WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast

Half-in, half-out.

That's what many entry lakes to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are when it comes to the official wilderness designation. And yet, it's the same water. To the lakes and rivers in the BWCA and Quetico, there are no imaginary wilderness or international lines. It's the same water. Podcast hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs explore this notion to open the episode.

Indeed, sentiments such as these are a common message the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters continues to share. In this episode we hear from one of their staffers, Lauren Eggert, before she departs on a BWCA in the summer of 2020 for a trip off the Gunflint Trail.

To complete the episode, we have another audio diary submission! This trip report comes from Minnesotans Kaylan and Josh Dix. They did an early summer 2020 trip as well off the Gunflint, sharing the details of what brought them to the wilderness during a health pandemic and other societal issues in Minnesota and beyond.

It's a complex time in the world, and the BWCA is not absent from its own challenges in 2020. It's all told plainly on this episode of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast.

Janice Matichuk is the longest serving ranger in the history of Quetico Provincial Park. She is on medical leave from Quetico at this time and the Cache Bay Ranger Station is currently closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and border closures with the U.S. and Canada.

During a special program that aired live on WTIP July 11, Boundary Waters Podcast Host Joe Friedrichs spoke with Matichuk about her health and some reflections on the Gunflint Trail community.

Also featured in this special episode are updates with canoe outfitters from across the BWCA. We hear from the teams and Sawbill Canoe Outfitters, the Ely Outfitting Company and Tuscarora Lodge & Canoe Outfitters.

It’s all here on this bonus track of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast.

It’s a mix of news, important discussion and wilderness adventure in this important episode of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast.

Up first, host Joe Friedrichs travels back to the BWCA with Kevin ‘The K-man’ Kramer. Joe and Kevin travel deep into the wilderness, finding moose, solitude and many walleyes along the way.

Also in today’s episode, host Matthew Baxley talks with Miki, aka ‘Tricky Miki' from Minneapolis. Miki is an artist, documentary filmmaker and host of the Minnesota-based Black Helpline Podcast.

Matthew and Miki discuss access to the wilderness for people of color, in addition to challenges that some in the paddling community perhaps are not aware of when it comes to who is comfortable in the BWCA and why.

The 2020 paddling season has started. Along with that, it’s a time of change, education and transition across the planet, including inside the BWCA.

He loved the outdoors.

For most of his life, camping, hiking, canoeing and experiencing life in nature were Billy Cameron’s driving forces.

Despite years of experience with various and often rugged forms of outdoor recreation, Cameron died May 20 on Tuscarora Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness when the canoe he was in capsized, sending him and two of his dear and lifelong friends into the frigid waters of the deep and remote lake.

Nataly Yokhanis started dating Cameron in July 2011. A resident doctor at the Dayton (Ohio) VA Medical Center, Yokhanis told WTIP May 22 that her boyfriend died from hypothermia and drowning. He was 29.

“This has broken me at my deepest. I am shattered,” Yokhanis said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be whole again.”

Ahead of Memorial Day weekend, Yokhanis spoke with WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast host Joe Friedrichs about the loss of her boyfriend, Billy Cameron.

The WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast has some great news in May 2020!

The Radio Television Digital News Association announced May 12 that the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast is the winner of a 2020 regional Edward R. Murrow Award.

More than 750 Murrow Awards represent more than 350 local radio and television news outlets from 49 states and four countries for this year’s awards.

The winning work includes 36 podcasts, a new category for 2020, along with nearly 50 investigative reports and more than 100 examples of excellence in innovation, social media and multimedia.

In the small market radio category, WTIP won for the ‘Best Podcast’ category for the original “Boundary Waters Podcast.” The award is for overall series content based on the submission of Episode 18, the story of Erik Dickes from Omaha, Neb., who recorded an audio diary on a trip to the BWCA in May 2019, to commemorate his late father, and tell the story of a canoe trip they had planned to take together in 2018.

In today’s episode, we again hear from Erik as we share the news about the Murrow Award with him from his home in Nebraska. Co-host Joe Friedrichs also talks about an upcoming trip Erik has planned for June 2020.

Also in today’s episode we hear from Wisconsin resident Chris Charnecki, an avid BWCA angler and paddler about his trip that was canceled for the Minnesota Fishing Opener on May 9, 2020.

Joe and podcast co-host Matthew Baxley did venture out for the Fishing Opener this year on a day-trip, while being mindful of social distancing measures amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Overnight permits in the BWCA were not valid on this year’s Opener, and there was a campfire ban in place in the wilderness as well. It was a cold day in the BWCA on this year’s Fishing Opener, though walleye were found after much hard work.

It’s the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast update to the 2020 paddling season amid the COVID-19 situation. Host Joe Friedrichs shares today’s audio update on the podcast.

What we know: As of April 21, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness will be open for the 2020 paddling and hiking season starting Tuesday, May 5.

In a press release sent to WTIP and the podcast on April 16, the US Forest Service says that in order to help lessen impacts to local communities while Minnesota’s Stay-at-Home order is in place, and to help slow the spread of COVID-19, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness will be closed for both day and overnight use from April 15 through May 4. Reservations made through May 4 will receive a full refund including reservations fees.

The temporary closure should have a minimal impact on travel in the BWCA. Many of the lakes in the wilderness are still locked in ice, with some lakes in the Mid-Gunflint Trail area still holding more than 20 inches of ice as of April 15. A traditional start to the paddling season often coincides with the start of the fishing opener in Minnesota. This year that date lands on May 9.

