i've been devouring the site alot these days thinking
back to when i was little and went to summer camp near
Ely, just outside the bwca back from 1977-1986, eight
weeks in july and august, six of the eight weeks spent
canoeing in quetico and the boundary waters.  does anybody
remember camp easton for boys?  here is a page on facebook
i found regarding this summer camp (i am keith haines)   (You need to Login or Register
but, i am curious as to how many of you got introduced
to the bwcaw through summer camp, and how many of
you have worked at such summer camps where you have
led trips.  and lastly, are there any camps you all would
recommend as far as teaching the proper way to canoe the
wilderness we have up there?  camp easton was great for
that, i feel - non-denominational, scholarships available
for people, etnically diverse, and what was at the core
was a solid belief in conservation and treading lightly.   the
likes of sigurd olsen, ed abbey, john muir were read aloud
around the campfire or before bed at night.  are there summer
camps out there still teaching this way?

Hi, Keith.

I am replying for Spartan1, my husband, who was a counselor at Camp Easton in 1965 and again in 1967, during his college days.  It was because of his time at Camp Easton and a subsequent trip on the Namakan River that he made with a group of his counselor friends:

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that we have been going to the canoe country ever since our first trip in 1971.  That's 40 years of canoe-tripping--assuming that we make it for the planned one in 2011 when we will be 66 years old.   ;)

We remained friends with Doug and Jean Bobo, the owners/directors of the camp when Spartan1 was there (as a cabin counselor and riflery instructor), and when we have been in Ely we have almost always stopped at their cabin on Pine Tree Trail for a visit.  Of course Doug is gone now, but we still see Jean when we can.

Spartan1 was a farm boy from Michigan's "thumb" area and he never had the opportunity to go to camp as a child.  Doug hired him at a job fair at Michigan State University--it was a summer job situation that didn't pay a lot in $$ but paid a great deal in experiences.  He came back all fired up about canoe-tripping, about the canoe country, and about taking ME there!  It is impossible for me to imagine how my own life would have been different if he hadn't had those summers at Camp Easton!

The "Camp E Song" was our son's favorite lullaby.  "By the shores of Little Long. . . ."   :)

We don't do Facebook, so we won't be investigating there, but perhaps Spartan1 will post later if he has some important memories to share.  His, however, would pre-date yours by about a decade.

thanks so much for responding!  i love that pic - a river in
the background, kids mugging it up for the camera.  at
the facebook page i mentioned there are quite a few photos
people have put on there, and even a video from '71 too.
lots of old stuff from when your husband might've been there - butit's funny how things like the sauna never change. i'm afraid
i don't know much about computers, but maybe there is an
off-site link from facebook that could link you to the picture.
page.  i'll see, and pm you if i figure it out. it would
be great if you could drag spartan1 to the computer for a couplecamp easton stories.  i am familiar with the Bobo name, but i was there when bernie kukar ran it. mostly i remember one of my counselors reading from sigurd olsen's books at night before bed.  that had such a huge impact on me -
still with me today.  i do indeed wonder if there are places for
kids to go to learn about how to treat the wilderness, and
how to behave in it, and deeply appreciate it.  solo i figure
is the best way to do it, but most folks don't know how,
i figure.  camp worked pretty good for me, but i don't
think most people are as lucky to have had camp easton.

Well, in a way, I guess you could say I had my "own" Camp Easton.  Before our first trip, Spartan1 took me to the camp, introduced me to Doug and Jean, and told me many of the stories about his time there and his first canoe trip.  We camped overnight at the "Outpost" and paddled over to Burntside.  We had breakfast at the camp.  Then he took me on a trip and passed those ideals and those camping traditions on to me.  I was a really green newbie, had very little experience in a canoe and camping, so I sort of learned to do it his way.

Forty years later, we still are a tandem pair.  No solos, as his health has never made that a comfortable situation (insulin-dependent diabetic with severe insulin reactions) but when we were younger we made some pretty neat excursions into the Q, and pretty much all over the BWCA.  

As I said before, I owe Camp Easton and Doug a great debt of gratitude.  I grew up in western lower Michigan were there were many inland lakes, so loving lakes was natural to me, but it was new to Spartan1--his home country is flat and dry.  Northern Minnesota was like a new world to him.  He came back from camp a truly changed person.  

We have tried before to get other Camp E people to respond on the website, but there don't seem to be any.  It has always surprised me.  Nice to know about you, though.

i thought i might find a few camp easton people on here too.  i guess it went co-ed in it's last days.  although, i did reconnect with my favorite counselor from those times from this site, and also another fellow who was a great influence.  still curious as to how one learns this stuff?  father to son, cousin to nephew, counselor to camper, etc.  back in the olden days it seemed common for reporters to join the paddlers in the field and report about the wilds.  that is the stock, the voyageurs, the french and the swedes and the finns, mn, nd, wi, etc., mi.  all this knowledge, all this stoutness, all this manner of traveling - there must be camps or schools that still teach this, or at least offer something for kids to grab hold of.

My parents never sent me to summer camp beyond Grandma's house. Once I was free of them this guy provided my introduction to Quetico. I only noticed the BW many years later because of a guy at work.

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Funny how introductions matter.

db wrote on Mar 31^st, 2011 at 6:28pm:

My parents never sent me to summer camp beyond Grandma's house. Once I was free of them this guy provided my introduction to Quetico. I only noticed the BW many years later because of a guy at work.   (You need to Login or Register Funny how introductions matter.

Funny that I grew up in Duluth and my boyscout troup summer camp experience never took me on a canoe trip in the boundary waters.  I was introduced to canoe country by my father who took us on trips from when I was 5 or 6 years old up thru teenage years.  The introduction was magical that I can still sense when I walk up to a quiet lake today.

Re Uttech; reminds me somewhat of Carl Gawboy,  

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We went to a dedication of a film documentary of Carl Gawboy at UMD about a month ago.  We have a print of a painting he did on main street of Ely back in the 50's.  I just love it.  It's magical because it transfers me to the canoe country from my first canoe trip experience.

starwatcher

Starwatcher,
I just clicked on the link in your post and my security found spyware and viruses.  Please check and if needed remove.

Spartan1

Okay, thanks Spartan1; I updated it with a different link.

starwatcher

Spartan2 wrote on Mar 28^th, 2011 at 12:14pm:

The "Camp E Song" was our son's favorite lullaby.  "By the shores of Little Long. . . ."   :)

My wife's family had a cabin on Little Long.  I don't know if they sang the same tune though.  :)

starwatcher