Paddle and Portage Podcast

Update From the Road: Winter Camping, Brook Trout & Wolves

The Paddle and Portage Podcast have been on the move in October. The Winter Camping Symposium was a highlight of the month, as was a recent trip to the far west end of the Boundary Waters to meet with one of the nation's top wolf researchers. 
In this update from the road, we hear from the podcast duo about who they've been talking with for video podcasts and what brought them to the western edge of the Boundary Waters in search of wolves. 

Boundary Waters Trout Chowder and the True North Cabin Cookbook Vol. II

Stephanie Hansen’s first cookbook took readers to her family outpost on an island on Burntside Lake near Ely, on the edge of the BWCA. Now, True North Cabin Cookbook Volume Two, released this year, focuses on “the cozy months” of October through April. 
We hear from Stephanie in this episode of the podcast. We also cook some smoked trout and wild rice chowder that was inspired by the cookbook. We caught the fish. We smoked the fish. We made the chowder. We ate the chowder. 
This episode is sponsored by Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles, Williams and Hall Outfitters, and Solbakken Resort on Superior.

Ely Canoe Outfitter Focused on Women Set For Retirement

Peta Barrett is preparing to retire from Women’s Wilderness Discovery, the company she started in 2014 in Ely, the gateway community to the Boundary Waters.
Barrett moved to Ely more than 10 years ago to start up the guiding and outfitting company. She wanted to focus on offering a safe and comfortable place for women to have a means to access the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
In this episode, we hear about Peta's journey to the Boundary Waters. 
This episode is sponsored by Ely Outfitting Company and Borderland Lodge. 

The Family Life: Boundary Waters Edition

The power of a place can change lives. It can also determine where someone lives, and how they live. 
The Boundary Waters is one such place. In this episode, we learn how two families have been, and continue to be impacted by the power of place. 
Special thanks to Andy Cochrane, Stellan & Lena Bengtsson, Scott, Jess, & Niklas Henderson, and Bob & Deb Friedrichs, for participating in this episode. 
Thanks also to Chad from Gunflint Wilderness Guide Services for participating in the fishing adventure shared in this episode. 
This episode is made possible with support from Sawtooth Outfitters, Loons Nest Coffee, and Solbakken Resort on Superior. 

Helping Veterans Find Their Way On The Yellowstone River

A small group of kayakers started Team River Runner in 2004 with the goal of helping veterans get on the water. They now offer paddling opportunities to veterans and their family members in more than 60 locations across the nation, including the Yellowstone River in Montana. 
Team River Runner seeks to get physically (amputations, mobility impairments) and/or visually impaired veterans in kayaks or other watercraft. This summer, M Baxley from the P&P Podcast traveled to the edge of Yellowstone National Park to learn more about the paddling clinics, and to speak with some of the participants. The adventure took Baxley from Minnesota to Montana. Join the road trip turned paddle trip to hear the full story. 
To learn more about Team River Runner, visit their website: https://www.teamriverrunner.org/
This episode is made possible with support from the Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles, Bent Paddle Brewing, the Yellowstone River Motel, and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. 

Chuck the Mainer Paddles the Boundary Waters

Chuck Alexander is a canoe guide and carpenter who lives in Maine. He'd long aspired to paddle in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It took meeting a longtime paddler of the BWCA, Tim Cochrane, to make that dream come to fruition. Before embarking on a multi-night trip to the wilderness, the podcast team had a chance to meet Chuck, including a fishing trip to the Boundary Waters. This is the story of how paddling connects us, from Maine to Canada to Minnesota. 
This episode is supported by Cascade Vacation Rentals and Sawbill Canoe Outfitters. 

Minnesota Resident Tests Positive for West Nile Virus After BWCA Trip

A resident of Duluth is sick with a rare case of West Nile virus in Minnesota.
The Duluth woman was in the emergency room at St. Luke’s Medical Center Sunday, Sept. 7. She is now home and recovering from the virus. She believes she was infected with West Nile while on a canoe trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in mid-August. After nearly three weeks, she continues to experience body aches, headaches, fatigue, among other symptoms.
The group entered at the Kawishiwi Lake entry point, which is in Lake County near the border with Cook County.
This is believed to be one of the first confirmed cases of West Nile virus ever reported from the BWCA Wilderness. Her case is one of only 21 cases of West Nile reported statewide this year, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. 
In this news update on the podcast, we hear from the Duluth woman about the West Nile infection. We also talk with Elizabeth Schiffman, supervisor of MDH’s Vectorborne Diseases Unit. 

