Flambeau River 2012: Prep and Drive Up

With a new job this year I just could not help with planning and preparations as I had in years past and Craig had to do it all. He did not need much coaxing and jumped right into it. The drought in the Upper Midwest did not leave us with too many options and when Craig suggested either the Namekagon or the Flambeau, we quickly decided on the Flambeau since we thought that the regulation of water level by dam would provide some more regularity in water flow.

Our group of the past few years was pared down, too. Joel was dealing with his dad's recent passing and his mom's move to Colorado. David had a conflict, too and so did Paul, who is running for Inver Grove Heights city council. Tom, who had not been along but always wanted to had his anniversary and Jim, my past companion of four BWCA trips was headed for Lake of the Woods. That left just Craig, Ben and myself, of course including my faithful lab and partner in adventures Mellie.

By now we are old hands on putting together this fall trip and picking a location is probably the most complex task. The gear list is a no-brainer with variation for weather being probably the other major variable. That left planning for meals. We decided to meet at Lake of the Pines Campground in the Flambeau State Forest on Thursday night, so we'd have three dinners and three breakfasts. We decided on the following meal schedule:

Thursday:

• Everyone for themselves. I volunteered to bring a prepared meal from home, one of my favorites, kale-potato-sausage stew.

Friday:

• Breakfast-potluck snack
• Lunch-potluck snack
• Dinner-Christian: steak sandwiches with marinated tomatoes and fresh mozzarella

Saturday:

• Breakfast: Ben: omelette with sausage, bacon and a variety of breads
• Lunch-potluck snack
• Dinner: Craig: pork chops with baked potatoes

Sunday:

• Potluck breakfast with eggs, cheese, tacos and whatever leftovers everyone had. 

On Thursday morning I was frantically finishing up everything, even though I had been fairly well organized. My employer had decided not to renew my contract the week before so I had had quite a bit of time to prepare and most everything was packed. Still, when Ben arrived punctually at 1300, I was just finishing up the kale stew. But that was pretty much it. We packed up, Ben reading through my check list which reminded me of  grabbing the paddles which are NOT on my paddling list. We left a tiny spot in my Pontiac Vibe for Mellie to curl up and were on our way.

We stopped in Turtle Lake for a quick pit stop and Made it to Lake of the Pines by 1700. We set up camp, paid the fee and said hi to our neighbors who had just erected a gigantic Cabela's dome tent. They invited me to take a peep and while the tent could probably hold about eight guys in sardine-can arrangement, the two cots seemed to make this a comfortable two-person camping installation.

Craig arrived around 1845 and after he pitched his tent, we ate a quick but delicious kale stew dinner and crawled into our sleeping bags, away from the brisk wind. I'm always worried when sleeping under tall trees during a windy night and indeed I heard a branch break off and crash to the ground nearby before I dozed off.