I would try another Jamboree sooner than 5 years too...but the Jimboree was (IMHO) more fun than the bushwacking.  By that time we had already felt fairly "bushwacked out" by the wet weather and long portages we chose to take to get to Cairn.  A central location deep in the Quetico is nice, not many people and still makes a challenging trip to get there.  A last mile or so of untracked woods might not be necessary to have an equally good or better time for a future event.   IC

You folks are all wonderful...and reading your posts is good therapy for my post-BWR-no-show-depresion !

Quote:



No waste Sir, take it back! .. "The Journey is the Destination" and your  circumstances of this long planned event are the manifestation of the philosophy.  I'll throw all the cliches out,
"that which does not kill us, only makes us stronger".

Take this as proof as what we choose for leisure isn't just a walk in the park. It's an ass kicking in the park.  Cliche #3 "you guys rock".

I was at the Inland Sea Kayak symposium, and soloing touring in the A.I. Lac Superier.  Pretty boats , pretty girls  , paddling till you drop.  8) or I might have been there... trying.   I probably didn't even think of you wilderness Stumpers 

Well, OK.....

First, I for one was not disappointed that nobody else made it.  Don't get me wrong, I would have certainly enjoyed meeting some of you folks who wanted to make it.

We decided to make the bushwhack, because we have done it before, and the timing of the jamboree was near enough to when we usually go.......So, we decide what the hell, we don't have to think about exactly where to go anymore.....Agnes, Kawnipi area it is to Stumpy' pond.

For any who are interested....I think pghportager eluded to this before, but the reason we chose the west entry, and the south exit was due to the fact that we figured coming from Carin would be the most direct route and the one most would choose to come in and go out.  The common thought in our group was that nobody would come in from Kawnipi (Although I now see Stumpy pondered that route), and head out to Williams through the swamps and bogs.  My point is, even in the bushwhack, we were trying (like anyone else for the most part) to avoid people - until the party of course.

Second, Stumpy I think you may have been closer than you think - now that I hear you were toting a Grumman.  We arrived on the pond by 1530 - 1600, we set camp and went back out to fish.  Hex may want to verify this, but we were pretty damn sure we heard a Grumman banging off trees sometime around 1730 - 1800.  The sound came from the woods on the western side of the pond about half way between the north and south ends.  We did get excited for a while, but then remembered we were crazy.


We faced the rain like everyone else, and we were cold and wet Tues. night/wed morning.  We had a backpack that needed repaired 2 days in a row before entering, both shoulder straps busted off the frame.  We had 2 SR18.5's and a MNII to get through the woods (Not impossible).

Finally you don't need a Jamboree to go bushwhacking.  The woods are always there to kick your ass when you need it.  Oh yes, we did get beat up just the way we wanted.  If you folks need a party to be the focus of your trip then I would say db is right, go where you are sure all the guests can make it.  If you are looking to get off the beaten path...Take the route you are sure nobody else is going to take.

It was well worth it.  We were unsure Wed. evening why we were the only ones there, but not disappointed.  We would have liked to have met some others there.

And I think I can speak for the group when I say, yes, there is a great amount of satisfaction in the idea that we were the only ones who were willing and able to get there.

I do believe that I read earlier that Stumpy has given us (or Hex) the right to choose the next location in 2010.  I can assure you it will not be any easier to get to.  It will be a bushwhack.

I have a few comments, and I offer them with the most humble of intentions.  (some of this will echo Penns sentiments, some will offer my own ideas).

As Pennpaddler has said, the BW Jamboree and the Jimboree are completely different entities.  They should be treated as such and planned separately.  What the JIMboree group experienced on Cairn is completely different than what we experienced in and around Sucker Lake, and the two should not be merged or discussed in the same light.  Those of you who want to meet in the middle of the Q, away from the crowds, off the beaten path, etc., have fun and enjoy, but let’s not make the next BWJ easier to get to because only a small percentage made it in this time. (This is Stumpy’s call in the end, I suppose, but I don’t think Stumpy will take it easy on any of us next time around.)

Let’s face it, bushwacking is hard work.  It’s not just following an unmaintained portage trail, or cutting your own path through a few hundred yards of bush.  It’s up and over ridges full of moss covered boulder gardens, it’s walking crotch deep through bogs and marshes hoping your next step hits semi-terra-firma so you don’t sink up to your armpits, it’s cursing at the bugs and the trees and the bushes that are pulling on your arms and hands and the canoe, and the guy in front that keeps going up hill when you want to go down.  I think perhaps some of you underestimated what the bushwack would really be like.

We’ve done the Yum Yum and the JAP to Seagull portages, if only because people said they were horrible and we should avoid them.  We enjoy the challenge.  We started adding bushwacks into our trips a few years ago because we liked the physical and mental challenge and the reward of finding a lake that others have not seen (for a while at least) and cutting our own trail to it.  If you want tough trails, there are many in the Q that will feed your hunger.  If you want to go bushwacking, then go for it and stomp through, but be prepared to take it in return.  I’m not trying to brag or gloat over those who attempted but did not make it to BWJ; I’m just trying to point out that there is no path, it is not a tough portage trail, it is not a walk in the park, it is bushwacking.  Bushwacking takes every bit of physical and mental strength (mental – “don’t kill Mike for taking us over yet another ridge and across that boulder garden, he’s doing the best he can up front”) you can muster, which gets harder and harder by the hour.

I will offer you this thought:
Perhaps those of you that did actually meet on Cairn at the Jimboree, found it easier to call it short on your attempt to make it to the JAMboree because you met on Cairn.  The dynamics of your parties, and your plans, were changed drastically once you met on Cairn. 

Take our group for example.  We weathered the wet and windy weather on Kawnipi just as you did on the other side of the ridges.  Tuesday night was a downer.  Keeping the fire going, trying to put on dry clothes and keep them dry, and trying to keep a smile on your face when all you want to do is curl up in a dry sleeping bag and call it quits until the ‘morrow is tiring.  But we prevailed and woke up early to a bright sunny day that allowed us to dry our gear, dropping maybe 8 lbs a piece in water weight and put smiles on our faces.  Then we shoved off and headed into the journey.

Perhaps, because many of you who had spent months talking about the trip in the virtual world actually met up in the real world before heading in, it was easier to subconsciously say, “well, this is just too tough, yesterday’s weather wore me out and we’ve already met most of the people we wanted to meet, so let’s just turn around and head back.” One of the primary objectives of the jamboree had been met, and so the rest of your objectives become less significant.  You don’t even have to say it out loud.  Body language and other signs will be visible by the others in your group; and if one person in the room yawns, everyone else feels the urge to yawn...



Some side information for Stumpy - It took us about 5-6 hours to get there from Kawnipi, with many breaks on the trail and lunch on one of the lakes on the way in.  And it took us slightly longer to get out via Williams.  We’ve been bushwacking before, and this was no picnic of a trip.  But it was one hell of a bushwack.  My kudos to Stumpy for picking a real winner.

To all who attempted the bushwack or was unable to make the BWJ fit your schedule this year, I hope you beat us to the next one.