"Whatever the plant or creature, there is a certain place that suits it best, a place where it feels a measure of abundance, security, comfort, and familiarity. Such a place becomes home."
-- Sam Campbell

There is a source of wonderment, greater than stellar magnitudes, the tricks of time, or the miracle of growth. It is that we are here and have within us the ability to know beauty, to be kind, to experience patience, peace, and deep piety.
-- Nature's Messages

To Alan and Craig, with love.
-- Domestic Web Goddess

This webpage not neccesarily html compliant. Hopefully someday it will be a better mecca for Sam Campbell fans and campers who want to discover the Seven Secrets of Somewhere Lake for themselves. Join us for Alan and Sheri's accounts of their trips after the following links.

In Memory of "The Philosopher of the Forest" Sam Campbell
"Nature never hurries. She moves steadily, always arrives on time, finishes things on schedule, but she never hurries. Those who live with nature...woodsmen, lumberjacks, rangers, guides... learn to know patience and to synchronize themselves with nature's pace. Haste just doesn't fit in the forest; in truth, it doesn't fit anywhere."

Sam Campbell, PHILOSOPHER OF THE FOREST
by Shandelle Marie Henson

International Wolf Center
The mission of the International Wolf Center is profoundly simple. We support the survival of the wolf around the world by teaching about its life, its association with other species and its dynamic relationships to humans.

BOUNDARY WATERS CANOE AREA WILDERNESS Part of the Superior National Forest, Managed by the USDA FOREST SERVICE
We Are Visitors . . . The sound of a paddle dipping into the water, the splash of a beaver tail, the echoing call of a loon. A northern sun sets on a glassy lake, tall pines whisper with the winds. Wilderness.

Canoe Canada
Get away to the most preserved, pristine wilderness in North America Quetico Park in Ontario. Quetico is the Canadian side of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. It covers 4,800 square kilometers of untouched wilderness in Norther Ontario's Pre-cambrian shield rock forest. No hunting, roads, or development of any kind are allowed and firearms are prohibited. Even motorized boats are banned from the park, so you can travel by canoe through a truly remote wilderness.

Canoe Country

Minnesota State Canoe Routes

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Wisconsin Historical Societies
Kent's Genealogy Trading Post

Other Wilderness Wonders

Australian Wilderness Photo Gallery Slide Show Selecter

Alan's Minnesota Trip:

I went camp canoeing with the Dennys in Minnesota's Sam Campbell country – a childhood dream I have long shared with Craig Denny. Craig and Sheri Denny were in one canoe, and Doug Denny and I in another.

The night before the launch into canoe country a bear had visited the camp. Later when canoeing the bear left paw prints on the windows of the van trying to find a way inside to get to the cookies.

The first day canoeing we saw 5 bald eagles. The canoe country is wild and remote and a good map is priceless to keep from getting lost among thousands of lakes, rivers, islands, coves, etc.

The country has to be seen to be understood. It was as beautiful as I had pictured in my mind. Fabulous scenery and birds and wildlife all around to enjoy.

Only wish that it could have been longer. Relaxing around the campfire at night with special friends and listening to the sound of the loons was a wonderful way to end each day.

Sheri's Minnesota Trip:

Sheri and Craig's Canoe Trip to Minnesota
August-September 1999

The Denny family just got back from our vacation to Minnesota. Craig's parents, Mom and Dad Denny, his brother Doug Denny and his best life-long friend Alan Weis and I all traveled together. Craig, Doug, Alan and I went canoeing and camping together on the Boundary waters of Minnesota.

On our trip I wrote a journal of our adventures while we were camping. However, you must know the disclaimer and warnings right off the bat:

1. My journal started by being 20 hand-written pages. If you are the type that skims through a letter just to get the gist of it, then know we had a good time and don't bother to read this book!

2. If you are brave, proceed with caution. This journal is like one of those very frustrating movies that leaps back and forth from the present - what's happening now - to the past - reporting on what has already happened. To help you with the transition, I'll mark the "present" happenings by typing them in italics and labeling them: Present:

9-1-99 Wednesday

Present: I am not sure what made me think that I could canoe the boundary waters. The camping part I have been handling with ease. Well, maybe not ease - Serta mattress sleeping it has not been! But somehow I seem to be knocked out at night anyway.

I am sitting here at base camp where I have been blessed with a few hours to myself while the menfolk are out paddling new lakes, portaging and finding a quiet bay to fish in. I'm fully expecting some poor, scaled creature to be hauled back to camp to be butchered and breaded and fried tonight. Sigh. All my pleadings fall on deaf ears.

There is a drama unfolding right here as I sit. I just finished eating some nuts and two chipmunks are getting incredibly chummy with me. Unfortunately, not with each other. The littlest one came up and grabbed a peanut I tossed about a foot away from me. He stood on his fluffy little haunches and slowly, daintily bit tiny pieces off and chewed them up in his mouth - he must have a mouth full of peanut butter now! He had just finished when a bolt of striped lightening flashed out of the woods towards him and the bigger chippie started charging him. I can't believe how much racket two chipmunks can make crashing around in the underbrush! The bigger one came back and found two almonds I had thrown to the first chippie and he jammed them both into his cheeks - making his head look like an oblong, fuzzy ball. I don't think it's possible for him to fit anything else in there, but the little piggy keeps scurrying around my feet trying to find more. He finally disappeared but cane back again and sat on a stump about four feet away from me chirp-screaming his lungs out at the bushes in front of him. The little dude must be in there. Talk about drama! It makes me want to feed the little guy all he wants. I wonder if he has as much food stashed for the winter as the big bully!

As I sit here, the first group of canoers I have seen today slowly float by my hiding place. Their party has three canoes. It really is pretty remote out here, even though we did have plumbers drop in today! They were from the forest service and came to dig a new latrine for this campsite. It's one of those thrones out in the woods with no outhouse built around it - you just go perch on it in all your glory to do your business. But it's a lot better than hanging over a log, which my family has done in the past! I actually prefer fresh, clean air and a breath taking view instead of an outhouse. Although, Mama, a stout breeze does make it a little difficult to line the seat with toilet paper!

Doug is complaining about the lack of privacy and he swears he will just hold it until he gets back to civilization. His declaration is probably due to the fact that Craig told him he would sneak through the bushes with a camera and get a picture of him if he perched on the throne!

Well, I suppose I should give you some highlights of our trip up here to Minnesota. Craig, Alan Weis and I drove together in a car, following Mom and Dad Denny and Doug who rode in the van and pulled a little pop-up trailer behind them. We all left Amarillo together about 2:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon. In my great wisdom, I had stayed up until 5:00 a.m. the "night" before packing all our camping equipment, food and clothing. Alan and Craig were up until 2:00 a.m. helping. So, needless to say, I slept for most of the trip up here and I don't remember a whole lot about it. We did stop to eat at Taco Bell and then found a place to camp that night at Cheney Lake State Park near Wichita, Kansas. There were shower/bath houses so we were able to get scrubbed up in the evening and morning. It was so icky and humid that we ran the air conditioner in the pop-up trailer all night.

The next morning was Saturday, and we drove all day long. By the time you get six people awake, showered, fed, their sleeping gear rolled up, put away and the trailer collapsed and ready to go, it's late morning. We drove all the way through Kansas - we got separated in Kansas City for about 30 minutes which was pretty stressful - then we continued on through Iowa (they have very pretty, nice rest stops in Iowa!) and then into Minnesota.

We reached Dad Denny's brother's house - Darrell and Jackie - in Minneapolis/St. Paul by midnight. The bunch (except for Dad) stayed up talking and laughing until very late. It was late morning Sunday by the time we were all processed and on the road again. Our first stop was at Target to get some necessary items, then we proceeded to a delightful bakery for pastries and headed up to Northern Minnesota through Deluth and along Lake Superior drive. That lake is so huge and beautiful - it looks like an ocean, but it's fresh water. I think Alan told us it's the fifth largest body of fresh water in the world?

