Sommers Base, BSA - Arrival Day
The "Hol-Ry" banner on the road welcomes you to the base. Inside the stockade is the check-in building where the crew advisors handed in their crew rosters, health forms and tour permits. They were issued their BWCAW permits which had to be carried at all times during their trips.
All three of our crews met with their own interpreter to begin to check out the equipment that was going to be used on the trek.
We also had to get used to where everything was located at the base.
The "first night" cabins were hexagon shaped buildings that were very warm. There were fans at the top of the ceilings and eventually it got cool overnight. It was in these buildings that the crews were able to do their final shakedown and pack their "gray whales", the portage packs that would hold the crews' personal gear.
We had two dinners and two breakfasts in the dining hall - one set before we went on the lakes and one set after we returned. At the arrival day dinner, we were part of the 16 crews heading out the next day; however, when we returned, we had the dining hall all to ourselves for dinner and breakfast! It was here that we learned the Wilderness Grace. The food was pretty good and everyone ate well.
Two views of the "Bay Post". The top floor of this building is used to issue equipment to the crews - the tents, the "kettle" (kitchen utensils, pots & pans, backbacking stoves, griddle, spices, etc.), and the emergency radios. One of the rooms on the bottom floor held some large wooden lockers that crews can use to secure their personal gear while they're on their treks. We decided to keep all our luggage in the rented vans.
Directly adjacent to the Bay Post was the Paddle House. Here, crews picked the appropriate sized paddles and their PFDs.
Off a trail on the opposite side of the Bay Post was the storage area for the canoes that we would be using.
Time to hit the lakes!
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Crew Pictures:
