Warm fingers

Last Saturday I sat up in my tree stand and watched the snow come down hard. I was about 15' up in a balsam tree, two miles as the crow flies from Lake Superior, holding on to a cold bow while I awaited the arrival of the trophy buck. He did not arrive and sitting motionless in the snow is not particularly conducive to staying warm. Nonetheless, my hands were nice and toasty in my thick wool trigger mitts. Its not quite that simple when you're paddling this time of year.

Tommorow is our 3rd annual Gales of November paddle and I need to figure out which hand warming system I'll be using. Even though you are moving and working it seems like your hands are invariably wet. Paddling with a Greenland stick does not help matters at all, although simple 'O' rings, laying smack on the Bayfield Peninsula in the photo, eliminate 85% of the drippage and don't really inhibit needed sliding strokes all that much. You do still need to keep your hands warm however. My favorite is still my pogies, near Devils Island on the map/photo. You do need to take your hands out for any extended paddle work but you can still feel the warmth of the wood and take advantage of having your fingers together to keep themselves warm. They do get wet however. In the lower right hand corner, covering Ashland and the Bad River Reservation, we have the nice loose neoprene gloves made by Chota. Good gloves, easy on and off, but its very easy to get water sloshing around inside. Another pair of curved finger, velcro wrist banded Chota gloves, are seen in the Brule/Port Wing area of the picture. These are a major pain in the ass to get on and off and almost impossible to turn inside out to dry properly. Woe be it to the paddler who forgets and puts these on before securing their spray skirt. Finally, up in the BWCA/Quantico area we have the NRS 'Titanium' neoprene mittens. While your fingers are in contact with one another and warm these things are as difficult to get on an off as the curved finger gloves. Even after you gnaw your second mitten on, using your teeth to pull it on and secure the velcro on both the mitten and your dry suit, chances are good you will still get water inside.

My conclusion: Stick with the pogies. Most of the time your hands are on the same spot of your paddle anyhow and it just feels right to have your hands on the wood. Differing and controversial opinions are welcome.

Goodbye old buddy...

On Wednesday morning the garbage truck hauled away my trusty, faithful, and absurdly comfy blue recliner. Every guy out there knows how he feels about 'his chair'. Archie Bunker's is in the Smithsonian; mine is now in a landfill near Blaine, MN. When I suggested that I sell it on CraigsList or even Twin Cities Free Market I was met by universal laughter and derision. I will have to admit that in cross examination I would not fare very well.......

"Is is true that ethnic food from most of the nations on earth has been spilled on this chair"
"Yes"
"Is it true that beer and other adult beverages from several states and nations have also soiled this piece of furniture"
"Yes (sigh)"
"Is the chair in perfect working order"
"Not quite; I had to put on some oversized bolts when I stripped the....."
"Just answer the question Mr Olson"
"No"
"Does it match any other piece of furniture, carpet, drapes, artwork, or anything else in your dwelling even remotely"
"Well, not really, no"

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the blog reading community, I rest my case!"

In any event, I never looked at the color, stains, minor operational quirks, or other cosmetic frailties; I just sat there and watched TV or read while enjoying my post work beer. So on Tuesday night, on the curb next to the garbage cans, I had one last beer with my old buddy before he was 'put to sleep' by the Waste Management sanitation engineering staff. I'm sure my new leather, lovely looking recliner will eventually conform to the shape of my ass and provide the same enjoyment (plus it has the Stainguard Protection Package!) as 'ol Blue' but for now I just need to raise a toast to my faithful chair and savor the memories. Bon voyage old buddy.

Last Lake Superior rolls of the season

On our way back from the Grouse Kill the boys and I hit Bark Bay for what we expect will be the last Lake Superior paddle of the '07 season. Bark Bay is one of the most intriguing spots on the South Shore. It is a large horseshoe bay between Cornucopia and Herbster, WI. and has the classic tombolo sandspit with a slough behind it that occurs on sandy areas facing northeast on Lake Superior. There are identical features on many of the Apostles, most notably Stockton and Madeline Islands, and they are formed when the November storms hammer the shore. It can seen well on both the map and the photo. The photo is looking east toward the Bark river with the lake on the left and slough on the right.

