By The Group (Tony Kohman, Geno Faraci, Matt Evans, Jon Schmidt, Jon Fairbourne, Tony Cruickshank, Mike Phelps, and Doug Berg)
The 1998 Kekekabic Trail started out like any other Mini-School winter trip. The group of us- Tony Kohman, Geno Faraci, Matt Evans, Jon Schmidt, Jon Fairbourne, Tony Cruickshank, Mike Phelps, and Doug Berg had the usual drive up to the BWA with the usual Arlo Guthrie accompaniment. We stopped at the Grant House in Rush City for breakfast. We also stopped at Granite Gear in Two Harbors to pick up a pack and some winter clothing items. We stayed in the East Bay Hotel in Grand Marais, ate pizza for dinner, had a big bacon breakfast the next morning, and drove out the Gunflint Trail to our Trailhead. After that things got different.
This would not be a base camp trip as winter camping trips usually are, but would be a mobile trip. The Kekekabic trail, the trail we were to hike across the BWCA on, is described thusly: 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 wind falls and standing timber. It is pressed, in places, on all sides by out croppings of rock, sometimes it snakes its way over old river beds, slippery, rocky, and treacherous. In other areas it is a peaceful path loping through open stands of timber with a soft mossy carpet underfoot. It is the kind of trail that would break a man who didn’t have what it takes to go into the wilderness and try to ‘smooth it.’
The first couple of days we hiked across frozen lakes which was cool (no hills). We all figured this wasn’t going to be too bad. On the third day our minds changed in a hurry as we tackled the hills between Agamok and Hamess lakes. We discovered that Minnesota had mountains. We all carried heavy back packs and pulled 2 sleds which carried tents and miscellaneous gear. Doug hiked ahead all the time, dropped his pack, and would come back and help us with the sleds. Even so, we fell way behind, barely made it to Strup Lake, our destination, by dark, and literally slept on the trail. It was too dark to find firewood so Doug cooked our meal by camp stove. We ate then crashed and tried to stay comfortable through the 15 degrees below zero night.
The rest of the trip went much better. Doug and Tony Kohman got a good fire going the next morning, we learned to handle the hills better, we learned to cooperate and help each other more. The next campsite at Thomas Lake was really great. We got there early, hung things out to dry, went ice fishing (caught only ice), had a good dinner, a good fire, and some good readings from Doug.
The last campsite on Parent Lake featured a pine marten (pine weasel, according to Tony K.) getting into our food and garbage. Since it was our last night out we didn’t lose much but he sure made a mess. He also stole our raisins, which we’d been missing for a day and been hiding in Tony Kohman’s pack.
All in all the trip was tough. Doug went so far as to say that it was as tough as some of the original Mini-School trips. It was a lot of work and we can look back with pride at what we did. Everyone did well and we’d like to thank Joe Juranitch for helping us out by shuttling the Mini-School van.