Trouble in Paradise

That's Sam looking and Jim and the the Ranger's head in the plane.

After we got to the resort, one of the 1st things we did was go to the park service and reserve some boats for Locator Lake. The day came and it couldn’t have been better. Warm, beautiful, sunshiny day and off we went, me, my 2 brothers, 1 nephew, and his buddy. It’s about 8 miles across the lake, so we took 2 boats there. My nephew and his pal took off on the wrong direction, but managed to find the landing anyway. That’s the easy part. Then you have to hike about 1 ¾ miles, and I mean hike. We all got a laugh when my nephew told us about how his mother (my sister) went bonkers on him and his dad a couple of years earlier. They talked her into going out there with them, telling her it was just a short walk. Boy, does she still talks about it too. Ha ha. This trail is up and down about 6 times. From lake-level to 60+ feet over the pine tree tops. If you had to get away from a bear, you’d have to pull a “Rambo” shot, jump off and hope you could grab the branches on the way down. I don’t think there is 1 level step the whole way. You have to watch every step. Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of things on that trail, from snakes to snapping turtles headed to the beaver pond. One time we had a baby bear cub up a tree, but didn’t realize what it was until we had the pix developed. Thank the lord it didn’t cry out, because there was no way for us to get away from that spot. Mama would’ve gotten some of us for sure. Most of the time, it’s like walking through a tunnel there’s so much over-growth. Single-file and it’s kind of hard to follow once you hit a clearing. There aren’t a lot of people who go out there to tamp down a good trail.
Anyway, we got there, broke-out the canoes, paddles, and headed out. Locator Lake is about 1 ¼ miles long, with another lake about the same size connected by a small stream behind it. Actually there are 4 lakes like that in a row, but to reach the last 2, you’d have to portage over a beaver dam at the far end of War Club. We planned on going into War Club, but that’s a lot of paddling, so we let the wind blow us towards it while we casted, jigged, and just fooled around. It’s really nice because you’re usually (99 out of 100) the only ones there for miles around. And I mean on all 4 lakes. There’s only 1 trail in, and it leads to Locator.
Back to the point. We were there about 2 hrs. and then a small seaplane started to circle and then landed on the water a few hundred feet away. I thought that someone was smart and flew in to fish. Wrong. Everything seemed to be OK, but as we drifted closer, he called us over and we could see that it was a ranger. My brother Jim and I went over and he asked about our life jackets. Naturally that was the one thing we didn’t think to bring with. We only had 2 with us. He hemmed and hawed for a while about the jackets and then asked us to leave. He was there with someone to take water samples or else he wouldn’t have even been there that day. My brother Pat wanted to stay, so the 4 of us waited for awhile and then left. He had a life jacket, so we weren’t very worried about him. We thought we were getting a break, but. On the way back to the landing, I noticed the plane flying overhead a couple of times. I didn’t think much of it, I just thought that he was circling to make sure that we didn’t go back. I know that he couldn’t see us down there through all that stuff and then he disappeared for a while. We got back to the landing and headed back to the resort. Then about ½ the way back, the plane shows up again. He circles a couple of times and pulls us over in the middle of Kabetogama. Again only 1 life preserver, but atleast we had cushions. Well, they don’t count. He said that he could give us all a ticket, but that we could choose one person to get it if we all agreed. What a nice guy. I volunteered, but only because everyone said they would all chip-in. I didn't expect my nephew or his friend to, but I sure expected my brother to. They say no good deed goes unpunished and it's true. What a bunch of B.S. When the time came to pay up, nobody remembered or wanted to hear about it, so it cost me 125 bucks. I even got a notice from the US forest service. The U.S. of America vs. Al Cappy. I sure learned my lesson. Next time, if there is one, everybody gets a ticket.
It sure did give us something to talk about for the next couple of days though. Ha Ha. Later.