Archives for May 2016

Transfixed by the star-covered, moonless sky, I lay on the warm bedrock for hours watching whispy clouds flow by. The earth slowly rotated through space and I greeted new stars and wished others a farwell until the next clear night.
A faint glow appeared on the horizon, urging me to stay and watch the moon rise. For half an hour the light intensified, a glowing orb filtered through the tallest white pines and eventually breached the horizon, shining across the lake’s still surface.
I was tired when I finally crawled into bed at 1:30 AM but the memory of the moonrise and this image will remain with me for a long time.
We’re spending a year in the Boundary Waters to help raise awareness about Twin Metals and other sulfide-ore copper mines being proposed near the edge of the BWCAW– and the potential for dangerous acid mine drainage and other threats associated with this type of mining. For more information about the proposed mines and our #wildernessyear to @savetheBWCA please visit http://ift.tt/1x2erSX. While you are there, sign the petition and help us protect this national treasure from a type of mining that has never been done anywhere in the world without polluting the water.

#wilderness #stars #moon #petzlgram #BoundaryWaters #BWCA #onlyinMN #captureMN #WeAreTheWild #getoutstayout @goalzero

Stories and images play an important role in protecting this iconic Wilderness. We love hearing about your Wilderness experiences; they remind us what a special place the Boundary Waters is. Please share your photos and stories with us and help #savetheBWCA! Go to http://ift.tt/1TNgIPU or email photos and stories to info@savetheboundarywaters.org and help raise up the voice of this wilderness.

The long days of summer allow us to capture plenty of power with our @GoalZero solar panels. We use two foldable 20 watt panels to produce all the power we need to share our #wildernessyear to @savetheBWCA with the outside world and help protect this national treasure.

#BoundaryWaters #BWCA #Wilderness #getoutstayout

Amy and I have been eating oatmeal for breakfast on our adventures for more than a decade. In fact, several former expedition team members still kid me about oatmeal, because we ate it for breakfast every day with only a couple of raisins and a pinch of sugar to doctor it up. While paddling across the Amazon in 2007 our teammate Ruben got so tired of eating plain oatmeal each day that he started mixing chocolate energy bars and coffee in with the oatmeal when it was his turn to make breakfast.
Over the years we have come to appreciate more variety in our breakfast cereal, but oatmeal has continued to be a mainstay for breakfast both in the wilderness and at home. That is why we were thrilled when @SevenSundaysMN contacted us to see if we would like some of their muesli to help fuel our #wildernessyear to @savetheBWCA. I wish Ruben, Warren, Adam, Frosty, John, Patrick, Anna, Jay, Anne, and all the other team members who ate plain oatmeal for weeks on end with us over the years could be here with us this morning on Winchell Lake enjoying a bowl of Seven Sundays Blueberry Chia Buckwheat Muesli with us. Now this is a wonderful way to start our day! We are so lucky to have businesses like Seven Sundays supporting our efforts to protect this amazing Wilderness from Twin Metals and other sulfide-ore copper mines that are being proposed along the southern edge of the Wilderness. This type of mining has never been done anywhere in the world without polluting the water. Clean water is the lifeblood of the Wilderness, our jobs, and regional economy. You can help by signing the petition at http://ift.tt/1x2erSX .

#wildernessyear #savetheBWCA #sunrise #captureMN #onlyinMN #WeAreTheWild #BoundaryWaters #BWCA #muesli

Wildfire smoke continues to help produce some glorious sunrises and sunsets. In the evening we often find ourselves stopping our evening chores to soak in the sunset. The sky changes and fades so quickly. We have learned that when we notice the golden glow we should take a break. If we continue what we are doing we inevitably miss one of nature’s most beautiful daily rhythms.

Being immersed in the Wilderness has helped us slow down and appreciate the simple gifts that nature provides. These moments are so valuable, yet so easy to overlook.
Today is the 246th day of our #wildernessyear to @savetheBWCA. Please sign the petition at http://ift.tt/1x2erSX and help protect this national treasure from Twin Metals and other sulfide-ore copper mines being proposed along the southern edge of the Wilderness.

