For our 10th anniversary we took a kayaking trip up to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota, and enjoyed it so much that we decided to return in 2007. This time we rented a cabin on one of the many small islands that dot Burntside Lake. This was a great place to get away from it all without roughing it too much. No running water or electricity meant using an outhouse and showering in the lake, but it also meant there were no screens to look at and no things to go "beep" at you. It didn't take long to get used to how quiet it was and to settle into a natural rhythm. We got up when we got up, ate when we were hungry, and slept when we were tired. We swam everyday, and paddled, fished, or sailed as much as we wanted to. Perfect. |
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 There's no road access to the cabin, so the nice people at Log Cabin Hideaways loaded all of our gear (including our kayak) into their johnboat and took us in. |
The cabin was built back in the 60's, and has a huge deck overlooking the lake and a little footbridge to a smaller island next door. |
The cabin also had a nice big dock and this cute boathouse. |
Our Folbot Greenland II, Maggie, and her reflection. |
Maggie ready to go - look at how clear the water is. The lake was excellent for kayaking. We got out just about every day we were there. |
We decided to rig Maggie up to do some sailing. This is the cross bar that will hold the pontoons. |
 The big dock made it easy to set everything up. Here's the mast and the boom. Note to Dave - attach the boom to the mast before you step the mast. |
 Ready to sail - the ability to sail or paddle means we can go just about anywhere we want to. |
It was really convenient to be able to just drop the mast and store her in the boathouse. |
The lake is filled with these little rocky islands. we thought that from a distance this one looked like Tahiti. |
These outcropping show the tilted layer of canadian shield rock that underlies most of the BWCA. |
Some of these rocks look like they were just thrown into the water. |
When glaciers scoured this area they exposed some of the oldest rocks in the world - about 2.7 billion years old. |
 We named this one Christmas Tree Island. |
 Yep - Gull Island, of course. |
It's always amazing to see these hunks of rock just covered with life. |
 A beaver dam at the end of one of the bays by the Crab Lake portage. |
This cute little cabin was perched on an equally cute little island near where we stayed. |
When we weren't kayaking, we spent some time checking out the amenities. Here's the screen house on the adjoining island. |
 Found this guy outside the outhouse one morning. |
The channel in front of the boathouse. The swimming here was great. |
Gelina taking it easy on the dock. It was a wonderful place to hang out. |
It's amazing how much time you can spend just watching the sky. |
Or noticing the little things. |
 Gelina though this section of birch bark looked like a trout?!? |
We both thought this section of the old deck looked like a dragonfly. |
Dave thought this looked like a sea monster, but Gelina wasn't so sure. |
This sure looked like bear scat. |
 Does anything say "summer time" more than the reflection of the Sun on the water? |
In the evening the fish would start feeding on the surface just off the dock, making little rings in the water. |
The sunsets went on forever and were always pretty spectacular. |
 Sunrise? Nope, moonrise. It was amazing to watch. |
 It seemed like the sky was never completely dark - almost as soon as the Sun set the Moon came up out of the water. |
Even when you couldn't see the Moon, it cast a glow over the entire landscape. |