Who would ever have guessed that Packsack’s “Season” would extend well into October thanks to the Pagami Creek Fire?
We’ve had the privilege of providing overnight lodging for 302 forest service firefighters and for supplying food for some crews spiked into the wilderness.
These awesome men and women deserve our heartfelt thanks! The work they do is amazing – hard, tiring, dirty, dangerous.
The Hot Shot and Type 2 crews that stayed here at Packsack were from all over the USA – CA, AZ, NV, MT, WI, MI, OR,WA & NJ.
Fighting fires is the job of these heroic men & women – they leave their homes & loved ones to travel all over the USA throughout the summer to do their job and protect us and our homes & businesses from the raging forest fires.
They told us that their experience here in the BWCA was different because they had to paddle into or be flown into the midst of the fire area to do their work. Many were camped out for 3 weeks.
The crews have now been released and are no longer working the fire area. The fire is being patrolled by air only.
The Pagami Creek fire burned 92, 682 acres. The fire was started by lightning back on August 18th and was fueled intensely by strong winds and warm weather on September 12th. The wind blew it away from us here at Packsack and thankfully no lives , homes or businesses were lost!
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Things are changing here in the Boundary Waters daily as Mother Nature always shows us who’s in charge! We’ve been experiencing several inches of fresh snow and low temperatures in the teens these past few days here in the BWCAW and it makes us here at Packsack want to retreat into our own hibernation but we are inspired by nature’s delights with their persistance and hope that nice days are coming. These are the things that we wish everyone else could witness along with us: the rushing water in the now-open rivers and streams, waterfowl such as loons, Canadian geese, many kinds of ducks, trumpeter swans, gulls, blue herons, an otter making its way along the ice, trees beginning to bud and pussy willows in full bud, tulips, crocus, daffodils peeking through the ground. They will blossom in a few weeks as will the wildflowers in the forest if the deer don’t make lunch of them. Speaking of the deer, most of the deer that “winter” here in the Packsack neighborhood have returned to the BWCAW wilderness where they can now forage and soon deliver their fawns. We can now make our way into the wilderness for a spring hike and smell the fresh scent of thawing earth. We hiked today to Kawishiwi Falls here on Fall Lake and took this picture of it’s power and beauty. Soon walleye pike will be spawning at the base of this falls. Of course spring always brings great anticipation with its many signs of new life and freshness and we here at Packsack are feeling great anticipation to be seeing our many returning clients and friends and to be meeting many new clients and friends! See you all soon! Welcome to PACKSACK’s first blog! We’re Gene & Jane Ott, owners and year-round residents here at PACKSACK Canoe Trips & Log Cabins. We’ll be hosting our 12th season of canoe trip outfitting and resort here at PACKSACK. Folks often ask us why we came here to do what we do. Our answer is always “Because we love the BOUNDARY WATERS!” After many wilderness BWCAW trips as Boy Scout leaders and with our family we knew that we’d love to offer BOUNDARY WATERS experiences to others. “What is it about the BWCAW that you love?” you ask? We reply, “The breathtaking, pristine beauty of the countless lakes and forest, the sound of the clear clean water as it spills over rapids and falls, the sight of a bald eagle swooping down and plucking a fish from the water or the loons floating around on the lakes with their babies on their backs. It’s the anticipation of spotting a moose or bear or wolf and deer or the turtles sunning on logs as well as numerous ducks, geese, swans, gulls, beaver and otter. And we love fishing! Lakes in the BWCAW abound with Walleye, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Trout and Black Crappie. We like to catch and release but also love the taste of walleye “fresh out of the lake” for a shore lunch. We love the peaceful, quiet serenity of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness where often times the only sound is that of the paddle as it touches the water or the gentle breeze in the trees.” We could ramble on and on but will share more in future blogs. We anticipate that this will be a great way to inform, update and share the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with you and want to say WELCOME! WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT THE BOUNDARY WATERS CANOE AREA WILDERNESS? |
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