Bear Encounter at the BWCA

(Thankfully it was a Black Bear and not a Grizzly like this gorgeous photo by Jeremy Vessey on Unsplash )

It's about a month before Father's Day and about that time marketers are starting to flood my inbox about gift ideas. Usually I'm not a fan of a ton of e-mails, but I have to admit I actually find these suggestions useful since it's so hard to find a good gift. Though there are often the same fill-in-the-blank suggestions every year, such as whiskey or BBQ supplies. It always feels like there are such limited options for "acceptable gifts" for dads- to be honest I think it's unfair there's still sort of outdated gender roles in place for this department. Still there's this divide of what men are supposed to like and what they aren't, deemed by its location on "manly" scale. I think in 20 years from now it will be just as common for dads getting flowers on Father's day as moms getting whiskey. Both are rad. But anyways- I received an Etsy e-mail suggesting to get Dad a travel map. I realize this is kind of ironic because I have a travel map company and should have thought of this myself- but I'm still trying to figure out this whole marketing thing.

It sparked an idea to share the story behind the map I gifted my dad this Christmas.

Featured- me last Christmas:



As the title of this post eludes, the map was created from an unforgettable trip to the BWCA in Northern MN where we encountered a bear.

Prepare for the best awkward middle school pic of me (shortest one) trying to be cool...

Here's us before taking off:

We look so excited to go on a 5 day wilderness trip!

A tradition growing up was taking the handmade cedar strip canoes my dad made up to the BWCA- a vast pristine protected area of land (comprised of thousands of small calm lakes) between Minnesota and Canada. 

As some of you may know, camping here means ACTUAL camping. There are no conveniences and you are completely left to the elements. 

To get between lakes, you portage (carry) your canoes and gear. 

It’s beautiful, humbling, lots of physical work, and at times surprising. 

Every item of food you have to bring (or catch). 

Day 1:

We slept the night before in cabins near Schroeder, MN and started the day with breakfast at Coho Cafe right off Highway 61. (Fun fact- this is the cafe that inspired me to start drawing! I saw an illustration on the wall and it clicked that I could make something similar. From then on I was smitten.) 

We started the journey at Kawishiwi Lake Campground.

It was a particularly grueling first day of canoeing and portaging- it was cold and raining the whole day, and it was also the farthest distance we'd travel in one day on our trip. 

We planned it this way so the rest of our time could be more relaxed as we leisurely made our way back.

We arrived, cold, wet, and uncomfortable to the final lake on our itinerary, Lake Polly. 

We luckily found the last unused campsite. 

We set up our tents and it had been 2 hours since trying to start a fire big enough to cook our dinner because of how saturated all the wood was from the day of heavy rain.

There was a point it felt like we'd never get to eat and would go to sleep disappointed.

Finally, with much patience, we succeeded and thoroughly enjoyed our steak and mashed potato dinner. (We would always splurge the first night with a steak- it was heavier to carry but since we ate it right away it was worth it.)

Finally we could sleep and rest.

Except in the middle of the night- our dads heard something rustling.

They checked our food pack that was tied high up in the tree- and sure enough a bear had managed to piñata it down to the ground and was rummaging through our carefully planned food supply for the rest of our trip!

They tried scaring it away with a rock as instructed in the video at the ranger station- but there were no rocks at the campsite. So they tried the next best thing, a log still saturated in rain water. 

However rather than retreating all the bear did was lunge towards them!

So the rest of the night was spent sitting around a fire and hearing the bear have a feast, making jokes about how the bear enjoyed his piñata and deeming its name to be "Black Polly" (Black bear + Lake Polly + Black Betty).

My dad managed to snap one photo of it - which, being in the middle of the night, was basically all black with two points (eyes) of reflected light. (Will add once I track it down)

The next morning we were able to safely look at what Black Polly so graciously decided to leave us. Ironically, it did not eat our honey. (Though put teeth marks in the container).

Luckily we had enough food for one more day so we could travel all the way back. But that meant instead of a 5 day journey we now had 2.

The #1 rule in the Boundary Waters is to "Leave No Trace," so despite how it felt like pouring salt on wounds, we had to round up all the pieces of uneatable food scraps and garbage and still carry it all back with us in the pack.

We thankfully caught a break on the weather front for this day of traveling back towards Kawishiwi Lake- it was sunny and beautiful, and we were full with gratitude to have enough sustenance for the day.

It's funny how sometimes when we have less we are infinitely more grateful.

I remember cutting around teeth marks in tortillas and dodging bear saliva in the plastic bag of Sour Patch Kids we had. 

It was all pretty comical and we were having a great time.

We ended up spending the night at the campsite right across from the entrance to the park.

Day 2:

We didn't have much for breakfast, but that just meant we were that much more excited to feast at the nearest Perkins. (Which.... now that I have lived in Grand Marais and know it couldn't have been nearby, I think the closest has to be about 1.5 hours away in Two Harbors?).

I definitely need to track down that image we took of Black Polly. Now I can't hear the song "Black Betty" and not think about this story with our bear encounter.

Here's the Hip My Trip map I made for my dad's Christmas present last year: 

Thanks so much for reading!

Would love to hear of any similar experiences you've had. Feel free to message me: hello@hipmytrip.com

Best,
Danielle