This video is a good introduction to Ely Outfitting Company, what we do, and why we do it. We are incredibly fortunate to share the Boundary Waters with good folks from all over. Our goal is your successful Boundary Waters canoe trip.
We had a great time teaming up with Chance York and the Outside Chance crew filming this fun show! It just premiered today and is online now! Chance is a yogi, emcee, rapper, outdoor enthusiast, and now… Boundary Waters canoer! We’re loving how this show introduces people to outdoor opportunities and focuses on how accessible…
We received the following notice today: Effective January 16, 2017 the Province of Ontario will no longer accept payments by AMERICAN EXPRESS CREDIT CARD. The Province continues to accept payments by VISA CREDIT CARD and MASTERCARD CREDIT CARD when making a payment through the Ontario Parks reservation service. Payment by cheque or money order…
DULUTH, MN (March 9, 2015) Gus Smith, new District Ranger on the Kawishiwi Ranger District of the Superior National Forest, comes with extensive fire experience and familiarity with our region. Before joining the Forest Leadership Team on the Superior National Forest, Gus served at Yosemite National Park for six years as the Fire Ecologist. At…
Lucy Soderstrom addressed a youth gathering in Washington DC this week as part of a youth event celebrating wilderness. The BWCA can have a profound effect on young people. Here is her talk: I’m a 17 year old who has come to love the Boundary Waters wilderness. For the past 5 years I’ve been taking…
The Boundary Waters is a special place. If you’ve been here, you appreciate that. It seems a land frozen in time – both primordial and immortal. Its grandeur seems so strong, its granite ridges so permanent, its waters so immense and pure – it seems the hands of man could hardly impair such a…
The Winter Camping Symposium is Oct. 23-26 in Sturgeon Lake, MN. There are a bunch of interesting presentations and workshops. If you camp in the winter – or have an interest in learning more about the unique experience – this is the place to connect with great info and people who share your interest. Also,…
You may recognize Dave Freeman or Paul Schurke from around the shop. They just completed a major canoe expedition down the Rio Roosevelt (formerly known as the River of Doubt). Read on for the scoop on their grand adventure. Pimenta Bueno, Brazil – July 3 – Minnesota adventurers Dave Freeman and Paul Schurke, who have…
ELY, Minnesota — The Great Northern Radio Show on Northern Community Radio (KAXE.org) brings its unique blend of music, storytelling and comedy for the first time to Ely Saturday, June 14th at the Vermillion Community College Theater. The Great Northern Radio Show is written, produced and hosted by Iron Range author Aaron Brown, of Balsam…
On heels of local reality show production, Ely develops an entire network Ely, Minn. — April 1, 2014 — Many have heard that Ely, Minn. — gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area — has been selected as the location for a living off-the-grid-themed reality show. Buoyed by the attention, the city today is announcing…
No. If you have an odd number of people in your group, then you may choose a three-seat canoe. Our favorite three-seat canoe is the Seneca made by Wenonah. Made out of Kevlar, it is 19’4″ and weighs only 55 pounds. It includes three “real” seats. That makes for a comfortable spot for the middle…
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Jason Zabokrtsky, of Ely, MN, is attempting to cross the BWCAW and Quetico on foot, alone, and off-trail from Atikokan, Ontario, to Ely, Minnesota, from October 11 – 25. Jason Zabokrtsky, of Ely, is trading paddles and Duluth packs for trekking poles and a backpack during a bushwhack across the Boundary Waters without a boat. …
A group of Boundary Waters canoe trip guests canoed, portaged and fished July 22 – 26 and they’ve already put together this great time lapse video of their trip. Awesome!
Did you know that in 1969 the maximum group size in the Boundary Waters was 15 people? Today the maximum group size is nine people with a maximum of four watercraft. Learn more fun BWCA facts in the very best online chronology of the history of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness at http://www.wilbers.com/BoundaryWatersCanoeAreaWildernessChronologyLong.htm. The…
There’s a chance for some beautiful weather in the Boundary Waters, and this last week was just right. We enjoyed several perfectly still days on a five-day trip recently. This wild rice sunning itself on the surface of the water didn’t have the slightest breeze to push all the blades in the same diretion. …
You never know what you may see on the drive Up North. Nace Hagemann (www.nacehagemann.com) photographed this cow moose and her two calves on the Gunflint Trail just outside of the BWCA recently. Thanks to Nace for allowing us to share his incredible photo.
Behold the throne of the Boundary Waters! All BWCA designated campsites have open-air pit latrine toilets like this one. They provide for a nicely hygienic campsite. Toilet paper can go in the latrine, but it is important to remember that the latrines are not for trash. It is a little known fact that BWCA campsites…
Amy and Dave Freeman. Photo by Bryan Hansel, www.bryanhansel.com. Our friends Amy and Dave Freeman landed their kayaks in Key West on Thursday, April 4, 2013, completing a 3-year, 11,700-mile expedition across North America by kayak, dogsled and canoe.Over 80,000 elementary and middle school students from around the world have participated in the expedition virtually.…
In light of Ely, Minnesota’s recent ban on all forms of social media, Ely Outfitting Company and Boundary Waters Guide Service has changed our network hosting provider, and will be updating our Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, and Pinterest accounts remotely from the Canadian side of Basswood Lake. We will be camped at a five-star wilderness campsite…
Measure aims to get people outdoors, where the air is clean — and only the birds tweet ELY, MINN. — April 1, 2013 — Today, the Northern Minnesota town at the end of the road, Ely, Minnesota, has cut off access to social media within its borders. Ely city officials made the decision to ban…
One of the most industrious critters we see in the Boundary Waters is the beaver. I’m amazed at how quickly they can build a dam. I’ve paddled into the wilderness where the was no beaver dam, and then paddled out the same stream five days later to find a new large one. We typically see…
This time lapse video from Quetico Air Service shows them moving float planes this month as they prepare for the summer fly-in season.
I pulled my first pair of DriDucks rain gear from the trash bin. A guest had decided to “decommission” his rain suit after several Boundary Waters canoe trips, but it looked to have a lot of life left, so I fished it out. That “recycled” rain suit got a lot of use and a lot…
Recently we posted a video of a typical BWCA portage. This new video shows a more remote portage that is on a designated travel route, but is more overgrown than typical BWCA portages. It is the portage going southeast out of Beaver Lake, in a lightly used area of the BWCA. The location is about…
This video shows a typical Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness portage. It is the portage going west out of Jordan Lake in the BWCAW. Portages are trails connecting bodies of water. They are the efficient route for carrying your canoes and gear between lakes on a wilderness canoe trip. I tell people if you think…
Here’s a howling good holiday greeting from us and the doggers:
Many years ago, I bushwacked into a no-name lake in the heart of the wilderness. On my map, the lake had no depth markings, so I didn’t know if enough depth existed to support fish – though it had enough surface area that I sensed it might. And I decided to trudge in with a…
RARE FINDS will feature Ely’s Dorothy Molter Museum on Monday, November 26 at 7:00pm on WDSE-WRPT PBS North 8.1/31.1. This show will also be re-broadcast on Sunday, December 2 at 3pm on Create and at 5pm on PBS North. This is a great chance to learn more about the last legal resident of the BWCAW,…
Seeing wildlife in its natural setting is one of the great treats of a Boundary Waters canoe trip. Our guide, LynnAnne Vesper, snapped this photo of a young black bear swimming across Knife Lake this week. Seeing a black bear on trail is particularly nice when it’s not sniffing around for your food pack.