#wildernessyear #savetheBWCA #canoeing @Helinox #sunset #spring #onlyinMN #captureMn #paddle #canoeing #boundarywaters #BWCA

Dawn is my favorite time of day in the Wilderness. The soft light and mirror smooth lake provide the perfect backdrop for reflection. Amy’s dad left last night but our friend John is staying with us for another night or two. It’s always fun to share the Wilderness with others. We were excited to greet John as he paddled across Brule’s mirror smooth surface on Friday morning.
John introduced Amy and me eleven years ago and like us, he moved to Northern Minnesota to carve a living out in this amazing landscape sandwiched between Lake Superior and the Canadian border. He started a kayaking business in Grand Marais Minnesota where Amy and I both worked as we were setting down roots in the area.
John grew up fishing on Lake Minnetonka, but stopped fishing when he got into whitewater paddling about 40 years ago. Yesterday he caught his first walleye in many years, which we ate along with chocolate cake and @Trailtopia Chicken and Vegetable Stew as part of Amy’s birthday feast! It was fun watching John reconnect with the primal joy that comes with catching and eating a fish in the Wilderness. I bet John will be wetting his line again today!

Last night before bed we all stood out on the rock listening to the loons. For the past 3 nights they have erupted in a chores that starts 10 minutes later each night. Amy noticed this trend two nights ago and we are excited to see if they begin to sing in unison at 10:05 tonight as the first stars appear.

We all must speak loudly for this quiet place. Please take action today, sign the petition by following the link in our bio, and make your voice heard. This national treasure is too precious to risk.

#wildernessyear #savetheBWCA #spring #kayak #wearethewild #sunrise #wilderness #adventure #BWCA #BoundaryWaters #captureMN #onlyinMN

Today is Amy’s birthday and we are excited to have her dad and our good friend John visiting us for a few days. This morning Amy and John enjoyed their morning coffee out on the rock in front of our campsite. What a great way to start your birthday. We are being spoiled by a string of calm, bug-free, sunny mornings, but I got my first black fly bite last night. I am sure our bug free days are numbered!

Please help us celebrate Amy’s birthday by helping us protect this amazing Wilderness. Please sign the petition at http://ift.tt/1x2erSX , share our journey and our efforts to @savetheBWCA with your friends. Today is the 243rd day of our #wildernessyear to protect the #BoundaryWaters from Twin Metals and other sulfide-ore copper mines being proposed along the edge of the Wilderness. Please join us in speaking loudly for this quite place.
#wildernessyear #savetheBWCA #onlyinMN #captureMN #BoundaryWaters #minnesota #BWCA #canoe #morning #coffee @stonecreekcoffee @helinox @seatosummitequipment

Our day trip yesterday helped us reach another milestone. On the 242nd day of our #wildernessyear to @savetheBWCA we visited our 250th lake! We are hoping to visit 500 different bodies of water during A Year in the Wilderness and it is exciting to be halfway to our goal. Plus we are two thirds of the way through A Year in the Wilderness, it is amazing how fast time passes. We are out here to bear witness to this national treasure and encourage people to take action and help protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from sulfide-ore copper mines that are being proposed along the edge of the Wilderness. Please sign the petition at http://ift.tt/1x2erSX and help us spread the word about this important issue.

We brought our fishing rods along on our day trip yesterday and fished for the first time this season. Our friend John, Tank, Amy, and I piled into our 19 foot Wenonah Itasca and paddled and portaged across Brule, Juno, Vern, Whack, Homer, the Vern River, and East Pipe to Pipe Lake. John relaxed and fished in one of our @helinox chairs in the center of the canoe as we paddled. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we all had fun catching fish and exploring new lakes.
In the evening we returned to camp and made a feast of fresh walleye, steaks that Amy’s dad brought in, and a homemade batch of macaroni and cheese, topped off with hot cocoa and a few squares of chocolate. After watching a full moon rise over the glassy lake, we crawled into our sleeping bags at dusk.

#wildernessyear #savetheBWCA #onlyinMN #captureMN #BoundaryWaters #minnesota #BWCA #canoe #fishing #walleye #dinner

Our day trip yesterday helped us reach an interesting milestone. The number of lakes we have visited has surpassed the number of days we have been in the Wilderness. Today is the 240th day of our #wildernessyear to @savetheBWCA and we have now visited 244 bodies of water. We are hoping to visit over 500 lakes, rivers and streams. We have been ramping up the number of lakes we visit each day. It is exciting to now average more than one body of water visited per day.
We hope you will join us in our efforts to protect this watery Wilderness from Twin Metals and other sulfide-ore copper mines that are being proposed along the edge of our nation’s most popular Wilderness. The EPA considers this type of mining to be the nation’s most polluting industry. This national treasure is too precious to risk. Please learn more and sign the petition at http://ift.tt/1x2erSX

A hint of red on the horizon marked the rising sun as I filled our pot to begin boiling water this morning. As the pot began to steam, a glowing red orb floated over the trees and as I took my first sips of @stonecreekcoffee I began to feel the warmth of the sun. Smoke from several forest fires and prescribed burns in the region probably added the red glow to this morning’s exceptionally beautiful sunrise over Brule Lake.

