WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast

It’s the last episode of season two for the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast! Many great things are already in the works for season three starting in 2020, but this year ends with both a look back and a look forward in episode 24 of the podcast.

Host Chelsea Lloyd talks with Nashville-based musician Jerry Vandiver about his love of the Boundary Waters. Jerry is a singer-songwriter who has done a number of songs about paddling over the years, including songs specific to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Jerry is also a regular attendee and performer at the annual Canoecopia event in Madison, Wisc. To wrap up this episode, Matthew Baxley from the podcast team talks with Darren Bush about the 2020 Canoecopia extravaganza. Darren is a key player and organizer of the annual paddling and gear expo. In this episode he talks about what to expect in 2020 and some of his favorite paddling memories from the Boundary Waters.

The canoeing season is officially over for 2019 in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. For some, a new chapter is welcomed with open arms as winter travel begins and the lakes freeze up.

In this episode, hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs take you along for their final canoe trip of the season. The duo retrace their route featured in episode two of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast. That journey took them across the ice to Winchell Lake. This time, a canoe serves as the transport vessel and a return to Winchell is the trip's primary objective. Rain, snow, storytelling and a visit from a unique character make their expedition one to remember.

Also featured in episode 23, Podcaster Chelsea Lloyd talks with Grand Marais resident Kjersa Anderson about her experience paddling in the Boundary Waters. Chelsea and Kjersa share some of their personal stories from the wilderness, including how experiences in the Boundary Waters provides confidence throughout many aspects of their lives.

There are a variety of reasons for both why and how people fall in love with the Boundary Waters.

In this episode of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast, Siddeeqah Shabazz and Stephe Stovall share their story of love for the woods, water and how this natural treasure opened so many opportunities for them personally and professionally. It’s a love story with deep connections both for and from the wilderness.

Also in episode 22, Podcaster Chelsea Lloyd talks with Douglas Wood, a longtime wilderness guide, who is also a prolific author, perhaps best known for his first book, “Old Turtle.” In 2017 Wood released a memoir about the mysteries of the natural world, “Deep Woods, Wild Waters.”

It’s October in the Boundary Waters, let episode 22 be your guide into the new season.

There’s a certain magic that unfolds on a first trip to the Boundary Waters. Memories are made, experience gained, and often the trip ends with some stating the following: “When do we get to come back?”

In episode 21 of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast, we hear from Minnesota resident Sarah Kermode and her friend Joe Schille, who is also from the land of 10,000 lakes. Sarah and her husband Andy took the lead on a summer trip in 2019 with four of their friends, including Joe, who was making his first trip. We hear about their trip that started at an entry point off of the Gunflint Trail.

To kick things off on this episode, however, new Boundary Waters Podcast Host Chelsea Lloyd shares an interview with well-known (who are we kidding… famous!) paddler Becky Mason. Becky is an artist, canoe instructor and the daughter of paddling legend Bill Mason. Chelsea traveled across Canada to interview Becky for this episode, and it was well worth the journey to hear from this paddling icon, literally at her kitchen table.

It’s September in the Boundary Waters! Bring on the new season…

The tables get turned on WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs in episode 20. A fan of the podcast and BWCA enthusiast Chelsea Lloyd stopped through Grand Marias after a summer 2019 paddling trip. Joe and Matthew met Chelsea at the Midwest Mountaineering Expo in Minneapolis in April and struck up a conversation about podcasting and paddling. When Chelsea stopped by WTIP to record an interview on the podcast about her summer trip, she flipped the script and started to interview Joe and Matthew. Low and behold, it was a significant moment in the history of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast.

In fact…WTIP is pleased to announced that Chelsea Lloyd is now a host on the Boundary Waters Podcast! Episode 20 is Chelsea’s first interview, and there are many more to come on upcoming episodes.

Also featured in episode 20 is Danny Warnock, a musician and software engineer who loves exploring the BWCA. While canoe camping, Danny prefers to sleep in a hammock. He enjoys it so much, in fact, he started his own company that specializes in backcountry hammock camping. Superior Hammock is the company, and Matthew finds out more about its products and Danny’s paddling experiences.

August is an amazing time in the Boundary Waters. We dive right into the goodness on this episode.