It’s an aptly named river. Our guide, Max Pittman, took this photo recently while paddling down the Moose River. Our guests, John and his boys, got mighty lucky to see this cow and calf moose (in the background in the river) up-close! We’ve had more moose sitings on the Moose River north from BWCAW entry…
This photo of Boundary Waters Guide Service is courtesy of TripAdvisor Sharing the Wilderness with people is a real privilege. When guests share a Boundary Waters experience with us, and then provide feedback, it really matters. Thanks to our recent guest, Rick, for sharing the following feedback: I contacted Jason, the owner of the service…
Our winter season is ending abruptly, and we’re making the most of it. Ice skating is a great way to be out on the lakes now at the end of the season. On a warm and sunny late-winter day, the snow on top of the ice melts into water. Then, over the course of a…
While we’ve fortunately had adequate snow for dogsledding this winter, we sure haven’t had the typical piling on of the white stuff. This week I guided a couple of families from the Twin Cities area. They arrived from the brown landscape of the Cities and enjoyed the fresh falling snow on White Iron Lake. About…
With some advanced planning, you can be sleeping in the Boundary Waters under your choice of a full moon or a new moon. A full moon provides perfect light for night paddling and other nighttime activities. The moon rays cast shadows across the rocks, and the beams shimmer off the lakes. Such a setting may…
Plan your next Boundary Waters canoe trip for the best chance of seeing shooting stars! You’ll escape light pollution and find the Boundary Waters is a great location to view meteor showers. Imagine lying on your back after a day of paddling and seeing shooting stars all around you! Here are the dates and descriptions…
View Larger Map Depending on who manufactured the maps you’re looking at, you may find the Little Gabbro Lake portage listed as 104 rods, 200 rods, or 290 rods. It’s the only BWCAW portage I’m aware of that has such wildly different lengths listed on different maps. It’s not unusual for the same portage to…
The US Forest Service provided the following information on campsite changes for the start of the 2012 paddling season: Some BWCAW lakes and rivers will have fewer campsites open for use as a result of the Pagami Creek Fire. Forest Service crews will be opening most impacted campsites early in the 2012 season. However, some…
The US Forest Service has notified us of the following changes due to the Pagami Creek Fire: Forest Service staff evaluated BWCAW campsites within the Pagami Creek Fire burn area and determined that some need to be closed until they can be rehabilitated. Some campsites have safety hazards such as hazard trees and some have…
This unique Photo Workshop trip is a great opportunity to develop your photography skills under the direction of renowned magazine and nature photographer Layne Kennedy. A Minneapolis-based professional photographer, Layne’s newest book on the Boundary Waters, titled “Paddle North,” was released in November 2010. Layne’s work is also featured frequently in Smithsonian, Life, Newsweek, Forbes,…
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from Ely Outfitting Company and Boundary Waters Guide Service! We hope you enjoy your winter looking forward to your next canoe trip in the Boundary Waters, and we hope you enjoy our festive and well-lit approach to the holidays!
Summer BWCAW canoe camping trips still require quota entry permits, but the Forest Service has changed the way early planners apply for those permits. For years, early planners applied for permits during a Dec. 1 to Jan. 15 “lottery” period. In the lottery, you selected a desired entry point and date. At the end of…
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…
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…
Some previously closed areas of the Boundary Waters have been reopened by the USFS. This map shows current closures.
With the Pagami Creek Fire now 53% contained and almost a thousand people assigned to the incident, we are going to stop posting these daily updates. Of course, we will provide important news as it arises. TODAY’S MESSAGE: The Pagami Creek Fire is now 53% contained. Size remains the same at 93,459 acres. Today warmer dryer…
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…
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 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…
TODAY’S MESSAGE: The Pagami Creek Fire is now 30% contained. The size decreased to 93,669 acres because of more accurate GPS mapping on the northwest side. Of the total acreage, 9,274 acres are outside the wilderness. Between two tenths to one half of an inch of rain fell on the fire yesterday. Eleven canoes were airlifted…
TODAY’S MESSAGE: The Pagami Creek Fire is now 23% contained. The size remains unchanged at 93,898 acres. Although the fire area received a half inch of rain on Sunday, when fire-behavior specialists flew over the fire on Monday afternoon they observed some trees torching, which is an indication that the fuels are still quite dry.…
TODAY’S MESSAGE: The Pagami Creek fire is now 19% contained. Fire behavior was minimal Sunday, largely due to the one-third inch of rain that fell across the fire area, and the size remained the same at 93,898 acres. Today, fire-behavior specialists expect minimal to no fire spread with a little creeping and smoldering over the entire…
One of our canoe trip outfitting guests shared some historic photos from the old Basswood Lodge on Basswood Lake near Ely, MN. The photos are from the collection of her late father, Harold Rosencrans, of Lebanon, Ohio. Harold vacationed with his family on Basswood Lake. The photos may be from the 50s or 60s. Above…
TODAY’S MESSAGE: The fire is now 11% contained. The size increased slightly on Saturday from 93,472 acres to 93,898 acres. Crews completed structure protection on 30 structures on the south side of the fire. Air resources were used to their maximum capacity yesterday. Four helicopters flew a total of 25 hours dropping water on the fire…
TODAY’S MESSAGE: The incident commander announced Friday evening that the fire is 8% contained. Also, fire managers were able to more accurately map the fire’s perimeter on Friday and decreased the acreage from an estimated 100,000 acres to a more precise 93,472 acres. Minnesota’s Governor Dayton, Senators Klobuchar and Franken, and Representative Cravaak toured the fire…
TODAY’S MESSAGE: Doug Turman’s Northern Rockies Type 1 National Incident Management Team assumed management of the Pagami Creek Fire yesterday. The fire is still under the unified command of the Lake and Cook County sheriff’s offices and the Superior National Forest. Moderated fire behavior continued yesterday with the cooler temperatures, higher humidities, and lighter winds. Operations…
This fire progression map is color-coded by day through September 13.
At about 100,000 acres, the Pagami Fire is the third largest wildfire in Minnesota history. This map shows the fire extending east to Parent and Kawishiwi Lakes.
Contact: Fire Information 218-365-3177 TODAY’S MESSAGE: The Pagami Creek Fire continues under Unified Command of Lake County, MNICS, and the Superior National Forest. Acreage increased yesterday due in large part to improved mapping of the fire perimeter as the smoke cleared. The fire did push farther south, exiting the southern Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW)…
Talking Points for Tuesday, September 13, 2011 1. Large portions of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) are now closed to visitor use, due to the Pagami Creek fire which has been exhibiting extreme fire behavior and fire spread. There are not enough public safety personnel to provide safe passage…
Under authority of the Act of Congress of June 4, 1897, 16 USC 551, and pursuant to the Secretary of Agriculture’s Regulations set forth at 36 CFR 261.50(a) and 261.50(b), and 261.50(f), the following acts or omissions are prohibited on portions of Superior National Forest System lands, roads and trails, Lake County, Cook County. Minnesota,…
We just received this from the USFS at about 5PM. Brown is the closure area. The red outline shows the burned area as of yesterday at 7PM.
