JACKSON GIRL SCOUT CANOES MINNESOTA WILDERNESS AREA

Canoers and guides for Girl Scout wider opportunity trip were pictured with Rebecca Koeller, fourth person from the left in the back row.

Rebecca "Becky Jo" Koeller was chosen to attend this summer's Canoe Country Rendezvous, a Girl Scout wider opportunity sponsored by Girl Scouts of the Land of Lakes Council in northern Minnesota.

Koeller has been a Girl Scout for seven years and is a Cadette member of Girl Scout Troop 213 in Jackson. Her leaders are Sandy Miller, Candy Johnson and Marty Koeller.

Koeller joined other young women as they experienced the challenging seven-day canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Quetico Provincial Park.

This trip gives young women opportunities to see bald eagles and loons as they travel through a land unchanged by modern civilization.

They paddled through the same lakes and streams voyageurs in the fur trade traveled more than 200 years ago.

Koeller reports on her experience:

I went on my second Wider Opp this summer. I canoed the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and Canada in Canoe Country Rendezvous.

On June 15 my parents and grandparents took me to the airport and sent me out on a plane. This was my first plane ride and my first trip on a plane alone.

That day when I got to Hibbing, Minn., I met all of the other participants. I was the youngest one there!!! I made a lot of friends just by talking to them and getting to know them.

After we got to Camp Austin everyone made her phone call home. On the morning of June 16 we all go up early to go shopping. Everyone bought candy or souvenirs or presents. After shopping we headed to the base camp. When we got to the base camp, we were separated into groups of five or six with three or four guides and guides in training. That night we had a seminar.

On June 17 we set out for our canoe trip and did our first portage.

On June 18 we did two or three portages. When we found our campsite, four of us went exploring and found a beautiful rock ledge overlooking the lake.

On June 19 we got lost looking for our first portage of the day, we'd made a wrong turn. On our way to our next portage we saw a buck and a bear; the bear was looking through a beaver dam.

June 20 was layover day, a day to rest. We got to eat food that started with the letter "P" and was able to be made from powder. We also swam in Louisa Falls, a beautiful waterfall.

On June 21, after we set up camp on Bailey Bay, two people in my group went to dig the latrine and dug up about 12 old Indian beads. That night three of them got stolen. We still had enough left to give everyone, including our guides.

On June 23 someone delivered eggs. Our guides called her the "egg-woman". YUCK!!!!!!! Our guides in training could not cook eggs! We had trouble getting back to base camp because of terrible headwinds. Before we got back to base camp, I got a leech! Leeches don't hurt and they look like big, black, blood-sucking slugs.

On the last day we had a rendezvous with a lot of food, games and storytelling. We woke up early the next morning to say goodbye and get on our first flight for the morning. At Grand Rapids Airport our right engine overheated, so our flights were delayed for two hours. By the time we all got to the Minneapolis airport, everyone had missed their flight! Thankfully, everyone made it home safely that day.