Our winter traveling world varies dramatically from summertime. During summer, paddling and portaging in the wilderness, we mostly avoid wetlands – for they harbor masses of mosquitoes. Plus, the prospect of stepping into a particularly mucky spot and going in up to your knees or (gasp!) waist is not most peoples’ idea of summer fun. However, the onset of winter means the mucky…
After almost a foot of snow in the last several days, many lakes are mired in slush. This pic shows the bottom of my skis slushed/iced up after trying to ski across White Iron Lake today.
Above average temps in the fifties today allowed me to do some maintenance on “Lilly,” a cedar strip canoe I built several years back. She took the 2010 season off while I worked on some fiberglass and epoxy repairs to the turn of the bilge. I put the first coat of varnish on the hull…
Today’s Halloween, so here’s a moose brain. It’s about the size of a grapefruit. While this post is a lighthearted holiday entry, the brain shown here is undergoing important scientific research that may help people better understand the moose population in Minnesota. I helped extract this brain from a bull moose harvested up the Echo…
Lake Wabegon is Garrison’s fictitious community on the edge of the prairie. It’s full of Norwegian Lutherans and colorful characters. Here in Ely, Minnesota, we live on the edge of the wilderness with plenty of colorful characters, and some Norwegian Lutherans. Today we’re driving south to see the live performance of Garrison’s radio show, A…
I awoke to a Pine Marten peering from an overturned canoe outside my bedroom window this morning. Then a second one appeared. Then they loped around the cabin to the deck. Once on the deck, one of them took up residence in a flower pot, and the other one decided that looked like a fine…
Travel in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is mostly via lakes and waters. So how do you deal with cameras around all that water? Some people embrace the water and bring along waterproof cameras. They definitely take some of the stress out of the possibility of dunking an expensive camera. Kate is carrying a…
Fly Amanita is the quintessential toadstool we started drawing as kids in elementary school. It’s also known as the “fly mushroom” or “fly poison mushroom” because it is believed a saucer containing Fly Amanita in milk will attract and kill flies. The young mushroom begins covered in a universal veil and may be misidentified as…
Border Lakes Outfitting and Jason Zabokrtsky teamed with the Friends of the Boundary Waters recently to raise awareness for the potential environmental impacts of proposed sulfide mining operations on the edge of the Boundary Waters. Jason guided the group of environmental advocates and media representatives, including Stephanie Hemphill of Minnesota Public Radio and John Myers…
Ely, MINN – National travel magazine Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel has named Ely, Minn. as its 2010 “Coolest Small Town in America.” The magazine received 147 nominations, then selected 21 American towns that stood out from the crowd to open up to public online voting. In online voting, 439,411 votes were received, and Ely captured 118,899 of those—27…