New Sled Dog Race Comes with $25,000 Purse
A new three-day sled dog race aims to highlight northern Minnesota’s sled dog heritage next month. Racers will depart from Grand Portage on Sunday, January 6, and return on Monday January …
Inspiration
Surf’s Up On Lake Superior
A new group of outdoor enthusiasts is becoming a force for good on the North Shore—one that might be surprising to fans of traditional wilderness travel. Surfing is a growing presence in northern Minnesota, and surfers have become a voice for everything from beach cleanups to mindful beach development. Here, Wilderness News takes a closer look at this relatively new way to enjoy the pristine nature of Minnesota’s North Shore.
Meet Aaron Brown, Iron Range author, college instructor, and radio show host
Home: The woods of Itasca County outside of Hibbing, MN Book: Overburden: Modern Life on the Iron Range (2008) Radio Show: Great Northern Radio Show In a Nutshell: Aaron Brown could …
The Camping and Education Foundation: Camp Kooch-i-ching and Ogiche Daa Kwe
The Camping and Education Foundation Home to Camp Kooch-i-ching and Ogiche Daa Kwe by Alissa Johnson In 2005, Camp Ogiche Daa Kwe opened its doors for its first official session: 14 …
New Film: Sled Dogs to St. Paul
When former Minnesota State Representative Frank Moe mushed his team of sled dogs into St. Paul last winter, the runners on his sled sparked as they crossed snowless patches on the …
Replinger Honored for Bringing Girls into Outward Bound Programming
We were happy to see Jean Replinger in a slew of newspaper articles this month–during the 1960s she helped open Outward Bound to girls. More recently, as an officer of the …
The Wilderness Canvas: YMCA Camp Menogyn
By Fred Sproat Wilderness is many different things to many different people; it can be a grocery store or a sanctuary, a playground or a classroom. It can be all of …
Gray Hairs: Saving a Place for Youth in the Great Outdoors
By Cliff Jacobson, Wilderness Guide & Outdoor Writer Last year, I presented a program for the Minnesota Canoe Association. About 150 people attended. With the exception of six teenage girls—who were …
Discovering the Birds of the Boundary Waters
By Julie Neitzel Carr Trekking the Boundary Waters, my portages followed a predictable path; I would double-check the distance on my map, hoist up a heavy Duluth pack, or if it …
Oberholtzer Foundation Wins Grant
The Ernest Oberholtzer Foundation recently received an Historical and Cultural Heritage Grant from the Minnesota Historical Society for restoration work at the late wilderness advocate’s Mallard Island residence.
Basswood Beach Resort and Canoe Trips
Travel back in time with an historic family fishing lodge that thrived in what is now the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness…
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 …
Devils Cove: The Most Beautiful Place on Earth
By Greg Breining Imagine the Coldwell Peninsula—a dark fist jutting from the Ontario shore of Lake Superior, five miles across, with rocky knuckles. Poised on one knuckle, like the stone of …
Old Photos Provide a Peek into BWCA History
By Alissa Johnson In our last issue, Wilderness News published photos from an album uncovered in an attic trunk. They once belonged to Big Bill Wenstrom, who was the last private …
Wilderness News Print Edition – Spring 2011
The Spring 2011 Issue of Wilderness News Print Edition is now online! Experience Lake Superior from a kayak, travel back in time with an early voice for the Boundary Waters, and follow urban teens-at-risk into the wilderness in canoes they built by hand.
Wilderness News Print Edition Fall-Winter 2010
The Fall-Winter 2010 Issue of Wilderness News Print Edition is now online! Follow women into the wilderness, take a trip back in time, and catch up with one of the Gunflint Trail’s most adventurous families…
Photo Gallery: Superior National Forest Boundary Waters Historical Photos
These photographs were found in a U.S. Forest Service photo album, circa 1920. At the time the region was known as the roadless area of the Superior National Forest. Each photo …
Women in the Wilderness
“We can do it. We can do it without a guide.” By Rob Kesselring Wilderness News Contributor It started with a dare in 1986. Seven female volunteers at a nature center …
Book Review: Paddle North: Canoeing the Boundary Waters–Quetico Wilderness
Discover the essence of the Up North wilderness experience, essays by Greg Breining and images by photographer Layne Kennedy. It’s well worth reading, and a worthy gift.
Book Gathers Boundary Waters Writing
A new book — The Firegrate Review: A Canoe Country Chapbook — published by the wilderness advocacy group Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, gathers the BWCA experiences of 19 writers in a collection of stories, essays, and poems.