As I sipped my coffee I thought about the beautiful set of lakes and rivers we visited yesterday. After saying goodbye to Olivia yesterday morning, we paddled east across Brule, Vernon, Swan, Skidway, Dugout, Marshall, to Bower Trout Lake. These lakes form the headwaters of the South Brule River. As we portaged between Brule and Vernon Lake we realized that water flows out of Brule Lake in two directions. From the far west end of Brule, water flows into South Temperance Lake which becomes the Temperance River and water flows out of the east end of Brule into the South Brule River. During our journeys all across North America, we have only encountered a handful of lakes that feed multiple rivers. This really is a maze of interconnected waterways.
#wildernessyear #savetheBWCA #spring #canoe #wearethewild #sunrise #wilderness #adventure #BWCA #BoundaryWaters #captureMN #onlyinMN

Our most recent visitor, Olivia Ridge (@olivea.m) took this photo of us eating our Clif Bars on Cliff Lake! @Clifbar is one of the many companies that have donated food and equipment to help us in our efforts to @savetheBWCA. Olivia was our support person when we paddled and sailed from Ely to Washington D.C. with a canoe covered in signatures during the fall of 2014 to raise awareness about the threats that Twin Metals and other sulfide-ore copper mines being proposed along the southern edge of the Wilderness bring to the Boundary Waters and the region. A Year in the Wilderness is a continuation of our efforts to ensure that the Wilderness remains protected from sulfide-ore copper mining and other threats for generations to come.

Olivia spent over 100 days living out of an old suburban as she shadowed us and supported us in a wide range of ways from organizing media events and presentations to buying us groceries and finding places for us to stay. She is now going to school in Montreal, but she has returned to the north woods for a few weeks to visit and it has been a real pleasure getting to catch up.
Yesterday she was helping us clear downed trees and alders on the portage trail into Davis Lake. She is a woman with many talents! While we are still finding a fair number of downed trees and alder on the lesser used portage trails we have seen two groups of Wilderness Rangers who are busy clearing the trails. They are obviously working hard and it seems like most of the main travel routes have already been cleared, which is pretty amazing. Seeing the state of the portages in the spring makes us really appreciate all of the hard work that the Wilderness Rangers do to maintain the portages and campsites.

#wildernessyear #savetheBWCA #onlyinMN #captureMN #BoundaryWaters #minnesota #BWCA #clifbar #wilderness #canoe #snack

The soft, intimate hoots shared by a pair of loons fishing off our campsite and the sweet melody of song birds wafted around the granite slab stretching towards the east where I perched to watch this morning’s sunrise. Shortly before the sun lifted above the trees on the far shore of Brule Lake, the rapid hammering of a pileated woodpecker grabbed my attention. The bird continued pounding away on a massive, hollow white pine behind our campsite for several minutes. This natural sound caused me to reflect on the wide range of hums, bangs, and blasts that would accompany Twin Metals and other proposed mines that would transform a large swath along the edge of the wilderness into a massive industrial mining zone. We are out here to speak loudly for this quite place and we hope you will make your voice heard and help us @savetheBWCA by signing the petition at http://ift.tt/1x2erSX

Years ago while traveling across the Northwest Territories by dogsled, a Dene elder explained that when you travel by dog team you see every rock and every tree. The land speaks to you. When traveling in this manner, we hear the land in a way that we ordinarily don’t in our modern lives. After being immersed in the Wilderness for 237 days I think we are beginning to fully grasp what he meant.
We can’t let the noise that is all too prevalent in our modern lives drown out the voice of the earth, which has guided and nurtured us for generations. Wild places allow us hear the land more clearly, a voice we would be lost without.

#wildernessyear #savetheBWCA #onlyinMN #captureMN #portage #sunrise #BoundaryWaters #minnesota #BWCA