Temperance State Park, Minnesota

---

---

Entry Six: Temperance State Park, Minnesota (2 nights: Sunday/Mon. July 25/26th)

Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area

Temperance State Park, located at mile 83 of Hwy 61 is, like many of the 8 State Parks available on Lake Superior, is spectacular. Each minute of every hour of each day, it is the ending point for millions and millions of gallons of (I’m guessing) 100s of large and small Boundary Water lakes. All campgrounds are situated in close proximity to Lake Superior, and I went swimming several times while there. The cost is $25, plus a $5 car entry pass per day. While buying (more) obligatory postcards, I chatted with the very pleasant weekend worker, who, by chance, used to live in Chicago in Lincoln Square. Like I said, the weekend workers were nice and helpful.

After setting up the tent in the smaller of the two “loop” offerings (fewer people; fewer RVs/campers), I cooked a good dinner of . I wandered the 30 yards down to the shores of the lake. It was very relaxing, and I took the opportunity to dive in (the water was not too cold, but I think that I’ve grown more used to it the more that I have access to colder waters.

After the swim, I chatted with a guy who had a dog as well. Jack (pseudonym, as I can’t remember this guy’s name) was super nice, and I picked his brain about canoeing in the Boundary Waters, my next activity on this trip.

I always get a bit nervous traveling solo—it’s not recommended, as, if something happens, you’re, in the best of conditions, uncomfortable for a few days until rescue, or, in the worst of conditions, dead. Canoeing was not new to me; I’ve done at least 40 various excursions throughout the years, yet they were limited to small campground lakes or slow, lazy floats down Illinois and Georgia rivers in a 16-foot Old Town canoe. My first canoe trip, in college, led to lost keys, lost equipment, cold, and tickets on the car that I had no keys for).

And, the Boundary Waters are remote, controlled and structured through the permit systems. At any one time in the wide array of lakes, there can only be 7 groups of (no more than) 8 people (I might be off one, or both, of these numbers by one. In any case, there’s few people in this pristine environment). This, plus it being a new situation for me, evokes a jittery nervousness.
Jack showed a map of a trip that he was to be taking with a group of 5 other guys in about a month. As is often the case, there are usually 1 or 2 “hard-core” (i.e. experienced) canoers who plan out and execute the trip through GPS points, a variety of maps from a variety of sources, etc. Most of the folks that I chatted with are slowly “initiated” through a series of more-challenging trips upon each return. Also, the experience seems to be centers around the “bonding” of men with other men (possibly the “hunter” in “hunter and gatherer.”

While the dogs played, he cautioned me about the sudden change in weather, his canoe preference (a 16-foot Kevlar), how his early, supposedly waterproof gear was anything but, mosquitoes, and a few earlier personal accounts. He seemed very serious about the process, and I appreciated his insight. He also, in passing, stated that he recently lost both his former dog (his new one was a rescue at 9 months, happily jostling with Sophie) and his wife. I didn’t press an explanation, but he was definitely using the area as a bit of therapy. Nature is good for such feelings.

I also met, in the campsite next to me, a Boundary Waters “virgin.” I wasn’t as prepared as Jack, but I was certainly more together than this guy. He had stuffed all his clothes into 2 plastic garbage bags and was planning to eat oatmeal all week (he had a tossed a week’s worth of individual packets into a plastic garbage bag as well). I didn’t say anything, but wished him luck.
Now past dark, and still needing to work on photographs for the blog, I combed Sophie (a nightly “reward” for her), who is doing excellently on this trip, and furiously tried (and succeeded) in killing numerous mosquitoes that had finagled their way into the tent. I was almost positive that I had a hole in the tent, or had not all the way zipped up one of the two tent’s doors. While slapping, cursing, and squashing the buggers into the tent’s inside walls, the bloody carnage reminded me of the dead soldier scene in Gone With the Wind.

As I drifted off to a deep sleep, feeling very relaxed and finally “on/into the trip,” another film entered my mind—The Godfather. Michael Corelone, chatting with a minion on the failed assignation by rival thugs resulting in the shooting up of his bedroom, laments, “They came into my house. In my house!” I felt the same way—extra territorial—and was relieved to know that, even though I’m killing these bloodsuckers with a vengeance, I’m at least supplying the local ant population with a little chow. The mosquitoes sleep with the ants. Or: Leave the blood, take the canola.

Got Caught Stealing…
After a swim the next morning, I was in a position to post a few blogs.
The site in which Sophie the dog and I were residing had no electricity, so I plugged in the computer behind the park office (there’s an outlet and even two picnic tables back there). The female worker, who had re-registered me early for my second night in the site, came around the back and started pulling weeds. She pulled 3, then promptly left. Two minutes later, I was confronted by a “more official” (not an hourly) employee who said that I had scared the worker, as she was the only person working the desk and did not want people lurking behind the building. I was a bit nonplussed, and gave no “thank you” when told, “Well, I guess if you only have to stay another hour, you can finish up.” In the future, I was to use the outlet on the outside of the bathrooms. Yes sir! I tried not to be bothered by the event, but in truth, it left a sour spot to such a nice experience in a great park.

After posting, I drove 4 miles north, stopping in the Forest Service local unit (they supervise the Superior National Forest, which, from Temperance State Park northward, contains large chunks of National Forest). Josh, like most all Forest Service Workers, was super nice, and offered more good responses to my many Boundary Water questions. On his recommendation, I booked a trip at Sawtooth Outfitters in Tofte for the following day, Tuesday, for both Tuesday and Wednesday nights. This amount of time would be a nice introduction to my first-ever camping/canoe excursion.
Having completed all tasks, it was time to take Sophie the dog on our “first official hike” since the beginning of the trip—the Cascade River in Cascade State Park, Minnesota.

Thanks for reading the blog, and for the comments concerning cursing in the blog. I tried something new with the flags entry (weak commentary, good pictures). I basically did it because there were so many flags that it made the subject easy to pick and execute.
Readers Challenge: What other “side photo entry” would you like to see? Send a note and I’ll try to incorporate it!

Chicago Dave and Sophie the dog!

---