TODAY’S MESSAGE: Yesterday, a finger of the Pagami Creek Fire made an unprecedented 16 mile run to the east, reaching the edge of Polly Lake. The fire became a plume-driven event and reached in excess of 60,000 acres. The fire is now under Unified Command with Lake County Sheriff’s Office as full partners of management…
TODAY’S MESSAGE: Yesterday, strong north winds drove a point of the Pagami Creek Fire south toward the Isabella River. Approximately 50 campers from the river and lake routes south of the fire and 70 campers along the eastern front of the fire were assisted out of the wilderness by Public Safety Crews. Entry points near…
Effective September 12, 2011, campfires are only allowed in designated campsites within firegrates between 6PM and midnight. I snapped this photo of the Fire Danger sign outside the USFS Kawishiwi Ranger District office yesterday.
TODAY’S MESSAGE: Yesterday’s dry air and north winds pushed the Pagami Creek Fire farther south yesterday. In consideration of today’s high fire indices, fire managers began a proactive movement of campers from Lakes Two through Hudson, nearby routes, and the Isabella River within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Specific closures are listed below. Most…
Unseasonably dry, warm conditions and low relative humidities yesterday allowed the Pagami Creek Fire to burn actively south of the Lakes One and Two area. The burn out operation conducted last weekend was successful in reducing the threat of the fire escaping the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and threatening the Fernberg corridor to…
When AT&T decided to build an exceptionally tall 450′ cell tower at the top of a high ridge bordering the BWCAW, the nonprofit advocacy organization Friends of the Boundary Waters took action. For the most part, BWCAW horizons are unimpaired by signs of civilization. The Friends want to keep it that way. The new tower’s…
We are supporting an effort to encourage black bear hunters to not shoot collared research bears. The effort is called the Black Bear Hunters Jackpot and rewards bear hunters if no research bears are killed or injured during the black bear hunting season that begins this week. Although Minnesota law does not make it illegal…
Nevada Smith and his family recently paddled up to Lac la Croix for a week. The guys were fishing and saw this bald eagle intently watching them. Eventually, after much successful fishing of their own, they watched as the bald eagle came soaring down, scooped a fish out of the water they had recently caught…
This is how we managed the scorching heat on trail in the BWCA this week.
As of this morning, the Minnesota government is back up and running. Fishing licenses are for sale again, both online and in person. Perfect time to plan your Boundary Waters vacation and do a little (or a lot!) of fishing!
I just finished guiding a great group of three ladies in the Boundary Waters. These women have known each other for years. They were always a little jealous of their husbands’ canoeing trips, and thought this could be their chance. We were out for three days, and enjoyed excellent, sunny weather. We were surprised to…
The authors behind the latest book on Dorothy Molter, the Root Beer Lady of Knife Lake in the BWCAW, are having a Book Release and Signing Party at the Dorothy Molter Museum. Come on out this Friday from 4 pm to 8 pm.
I fixed my first batch of pancakes with fresh blueberries while camped on Crooked Lake in the BWCAW this week. Delicious taste of the North Woods!
Josie (age 10, from Wisconsin), painted these pictures while on a BWCA canoe trip this week with her younger brother and parents. Her savvy mom packed along a backpacking style watercolor kit for her kids. Sure enough, they found plenty of subjects to paint. The above Bald Eagle perched contently at the top of a…
One of the great things about late spring and early summer in the Boundary Waters is the overwhelming sign of new life. It seems everywhere you look there are birds on nests or with young in tow, flowers cover the forest floor, and insects such as these dragonflies are emerging to a new life of…
We found this snapping turtle in a BWCAW campsite on the Kawishiwi River recently. The snapping turtles and painted turtles are venturing onto land right now to dig holes and lay their eggs. We were surprised to see that this turtle had selected the area immediately adjacent to the campfire grate for its place to…
I spent a week in the BWCAW with Gary and his 18-year-old son, Blake, this month. As a young Boy Scout in 1970, Gary traveled the Boundary Waters. His youthful canoe trip experience really left a life-long impression on him. He wanted his son to have a similar opportunity to explore the wilderness as a…
Many might remember television’s Northern Exposure, with its wandering moose in the opening credits. Ely has its own moose, seen earlier this week walking the streets of downtown. The yellowish sign in the background with the arched lettering is Britton’s Cafe on Chapman Street in downtown. Photo by Amy Kireta.
Congratulations to photographer Layne Kennedy and author Greg Breining. Their new book on our beautiful region received top honors in the General Nonfiction category at the NE Minnesota Book Awards last night. We are exceptionally pleased to sponsor a Boundary Waters Photo Workshop with photographer Layne Kennedy on August 16-21, 2011. Space is still available. …
We sell only guide-recommended fishing tackle, such as this Dardevle Five of Diamonds shown above, at Ely Outfitting Company in Ely, MN. The lakers were hanging out in the transition from deeper water to about 17 feet deep.
I enjoyed a five-day early May solo canoe trip this past week. The temperatures stayed pleasantly warm, even hot during the middle of the days (especially with my wool pants!). The Little Indian Sioux River flowed calmly north. After a few portages through Pawness Lakes, Shell and Little Shell, I enjoyed dinner on Lynx Lake,…
Before the snow has fully dissipated in the wetlands, a furry white harbinger of spring appears on the willow trees. The snow-white and silver-gray pussy willows have emerged around Ely. The flowering catkins are said to have received their name from their resemblance to tiny furry pussy-cats. I photographed these pussy willows near Ely this…
On Monday, April 11, four Minnesotan adventurers and twelve sled dogs wandered in off the ice of Great Slave Lake. Their arrival in Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories marks the end of a 900-mile trek by dogsled and ski. Dave and Amy Freeman along with Ellen Root and Van Conrad began on the banks of the…
You’re Invited! Come hear Boundary Waters Guide Service’s own Kate Ford speak at A Day For Women in Rochester, MN, at the Mayo Civic Center this Saturday, April 9. This show features all things geared toward women. And, I contend, what better activity for women and their friends and families than a Boundary Waters canoe…
But further south, near Decorah, Iowa, a Bald Eagle pair are tending to their newborn young. Two eggs just hatched, and there is a third egg that has not hatched. See them live, on a really great web cam, right now! Streaming .TV shows by Ustream
Spring is on its way. We finish up the last of our dogsledding season this week. Temperatures will reach up to the 40s later this week and we will shortly see our snow disappear. But we felt lucky that these last few days have stayed cold, with overnight lows even below zero. The warmer temperatures…
It is a sure sign of spring when our local black bears become more and more active. This video shows some wild research bears and cubs near Ely, MN, this week. The North American Bear Center is studying them in their natural environment. This den cam gives us a great look at what is happening…
Here’s an opportunity to work in the outdoors with young people improving the trails in Superior National Forest. Note the job application deadline is March 20, 2011. Position: Field Specialist – Trail Maintenance Number of Positions Available: 2 Location: Ely OR Grand Marais/Tofte Minnesota Term: April 11 – September 15, 2011 Schedule: Full-time, Temporary,…
It’s the time of year that ice fishermen are in search of late season crappies. We found these slabs this week suspended at about 17 feet deep. I’m looking forward to the fish fry.
