Everything You Need You Can Find on The Highway

Monday, January 2, 2012

Link to Some Photos of Mine

I have very little time to write or keep up my blog with school and work, but I wanted to share a link to my Flickr photo account because I have made some wonderful vegan dishes since becoming vegan in February. Some are my own recipes, most are from others or a variation of other recipes. I have experimented with so many different foods and ways of cooking I never dreamed existed before. Who knew you could make a cookie or cracker with just ground up almonds for flour or ground pecans? Or make an alfredo sauce or vegan whipped cream with ground raw whole cashews? Or make pudding with avocado, dark chocolate, and dates? or bake with white and black beans in cakes and muffins? I have discovered middle eastern and Indian style cooking as well, from dahls and curries to Ethiopian fuhl and chapitas and French socca (made with chickpea flour). Becoming vegan was a very easy transition for me. I do not miss meat or cheeses or other animal products in the least. I love cooking with whole foods and appreciating good raw food as well. I even started my own herb garden in my screened in porch just off the kitchen and enjoyed fresh parsley, oregano, dill, and thyme all summer long. Next summer I hope to have a garden outside. Anyway, here is the link. I hope you enjoy these photos! Some of my adventures and vegan friendly products are mixed in there too.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elainevv/

Snowshoeing

I just wanted to share a quick post here about my first snowshoeing adventure in 17 years. My partner Greg is really into geocaching and so this last weekend we dusted off our snowshoes (yes there has been a shortage of snow in NE Minnesota lately but still enough out in the woods to snowshoe) and off we went into the woods just north of Duluth off Highway 4 near the Carroll Trail Road. Several years ago we drove through that area and spotted a pack of wolves on the narrow gravel forest road. Talk about an eerie experience. Wolves in the wild are very elusive and afraid of humans and they do not look straight at you but instead look at you in a strange sideways glance. We only saw them for a few seconds and then they slipped through the brush and were gone. I will always remember the area for those wolves.

The snowshoe trek was awesome! Temps were in the 20's, no wind, and no people in sight save one guy driving a four wheeler at one point. We went off the beaten path though and into the virgin snow in the woods. What amazes me is just how many animals are running around in the woods at any given time. You don't realize it until you see thousands of animal tracks all over the snow off the beaten path. We spotted rabbit, deer, moose, fox, squirrel, and a host of other strange prints zigsagging in all directions. Below are a few pics. It was a wonderful time and although I felt a little awkward in snowshoes for my first time, I still loved it! Today I exchanged those snowshoes for a smaller pair because it turned out the pair I wore that day were too big. Next time it will be even better! Anyway, here are just a few photos as I am short on time.

Greg and Sable

Myself and Sable

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Photos From Our 2009 Quadga Lake Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Trip

My boyfriend Greg and I have been taking week long canoe camping trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for 6 years now. Before I go further, here are a few links that may help you understand what the BWCAW and Superior National Forest is...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_Waters_Canoe_Area_Wilderness

http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjAwhwtDDw9_AI8zPwhQoY6IeDdGCqCPOBqwDLG-AAjgb6fh75uan6BdnZaY6OiooA1tkqlQ!!/dl3/d3/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS9ZQnZ3LzZfMjAwMDAwMDBBODBPSEhWTjBNMDAwMDAwMDA!/?ss=110909&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=FSE_003853&navid=091000000000000&pnavid=null&position=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&ttype=main&pname=Superior%2520National%2520Forest-%2520Home/bwcaw/

