October trip report

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October 19, 2009

Friends communications director Greg Seitz (that’s me) went on a great BWCAW trip earlier this month. It was my first trip in October and I would definitely do it again, despite the overwhelmingly cold, wet and cloudy weather.

Three old friends and I did the trip out of Sawbill Lake (thanks to Bill Hansen at Sawbill Outfitters for the canoe rental and invaluable route assistance!), covering about 55 miles in five-and-a-half days. We saw perhaps five or six other groups total, and spent at least a few nights on big, normally popular lakes, where we had the whole place to ourselves.

On our last night, on Grace Lake, any wind died away, the rain quit, and a powerful and profound silence became the dominating force on the lake. We had a bit of time to relax on a rock at water’s edge. One of our party went in pursuit of walleye, while the rest of us enjoyed a bit of reading time. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that hour, when the silence literally roared in my ears, despite the vast lake we were sitting on the edge of.

The silence continued the next morning and, as I sat by the water again, I heard a duck’s wings as it flew through the air. Hearing such was not uncommon, but when I looked up to see the duck, it was perhaps a half-mile across the lake and several hundred feet up in the air.

Here’s a few photos from the trip: