Dave's Den

The kids and I have taken two of our three scheduled camping trips this summer. We've been to Crescent Lake Campground near the North Shore, and Willow River State Park, near Hudson, WI.

On our Crescent Lake trip (July 9-12) we took Hwy 2 out of Tofte, and headed up the Sawbill Trail. I soon discovered that most of the trip was going to take place on dirt roads, as the pavement ended a couple miles up the road from Lake Superior. Dirt got into every nook and cranny of the van, and our bikes on the back were completely encrusted with a layer of dust. I think next time I know there's going to be a substantial amount of dirt road driving I'll leave the bikes behind.

After arriving at Crescent Lake Campground on a Thursday afternoon, we discovered that our site, 17 was a great site, with a path down some stairs to the lake. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were pretty bad, and gave me lots of fits as I was setting up. Eventually I had everything ready to go just in time before it started raining. I brought some food into the tent, and we all ate dinner in there. Just when it looked like the evening was going to be a washout, the rain stopped after about an hour and we were able to get a fire going. We spent the rest of the night by the fire, indulging in our traditional popcorn and smores.

Friday was bright and sunny. After breakfast, we drove over to Sawbill Lake to rent a canoe and try our luck fishing. We gave it a worthy effort, but it was just too windy to stay in one spot to do any fishing. Also, Gina is just too small to provide any meaningful help paddling in the wind. We stayed out there for a couple of hours enjoying the pristine lake, and then headed back to the campground.

After lunch at the campsite, we drove down to Grand Marais and spent the afternoon there. The kids really love the Artists Point area. In particular, they love running around on the rocks and also the rocky beach section. We spent most of the afternoon down there, then got some ice cream before heading back to the campsite for the rest of the evening. One thing worth mentioning: at one point while climbing out on the rocks, my wide angle camera lens fell out of my bag, tumbled down about 6 feet, barely missing the water, and smashed hard on the rocks. I heard a shattering sound, and my life flashed before my eyes. After I picked it up, I saw the screw-on lens filter had shattered, but the lens itself was still in great shape. What a relief that was, and a great reason to always use at least a cheap UV filter on your lenses.

On the drive back to the campsite Zach took a nap. Gina and I spotted a moose on the road, and a little while later I saw a fox and a big turtle on the road as well. One other wildlife note: loons constantly serenaded us from the lake at our campsite. The kids got a kick out of that, and I found their calls calming too.

Saturday was another beautiful day, although it was a bit windy. We spent the day at the campground. In the morning, we played some games on the campground road. In the afternoon, we went down to the fishing pier to try our luck. We caught a few tiny small-mouth bass, and the kids were tickled by that. The big hit at the pier, however, was the little red squirrel that Gina spotted. She was giddy, and I let her grab the camera to take some pictures. After dinner, we did some fishing from the pier again before returning to our site for the campfire.

Sunday was nice again. After breakfast, the kids sat around reading and playing very nicely together while I packed everything up. We pulled out around noon, and drove down to Temperance River State Park, where we explored for a bit. After a brief stop to see Gooseberry Falls, we headed to the Duluth Children's/Train museum and spent a little time there before heading for home.

• When the campfire would spark, Gina would say that the fire was shooting "ammo" at her.
• The kids seem to like hanging out in the tent just as much as the other activities.
• Zach spent a lot of time batting rocks into the woods with his stick.
• Our van has never been as dirty as it was on this trip.
• Zach wanted to sit on my lap a lot at the campfire.

Our second outing was a quick, two night trip July 19-21 with my brother Don and his boys at Willow River State Park near Hudson, WI. Our first night, Sunday, was beautiful. It was in the mid-70's with absolutely no bugs. We were in double site 12/13. While the kids were at the playground I spotted a deer walking right past our campsite. Later we had a nice campfire, and the kids all played flashlight tag when it got a little darker. Don and I stayed up late, chatting by the fire.

Monday as another perfect day, and even a little warmer than Sunday. Around 9:30 we saw a large group of deer walking down a trail right next to our campsite. The kids got a real kick out of that. In the morning we all walked down the trail to Willow Falls. We'd crossed over the bridge by the falls, and the kids were running ahead to climb the stairs on the other side. We heard Don's son Brian scream, so Don went up to see what happened. Brian said he got stung by a bee. While Don was up there, he got stung, and Brian got stung a second time as well. I think they'd stumbled upon a nest. Thankfully, there were no severe reactions. We were a bit worried, since Don had been allergic to bee stings as a youth, and nobody knew if Brian might have a reaction as well. They had some swelling for a few minutes, but then everybody was fine.

The unfortunate side effect of the stings was that Gina turned into a complete basket case about bugs and bees. She was completely paralyzed with fear when we went down to the beach to spend the afternoon, and would scream anytime the smallest little insect would come within visual range. I had a little talk to her about how insects are more afraid of people than we should be of them. I also pointed out that bugs weren't bothering anybody else's fun, and that she should join in and play on the beach with the other kids. She sheepishly made her way back down to the beach. After some initial hesitation, she started playing again, and pretty soon she was so busy that she didn't have time to obsess about the bees anymore. Thankfully, she was much better for the remainder of the trip.

After spending the entire afternoon at the beach, we spent the evening back at the campsite. We saw another large group of deer walking past the site. We spend the evening around the fire again, and the kids played some more flashlight tag. Brian told us a couple of improvised ghost stories, and even Gina made an attempt at one herself.

It started raining early Tuesday morning, and was still raining steadily when we all got up. The forecast called for more rain, so we got everything packed-up when the rain let up. It was a real mess. Naturally, just as we finished, it started to clear up again, but by that point were were all tired, so we decided to just head home.

I'm really enjoying the camping trips this year. I have the campground routine down to a science now, so that helps things run more efficiently and gives us more time to relax and enjoy the experience. I have one more trip scheduled for mid-August, then it'll be time to start thinking about next summer. I'd really like to get the kids out to Yellowstone, so maybe next year will be the year.

Crescent Lake Pictures

Willow River Pictures

Here's a video of the pictures from our two trips:

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