Paddle and Portage Podcast

A group from YMCA Camp Menogyn on the Gunflint Trail paddled into the heart of Quetico Provincial Park in late October to retrieve canoes that had to be left behind during the summer wildfires. A group of paddlers from the camp had to evacuate in July due to the wildfires.

From the Menogyn team Oct. 29, in a message sent to Paddle & Portage: "We made it back from Quetico with seven more canoes and about 15 extra packs than when we started, including four wood/canvas canoes that would have had a hard time surviving winter."

A team of eight people with ties to YMCA Camp Menogyn from around the country helped make this canoe and gear recovery possible. "Rough weather and really long hard days made it challenging, but the group stayed positive," the paddlers shared with P&P reads.

This is our second Quetico Provincial Park canoe recovery story this month, and the two stories will intersect in a way that illustrates the magic of the canoe-country wilderness.

This episode is supported by Loons Nest Coffee, Friends of the Boundary Waters, and Ely Outfitting Company.

Brule Lake is the largest non-motorized lake located entirely within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

In this haunting episode, Joe from the Paddle & Portage Podcast shares the story of losing his glasses while fishing Brule Lake in late October 2026.

The glasses sunk to the bottom, but they were not done with Joe, as he shares in this chilling episode of the podcast.

A group of women paddlers ventured to Isle Royale on Lake Superior this fall for a multi-day packrafting and backpacking trip. The group brought Alpacka packrafts, mixing backpacking with paddling on inland lakes and Lake Superior.

Kate Wright and Isabelle Nelson, two members of the paddling group, share reflections on the experience, including the benefits of mixing paddling and backpacking at Isle Royale.

Their journey took place near the end of a massive search for a missing hiker at Isle Royale in September 2026, a storyline that infused with many trips this fall to the big island on Lake Superior.

This episode is supported by Tex's Riverways, Cooke Custom Sewing, Friends of the Boundary Waters, and Sawtooth Outfitters.

During the peak of the 2026 wildfires in the BWCA and Quetico this summer, the Paddle & Portage team shared the story of the Nelson family.

The Nelson family have been paddling in Quetico for decades. Three generations of canoe-campers have now entered the park, most often through Cache Bay, the southeastern entrance near the end of the Gunflint Trail.

Siblings Matt and Laura led a group of six into the park in mid-July 2026. The group included Matt and his daughter, and Laura and her three children.

Wildfires were burning in Quetico and BWCA leading up to their trip, which started July 11. By the afternoon of July 13, excessive heat and strong winds dramatically increased the size of the wildfires. The Nelsons, paddling on Kawnipi Lake, became surrounded by wildfire. They were eventually airlifted to the north side of the park, though they had to leave their canoes behind.

Months later, the canoes were flown out of the park and brought to an outpost just north of Quetico. In early October, Matt drove from Michigan to Ontario to get the canoes, and that's where this episode picks up the story.

Support for the Paddle & Portage Podcast comes from Ely Outfitting Company, Northstar Canoes, and Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles.

It's one to remember. The 2026 quota season in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness wrapped up Sept. 30. The quota season runs May 1 to the end of September annually in the nation's most visited wilderness.

Wildfires stand out as the most significant event from the 2026 BWCA paddling season, with the entire wilderness closing for a section of July. Other notable events include a blizzard during the May fishing opener in the Boundary Waters and a new telephone reporting system to enter Quetico Provincial Park.

Through it all, the Paddle & Portage Podcast was here doing what we do best: Sharing stories from the canoe country. The podcast duo share this episode from the wilderness, accompanied by a fresh batch of BWCA smoked lake trout chowder.

This episode is supported by Loons Nest Coffee and Borderland Lodge.

This series of the Paddle & Portage Podcast is titled Women in Paddling with Erin Walker.

Erin's guest in this episode is Bridget Douglas. Bridget is a guide in the BWCA Wilderness and Lake of the Woods. She's worked with Women's Wilderness Discovery in Ely and has a decade of experience as a guide in the Lake of the Woods waters on the Minnesota and Ontario border.