NEWS RELEASE US Forest Service Superior National Forest Duluth, MN – As part of our ongoing service to the public, managers on the Superior National Forest have been working with a contractor over the past few years on several changes to increase efficiency of the wilderness permit reservation system.One of the outcomes is a reduction…
I just returned from the finish line of the WolfTrack Classic Sled Dog race. This photo shows the 10 dog race winner, J. Ross Fraboni of Duluth, arriving at the finish line in Ely this morning. Fraboni took first place in the 130 mile race, followed closely by Jennifer Freking of Finland, MN, in second…
After a winter season with lakes of all sizes mired in deep and sometimes impassable slush, conditions have suddenly changed. Last week’s warm temps reached almost 60 degrees F and settled or melted the the fluffy lake snow that had insulated the slush. Then, some solidly cold and windy weather froze over the slush. I’ve…
The Ojibway members of the Lac La Croix First Nation village are allowed special privileges to use motorized boats on certain lakes within Quetico Provincial Park, and to use float planes to access certain lakes in Quetico. These designated lakes may vary annually. The 2011 season lakes the Ojibway guides may use motors on in…
These are just some of the examples of amazing snow sculptures exhibited by some wonderfully talented artists in the park in Ely now as part of the Ely Winter Festival.
We celebrate winter in Ely, Minnesota. The Ely Winter Fest is February 3 – 13. I snapped this photo in 20 below Fahrenheit temps this morning. The massive snow cubes are set up in the park in Ely. The next step is for the snow carvers to start there work beginning on Feb. 3. …
Much of the country has been getting record amounts of snowfall. While Ely itself may not be breaking records just yet, we are enjoying a real winter this season. Every few days or so, it snows another couple inches or more. Unlike with cars, extra snow while dog sledding is not too problematic, normally. More…
The ice road on Shagawa Lake has been shut down due to slush, and advanced dogsled camping trips are making major reroutes due to severe slush on Ely area lakes. While guiding dogsled trips, I am virtually always staying on previously used trails to avoid the slush. This photo shows an example of what happens…
Lily the black bear, one of the research bears studied by the Wildlife Research Institute near Ely, MN, gave birth to two cubs on Friday. This is the second year in a row that Lily gave birth on the Institute’s live webcam. To see what’s going on in Lily’s den and try to spy a…
I’m wrapping up guiding a four-night dogsled trip and Jan, with utmost sincerity, says, “We’ve had very nice weather this week.” You’d never know Jan experienced the coldest week this year – with lows dipping to 38 below zero Fahrenheit. That’s actual air temp. Another morning hit 27 below. While this wasn’t a camping trip,…
I spied this moon halo last night as I drove home from our canoe trip outfitting shop in Ely. Moon halos are created when millions of tiny ice crystals high in the atmosphere reflect light. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring around the moon. Because the…
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.
Last week’s spring-like weather has given way to winter. Yesterday it started snowing and today, we woke up to about four inches of the fluffy white stuff. We have buttoned up all of our summer gear and are getting ready for another Northwoods winter. Bring on the dog sleds!
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…
I recently guided two all-women’s camping trips. What a blast! Both groups of talented, smart and go-get-em women sought out a female guide for their Boundary Waters camping experience. I have guided canoe trips over ten summers for teenage and adult women in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Quetico Provincial Park, working at…
Fall colors are here! In fact, they are at peak already. If you’ve got the time, head on up to Ely and enjoy the beautiful colors. Here, two photos from recent guided canoe trips. These beautiful light purple flowers really complement the yellows, oranges and red of the autumn woods.
Jackpine Bob Cary is an Ely legend: a radio personality, an artist, a fisherman, and generally a beloved character who passed away a few years ago. His daughter Barb Cary Hall is hosting a big sale of all things Cary, including his prints, both color and black & white, and his books. Many of his…
We found these extraordinarily curious Bluegills on Hustler Lake in the Boundary Waters. They are called Bluegills thanks to the dot of color you can see on the side of both fish. That blue or black spot is actually an extension of the gill cover. They are excellent fish to eat, and these particular fish…
I guided a group of five strong sixty-something hikers this week. It was their first canoe trip, but certainly not their first experience camping! These pleasant folks from Virginia have been hiking and backpacking on some big adventures all over the United States. With this background, the group was keen on hiking for a day…
Greetings from this lovely Painted Lady butterfly living near Wood Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness! This beautiful butterfly may look familiar to you, and for good reason: they are quite common, even around the world. They migrate from Mexico all the way to Canada just below the Arctic circle and are also…
We ran into this group of hard-working Minnesota Conservation Corps volunteers out on the trail recently. It had been a hot and humid week, and this day was certainly no exception. These folks had been working hard most days since mid-June. Often, portages require some maintenance, particulary those that are heavily-used or particularly wet. As…
We found this pretty butterfly out in the Boundary Waters recently. It alighted on our dark-colored life jackets, shirts and pants multiple times. Perhaps it was warming itself, even with the sun already fairly high. It is the Compton Tortoiseshell (nymphalis vaualbum), which is a species found in much of the northern half of the…
Summer is a busy time for Cedar Waxwings here in northern Minnesota. Much of the summer, you will find these birds on their perfect perch waiting for dinner to pass by. When the 7-inch bird spies its scrumptious meal of mosquitoes or moths, it swoops down, snatches the bugs up, and returns to the same…
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…
We paddled to a quiet bay away from the main travel route to look for wildlife on a guided day canoe trip today on Lake One. Luckily, we spied this Common Merganser and her ducklings. The young were probably born in a hollow tree – where Mergansers typically nest. The mother must have just…
Summer is on its way! The leaves are exploding out everywhere, and closer to the ground, the ferns are coming out in their own way. The tightly-curled immature fern fronds are called fiddleheads. As a fiddle player myself, I can verify that they do indeed resemble the top of my instrument. It only takes a…
We picked up a new canoe trailer today at Remackel Welding in Forest Lake, MN. Around Ely, canoe trailers bounce down some pretty rugged roads. Names like “Echo Trail” and “Tomahawk Trail” reflect the rustic nature of the routes here. These roads and harsh northern elements put canoe trailers to the test. Meet one of…
Five-year-old Lucas trotted out of the woods with his hands above his head shouting: “I need the sap remover! I need the sap remover!” Sure enough, the spring sap is running and he found it. But, no problem. He just needed the liquid hand sanitizer out of the toilet paper kit. It’s a good tip…
It’s almost never possible to do a Boundary Waters canoe trip in March. But, with our early spring, and summer-like temps, I eagerly watched the forecast in hopes of just such a March trip. Sure enough, the rivers freed up from ice quickly and even some of the lakes were going out by the end…
On the paddle to the takeout after a camping trip, the question often arises: “What major news did we miss while in the wilderness?” I returned from a two-day BWCAW trip late tonight and hardly considered what might have happened during such a brief jaunt out. However, I was shocked when I found this major…
Dogsleds are done for the Minnesota season. We took a last run with the dogs by wheeled cart this weekend. The above photo is Scott from the Twin Cities driving a dog cart. His wife, Christine, is on the cart behind him. The dogs kicked up some of our springtime mud onto Christine – but…
In February, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared that the PolyMet mine proposal for a new sulfide mine in Northeast Minnesota presented unacceptable risks to the environment. The agency gave the proposal its lowest rating and termed the proposal, “environmentally unacceptable.” The EPA has only branded 41 proposals out of almost 40,000 proposals in…