When the season starts on May 5, and in alignment with current federal, state and local guidance for social distancing and to ensure health safety of its employees, partners and members of the public, the Superior National Forest will temporarily change permit pick-up requirements for all BWCA quota permits.

As part of this, visitors will have two options:

1) They can print their BWCA reservation confirmation email at home and use this as their permit.

2) They can pick up the permit in person at a cooperating business that remains physically open and that is under an agreement with the Forest Service. A list of these local cooperators on the Gunflint and Sawbill trails and in Ely and Grand Marais is expected soon. This will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 by allowing for social distancing in the permitting process, according to the Forest Service.

Campsites in the BWCA will be open for those who have overnight permits starting May 5. Day use, either canoeing or hiking, will also be allowed starting that same day.

Campgrounds on Superior National Forest, including those near entry points here in Cook County, were not mentioned specifically in the press release. All campgrounds on the Superior National Forest are closed until at least May 1 out of coronavirus concerns. These include campgrounds at Baker Lake, Sawbill Lake, among others.

Quetico Provincial Park is closed at this time. There is no official word on if the park will open in May at its normal time. Learn more in this interview with the Quetico park superintendent: https://www.wtip.org/wtip-talks-covid-19-impacts-2020-paddling-season-quetico-officials

Furthermore, the international border separating the United States and Canada is currently closed to non-essential travel. This means canoeists aiming to enter Quetico through Cache Bay or Prairie Portage are not allowed to cross the border to enter the park until this border restriction is lifted. Quetico Park would also have to open independent of the border reopening. The travel suspension, or access closure also applies to cabin owners on the Canadian side of Saganaga Lake, a massive and popular lake at the end of the Gunflint Trail that sits partially in both the United States and Canada.

It’s a time of unknowns in the Boundary Waters. Paddlers and hikers are heading into April 2020 uncertain of travel plans or even if the wilderness will be open for the upcoming season.

In this episode of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast, hosts Matthew Baxley, Joe Friedrichs and Chelsea Lloyd put that notion itself on hold and focus on community, paddling and storytelling.

Matthew talks with longtime BWCA paddler John Oberholtzer about his experiences in the Boundary Waters. Also in today’s episode Chelsea talks with Rachael Romnek and her unique and deeply meaningful visits to the wilderness area.

Please note: In short tracks coming soon, the podcast team will be relaying specific information about the impacts of COVID-19 and how that could impact the 2020 paddling season.

The WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast team was all set to return to Canoecopia 2020 in Madison, Wisc. However, the event – scheduled for March 13-15 – was canceled due to concerns about COVID-19, the coronavirus capturing headlines across the planet.

With their plans cancelled, WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast hosts Matthew Baxley, Joe Friedrichs and Chelsea Lloyd brainstormed on what to do instead. It took nothing more than a few seconds of planning before it was agreed upon where they should go instead: The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

In this episode, join the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast team as they go winter camping in the BWCA on the weekend that Canoecopia 2020 was scheduled to take place. Stopping by their camp near the Canadian border were other patrons who had their sights set on being at Canoecopia as well.

It’s the 2020 ‘Canoecopia in the BWCA’ episode.

Be certain to listen all the way to the end, as there is a surprise guest who makes an unplanned appearance.

Winter still has its firm grip on the Boundary Waters as anxious paddlers start to think about the upcoming canoe season. However, something known as the ‘Death March Portage’ in Quetico Provincial Park could make the slow trudge across a frozen lake sound delightful by comparison.

In this episode of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast, we hear from the father/daughter duo Scott and Emilie Burditt. Scott and Emilie are Wisconsin residents who make an annual trip to Quetico Provincial Park. They share their stories about a love for the outdoors and paddling in canoe country, and how this bond keeps them connected throughout the year. We previously heard from them on episode 16 of the podcast.

Speaking of traveling across a frozen lake, in part two of this episode we hear from longtime Cook County resident Jeff Nemitz about building your own pulk sled. Nemitz is the engineer at WTIP in Grand Marais and an avid ice angler who has enjoyed many winter BWCA camping trips. After years of hauling ice fishing and camping gear by a sled with a rope attached to it, Jeff built his own pulk sled in the winter of 2019-20 specifically for Boundary Waters adventuring. With a few simple items from the hardware store, Jeff explains how you can build a pulk sled too.

It’s the start of season three on the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast!

The new season comes out in style, as it’s the first ever live recording of an episode of the original Boundary Waters podcast!

The entire episode was recorded live at the Gunflint Mail Run Sled Dog Race on the Gunflint Trail. The episode was broadcast live on WTIP Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020, from the race headquarters near Trailcenter Restaurant on the Gunflint Trail.

Featured in the episode are some familiar voices to the podcast and WTIP airwaves. Up first, host Matthew Baxley talks with Gaby and Werner Würth from Germany. Gaby and Werner are frequent visitors to the Boundary Waters. They have appeared on the first episode of each new season on the podcast.

Also in today’s episode, host Chelsea Lloyd talks with a newcomer to the Boundary Waters region, Anastasia Gill. Anastasia quit her job as an accountant in Houston in 2019 and found her way up to Moetown Kennels off the Arrowhead Trail on the edge of the BWCA. She is working as a dog handler and getting involved with the local mushing scene in northeastern Minnesota. Anastasia is also hosting a new podcast for WTIP called “Sled Dogs, Cold Toes and Gal from Texas.” Chelsea learns more about Anastasia’s journey to northern Minnesota, and it all started with a canoe trip to the Boundary Waters.