This episode is supported by Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles.

This series of the Paddle & Portage Podcast is hosted by Erin Walker of the Lost Lakes YouTube channel. The series, created by Erin and Kate from Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles, is called Women in Paddling.

Erin's guest in this episode is Grand Marais resident Kaylan Dix. A dedicated paddler in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Kaylan works in healthcare in Grand Marais. She says paddling and outdoor recreation help her navigate the complex world of healthcare, along with being a mother of two teenage daughters.

Other topics discussed include the differences between growing up with canoeing and outdoor recreation as part of one's youth, the merits of single portaging, and the prospects for Kaylan's first solo canoe trip.

This episode is supported by Bending Branches Canoe and Kayak Paddles.

Jenna Ladowski is a firefighter who lives near Fort Collins, Colorado. She was recently on a nearly week-long trip to the Boundary Waters with Mona Gauthier, who we featured in an episode of the podcast about her epic solo trip across the border lakes.

Mona and Jenna were part of a group of nine women who Mona led into the BWCA Wilderness in September 2026. The group paddled in the area that burned in the Pagami Creek Fire in 2011. Mona intentionally chose that route so the firefighters, both urban and wildland firefighters, could see the role fire plays in the Boundary Waters. She chose that route before the fires this summer.

During the peak of the closure of the BWCA and the fires this summer, it was hard to think about the benefits of fire in the boreal forest here in the Boundary Waters, but there’s starting to be some of that now, with the reopening of the wilderness and paddlers back on the water and businesses running again, and things feeling more normal as we move deeper into fall. The U.S. Forest Service recently led Paddle & Portage and other media from across Minnesota on a tour of this summer's wildfires.

This episode is supported by Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles, Ely Outfitting Company, Loons Nest Coffee, and Sawtooth Outfitters.

Mining near the Boundary Waters is in the political spotlight this month as a pair of political forums take place in Ely. The first took place Wednesday, Sept. 2 on the college campus in Ely. It featured state Sen. Grant Hauschild and Republican challenger Andrea Zupancich, a realtor in the Ely area and the current mayor of nearby Babbitt.

Also participating in the forum was incumbent state Rep. Roger Skraba and DFL challenger Aaron Kania, a former U.S. Forest Service district ranger in Ely.

A separate event featuring candidates running for the Ely City Council will take place next week at the same venue. That event is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 10.

In this issue of the podcast, we narrow the complexity of the political landscape near the Boundary Waters, including the local level in Ely.

Featured in this episode are Skraba and Kania, along with Ely City Council candidates Heidi Omerza and Emily Roose. Omerza and Roose are running for mayor this year and are both currently on the council, with Omerza serving as the current mayor of Ely. Also featured in the episode is city council candidate Abby Dare, as well as Ely business owner Sarah Vogl.

This episode is supported by Tex’s Riverways and Borderland Lodge.

The Paddle & Portage Podcast duo share updates on some recent BWCA and Lake Superior adventures, and Erin Walker drops in to share the details of her upcoming series about women who paddle and adventure outdoors.

Erin also shares the recap of her and Jon's recent encounter with a grizzly bear while canoeing in the Northwest Territories.

Also featured is a cameo by an old friend of the podcast, one we know by name.

This episode of the podcast is supported by Sawbill Canoe Outfitters and Borderland Lodge.

A mine in the BWCA...The mere mention of such a thing in 2026 sends fear up the spine of many paddlers.

That being the case, there is an old mine in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In this episode, Duluth writer Ryan Rodgers and the podcast team take you there.

Go here to learn more about the history of the old mine in the BWCA: https://paddleandportage.com/

This episode is supported by Loons Nest Coffee, Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles, and Williams & Hall Outfitters.

Listen to this story from a previous adventure with Rodgers:

After weeks of disruption and uncertainty, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is in the process of reopening.