We celebrated in a big way at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge this weekend. Sunday was the marriage of two wilderness guides, Dave Freeman and Amy Voytilla. The couple planned an unusual wedding. Guests rode dogsleds, skied, or hiked to the wedding site – a campsite on the shores of White Iron Lake near Ely, MN. The…
We came across these tracks on Pipestone Bay of Basswood Lake recently. My first thought was of a massively oversized rabbit. They’re obviously too large to be a Snowshoe Hare, but they have a similar repeating pattern. I had a hunch on the tracks’ true origin, and checked with Tom Rusch at the DNR to…
Bill and Ann on a dogsled trip this week figured out the dog Lewis (shown here). Lewis wanted to pee at the top of every hill. His top-of-hill leg-lifting meant their dogsled stopped shy of the crest and they had to push it to get it over the top. Then they got an idea. As…
The Ely Winter Festival wrapped up this past weekend, just as I wrapped up a dogsled trip. I made it to see the snow sculptures in Whiteside Park in the afternoon. Come late January every year, large blocks of snow get set up in the park, which professionals and amateurs then sculpt into unique, creative…
Kids come up with the darndest of ideas! I’ve been guiding a parent-child trip, and we spent this afternoon playing on the lake by the lodge with a few dogs. Everybody tried skiing, and even those who were total beginners stayed upright much of the time. The skiing was a quick introduction to the next…
Every winter, adventurous sorts come to the woods outside of Ely to prepare for attempts to reach the North Pole by dogsled or ski. It is an opportunity for these people to see how their cold weather systems perform and learn skills for dogsledding and cold weather travel and camping. We call these North Pole…
Layne Kennedy is at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge this week leading a dogsledding photo workshop. I’m one of the dogsled guides on the trip. It is a joy to work with Layne and absorb his contagious enthusiasm. Layne is a professional magazine and nature photographer. At the beginning of the photo workshop week, participants draw “assignments”…
The recent wet snow has wreaked havoc with area trails. Though the snow-covered trees make a winter-wonderland scene from the highways, drooping trees and branches have seriously restricted travel on winter dogsled and ski routes through the woods in the boundary waters. Most of our dogsledding trails are outside the BWCAW, and therefore we’ve been…
This video shows the actual birth of Lily the Black Bear’s cub near Ely, MN, around noon today. You will see the cub’s paw reach out from behind Lily’s leg and hear the cub’s sounds as it cries out for the first time. I just spoke again with Dr. Rogers and he says that Lily…
The first ever live broadcast of the birth of a wild black bear cub is being broadcast on the web. The North American Bear Center (http://www.bear.org/) near Ely has placed a special live camera in Lily the Black Bear’s den to record this event. Click here for the Black Bear Cam. I just got off…
People often ask me what dogsled guides do on our days off. I tell them that our days off tend to look a lot like our days on. For example, I had this week off from guiding to celebrate a late Christmas with my parents who visited from Iowa. What did I find myself doing…
With low temps around 30 degrees below zero, we cracked open some hand and foot warmers for the dogsledding trip this week. I just finished guiding a trip with a nice family from near New York City. It turns out one of them worked as a hand and foot model. She really appreciated the hand…
The dogsled camping group this week is game for just about anything. I really like their eagerness to try new things. Today the whole group joined in to build a traditional snow shelter called a quinzee. The above photo shows our finished product. A quinzee is made by hollowing out a pile of settled snow.…
My first dogsled camping trip of the season launched this week. It is four days and three nights on trail. This morning around the campfire Jen (a guest from Minneapolis) peaks into the breakfast pot and says: “Hhmm. That looks delicious. Uh, this may sound awful, but when I first saw thatI thought it was…
Before restrictions on motors in the BWCAW, land-based motorized vehicles made their way into some remote places. For example, this old International Harvester bus transported passengers across the Four Mile Portage between Fall Lake and Hoist Bay on Basswood Lake. The passengers would be either starting a canoe trip or going to one of the…
This frisky Pine Marten is hanging around the cabin, eating birdseed from the feeders and chasing wildlife. I photographed him today. Recently I watched him chase a Red Squirrel up a spruce tree, and then give up on the chase to await an easier ambush. Then I spotted him bounding through the fresh snow after…
Most folks had their motorboats winterized by the end of October. Virtually all other boats were tucked away by mid-November. But, this photo shows how one motorboater can lay claim to the title of last boater on Shagawa Lake in 2009. To say the least, it’s unusual to be boating on an ice-covered lake. But…
Tomorrow Chris and Lisa start driving north. The accompanying photos show the sparkling new 14′ sledge which they will christen once arriving in Inuvik. Why do they do this, and why is this expedition unique? This is nothing less than an epic journey. Chris and Lisa will face the extremes of adversity: bone-chilling cold of…
Note: This is part one in a series about Chris and Lisa’s Northwest Passage Dogsled Expedition. Chris Maher, of Ely, and Lisa Strom, from Sweden, are making final preparations for an epic dogsled expedition of the Northwest Passage – from Inuvik (near the north end of the Northwest Territories of Canada) to Churchill, Manitoba. Chris…
To those of us who have spent what feels like an overly significant part of our lives attempting to scrub every speck of pot black from our camp cookware – let today be the beginning of a new era! Let this be the end of soot covered “mechanic’s hands” stained from carbon that outlines one’s…
Wolves are generally not dangerous to people, and I’m unaware of any human injuries related to wolves in the BWCAW. Instead, if we see wolves on a Boundary Waters canoe trip, we feel especially lucky and pleased. The same can’t be said for domestic dogs and their interactions with area wolves. Wolves are probably one…
Kerry McNally is a Twin Cities television personality and former Discovery Channel host. I guided him this summer on his first trip into the BWCAW. He found the Boundary Waters so inspiring that he’s featuring footage from our canoe trip and scenic plane ride prominently in his new movie. It’s called Lakes, A Love Affair.…
Tamarack trees are ablaze in golden yellows now. After a summer innocuously blending in with spruce and fir trees, they are bursting with color. They are particularly striking against a backdrop of evergreens. The photos show Ely-area Tamarack trees this week. Once the dogsledding season arrives, the tamaracks will be totally barren. Tamaracks are the…
As soon as October 1 rolls around, I’m ready for snowflakes that don’t stick to the ground. Once the dogsledding season starts on December 1, I’ll be ready to wake up to several inches of snow. However, it is just plain premature for two inches of snow to be weighting down the tents of late-season…
Western poison ivy leaves are not a celebrated fall color, but they can be as crimson as a red maple leaf. The above photo shows poison ivy recently at the sand beach campsite on the west end of Mile Island on Fall Lake. Some Northwoods guidebooks gloss over or fail to mention western poison ivy.…
Today we paddled back in time and harvested wild rice by canoe in the BWCAW. Mirroring the traditional ways of the Sioux and Chippewa in this region, we paddled and portaged our canoe to a wild rice stand. The above video shows us using smooth wooden poles, called flails, to tap off the ripe grains…
It is unusual to bring a guitar into the BWCAW. Everything must by portaged and paddled, after all. And you don’t want to disturb the wilderness experience of other travelers. But, it can be done, and we did this week. We paddled into the wilderness with some friends from Alaska and decided a relaxing song…
Forest Service personnel paddled to our BWCAW campsite yesterday and notified us that we were required to leave our lake due to a prescribed burn of the Four Mile Portage. As we left the lake today, we saw these fire hoses and pumping equipment at the portage. They had also posted the below portage closure…
When we’re lucky, we see wildlife. When we’re really lucky, we see wildlife in action. The few times I have seen a loon eating fish, I have just caught a quick glimpse of silver as the loon swallows down its small meal after resurfacing. Today, my crew and I came upon a loon with a…
The wild blueberries are peaking about now. We cooked up these pancakes loaded with freshly picked blueberries on Lake One this morning.
