WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast

Fifty episodes!

A milestone episode for the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast. Hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs reflect on some of their favorite interviews and moments from the first 50 episodes of the original Boundary Waters podcast.

Also included in the commemorative episode is new audio, including a never-before heard story told by the late Quetico Park Interior Ranger Janice Matichuk.

With 50 episodes tallied, many stories shared, a national award collected and countless adventures recalled in audio format, Baxley and Friedrichs say the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast is just getting started.

To that, we lift a paddle for 50 more episodes.

It's been a season to remember in the Boundary Waters.

The entire BWCA was closed for two weeks heading into Labor Day weekend. There's been a campfire ban in effect since early July. Smoke, drought and heat were themes the entire summer.

In this episode of the podcast, hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs drop the news thread and go fishing. The podcast duo ventured into the BWCA in mid-August, just days ahead of the wilderness closure. What they found was simplicity. And walleye.

It’s been a season like no other in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

On Aug. 21, Superior National Forest officials enacted a temporary but full closure of the BWCA. The order, issued in response to fire danger, came at the height of the paddling season. The BWCA will reopen Saturday, Sept. 4, with some closures remaining in place.

News of the closure was delivered to paddlers by teams of wilderness rangers who spent days sweeping the BWCA by canoe. Working in a coordinated effort across the wilderness, several dozen rangers were able to clear the area in just a few days.

WTIP’s Barbara Jean Meyers speaks with two wilderness rangers, Megan McClanahan and Chad LeFevere, along with Superior National Forest Recreation and Wilderness Specialist Cathy Quinn, about the challenges involved in covering an area to remove canoe campers that is more than 1 million acres in size, includes more than 2,000 campsites and 1,200 miles of canoe routes.

News of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness reopening in time for most of Labor Day weekend traveled quickly throughout the paddling community and among local businesses impacted by the change from the Gunflint Trail to Ely.

Most of the BWCA will reopen Saturday, Sept. 4.

On this wildfire update on the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast, we hear from Tofte District Ranger Ellen Bogardus-Szymaniak about the closure and upcoming reopening of the BWCA. Hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs also share an update on the situation.

A section of the wilderness will remain closed for at least another week as multiple wildfires continue to burn in an area south of the Gunflint Trail. Click here to view a map of the closure area. The area that remains closed is, generally speaking, west of Poplar Lake to the end of the Gunflint Trail, including Seagull and Saganaga lakes. The closure extends south and moves west from Sawbill Lake, including the popular ‘Lady Chain of Lakes’ west of Sawbill. The Sawbill entry point will reopen on Saturday.

A campfire ban remains in effect for the entire BWCA at this time. The entire wilderness area was closed to all access on Aug. 21 due to active wildfires and a prolonged drought.

Listen to the full interview with the Tofte District Ranger here: https://soundcloud.com/wtip-community-radio/tofte-ranger-on-bwca-reopening

As drought and active wildfires impact the most visited wilderness area in the nation, the U.S. Forest Service announced Aug. 21 that overnight permits to enter the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness will not be issued at this time and all backcountry access is prohibited until further notice. Day trips to the BWCA are not allowed under the closure.

News of the closure spread quickly throughout the paddling community. Among the last to hear of the closure, however, were canoe campers who were on a trip to the BWCA when the closure was announced.

Closures to the BWCA impacted WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast host Matthew Baxley and podcast contributor Lindsey Gau not just once, but twice on the weekend the closure was announced.

They share their story in this episode of the podcast.

WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs traveled up the Gunflint Trail Aug. 27 to get a firsthand feel for how things were going on the edge of the wilderness.

The BWCA remains closed at this time, now a full week into the closure of the most visited wilderness area in the nation. Canoe racks sat full at local outfitters. Restaurants along the Trail were quiet. Most of the vehicles the podcast duo passed on the Trail were trucks carrying firefighters. It was not a typical Friday afternoon and evening in late August on the Gunflint Trail.

Joe and Matthew stopped on the shores of Poplar Lake to record this wildfire update.

It's been about a week since the Superior National Forest closed the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

WTIP's Barbara Jean Meyers traveled around canoe country catching up with area outfitters and paddlers about what the closure has been like.

She shares this special update on the podcast.

Superior National Forest officials confirmed with the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast they have extended the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness closure through at least Friday, Sept. 3.

Tofte District Ranger Ellen Bogardus-Szymaniak confirmed the closure extension. The choice to keep the BWCA closed for at least another week was widely expected.

“We considered the weather, historically dry conditions, fire behavior and the resources that we have and decided to go for another week,” she said. “Nothing has changed since the day we put it on.”

Wildfires continue to burn both inside and outside the BWCA wilderness line as of Aug. 25. Canadian wildfires burning inside Quetico Provincial Park continue to burn and could jump the BWCA unless conditions change, according to the Forest Service.

Podcast hosts Joe Friedrichs and Matthew Baxley recorded this update as smoke and ash from Canadian wildfires fell near Grand Marais Wednesday night.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness closed to all public access August 21 as wildfires in and around the region continued to burn.

The WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast team will be reporting on the wildfires and the complete BWCA closure in a series of updates in the days, weeks and potentially months ahead. In this first installment of the wildfire updates and BWCA closure, hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs discuss the current situation in the Boundary Waters.

Ten years ago this month, the Pagami Creek Fire burned 93,000 acres in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

A lightning strike approximately 13 miles east of Ely ignited the Pagami Creek Fire. First detected on August 18, 2011, the fire smoldered in a bog for several days before it erupted on a monumental scale.

In this special episode of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast, we hear the story of Greg and Julie Welch. The Michigan couple were camped in the BWCA when the Pagami Creek fire found them. This is their story.