Sunday evening we camped at Gooseberry Falls State Park and sat around a nice campfire talking loudly and telling stories . most of our neighbors were well aware of the fact that we existed! Alan says Gooseberry is where we got goosebumps - boy, is he right! That was the coldest night of our trip. Mom D. was very sick that night and she and Dad were up for most of it. She is a lot better now, and I hope she keeps feeling well.

Present: The guys are back now and fishing in a little cove right near our campsite. I can call to them out in the water as I write. They drug out the snacks at the campsite and I was able to get several more almonds and peanuts into the cheeks of the littlest chippie, so I'm happy.

Anyway, Monday morning after our usual extended preliminaries, we headed to Ely, Minnesota in the north. On the way, we found a lighthouse and also stopped at a beach on Lake Superior. Then we cut West into lake country. When we arrived in Ely, we had to stop at the visitors' center to register. It ended up taking us a long, long time. We asked a ton of questions and watched a video on the how-to's of camping in the boundary waters. From the video came one of Doug's favorite sayings to wear out! The video was demonstrating what to do if a bear comes into camp. The people in the video were scaring away a real bear that had wondered into their camp (we later found out that it was a trained bear!) and the people we shouting, "Go away. You're not welcome here. We do not have anything for you." Doug really got a honk out of how these people were reasoning with that bear, and, as you can imagine it has become a well-known saying around here. I'm not worried now if a bear comes into our camp. I'll just tell him he's not welcome and that I don't have anything for him!! J That should do it. There is another point they kept making over and over in the video: "Leave No Trace" and we have been repeating, and repeating, and repeating this one also.

After learning everything there was to know, we stopped at the grocery store in Ely for some eggs and milk and headed up to our campsite on Moose Lake. There are many outfitters along the lake, but we used the guy who owned the Canoe Country campsite where Mom and Dad Denny stayed in their pop-up trailer while we went canoeing. Jackie and Darrell also stayed and braved it in a tent. The guy who owned the camp, Bob, is a funny man with a very dry sense of humor. He has been there for 50-some years and he remembers Sam and Giny Campbell. He also knows where their Sanctuary Lake is, but he wouldn't tell us. Alan asked him a dozen questions that evening, and then we headed back to the campsite to eat sandwiches. After supper we started dragging out our all our canoe gear onto the picnic table outside to begin organizing and finalizing all our equipment bags. Dad and Darrell had built a cheerful, crackling fire. It began to sprinkle and gradually it turned into rain, so we hauled all our bags back into the cars and trailer.

Present: Naughty little chippie is now dragging Hershey miniature wrappers out of the fireplace and hiding them in the bushes to chew on! I caught him and just took them away from him and put them back in the fireplace and I tried to cover it with a fire sack. I don't believe it's doing that much good . Leave no trace!

Anyway, the rain seemed to stop and we went back outside and started wiping off the picnic table so that it would dry and we could begin our sorting again. Alan had a good idea of tipping the table up on its side next to the heat of the fire so that it would dry quicker. It worked really well until I touched the table and it went crashing down backwards. Alan set it back up and it wasn't long before Bob, the camp owner, drove up beside our camp and said, "It works a lot better when it's sitting down!" I put a shocked look on my face and told him we were from Texas and we thought that's how you used a picnic table in Minnesota. The table finally went down and all the food was spread out and categorized, when suddenly the rain began again. Alan was up at the lodge calling his wife Chrissie, so we got his plastic tarp and spread it over the picnic table and its contents hoping that the rain would quit again. But it didn't. Time passed and it was still raining. We were irritated. We needed to get ready and we couldn't.