A nice family from the Chicago area stayed at Fenske Lake Cabins near Ely this week and joined Boundary Waters Guide Service for a couple days of guided fun on the lakes. The whole family traveled by canoe to see some historic pictographs and pick wild blueberries yesterday. Today Keith took his two sons on…
You never know what surprises you might get from the wild animals of the north. Early Monday morning out at the Girl Scout Canoe Base near Ely, two staff members awoke to the sound of the pet dog Lexee’s loud woofing. Lexee was terribly agitated about something happening, so they followed her as she ran…
Bud from Van Air flew me and a client on an aerial float plane tour of the BWCA and Quetico today. The top-down view provides a whole new perspective on how much of this area is covered in water. And what a beautiful pattern the lakes make with the peninsulas and bays, islands, rocks and…
In the parking lot at the entry point this week, you couldn’t miss the “Just Married” written across the vehicle’s window. So, when we met a young couple on the portage, we asked if it was them. Sure enough, they’d spent their honeymoon camping in the boundary waters. It had been a cold and rainy…
I’ve received my first report this summer of bears hanging around a campsite. There has been a mother and her cub entering campsites on the east end of Disappointment Lake. Disappointment Lake is one portage east of Snowbank Lake. Keep a clean camp to discourage bears. If you have a bear in camp, then make…
Some people say there are two seasons up here: Winter and the 4th of July. That’s not quite true. But, once Independence Day rolls around, it is time to think seriously about keeping warm when the snow flies. Today Kate and I split wood. This photo is her with a rented log splitter. It felt…
We set out to answer that question this week. With the help of the guides at the Girl Scout Canoe Base near Ely, we loaded two canoe packs, dumped them in the lake, and waited to see if they would sink. For the first pack, we used a typical Duluth-style #3 canoe pack with personal…
Small town Independence Day parades across the country reflect the communities that host them. Ely is no different. In the “canoe capitol” of the world at the edge of the BWCA, there must be canoes. Today the Girl Scout Canoe Base guides portaged canoes in our parade. They even demonstrated, in formation, how to do…
We finished up the BWCA canoe trip today by paddling across a glassy Nina Moose Lake under picturesque blue skies with poofy white clouds.
One of my favorite BWCA pictograph sites is on Lac la Croix. The mystery surrounding the origin and meaning of these Indian paintings has interested me for some time. A friend who grew up in the Chippewa village on Lac la Croix once told me that the Chippewa do not know the origin or meaning…
Bob and his son Ben spent father’s day in the BWCA. I can’t imagine a more fitting place to spend quality time with your son. Ben caught his dad some walleye and smallmouth bass and we celebrated with a delicious boundary waters fish fry.
Bacon and a cup (or 3) of Gene Hicks coffee makes the Boundary Waters an even better place. If you want to add some Ely flavor to your BWCA mornings, then bring along Gene Hicks gourmet coffee. The Good Morning blend shown above is my favorite coffee in the world. We pack it with all…
The portage trail between Hustler and Oyster Lakes in the BWCA is challenging. It is about a mile long. And it is known to be flooded for about a hundred feet at the Oyster end. Some recent rains meant a particularly deep wade for us today. We decided to put the canoes down, load them…
I launched a six day BWCA canoe trip with father and son guests from Chicago today. Bob snapped this photo of a white-tailed buck grazing near our entry point on the Little Indian Sioux River. This young buck has velvet on his antlers, and hardly seemed to mind us paddling past him. The buck appears…
The smallmouth bass are on their beds now. The male smallmouth bass have recently created visible beds in shallow waters along the shores of BWCA lakes and rivers. The male bass makes the bed by fanning the sand and gravel away from an area near a rocky shoreline. If a female bass is impressed, then…
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…
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…
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…
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;…
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…
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…
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…
The safest way to get in and out of your canoe at a portage is to “wet foot” it. As you canoe up to a portage, turn your canoe parallel to the shore and step out of your canoe and into the shallow water before the canoe touches a rock. It is dangerous to try…
Today I launched a six day BWCA canoe trip with a dad and his two sons. We put in at crystal-clear Snowbank Lake. This photo shows David proudly watching his sons, Eric and Peter, paddle away from our lunch spot on Ahsub Lake.
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…
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.…
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.…
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.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.
As we arrived in Churchill, we dogsledded to the Polar Bear Jail. It is where problem bears are taken, on the edge of town. These photos show the polar bear traps used for the problem bears.
We spent our day dogsledding and skiing with our heads down and noses angled away from the wind. Sustained winds blasted us as we traveled along the coast of Hudson Bay to the Churchill Northern Studies Center. Wind speeds peaked at about 30 mph, with an air temp of about 0 degrees F today. The…
The weather has remained ideal. The sun continues to shine brightly and we are slathering on sunscreen. The wind has calmed today. The scenery is changing rapidly. As we move further north, the trees are getting smaller and smaller, and fewer and fewer. The efficient traveling conditions allowed us to log 25 miles today. Our…
We covered a lot of ground today – about 23 miles by dogsled and ski. We are passing through some brushy areas with small trees. The snow collects in these areas and can mean deep, fluffy, difficult to get a dogsled through, conditions. The dogs bottom out in the deep snow and the sled starts…
Today we traveled about 15 miles. The wind started out gusty. We saw several firsts. We saw tracks in the snow from polar bears (including tracks from a mother and two cubs, shown in the photo), caribou, wolves, wolverines, and fox. The wind subsided and a blazing sun is giving us a tan. The temps…
We’ve received several varying reports from the conductor regarding the arrival time for our drop off point. Originally we heard mid-morning. It kept getting pushed back due to the rough track conditions. At 1PM, the train screeched to a halt, the freight door slid open, and we started on assembly line unboarding. The train staff…
We arrived in Thompson, Manitoba, at about 2:30PM. We drove straight to the train depot, staked out the dogs, and then put our sleds, dogs, and gear in order next to the tracks to await the next leg of our journey. We heard several times that the Tundra Train is “always late.” It remained true…
At 6AM we arrived in the Wintergreen kennel to start loading sled dogs into the trailer, and launch our journey to Hudson Bay. That’s earlier than we are typically at the kennel. The dogs knew something was up instantly. I walked several dogs from their doghouses to the trailer. Lightning had a glint in her…
The below photo shows our smaller dogsleds used for lodge-based trips around Ely. They are now mere skeletons with their sled bags stored for the season. Today we are packing out dogsledding camping gear for Project Polar Bear. Guide Dave Freeman, the director of Wilderness Classroom, is shown above making a repair to the brushbow…
Between our Minnesota dogsledding season and summer BWCA canoe guiding season lies a wonderful opportunity for new adventure. This year most of our guides are going north to dogsled around Hudson Bay. We call it Project Polar Bear. You can learn all about it with real time online multimedia updates thanks to Dave Freeman, Amy…
We caught a glimpse of a lone wolf trotting across the ice while dogsledding home today. These are his tracks in the fresh snow.
