Notes From Up-North

  This trip to Hungry Jack has turned into a walk, or should I say paddle, down memory lane.  The last time we experienced this area was 1983.  The occasion was the first trip in the BWCAW for Alisa and Deanna.  That trip actually started at Hungry Jack Lodge.  We were first introduced to Jerry Parsons and his son Forrest; more on that later.  We caught a ride in an old pickup to Gunflint Lake to begin our trip along the Canadian border back to Hungry Jack. This is not a trip narrative, however there are a few highlights that live in our family memory.  There is  bench mark on North South portage where the girls played run around the border a few times;  mom and dad participated as well.   We became wind bound on Daniels Lake only a few yards from the portage to Bearskin thanks to dad’s failure to read the map correctly.  Then there is Deanna’s trauma on the portage to Bearskin in the rain when dad zipped her chin into a ra...

Mom and I sat on the patio overlooking the lake in the direction of Honeymoon Bluff and enjoyed a beverage as the sun went down.  The memories came flooding back created there over the past 28 years.  We invested a lot of quality gamily time here.  We are currently set up in site 11 in the camp ground.  The new lodge looks terrific.  Forrest has really done a great job with the new facility.  The new dinning room is spectacular and they have a menu at the bar.  They even have their own Hungry Jack Lager  now! We plan to do two day trips while we are here.  One to the east end of Hungry Jack Lake with a portage to West Bearskin and return to the campsite.  The second, on Wed. will take us back to the stairway portage.  That is the site where Deanna and I and Shadow discovered a bull moose eating aquatic plants just off the trail! We hit the portages today and the wind hit us!  After paddling to the far end of Hungry Jack w...

Mom and I sat on the patio overlooking the lake in the direction of Honeymoon Bluff and enjoyed a beverage as the sun went down.  The memories came flooding back created there over the past 28 years.  We invested a lot of quality gamily time here.  We are currently set up in site 11 in the camp ground.  The new lodge looks terrific.  Forrest has really done a great job with the new facility.  The new dinning room is spectacular and they have a menu at the bar.  They even have their own Hungry Jack Lager  now! We plan to do two day trips while we are here.  One to the east end of Hungry Jack Lake with a portage to West Bearskin and return to the campsite.  The second, on Wed. will take us back to the stairway portage.  That is the site where Deanna and I and Shadow discovered a bull moose eating aquatic plants just off the trail! We hit the portages today and the wind hit us!  After paddling to the far end of Hungry Jack w...