Empowering Women in the Wilderness: Yoga, Portaging & the BWCA

The intersection of paddling, yoga, and self-reliance carries us into the BWCA Wilderness in this episode of the podcast. 
Boreal Bliss Yoga Retreats is a Minnesota business owned by women who bring together themes of self-reliance, seasonal living, and the transformative power of time spent paddling and portaging in the BWCA Wilderness and surrounding area. They've been in business since 2017 and have hosted more than 60 retreats focused on this theme. For their BWCA adventures, they partner with Birchwood Wilderness Camp and Ashley Bredemus.
We travel to the end of the Gunflint Trail, South Lake, and Rose Lake in this episode of the podcast. 
Music in this episode from Upstream Drifters and Ian Tamblyn. 
This episode is sponsored by Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center, Northstar Canoes, Borderland Lodge. 

BWCA Adventures: Get Out and Make It Happen

Just ahead of Labor Day weekend and the start of the transition to autumn, a long time listener of our podcast about the Boundary Waters came to check out the BWCA Wilderness for the first time.
 
Her name is Karolina Satek. Along with her husband and young daughter, they traveled to the Gunflint Trail and spent a few nights at Borderland Lodge. From there, they explored the surrounding wilderness, ate pasta and wild rice burgers at the lodge, and walked numerous trails leading to and inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The crew at Rockwood Lodge were helpful in showing the ropes on paddling and portaging in the canoe-country wilderness.
 
In this episode of the podcast, we share the connection between Karolina's first trip to the Boundary Waters and a fishing trip this summer with Barbara Jean Meyers, a musician and radio producer who lives near the Boundary Waters. The theme and general connection between the stories is simple: If you have plans to do something, don't wait around. Get out there and do it.
 
This episode is sponsored by the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, Ely Outfitting Company, Loons Nest Coffee. 
 
Music in this episode is courtesy of Dusty Heart, Ian Tamblyn, Upstream Drifters, and Blue Dot Sessions.

Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness

We head west in this episode, to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. M Baxley joins a group of paddlers who came together under the leadership of Jordan Taylor and Sandra Newbury to travel on the Salmon River in Idaho. One of the great rivers of the West, the Salmon rolls through the Frank Church, the largest federally managed wilderness in the United States outside of Alaska. Confluences River Expeditions provided the group with rafts and raft guides while the other boaters traveled the river via canoes and kayaks. Join us as we head to the river of no return.
This episode is supported by Bent Paddling Brewing Company, Sawtooth Outfitters, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.

The Glossy Marketing of the Wilderness

The Paddle and Portage Podcast team spent time paddling and talking around a fire with Minnesota author Joe Whitson in early August. Joe is the author of the new book, “Marketing the Wilderness.” 
Joe’s book pulls back the curtain on the outdoor recreation industry, on the glossy images, the feel-good branding, the well-meaning campaigns, and asks, “What’s being left out?” It traces how the idea of “wilderness” in the U.S. was built through marketing strategies that romanticize land as empty and pristine, while erasing the Indigenous people who’ve always been there.
Joe discusses the concepts he raises in his book on this episode of the podcast. 

Wilderness Water Safety With Abby Golden

Abby Golden has been teaching at an organization called Wilderness Water Safety for 15 years. She is a certified lifeguard, wilderness first responder, and experienced wilderness trip leader. She has led trips in the Lake Temagami area as a trip leader for Camp Wabun and has traveled extensively throughout the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Born and raised in the St. Croix River Valley, she talks about water safety and shares stories of danger and death and what we can learn from these anecdotes from the BWCA and beyond.
This episode is supported by Rutabaga Paddlesports and Ely Outfitting Company.

Kari Kennedy on Connection to the Boundary Waters

Kari Kennedy is the producer of Almanac, a popular and long-running news program on Twin Cities PBS. She's also in love with the Boundary Waters. The Gunflint Trail has become a home away from home, and trips to the BWCA Wilderness are a big part of that experience. Kari shares her story in this episode of the podcast. 
Support for this episode comes from Northstar Canoes, Loons Nest Coffee, and Williams & Hall Outfitters. 

