Sandford Lake Canoe Trip June 29 to July 10, 2003 [Return to Photo Albums]    [Return to News]

The Trip Log for the

2003 Sandford Lake Canoe Trip

Day 1 – June 29^th – by Ben

The first day of our Sanford Canadian trip went well. We woke up at six to get on the water early enough to get to an ambitious campsite. We passed through the border uneventfully and got to the drop site much earlier than we thought we would. Once on the water, Robert threw his paddle down to measure the depth, but apparently "broke the seal" of the paddle and it did not come back up. Robert’s paddle had to be replaced, but fortunately we had two spare paddles. While paddling in the middle of the lake, Scott, Keegan and I did a stunning rendition of "Stand By Me." Before we went to bed, Alex K. and Andy reviewed the day and told us about the journal assignment I am now doing.

Day 2 – June 30^th – by Jerry

We woke up to Alex’s special wake-up call. We ate breakfast and got paddling. Soon we learned how to line canoes up rapids. Alex B. was the only one to slip while we were lining, but his boots kept the water out. Soon we found an amazing campsite with a waterfall view. The counselors let us decide if we should camp here (with an amazing view) or if we should push on further today. We opted for the awesome campsite. Right away, we jumped in the water. We had fun with Ben’s (Frodo’s) amazing swimming skills. There was plenty of time for swimming and relaxing and just hanging out before we had to start making dinner. We went to bed prepared for the next day.

Day 4 – July 2^nd – by Alex

A rather large storm thundered over our heads in the early morning hours. We awoke to wet tents and wet surroundings. After a quick breakfast, we got into our canoes and were thrilled by the strong tailwind we had.

Andy remembered that today was Canada Day, just two days until the Fourth of July [editor’s note: Canada Day, also called Dominion Day is celebrated on July 1, not July 2]. Keegan brought a towel that happened to be a large American flag, so we tied the flag to two paddles and sailed for about a half-hour. After Kornman’s master sailing skills kicked in, the canoes were pointed in the right direction. We paddled until we reached a short portage. About 15 minutes later, we were once again paddling. The portage had taken us from Crow Rock Lake to Wasp Lake.

We paddled through a small creek where we met another group of canoeists. On Wasp, we found a nice lunch spot. Our counselors had a brand new meal: chicken salad sandwiches, minus the salad, on pilot biscuits. They were tasty and are henceforth recommended to all Canadian trippers. The dessert was Butterfinger candy bars. We had to find them as they had been scattered about the lunch site. Jerry knocked one out of a tree only to miss it. Everyone found one except for Ben. We found out that Ben can’t play the "warm/cold" game very well. He finally found his candy bar and we left again.

The paddling was uneventful until we found the jumping cliffs. We had been told about the cliffs by Mike Endres, and were looking forward to their awesome height. They were about 35 to 40 feet tall! We changed into our swimsuits in the canoes and headed up the cliff to jump. We heard a resounding splash and Andy yelling in triumph (and probably pain!) Bob went and I heard another splash. Jerry’s jump was visible and once again, a huge splash. Scott jumped and he jumped out very high. I jumped next. The feeling is really unbelievable. Keegan followed. Kornman took pictures and Ben stayed in the boat. (Apparently hobbits don’t float!) Andy, Bob and Keegan went twice.

Then we got dressed and headed to "Lost Portage." Within seconds we realized that the portage actually was a enormous wetland. Ben was up to his waist in mud just four steps into the portage. Trying to go around the blatantly obvious swamp, the canoe hit a tree and collapsed on me. So, I grabbed one of Bob’s Duluth packs and trudged through the portage. When we got to the end, we all went back to help. The half-mile portage took about an hour-and-a-half. Afterwards, we were all dirty and tired when I realized that my sandal was back in the swamp somewhere. I ran back and found it and then we paddled away from the portage.

Then we endured a gut pull to get to our campsite. It took us about an hour-and-a-half, but we arrived in camp right before a huge storm hit. Ben and Scott had some trouble getting their tent staked down in the gusting wind, but a few large rocks were gathered and soon the tent was staked out and bombproof. We got into our tents and got into dry clothes. Andy and Alex made us mac and cheese and we slept in our wet tents looking forward to layover day.

Day 5 – July 3^rd – by Scott

Today was the first day we didn’t wake up to out counselors’ unique wake-up call, as it was our first layover day. We were allowed to sleep in as late as we desired. Ben and I were the first to wake up. Ben went outside where a Canadian and an Indian arrived and struck up a conversation with him. They left and then Ben and I went and relaxed on the Canadian shield where we were quickly joined by our fellow campers. Our counselors then woke up and we started breakfast.

Breakfast consisted of two oatmeal packets per person, which flavors were decided upon by a game of grab-bag. Following the making of the pancakes commenced. The pancakes were sluggishly cooked by Robert, but after some adjusting of the stove and Outback pan, Robert became quite good at it. Meanwhile, Jerry and I made Spam. Several people did not want seconds on Spam so Jerry, Ben and I received double portions.

