We discussed taking my black lab Mellie. Based on my assurances that she would not share the tent with the adults, and that she would behave civilized, mostly, Dave and Jim agreed.
A second decision was to get a fourth canoe. Until this year I always rented a 19-footer to accommodate both James and Colin. It became clear last year that we would eventually need another canoe, since the guy in the middle would have little incentive to paddle. And ther would be Mellie, too. Once that decision was made, we needed to make up our minds whether an adult would solo, or whether we would take on an extra team member. We quickly began focusing on the latter option and when I brought up the plight of our nephew John, Dave and Jim were happy to invite him along, for which I am deeply grateful.
We picked Sawtooth Outfitters in Tofte to rent the canoes. Jim Made the reservations. Dave reserved three rooms at the AmericInn in Tofte. Their website bragged to have the "Best breakfast on the North Shore." We planned to leave St. Paul on Tuesday, August 18 at noon to hopefully get the canoes and permit that same night, to be ready to leave bright and early on the 19th.
I spent the three or four days prior to departing with organizing and packing my gear. I had purchased one more large SeaLife pack, based on the experiences with two packs I already owned, I knew that they would be a room, waterproof and very portable option. I owned most of the other gear already.
My packing list included:
- 2 large (115 liter) SeaLine packs
- 1 small (70 l) SeaLine pack
- 1 Kelty TrailDome 4
- 1 Sierra Designs Clip Flash Light
- 1 Kelty Noa's Tarp
- 3 Thermarest, one foam pad
- 4 sleepingbags
- 1 folding saw
- 1 Coleman Exponent Feather 442
- Coffee press
- Two Wenonah Boundary Waters Kevlar Ultralight, 17'
- Two Wenonah Spirit II Kevlar Ultralight, 17'
- Katadyn Vario filter pump
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