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Northern Tier High Adventure Base

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107.JPG (65093 bytes) We received  our orientation for Sommers Canoe Base at a replica of a French Fort. On the Road - Sommers Canoe Base: Day 3 

Up at 5am again to break camp and get on the road. Grabbed another fast-food breakfast at Hardee's and arrived in Ely, MN at 11:00am. Everyone split into groups to shop the outfitters, buy Quetico Provincial Park maps, select fishing gear and grab some lunch. Drove to Sommers High Adventure Base, arriving at 1pm. We all got quite a shock when we arrived, seeing large sections of the stockade fence and LOTS of trees blown down. Hurricane winds went through the area on July 4th, two weeks before we arrived, and although a lot of clean up had been done, a huge amount of damage was left. It will take years for the area to recover. Check-in went well and only took about 45 minutes to do the paperwork. We split up into our crews, met our camp interpreter (Garrett) and started getting our gear from the Camp Quartermaster. Since we were a voyageur crew, an interpreter wouldn't be going on the trek with us (Jerry C. had done this trip before and was acting as our guide). We set up and checked out all the tents (had to go through six to find three good ones). Went through every item in the equipment pack to make sure it was okay. Then we went to the commissary to count and check our meals, only to find out we were missing four lunches, which the camp quickly gave us. Once our food cases were stored on our assigned shelf, we went back to the vehicles and lugged our personal gear to our assigned 'off road' cabins. Of course, our cabins were at the top of the highest hill in the area, as far from everything as they could be. Each cabin was small, hexagonal, with 5-foot tall doors (duck!), six beds and next to no ventilation. Our crew ran into a problem - we didn't have one of the three large personal packs for our clothes and stuff, so a couple adults had to track down the camp quartermaster after dinner to get one. That really slowed down the packing process, but we got it done and were in bed by 10pm.

108.jpg (45760 bytes)  then we were escorted to our cabin for our first night's stay.   
109.jpg (35401 bytes) After picking up our supplies we headed to our cabin
Firstnight.jpg (22556 bytes) Arriving crews spend the night in a off "road cabin".
110.jpg (64013 bytes) By 7:00 a.m. our canoes are ready to go for our first day on the water and we head to the dinning hall for breakfast.

  

 
Long-term high adventure treks we've been on

Backpacking, canoeing, caving, scuba & rappelling

Related Internet web sites

About the Venture Patrol and information for its members


Venturing