Before our initial BWCA trip, we knew little about the BWCA. But over the years of our adventures together we began to travel up north quite a bit and into the back country forest roads and primitive campgrounds of the Superior National Forest. We did some car camping and acquired basic camping supplies. Some of our campsites were at the edge of the BWCA and we often stood at the banks of an entry point looking out over the vast water and landscape beyond the end of the road and wondered what was out there. We did not yet have a canoe. We talked to various people up there and learned a bit about gear, packing, planning trips, canoeing etc. In 2004 we acquired our first canoe, an 80 lb Old Town that was beautifully made but way too heavy to carry and portage for us. We are small people to begin with. Somehow Greg worked out a deal with an acquaintance and was able to trade this canoe in for a 16' Wenona Kevlar Adirondack canoe, 47'. Much lighter and nicer for us. It was an old canoe but in decent shape. We acquired light weight paddles and other necessities and learned to handle the canoe on day trips into the BWCA and car camping trips. We poured over canoe camping books and BWCA maps and route planning and forums online etc. Finally in mid May 2005 we took our first trip, about 18 to 20 miles round trip and starting at Baker Lake Entry point. We enjoyed it so much we couldnt wait to go again. Two of our best trips were our May 2006 Poplar/Gaskin lake trip and September 2009 Quadga Lake Trip. The weather was perfect, campsites were magnificant, and there were many opportunities to explore islands, bushwhack with Gregs trusty GPS to hidden lakes and waterfalls and streams, and even hike on interior BWCA hiking trails such as the Pow Wow trail. We like to paddle and camp in areas with smaller more intimate lakes and opportunities for hiking. Sometimes this means more brutal portage trails to carry our three 25 to 40 lb packs and canoe over, and less actual paddling as the many rivers up there are clogged with beaver dams one has to pull the canoe over or walk it around etc and lots of major rapids too. We do larger lakes too but we are not strong paddlers and wind is almost ALWAYS a factor on trips. Weather can be very unpredictable so we try to plan for this too. Its a lot of work planning for a canoe camping trip because you have to pack all your food and carry it along with everything else so you want to pack light but bring enough for comfort, shelter, warmth etc too. There is no truck or shelter to run to out there camping 10 to 20 or more miles from the nearest parking lot or vehicle. There are many outfitters up here to work with who offer great packages, but we have always done it all on our own. We have acquired equipment and skills over a period of time, not all at once, and we arent rich so we dont have the most high tech gear, but we have motivation, desire, and the toughness to make due with what we have. Afterall, its all about the wilderness experience, not about the gear or the image right?

At any rate the following video I am going to link to on YouTube is of our 2006 Gaskin Lake trip. Unfortunately the music that went so well with it was cut off of YouTube but the photos are still fun to look at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCARhGaCubo

The following photos are from our September 2009 Little Isabella Quadga Lake trip. By this time we had acquired the canoe we have now, an 18' kevlar Wenona Sundowner 42 lb canoe. This canoe is quite old but still in good shape and handles very well in waves. We love the stability it offers and the extra room for gear (and our dog Sable lol). This trip is special because of the rare calm and warm weather we encountered. We have never experienced such calm water as we did on this trip. I believe it was an act of God. I was quite sick at the time with my eating disorder and not at my strongest (but not at my worst either). I was quite underweight. I was worried about my strength and abilities at that time and I prayed to God about it. This route involved risk taking as far as getting a campsite on beautiful Quadga lake which is apparently very popular or having to backtrack many miles to find a campsite on a much larger lake with not much of anything in between on the Isabellla river. We decided to go for it anyway because we wanted to also hike part of the Pow Wow trail which was accessible from Quadga lake. We arrived to find we had the entire lake to ourselves for the next three days. We got to experience the songs of three loons on this lake, hike part of the Pow Wow trail, check out the other campsites, paddle on dead calm water in white mist, and enjoy a solitude and a fairytale campsite full of twisting cedars with clawlike trunks, resident red squirrels and gray jays (also known as whiskey jacks or camp robbers for their bold tameness). It really was like living in a fairy tale for a short time. A refuge from the rest of the world. Even the fish that greated us at the waters edge when we pumped water through our water filter were fascinating to watch and fun to play with. On our last day as we paddle out in calm but totally foggy conditions, they followed our paddles for a long ways as if to say " dont go yet, stay a little longer!" We saw a bald eagle perched atop a tree watching us that day as we made our way to the portage at the end of Quadga lake. And we disappeared through the fog and trees, swallowed up by this passage back to reality. This trip will forever be etched in my memory as a quiet place of peace and refuge that God gave me when I needed it most. Enjoy...

note: it works best to scroll to the bottom and look at the pics backwards from the last to the first to see them in the order of our trip. For some reason when I uploaded them on Blogger this is the way they come out. It would take too much work to change it around.

Last look at beautiful Quadga lake.

End of our journey.

