The Spring 2014 issue of Wilderness News is now available online.
Features include winter camping in the wilderness, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, a profile of Wilderness Canoe Base, and more.
COVER STORY:
The Wonder of Winter Camping
By Bear Paulsen
Why would anyone go camping in the winter? From my experience ‘insane’ is the most frequent adjective applied to those of us who willingly camp in the winter. The general public uniformly believes winter campers to be crazy masochists. Most people cannot fathom what would possess someone to trade shelter and warmth for discomfort and snow. As thenon-winter camper further considers the irrationality of winter camping, they invariably question how campers stay clean, and even more so how they go to the bathroom. Those considerations usually end the conversation with a shudder and firmer conviction of the winter camper’s mental instability.
On Going Outside in the Timely Arrival of Spring
By Siri Lindquist
Fair warning: this is a call to arms; within a short address to the love I have for canoe trips.
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 added in 1978—the same year I was born. Nor did I realize that the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978 was preceded by the Wilderness Act of 1964, which created a National Preservation System and a legal definition of wilderness.
Wilderness Canoe Base
By Rob Kesselring
When I have encountered other adults while traveling through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness I have sometimes asked them, “Is this your first trip to the BWCA?” Their answers are often the same. “Oh no, I first came here many years ago as a child … I was a camper.” With that disclosure a sparkle brightens their eyes. They might go on and talk about a “Y” camp, scout camp, church camp or a school group, but there is always a recollection of a special moment when they caught the wilderness bug.
Quetico Superior Foundation Board Member Profile: Jake Ritchie
Quetico Superior Foundation Board Member Profile: Jake Ritchie