October 3, 2010
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Smoke Lake Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
This week I finally got a chance to spend some time in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Due to my spring prostate surgery sitting in a canoe was too hard until the last few weeks. Paul Wannarka, shown in this photo, carried the heavier stuff which allowed me to canoe into the wilderness for a few days.
We had a great time and the colors couldn’t have been better. The birch and aspen were glowing with their finest gold and yellows. I was surprised more people were not out taking advantage of fall travel in canoe country. The first day on Smoke Lake we saw only otters. We found two families of otters that entertained us for some time. Even at night as we sat admiring the billions of stars overhead, we heard the distinct splashes as they kept diving for crayfish. They continued to move closer until they started to hiss and sneeze at us while bobbing like buoys in the water.
Bull Moose Antlers
We didn’t see any moose while in the boundary waters but earlier in the week I had an incredible moose encounter. I had heard that a cow and calf had been hanging around a pond at the end of the Gunflint Trail. I drove up there hoping that they would still be in the area. When I got to the pond I saw sunlight being reflected off a set of moose antlers on the opposite side of the pond. I drove as close as I could get and started walking along the road edge. There were several feet of brush between the edge of the water and me. I sat down along the road ditch and made a few moose calls and the bull came around the edge of the brush.