Seven strong young people with a zest for adventure allowed us to take a particularly challenging route, and cover over 50 miles by dogsled. Obstacles like scaling this rock face with a dog team started to seem simpler and simpler after the incessantly challenging terrain we regularly encountered. This is us leaving Lake One in…
The late season weather and trail conditions can be variable. We had luck on our side for this trip. As everyone arrived, they needed windshield wipers to clear the drizzle. However, a cold front moved in just in time for our first full day of dogsledding. And we still have solid snowcovered trails, like the…
We call the last camping trip of the Minnesota dogsledding season “The Last Hurrah.” However, the title has a double meaning for the last hurrah trip I’m guiding this week. I’m in the woods with a group of seven twenty-seven-year-old bachelors celebrating their buddy Cory’s bachelor adventure. Cory’s getting married in July. That’s Cory flexing,…
When the Minnesota dogsledding season ends, we go north for Project Polar Bear. We are traveling by truck (and dog trailer) and train to Churchill, Manitoba, the first of April. Once there, we will be dogsledding and camping in what the locals have dubbed the “Polar Bear Capitol of the World.” The area is one…
Curt (above) pioneered a whole new sport today we call sit-skijoring. Skijoring is when a person is on skis and tethered to a harnessed dog that pulls them. Sit-skijoring is when a person is on a “sit-ski” – the blue device above. Curt is using his strong upper body balance and the outrigger skis with…
That’s a bicycle seat on the back of one of the dogsleds. One of the fun things about journeying with people through the wilderness is adapting things to work in special situations. Curt, one of our dogsledders this week, doesn’t have full use of his legs. The bicycle seat innovation allowed him to drive the…
Covy has puppies! These are two of the three of them hanging out on the porch at Wintergreen Lodge. The adult Inuit dogs don’t like the heat because of their thick insulating coats. Today’s temps hit an unseasonably warm 60 degrees. These temps are even too warm for the puppies. They did their best to…
How warm was it today? Warm enough that dogsledders Lilly and her dad, Paul, sat outside barefooted and in a t-shirt. This week I’m guiding a Continuing Medical Education Dogsled Trip with a group of doctors (including Paul, above). The trip includes some of the doctors’ family members. Even after today’s warm weather, we are…
So, how do we pass our time when not guiding dogsledding trips? Pond curling, of course! Well, that’s how we spent this afternoon after the dogsledding trips ended. The guides and everybody got together on our own home-made curling ice on the lake behind the lodge. Thanks to all the folks who took the time…
Joel, a dogsledding participant, held an armload of stinky dog harnesses and looked over at me this morning: “Ever wash these things?” In fact, the dog harnesses do occasionally get washed. This video shows the Wintergreen industrial dog harness washing machine – aka, a cement mixer with rocks, water, and detergent. Paul has an ultimately…
GUEST BLOGGER: Wilderness Guide Kate Ford. The second annual Ely Wolftrack Classic sled dog race is happening this weekend, so Ely is buzzing with visitors. Tomorrow our friend Eva Kolodji will take her dogs out for the 30-mile race from Ely to Tower, which she estimates will take about 3.5 hours. That’s much less than…
I just returned from a 7 day dogsled camping trip from Gunflint Lake east along the Canadian border, through the BWCA. We ventured out with two groups of students from Lakehead Univ. in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Most of our Wintergreen dogsledding trips are not comprised completely of college age people. Thus, this felt like a…
Artists recently completed another display of incredible snow sculptures in Whiteside Park in Ely. The Snow Sculpting Symposium is part of the Ely Winter Festival. This snow sculpture is “They Called the Wind Mariah,” by Sherry Rovig, Nick Lee, and Dianne Goodwin. Three days of warm weather and drizzle after the carving means that photos…
Guest Blogger: The following photos and text are by Wilderness Guide LynnAnne Vesper. Jason is guiding a dogsled camping trip this week. I was so cold last night! I just couldn’t warm up in my sleeping bag. I thought, ‘How am I going to survive this trip if I am such a weenie?’ Around the…
I just returned from a North Pole Shakedown. Adventurous people who want to ski and dogsled to the geographic North Pole journey to Ely for Shakedown dogsled camping trips. Participants learn dogsledding, winter camping, and skiing skills needed to successfully reach the Pole. This is their opportunity to determine if they have what it takes…
Thanks to some generous Elyites, I now have an Alaskan sourdough pancake starter with a hundred year history. But, how do the pancakes taste? I felt somewhat nervous after seeing the science experiment-type bubbles in the batter the first morning. However, the dogsledders loved them. It’s a good sign when the dogsled participants are demanding…
Everyone knows the social event of the Ely winter is the annual Mukluk Ball! Kate and I donned our mukluks last night and joined some friends to tear up the dance floor. Hundreds of people danced to the tunes of the Lamont Cranston band. If you ever wanted to be a part of small town…
The sourdough starter story continues. After graduating from Ely High School, David attended MIT, graduating with a degree in engineering. His long-time friend, Sig Olson, Jr., insisted David and his wife visit him in Alaska. [Sig Jr.’s father is my favorite author and probably the person most responsible for creating the BWCA.] So, during the…
My sourdough starter story begins at Ely’s local radio station – WELY. When you live in Ely and you’re looking to find something or get rid of something, you call the radio station. Trader Craig is our local peddler supreme. Just give him a call at WELY, and he’ll broadcast your wishes on the Trader…
The Photo Workshop dogsledding trip has wrapped up. We are lucky to have professional photographer Layne Kennedy leading these trips. He is a wonderfully dynamic and talented photographer and teacher. The group learned a lot from Layne. One of Layne’s main ideas for better photos is to ask yourself, “What am I trying to say…
There are many reasons why I return to guiding dog sledding trips at Wintergreen Lodge. One of the main reasons is that the dogs love to pull. If the dogs exuded some sort of complacency or indifference to pulling, or even if it seemed like pulling a sled burdened them in some sort of a…
One of the fun experiments the photo workshop participants have done is try night sky shots. Last night Tom Sheley, of Columbus Ohio, captured this image. All the stars appear to be rotating around the North Star. I really like how the stars have color in this photo. No one has altered the picture with…
Ever feel like somone’s watching you? We’re in the midst of the Photo Workshop dogsled trip. One of the participants, Jamie Thingelstad (http://www.thingelstad.com/) snapped this picture of some of the photographers shooting me and several dog teams breaking trail on Husky Pond today. Temps have been comfortable for this trip, with highs in the teens…
One of the things Layne Kennedy suggests is to consider shooting into the light for visual effect. This is a photo I took shooting into the late afternoon sun today. Lead dogs left to right are Suma, Matilda, and Juno (puppy). In wheel you see another puppy, Jack.
