What to love about fall camping in Northeast Minnesota
Before you pack away your tent and sleeping bags for the season, consider giving fall camping a try, here are five good reasons…
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5 tips for every beginner camping trip
While there are rules and guidelines everyone should follow, there are many different ways to plan a great camping trip. Check out these tips for beginners and ensure you’ll want to camp again.
Signs of hope for Minnesota’s moose population
Annual report says moose decline of past decade may have leveled off for now.
10 questions to ask before booking your first (or twenty-first) Boundary Waters permit
Ready for the solitude and challenge of the BWCAW? Here are some key questions to ask yourself before booking your first Boundary Waters permit.
Harmful algae blooms in Voyageurs, Isle Royale focus of new study
Federal agencies conducting research to understand threat of toxins produced by cyanobacteria
Drought impacts northern Minnesota’s ecosystem
Low water levels, cyanobacteria, wildfires, stressed forests due to extremely dry conditions.
Wilderness Voices: Justine Kerfoot, Gunflint Trail Leader
“An infinitesimal speck in the cosmos, I stood on the shore of Gunflint Lake beneath a great white pine-matriarch of a fast vanishing tribe. And I knew I was home. I was twenty-one. The year was 1927.”
Biggest jack pine in America discovered in Boundary Waters
Forest surveyors find massive specimen of the boreal tree species in remote area of wilderness.
History in the Air – Bushplanes in Quetico Park
As far back as the 1930’s, airplanes have flown into the remote reaches of Quetico, patrolling for poachers, delivering supplies to rangers, fighting forest fires… Jill Legault from Quetico Provincial Park shares this look back to the ‘bush planes’ and intrepid pilots that flew into the border lakes backcountry.
Volunteers save the Powwow Trail
Volunteers and a nonprofit group worked tirelessly to clear deadfall and regrowth from the Powwow Trail in the BWCAW, after Pagami Creek Fire.
Somali youth explore winter in the BWCAW
A collaboration between Wilderness Inquiry and youth advocacy group Ka Joog takes kids into the Boundary Waters to share new experiences…
What is Wilderness? Examining tree rings, researchers reconsider the history of human influence in the Boundary Waters
“By examining annual growth rings in increment cores taken from tree trunks, we found that many pines at this site were more than 250 years old. Distinct injuries recorded within their rings denoted the passage of multiple low-severity surface fires that damaged but did not kill many of these trees…”
Sharing the wilderness with women—of any age
“There is a measurable amount of growth with every trip and every person I take out… And it really is empowering, especially for mature women who think that, physically, they aren’t capable anymore,” wilderness guide Peta Barrett says.
Teen heading to the “greatest place on earth” after winning Boundary Waters essay contest
This week, Ely Outfitting Company announced the winner of its first annual Boundary Waters Teen Essay Contest. Julia Ruelle, the 16-year-old winner, was one of more than 70 entries. Her prize? She and up to three teenage friends will go on a fully outfitted, self-guided trip—five days in the wilderness without parents and without a guide.
Wilderness Volunteers Toil to Restore Trails
Hiking routes offer solitude and singular experiences, and opportunities to help keep them clear.
Profile: Wilderness Canoe Base
Wilderness Canoe Base on Seagull Lake is a formative canoe camp program with a long, storied, and challenging history.
Reflecting on the Wilderness Act
By Alissa Johnson When I was a kid, paddling the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with my family, I didn’t realize that the final word in its name had only been …
Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center
By Rob Kesselring Take a drive to the end of the Gunflint Trail and spend a few hours at Chik-Wauk Museum, the word serendipity will come to mind. Could there …
Building Wooden Canoes for a Rite of Passage
Picture yourself venturing out for the first time into the wilderness of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Imagine the combination of serenity and wonderment you experience as you ply these pristine lakes and rivers, knowing that you are carrying all you need to survive in a sleek, seventeen-foot, skin-on-frame canoe. Now imagine that you just built that canoe with your own hands over the course of eight days. For six teenage apprentices with Urban Boatbuilders, this was the culminating event in the summer of 2010.
Bill Rom the “Canoe King of Ely”
Ely, Minnesota boasts over twenty outfitters that send visitors into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Campers rent the latest gear, groan under the weight of a canoe without realizing it …