After breakfast, Andy led and expedition to a nearby island, consisting of Andy, Alex B. and myself. The campsite allowed great access to swimming. The water on Sanford was transparent, and we could see every rock on the bottom of the lake. We frequented the water often throughout the day. Between every activity, we would spend some time in the water cooling down. Another activity to pass the time was an assortment of card games. Keegan attempted to make hash-browns over the course of an hour-and-a-half. When they were finally done they had no flavor, but Mrs. Dash spiced things up and made it quite a delicacy. While Keegan finished the hash-browns, Bob started the pizza dough. When the dough was ready, Keegan and I cooked our pizza, which took roughly 10 minutes more than necessary, as the Peak stove was acting up and we couldn’t start the stove.

While we were cooking our pizza, Alex K. and Andy entertained us with their pizza dough creations. Robert and Ben were the next to make their pizza. While they baked, Kornman reincarnated the "Big Booty" game. The only person to unseat Kornman’s reign was Alex B. Alex B. and Jerry made their pizza without any trouble. Kornman and Andy’s pizza rivaled many of the deep-dish restaurants in Chicago. Chocolate-fudge pudding was made most excellently by Keegan and myself for dessert. The day was topped off by our nightly conference and the making of breakfast bars by Jerry and myself. The events of the day, coupled with the gorgeous weather that allowed our wet gear to dry, made our first layover day a day to remember.

We woke up to another unique call at what seemed like the crack of dawn, only a few hours later. We started off with our usual breakfast as Keegan swept up spilled powdered milk from the shield. Afterwards, we paddled out of Sanford through the Raspberry Portage. Unfortunately, we got turned around on the snowmobile trail and ended up making it much longer than it really was. Once we arrived on Elsie Lake we were attacked by a fierce headwind. We paddled to Vaughn’s cabin but, although it appeared occupied, he wasn’t there, so we left him a note and moved on to the jumping cliffs.

After eating lunch at the base, we climbed up to the ledge. Then, with some slight pressure and a countdown, I was the first to jump, followed by Jerry and, surprisingly enough, Ben. Ben performed a two-footed springboard-style jump, despite his cankles and aquasocks! After a short while, everyone had jumped and some multiple times. All except Kornman. After a patient wait and lots of peer-pressure, he finally jumped. After the cliffs we continued paddling through some fierce headwinds and arrived at another portage. After finding a downed tree and discovering a very old log chute, we started off. In the middle of the portage we found what appeared to be, in theory, a campsite. We were given a choice to make: set up camp and call it a day due to the strong winds or continue to push. After about five seconds, the decision was made to push on. We paddled across a small pond and portaged the "Mud" trail, which wasn’t too bad at all, and certainly not very muddy. We then arrived on Nora, where we were hammered some more by the wind. After pushing through a while we arrived at our campsite. Unfortunately, it was occupied by a solitary old man (Henry, of St. Charles, MN) who offered to share the site. We continued to paddle through the headwind a while longer, finally arriving at our campsite. For dinner we had noodles with broccoli and some cake and frosting.

Today we woke up early on Nora Lake and began a short paddle to the portage. Although the portage was long, it was flat and we finished it quickly. By the end it had begun to rain so we put on the rain gear and commenced our long paddle across White Otter Lake into another headwind. After a while we reached White Otter Castle. The castle itself was not very interesting but many of us found the outhouse that was nearby. Also, there was an informational sign near the cabin that summarized the life of Jimmy McQuat, written in English. Later we noticed that the back was in French, which we found humorous because it was unreadable because the back was against the trees.

After our visit to the White Otter Castle we continued paddling and, after a decent paddle across White Otter Lake, we reached our first set of rapids. Unfortunately, we were unable to run them and were forced to portage. At the beginning of the portage, Andy and Kornman told us to go right when the trail split, but Jerry, Bob and I didn’t hear and went down the wrong path. We didn’t notice our mistake for a long time and the portage took a long time.

Soon after the portage we stopped for lunch at a campsite. The counselors seemed anxious about the long day we had ahead of us and hurried us as we ate. We had to portage around rapids from our campsite. When the portage was done we began a long push through Dibble Lake. Near the end of the lake we passed some canoeists going in the opposite direction. We expected them to say ‘hello’ or ask us about our route; instead, they checked to see if we had PFDs! [editor’s note: all Chippewa campers have PFDs] The portage off Dibble was short and easy. Later in the afternoon, once we were very tired, we had one last portage. We knew that it would be a decent length, but what we didn’t know was that it was littered with downed trees, making it nearly impossible to ‘turtle’ because we had to step over the logs and some were up to our chests. At the end of the portage we got to our campsite, where we had a quick dinner and cake and then went to bed.

