Paddle and Portage Podcast

During the peak of the 2026 wildfires in the BWCA and Quetico this summer, the Paddle & Portage team shared the story of the Nelson family.

The Nelson family have been paddling in Quetico for decades. Three generations of canoe-campers have now entered the park, most often through Cache Bay, the southeastern entrance near the end of the Gunflint Trail.

Siblings Matt and Laura led a group of six into the park in mid-July 2026. The group included Matt and his daughter, and Laura and her three children.

Wildfires were burning in Quetico and BWCA leading up to their trip, which started July 11. By the afternoon of July 13, excessive heat and strong winds dramatically increased the size of the wildfires. The Nelsons, paddling on Kawnipi Lake, became surrounded by wildfire. They were eventually airlifted to the north side of the park, though they had to leave their canoes behind. 

Months later, the canoes were flown out of the park and brought to an outpost just north of Quetico. In early October, Matt drove from Michigan to Ontario to get the canoes, and that's where this episode picks up the story. 

Support for the Paddle & Portage Podcast comes from Ely Outfitting Company, Northstar Canoes, and Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles. 

It's one to remember. The 2026 quota season in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness wrapped up Sept. 30. The quota season runs May 1 to the end of September annually in the nation's most visited wilderness. 

Wildfires stand out as the most significant event from the 2026 BWCA paddling season, with the entire wilderness closing for a section of July. Other notable events include a blizzard during the May fishing opener in the Boundary Waters and a new telephone reporting system to enter Quetico Provincial Park. 

Through it all, the Paddle & Portage Podcast was here doing what we do best: Sharing stories from the canoe country. The podcast duo share this episode from the wilderness, accompanied by a fresh batch of BWCA smoked lake trout chowder. 

This episode is supported by Loons Nest Coffee and Borderland Lodge. 

This series of the Paddle & Portage Podcast is titled Women in Paddling with Erin Walker.

Erin's guest in this episode is Bridget Douglas. Bridget is a guide in the BWCA Wilderness and Lake of the Woods. She's worked with Women's Wilderness Discovery in Ely and has a decade of experience as a guide in the Lake of the Woods waters on the Minnesota and Ontario border.

This episode is supported by Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles.

This series of the Paddle & Portage Podcast is hosted by Erin Walker of the Lost Lakes YouTube channel. The series, created by Erin and Kate from Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles, is called Women in Paddling.

Erin's guest in this episode is Grand Marais resident Kaylan Dix. A dedicated paddler in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Kaylan works in healthcare in Grand Marais. She says paddling and outdoor recreation help her navigate the complex world of healthcare, along with being a mother of two teenage daughters.

Other topics discussed include the differences between growing up with canoeing and outdoor recreation as part of one's youth, the merits of single portaging, and the prospects for Kaylan's first solo canoe trip.

This episode is supported by Bending Branches Canoe and Kayak Paddles.

Jenna Ladowski is a firefighter who lives near Fort Collins, Colorado. She was recently on a nearly week-long trip to the Boundary Waters with Mona Gauthier, who we featured in an episode of the podcast about her epic solo trip across the border lakes.

Mona and Jenna were part of a group of nine women who Mona led into the BWCA Wilderness in September 2026. The group paddled in the area that burned in the Pagami Creek Fire in 2011. Mona intentionally chose that route so the firefighters, both urban and wildland firefighters, could see the role fire plays in the Boundary Waters. She chose that route before the fires this summer.

During the peak of the closure of the BWCA and the fires this summer, it was hard to think about the benefits of fire in the boreal forest here in the Boundary Waters, but there’s starting to be some of that now, with the reopening of the wilderness and paddlers back on the water and businesses running again, and things feeling more normal as we move deeper into fall. The U.S. Forest Service recently led Paddle & Portage and other media from across Minnesota on a tour of this summer's wildfires. 

This episode is supported by Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles, Ely Outfitting Company, Loons Nest Coffee, and Sawtooth Outfitters. 

Mining near the Boundary Waters is in the political spotlight this month as a pair of political forums take place in Ely. The first took place Wednesday, Sept. 2 on the college campus in Ely. It featured state Sen. Grant Hauschild and Republican challenger Andrea Zupancich, a realtor in the Ely area and the current mayor of nearby Babbitt.

Also participating in the forum was incumbent state Rep. Roger Skraba and DFL challenger Aaron Kania, a former U.S. Forest Service district ranger in Ely.

A separate event featuring candidates running for the Ely City Council will take place next week at the same venue. That event is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 10.

In this issue of the podcast, we narrow the complexity of the political landscape near the Boundary Waters, including the local level in Ely.

Featured in this episode are Skraba and Kania, along with Ely City Council candidates Heidi Omerza and Emily Roose. Omerza and Roose are running for mayor this year and are both currently on the council, with Omerza serving as the current mayor of Ely. Also featured in the episode is city council candidate Abby Dare, as well as Ely business owner Sarah Vogl.

This episode is supported by Tex’s Riverways and Borderland Lodge.

The Paddle & Portage Podcast duo share updates on some recent BWCA and Lake Superior adventures, and Erin Walker drops in to share the details of her upcoming series about women who paddle and adventure outdoors. 

Erin also shares the recap of her and Jon's recent encounter with a grizzly bear while canoeing in the Northwest Territories. 

Also featured is a cameo by an old friend of the podcast, one we know by name. 

This episode of the podcast is supported by Sawbill Canoe Outfitters and Borderland Lodge. 

A mine in the BWCA...The mere mention of such a thing in 2026 sends fear up the spine of many paddlers. 

That being the case, there is an old mine in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In this episode, Duluth writer Ryan Rodgers and the podcast team take you there. 

Go here to learn more about the history of the old mine in the BWCA: paddleandportage.com

This episode is supported by Loons Nest Coffee, Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles, and Williams & Hall Outfitters. 

Listen to this story from a previous adventure with Rodgers: 

After weeks of disruption and uncertainty, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is in the process of reopening. 

Large swaths of the BWCA, including the entire Gunflint and significant portions of the wilderness on the Ely side, will be reopening for overnight paddling and other access during the first week of August. 

The BWCA Wilderness was shut down entirely July 14 due to numerous wildfires. 

The reopening is welcomed news for paddlers and outfitters. In this episode, we share stories about the reopening of the BWCA, and how people came together during the closure. 

This episode is supported by Tex's Riverways, Ely Outfitting Company, and Friends of the Boundary Waters. 

Paddlers from Northern Tier High Adventure, a Scout organization with strong ties to the Ely area, were among those evacuated from the Boundary Waters in July 2026. 

In this episode, we hear their firsthand accounts of getting out from deep in the BWCA and Quetico during the evacuation. Towboats played a role, as did a series of critical decisions made along the way. The stories were recorded near Ely soon after the Scouts were evacuated. 

Special thanks to Jake Hway from Chilly Dogs Sled Dog Trips for first reaching out with news of this story. Thanks, too, to Pam Wright from Soka Outdoors for recording some of the audio used in this podcast. 

This episode is sponsored by Borderland Lodge, Sawtooth Outfitters, and City Cast Twin Cities.