Beatty Rail Portage

An option for people who want to enter the BWCA or Quetico from the west end is to take a motorboat tow to Lac La Croix. The motor tow is an adventure in itself. During the trip to La Croix from Crane Lake, the motorboat is twice loaded onto a cart and pulled across portages…

Dragonfly Nymph

I turned over some submerged stones in a BWCA lake this week looking for crayfish. Instead of crayfish, I spotted this dragonfly nymph. Dragonflies spend most of their lives under water in a nymph stage. As nymphs, they are aggressive predators. They are carnivorous and primarily eat insects, but are known to eat vertebrates such…

BWCA Tombstone of Ella Hall

I know of one tombstone in the BWCA. It identifies the grave of Ella Hall. Over a century ago, the teenage Ella died on the lake that bears her name. I took this photo recently at the grave site. In the million-acre-plus BWCA it seems there should be more marked grave sites. I would enjoy…

Back to Civilization

After a fun week of venturing through the BWCA with David and his sons, we returned to civilization today. This trip made memories of varied weather (sun, clouds, wind, rain…); long paddling days; an excursion to Thunder Point; sighting lots of wildlife including eagles, moose, otter, and loons; fishing for lake trout, pike, and walleye;…

Juneberry Tree in Bloom – The “Popcorn Tree”

Sitting around our campfire on Disappointment Lake, David asked about the “popcorn tree” behind the tents. What a perfect description! Juneberry trees are covered in spectacular white blooms now. From a distance, they appear to be covered in snow white popcorn. Juneberry trees are often called “serviceberry trees.” Serviceberry is probably a more appropriate name…

Thunder Point on Knife Lake

One of the most spectacular views in the BWCA is from the top of Thunder Point on Knife Lake. We day-tripped from our camp on Fraser Lake to it today. This photo is taken from the top of Thunder Point looking southwest toward the Isle of Pines. The Isle of Pines is the former home…

Speckled Alder Catkins

These are catkins on a speckled alder tree. The tiny flowers on the male catkins are shedding pollen that pollinates the female flowers. The male catkins are 5 to 10 centimenters long. While gathering firewood today around our camp on Ima Lake in the BWCA, I worked my way through a dense thicket of speckled…

Broad Leaf Aster and Charmin

Guest Blogger: Wilderness Guide Kate Ford. Spring is slowly creeping its way in. We are seeing lovely, warm, sun-filled days back to back with days of light snow or cold rain. Even with the wavering weather, May is providing the Boundary Waters with enough sun and warmth to coax our leaves out, as proven by…