Another fantastic GoPro video from the Ciepliks

Carl, Tom and Brenda Cieplik

We've put some links to other Bow Narrows Camp videos by Scott and Tom Cieplik here before but this is one of the best, from this family's trip in 2014.
Check it out:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3wc694dcU

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No moose but I got a deer this year

Doe doesn't see me at upper right of the photo

For the first time in many years, my family did not get a moose at camp this fall. I've been waiting for just such an occasion to go deer hunting on our property in Nolalu. The reason being that even one quarter of a moose is more than Brenda and I can consume in a winter so we just didn't need the meat, until this year.
And wouldn't you know it but this was the one fall when there were very few deer on our 65 acres. The exceptionally warm weather probably had a lot to do with that. It wasn't until we started getting a little snow that the deer began showing up on my trail cameras.
I had put up a tree stand overlooking a clearing and began sitting in it less than a week ago for a couple of hours each morning and evening.
Yesterday, on my way to the stand, I surprised this lone doe right in the clearing. She must have heard the snow crunching as I walked. As it happened, my trail camera shows both the doe and me.
We now have venison in the freezer.
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Great Christmas gift idea for your angler

Looking for a last-minute gift idea?
If you've got an angler in the family, how about getting him an auto-inflate PFD? 

West Marine $79.99

Most people find these very comfortable to wear and that is what is most important when it comes to PFDs (personal flotation devices) or life vests. You can have the world's best life jacket stowed somewhere in the boat and it is utterly worthless as compared to a comfortable vest or PFD that you wear 100 per cent of the time.
Many of the auto-inflate types also have a manual option. That's good since it lets you inflate the PFD without going underwater to trigger the auto device. You don't want one that is manual-only, however. In all likelihood the situation for needing a PFD will happen something like this: one second everything is normal and the next second you are upside down in the drink as your boat goes speeding away without you in it. You need to bob immediately back to the surface -- which is what will happen with the auto-inflate PFD. You are pretty much going to be shocked witless in those first critical seconds. You'll never have the ability to inflate the PFD manually.

Dick's Sporting Goods $59.99

Finally, there are some people, myself included, who prefer the vest-style PFD. I like the one pictured here that has mesh over the shoulders and large pockets. The mesh allows me to use the vest for duck hunting since there is nothing in the way for the butt of the shotgun. The pockets are invaluable to stow essential items, like a fishing licence, bug dope, etc.



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Talk about climate change! Check this out

I hope you can make out the date on the newspaper that I just picked out of the tube at the end of the driveway. It is today's paper. The temperature is +10C or 50F.
Our field looks like it is October and the grass is turning green around the house.
Across Canada temperatures are about 10 C warmer than normal.
We live near Thunder Bay, one of the largest grain-handling ports in the world. Usually the last shipment out of port is in early January and even that requires ice-breakers to get out of the harbour. I think the boats could go right through the winter this year. They won't because the St. Lawrence Seaway closes on a specific date. They might want to rethink that timetable.
 The warm weather is good for some things, bad for others. For instance, on the Great Lakes, the lack of ice is good for shipping but also lets evaporation occur. In the past this has resulted in very low lake levels which ends up hindering shipping in subsequent years.

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Really mild start to the winter so far

It was +6 C here today and didn't even go below freezing last night. The little bit of snow that was on the ground has melted.
This is an El Nino winter which is always warmer than normal but what we've had so far is exceptional.

This family always has a great time

Art Ozark, Steve Ozark, friend Gary Teske and Matt Ozark, 2015

As I remember the story, Matt and Steve Ozark were just teenagers when they first came to another camp on Red Lake as part of a large school group. Their counselor was giving them the rules about things like running the boat and motor, when to come back to camp and where they could fish when he added they were not, under any circumstances, to go to Bow Narrows Camp.
So, being curious types, they beetled right over to Bow Narrows Camp at the first opportunity!
And they, plus their dad Art, have been coming every year since then for something like 40 years!
The Ozarks are legendary for having a great time, cooking jambalaya, eating shore lunches, and of course, catching lots of fish.
I always think of them and many other similar families and groups whenever we have a stretch of bad weather. Guys like these have seen great weather, good weather, bad weather, and atrocious weather. They've seen the fish biting so well they almost leaped into the boat and other times where they had to use every bit of skill to get a nibble. And no matter what the weather or the fishing, they always have a blast.

