The Royce Files

 It has been a while since I dispersed camped in the Chippewa National Forest. I am thinking maybe nine years and that was a pretty bad trip when the go to spot at Shingobee was occupied. I found a rather slanted spot somewhere further into the forest. I was not pleased- but I was on foot and there was little light left to hike further.  So what is dispersed camping?  It is camping outside of established campground or campsites. In Minnesota, the 2 National Forests and numerous state forests allow it with some stipulations. I believe one of those stipulations is it needs to be a certain distance away from designated campgrounds- state forests it is 1 mile. National forests have similar rules. Generally, dispersed camping is primitive, however I have found a few dispersed sites that are quite comfortable and have a table, a fire grate, and a pit toilet, and are by a lake. More common are sites that are just a pull out from a forest road and nothing more than a clearing to ...

Pendleton Wool Shirt The wool shirt has been with us for a while. Wool for even longer. Back in 1924 Pendleton decided that a little more color in a woolen shirt would sell more shirts. They were right. And today they are still making the same shirts. Woolens for as sportswear have been out of style for quite a while based on my unscientific research. They are making a comeback. I think hipsters may have increased the popularity of this type of shirt in recent years especially since Portland is in proximity to the Pendleton mill. I had a few wool shirts growing up. I believe I wore one of them in a yearbook picture my sophomore year in high school. It was a Navy surplus shirt.  I think I borrowed the another one from my father. By college I had rid my wardrobe of these shirts, mostly because they were often scratchy and were dry clean only. I think the woolen shirt fell out of favor due to the increased availability of tech fabrics like micro-fleece. Nevertheless, The Bea...

Coleman 502 These posts are dedicated to the hard working gear that I have utilized on my camping expeditions. Might be something simple or vintage or cool. Our first post for GearCamp features the Coleman 502 Single Burner Camp Stove from the 1970s. Coleman has been around for over 100 years. They have made some pretty durable camping gear especially stoves and lanterns. I acquired the 502 at thrift shop for 2 bucks and it included a square aluminum pot that doubled as a case. Unfortunately the stove did not work, so it sat around for a while before I was able to tinker around and fire it up. The pump gasket just needed to be lubricated and away it worked. Despite its bulk, this is my go to stove for trips even though I do own a few lighter weight stoves. And the good thing about these stoves is that there are still parts around to keep these guys humming for another 30 years. I think it only burns white gas (aka coleman fuel). I have never tried the gas from the pump. You hav...

The following is a continuation of the log from the Sioux Hustler Loop hiking trip I took in October 2012. In this entry I meet up with hiking partner 3 Names and head for Orr, MN.  Voyageur Welcome Center in Orr  Due to a mutual friend's funeral- 3 Names and I met up in Thief River Falls. From there we drove to Clearbrook and spent the night out of the wet and chilly elements in a farmhouse of a Christian brother. We left the next morning for Bemidji where we left 3 Names truck and then proceeded through the northland towards Orr, MN. Upon our arrival to Orr we stopped at the Voyageur Information center. I did not realise how close we were to Voyageurs National Park. No info on the Sioux Hustler Trail was to be found at the center. We progressed into town to get a bite to eat at the grocery store. Apparently the A&W attached to the store must only be open in the summer. It was not particularly busy place but it was not dead either. Minu...

6/17/2022 Update: There are considerably more articles online about the Sioux Hustler Trail since I took this trip almost a decade ago. Most are narratives of treks taken upon this loop. The info from pemmican site linked to below is no longer online. The biggest news to come out about the trail was the discovery of the remains of a missing camper found near the area of the trail in 2019. There has been some maintenance done  around the Sioux Hustler but based on what I have read the trail is still mostly rugged.    Small map of Entry Point 15- Sioux Hustler Trail  A few weeks ago my friend Man of 3 Names I journeyed up to the BWCA to embark on an adventure. With it being October and the weather not always cooperative at that time of year (although in the past I have had some great October trips), I planned a rugged hiking trip. Our goal: hike the entire Sioux Hustler Loop . The challenge: the ~32 mile trail does not get much maintenance and is at best prim...

Quetico landscape The following series is a narrative from my first canoeing trip back over a decade ago into the wilderness of the Quetico. In this final episode we hike an old logging road, are visited by rain showers, and head back home. We went hiking the next day on trail north of our island campsite. We canoed to a closest entry point for the trail. It was not close enough so we ended up bushwhacking through the forest and underbrush until the trail was spotted. During that foray we discovered a wooden boat hidden in the woods. I am not sure how far we hiked but it took up much of the day. The trail deteriorated at a marsh that was once a beaver colony. There we made instant pudding. Unfortunately I had no water, just a little lemonade. In substitute of the water I added Tang. It was a regrettable decision. Orange and chocolate do not taste pleasing together. We returned the same route only exploring a spur that went to another lake. Along the...

