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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

This episode is supported by Cooke Custom Sewing, Ely Outfitting Company, Women's Wilderness Discovery, Loons Nest Coffee, and Canoecopia. 

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. 

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 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. 

Resignations. Terminations. Confusion. Reductions. Limitations.  

These are all themes the U.S. Forest Service is seeing and facing on a routine basis as the 2025 paddling season arrives to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. 

In this episode, we hear from Barb Soderberg. Soderberg's career with the Forest Service started in 1967 on Superior National Forest, and she was intricately involved with crafting the 1978 BWCA Wilderness Act. She retired from the Forest Service in 2007. Soderberg is speaking out for what she views as the dismantling of the Forest Service at this time. She spoke with P&P Podcast team in Ely, and again at a rally in Duluth May 9 outside the Forest Supervisor's office and the Superior National Forest headquarters. We also hear from former Superior National Forest Supervisors Connie Cummins and Brenda Halter, who were also present at the rally in Duluth. 

This episode details what staffing cuts, budget woes, and other challenges facing the Forest Service will mean for the upcoming paddling season in the BWCA. 

This episode is made possible with generous support from all of our sponsors. They include: Bent Paddle Brewing Company, Tuscarora Lodge & Canoe Outfitters, Sawbill Canoe Outfitters, North Country Canoe Outfitters, Northstar Canoes, Cascade Vacation Rentals, Save the Boundary Waters, Bending Branches, Solbakken Resort on Superior, Sawtooth Outfitters, Borderland Lodge, Voyageurs Canoe Outfitters, Northern Goods, Women's Wilderness Discovery, Cooke Custom Sewing, Loons Nest, Ely Outfitting Company, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center.