2022

Saturday (7/9)

The first lunch stop at a Rest Area on I-10 West in the middle of nowhere:

The field in Carlsbad that we were supposed to camp in:

Our car was telling us it was 105°, so we decided to go to a hotel instead, no one was interested in camping in the direct sun.

Sunday (7/10)

We went to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the morning:

Arriving at Camp Wehinapay:

At Camp - Monday-Thursday (7/11-7/14)

Around Wehinapay:

At our Camp:

Cows!!!!

Friday (7/15)

White Sands National Park:

Saturday (7/16)

We drove home. Home was too far away for far too long.

Northern Tier

Getting There - Sunday and Monday (6/19-6/20)

At IAH:

We had a 20 min layover in Minneapolis where we boarded our last plane to Winnipeg.

At the Winnipeg airport:

Our linner (lunch+dinner) run to the (sorta)nearby mall:

The next morning our bus arrived and we headed for Bisset:

Base Camp - Monday and Tuesday (6/20-6/21)

Check in time:

Other base camp antics:

We all had to try picking up the canoes:

The float plane:

On Water - Tuesday-Sunday (6/21-6/26)

At the canoe cash:

The groups best landscape photos:

The groups best wildlife photography:

The four boats:

Pictures of Camp:

The longest portage on our trip, Heartbreak:

Back at Base Camp - Monday (6-27)

Final Thoughts

Monday night when we came off water we all gathered around the campfire. 100-year commemorative patches were given out and adult leader pins were handed out. Scout Vespers was sung and we ended with a poem read by our interpreter and written by Sam Cook. This poem resonated with us in the moments, days, and months after our trip, and we all agreed that it sums up the Northern Tier experience. Even though 24 hours earlier you were asking yourself, "why did I do this?" everyone was ready to go again.

Up North is a certain way the wind feels on your face and the way an old wool shirt feels on your back. It’s the peace that comes over you when you sit down to read one of your old trip journals, or the anticipation that bubbles inside when you start sorting through your tackle box in the early spring.

Up north is the smell of the Duluth pack hanging in your basement and the sound of pots clinking across the lake. It’s a raindrop clinging to a pine needle and the dancing light of a campfire on the faces of friends.

Up north is a lone set of cross-country ski tracks across a wilderness lake and wood smoke rising from a cabin chimney. It’s bunchberries in June, blueberries in July, and wild rice in September.

Each of us has an up north. It’s a time and place far from the here and now. It’s a map on the wall, a dream in the making, a tugging at one’s soul. For those who feel the tug, who make the dream happen, who put the map in the packsack and go, the world is never quite the same again.

We have been Up North. And part of us always will be.

Sam Cook as quoted from his book "Up North."

Lake Livingston (May)

Neches River Canoe Trip

First Day (3-12)

Second Day - (3/13)