I’m one of the dogsled guides on a Photo Workshop dogsledding trip that started today. Layne Kennedy is a professional photographer from the Twin Cities. He has led this workshop at Wintergreen for over a dozen years. I’m hoping I learn some pointers to help me take better photos for this blog. This is a…
After 111+ miles, 14 hours on trail, and temps dipping to almost 30 below, Eva Kolodji finished the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon today! She is now the youngest woman ever to have successfully completed the race. Full race results are at http://www.beargrease.com/. A really nice article with Eva’s story is in the Duluth News…
Our favorite dog sled racer, Eva Kolodji, made history today. At 17 years, she is the youngest woman ever to attempt the grueling John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. She launched her team of 8 Alaskan sled dogs at about 1:30 PM in front of a packed grandstand of cheering wellwishers. Eva started running dogs five…
I spent today helping arctic explorer Will Steger fill his ice house with lake ice. His homestead is off the grid, on the edge of the BWCA. A whole crew of folks assembled to help cut, buck and stack these clear, over-sized ice cubes. We used a team of horses pulling a sleigh to haul…
These Paper Birch seeds fell from the catkins on the tree shown in the Jan. 17 post. The seeds gathered on the snow beneath the tree. Then, a slight breeze swept some of them into animal tracks, making it look like someone painted animal tracks in the snow. They’re possibly snowshow hare tracks. This is…
These are a couple of the massive snow-filled plywood forms sitting in Whiteside Park in Ely. Once the snow settles, the forms are removed and the resulting snow cube is the blank slate for snow carvers. The Ely Winter Festival begins on February 6. The Festival highlight is the International Snow Carver’s Symposium. The snow…
None of the Wintergreen guides have TV. Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge doesn’t have TV. None of the Boundary Waters Guide Service guides have TV. So where do you go when you feel compelled to be part of a historic event being broadcast on TV? The local watering hole. The nice folks at the Boathouse Brewpub in…
After all of the 40 below weather recently, it felt mighty balmy when temps reached into the 20s ABOVE zero today! I stripped down to my T-shirt during the trip this afternoon. We are on a small bay off of White Iron Lake near Ely, MN, in this photo.
Paper Birch trees are starting to release their winter seeds. The catkin in focus has some of the winged seeds just barely hanging on. These shorter (about 1 1/2 inches) female catkins were pollinated last spring. The seeds have developed over the last seven months. Now they take flight on the wind. We are seeing…
Tim, from Kentucky, is on a dogsled trip this week. He helped with feeding and caring for the dogs this morning, during the coldest part of the day. It took less than 15 minutes for his eyebrows and eyelashes to freeze up in temps south (not South Beach warm ‘south,’ but lower down on the…
Started a lodge-based dog sledding trip with four participants today. We launched our teams in temps colder than 25 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. The folks are most surprised that they remained quite comfortable, even in the frigid temps. Chalk that reaction up to quality clothing (they all rented or purchased clothing from the Wintergreen clothing…
What is the psychological profile of a typical guide? Guides tend to be friendly, outgoing, interesting, and adventurous sorts. After watching Chris’ Greenland dog sledding slideshow, we sat back for pics from another guide’s recent travels with the nomadic people of Mongolia. Our youngest guide, Christina, is a Luther College student who did an independent…
One of our long-time Wintergreen dogsled guides, Chris Maher, decided to move to where they invented dog sledding: Arctic Greenland. He moved to Greenland in Spring 2008 and purchased a dog team. Now he spends his fall like the native Inuit people he lives with. He drives his team of Inuit dogs hunting seals by…
It’s not too uncommon for forecasters to be 20 degrees off in their low temp predictions for Ely. Case in point: The National Weather Service and the rest of the forecasting crews predicted a low of -6 to -8 degrees Fahrenheit last night. We woke up to a somewhat chilly 29 degrees below. And a…
Over breakfast, a participant mentioned she had a three-legged dog pulling her dogsled the day before. My ears perked with concern. Then she said, “Yeah, Baloo was lifting his fourth leg to pee on every single tree that passed by. He may as well had only three legs pulling.” Above, Baloo.
Kids seem to take to dog sledding with a certain grace and ease that sometimes escapes adults. Here is Lill, age 8, from Texas with Lucy. Lucy is less than a year old, and is happy in lead. Lill and her twin sister, Georgia, did a great job working with the dogs. Georgia even caught…
We dogsledded by this beaver lodge today. For curosity’s sake, we stopped to see if it is occupied. If beavers are wintering over inside a lodge, then the warmth from their bodies melts a small chimney in the snow at the very top. Sure enough, beavers are present in this lodge. The photo shows Cassidy…
Lufa is a dog that really wants to be with people. She loves human attention. And the guides respond to it. She is the only dog in the kennel of about 80 dogs that is allowed to run free while we are in a winter camp. Lufa makes a unique cooing sound when she howls.…
The propane gas industry adds a rotten egg smell to their naturally colorless, odorless, and very explosive propane product. That’s a good start. However, sometimes that could lead to unsafe confusion. Is that rotten egg smell a dangerous propane leak, or just the Thanksgiving leftovers reminding me of their long-ago demise in the frig? Alas,…
A saying from Ely’s famed Dorothy Molter: Kwitchurbeliakin. Try saying it out loud if you’re not sure what you’re looking at. Dorothy is regarded as the last person allowed to lawfully live in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. A self-sufficient, hardy woman, she did very little “belly aching.” Canoeists on Knife Lake loved to…
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Buster (above) is a lucky dog. His doghouse is near the main entrance to the kennel. That means he gets extra petting from guests. He’s one of my favorites because he is ultra-consistant and reliable. That means I give him some extra attention. But, he’s really lucky to just be alive. He was born a…
When it warms up to 0 degrees, it feels like a heat wave! So is the case today. I ski to work at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge. It’s about a 15 minute ski from my cabin, depending on the weather and snow conditions. The short mid-December days mean that I’m typically skiing the route in the…
Living in the North Woods means we are well aware of forest fire dangers. We are particularly conscientious about putting out our campfires. We know, in some cases first hand, about the devastating effects of forest fires caused by improperly extinguished campfires. Case in point. When I started guiding Boundary Waters trips in the mid-nineties…
Most Wintergreen alumni won’t recognize the names on these dog harnesses. They are the new duds for our puppies born in March to Lucky and Thule. Our dogs are purebred Canadian Inuit dogs and they are, quite literally, born to pull. For thousands of years, the Inuit (or Eskimo) people have relied on the breed…
Those smart folks at the National Weather Service got it right this weekend. The following forecast came true: Weather report for Ely: … Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 12 PM CST Monday… Snow intensity will increase through the afternoon… persisting overnight. Snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches an hour. Winds of 20…
The earlier post mentions that we recently finished a dogsled camping trip with the Travel Channel. As it turns out, one of our dogs is a natural for the silver screen. Calvin is the gray dog in lead in this pic. He has an uncanny ability to recognize a camera (still or video!) and put…
We have luckily received just enough snow to keep our dogs running, participants mushing, and guides guiding. This pic shows one of our trails on White Iron Lake. You can see the black ice where the snow has blown away. Today we dogsledded primarily on the lake. Tomorrow we will head deep into the woods…
The dogsledding season is officially underway at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge. The guides just returned from the first dogsled camping trip of the season. This was no ordinary camping trip. It included the Travel Channel’s luminary, Samantha Brown, her personal stylist, a videographer, a sound guy, a producer, and a runner. We spent much of the…