I do not think the 450 rod portage was used any more  The following series is a narrative from my first canoeing trip back over a decade ago into the wilderness of the Quetico. In this episode we camp at the end of the portage and then make it to the island campsite on Baptism Lake. Dusk descended and two more portages loomed ahead. However, once all the gear and canoes were at the end of the portage there was no way we were going to do another one. The next portage was just across a small pond. Exhausted, I felt dismayed that my favorite shoes were soaked and my best pants were covered with mud up to my knees. I had enough for one day. We pitched tents on the rocky soil at the end of the portage and prayed no one would come through the portage early the next day. 3 Names and I shared a tent. I placed my shoes outside with my socks hoping they would dry. They didn’t. The roar of the falls ahead kept me awake. It also drove me crazy.   I should have brought ear...

The following is part 2 in a series on my first canoe trip into the wilderness of the Quetico which occurred over a decade ago. I will provide some annotations to the tale.   In this episode we fight off one of the toughest portages. into the Quetico Our route consisted of more twists and turns. Ruth and I disembarked once again as the canoes were pulled over a beaver dam that blocked the width of the stream. Getting into the canoes we put on our bug netting, since the gnats were getting bad. So far, I was clean and pretty dry. I really did not want to soil my fine hiking shoes and expedition pants and I didn’t think I would have to. Nearing seven, we reached the first portage. Efficiency in portaging is a must, otherwise you’ll be going back and forth quite a bit. So carrying as much as possible helps tremendously. Our first portage was measured around 80 rods I think-- not long but not really short either. With the canoes on shore we removed all the packs a...

The trip began at French Lk The following series is a narrative from my first canoeing trip back over a decade ago into the wilderness of the Quetico. I had been eagerly awaiting this canoe trip to the Quetico for over a year. I had never been on a canoe trip before so I jumped at the invitation to join a friend of mine, Neil, on his annual trek to the Canadian boundary waters. The opportunity to get into the “real backwoods” thrilled me. Joining us were Neil’s wife, Ruth, and David, an adventurous college student [ ed. To regular readers of the blog David is the Man of 3 Names.] We started out from Morris, Minnesota at dawn. For eight hours David and I sat in the back of Neil’s Mazda pickup equipped with an old bus seat that smelled like pigs. Our only view from the rear window was of the trailer that carried our supplies and two aluminum canoes. However, this inconvenience seemed minor compared to adventure I expected in the Quetico. I did not know much about...

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...

A few days ago I completed another trek through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). This time I partnered up with a fellow named Craig. It was a pleasant experience with very little excitement. I guess that is a little deceiving. There was a broken canoe seat during the first hours of the trip. However, beyond that mishap, everything went smooth albeit Craig was a camping and canoeing neophyte. Originally, I was to go with Phil (you know the quotable beer guy) and a rather large party. However, Craig wanted to go but could not fit on the permit. Only 9 people per permit are allowed. I then decided to purchase another permit to accommodate Craig and anyone else who want a less "crowded" experience. No one else came forth. So Craig and I launched out from Kawishiwi Lake as the other crew 20 miles west shoved out from Little Gabbro. This year I added another canoe to my collection. A few weeks before the 15 foot pakcanoe was vandalized at a resort I was staying. The thwart ...

O n to the way to Ely I stopped by this chapel in Fosston. It provided a good respite from the road. I spent the night prior in a little town called Mentor in the city park. Unfortunately I also spent a great deal of time in Bemidji and my old adage, "Nothing good happens to me in Bemidji," proved true. It was there I discovered I left my Zip Stove and cooking untensils behind in Go. Enfuriated I sought replacements for the utensils but to no avail in Bemidji. Fortunately I packed, quite accidentally, my Peak1 gas stove. Due to the Bemidji delay I arrived late in Ely. The grocery store and the Piragis Outlet were closed but just about everthing was open. Ely is camping gear heaven. Nearly every store has gear. Piragis' main store has the most variety. I gear up and then spend the night in the woods nearby. However, the next day I would be back in town.

I did get a chance to retreat to the Sheyenne Grasslands this Friday previous. It was not what I expected it to be, for good and bad. First the bad. The bugs were very dense. Opening one's mouth caused one to get a mouth of squito. It was hard to be outside of the tent in the evening. Fortunately not one bug was found in the tent. The most excellent part was a terrific camping site in a grove nearby to a water source. Plus, no cattle surrounding me in the morning. The moon gave some great light and there were trains in the night. One of my favorite sounds is a train passing in the night. My site happened to be situated by some tracks. However, the trains were fairly silent. I had planned to do some writing and reading but did not get to do either. Also I had planned to brainstorm my latest movie idea but that got waylaid by the squito and fatigue. Instead I hiked. One interesting thing happened as I was hiking to the site. Coyotes had surround me. They were cowards and refuse...