Adventure Jones Blog - Archive for the ‘AJ Staff Adventures’ Category

Canoeing in the Boundary Waters

Ok, so maybe a canoe carrier won’t change your life, but canoeing in the Boundary Waters could! Here’s one of our client’s stories about how a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters changed her life. She’s now in her early 50′s, but she’s never forgotten what she learned as a teenager on this canoe trip.

“Thirty-five years ago I became a tough girl. I went on a Lutheran church camp canoe trip to the Boundary Waters area of Northern Minnesota, ostensibly to get closer to the Lord, mostly to get closer to the cute boys in my church who were also going.

Sure, I worked hard as a teenager in Iowa. De-tassling corn in the summer, working at a restaurant in the winter—we all worked hard then, and went to church on Sundays. I was looking forward to this trip for (let me remind you)…BOYS.

As I watched the truck driving behind us with the canoe carrier full of canoes, I didn’t give a thought to how physically difficult the trip would be! And after the first week, I cried the first few nights from the pain in my aching legs and back. I no longer even tried to comb my hair in the morning, let alone put on the makeup we were urged by knowing camp counselors to leave behind. Boys? Who cares? I want to go home! But by the end, I was in love with nature instead.

We camped on different remote islands, transporting the canoes on our shoulders across portages while sporting 70 lb backpacks (which were weighed and after being told we couldn’t, stuck in extra stuff between every loose space there was anyways). After we reached the next river, we plopped in the canoe, shloshed in our respective seats, and canoed across vastly beautiful and untouched areas of Canada.

Sometimes it rained—rained while canoeing in a storm, rained when we landed at our next island camp, rained as we set up our tents, rained while we looked for wood to make a fire for dinner, rained as we crawled miserably into our tents in the dark. Ick! Boys? Who cares? They only remember me now as the one who dropped the treasured popcorn into the fine silty dirt one evening. Did you know popcorn won’t pop if it gets wet first? More Wassa bread for you!

The memories of loons cooing in the evening, clear crisp waters you could see to the bottom of, and the self assurance that I held up my end of the work was a big boost to my self esteem. When we got back to base camp I was treated to my first sauna experience. In the dark we made our way down to the dock and ran unencumbered down into the dark water to get the shock of freezing cold on our exhausted, sweat covered bodies.

Boys? Oh yeah, I lost 13 pounds, came back tanned strong and tough, and signed up for science camp as soon as possible so I could begin studying microbiology!”

Friends sledding

I can’t remember the last time I went sledding. But a few days after the latest snowfall hit in Minnesota (and just about the only significant snowfall this winter), my friends and I decided it was time to drag out the sleds.

Sledding is fun. Sledding in the dark…even more fun. There’s no telling when you’re going to sail off a ramp some kid built up during the day. Especially when you’re going backwards.

I’d forgotten how you can feel everything under the sled when the snow is packed down. Every bump, dip, and mitten that you run over feels rock-hard.

Although I can’t recommend sledding in the dark (something along the lines of “don’t do this at home”), we did come out in one piece…no broken bones, no bruised tailbones, and no trips to the emergency room.

Time to put away the sleds again until next time the kid in me wants to come out and play.

What better way to earn your turkey than running a 5K on Thanksgiving morning? Several members of the Adventure Jones staff took up the challenge, braved the cold, and ran (or walked) their way through downtown Minneapolis.

Group photo

Waiting at the start line

Bring on the turkey!

Adventure can be anywhere…your backyard, a local river, or across the world. Tom, one of the owners behind Adventure Jones, recently got the chance to travel to Scotland and Ireland with his family, where they walked along the edge of the deadly Cliffs of Moher and even got an up close and personal encounter with the Loch Ness monster (er…sort of). We’d all like to visit someday, but for now we’ll settle with living vicariously through the photos. Here are a few for you to enjoy.

Cliffs of Moher

Family photo

If you look closely, you can see "Nessy" the Loch Ness monster!

Dingle Peninsula in Ireland

Water Tubing on a Deck Tube

It was one of the last good tubing days for northern Minnesota—right before a cold front would blow in and force us to dig out the long underwear and stocking caps for the rest of our vacation. We wanted to enjoy the water while it was still tolerably warm, so my family and I packed up the boat, threw on our swimsuits, and headed for Birch Lake in downtown Hackensack.

Only three of us were up for tubing, so the rest of the family sat out by the dock to watch from shore. My mom was the bravest of the bunch. She’d never been tubing before, but she was adventurous enough to give it a shot, even against the advice of her chiropractor.

My brother-in-law went first. He dove off the swim platform and came up howling from the shock of cold water. In a few minutes, he was used to the temperature and ready to ride. He grabbed hold of the two-person deck tube and muscled into place. The driver took it easy the first time around. Then it was mom’s turn. After watching my brother-in-law’s reaction to jumping in the water, she chose to climb from the boat directly onto the tube, telling the driver several times to “take it slow.” The boat took off for a gentle ride. Mom was smiling. After shouting back and forth to see how she was doing, the driver accelerated without warning, and I watched with panic as my mom clutched the handles with a death grip. The smile was gone, and I couldn’t tell if she was enjoying herself anymore or if she was just hanging on for dear life. After a few minutes, she gave the signal for the driver to stop, and we pulled the rope in to the boat. She was a little shaky but still in good spirits, declaring that it was “fun, but I wouldn’t want to go any faster.”

