alone and unconscious in the wilderness

OK..it's a two week solo canoe trip and the unconscious part is just a good nights sleep.
because it's a canoe trip and not a survival test i'll be having pancakes for breakfast not fresh trapped rat and i hope fish for dinner and not cattail roots.
this will be my 30th year with trips every year that add up to around 50 of them.
i will say i have learned a lot about real long term camp life doing this and picked up some very useful tips here at ETS.
i'll check back i a couple weeks and let you all know how it went.

Sounds awesome! I've always wanted to do a BWCA trip. Have fun and be safe!

Great stuff! Doesn't get any better than that.

Best of luck, enjoy the time off and stay safe!

Have an awesome trip, canoedogs!

well that was the shortest canoe trip ever!!!
at the very first portage around these rapids only hours down river from the landing..


the portage yoke BUSTED!!



with the gunwale damaged i had no way to attach a repaired or field replacement yoke to the canoe.if i had been several days out i could of used the old method of canoe carry by laying the paddles over the thwarts and lashing them down to make a frame that would rest on my shoulders.



i decided to head back home to Minneapolis and make real repairs,i have another unused yoke that i can attach to the new gunwale.this was a "retired old guy" decision.i can get a new permit and go back to canoe country just about anytime i please.
if i was still working i would of made a fix and kept going.
another couple at the portage said i should drive into Ely,the main canoe outfitting town and get a rental canoe or new parts.
that would of been hours of driving on a dirt road plus dealing with the gear.take it or hide it while i made the trip.
home sounded like a better idea.

now the drive back is down the 35W freeway that runs thru forests full of deer...see whats coming?
yup,at 65MPH at dusk a big doe bolted out and right into the left side of the car ripping off the mirror...lucky?? you bet.
a deer that could of come over the hood and up under the canoe rack would of been a major disaster.i was in a small pack of cars at the time and people stopped to see if i was ok..
so back home and at a junk yard for a new mirror and the canoe up on saw horses for some woodwork and i'll post a new "alone and out of it" when the time comes

Wow! Close call with the deer! My brother has killed more deer with his car than with a rifle. It sucks that you had to turn back to make repairs but hopefully the weather will be nice and you can head back out soon.

Imagine if you'd decided to press on and hit the deer with your canoe.