The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a paradise made up of clear glacier-carved lakes, rocks, trees, swamps, and all the wildlife that is nurtured there. From about April or May through October, and especially in July and August, the wilderness echoes to the shrill calls of campers, the metallic banging of canoe paddles on aluminum canoes, and the smell of birch or pine campfires. The calls of the loon are frequent and a favorite indication that all is well.
I was on the fourth day of a two-week solo canoe trip, and had paddled hard to get to one of my favorite campsites. The portage trails were rocky and steep, going from lake to lake, which helped "cut down on the riffraff," too. I'd set up my tent, readied the bear bag to toss over a high limb nearby, and set up my camp stove for one of those boil-in-pouch Indian meals. By then I was eager to jump into the lake to cool off and erase the sweat and the sore muscles.
The campsite lends itself to that with a sloping rock landing area that's almost like a beach. On top of that, there's a higher rock from which you can dive or jump into a nice, deep pool.
Checking quickly to make sure no Girl Scout troop was paddling by, I shucked my shirt, shorts, lacy unmentionables, and sandals. Placing a towel at the top end of the rock, I happily waded in. The water felt marvelous--cool but not too cool, fresh and clean. Soon I was stroking out to a rock about fifty yards off the shore, burning off some extra energy.
After catching my breath on the rock, I turned about and did a backstroke for a few rods, then turned over and did a surface dive. I opened my eyes and watched for fish, and sure enough, there was a walleye checking me out from a short distance. So I enjoyed a few minutes just diving and swimming under water.
On what turned out to be my last dive, I started coming to the surface when I realized there was a canoe coasting in very close to me, with two paddles in the water. Oh, well, I thought, I hope they can see that this site is taken.
I broke the surface and wiped my face, treading water as the canoe slowed to a stop. I was slightly chagrined to realize there were two women in the canoe, and I became very conscious of my state of nudity and the clearness of the water.
"Oh, hello!" One of them cried. "Sorry to bother you!"
"That's okay, no problem," I answered. "But this..."
"It's getting a bit late, and all the campsites seem to be full..." the woman in the stern said. If she was right, there wouldn't be another campsite until after the next long portage, and it might be taken, as well.
I did notice that the women were fairly young, seemed fit, and were to my taste rather attractive. That may have influenced me.
"Well, there's plenty of room here, if you don't mind sharing with me," I offered. "And I guess if you don't mind being around a naked guy until I can get some clothes."
"Oh, you can wear whatever you want," the redhead replied. "We don't mind, and we will want to swim a bit ourselves."
"Yeah, we don't like swim suits, either," the dark-haired bow paddler added.
With that, they aimed into shore, and as I was swimming leisurely in, they beached, hoisted their Duluth packs onto the rock, and pulled their nice Kevlar canoe further up to rest next to my solo canoe.
"Nice canoe!" The redhead admired, indicating my small, narrow solo canoe as I stood up and clambered nonchalantly out of the water. The women each had a quick glance at what they could see of me--which was everything--and turned about and began rummaging into their packs.
In a short time they had their tent up and were stowing their pads and sleeping bags inside. Meanwhile, I toweled myself off but decided to test the limits a bit and chose not to get dressed. I wasn't sure, so I asked, "Sure you don't mind if I cool off a bit more before getting dressed?"
"Totally your choice," the darker one replied. "We're not shy, and we're about ready to jump in ourselves."
Shortly after that, they both started shedding their clothes--which consisted of light long-sleeved shirts, tank tops, and Lycra shorts. Before Bob's your uncle, they were wading in, sighing and laughing.
Naturally I couldn't resist checking them out--after all, fair's fair. The redhead was the shorter of the two, with short, muscular legs, a flat butt, a slender torso, and, from what I could see, firm and not too large breasts. Her hair was tied in a somewhat frazzled braid, and the freckles on her arms and face seemed just perfect. The other woman was a bit taller, also slender and nicely formed, with very short dark brown or black hair. She showed signs of an all-over tan, with only a few days' worth of difference between her arms and the rest of her.
While they swam, I took a drink from my water bottle and started up my stove, placing my cook pot on the burner. By the time they decided to climb out of the water, my pot was just starting to boil, and I put the packet in and adjusted the heat. I noticed from the frontal view I got of my camp mates that they both had nicely trimmed fur between their legs, and as they came up to the fire ring of course I saw that both sets of nipples were hard from swimming in the cool water.
"There don't seem to be any mosquitoes out," the redhead said as she toweled off. "I don't see any reason to get dressed until we have to, eh?" So she was Canadian. "By the way, I'm Britt."
"And I'm Tegen," the darker one said.
I introduced myself, and we all set about fixing dinner. My boiling packet had a few more minutes to go, and they got some water going to do a freeze-dried stew. Mine was finished first, and I let it rest in the hot water until they were ready.