BWCA Canoe Trip July 2002

Horseshoe Lake

We passed up two or three campsites before we found one we liked, situated on a point between two arms of the lake. The site was heavily used but clean. Several of the larger trees were obvious casualties of the big blow down of 1998. The most important feature was a large exposed rock jutting out over the lake that became our front porch and dining room.

We settled in and each of us went off to enjoy swimming, fishing or just plain relaxing. Richard roped up a small birch tree for our food pack. Bruce headed out in the canoe to pump some water through the filter for drinking.

The site turned out to be a real bonus for wildlife:

• We got very close to a kingfisher while swimming.
• Several beavers went back and forth in front of our rock.
• We saw an osprey chase a bald eagle. (We later discovered the osprey nest a few hundred yards away.)
• The same bald eagle retreated to a large pine tree nearby.
• It later came back and took a bird bath in the lake.
• Later it caught a fish and ate it on a rock in plain view.
• At dusk we heard a commotion on the lake. We got up just in time to watch a cow moose confront a beaver (and hear it slap its tail!).

Dinner was taboli salad served with humus and flat bread, which turned out to be perfect camp food (nothing to cook!). As the sun went down and the breeze dropped we were beset by no-see-ums, so everyone headed for the tents.

Copyright 2002 by Richard Rathe & Family