Kiba - There are horse flies in the BWCA also, but I usually don't see them until late June. I don't expect them this trip. I don't like them either especially when they sneak up on you when you are swimming and take a pound of flesh. But because of the swarms of black flies that can occur in the spring, my own opinion is black flies are worse. I will have a bug screened tarp along to be able to cook and eat in peace in anticipation of them. And I've advised everyone to have a head net along. I have to laugh because I'm reminded of the old 60's Bill Stains folk song, "The Black Fly Song"; especially verse 4.....
It was black fly, black fly everywhere
A crawlin' in your whiskers, a crawlin' in your hair
A swimmin' in your soup, and a swimmin' in your tea
Oh the devil take the black fly, and let me be
Chorus:
And the black flies, the little black flies
Always the black flies, no matter where you go
I'll die with the black flies a pickin' my bones
In North Ontar i o i o, In North Ontar i o
Here is a YouTube of a much older Bill Stains performing the Black Fly Song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIJmpOSolgw
Baz - We will be on big lakes that are orientated east and west. Foul weather makes for the wind out of the east and fair weather makes for the wind out of the west. So I will be in a tandem Canadian style open canoe that can easily handle 2 foot waves with a full load of about 550 pounds. Experience says I will see wind and waves..... My canoe on this trip is my Wenonah Champlain
http://www.wenonah.com/products/templat ... d8b038badc