WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast

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 o...

A continuation of the story started in episode 46, we hear the completion of two trips where two fathers take the oldest son into the wilderness for the very first time. To enhance the story, a three generation trio of ladies share their ongoing legacy of wilderness travel along with some tips to keep the kids happy and safe.

There comes a time when a father decides to take his son into the Boundary Waters for the first time. It could be anyone, really. A mother, aunt, uncle or family friend all face the same challenges. The goal is to make it safe and to make it fun. This episode is a two-part series that follows two different trips with the same goal: taking a child into the wilderness. We hear from one father and so...

Recent encounters between black bears and visitors to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has the U.S. Forest Service considering a food storage order on certain lakes. If implemented, the order would aim to reduce the likelihood of negative encounters between BWCA visitors and bears, according to Superior National Forest spokesperson Joanna Gilkeson. The Forest Service enacted a food storag...

In wilderness settings, there are connections people can make to the land, regardless of their age, race or gender, by walking in the footsteps of those who have come before them. With this in mind, a group of Minnesota paddlers set out in the fall of 2020 to travel across the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to retrace the steps of a wilderness pioneer named Arthur Carhart. Their journey too...

Join the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast team for a one-time special from Isle Royale National Park on the biggest boundary waters lake of them all: Lake Superior. Hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs traveled to Isle Royale in June 2021 to share stories from the remote island archipelago. They talked with park staff about wildlife research being conducted on the island, chatted with visiting hike...

It’s back to hammocks on this episode of the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast. Well, sort of… The featured guest on this episode of the podcast is YouTube sensation and hammock camping extraordinaire Sean 'Shug' Emery. Shug lives in Minnesota and frequents the North Shore and BWCA to enjoy time hiking, exploring and hanging in his hammock. In a previous stage of his life, Shug was a circus performer a...

The combined distance of the Border Route Trail and the Kekekabic Trail in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is approximately 110 miles. In late May 2021, Minnesotan Alex Falconer ran the entire distance. In two days. Basically nonstop. Alex did this run of epic proportions to raise awareness for the Boundary Waters and to protect clean water. Joining Alex for a portion of the run and for...

The WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast team spent the final days of April and start of May 2021 in Ely. Hosts Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs were selected for an 'artist residency' by the Listening Point Foundation. This is property owned by Sigurd Olson that is now managed and owned by an organization in Ely known as the Listening Point Foundation. Olson was an author and a dedicated advocate for wi...

Winter camping continues to be a favorite activity for the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast team. In February 2021, Matthew Baxley and Joe Friedrichs took a TV news team from Duluth for a trip to the BWCA. Alex Laitala and Dan Wolfe from KBJR joined the podcast duo for a trip to the far eastern reaches of the designated wilderness. Temperatures dropped to 10-below zero and Matthew shares a report from...

The depths of winter rolled over the Boundary Waters in February 2021. Temperatures plummeted and overnight lows often measured 30 degrees below zero during the first full week of the month. That being the case, the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast team embraced the cold snap as an opportunity to share stories from the wilderness. Podcast Host Matthew Baxley opens the episode with a story about the lo...

It’s the start of Season 4 on the WTIP Boundary Waters Podcast! The new season kicks off with a theme specific to winter: blades and ice. Indeed, ice staking on ‘wild ice’ was all the rage in the BWCA to start the winter of 2020-21. Host Matthew Baxley takes us on a journey up Clearwater Lake into the BWCA and over to Mountain Lake on the border looking across to Canada. This specific day trip cap...

It’s the holiday season in the Boundary Waters. What this means, of course, is that it’s quiet in the wilderness. November and most of December are traditionally some of the quietest times of the year in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Looking to embrace that solitude, the podcast team of Joe Friedrichs, Matthew Baxley and Lindsey Gau all traveled into the BWCA to celebrate Thanksgiving...