WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast

The Barefoot Paddler abides.

Mark Zimmer, more commonly referred to as the 'Barefoot Paddler,' makes his return to the podcast in this episode. Mark is in the midst of his tenth season exploring the BWCA. Not your average paddler, Mark typically spends May through October in the Boundary Waters. He catches fish. He forages. He sleeps in a hammock. And he does it all barefoot.

The podcast team recently met up with the Barefoot Paddler on Brule Lake in the BWCA to learn about his 2022 season in the wilderness, which includes a bout with Lyme disease.

Emily Haavik is a Twin Cities based journalist and musician who has a deep love for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Emily and her husband, Phil, chose the BWCA as the setting for their honeymoon in September 2020, for example. The couple also got engaged in the canoe-country wilderness in 2019 on Rose Lake.

Emily grew up in Duluth and has been coming to the Boundary Waters for most of her life. Phil grew up in Des Moines, making his first trip to the BWCA in 2001 with a group of scouts. Those early trips were the foundation for a spirited passion for wilderness for both Emily and Phil, particularly the portages, rivers, lakes and forest of the BWCA.

Emily and Phil share more on their story in this episode of the podcast. Also featured in this episode is a familiar voice on the podcast, Aubrey Helmuth-Miller. Aubrey and her family open the episode prior to their recent trip to the Gunflint Trail and the BWCA.

Music featured in this episode includes the song “Good Times” by Emily Haavik. Other music from the Blue Dot Sessions and Ian Tamblyn.

It's the 'all news episode' of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast!

There has been so much news in and around the Boundary Waters in recent weeks, hosts Joe Friedrichs and Matthew Baxley use storytelling and interviews to sum up some of the biggest topics coming from the BWCA and Quetico.

Among them are the return of Remote Area Border Crossing Permits, the completion of the Stairway Portage redesign and the retirement of the forest supervisor who oversees management of the BWCA.

The photo supporting this episode is of Connie Cummins, the forest supervisor for Superior National Forest. The massive Superior National Forest, headquartered in Duluth, covers nearly 4 million acres, about 1.9 million of which is the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

After leading the expansive Superior National Forest for the U.S. Forest Service for the past six years, Cummins is set to retire at the end of the month. Her last day is July 30.

In this episode we hear from Cummins about her tenure on Superior National Forest. Also featured are Willie Bittner talking about the Stairway Portage redesign and Kevin 'The K-man' Kramer shares an update from the Cache Bay Ranger Station in Quetico Provincial Park.

Poetry.

Process.

Paddling.

In the BWCA, the natural rhythms of wind and water churn through seasons without concern for human visitors. During the July 4 holiday weekend, five paddlers on a remote lake in the Boundary Waters found themselves sharing new experiences while reflecting on the past.

In today’s episode we hear from the poet, Emily Van Kley. Emily and her father, Dave Van Kley, have been traveling across the BWCA for many years. More recently, they introduced Emily’s partner, Allison Eby, to the wilderness.

Walleye were caught on this particular trip. Stories were shared. As the wind howled, the trees shared their poetry.

Human remains were discovered near a makeshift campsite in April 2019 near the Sioux Hustler Trail that runs through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Law enforcement later identified the remains as those of 29-year-old Jordan Grider, a New Mexico resident who was attempting to spend an entire winter camping in the BWCA. Authorities believe he was eaten by wolves, likely after he died from an unknown injury.

In this episode of the podcast, host Joe Friedrichs and DNR Conservation Officer Sean Williams visit the site where Grider made his final camp.

Also in this episode, host Matthew Baxley shares an update on the rebuild of the iconic Stairway Portage between Duncan and Rose lakes in the BWCA. Trail builder Willie Bittner talks with Matthew for the update.

And with the warmer temperatures, Matthew and Joe also have an upbeat fishing report to share from the Boundary Waters.

Cell phone use during a trip to the Boundary Waters.

To bring or not to bring? To use or not to use?

These are the questions some in the paddling community have struggled with for years, with age often being a factor in where one stands on the issue.

Many young paddlers, for example, are embracing elements of technology on their trips to the Boundary Waters. Modern cell phones take excellent photographs, allowing paddlers to leave behind dated and heavy camera equipment. A cell phone camera allows paddlers a chance to capture memories of their trips to the BWCA, the reasoning goes. There is also the safety aspect of having a cell phone while traveling through the wilderness, particularly as cell coverage becomes more widespread across the Boundary Waters region.

In this episode, we hear from Stu Osthoff, Emilie Burditt, Ben Strege, Will Doherty, Hazel Oberholtzer and Emily Elkins on this topic.

Legislation that would essentially block certain types of mining on a large swath of federal land in the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was passionately debated during a May 24 hearing of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.

The bill would prohibit sulfide-based mineral development in an area of Superior National Forest near the BWCA.

During the hearing, a Congressman from Wisconsin said the United States must either depend on slave labor or open the stalled Twin Metals sulfide-mining project on the edge of the Boundary Waters if the nation aims to have renewable energy sources as it shifts toward a green future.

Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany, who represents Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, asked Julia Ruelle from the Kids for the Boundary Waters organization if she thought slave labor should be preferred over the Twin Metals project.

The audio in this short track includes segments from the May 24 hearing, as well as interviews with both Rep. Tiffany and Ruelle.

High water levels and lingering ice are making for a treacherous start to the paddling season across the Boundary Waters this spring.

Craig Regep, a resident of Hanover, Minnesota, experienced this firsthand at the start of a canoe trip in the BWCA on Friday, May 13.

Regep’s trip started at the end of the Arrowhead Trail on the far eastern side of the BWCA. He was paddling from John Lake to the Royal River en route to North Fowl Lake when he capsized in a solo Kevlar canoe. After tumbling into the frigid waters, Regep was alone and without a canoe. He did not have an emergency beacon or SPOT-location device. Hypothermia started to set in as Regep attempted to make his way back to the parking area at the end of the Arrowhead.

Regep spoke of his experience with WTIP Boundary Waters co-host Joe Friedrichs in this discussion.

It went from fishing opener to lake opener as ice lingered on the east side of the Boundary Waters in the middle of May.

Many area lakes, from the end of the Arrowhead Trail to the Middle Gunflint Trail, still held their ice on the day before the 2022 fishing opener in Minnesota.

Minnesota’s fishing opener for walleye, bass, trout and pike was Saturday, May 14.

As the ice lingered, many groups canceled their Gunflint expeditions on this year’s fishing opener. The WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast did not.

This episode, featuring Matthew Baxley, Joe Friedrichs and Kevin ‘The K-man’ Kramer, tells the story of how it all went down.

With one week to go before the Minnesota fishing opener, many of the lakes across the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and all of Superior National Forest remain locked in ice.

The WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast team drilled a hole in the ice of a 181-acre lake inside the BWCA on Friday, May 6. There was approximately 24 inches of rotting ice on the lake. One week prior, on April 29, there was 28 inches of ice on the same lake, with an additional six inches of snow and slush on top of the frozen lake.

Temperatures in the Mid-Gunflint Trail are expected to climb into the 70s by May 10.

The fishing open is Saturday, May 14.

Along the Gunflint Trail, lakes with inlets or flowing water featured open water. The edges of many lakes are beginning to slowly pop open as well. Nearly all the rivers along the Trail featured fast, flowing water.

The audio below was recorded in the BWCA on Friday, May 6 by Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs from the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast.