Flambeau 2008

Flambeau Canoe Trip August 2008
Every few years, Troop 55 travels to the Flambeau River in Wisconsin. This is one opportunity for them to get their 50 mile afloat award. The trip starts out with small rapids and builds over the next 2 days to class II and class III rapids. It is a lot of fun!
This year we used a few kayaks as well as canoes. Al preps the night before.
	Keith and Carlson look over his kayak.
A little volleyball before putting in a few miles in the canoes.
	Nick and Josh finish setting up their tent.
The scouts launch canoes into Flambeau Lake to put in a few miles before the big trip.
	Off they go. Roger and Al went with the scouts on the lake.
A beautiful afternoon.
	Scouts always have a fire. Michelle and Steven cut up some wood.
I don't think I have ever seen so many hummingbirds in one place. They have 6 feeders and there were 2-3 at each feeders all of the time.
	Michelle decided to bring some wood with her on the trip.
After loading up 2 vehicles and a 60 minute ride, its time to unload our gear.
	Everything goes in the canoe before putting it in the water.
A few last minutes details.
	Per scout rules, everyone must wear a life preserver.
A wonderful day to canoe.
	Carlson shows his kayak skills.
The first set of rapids was small, but fun. A good chance for the scouts to learn to "read" the river.
	The day started out very calm.
Barely a ripple in the river.
	Time for lunch.
Lunch was at a stop called Oxbo Campsite
	Mike watches as Josh lights one of the stoves.
Dan teaches Ben how to use the stove. Every new scout learned and used the whisperlite stoves.
	After lunch, time to pack up the canoes and go the rest of the way.
Lots of Eagles along the way.
	The home stretch.
Our campsite for the first night. After 22 miles, anything would look good!
	Keith and Kendall set up their tent.
There was a heavy dew that morning and the tents were a little damp. Luckily, we had plenty of sun to dry them out.
	Jan dries out the rain fly and his mattress.
Michael found that the "dry compartment" of the kayak we rented -LEAKED! Dry bags work well, but not when they are submerged for 4 hours. His clothes and sleeping bag were soaked. What he had in the front was dry. Most of his clothes dried, but not the sleeping bag. Luckily, there were extra blankets for him to use.
	Most meals were freeze dried food.
The sunrise was beautiful the next morning.
	It was cool enough the night before, steam was rising off the river.
We started out the next morning with good weather.
	The river was like glass, very little breeze.
One of several large Eagles' nests.
	Camp 41 Landing was our lunch stop.
Part of the canoes lined up for lunch.
	The site is a nice place for lunch, but there are no tables.
It does have water, so a great place to top off the water jugs after eating.
Shortly after lunch, we had the next stretch of rapids.




We were about 2 miles from our campsite when the weather turned bad.
	With severe thunderstorms, we headed for the latrines (it was the only "sturdy shelter) several times.
After the storms, the weather improved. We had time for supper, and even a fire that night.
	The canoes had a lot of water in them due to the storm.
We had a short paddle to Cedar Rapids. This is a really fun set of rapids.




The last part of Cedar Rapids.
The last really fun part of the trip is Beaver Dam. This is very fast moving water over a great drop. It's lots of fun.






	On the way to our final stop.
There is almost no current on the lake.
	Jan and Alex near the end.
After 50 miles, it's great to be back at the lodge.


Once back at camp, it was time to unload the canoes and put everything back in our vehicles.
	A few of the "dry bags" we took on the adventure.
Once again, this was a GREAT adventure. Everyone completed the 50 miles.

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