Finally, at Mom's suggestion, we hauled all our food into the trailer. There we started the process of sorting, packing, opening cans and putting all the contents into zip lock plastic bags and then into a cooler. All our snacks and packaged foods were also put into zip lock bags and packed in canvass, waterproof bags. We did as much as we could and then finally headed for bed. Alan went up to use the restroom in the lodge that night and as he was leaving he heard some noise and noticed that the garbage cans had been knocked over and there was garbage and food strewn all the way into the woods. He asked Bob, the camp owner, if it was a bear. It was. Bob told him that he saw the bear and sent him down to our camp! Actually, that was a self-fulfilling prophecy. While we were gone on our canoe trip and Mom, Dad, Jackie and Darrell were left at camp, they heard a noise during a rain shower and later went outside to look around. There were three bear paw prints on the side of the van window where it was looking in at the food that was kept in the van.

Tuesday morning started bright and early. I was up at 6:45 a.m. (a marvelous feat for me!) According to Jackie, it had been raining at 6:00 a.m. but when I got up it was actually quite pretty. We showered, ate homemade buttermilk pancakes and fried eggs that Jackie made for us, and finished sorting, organizing and packing all of our gear. Alan suggested double bagging our clothing and triple bagging our bedding - so we put everything into Hefty steel garbage bags and then into our canvass waterproof bags. He should be sainted for this life-saving suggestion.

It was about 10:30 a.m. or so when we headed down to the marina with a car stuffed with gear. The owner Bob took one look at all our gear and said, "You'd all better keep your tongues in the middle of your mouths, or you're going over!" We started loading our canoes and gathering our paddles, life vests, etc. Bob was dragging out our Pfd's (personal floatation devises) and he said, "Oh. I'd better go get a different life jacket for the big guy." And he headed off to the boathouse. Dad and Darrell almost doubled over in laughter, and they were teasing poor Doug. Bob came back and handed Doug a bigger life vest - the whole family was in tears they were laughing so hard. Doug has been called the "big guy" for the rest of this trip. I'm just relieved that Bob didn't come over and hand it to me!

Finally, we were loaded. Actually, when all was finished our gear fit pretty well into the two canoes. We could have even taken more if we had needed to and we were quite pleased with ourselves. Actually, Alan gets the credit for brilliant packing and condensing of equipment.

With great fanfare, farewells, and Jackie's video rolling, we launched off. It was sprinkling softly as we paddled past a number of outfitter docks on the right hand side of Moose Lake. About a half-mile along the sprinkles began to turn into soft rain. We were sitting on our rain suits and already our clothes were beginning to get camp. It began to rain harder. We decided to head for the shore of a public marina to put on our rain suits. But after a few minutes the sky opened up and it began to pour. Thunder and lightening came looming up behind us and we began our Olympic canoe race! We threw on our rain jackets, but it was too late. We were already soaked. The rain was pelting the water like little bombs, and then a monsoon began. As we were paddling for dear life, we passed a couple of loons not more than 4-6 feet away with their heads under their wings. The rain came down in sheets. We finally reached the nearest outfitters landing and pulled our canoes up the boat ramp and out of the lake. It was raining so hard there was a six inch deep waterfall sweeping around our ankles down the boat ramp. Doug and I ran for the porch of the outfitter building. Water was coursing across the grass and flowing into the lake so fast that it was turning the edges of the water brown from the dirt being washed in from shore.

The rain didn't last long, but we all had hair plastered to our faces and clothing that was sopping wet. Alan and Craig had the nerve to want to go on and just dry out along the way! They blame me for not having an extra pair of long pants that I could change into. My pants were sloshing and both Doug and I were in pretty bad moods. We finally "convinced" them to return to camp. We had about a foot of water to bail out of our canoes, and then the grumpy, cold, wet bunch slowly retraced our victorious departure mile and showed up at Mom and Dad's trailer. They actually heard us as we docked, and with gales of laughter from Jackie and Darrell, they gave us a ride up the hill. We found dry clothes to get into - you have no idea how good that felt! We gathered all of our wet clothes and took them up to the lodge and ran them in the dryers for about 30 minutes while we ate sandwiches for lunch. Then we loaded up our dry clothing and headed back down to the dock for our second, less glorious departure.