Next it was my turn. Knowing my brother-in-law who was driving, I was a little nervous about what kind of ride he was going to give me, but it started out pretty tame. I couldn’t even get outside the wake. After a few minutes I was getting bored, so I stuck my thumb up four or five times to tell him to pick it up, and that’s when the real fun began. My brother-in-law did everything he could to get me off that tube, and I did everything I could to keep him from dumping me. Several times the tube would flip halfway and I’d somehow come out on top again, with the spotters in the boat yelling, “She’s still on!” I made it without getting dumped my first time around, but my second ride got even wilder and dumped me outside the wake after hanging on for a few precious seconds with the deck tube flipped most of the way out of the water.

It’s hard to call it quits when your adrenaline is pumping, but we finally decided enough was enough. We’d be feeling sore for the next week as it was. We headed back to the boat launch, reluctant to leave but promising to give it another go next year. Even my mom said she’d be up for tubing again.

Setting up the tent

It wasn’t until the second day that it hit me—how there was nothing man-made breaking up the horizon. No power lines or cell phone towers peeking above the tree line, no buildings in the distance, not even a cornfield to say “someone’s been here; someone’s planted this.”

It was something I’d experienced only a handful of times, but never as dramatically as in the Boundary Waters. Our group of 8 women canoed and portaged our way to a remote campsite in the BWCA for a 3-day camping trip. A few of the women had been to the Boundary Waters before, but for most of us (including me), it was our first time.

The trip started out a little rough, with trying to canoe up rapids, backtracking to find our first portage, and ending up back where we started, but the adventure of learning to find our own way around and work as a team made it all worth it. We made it to our campsite just in time for a 4:00 lunch. Food never tasted so good.

Group shot at the campsite

The campsite was perfect—up on a rock ledge with plenty of breeze to chase away the mosquitoes—and it wasn’t long before we realized that we’d be sharing our spot. Turtles were popping up everywhere. Watching the turtles dig holes and slide down the rock ledge into the water was our main source of wilderness entertainment for the night.

The next morning we woke up to a steady rain that lasted into the early afternoon. Several of us donned our rain gear and rigged up a tarp to cook breakfast. Then we all piled in the larger tent to wait out the rain.

Our last morning was sunny again. We broke camp early and headed back to the trailhead in our canoes. We portaged in record time. Balancing a 40-pound canoe on our shoulders? Got it. Double-packing over boulders and rocky ground? No problem. In three short days, we were outdoor women.

Our goals for next year’s BWCA adventure? A 4-day trip. Star-gazing. And spotting a moose.

If there’s a little dirt left in our ears, don’t judge us. We just completed our first ever Warrior Dash 5K mud run on Saturday afternoon. The Adventure Jones team of 13 raced up and down steep hills, climbed cargo nets, scaled walls, jumped over fire, swam through a mud pit, and crossed the finish line in true warrior fashion.

What was it like? See for yourself!

The "Before" Picture

Diana gives a thumbs up in the mud pit

Guy crawling through the mud pit

Adventure Girls

Want a better idea of what the race was like? See the video below, captured by fellow warrior Ben Mueller.

Warrior Dash 2011 Adventure Race

If scrambling through a mud pit under barbed wire, clawing your way up a cargo net, and jumping over fire sounds like your sort of thing, we’re with you. The Adventure Jones staff will be toeing the start line at Warrior Dash on Saturday, July 23 at Afton Alps in Minnesota. We’re excited (mostly for the free beer), nervous (since most of us just started thinking about training for it this week), and ready to whoop it up in true warrior fashion.

If you’re coming to run or just to watch, look for the schnazzy blue and orange “Adventure Jones” t-shirts that we’ll be sporting for the event. By the time we cross the finish line, they’ll be caked in mud.

Want to know if there’s a Warrior Dash coming to your town? Join the adventure here.

Event Details:

• Where: Hastings, Minnesota
• When: 2:30pm
• Race Length: 3.02 miles
• Obstacles: Junk yard jump, barbed wire, cargo nets, mud pits, fire, and more!

Pinch the straps in the door on windy days to keep the foam block kayak carriers in place.

The day was fairly calm when I started out, although the lake I was on is known for its strong winds and prime windsurfing conditions. It was my first time kayaking there, and I managed to snag a spot close to the lake for an easy launch.

The winds were calm on shore but stronger as I paddled out to the middle of the lake. After an hour or two, the winds picked up and the waves got choppy—my kind of kayaking—so I made another trip across the lake before heading to shore.

I’d never loaded the kayak with strong winds before, and it turned out to be quite the challenge with my foam block kayak carrier. Although some instruction manuals tell you to lash the foam blocks to the kayak before loading, I’ve found it easier to load solo by setting the blocks on top of the car and sliding the kayak up the back window and onto the blocks. On a calm day, the system works perfectly. But on a day like that, the blocks wouldn’t stay in place long enough for me to load the kayak.

I figured out how to keep the blocks in place by pinching the straps (the ones that run through the hole in the blocks) inside the car door on each side. Once I loaded the kayak, all I had to worry about was holding it in place until I could strap it down. The wind gusts were strong enough to flip my kayak over onto the car next to mine.

Lesson Learned: Foam block kayak carriers are not the best option for windy days. That’s when a roof rack system comes in handy.