I use my dehydrator all the time, and usually have several meals of grab-and-go stuff waiting in the freezer. One of my favorite lunches is hummus on crackers, and I dehydrate the store-bought hummus, throw it in the blender to get a fine powder, and it's ready to go. Breaks up the monotony of summe...

Thanks for the report! And the pictures. That stretch of the Huginnin Cove trail is one of my favorites too - along with the Greenstone going east between Hatchet Lake and Chickenbone Junction. And the Feldtmann Ridge near the observation tower. And Mt. Franklin views..... I still tend toward Scovil...

Depending on how you route yourself, there may be ok water at Lake Lesage or Lake Livermore, or McCargoe Cove, within 2 miles of WCB campsite. Maybe you can work with that and manage your fill-ups to have essentially a dry camp at WCB?

Just another option - the municipal campground in Grand Marais MN will let you drop in and use their showerhouse for $3. If you have a large group, coming off the island to Grand Portage, you might consider the cost savings (and the ability to leave towels, clean clothes, and toiletries in your vehi...

Was mostly hiking inland two weeks ago and mosquitos were terrible for this late in summer. It has been a cool, wet summer and as of two weeks ago has yet to get hot enough to discourage mosquitos. They were also bad (considering the date) in the Boundary Waters last week.

The "unknown location" slide above looks like Duncan Narrows - did you get there in your travels?

SLD-TH, while not overly difficult, is a pretty lengthy chunk of hiking, so I am assuming you are aware of that and ready for that. If it were me, I would take the zero at Todd Harbor, because of the much lower number of other hikers. McCargoe Cove seems to be a lively place in recent years, and oft...

The time I was in Rock Harbor for three nights injured, people arrived at 7am from 3-mile to bag a shelter. Another time, when I was windbound in RH and meticulously following the rules, I left my kayak (full of most of my gear) on the public canoe rack behind the ranger station and walked to 3-mile...

Ok, now I am curious. What will happen to the GRT traffic if blooms start happening at critical water sources along the way (Hatchet Lake for instance)? Will this effectively split the island”culture” in two as hikers have to carry two days worth of water, or hike extended distances between good wat...

Tannic acid is soluble in water, so you get a 100-percent homogeneous solution(theoretically). A filter wouldn’t make much difference. Some chemical adsorption (activated charcoal, ion exchange media, etc) would be needed, which is how a home treatment system would typically work. I always like the ...

Ya know, in southern New Zealand, there's an area known as Fiordland, that is breathtakingly beautiful. And it is a stunning tourist draw until the sandflies come out. Sandflies are the local variety of blackflies - bigger than gnats but still pretty small compared to houseflies or deerflies. And th...

"without the boardwalk one would have to wade through that swamp. " On previous maps, it looks like the trail skirted the northern edge of that swampy area, maybe avoiding the worst of it. It now appears to go straight across, reducing the total length and probably the route-finding diffic...

I appreciate the detailed trip report. I was particularly drawn in by a couple of your comments about trail improvements - for years the Minong (originally just a fire cut) was managed as a mostly-unimproved, minimally maintained trail, for the most adventurous and strong hikers. I'm not sure if tha...

https://www.identicards.com/productcart/pc/Great-Lakes-Nature-Set-3-Pocket-Guides-p193670.htm?gclid=CjwKCAjwqauVBhBGEiwAXOepkUx0dLdEWEpxpCnxYN6QXnsubIIHF45NF8Jj5jXjzXvPhI9fSnVBuBoCtPsQAvD_BwE I use these folding card nature guides for general interest - what kind of tree, what was that bird, etc. Fo...

I think you can see Ryan Island off in the distance from the Greenstone Ridge southwest of Chickenbone Junction, in clear weather. This would be roughly 3-4 miles uphill hike from McCargoe Cove, and the same downhill returning to your Basecamp.