North American Odyssey Homecoming through the BWCAW

  Dave portaging near the Taltson River in the Northwest Territories. Dave and Amy Freeman, their friend Bryan Hansel, and their dog Fennel hiked down the Grand Portage to Lake Superior yesterday, completing their 2,300 mile paddle from Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories to Grand Portage, Minnesota. This marks the end of the fourth stage of…

Northern Lights in the Boundary Waters

Some guests spent a week  paddling one of my favorite BWCA canoe routes recently.  Besides some amazingly warm and lovely late-season weather, they also had a front row seat to a spectacular northern lights display.  Kudos to them for bringing along a nice camera and tripod that allowed them to capture this image of the…

American Black Ducks in the BWCA

The American Black Duck is more brown than black. It was named as such because it appears black from a distance. We spied these ducks recently, camouflaging themselves surprisingly well among the lilypads, which still had a bloom or two remaining. See how many ducks you can spot in the two photos. (Click the photo to see…

Pagami Creek Fire Update – Sept. 22

TODAY’S MESSAGE: The Pagami Creek Fire remains at 30% contained and 93,669 acres. Between 0.2–0.5 inches of rain fell on the fire area yesterday. Since Sunday, 0.75–1 inch of rain has fallen on the fire. Three crews will be flown into Kawishiwi Lake today to start work on the eastern perimeter. On the southern perimeter, crews…

Autumn Arriving in the Boundary Waters

Autumn is on its way. Several nights ago, our nights saw freezing temperatures, as low as 22 degrees. “Good sleeping weather” as Minnesotans call it. Good thing for down coats and hot water bottles! Every morning we watched the mist gently swirl on the lake’s surface as it started to lose some of its heat…