What is Northern Tier?

If you don’t know what Northern Tier is, it is 1 of the 4 High Adventure Camps the BSA offers, which includes Philmont Scout Ranch, NM, Northern Tier, MN/Canada, Florida Sea Base, FL, and Summit Bechtel, WV. Although all 4 of these camps are the best of the best the BSA provides, Northern Tier is arguably the most unique and challenging. In itself, Northern Tier is a weeklong canoeing trip, where crews canoe and camp on the beautiful big lakes, while carrying all the gear needed for the entire week. Although each crew is provided with a trained guide who stays with the crew throughout the trek, the trek itself is incredibly difficult as you must navigate through the complicated waterways of the Canadian Crownlands with only a compass and map, paddle through heavy winds and choppy waters, rely on only the natural resources around you, and portage across land to get from one body of water to another. Portaging is where you and your canoeing group hikes with the canoe on top of your head and carrying 100-pound backpacks full of gear.  

Thanks:

Before I jump into our crew’s specific journey and trek, I would like to thank a few important figures. Firstly, I would like to thank Mr. Anand Ranganathan, our crew’s Lead Advisor, for organizing our trek and creating a template that other crews can use for years to come. I would also like to thank our other adult advisors, Mr. Karthik Mokashi, Mr. Arun Muthuraman and Mr. Sidharth Anand for ensuring that our trek went safely and smoothly, and letting us scouts make decisions on our own.

Planning:

Our adventure first started off a year ago, a month after this same crew came back from Philmont Scout Ranch. Mr. Ranganathan booked our Northern Tier trek, and immediately started researching all the logistics to plan for the trip, as this is the first time a crew from our troop has gone. As time went on, we finalized our crew and started preparing for the trip. Because we knew this adventure would be very physically demanding, we started working out and exercising as a crew and individually. We also had a couple of swimming practices to make sure everyone was prepared for anything that could happen out on the water. During the summer we went on 2 canoeing practice trips where we got used to paddling and steering, which played a huge part of the trek itself. 

Delta Flight Delay:

Using the immense research and planning Mr. Ranganthan did over the last year, we felt very prepared. But as we we’re getting ready to leave for the airport, our Delta flight got canceled due to the Microsoft CrowdStrike issue. Right away Mr. Ranganthan and Mr. Muthuraman got to work searching for other flights that could take us to Minneapolis, MN. After 3 hours of searching, they finally found and booked a flight. Luckily our trek didn’t get impacted by the delay. Once we reached the Minneapolis airport, we were picked up by a Blue-Sky Adventure Bus, which drove us 7 hours through the night, across the US/Canadian border to Atikokan Ontario, which is where one of the 3 Northern Tier bases is located. We arrived at 4 AM in the morning, but luckily our guide packed a lot of the crew gear for us the day before, which is why we were able to hit the water by 2PM that day like nothing even happened.

Our Trek Details:

Our trek was an 8-day trek in the Crownlands of Canada, where we covered a total of 75 miles by canoe. We faced MANY challenges along the way, including strong winds, choppy waters, heavy rain, capsizing, spider bites, leeches, and mosquito bites like nothing you have ever seen before. The most challenging part of the trek was definitely portaging. Carrying and hiking with a big 45-pound canoe over your head, and 100-pound backpacks, through rugged terrain such as rocks, hills, swamps, rivers, rapids, thick forests, and even chest deep mud! However the hardest part of our trek was specifically the 1.5 ml Anne Bay Portage. This portage specifically, we as a crew agree, was the most physically and mentally toughest thing we’ve ever done in our entire lives. But the end result was so rewarding. The beautiful scenery everywhere you look, the clearest water you’ll ever see, and the most untouched land that makes it seem like you’re on a different planet. After we completed our trek and returned to base camp, we cleaned up all of our gear, jumped into the first shower we had in a week, and drank regular water for the first time after a week of having to purify lake water on trail. As a crew we earned the 75 Miler award, and the Duty to God award while on trail. 

Conclusion:

As a crew we highly recommend that all of you go to Northern Tier and get to experience what we all got to experience this summer. Luckily Mr. Ranganathan has put together a slideshow of everything we’ve gathered from our trip, including things to buy, how to plan, things to bring, and reusable common crew gear, in hopes of multiple crews from our troop attending each year in the future.

Overall, this was the most challenging, incredible, and breathtaking experience we’ve ever had. We learned and got to experience things that wouldn’t be possible anywhere else in the world. Although our crew is already very close, this trip allowed us to disconnect from the outside world and become even greater friends. I will never forget this once in a lifetime experience throughout the rest of my life. And like Northern Tier says, “3 Seasons, 2 Countries and 1 adventure of a lifetime.”