.  Looking forward to the weekend.

P.S.  Who’s orchestrating the collection for “Bill’s Mini Laptop Fund?”

Winter Show

Last Sunday, Jesse and I headed out to shoot another winter episode for BWCACAST.  Our journey this time led us to the Little Indian Sioux entry point.  It was really warm out and very sunny.  Jesse was armed with his fancy DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera, and I had my video camera.

One of the nice things about shooting shows with Jesse is that he is very patient, and willing to wait around while I set up shots.  There were a few times where I walked a long ways ahead to set up the camera, then hiked back and the two of us would walk continue on our way with the video camera shooting us.

On the way we came across something I had never seen before.  Jesse knew exactly what it was right away.  A bird had taken a small animal out of the snow and in the process left a wing print in the snow.

We made it out to the Devils Cascade, which was about 5 miles from the entry point.  I think I added about another mile to the trip with all the running around with the camera.

The return trip was pretty rough on me.  I am pretty much out of shape, and I think my body is only rated for about 6 or 7 miles of snowshoeing, not 11 or 12.  So there was a lot of grimacing and breaks on the way back.  I was still hobbling around at work on Monday and Tuesday.

I am hoping to head out again this weekend to shoot another show.  Hopefully Jesse will be able to join me as well.

Break has come to an end.

Let me be the first to tell you that the last week and a half has been very very nice.  I really enjoyed sleeping in every morning and playing outside on the nice and not so nice days.

I feel I accomplished a lot over break with a new bwcacast episode being shot, five episdoes edited up, some snowshowing on the lake with Erin, and some skating at the outdoor hockey rink in cook.

We went to a couple of movies “Yes Man” and “Marley and Me”.  Both were fun movies.  Erin and I unfortunetly got the gigles at the end of Marley and Me when there were people in the theater that were so caught up in the movie that they were actually sobbing.  Let me tell you its not good to get the giggles in a “quiet” theater surrounded by very upset people.  Luckliy we were able to control ourselves enough to not cause a scene.  The movie was a little sad, but man… Its a movie folks, its not your dog.  🙂

I am hoping that the new year of work will go by as quickly as the last few months.  I am ready for another summer of adventures.  If you haven’t heard, we booked tickets for Austraila in June.  I can’t wait for the trip.  Its going to be a ton of fun traveling the Great Ocean Road with Erin for three weeks.

I have also strated planning trips into the BWCAW.  I need to get some dates from people that will be going with to see what will work out best entry permit dates.

For now I have another few months with students and teachers to focus on.

I hope everyone has a nice January.

Snowshoeing and Editing

Erin and I took off to shoot our first winter episode for BWCACAST.com.  I was planning on heading out to Hegman Lake on Wednesday (New Years Eve Day) because the weather forecast showed a sunny day.  Well Tuesday morning Erin got up before me and checked the weather.  She came back and woke me up suggesting we go then instead of Wednesday and that the weather was supposed to clear up for the day.

With this sudden change of plans I hopped out of bed and started rummaging around the house collecting all the gear we would need for the little adventure.  I was planning on pulling all the gear together that evening, so we were a bit unprepared.  I dug around in the closet and pulled out my cook stove, fuel, nested cook kit, and backpack.  Along with the basics we added some extra layers, face protectors (for the wind) and some extra mittens.  Erin not only got some hot water in a thermos, but also made some tasty egg sandwiches to get some nice warm food in our bellies before we headed out in the cold.

We threw our gear in the car and headed down the road.  We got about half way down Raps road (the road we live on) and I realized I had forgotten a headlamp and tp.  The headlamp in case we were out into the evening hours, and the tp is pretty self explanatory.  So we turned around to retrieve the much needed supplies.

Once on the road we made it to Ely around noon where we stopped at Will Stegers shop so I could buy a pair of mukluks.  With my new purchase freshly sprayed water sealant we headed down the Echo trail.  We pulled into the Hegman lake entry point a little after 1:00 PM.  We hopped out of the car and donned our snowshoes.  I got the video camera out and on the tripod and we started down the trail.

It was great that Erin got me motivated to go that day because as soon as we were on the trail, the skies cleared up and it was nothing but sunshine and blue skies for the rest of our trip.  Erin is great to shoot shows with, she is patient during all the retakes, and the time consuming shots that require us to set up the camera, walk by it, then go back and retrieve it.  She also gives pointers on different shots to get and what might enhance my on the spot dialogs I have with the camera.

