The Sauna Trail

In this episode of The Sauna Trail, we explore the history of the Wood Burning Sauna Group, from its humble beginnings to a thriving community of sauna enthusiasts. You'll hear stories about unique sauna builds, including a special sauna in New Hampshire tied to a rich family history. We also share highlights from the group's calendar project, featuring beautiful saunas from around the world. Join us for this journey into the heart of the sauna community!

We wrap up our episode series about our return to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This week we leave the Keweenaw and drive east to the central part of the Upper Peninsula near Republic Michigan which is in the Michigamme River Basin. We invited my family to join us in the U.P. again to see the beautiful and rocky region around Republic and, of course, to experience an excellent log sauna… My brother and his family took us up on the offer! And they are joining us on the podcast! Welcome to Greg, Clarissa, Norah and Everett.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

01:49 Welcome to our guests

03:58 The drive to Republic (log sauna on the side of the road and Carla's Inn)

04:55 Dangerous Cave rental

07:19 Exploring the area, Big Bay, Logging roads, Marquette

08:38 Kayaking

18:34 Log Sauna Review

23:51 Greg and Clarissa's sauna journey and their home sauna

29:52 Outro

Back to the Yoopers Part II - Episode 25We continue our adventures in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan! We’ll be sharing about a second historical site we visited, a few more culinary gems we discovered, a beautiful walk we took at a nature sanctuary, and another sauna experience on the west side of the Keweenaw peninsula.Websitehttps://www.thesaunatrail.comInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/thesaunatrailFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/thesaunatrailLocalshttps://thesaunatrail.locals.comMusicDirge of the Night by Tied With TwineCHAPTERS00:00:00 Introduction00:01:11 Yooper Pasty and the Wood-burning Sauna Facebook group00:02:02 Hanka Homestead00:06:22 Freda, Apple Cider and the Octagonal Sauna00:09:21 Chutes and Ladder Park00:10:05 Smoked Fish00:10:40 Calumet Brewery Ruins00:12:15 Haven Falls Park00:13:01 Jampot Monks Baked Goods00:14:30 Copper Harbor & Hunter’s Point Park00:15:48 Black Creek Nature Sanctuary00:20:24 Cedar Bay Sauna00:26:15 Outro

Today’s episode brings us back to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan! We had gone the previous year for the first time and knew we had to go back. We had so many adventures that we made this into a three part series. We start by visiting Old Victoria Restoration and saunaing at Big Traverse Bay.... and we visit TONS of interesting places along the way.Websitehttps://www.thesaunatrail.comInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/thesaunatrailFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/thesaunatrailLocalshttps://thesaunatrail.locals.comMusicDirge of the Night by Tied With TwineCHAPTERS00:00:00 Introduction00:02:05 Review of Episode 23, Sauna on an Island00:04:37 Old Victoria Restoration Sauna00:08:38 Finnish Oven Pancakes00:10:00 The Wood'n Spoon00:13:26 Calumet & Mary Hoffman Hunt 00:16:00 Artis Bookstore00:18:38 Finnish American Heritage Center in Hancock00:20:00 Louis Point & Kangas Sauna00:21:18 ILO Sauna Heaters in Dollar Bay00:22:09 Sights: Brockway Mountain, Keweenaw Mountain Lodge, Quincy Mine, Brunette Park, Risto's Hardware, Cliff Mine00:25:25 Massage00:27:53 Skoog Camp & Sauna

We’re back… and we’re full of new and exciting stories to share with you all again. This week we recount our adventures in Canada, where we took sauna on a private island, jumped off a diving board, and tried making our own vihtas. 

Link to the rental: https://www.vrbo.com/en-sg/p287369vb 

Music

Dirge of the Night by Tied With Twine

Website

https://www.thesaunatrail.com

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/thesaunatrail

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/thesaunatrail

TikTok

https://www.tiktok.com/@thesaunatrail

Locals

https://thesaunatrail.locals.com

(00:00) Introduction

(03:51) Finding the vacation rental 

(05:01) Adventures on the island 

(18:03) Sauna notes and pictures

(28:36) Outro 

In this episode, we’re going to get super geeky and tell how Risto and Nahlah ended up traveling to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis to do sauna research in their archives. We decided to go on this daddy-daughter adventure after Risto discovered the Matti Kaups archive while reading the book The Opposite of Cold. Join us this week as we recount our adventures in the Matti Kaups archive!  

