Cold Night in SURVIVAL CABIN w/ Northern Lights!
The remote Lake solitude area a wilderness set aside for the purpose of being alone. We are camped out in one of the few log cabin shelters scattered throughout the forest. And while we came for the peace and quiet, the northern skies put on a show like no other. Join us as we ride into this unique corner of Minnesota and soak in the beauty of the North Country.
This is tiny cabin life. We're in the Savannah State Forest in northern Minnesota, arriving at the border of what's known as the remote Lake Solitude area. It's a portion of the forest that borders the Savannah Portage State Park, and offers an opportunity for people to truly get away from it all. It's home to lakes, wetland areas and a dense forest, and scattered throughout the area are these log cabin shelters offering a very rustic accommodation to get out of the elements or spend the night. We're hoping to ride into a shelter that we've stayed at once before.
It's located right on the shore of remote lake and should offer an opportunity for some fishing. Hunting season has begun, so we're going to wear blaze orange on the trail just to be safe. All right, guys, so we're all set and ready to go. We're going to be making our way to this shelter up here. We've stayed at it once before, but it was raining all day and all night.
So we didn't get to do a whole lot other than just take cover. This time I'm bringing in my pack raft, fishing gear. So we're going to get out on the lake, do some fishing, as well as some other things that we weren't able to do last time.
And so we set off for about a mile and a half ride to the log cabin. The trail here is only a few miles from the Savannah Portage, an important route connecting the Savannah River and the Mississippi River. It was used by native people, fur traders, and early settlers to transport canoes and goods across land. When the rivers were impassable. The portage is two and a half miles long and sits within the boundaries of Savannah Portage State Park and just on the other side of the solitude area. We're making pretty good progress until a major obstacle stops us in our tracks.
This terrain here is so bad. I mean, look how awful this is. The trail is just torn to shreds.
Really? Really bad. There are other shelters. And I actually brought a shelter of our own.
But I really want to get to that cabin because it's right on the lake. And I want to do some fishing today. All right, so if you take a look at this, we're right there where the blue dot is. We're trying to get to that shelter up there. there's no way we're taking that trail. It's just too torn up.
But we can do is turn around and head to this shelter. And if it looks nice, we'll stay there. And then we can hike our way over to the lake with our fishing gear. And now I'm going to have to turn this thing around and walk it up this horrible hill. but I suppose I was going to have to do that tomorrow anyway, so might as well get it over with.
All right, let's get to that other trail and see what it's like, I hope it's better than this one. Not too shabby. I don't see any porcupine scat, so that's good.
And there is a little firing down there that we can clean out. Well, I think this is going to be home, and I'll show you. I. This straight ahead is the trail to the original cabin on remote Lake. Definitely not getting our bike and trailer through here.
So here we were in the middle of the forest. Finally, at our log cabin bordering camp was a large pond, home to beavers and attracting trumpeter swans. And so I got right to work setting up camp at the cabin.
I began by creating a broom out of a pine branch, just to be able to sweep out some of the sand and get it as clean as possible. I then got to work cleaning up the firing. And then it was time to bring in our gear. You've got Ellie's bed and a brand new sleeping set up for me.
All right, so this is it. It feels really, really comfortable. The mattress feels great. It's also insulated. And we're going to need that because it's going to drop down to freezing or just above tonight.
So that's really, really important. It also has a ton of storage for gear. You can see we've got these different pockets here. But it also has this gear strap up above where you can even hang your backpack, which is really, really cool.
I'm definitely stoked to have it, and I think it's going to make sleeping tonight so much more comfortable. Yeah. Well, this is home sweet home for the night. Actually cleaned up pretty nice.
All right, so real quick, before we head over to the lake and do some fishing, I want to show you this brand new bike that we've been trying out on this adventure. This is the ENGWE LE20 It's a 1300 watt peak torque sensor step through cargo e-bike. I've had a few different bikes from and I love all of them, but this one is completely different from anything that we've had before. There's a few different things that I love about this bike. Number one, it utilizes eight, a fast charging technology.
It'll charge up from 0 to 100 in about 2 to 3 hours, which is so much faster than other bikes that I've had. It also has a ton of range. It'll go 109 miles on a full charge with one battery, or if you have two like I do, it'll take you 211 miles. So even though we've been working this thing pretty hard pulling that trailer, I have no doubt that it's going to get us home safe and sound.