There really is a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow

Outdoors store right near our dock

Red Lake Outfitters store is kitty-corner from our dock

Next time you are in Red Lake you might want to check out Red Lake Outfitters store, right across the street from our dock at Red Lake Marine. This place has a good selection of outdoor stuff including tackle and hunting supplies but especially gear for canoeing.
Red Lake Outfitters offers all kinds of canoeing services, from fully-outfitted trips to Woodland Caribou Wilderness Park to shuttles to and from drop-off and pick-up spots. It even offers winter camping trips.
Woodland Caribou Park borders Red Lake at the end of Trout Bay near Bow Narrows.
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Did you see the forecast for today?

Yeah, I saw it this morning. It's calling for precipitation.
I'll always remember the exact moment I decided to throw away my smart phone. I was walking across the yard one night at camp last summer when I encountered one of our guests who was navigating his way between cabins while using the flashlight app on his own smart phone.
The night was crystal clear and the stars and the constellations in the pitch-black sky seemed so close you could reach up and grab them.
"If I could only get cell service here, or if you had wifi, I could tell you the name of those constellations. I've got an app that lets you point your phone at the sky and it will identify them. Isn't that amazing?" he asked.
I agreed but then added, "I know some constellations, which ones are you interested in?"
"That's just it," he said, "you don't have wifi, so I don't know."
"Well, I bet you know Ursa Major, better known as the Big Dipper," I said.
He looked at his phone.
"You know, the Big Dipper, it's shaped like a water dipper, like a sauce pan?"
No reply.
"Do you know how to use the Big Dipper to find the North Star?"
Nothing.
"You line up the two stars on the end of the pot and extend them to the first star. That's the North Star, or Polaris. It's at the end of the handle that makes up the Little Dipper or Ursa Minor."
"I just need wifi," said the man.
I pointed to a group of stars making a big W. "That's Cassiopeia, the Queen. The W is a crown."
"That tiny dipper-shaped one is called the Pleiades."
The man looked at his phone again. "Are you thinking of getting wifi?" he asked. "This app is absolutely amazing. I wish I could show it to you."
That's when I had my epiphany. This guy had no interest in learning the constellations. If he wanted to know the name of a constellation, his phone would give him the answer which he wouldn't even commit to memory.
I started thinking about my own growing reliance on the same technology. The first thing I was doing when I got up in the morning was check the weather report. Before the smart phone I would have stepped outside, looked at the sky, gauged the wind speed and direction, estimated the temperature and made my own prediction. Back to the photo up top, taken at sunrise here in Nolalu, our winter home. Red sky in morning means precipitation. The east wind I felt meant the same. The temperature was just below freezing. So, it was going to snow, unless it warmed up in which case it was going to rain. And rain it was.
The point is, I used my brain to figure out the weather rather than relying on a piece of plastic and silicon chips. It's a good thing to use your brain. Use it or lose it, the health professionals tell us.
I like my brain. I think I'll keep it .
So about a month after the conversation in the yard, I scrapped my smart phone and went back to the flip phone. It works better for actual phoning up here in the North anyway. Cell towers are few and far between and the flip phones must have better antennae as you can get calls in many places where the smart phones cannot. My flip phone will work in some spots at camp, for instance. I don't carry it  there, of course, but there have been times when the generator has gone out and I needed to call an expert. The flip phone will also work in the spring and fall when we don't even run the generator.
How will I identify things like constellations? I've got reference books on all kinds of things, including stars, and for some reason, the act of looking something up in a book better imprints the information in my head than does the instant answer on a smart phone. To put it a different way, books -- or people -- teach me things. The smart phone just told me things which I couldn't remember minutes later.
Use it or lose it. I like my brain.

