WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast

The start of a new season for the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast rolls in with a winter camping trip up the Gunflint Trail!

Air temperatures reached 31-below zero during the trip to ring in 2022. Joining podcast hosts Joe Friedrichs and Matthew Baxley on the trip were Grand Marais residents Kaylan and Josh Dix.

Lake trout were caught. A black wolf was spotted darting through the deep white snow. Woodstoves burned true and memories were made. This episode is part one of the experience.

The ice fishing season for trout on inland lakes located entirely within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness opens Saturday, Jan. 1.

Stream trout and lake trout can be caught by anglers willing to brave the cold temperatures expected this weekend in the BWCA. The high temperature for the Mid-Gunflint Trail area on the opening day of the trout season is below zero. Overnight lows on New Year’s Eve and Saturday night are expected to be in the high teens below zero or 20-below zero, possibly colder. Wind chill values will make these temperatures feel even colder.

Lake trout will be a primary target for many anglers this weekend, though some lakes in the BWCA do hold other species of trout as well. Stream trout are defined as splake, brook, brown and rainbow trout. The possession limit remains unchanged, at five, with not more than three fish longer than 16 inches. The possession limit for lake trout is two.

Examples of lakes that open for trout fishing this weekend on the eastern side of the BWCA include Daniels, Ram and Topper.

Lakes that are partially inside the BWCA do not open to trout fishing this weekend. Examples of lakes that are not open to trout fishing on Jan. 1 include Clearwater, Seagull and Meditation.

WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast host Joe Friedrichs spoke with Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Conversation Officer Kylan Hill about the upcoming trout opener in the BWCA.

The iconic portage between Duncan Lake and Rose Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness will take on a new look in 2022 when two sets of wooden staircases will be replaced with stone steps. Stone used in the project will come from the land located between the lakes in the federally-designated wilderness area. Hand tools and other non-motorized instruments will be used to shape the new look of the portage.

“We are planning to replace the wooden stairs on the stairway portage with stone steps during the summer of 2022,” said Jon Benson, an assistant ranger for recreation and wilderness on the Tofte and Gunflint ranger districts of Superior National Forest. “Great Lakes Trailbuilders is the contractor with whom we will be working.”

The 80-rod portage between Duncan and Rose is among the most highly trafficked areas on the eastern side of the BWCA. Two sets of stairs, with more than 90 steps each, make up most of the portage between the two lakes. The portage largely parallels a set of falls dropping from Duncan down to Rose near the Canadian border in the Mid-Gunflint Trail area. The current look of the portage was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conversation Corps using logs to create a staircase of sorts.

Due to the harsh environment in the BWCA, wooden steps or set logs do not hold up well as weather and humans wear on them, according to Willie Bittner, the owner of Wisconsin based Great Lakes Trailbuilders. For example, the wooden steps of the Stairway Portage have been replaced three times in the past 30 years, he said. Rather than continually replace the wood, Bittner had a vision to place stone steps on the portage. Not only will the stone have a more natural look, they should last much longer than the wood version.

“This should be there for many generations,” Bittner said of the forthcoming stone staircase between Duncan and Rose.

After securing the bid, Bittner and his company are spearheading the project in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service and the Conservation Corps of Minnesota. The project comes under the umbrella of the Great American Outdoors Act.

Bittner and his team will use rifting hammers to split large rocks weighing up to 200 lbs. each to create the steps, he said. They’ll also use a device that he describes as a ‘zip-line for rocks’ to set the stones in place. Bittner plans to start the project in May not long after the ice vanishes from West Bearskin Lake and Duncan Lake. The goal is to complete the new Stairway Portage by the Fourth of July, he said.

WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast host Matthew Baxley spoke with Bittner about the project. The audio to their conversation is shared below.

The collection of outfitters who provide assorted gear, canoes and guidance for the many visitors to the Boundary Waters each paddling season is a world full of hard work, long hours and repetition. It’s also a world of connection. And many of those connections are made by those who work for the outfitters on the edge of the wilderness.

In the final episode for Season 4 of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast, we hear from the summer staff at some of the outfitters along the Gunflint Trail. It’s the ‘Trail Kids’ episode of the podcast. And for hosts Matthew and Joe, it’s a time to reflect on their own experiences working on the Gunflint and how it brought them into a sense of connection with this place… The Boundary Waters.

