Inspiration

Wilderness Voices: Layne Kennedy

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“There are many reasons why this pristine wilderness along the shared border of Minnesota/Ontario is important. A close encounter with nature can turn into a tremendous learning experience. The fair price for wilderness travel is awareness…”

Sharing the wilderness with women—of any age

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“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.

Paddlesongs: How one country songwriter married his love of music and canoeing

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In 1994, Nashville singer-songwriter Jerry Vandiver, whose song “It Doesn’t Get Any Countrier Than This” had just been recorded by Tim McGraw, portaged a behemoth of an aluminum canoe across a rocky and root-filled portage. He was no stranger to paddling; he’d moved that canoe from his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, to Nashville when he set out to see if he could make it in the country music business. But this was his first trip to Quetico Provincial Park, and lugging that canoe over such a challenging portage inspired him

Sawbill Canoe Outfitters: The family behind the legacy

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There is an outfitter at the end of the Sawbill Trail where customers and staff return year after year, a network of people connected to the place and the family at its center. The Hansens, and now the Shirleys, have been running Sawbill Canoe Outfitters since 1957, where annual traditions, lifelong friendships and marriages have been born.

Dave and Amy Freeman began and ended their year in the wilderness on the autumnal equinox, eventually spending 366 days in the Boundary Waters. All photos courtesy Dave and Amy Freeman.

Plugged In

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Dave and Amy Freeman spent a year in the Boundary Waters, using social media to inspire others to protect the wilderness.

Urban Boatbuilders Partnership Program Manager Collette King spent three weeks at Camp Ogiche Daa Kwe, helping campers and staff build a skin-on frame canoe, which they named Morning Light. All photos by Liz Hattemer.

Morning Light – A Canoe Built by Campers at Ogiche Daa Kwe

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There is something delicate about the look of a skin-on frame canoe. In the sunlight, the wooden frame shows through its skin, as do the shadows of paddlers. Looking down into the boat, the line where water meets air is visible. Yet it is a seaworthy craft, light enough for the youngest and oldest of paddlers to carry, and, at girls’ wilderness camp Ogiche Daa Kwe, a perfect metaphor for community. Last summer, campers and staff at the Rainy Lake camp built a 17.5-foot wilderness traveler skin-on frame canoe.