Our plans were to spend two nights in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Northeastern Minnesota during the heart of winter. Winter had been mild for Minnesota until the day before I flew into MSP. We timed our trip with a cold snap. It was below zero when I got there Friday, and it didn’t get above zero until Sunday afternoon.
Friday we organized our stuff at the car and headed in, the temperature was around -15° F. After a brief walk to the edge of the lake, Carolyn decided her hands and feet were too cold; after some discussion we decided to head back to the car to warm up. While at the car we decided our best option for the night was to find a cabin. We headed into town. On the way, we saw a sign for Fenske Cabins, so we changed course. The cabin was nice, with a gas fireplace, a couple of beds, and a full kitchen. They had 3 cabins arranged on the edge of Fenske Lake, but the other 2 cabins were empty that night. We decided that Carolyn would stay in the cabin while Darren and I would brave the elements and stay in the tent, pitched nearby on the lake. If we got too cold we were heading inside. We played cards that evening and took advantage of a wood-fired sauna to cheat the cold, it turned out to be a great night. Around 11:00 Darren and I headed to bed. The thermometer read -27° C. We had plenty of insulation and we both slept warmly. The hard part was getting out of bed the next morning.
Day 2: We pried ourselves out of our sleeping bags around 9am the next morning. A little bit of breakfast, some organizing, packing, and we were on our way. We weren’t in much of a hurry to leave our warm cabin. We finally made it the trailhead around 11:00 and started toward home, at least for the night anyway. It was a brief hike to the location scouted by Darren the day before. It looked like a good place, well protected from the wind, so we started preparing camp. Our primary duties were to setup the tent and start gathering wood. We were planning a large fire for that night, we wanted to be warm. Preparations were finished around 2:30 and we started thinking about how nice that fire was going to feel. We wanted our wood to hold out all evening, so we waited as long as we could before starting the fire. I think it was burning by 3:00. The fire kept us warm; we spent the rest of the evening stoking the flames. When we finally hit the sack our stack of blankets and sleeping bags kept us warm.
Day 3: Short day. It seemed a little easier to get up this morning, maybe not quite as cold as yesterday. After some hot chocolate for breakfast, we got packed and headed back to the car. Everyone had a warm lunch on their minds, and couldn’t wait to get at it.
