Winter Wilderness Weekend

Nanook of the North?  Nope, just Cristin
enjoying the winter wilderness! 

During the third week of January, Cristin and I spent a long weekend at Camp Minogyn, a very unique YMCA camp located 30 miles from Grand Marais just off the Gunflint Trail, a road. The camp is on West Bearskin Lake at the doorstep of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and only a few miles from Canada.  The winter wilderness weekend trip was offered thru the Friends of the Boundary Waters, an advocacy group devoted to protection of the BWCA.  The guests at Camp Minogyn are referred to as 'campers'.

 

 Please note: click on any picture to expand it

This area is one of the snowiest in Minnesota and the third week of January is on average the coldest week of the year in Minnesota.  So I was not surprised that our trip to Camp Minogyn coincided with the arrival of significant snow followed by an Arctic Express of extended subzero weather and bitter winds.    Here is a summary from the National Weather Service on the arctic air. 


Jack employs all available accessories  to stay warm on a
 blustery snowshoe hike returning from the summit
of Caribou Rock (in background).  


We arrived at the Camp Minogyn parking lot at 7PM Friday evening after a drive slowed much by a snow storm. The camp itself is located across West Bearskin Lake; there is no road access to it. So we loaded up sleds with our gear and pulled them about 1/2 mile across the frozen, slippery lake to the camp, escorted by camp staff, as snow continued to fall.

This family arrived after noon on Saturday, a snowy day.

Our sleeping quarters

Camp Minogyn consists of several buildings scattered among the woods, many of the closed down for the winter. There are some nice bunkhouses, a main lodge, and several outhouses with humorous names, like "Romeo and Juliet" for the 2-holer.  Our shared room was in the lower level of the lodge. 

The lodge is a great place to hang out in as there is lots of natural lighting, picturesque view of the surrounding woods, books, magazines and importantly, two modern restrooms. We spent a lot time in the living room area that had a wood burner  Meals were prepared by camp staff and served family style.  The lodge had hot water and all the tea and cocoa you could drink.


In the lodge, the staff "mushers" give a show-and-tell on their
Alaska Huskies, which we learned is another name for 'mutt'.

Each winter the camp gets about 25 Alaska Huskies from a local kennel. Many of these sled dogs have lofty credentials, such as running in the Alaska Iditarod, and are now retired from competition. The camp has 2 mushers and 3 sleds and normally offer rides to guests. But conditions were not right for mushing as there had been little snow prior to the storm that arrived with us.  It takes a couple of days for the snow to pack down and firm up enough on the lakes to be safe for the dogs to run on, as icy conditions could injure them.

Feeding time!

  
On Saturday morning after breakfast, Cristin and I joined a staff guide and 6 others on 4 hour trek into the BWCA to Rose Falls, located on the Stairway portage between and Duncan and Rose lakes. About 1/2 the party wore snowshoes, including Cristin. The rest of us just wore boots. We entered the BWCA on the portage from West Bearskin to Duncan Lake.  It was snowy and windy day, but not insanely cold.



A day in the BWCA is always a good day.

Normally I would expect to see canoes approaching a portage,
not people in snowshoes!

Frozen falls and frozen hair.  

A huddle forms for lunch on the Stairway Portage at Rose Falls.  The break and the food were a big hit
for about 5 minutes, then we started to get chilled and off we went, headed back to the warmth of the lodge. 

Jack Frost, literally!

Logan runs while Cristin and our guide Rachel snowshoe across West Bearskin Lake
under snowy conditions (above and below). 

On Sunday after breakfast Cristin and I and camper Richard and staffer Eric snowshoed to Caribou Rock, a high spot on West Bearskin Lake that provides a great overlook of the lake. The National Weather Service reported that the temperature in this area on Sunday morning was -17 degrees F, and a windchill of -39 F. But it was sunny, beautiful day and the hike out and back took less than 2 hours.


The view from Caribou Rock.

Following our snowshoe tracks back to camp.

Cristin sleds down the hill toward the lake.

That afternoon Cristin headed out with some of the other ladies for an adventure so I did some quiet solo exploration.  I hiked some trails in the woods behind the camp.



The trail to the Daniels Lake overlook was very fun as it was narrow, sinuous,
and snowy just like you'd want in a north woods winter wonderland. 



Late afternoon at the Daniels Lake overlook.

The next big adventure Sunday was the traditional Finnish sauna, where you sit and warm up in a wood fired sauna located on the shore of lake, run out of the sauna when sufficiently hot, jump in a hole in the ice into the lake, totally submersing yourself, and quickly run back to the sauna. Remarkably, the benefit is that you feel super relaxed and refreshed after such a sauna. I did this for the first time when I was 17 and have done so several times since but Cristin had never done it and was not so sure she wanted to start now.  Probably less than half the adult guests did so this weekend. But Cristin found the nerve somehow and now has bragging rights. She experienced many mixed emotions and is not necessarily sold on its benefits so ask her about it the next time you talk to her.


Staff  prepare the hole in the lake for the sauna.

A young girl peers out nervously from the sauna as the staff lifeguards stand by for action.

A guest hangs onto the branch placed cross the hole to assist in total submersion.  

The depth at the hole is about 3-4 feet. The biggest challenge is getting out!  Cristin and I took our sauna after dinner when it was dark, adding to the challenge. I went in twice because I got so hot in the sauna waiting for Cristin that I could not tolerate the heat anymore.  After I warmed up again in the sauna, Cristin and I went out together. Cristin went first; I saw her jump in!

After breakfast on Monday morning, it was time to pack up and head home.   The National Weather Service reported that the low temperature on Monday morning was -26 F, with a windchill of
 -53F  These were the approximate conditions in which we had to cross the lake to get to our car.


Good bye, Camp Minogyn!



Wind-borne snow blasts Cristin on West Bearskin Lake. The temperature
was about -20F and windchill -50F.   

The car was buried in a frozen shroud of snow -
but started up after a nervous 5 seconds of sputtering.

Baby, it's cold outside!