That slough is full of migrating waterfowl, cool bogs and hummocks, and (don't tell anyone!) big predator fish in the spring. The other great thing is that the Bark River is usually running high enough so you can paddle out of the slough and right into Lake Superior. If you can't paddle anywhere else on a windy day you can usually get out on to Bark Slough and its large enough and interesting enough to spend an afternoon or three. Bark Bay itself is protected enough in three directions but if you get a north or northeast wind things get interesting. With the Bark River flowing north into the lake and the swells rolling in against the river current you can get some big steep breaking waves. As you paddle along in the slough the wind in the white pines and the waves crashing on the beach 50 yards away are almost deafening.

Sunday we launched from the DNR landing and took a leisurely paddle through the slough, out the river channel, and into the lake. The sky was deep blue and the air was so clear you could see Eagle and Sand Islands on the western end of the Apostles. We all knew it was likely the last Lake Superior paddle of the year and when GalwayGuy said something about rolling, RonO commented that, "It just must be done". So we landed on the beach, stowed our gear, and paddled out to test the waters. Amazingly enough, Lake Superior weighed in at 48F, which was 6 degrees warmer than Lake O; more water to cool down I guess. In any event, here are the rollers:

Cold water rolling and the sauna

Saturday at the Annual Grouse Kill event, four of us went out to work on our rolls in beautiful Lake O. As usual at this affair, no grouse were even threatened and the temperature of the air was identical to that of the water, roughly 42F. We had three dry suit wearers and me in my tuliq. GalwayGuy worked on his Norsaq (stick) rolls and came within inches (see photo) of hitting one. I did a couple basic layback rolls and a couple angel rolls and RonO did a couple laybacks, a forward roll and who knows what else. The ManFromSnowyLegs, the only non Greenland paddler, did a couple of rolls sans headgear and quickly headed for the beach with a classic ice cream headache. Fortunately for all of us, the sauna was only 30 feet from the beach, stoked and pushing 185F. The warm body parts and the frozen body parts quickly equalized in the dry heat.



The sauna is a tradition in the northland. Finnish immigrants came here to work the mines in the 19th century and introduced the sauna which was quickly embraced by the rest of us chronically chilly snow belt dwellers. I much prefer it to the hot tub and its accompanying chemicals added to prevent nasty stuff from blooming in the water. The sweat and rinse process really cleans your skin and I've never felt cleaner than when I've strolled out of a sauna, especially a classic wood fired setup. On Saturday it provided the perfect finish for an afternoon of playing in the cold water. It also helped explain to the non paddling, beer drinking spectators on the hill just how and why we would choose to tip over a perfectly upright kayak in a cold November lake in northern Wisconsin.

Lake Superior report card

This evening I will pick up the SKOAC club trailer and swing by the hanger to grab RonO's boat and then head over to friendly Fridley to load up the ManFromSnowyLeg's craft. The VOR has consented to let son GalwayGuy use her beloved blue Avocet if he promises not to beat it up; there was a spare paddle scratching incident this summer that still causes sullen moments when recalled. We will be heading north to the Annual Grouse Kill, an event where no grouse has been harmed for a decade or so but the name remains. The scheme is for some Lake Superior paddling near Saxon Harbor and what could likely be the last rolling session in the inland lake that Camp O sits on. Good food and an adult beverage or two may be consumed also.

Since this could quite possibly be the last kayak trip to the big lake before it becomes too solid to paddle on, I thought it would be a good time to look at the report card. A group of scientists, meeting Monday at the "Making a Great Lake Superior" conference in Duluth, handed out some mixed grades. Most agreed that development along the shores could be the greatest threat. Pollution, rising temperatures, and invasive species are also a threat to the worlds largest lake and its cold and very sensitive ecosystem. I noticed that a trucker was fined for transporting a large water pump from the east coast that had roughly 5,000 Zebra Mussels (a very prolific Euro import that got over here in the ballast water of some freighter). As usual we are still the worst enemy of the lakes health. That being said, many of the scientists at the meeting agreed that the lake is generally in good health. Toxic pollutants have decreased yearly in recent years and the fish communities in the middle of the lake are very robust. Most of the areas of concern are the tributaties and near shore areas, once again the areas that we homo sapiens have relatively easy access to. So lets try to look past the end of our noses, use our heads, and do our personal bit to make sure this wonderful resource maintains its luster and mystique for years to come.