Superior National Forest is home to the nation’s only US Forest Service Seaplane Base. Located on Shagwa Lake in Ely, the three USFS pilots stationed there fly deHavilland Beaver float planes and conduct a variety of missions throughout the Superior National Forest and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The base has a long history with roots that date back to 1929 when the Forest Service began using local pilots to help with wildfire mitigation. The program as it exists today, with dedicated airplanes and pilots, was established in 1938.

WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast contributor Barbara Jean Meyers traveled to Ely to meet Carlisle Doria, the latest pilot to join the team.

The number of people legally allowed to enter the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) for overnight camping trips from May through September will be reduced for the next paddling season.

With permits in high demand during recent paddling seasons – particularly during the past two seasons amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic – some canoeists struggled to find available campsites, particularly near popular lakes such as Sawbill, Brule, Duncan and Seagull on the east side of the BWCA.

Anecdotally speaking, weary paddlers are quick to complain about racing other groups for campsites, being forced to camp illegally in the brush or making camp in the middle of a pleasant travel day just to ensure they have a site for the night.

Each year from May 1 to Sept. 30, visitors taking an overnight paddle or hiking trip, or a motorized day trip into the BWCA are required to obtain a quota permit. The Forest Service designed a quota system following the designation of the Boundary Waters as a wilderness to reduce crowding and visitor impacts on sensitive resources.

Forest Service officials said many BWCA entry points and associated routes are regularly experiencing social resource concerns such as crowding, disruptive and oversized groups, lack of campsite availability or unsettling competition for campsites. Illegal camping is also becoming more of a problem in the BWCA.

Ten out of the 36 entry points on the Gunflint and six of the 13 entry points on the Tofte districts will see a reduction in permit quota numbers in 2022. The Forest Service declined to say the specific entry points the quota reduction will impact. All districts across the BWCA will see a quota reduction next year other than the Kawishiwi Ranger District.

The season of giving thanks returns to the Boundary Waters as 2021 begins to wind down. To celebrate the season, WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast hosts Joe Friedrichs and Matthew Baxley returned to the ice on Thanksgiving Day. Ice fishing and ice skating were the means of entertainment on a windy and cold day in late November, with fish tacos for dinner marking a day of success on all fronts.

Also featured in this episode is a conversation with Timo Rova, an Ely-area resident who has years of experience hunting, recreating and working in the BWCA.

A tornado with wind speeds between 111-135 mph swept through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in October 2021, knocking down trees and making a popular hiking trail impassable in sections.

The National Weather Service in Duluth confirmed Oct. 29 that a tornado did roll through the BWCA near Clearwater Lake on Oct. 10. The tornado reached an EF2 rating on its intensity scale, meaning its wind speeds could have reached 135 mph. The tornado was estimated to be on the ground from 6:10 to 6:20 p.m., according to the NWS.

In an online post Oct. 29, the National Weather Service says the storm caused significant damage along the Border Route Trail. There is damage on Clearwater Lake, Alder Lake and the Border Route Trail is impassable in places, according to the Forest Service.

Earlier this year, Matthew Baxley and Lindsey Gau hiked a popular section of the Border Route Trail in the mid-Gunflint Trail area. They share a report from the trail in this episode of the podcast.

Michelle Kwan is a co-owner of Keefer Court Bakery in Minneapolis. Michelle is an avid fan of the BWCA. She makes as many trips to the wilderness as she can each year, including intentions of winter camping and canoe camping.

The daughter of immigrants to the U.S., Michelle says she was introduced to the Boundary Waters by Wendy Paulsen, the sister of Northstar Canoes General Manager Bear Paulsen.

Michelle shares her connection to the Boundary Waters in this episode of the podcast.

Also featured in this episode: BWCA smoked trout wild rice chowder...Tune in and find out the details.

The Angleworm Trail does not leap to the forefront of most conversations when people talk about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. That being the case, it’s an easily accessible path and portage located off the Echo Trail near Ely.

Podcast hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs set off to travel a section of the Angleworm Trail in October 2021. They were joined by a special guest on the adventure, a unique individual who was featured on a previous episode of the podcast.

Though the experience was rooted in the joys of fall travel in the BWCA, Joe was also researching a book he is working on about people who have died or gone missing in the Boundary Waters.

When it comes to the special guest, hammock camping is another theme of the episode... (hint, hint)