The Royce Files

I promised many months ago that I would show you the authentic sauna that my MFG's father built. And I am hoping to build my Finnish readership. This sauna is quite spacious. It think it can hold 5 quite comfortably.  It is heated by a wood stove. You can see the interior above and note the corner part of the kiuas (see the rocks) It does not have running water so one needs to bring pails of water out from the house. It is a reinvigorating experience.

A few weeks ago I decided to do some backpacking and ended up backpacking in the BWCA. Yeah, no canoe, I hiked out to the lakes on the Kekekabic Trail, a unforeseen challenge. The Kek, as it is known to some, sprang up back in the 1930s for fire suppression in Superior National Forest.  It fell into disuse until some Boy Scouts cleared it out in 1949. Back in 1949 a Boy Scout said of this trail: The Kekekabic Trail is one of the toughest, meanest rabbit tracks in North America. The trail struggles its way through swamps, around cliffs, up the sides of bluffs, and across rocky ridges. It is choked with nightmarish patches of clinging brush. It is blocked with tangles of windfalls and standing timber... It is the kind of trail that would break the heart of a man who didn’t have what it takes to go into the wilderness and try and ‘smooth it.’” He was right! Of course smoothing the wilderness is not politically correct anymore nor even of the leave no trace ethic. The trai...

Well, there haven't been any updates for weeks. Pitful, I know. But here's what happened in short summary since Memorial Day. 1. Went on my adventure hiking trip on the North Country Trail in 2 different locations. One near Remer, MN and the other in the BWCA on The Kek . The whole Kekekabic Trail is enough for another post so I'll not drop the details here. To say the least, that trail kicked my butt. 2. The following weekend involved traveling to 3 different locales. I went to a wedding in Mo-town and then watched a triathlon in Buffalo. My MFG was competing in it. I should post stuff on that later. It was really cool. 3. I forgot what happened the following weekend. I remember seeing my MFG and shopping. 4. The next weekend was the annual pilgrimage to the car show with the Green Hornet, the family's 1951 Pontiac Chieftain . I went down on Thursday and had to return on Saturday because I needed to do music the next day. It was a long weekend that ended with some...