Traditions

Anniversary Throw

When someone completes their 10th or 20th He-Man, we have the tradition of throwing him into the lake. Also on the 20th we tend to give a small gift. Bob Clark below demonstrates perfect form in being thrown in. Bob Clark Toss 2005

At lunch on the last day of canoeing, Dave, Boyd, and Ron determine who should be the He-Man of the year. Some basic requirements for He-Man of the Year are participation in all competitions and willing performance of assigned duties. The individual that helped others out on the trip typically wins, but sometimes the person who suffered the most wins. Most years it is a difficult decision. Winner gets the privilege of being thrown into Trout Lake (or Lake of The Falls Dam on Turtle-Flambeau Flowage Route). Winner also receives an engraved canoe paddle. See Doug below for perfect throw in form and response to Trout Lake's warm water.
. Doug 2008

51 Culvert

Just before Trout Lake on Trout River there is a culvert under highway 51. The current going through this culvert is too fast to paddle our loaded canoes up. The sensible thing to do would be to walk the canoe's up since the water is not real deep. But we have a tradition to pole our way up the culvert, one team at a time. The hardest part is the very end where the river takes a small drop into the culvert. In picture above Drew and Dave try to make the culvert with paddles but fail. They succeeded on a later attempt using poles. Usually every year there is at least one canoe that tips at the culvert.

Lake Swim

Immediately upon entering the last lake of the trip (Trout Lake from Trout River or Pike Lake from Turtle River) , everyone is expected to take a quick dunk into the lake. Everyone is expected to dive into the water and get completely wet. We tend not to stay in the water very long since it is late May in a Northern Wisconsin lake. On the 1996 trip, the ice went out of Trout lake only two weeks before the trip so the water was extremely cold. Once a person dives in, we shake each other's hands congratulating that we made it through the trip. It is also at this point that we declare that all participants can call themselves a He-Man for one year (until next year's trip).
Trout Lake Swim

Paul Bunyan's

There is a restaurant in Minocqua, WI called Paul Bunyan's which is the last stop of the trip. This is done after pulling out of the water, sorting out all the gear, cleaning up some of the equipment, and taking a group picture with our new He-Man T-Shirts on. Typically we get a lot of strange looks at the restaurant. The strange looks could very well be from us all wearing the same T-shirt with "He-Man" printed in the front of it. Or it could be that we haven't bathed for three days. In any case, we do enjoy the meal. Having an all you can eat family style meal is really great after canoe camping for three days. After the meal, we say our good byes. Most of us head to our homes at that point, while a few stay back at the Roloff's cabins before leaving the next morning.

In 2003 we broke with tradition and ate at Culiver's so those that had to drive far did not eat a big meal.