Back at the entry point on the Little Isabella River. I am demonstrating carrying a pack using the trumpline over my forehead. It takes the weight off our back and shoulders, and surprisingly isnt that hard on your neck if you are balanced correctly with proper alignment.

On the main Isabella River. Sable loves the canoe and is very good about doing what she is told to do. She even scoots over on her own when asked to balance the canoe.

The morning we left Quadga lake on our last day. This is what we saw as we paddle across this lake. Luckily we had a compass and gps to help guide us.

Main Isabella River section

Greg, always the one stearing the canoe (or so he says when I turn to make sure he's paddling ha ha)

Rock Cairn on Pow Wow trail to help hikers navigate the direction of the trail

Greg and Sable taking a break from hiking

on the Pow Wow trail

Remote lake off Pow Wow trail, not even accessible by canoe unless you dont mind carrying it four or more miles to here.

Greg standing in a section of the Pow Wow trail, demonstrating how rugged this trail is and easy it is to lose the trail. We have hiked parts of other BWCA trails that were even more rugged and hard to keep track of. One MUST have a compass and specific detailed map of the terrain at all times. We also use a GPS but have orienteering and map compass skills.

Me on the Pow Wow trail. this trail runs for 26 miles through the central BWCA. We hiked about 5 of them. In late October 2001 a man named Jason Rasmussen set out on the western side of the Pow Wow (shown here is the eastern side) to do an overnight hiking trip and got lost for seven days in the wilderness with nothing but what he was wearing and a few items. Read "Lost in the Wild: Danger and Survival in the Northwoods by Cary J Griffith or do a Google to read more about this.

Proof of recent bear activity in camp

Our campsite

View from our tent

Our fish friends checking out some cheerios we threw in

Our canoe loaded with wood

This was at another campsite on Quadga, unoccupied most of our stay. that particular site was HUGE but far away from the Pow Wow trail access we wanted to be closer to. Nice rock outcroppings though

Gathering firewood away from our campsite and hauling it back by canoe

Inlet area of Quadga lake

View of our camp from the canoe on the lake

Me pretending to be confused about how to get the food pack down. Greg has a simple rig with pulleys, rope, caribeaners to hang the food pack.

Our first morning on Quadga, looking out over an incredibly foggy morning that was dead calm and eerie. Much of the trip would be this way.

Sable getting a drink. The little white dots you are are fish checking her out.

Greg preparing dinner (we bring lightweight dry food like freeze dry meals, oats, rice, nuts, dry fruit, coffee and cocoa powder, pasta, crackers, etc but also premake things like beef stroganoff, salmon fillets, chicken strips and veggies etc)

Setting up camp (we used the bottom of the canoe for a work surface and cooking)

First view of Quadga lake

Encountering our first portage off the Little Isabella River

We have 3 packs...food pack (not shown here), a Duluth #4 pack and a #3 pack. The packs vary in weight from 25 lbs to 40 lbs. Sable sits towards the front behind me.

Starting out in the early morning by 5am (we were worried about competition from other entry points getting to Quadga lake and those 4 campsites filling up!).

Photos From Various Day Trips (hiking, driving, canoeing, biking)

Most of these photos were taken by my boyfriend, a few by myself. These are all day trips we took to various places. Sometimes it was just driving around exploring the countryside and the north woods. Other times it was extensive hikes or canoeing or mountain biking. This is how we discovered a lot of gems. It's how we really found out about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness up north. I will go more into that in another post. Just wanted to share more of God's wonderful imagination and creativity....

Taken in 2005 at Wisconsin Point. This is when there was a great influx of Great Gray Owls from Canada coming down to Northern Minnesota in search of food. There was a shortage of moles in their usual habitat. There were thousands of these magnificant birds all over the place for a short time.

Sunset over Lake Superior

Paddling the marshes of Kimberly Wildlife Management Area (me in bow with Sable in middle and Greg is at the Stern)

On the Superior Hiking Trail (that's me with our dog Sable)

Sable and I standing ON Lake Superior in Winter on a rare warm day with solid ice over part of the lake. This is at Gooseberry Falls State Park March 2009

Mouth of portage into Kelso river from Sawbill Lake in the BWCA of northern Minnesota (that's me standing there with our 18' 42 lb Wenona Kevlar Sundowner canoe)