It's also very safe and extremely comfortable. It has a turn signal on the tail light and a torque sensor. And I love how in the back there I've got room for cargo or a passenger or I take Olivia out on rides and it is so much fun.
If you use just the throttle there, you can go up to 20mph. However, if you paddle two, it'll take you 28mph, which I think is cool. I love how portable it is too. You can drop down the seat and the handlebars, making it easier to store and put in my truck. And I realized instead of hiking, I think we can actually take our bike over to remote lake. I think there might be a way to skate around the water down there.
And, this should make the one mile round trip a little bit quicker. I just can't get a break. I think I'm gonna have to lift the bike over this tree right here. All right, there's one more here. So, of course, Ali goes right under. All right, I got it.
Now, please, no more of that. Please. The trail conditions improved and the fall colors really started to pop out as we made our way closer to remote lake and the log cabin structure that we were originally hoping to stay at. All in all, this bike is awesome. It holds up well in this terrain, which it's really not designed for. It's more of a street bike.
I love the power that it gives you while paddling and the range that it offers, especially with the two batteries. So if you want to check out the ENGWE LE20, you can do so by following the link in the description of this video. I've got a discount code for this bike as well as others, so make sure you head down there and check it out.
Look how much nicer this cabin is than ours. It's got a nicer fire ring.. It's just overall cleaner. And you've got this little lake over here. And then the larger, remote lake behind the cabin. It's a pretty awesome spot.
This is a remote lake. The body of water for which the entire solitude area is named. About half of it does lie within the Savannah Portage State Park, offering a few different ways to access it. As you can see, there are a few islands, and some of them actually have campsites, so if you're willing to get out and paddle, you'll have the area all to yourself. I. So as you can see, I'm not taking my pack raft out.
And that's because we're just running out of daylight. There's a lot of weeds here. Yeah, a lot of weeds there. A bunch of different fish inside this lake, including northern pike bass and panfish. But since nothing's biting, I figured we might as well head back to the cabin and get a fire started. Your father.
This food. Thank you for how you take care of us and protect us tonight. And get home safe and sound tomorrow. I'm in. As the sun went down, the cold air began to emerge. So I've got a rare treat this evening.
I don't typically go for scotch, but I ripped off a bottle for my dad. Actually, I'm bringing it home to him, and I figured, why not? Let's do it. Cheers. That is good, man. I'd forgotten how much I really do enjoy Scotch. Love that smoky taste. Finally, it was about time to get into bed.
I got Ellie set up in her sleeping bag first and then put up my hammock again. All right, guys, so I'm in the hammock. As you can see, I do have my bag in here up on the gear strap.
As you can see, two. The temperature is dropping and we're supposed to get down to freezing tonight. So definitely glad to have a good sleeping bag. And this insulated sleeping pad. All right, it's time for bed.
See you guys bright and early in the morning. Good night. But it wasn't long before I opened my eyes and noticed something pretty incredible going on outside. This is so incredible. I've got green swirls, pink and purple, and they're just like, dancing around up above the cabin.
Unbelievable. It's only, like, 5:30 a.m., but Ellie’s a little bit on edge, so I think I'm going to get up, make some coffee, and we'll all wait for, for the sun to come up.
As you can see, we do have some frost, so it's it's cold. So here's the problem with these butane stoves. You have to get them warm in order for them to work. So I got a warm it up here in between my knees for a minute just to get it started. And then I may have to, like, cut my hands around it.
this does not seem promising. All right, so I decided to make a little fire. Just a tiny one to get this coffee. Hopefully, we can get it hot enough to boil. Well, guys, the sun is up, and that means it's time for us to get home and start packing up.
Loading up my gear is a tedious job. With the adventure behind us, I'm just focused on getting back to the truck safe and sound. Well, we definitely left this place better than we found it. Swept it out, cleaned it out, rebuilt the firing. But we're all packed up now, so let's make some tracks and get back to the truck. All right, guys, we made it back.
And with that, I think it's time to end the video. Thank you all so much for watching. It just means the world to me. And it's an absolute joy to be able to go out on these adventures and bring you all along with. And, I don't take it lightly. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.
And I just want to remind you once again that I'm doing a 12 hour live stream on October 26th. Essentially, I'm just bringing you guys out for a full day of camping in the travel cabin. Be able to answer some questions, interact with you guys as much as I possibly can, but more so we're just going to hang out together in the woods and it's going to be great. But now I gotta load this stuff up and get home. We'll see you next week. God bless.
2024-10-19 11:47