It took us a little over two hours to snowshoe the 2.4 miles out to the pictographs and back.  We were able make it back to the car before the sun went down.  It really was a perfect day to be out in the woods.  On the car ride back we called up Erin’s mom and had her fire up the sauna.  So we swung by her place and relaxed in the sauna and visited for a couple hours.

With this newly shot footage and some time to actually get some editing done, I spent the last couple days hammering away at new episodes for BWCACAST.  I had already edited up a couple of shows last week, and released one of them the day we were out shooting our winter episode at Hegman.  All in all I now have 5 shows that are newly edited.  So if your a fan of the show here is what you have to look forward to in the coming months.

Exploring Kifes Lower Arm – Released Tuesday December Dec. 30th

Leaving Knife Lake – Jan 13

Lakes 1-2-3-4 – Jan 27

Hiking the Angleworm Trail – Feb 10

Snowshoeing into Hegman – Feb 24

Along with editing today I did catch part of the Winter Classic.  It was really cool to watch Detroit and Chicago play on the outdoor rink.  I am not surprised the venue was sold out in less than an hour and that tickets were being scalped for over a $1,000.

About halfway through the second period, Jesse and I went out snowshoeing to slim chance the same place Erin and I had gone to on Sunday.  Jesse and I went further up the trail back to a little slough.  Well I was following Jesse across a bit of ice and happened to break through.  The snowshoes I was using weren’t as big so they didn’t displace my weight as much and through the ice I went.  Luckily I only went in up to my calves.  My mukluks did a phenomenal job of keeping my feet dry. I hopped out as soon as I could and used a bunch of dry snow to wick away the water on my mukluks and snow pants.  After that was taken care of Jesse and I continued to explore round the area where we flushed a grouse and a couple of deer.  After hiking around we hopped back on our trail and headed home.

Snowshoeing on Vermilion

It was an amazingly sunny day out today.  This afternoon I donned Jim’s mukluks and snowshoes and Erin and I headed out across the lake.  The snow was crunchy on top sounding like glass shattering on each step.  We got a little ways from the house and looked back to see our tracks in the snow.  This is one of my favorite things about snowshoeing.  You can really see your progress with just a glance over your shoulder.

We continued down the lake towards Black Bay.  We weren’t planning on going all the way there.  We really didn’t have a goal in mind, but were kinda thinking about checking out a trail called “Slim Chance” which we usually get to by boat in the summer and fall.  On our way It was fun to see the relatively untouched snow covering the lake in front of us.

We continued down the lake enjoying the frosted trees everywhere and the snow covered docks.  Its kinda nice here in the winter it gives you the feeling that you are the only ones on the lake.  Most of the houses are summer use only.

We did make our way out to Slim Chance and hopped onto the trail.  Erin snapped this photo of me heading up the trail.  It was a little up hill, but the snowshoes did their job of keeping us on top of the snow.

We continued down the trail stepping over fallen trees and actually crawling under one.  Erin got a little tripped up stepping over one.  The cool thing is it doesn’t even look like she fell, it looks more like she is posing for a photo in the snow.

Along the trail there was a tree with a huge shelf fungus stuck to its side.  I’ve seen a lot of these, but not many this big.  I didn’t touch it, but if you do touch the bottom with your bare fingers it will stain the fungus where ever you touch it.  You can essentially write on them with just a finger.

Once we were on the trail it was really cool to look up through the trees above watching the blue sky shine through.  It really is a very different atmosphere between summer and winter.

After a little hike up the trail we headed back home before we were too sweaty and cold.  The hike back went just fine.  There were a few spots where we sunk through the top layer of snow into the slush below.  We were quick to hop a head and attempt to soak up the remaining water with dry snow.

We came home to a warm fire in the wood stove.  The mukluks performed greatly, but they are a bit small for me.  I might run over to Ely and pick up a pair for myself.  I love my bunny boots, but they are a bit heavy for long hiking trips.  The mukluks are nice, light, and warm.  You can check them out at www.mukluks.com.

I am hoping to head out to Hegman Lake this week.  Hegman is where the painted rocks are that we did for one of our first BWCACAST shows.  I am hoping to basically shoot it again, but this time in the winter.  It is supposed to be sunny on Wednesday.  That’s the proposed day for the trip.

I am also thinking about driving up to Atikokan Ontario this week to shoot a show for bwcacast on the Souris River Canoe.  They make very nice canoes and its a very small business.  I think it’d be fun to show a behind the scene look on how their boats are made.