Northern Tier Canoe Base Expedition

July 10 - July 20, 2002

Sunday, July 14, 2002
Getting A "Buzz" On

It was indeed a long day, a hard paddling day. We covered about eighteen miles and all of that upstream. The clouds from the previous evening's light rain stayed with us though and made for a very pleasant and cool day. Going upstream we occasionally had to paddle hard to pass through stretches of swift current caused by narrowing of the river. The scenery was marvelous all day. We saw quite a few more bald eagles and even managed to photograph one. Everyone was stepping up to the plate, work wise. My son, the youngest guy on the crew, actually portaged a canoe. The campsite we chose was atop a small bluff just up from the river, and there was not very much room at the top. The tents were almost on top of each other. Everyone was exhausted from the exertion that day, and wouldn't you know it? The mosquito population at this campsite was science-fiction horrible. It might have even been worse than the cloud of them we found on Day One. We got down to business though and set up camp, ate, and got to bed in record time. One further challenge remained for the night though. One of the crew tents developed a recalcitrant zipper. It wouldn't close! Not a good thing considering the mosquitoes. Finally, the duct tape was located and used to make a hasty repair and everyone settled in for some much needed rest.