The WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast team spent the final days of April and start of May 2021 in Ely. Hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs were selected for an 'artist residency' by the Listening Point Foundation.

This is property owned by Sigurd Olson that is now managed and owned by an organization in Ely known as the Listening Point Foundation. Olson was an author and a dedicated advocate for wilderness, including the Boundary Waters, but many areas across the country as well.

The podcast duo recorded and produced this episode at Listening Point. The theme of the episode is 'a rite of passage' and includes interviews with paddlers sharing their love of the Boundary Waters with their children, friends and the next generation of canoeists, and where Baxley and Friedrichs fit within that concept of people who share stories about the wilderness.

Up first we hear the story of Myron Klesner. Myron was introduced to Quetico Provincial Park in 1977 during a class trip. It was the first of 30 years of trips taken from Quincy Jr. High (Illinois) to Canoe Canada Outfitters and into Quetico. Myron continues to visit canoe country and he has now gone with his two boys, the history teacher who started the school trips and others who have experienced Quetico over the years.

In part two of this episode, Cook County resident Hazel Oberholtzer talks about ‘her soul place,’ the Boundary Waters. Hazel frequents the BWCA and talks about her own rite of passage to wilderness travel, from camps to family trips to now paddling with her friends through canoe country. Hazel talks about the value of gaining self-awareness on trips to the Boundary Waters, learning from her mentors about strength and leadership both inside and outside of the wilderness.

The episode is shared through the lens of Listening Point and the work of Sigurd Olson to protect the Boundary Waters region, with the full understanding that the torch needs to be carried from generation to generation to protect these treasured waters.