Today we woke up to a new wake up call by Andy. For breakfast we got the treat of having oatmeal. As soon as we loaded the canoes and started paddling we hit our first rapids, Lost Boat Rapids. After scouting out the rapids, we shot them. First went Andy and Scott, then Alex and Keegan and then Bob and I went down. The last to go were Ben and Alex. We all shot the rapids flawlessly. We pushed on while playing trivia and singing. We stopped for lunch on an island and had PB&Js and beef jerky. When we were about to leave, Alex B. found some blueberries. So, we spent the next half-hour picking blueberries. We then pushed on after Ben saved his and Kornman’s canoe from floating away from the lunch spot. We spent the majority of the afternoon on the river. After a while, we came up to a Class III rapid. Andy showed us how one would shoot the rapids; what line to take through the waves and over the ledges. But it wasn’t to be: the rapids were well beyond our skill level. So, we portaged the gear and canoes.

Just as we were putting the canoes in the water below the rapids, a thunderstorm hit. We pulled the gear and canoes up on shore and then passed the time playing Big Booty. With almost perfect timing, just as we finished the elimination round, the storm abated and we were able to press on.

While paddling, Keegan and Andy sang songs and we had a canoe war; Andy and Alex outmaneuvered the camper canoes. Time was getting short, so we pressed on. We had three rapids left until our campsite. On the first one we shot the top half and portaged the second half. The next rapids were short and easy. The last rapids were real rapids. Everyone made it except Bob and me. We tipped and were rescued by everyone else. We got to our campsite late, whipped up mac and cheese, pudding and breakfast bars. The bugs were horrible. We quickly cleaned everything and went to bed.

Waking up extra early, we ate a breakfast consisting of breakfast bars and Grape Nuts with blueberries and strawberries. Expecting a 40 kilometer day, we paddled down the Turtle River until we hit some shootable rapids. Kornman and Ben were flawless. Then Bob and Jerry came down, looking great. But, all-of-a-sudden, they hit some waves and spun around so that when they finished, Bob was in the stern and Jerry was in the bow! Then Alex and I went flawlessly as well, followed by Scott and Andy. We continued down the river until we got to Eltrut Lake (T-u-r-t-l-e spelled backwards). On Eltrut the wind was so terrible that we were unable to cross the lake, and so we had to camp 2 hours short of Horse Falls, our planned layover campsite! We ate an amazing dinner of scalloped potatoes and ham, had a fabulous cake and pudding dessert and went to bed early to escape the chilling wind.

We woke to the new routine call from Andy. The campers put their tents up and we all ate breakfast. Since we had not made it to our layover site yesterday, we quickly had some oatmeal and paddled away. The paddling was uneventful except for a slight mishap with Robert’s sunglasses. They were missing from their case, but were soon, and inexplicably, found and we were on our way again. We took a small portage to Horse Falls. We paddled across the river to our campsite. Instantly, Keegan jumped into the water. The rest of us began cooking lunch. Kornman made pancakes with jelly, syrup and blueberries, which were very tasty. Jerry and I made SPAM for everyone.

After lunch, we slept and played cards. Alex and Andy worked on their two-layer cake and the campers talked. The previous campers here were kind enough to leave us wood, so our fire was easy to make. While some of us tended to the fire, we started to make pizzas. The best overall pizza was Scott’s and mine. The pizzas were all amazing, and while Alex and Andy made theirs, we all asked them about other trips to come in later years. Once the counselors were done making their pizza, we took a group photo by Horse Falls. After, we enjoyed dessert. Alex and Andy made a two-layer, chocolate and peanut butter cake with frosting. After the cake and hot chocolate, we talked around the fire and cherished our last night in the wilderness.

We woke up and ate the routine breakfast of Grape Nuts and powdered milk. We started paddling on the river and hit some rapids right away. They weren’t shootable, so we portaged around them. This happened two more times. After that, we hit the river and had a while to go until the next set of rapids, so we decided to eat lunch on the river.

We had a nice tailwind and the current was going with us. We drifted a long way and reached the next set of rapids before we knew it. We hit the so-called-rapid, which was actually just some fast-water, and moved onto the next set of rapids. These were to be our last set of rapids of the trip. We went down the rapids once and were all fairly wet. We had some extra time, so we shot them again. After that, we were soaked. We repacked the canoes and paddled on down the river and to our campsite. Our campsite was also our pickup site for the next morning. We made dinner and then hastily retreated to our tents as the bugs became intolerable.

Today we woke up to a new wake-up call from Brodie. After the initial surprise wore off, we found out that the trailer was broken and so the van was a little ways up the road. We ate breakfast while Brodie and Kornman worked on the trailer. When the van finally showed up, we "MacGyvered" the trailer, by lashing an "up and down" tree to the canoe rack and packed all of the gear into the van. We drover across the border and continued on to camp and the conclusion of our trip.

The End

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