Visit Every City

This was my fourth time as staff on the Boundary Waters Adventure. This year was definitely more physically exhausting than any other year. Instead of entering the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness where we usually do (Little Indian Sioux River (north): BWCA Entry Point #14), because of limited entry permits we had to choose an alternate entry point. We heard that entry permits were purposefully being limited because there were too many people in certain areas at a time. In all actuality it probably isn’t permit holders causing the crowd of people.

When we first started dragging our gear and canoes down the path to Moose River (BWCA Entry Point #16) everything looked and felt very familiar. The narrow downhill path through the forest, the rocky entry into a narrow river, the wet feet and swarming mosquitoes. That soon changed when we arrived at our first portage. This route took us through several smaller pocket lakes rather than open water which meant less paddling but more portaging. We ended up portaging an estimated total 16 miles on this trip. I’m still not sure if that includes going back and forth to get our gear that we left at the start of most portages.

The program is part of the United Church of God’s camp program (United Youth Camps). The UYC program provides camps for teens and preteens, but also has a young adults challenger program which currently consists of two camps which alternate summers: Challenger Sierra and Boundary Waters Adventure. These camps are largely for the youth who attend UCG, and are funded by tithes, offerings, and donations by members and coworkers (donations to the UYC program can be given here).

The majority of these camps take place in the United States, but there are various camps in other parts of the world. On occasion, staff for international camps are needed. The United Youth Corps (part of UCG’s Good Works program) sponsors and coordinates volunteers for these camps and various other projects as needed.

At the beginning of the adventure, we usually stay at a campground on Echo Lake where we get a taste for cooking our own food, hauling jugs of water, and fending off mosquitoes. This also gives us a chance to test some of our gear including rainflies on tents, fires starters, bug sprays and nets, and putting all of our equipment back into packs that can be more easily portaged. We also take a day to do some basic training which includes team building, instruction, Bible study, and canoeing on open water. We always take a few hours on Monday afternoon to take empty canoes out on Crane Lake (where we finish our adventure) to get a feel for it and potentially practice swamping a canoe for the practice. Thankfully we didn’t need to practice, nor did we get the real experience on this trip.

Training Day – Monday, July 10th, 2023: Echo Lake and Crane Lake

The Real Adventure Begins

Day 1 – Tuesday, July 11th, 2023: from Moose River to Oyster Lake

Day 2 – Wednesday, July 12th, 2023: from Oyster Lake to Con Island (Shell Lake)

Day 3 – Thursday, July 13th, 2023: from Shell Lake to Loon Lake

The third day wasn’t supposed to be as difficult as the previous two days, but it started off with plenty of portages and ended with some high winds on open water. Rather than pushing ourselves to the point of no return (a portage leading into Little Vermilion Lake) and having to battle the winds for several additional hours, we battled the winds for a while, fought off our fatigue from the frustration and portaging of the morning, and ended our day early by finding a pleasant campsite in a cove on Loon Lake. It was peaceful there with enough breeze to fend off mosquitoes. We all ended up taking naps before dinner.

The other team was far enough ahead of us, camped out somewhere on Little Vermillion Lake, that we could only reach each other on the radio for a moment. Just long enough for proof of life. In certain areas of the Boundary Waters, group sizes are limited to nine people so we were split into two groups: six and eight. Our group would have been seven (with three people in a three person canoe) but Lena couldn’t come on the majority of the trip. She felt sick the night before and morning of our departure so she stayed behind in Orr. Thankfully the Erickson/Kielczewski family

Day 4 – Friday, July 14th, 2023: from Crane Lake to Mukooda

Mukooda Lake

Mukooda Lake is an oasis in the Boundary Waters in many ways. The water is spring fed and unadulterated by the other lakes and streams. While the mosquitoes are equally as terrible as other places, the scenery and the chance to all be together on the Sabbath really make this place memorable. It also helps that we had a chance to relax and stay in one place for more than 24 hours. We spent Friday afternoon, all of Saturday, and a couple of hours of Sunday morning there.

I don’t have any photos of Sunday morning’s chaos. It was the kind of morning when you know you have to get up early and get moving but you would much rather stay in bed for a few more hours. Everything we had was packed up and loaded into our canoes just before the heavy rain came. We paddled all the way back to the public boat landing on Crane Lake. It rained the entire time. The rain might have been cold, but God provided bursts of warm air throughout our paddle to keep us going.

– Lewis VanAusdle