It’s easy to imagine the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness as a sunny place where things never go wrong and plans fall perfectly into place on every trip. This line of thinking, however, is a recipe for, at the very least disappointment, and perhaps far worse.

The reality of traveling in canoe country is that the weather is often a challenging element of most trips and the best-laid plans don’t materialize the way they were envisioned at home. In this episode of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast, host Joe Friedrichs explores this notion firsthand. Joe and Minnesota resident Kevin “The K-man” Kramer share audio recorded during a 2019 summer trip. The duo entered at Brule Lake and found that indeed plans on a BWCA trip don’t always go exactly as they were put down on paper.

Also in this episode, podcaster Matthew Baxley talks with North Shore resident and Boundary Waters enthusiast Chel Anderson. Chel is a botanist and plant ecologist who has lived and worked on the North Shore since 1974. Matthew and Chel talk about a hot topic in the BWCA during the summer months: insects. There’s been no shortage of winged critters spending time at campsites and becoming acquainted with paddlers in the BWCA in 2019.

It’s summer in the Boundary Waters… shared firsthand on this episode of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast.

The wilderness, and the Boundary Waters in particular, are widely considered a place for personal reflection. Certainly there are many aspects that appeal to recreational enthusiasts who visit the Boundary Waters, including fishing, camping, paddling, hiking and simply the notion of ‘getting away from it all.’

At the heart of wilderness, however, lies something deeper. In this episode of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast, we hear the story of Erik Dickes from Omaha, Nebraska. Erik made plans with his father in 2018 to paddle in the BWCA. It was to be the first and long-anticipated trip to the Boundary Waters for both of them. After losing a battle with cancer in the fall of 2018, Erik’s father never made it to Minnesota and put his paddle in a Boundary Waters lake. Determined to follow through on a trip to canoe country, Erik and his friend Johnny completed a week-long trip to the BWCA in May 2019. With his father in the forefront of his mind, Erik recorded part of his trip in an audio diary that is shared on this episode of the podcast.

Also featured in this episode is an interview with outdoor writer and journalist Stephanie Pearson. Stephanie is a contributing editor to Outside magazine. Her stories have also appeared in The New York Times Magazine and other publications. In May 2019, Stephanie published an article in Outside titled “The Uncertain Future of the Boundary Waters.” She discusses the focus of this article on the podcast, as well as her personal connections and history in the Boundary Waters.

At the end of episode 18, a supporter and listener of the podcast, Chelsea Lloyd, shares a musical gift by covering Ian Tamblyn’s “Campfire Light.” Tamblyn’s tune is the theme song of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast.

Twenty years ago this summer, the Boundary Waters and other parts of northern Minnesota were impacted by what is forever known as the Boundary Waters Blowdown storm. On July 4, 1999, the storm roared through the region, impacting the wilderness area and lives of many thousands of people.

WTIP, the community radio station in Grand Marais, is looking back on the Blowdown storm in a series of commemorative features and interviews with those who experienced the Blowdown storm firsthand. We are sharing part of this series as a short track on the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast.

In part one of this WTIP original series, we hear from Grand Marias resident Cindy Carpenter Straub. Cindy was camped on Pine Lake on the eastern side of the BWCA during the Blowdown storm. And we hear from Mike Stewart, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service who was working the afternoon of the Blowdown.

Introduction to the Boundary Waters region can arrive through many channels. Some learn of the waters and portage trails through family or friends. Others find videos or audio online, the descriptions and images of canoe country ultimately leading them to make that first trip to the wilderness.

For many, the discovery of the Boundary Waters comes at an early age through one of the many wilderness camps for youth that surround the BWCA and Quetico. In this episode, camp attendees turned camp staffers, Ashley Bredemus and Victor Pilon from Camp Birchwood for Boys, share their stories about the value of camps near the Boundary Waters.

And being that it’s May, anglers will once again take to the Boundary Waters in pursuit of walleye, pike, lake trout and smallmouth. And while many stick to crankbaits or live bait, Podcaster Matthew Baxley talks with Duluth resident Jeremy Kershaw about fly fishing in the Boundary Waters.

Anthea Grasley and her family are big fans of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In the summer of 2018, they made their first family trip to the BWCA and traveled to Ely from their home in Rockton, Illinois.

In this short track of the podcast, Matthew Baxley talks with Anthea about their family trip to the Boundary Waters.