Graham the Actor Arrives to the Boundary Waters

He first paddled on Seagull Lake. It didn't go well. A fishing boat had to rescue him. A few days later, he drove a transport tow. In a blizzard. 
Graham Schatz is working at Seagull Canoe Outfitters this summer. He is not a typical "Trail Kid," those who lug canoes and clean cabins at the resorts on the Gunflint Trail each summer. Graham is an actor who has been attending acting school in Los Angeles. This summer, when he came to the Gunflint, it was his first time experiencing the Boundary Waters. 
Graham's story illustrates something about the BWCA: The power of this place to transform knows no boundaries. 
Music on this episode from the Upstream Drifters and the Blue Dot Sessions. 
This episode is supported by Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center and Borderland Lodge. 

Hudson Bay Girls Share Update From Norway House

Checking in with an update from their epic paddle are the Hudson Bay Girls. The four paddlers left Lake Superior and the Grand Portage in May. They're bound for Hudson Bay and share this update from Norway House, just north of Lake Winnipeg. In an update sent to Paddle and Portage July 21, they report: "We’re checking in from Norway House! We have been through so much so far. From navigating backcountry travel restrictions, dodging wildfires, a trip altering injury, and ever changing weather conditions- we have been busy!"
Listen to the full audio report in this episode of the podcast. 
Photo from @aidant_007 on Instagram. Music on this episode from Canadian folk singer Ian Tamblyn and the Blue Dot Sessions. 
This episode is supported by Bent Paddle Brewing, Save the Boundary Waters, Drury Lane Books. 

Kate From Bending Branches Talks with Erin From Lost Lakes

Kate Wright is the director of marketing for Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles. An experienced paddler, Kate and her husband are taking their young child to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in the summer of 2025 for the first time as parents. Kate spoke with guest host Erin Walker from the Lost Lakes YouTube Channel for this episode of the podcast. 
This episode is supported by Canoecopia, Women's Wilderness Discovery, Friends of the Boundary Waters, Sawbill Canoe Outfitters, and Cascade Vacation Rentals.  

Permit News From the BWCA Wilderness

We've shared multiple news stories in recent weeks about permits for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. From the cost of permits to the record number of permit cancellations last year, the Paddle and Portage Podcast team break it all down in this episode. Joining the podcast duo on the episode is a Minnesota resident and BWCA regular who goes by the name Fish Brain Shane. Earlier this summer, Shane disagreed with an online post from the P&P team that supported the proposal to increase the permit fee for the BWCA. How does it go on the podcast when conversation takes over from social media posting? Tune in and find out. 
This episode is support by Williams and Hall Outfitters. 

Update From the Solitude of Four: Lake Winnipeg Awaits

As promised, here's an update from the Solitude of Four. The group shares this update just as they're preparing to start the lengthy paddle of Lake Winnipeg, a key benchmark on their journey to Hudson Bay. 
Backstory: Four paddlers and canoe guides from Wilderness Canoe Base on Seagull Lake at the end of the Gunflint Trail are paddling north this summer. Leaving Seagull May 31, the group, paddling under the name Solitude of Four, are on a 1,250 mile canoe journey from our camp to Hudson Bay, Canada. It is a 2.5 month expedition through some of North America’s most remote waterways. The group includes Ryan Mohr, Kathleen Grube, Maren Johnson, and Timea Vrabcová. 
This episode is supported by Northstar Canoes and Loons Nest Coffee. 

The Healing Power of the Boundary Waters

In February 2022, a Minnesota man was sentenced to four years in prison for sexually assaulting a Cook County woman at a condominium on Ski Hill Road in Lutsen, not far from Lake Superior and the Boundary Waters.
According to the criminal complaint, on Jan. 25, 2020, Cook County law enforcement responded to North Shore Health, the local hospital in Grand Marais, where a woman being treated for medical issues reported that she was sexually assaulted. The woman told medical personnel and law enforcement she had been raped.
The woman who is the victim of this crime has spent the past five years trying to connect more with nature, including the Boundary Waters. She shares her story in this episode of the podcast. 
This episode is supported by Bending Branches Canoe and Kayak Paddles and by Ely Outfitting Company. 