I bet angler Jerime Williams didn't need a smart phone app to tell him it was going to rain when he snapped this shot while fishing at camp this summer.

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We just did the Lake Superior Circle Tour

Nipigon River suspension bridge is partially completed

Lookout along the Trans-Canada Highway between Nipigon and Wawa

We just returned from the Northern Ontario Tourism Summit held in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. It was the second such convention which combined the efforts and interests of Tourism Northern Ontario (TNO) and Nature and Outdoor Tourism Ontario (NOTO).

TNO has been tasked by the Ontario government to enhance and promote tourism throughout Northern Ontario while NOTO is the industry group that is funded by outdoor tourist outfitters and represents them throughout the province.

There were something like 350 people in attendance, a sellout. There was even a waiting list in case someone cancelled.

The attendees included municipalities, government ministries, experts in social media, suppliers to the tourist industry, local tourist groups and training firms, just to name a few. There were also tourist outfitters like ourselves but they were in the minority. That always puzzles me. There is a lot to learn at these events including the latest trends in travel, what the industry is actually worth, why the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests is implementing the regulations it does and tons of other things. It's also great to meet other outfitters and chat about common problems and solutions. The good news is that there were more outfitters this year than last.
On our way home we decided to duck a snowstorm hitting the north and east shores of Lake Superior by traveling through the States along the south and west shores. Since we had taken the north route on our way to the Sault, we effectively took the Lake Superior Circle Tour. The circumnavigation of Lake Superior makes a wonderful trip and I recommend it to anyone.
While in the Sault we attended a summit reception held at the Canadian Bushplane Museum. This impressive facility located on the banks of the St. Mary's River is filled with historic floatplanes, firefighting equipment and has two theaters. We took in one of the theaters when we were at a NOTO convention two years ago and it was tremendous. The show gave you a chance to be in the cockpit of a CL 415 waterbomber as it dropped water on forest fires. You could even smell the smoke.

Canadian Bushplane Museum in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

The best way to tie a boat to a dock

Which boat is tied correctly?

I was pulling boats out of the water this fall when I noticed how these two boats were tied to the dock. Do you see the difference between the two?
The boat on the left has its bow pulled tight to the dock and the stern tied farther away. This happens when the person in the front seat is the first to tie to the dock. As soon as the driver guided the boat alongside the dock, this passenger got out and tied his end (the bow) first. Unfortunately, this is incorrect.

Most of boat is tight to the dock when stern is tied first

The driver should tie his end (the stern) first as was done with the other boat. The reason is evident in the two smaller photos at the right. Most of the boat's side is straight and when the stern is tied first, as shown in the first photo, almost the entire boat is parallel to the dock. This is important because it is easier and therefore safer to disembark and re-enter since the boat is closer to the dock.
When the bow is pulled tight to the dock, as shown in the second photo, only the bow is close to the dock while the majority of the boat is pulled away. It creates a large gap between the boat and the dock. This could lead to someone or something falling into the lake.

A big gap is created when the bow is pulled tight to the dock.

The boat is also more stable when the stern is tied tight since it prevents a lot of the rocking motion of the boat when entering and exiting.
The actual knot used to tie the boat can vary, from a slip knot to a simple one that is easy to tie. We covered this once before in Great knot.
Incidentally, when the boat has its stern tied first and the boat is close to the dock, passengers can better use our new assists shown in the photos. Just grasp the uprights and step on to the seat just ahead of the driver.
These boats are the latest Lund SSV 16-foot models that we are gradually switching to. Each year we get a few more. They will make up about half the fleet next year. Most of our guests prefer them for the double split-seat arrangement that allows easy movement up and down the boat. They also like the fact there are floors throughout the boat. Shorter people, however, find them more difficult to reach the tiller handle of the outboard.

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