Finnish pancake (lettu) recipe: https://beta.locals.com/thesaunatrail/feed?post=5587333 

Michael Nordskog & Aaron Hautala in a series of Youtube videos about The Opposite of Cold: https://youtu.be/li9bnmduyz0, https://youtu.be/E1LU9FdNzIQ, https://youtu.be/PyBeX_TKw5A 

Al's Breakfast Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al%27s_Breakfast 

El Burrito Mercado website: https://elburritomercado.com 

Music

Dirge of the Night by Tied With Twine

Website

https://www.thesaunatrail.com

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/thesaunatrail

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/thesaunatrail

TikTok

https://www.tiktok.com/@thesaunatrail

Locals

https://thesaunatrail.locals.com

(00:00) Introduction
(02:28) Michael Nordskog's book The Opposite of Cold
(05:37) Who was Matti Kaups?
(8:21) Our trip to the archive
(10:22) Minneapolis adventures and Al's breakfast
(11:14) Interesting things we discovered in the archive

(17:51) Public saunas in North America circa 1920
(27:05) Outro and preview of future episodes

Part two is out! Join us for the second episode of our adventures in Thunder Bay as we tour Kangas Sauna, try more finnish pancakes, and go sledding in our birthday suits. We’ll share pictures from our exploration, 360 degree immersive photos of the sauna at Stepstone, and, of course, more stories from Thunder Bay. 

Finnish Pancake (Lettu) recipe: https://beta.locals.com/thesaunatrail/feed?post=5587333 

Kangas Sauna website:

https://kangassauna.ca 

Music

Dirge of the Night by Tied With Twine

Website

https://www.thesaunatrail.com

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/thesaunatrail

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/thesaunatrail

TikTok

https://www.tiktok.com/@thesaunatrail

Locals

https://thesaunatrail.locals.com

(00:00) Introduction

(02:16) Introducing new people to sauna

(10:10) Touring Kangas Sauna

(14:30) Finnish pancake off

(17:33) Visiting a Finnish church

(18:57) Stepstone rental

(28:40) Sledding in our birthday suits

(33:11) Outro

We’re crossing the border! In the first part of this two part series, we drive up to Thunder Bay, Canada. We share our memories of Thunder Bay and the sauna, discuss a brand new food we fall in love with, and laugh about troubles at the border. Join us in this new adventure on the sauna trail! 

Finnish Pancake (Lettu) Recipe: https://beta.locals.com/thesaunatrail/feed?post=5587333 

Tyndall Stone Bed and Breakfast Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070114934030 

Stepstone Performance & Event Venue Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/p/Stepstone-Center-100049683296091/ 

Music

Dirge of the Night by Tied With Twine

Website

https://www.thesaunatrail.com

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/thesaunatrail

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/thesaunatrail

TikTok

https://www.tiktok.com/@thesaunatrail

Locals

https://thesaunatrail.locals.com

(00:00) Introduction

(02:58) About Thunder Bay

(07:13) Too many oranges

(08:41) Visiting Thunder Bay

(13:31) Sauna at Tyndall Stone

(17:28) Finnish pancakes

(21:21) Outro

Should I use soap in a sauna? How much steam should I be putting on? Is a sauna in the summer at all relaxing? In this episode we share about how to use sauna. We talk about prepping for a sauna, getting into the hot room, relaxing in the cold, enjoying nature, and post sauna habits. Remember that not everyone does it the same way!

We apologize for the poor audio. We had a technical error and only one microphone was recording, so we salvaged as much as possible…

Music

Dirge of the Night by Tied With Twine

Website

https://www.thesaunatrail.com

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/thesaunatrail

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/thesaunatrail

TikTok

https://www.tiktok.com/@thesaunatrail

Locals

https://thesaunatrail.locals.com

(00:00) Introduction

(01:39) Why we sauna

(07:46) Why Finns sauna 

(10:30) Pre-sauna prep

(13:26) Heating the sauna 

(18:48) Prep while stove is heating

(21:57) Inside first round

(27:38) Sauna clown

(29:04) Leaving the sauna

(32:49) Outside first round

(38:22) The rest of the sauna session

(42:12) After sauna

(43:47) Favorite season to sauna

(45:20) Favorite time to sauna

(46:10) Final recommendations

(48:23) Outro

We’re traveling as far as we ever have on the sauna trail to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Today’s episode will have two parts. First, we’ll talk about our trip in general and the sauna we used, then in the second part we’ll share about our favorite band, The Innocence Mission. Their music has been our soundtrack on many sauna journeys. Join us as we discuss two of our favorite things – music and sauna! 

The Innocence Mission Website: https://www.theinnocencemission.com 

The Innocence Mission live on David Letterman: https://youtu.be/CKq6neLpszs 

Article Risto and Julie were featured in: https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/lancaster-roots-blues-2016-you-cant-go-wrong/article_64d6baf4-dcfb-11e5-a29e-5b101e1aba22.html 

Music

Dirge of the Night by Tied With Twine

Website

https://www.thesaunatrail.com

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/thesaunatrail

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/thesaunatrail

TikTok

https://www.tiktok.com/@thesaunatrail

Locals

https://thesaunatrail.locals.com

(00:00) Introduction

(01:32) The bucket list item

(05:41) The trip and the sauna 

(11:47) The concert

(15:03) About the Innocence Mission 

(18:03) Favorite albums 

(21:22) Favorite songs 

(36:35) Outro