False morel mushrooms are sprouting up along BWCA portages and area hiking trails. I saw my first of the season a few days ago. Yesterday we saw about a dozen along the Bass Lake Trail near Ely. These false morels are deadly. Eaten raw they may lead to diarrhea and vomiting within a few hours.…
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Editor’s note: Guest blogger Jessica Fuller provided this entry. Jessica is from North Carolina and ventured into the BWCA with Guide Kate Ford. In North Carolina, a dusting of snow means closed roads, cancelled classes and empty toilet paper aisles. In North Minnesota, it simply means it’s time for a trip to the Boundary Waters.…
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Winds gusting to 35 mph and snow whipping in your face greeted canoers this morning. Mike Hillman, host of the polka show on WELY radio today, provided some advice to those canoers: “Put on every article of clothing you have, and go east.” I took this photo at about 11 AM today.
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One of the top fears of newcomers to the BWCA is bears. Specifically, peoples’ imagination can take a wild ride when visualizing bear encounters. However, the common fear of black bears is largely due to the media’s mischaracterization of our largely harmless black bears. If you’re one of those scared of a Boundary Waters trip…
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This is one of two snowshoe hares I’ve seen this week. Both of them have recently changed color from a snow-white winter coat to their summer camouflage brown. They know it’s spring and they’re blending in with the brown and nibbling at the green.
I photographed this cow moose and her calf today while paddling near Lake Four in the BWCA. As I paddled past a narrow inlet, I glimpsed what looked like an upturned tree root. I twice backpaddled against the wind to get a better look, then used my camera zoom to confirm they were moose. As…
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We picked up new Wenonah kevlar ultralight canoes at the Wenonah Canoe Factory in Winona, Minnesota, this week. Owner Mike Cichanowski (above, left) greeted us. He grew up in Winona, on the banks of the Mississippi. He’s a paddler at heart and has inspired innovation throughout the canoe industry. His company is now the largest…
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People often ask what we Boundary Waters guides do on our days off. My response is that our days off look a lot like our days on. For example, Kate and I are in DC visiting friends (it’s the Ely “mud season,” after all). But, you can’t keep us away from getting our paddling fix…
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We’ve returned happy and healthy from our Hudson Bay dogsledding adventure. Every spring, after the Minnesota dogsledding season ends, Wintergreen Lodge leads dogsled adventures to various destinations such as the North Pole, Greenland, Svalbaard, other Arctic locations, and the Rocky Mountains. Eight of our Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge guides left Ely by truck and dog trailer…
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It’s a Wintergreen tradition to buy the dogs soft serve ice cream cones when returning from long trips. This is Daisy enjoying hers after we crossed the border back into the US today.