Boundary Waters Bound

We're going to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness soon. (Not next week, of course, that's when all the cops are staying here.)

So I'm busy, busy, busy getting stuff together. Now this picture may give you flashbacks, those of us who were troubled youths. (Not me, of course, and remember that drugs kill, kids). Anyway, these tubs of drink mix make 2 quarts. The Nalgene bottles we bring hold 1 quart. It's easier to divide the powder in two at home and put it into little ziplock bags, for mixing THERE.
Those little tubs leak all over the pack, too.

I'm dehydrating everything I can, as well. Campers are not allowed to bring cans or glass containers into the BWCAW. Plus we want it all to be as light as possible since we will have to pick up and carry (portage) all our stuff between lakes. Here I'm making spaghetti sauce into a "fruit-roll-up" type thing. It will be rehydrated in camp.

It's difficult to think of everything you need for a week and then get it to fit on your back. The food pack goes up into the trees at night, so as not to attract bears. I'm a little paranoid about this ever since the time we had a couple of bears in camp up on Rainy Lake. Christine and I played hard rock to scare them, but I think they liked it. I swear Mama Bear was dancing as she stood on her back legs and looked at us over the top of our tent. We got tired of banging the pots together all night (more scary noise) and made the guys move camp to a bear-free spot.

Just as important as the chow are the books I'll bring. I've been saving up magazines for weeks, so I can read them up there. I know I'm bringing "Twilight", cuz I've meant to read that for a year, but what other summer trash can I bring? I'm also bringing "The Shack" to counteract all the books full of sin! I won't bring all of these but I don't want to run out. There is nothing worse than a vacation without a book.




Last but not least, I always paint my nails a dark color for a week in the woods. (This makes it harder to see how dirty my feet are.) We will be swimming and washing (not washing in the lake, of course) but the layers of bug dope, sunscreen and dirt really take some scrubbing to remove. We like to stay in a hotel in Ely when we leave the woods, so we can scum up THEIR showers!

I keep notes on what worked each year (and what didn't). This syrup recipe is great, much better than trying to bring liquid syrup. My mom used to make all our syrup with Mapleine, and it's good, so the rest of the bottle won't go to waste. We like Krusteaz pancake mix and it is the kind that you only need to add water to, so I'm bringing that for one breakfast. This oatmeal recipe sounds good, too, so if I don't buy instant oatmeal, I'll adapt this one to use powdered milk.



BWCAW Syrup

1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp Mapleine maple flavoring
Put sugar into a zip-lock bag, pour Mapleine over sugar and mix around to coat the sugar with flavor and avoid lumps. At camp, add 1/2 cup water and boil to dissolve sugar. Makes about a cup of syrup.

Chai Oatmeal

1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp turmeric (Kellet would omit this, but might add a pinch of cloves, ginger and nutmeg)
A drop of vanilla
2 tsp honey
3/4 cup rolled oats
2 tbls oat bran

Optional toppings:
raisins, pistachio nuts, almonds, yogurt, milk

Pour milk into saucepan, add salt and spices and simmer without boiling for 5 minutes. Add vanilla and honey and stir to dissolve honey. Add oats and bran, stir, cover and simmer about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened and oats are done. Serve with toppings. 2 servings, supposedly.