Solo BWCA - Bingshick Lake

2010 Camping Recap

Another solid year outdoors in 2010. I still have several trip reports to catch up on:
- February BWCA (3); with Ben and Mark
- April Whitewater (2); me and the boys
- May BWCA (3); with Ben and our boys
- June Bighorn (3); me and the boys
- June Boot Lake (2); the boys and I visited my sister's family place
- July BWCA (3); with Mike, Mark, Pete and 10 kids!
- August Bighorn (2); with Chris and John
- September Carley SP (2); with Zach and our boys
- September Colorado (4); with Mike, Mark, Pete, and Bob Janosy

Same as 2009: 17 tent nights for the boys, 24 for me.

Bighorn River, Part Deux

One trip to the Bighorn wasn't enough this summer, so I booked a trip with my buddies John Welsh and Chris Schwartzbauer. Chris and I left Minneapolis after work on Wednesday and drove through to Chamberlain, SD. Welsh flew in to Rapid City from Buffalo, NY and we gathered him up late Thursday morning.

In Rapid City Chris bought a pontoon raft, so he could float the river. Dubbed the PAV (Personal Assault Vehicle), it made Chris an "individual killing unit" (thanks to Eric the Guide).

John practicing his casting the night before.
Deploying the PAV

"Jimmy cracked corn, and I don't care!" Officer Barbrady

John lands a nice brown nymphing in the morning.

Chris rolled up when we stopped for lunch. It took a little bit for him to get used to the PAV program, but he got on it quickly.

Luxuriating in the wall tent. The bugs came out in force once the sun started going down.

Ready for a second day of fishing. Nice 'bow.

I forgot to take off my goofy headgear before the shot. This was a nice fish - Welsh f'd me up by telling me it was foul-hooked mid-fight (it most definitely wasn't).

BWCA - Brule Lake

One of the few times Pete's gravity-fed water filter was attended to.

Everybody watch Mr. Beckman change the tire!

Boot Lake

Spent the weekend at my sister Ann's lake place. She, Dan, and the kids were wonderful hosts, and we had a great time.

We beat the weather out of the Cities and made it to camp in time for venison brats and hot dogs.

Twilight cruise on the pontoon boat.

Julia and her friend Maija enjoying the cruise.

This bald eagle swooped low over us while we were fishing, grabbed something out of the water, and perched in this tree until we left. It was the closest I've ever been to one.

Saturday was mostly overcast, but it didn't stop us from going out for some watersports.

Sam and Thomas beg for more speed on the tube.

Sunday was an even better day with the sun showing for much of it. We broke out skis and the kneeboard. Sam got up on the kneeboard his first try! Here he is zipping by the dock.

We finally talked Sean into a tube ride (the bribe of a large Dairy Queen), so we started out slowly... ...pretty soon he was begging for more speed and hot-dogging it over the wake.

Sam is always wanting to try new things, especially when it comes to fish and fishing. Dan showed him how to fillet a sunfish - he did really well for his first one!
The girls 'baked' me a cake for my birthday. It looked pretty darn real - the mud didn't taste so hot though! Thank you!