My dad and I took three trips together when I was a little kid, but those had been led by a close friend of ours that had guided in the BWCA for 3 seasons out of college and knew how to take a trip. We had never led the trip ourselves. This all changed when all of our old BWCA friends had full or busy summers (or were planning crazier and crazier trips) so my dad and I took our own. We brought with us two friends that, admittedly, didn't get outside much. Frankly they were indoorsy people. But on this trip, they got a taste for the wilderness (and I think a taste was all they ever wanted, and probably won't go back.) We went to the same lake as before, and stayed at "Camp Maugrim" again. We portaged into Rove only to find that it had changed a lot in the 4 years since we had been there last. A beaver had taken up residence near the portage. I hooked into the largest smalley of my life and landed it that day on Rove (though the wind was tossing us about again.) We ate lunch at the portage and ran into a group of way-overloaded boyscouts heading through. We were entertained by a small chipmunk who obviously had been fed by folks before. He was a character and was easily recongnized by his lack of a tail from some previous incident. We also met a beaver on Daniels while fishing around his lodge. We quickly dubbed him "Justin Beaver" and he was known as such for the rest of the trip! Once again, my dad and I truly enjoyed our trip, though I am not sure the other half of our group did. And with this trip, I was sinking deaper into a love for the Wilderness that I would never shake!