The Call to Paddle North: Solitude of Four

Four paddlers and canoe guides from Wilderness Canoe Base on Seagull Lake at the end of the Gunflint Trail are paddling north this summer. Leaving Seagull May 31, the group, paddling under the name Solitude of Four, are on a 1,250 mile canoe journey from our camp to Hudson Bay, Canada. It is a 2.5 month expedition through some of North America’s most remote waterways. Why are they doing this? We spoke with Ryan Mohr, Kathleen Grube, Maren Johnson, and Timea Vrabcová about what led them to embark on this journey north. Also sharing insight on the pull to paddle north is Bob O’Hara, an iconic paddler who has been exploring the Far North for decades.
This episode is supported by Borderland Lodge, Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center, Solbakken Resort on Superior.

Paddling Veteran Embraces the Penguin and Viking Within

Nathaniel Gueltzau (AKA The Penguin Viking) is a long-distance paddler and military veteran.  
After returning from Afghanistan, paddling became more than just a sport-it became a way to process emotions, navigate personal experiences, and find new purpose. The pursuit of pushing physical limits, overcoming mental hurdles, and feeling a sense of accomplishment led Nate to seek out even greater challenges.At the heart of Nate's paddling journey is a philosophy of survival and resilience. Whether working through emotions, physical obstacles, or mental challenges, paddling represents the idea of moving forward-one stroke at a time. "Moving forward is progress," Nate says. 
This episode is supported by Cooke Custom Sewing, Ely Outfitting Company, Women's Wilderness Discovery, Loons Nest Coffee, and Canoecopia. 

The Labor of Trail in the Boundary Waters

The Border Route Trail on the eastern side of the BWCA continues to grow in popularity and use. The trail is 65-miles long and follows the international border between Minnesota and Ontario. It is the first long-distance, wilderness backpacking and hiking trail in Minnesota planned and constructed by volunteers.
In the spring of 2025, just as the ice was leaving many of the lakes across the Boundary Waters, the P&P team met up with a group of volunteers to learn more about the history, current status, and future of the Border Route Trail.
This episode is supported by Northstar Canoes, Bending Branches, Borderland Lodge, and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. 
The BRT crew are looking for volunteers, specifically younger folks, to help keep this trail open and available for public use. These are public lands, so it's important we all do our part to keep these trails accessible. Learn more here: https://www.borderroutetrail.org/

Boundary Waters Conversation with The Barefoot Paddler

Mark Zimmer, more commonly referred to as the ‘Barefoot Paddler,’ spoke with the Paddle and Portage Podcast before the start of his 2025 paddling season.
 
Zimmer is starting his 13th year exploring the BWCA. Mark typically spends late April or early May through October in the Boundary Waters. He catches walleye, lake trout, and pike. He forages wild edibles, including mushrooms, roots, and various fruits and vegetables that grow in the woods here. Zimmer paddles a solo canoe and sleeps in a hammock. And he prefers to spend his time in the Boundary Waters without shoes.
 
Zimmer has created a downloadable digital map of every portage in the Boundary Waters, having literally walked them all. Find out more about Zimmer’s portage map and learn more about Zimmer on his website.
 
We met up with Zimmer near the Fernberg Trail about 10 miles from Ely just as the 2025 paddling season was taking form.
 
This episode is supported by Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center, Sawtooth Outfitters, Bent Paddle Brewing Company. 

The Triumphant Wisdom of Old Man Ed in the Boundary Waters

Old Man Ed is a fixture in the Boundary Waters. He's been following, in the literal sense, the Paddle and Portage Podcast team for years. Often, he crawls from the water's edge and provides wisdom and perspective to the folks who make this whole thing go. 
In this episode, Ed arrives on the great fishing opener weekend, which includes Mother's Day. 
Music on this episode is shared, with permission, from the album Crooked Step, Open Gate, by Upstream Drifters. The duo features P&P writer and dear good friend, Aubrey Helmuth Miller. Joining Aubrey to complete the Upstream Drifters is musician Craig Mast.
This episode supported by Sawbill Canoe Outfitters, Loons Nest Coffee, Solbakken Resort on Superior. 

Rick Slatten Talks History of Search and Rescue In and Around BWCA

Rick Slatten is the captain of the St. Louis County Rescue Squad. He recently spoke with Joe on the Paddle and Portage Podcast about the highly publicized incident from Curtain Falls in the BWCA in 2024, and other events associated with search and rescue in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
This episode is supported by Drury Lane Books, Cooke Custom Sewing, Northern Goods, and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.