Liz Lomauro 
"Cook Liz Lomauro loves peanut butter!"
Liz Lomauro is doing a fantastic job in the kitchen this year as one of our cooks! She continues on the great tradition of home-cooked meals and family-style service. Liz is from Champlin, MN and attends St. Gerard's Catholic Church in Brooklyn Park, MN. She decided last summer she wanted to be on staff after she went on a Wilderness canoe trip. Liz felt the friendliness of the staff and loved the open-air chapel. She graduated from Champlin Park High School this spring and will attend Purdue University in the fall. She is planning to major in engineering, and would like to become a chemical engineer in the future.   Liz enjoys swimming. Liz recently completed the Dominion Fourth of July Challenge by swimming around Dominion Island with other staff members. She did this in 29 minutes and 3 seconds! This is certainly one of the fastest  times ever seen for this event! She also cross country skis and reads. Liz's favorite WCB memories so far have been learning to grill for the Beach Meal, which is a barbecue on Canoe Beach with campers departing for trail the next day. She is definitely excelling at the grill this summer.  

 

David Mallone Butcher
"Canoe Guide David Butcher chose to be photographed starting a fire with two sticks for his staff picture this year"
David Butcher is enjoying his third summer as a canoe guide up at Wilderness. David began working at Wilderness in the summer of 2007, and is from Richmond, Virginia. He attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk and majored in history. So how does a Virginian become a Minnesotan? David heard about the Base through his sister, who attended St. Olaf College and heard about the Base from current Camp Manager Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux. David spent May 2008 through March 2009 here as winter retreat and maintenance staff. He then returned this summer. David continues to serve on the Wilderness staff because he is continually amazed at the way wild places change people's lives. He wants to continue to serve people in Christian community and lead them in wilderness experiences. David will join the staff at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Ely, MN for September 2009 through June 2010 as a Naturalist, earning him a certificate in Environmental Education through the University of North Dakota.  When David first set foot on Wilderness rock, he did not know he would be paddling out to islands to live, work, and play. Somehow this detail had escaped him in pre-summer emails and orientations.  Now David is one of the most experienced members of the staff. One of his favorite trail memories is from summer 2007, when he raced a storm with a tail wind across the big of Lake Saganaga with some campers from Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd-Minneapolis. They made it to a tiny island campsite and became doused by a fierce, fast storm. Afterwards, a double rainbow appeared. Another favorite memory is from fall 2008, when the fall retreat staff took the pontoon onto Seagull Lake to watch some incredible Northern Lights for hours.

Victor Juran
"Head Cook Victor Juran runs the kitchen this year with cheerfulness and confidence, and cleanliness"
Victor Juran, another veteran staff member is serving Wilderness this year in a new way. After holding the positions of Pontoonist (2005), Waterfront Coordinator (2006), and Trailshack Coordinator (2007-2008), Victor is now our Head Cook. Victor is from Lino Lakes, MN; his home church is Our Savior's Lutheran in Circle Pines, MN. He will graduate from Hamline University with a degree in Criminal Justice and Psychology next year.  This is Victor's fifth summer on staff. Victor continues to be on staff because it is "the best way to spend a summer." In the post-fire summers of 2007 and 2008, Victor ran Trailshack out of the Blockhouse, or camp store. (The camp store was moved to the upper level of the Blockhouse, which housed two offices and the Nature Nest.) Thus, in 2007 and 2008, the Trailshack Coordinator's job was to pack out food and equipment for the summer's 70+ trips from one room and a few temporary structures. This organization and management was "a challenge, but not impossible," as Victor puts it. This summer Victor is making the transition to Head Cook with ease. He enjoys the change to the kitchen staff because a lot of the work is indoors, providing protection from the weather. His cooking background came from his college job in University food service.  Victor's favorite memories include Light Saber fights in 2005. Light Sabers were made out of swimming noodles and PVC pipe and provided hours of entertainment for base staff. In 2006, as a part of the Waterfront Coordinator position, Victor enjoyed the peacefulness and solitude of stoking the sauna for canoe trips coming off trail. Finally, in 2008, Victor stayed in Borderline, normally a solitude and retreat cabin, with eight other guys because of the lack of staff housing. This arrangement dubbed themselves the Borderline Brothers.