Finally we were in the lake and paddling again by about 1:30 p.m. or so. We were tremendously grateful for Alan's idea of triple bagging our bedding and double bagging our clothes. When we unpacked later that night at camp everything was dry and clean! Bless your buttons Big A!

The canoe trip was really beautiful. There was no more rain that day. We paddled through Moose Lake, Newfound Lake, Sucker Lake (that would be mine!) and then into the relatively long Birch Lake. We had a small 10-rod portage into Birch Lake, and our campsite was on the far end of the lake. It was a very warm day and pretty toasty paddling. Frankly, I did not have much fun. I tore out my shoulder muscles and the top of my back and neck. Like I said to begin with, I'm not sure what made me think I could go on a canoe trip. I'm not built for this and the canoeing part has been pretty miserable.

We did get to see some small wildlife, aside from my little chipmunks. There were many loons along the way. We floated close to a number of them and took pictures. But the highlight of the trip was seeing probably 4-5 bald eagles soaring through the sky above the lake. They were breath taking as they dipped down near the water and then floated up to perch on dead old trees that towered above the forest. There were a couple of times that we saw two eagles at the same lake.

Present: Craig just caught a little 8-inch bass here at our camp. Poor little guy. He's supper now.

When we first arrived at the visitors center in Ely, we were surprised to learn that much of the boundary water lake area has been destroyed by recent hurricane-force winds (80-100 mph) that hit the lakes at noon on the 4th of July this year. As you can image there were many people out and there was a lot of terror among campers. Many people were injured and had broken bones - they had to be air lifted out of the lakes and surrounding campsites. We did see miles of devastation and thousands of birch and pine trees lying down and uprooted. It was pretty sad. The experts are still trying to decide what, if anything, can be done about it. But it was still a beautiful trip, and the country is still naturally lovely.

Present: Which brings me to this campsite and right now. Doug and Alan are wading out into the water to "bathe" and Doug is screaming because he thinks it's cold. I'm sitting next to Craig on the shore as he fishes. He's trying to find another fish to go with the dinner he already caught. He just got a tiny perch and let it go. I think it was the one that was swimming with me today while the guys were gone and I was bathing. Doug just went under water and screamed like he got shot. It echoed off the back of the lake. Lovely image, hugh?!

They guys are telling me about their adventures while they were gone today. They portaged from Birch Lake to Carp Lake and there was a little rapids that emptied into the lake. Craig went swimming in that water. He says it was about 8-10 feet deep and the clearest, cleanest water he has ever seen. It was crisp and cool and the most invigorating swim he ever had. Doug said he was yelling in ecstasy, and Alan says he was Mark Spitz of Minnesota.

Our campsite is just perfect. We think we got the prettiest place to camp of any of the lakes we canoed through. It has a shallow entrance to pull up our canoes - that's the area we walk out into to swim. (Craig is knee-deep in water right now trying to catch another fish . he's still on a fishers high. But there are fish that are eating his bait and getting away - yes! I'm pulling for the fish.) The land slowly slopes up out of the water and into a grassy knoll that forms a little point out into the water. Our tent is pitched there and surrounded by wild strawberry plants and bordered in the back by heavy berry bushes. There is a shady area under the trees where we have our fire pit and double burner stove. Our "pantry" area is to the right, and our collapsible water jugs sit there also on a natural forest shelf. Behind the camp is heavy woods. To the right of the point is a quiet, marshy bay. It's a perfect place for moose, and we are hoping one will appear. I think Doug just settled that possibility. There are cattails in front of our point and some water lily pads to the left. Some of the pads are purplish in color - they are really pretty. Further down there are some round, pink little clover-looking flowers on top of the water.

We hope you enjoy your visit.