2000

BWCAW Work Trip Report By Carl B. Anderson (t17)

We had another great year for trail clearing trips. Thirty-two people participated without a single injury—that’s success! Almost half of the volunteers were MCA members or friends or relatives of MCA members on the trip. It must be something in the water; people were talking about next year in the parking lot at the take out. Things we should do differently and stuff they learned this trip and will use on the next trip they take, areas they would like to go work on that they hadn’t been to yet and the people they know that would love to do this kind of trip. These are the conversations that make coordinating these trips all worth it. Sometimes I wonder if these people regret spending their time working hard with hand tools under frustrating conditions: heat, bugs, snow or rain (sometimes all on the same day). You stumble back to camp tired and beat, change clothes and have something to eat as the conversation turns to "what are we going to work on tomorrow?" I guess that’s the attitude of volunteerism, and the MCA has a good sense of this sprit.

As with a lot of our MCA events this is a cooperative venture. These trips are partnered with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota (PTCM). The USFS provides us with tools, equipment and permits. The PTCM helps administer the trips as well as their membership participation. I’m really proud of our MCA members’ participation. They willingly share their paddling experience, tripping ideas and tips, and promote safe paddling practices.

So here are the numbers: we cleared 10 miles of trail and portage of some 700-plus downed trees, or about 22 trees per person. Now, a lot of these where the size of your arm or smaller, half of the total were larger (up to 20" in diameter), and some were stacked one on top of the other: proof that many hands make light work. We put in over 384 hours of work with four crews over two different weekends, not including the paddle into the work areas. All in all we had some great results. The last trips went out over the fishing opener weekend. We saw one campsite occupied on the way in and didn’t see another canoe or group until the way out, when we met people starting trips.

I want to thank all the MCA members who participated on these trips and volunteered their time. I especially want to thank Dave Noll, John Payne, and Gene Kremer for their help and support on these trips. Dave was a crew leader this year in addition to recruiting his wife and son to go along. That’s 10% of the total participants from one family! This was John’s fourth work trip, and he talked two friends into joining us this time as well as letting the crew use some of his gear. Gene did all the meal planning and cooking for one crew (lucky bunch!): chicken stir fry with rice and beans; vegetable soup with dumplings from scratch; cheese, garlic & artichoke dip on crackers for appetizers and a birthday cake with frosting and candles for a crew member’s birthday celebration. It’s people like you who help make these MCA events a success. I also want to thank Byerly’s in St. Paul for donating bread and bakery goods for these trips; this really helps keep the cost of the trips reasonable. I encourage all the MCA to join us on a 2, 3 or 5 day trip and meet some great, fun-loving people. If you don’t believe me ask Dave, John or Gene about their experiences and see if they don’t agree.