Large swaths of the BWCA, including the entire Gunflint and significant portions of the wilderness on the Ely side, will be reopening for overnight paddling and other access during the first week of August.

The BWCA Wilderness was shut down entirely July 14 due to numerous wildfires.

The reopening is welcomed news for paddlers and outfitters. In this episode, we share stories about the reopening of the BWCA, and how people came together during the closure.

This episode is supported by Tex's Riverways, Ely Outfitting Company, and Friends of the Boundary Waters.

Paddlers from Northern Tier High Adventure, a Scout organization with strong ties to the Ely area, were among those evacuated from the Boundary Waters in July 2026.

In this episode, we hear their firsthand accounts of getting out from deep in the BWCA and Quetico during the evacuation. Towboats played a role, as did a series of critical decisions made along the way. The stories were recorded near Ely soon after the Scouts were evacuated.

Special thanks to Jake Hway from Chilly Dogs Sled Dog Trips for first reaching out with news of this story. Thanks, too, to Pam Wright from Soka Outdoors for recording some of the audio used in this podcast.

This episode is sponsored by Borderland Lodge, Sawtooth Outfitters, and City Cast Twin Cities.

Smoky skies, closures, evacuations, and displacement of people have dominated conversations across the Boundary Waters region during recent days.

The BWCA Wilderness shut down July 14 amid a series of wildfires and excessive heat. The length of the closure is unknown at this time. Quetico is also closed at this time due to numerous wildfires burning in and around the park.

In this episode, we hear from Laura Nelson, a resident of Washington D.C. who was among a group of six paddlers airlifted from Quetico July 14.

We also hear from Aubrey Helmuth-Miller, who drove with her family from Ohio to paddle a canoe in the BWCA, only to have the wilderness shut down soon after they arrived to Ely.

Music in this episode from The Upstream Drifters and Ian Tamblyn.

Photo credit for this episode to Pam Wright for Paddle & Portage media.

Hear more stories like Aubrey and Laura's on our YouTube page.

There are enough stories, news, and information happening on the Ely side of the Boundary Waters on any given day to produce an episode of this podcast. And while that might happen at some point down the road, let's start with this midseason update from the canoe capital of the world.

To kick things off, we hear from Mark Zimmer, the Barefoot Paddler of the Boundary Waters.

Also in this we hear from Nancy Scheibe, an Ely artist who is leading a project to paint a mural of Sig Olson this summer.

We cap the episode with a conversation with the new director the Listening Point Foundation, Kathleen Floberg.

This episode is supported by Sawtooth Outfitters, Ely Outfitting Company, and City Cast Twin Cities.

As we've reported in a recent episode of the podcast, access to Quetico Provincial Park from the Cache Bay and Prairie Portage ranger stations is once again an option for many paddlers. This development comes as the RABC Program winds down in September. A new telephone reporting system went live at both ranger stations June 8, and the response from paddlers has been upbeat on the new method to clear customs and enter Canada for a trip to Quetico.

In this episode, we hear from Cache Bay Rangers Peter and Stacey about their time working on the remote island where the ranger station is located. We also head up the Moose Chain near Ely with Blayne Hall from Williams & Hall Outfitters to check out the Prairie Portage entrance into Quetico.

This episode is supported by City Cast Twin Cities, Friends of the BWCA, and Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center.

The cost to cancel a permit to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is likely on the rise.

The U.S. Forest Service, in an attempt to reduce the number of BWCA permits canceled each year, is planning to make it more expensive to take such action.

We break it down with Ginny Nelson, a co-owner of Spirit of the Wilderness Outfitters in Ely.

Submit your comments to the U.S. Forest Service on this topic to this email: sm.fs.bwcawsurvey@usda.gov

Other ideas on this topic, as discussed in the episode: https://paddleandportage.com/2025/01/13/bwca-wilderness-permit-reservation-system-opening-day-analysis/

This episode is supported by Borderland Lodge and Voyageur Canoe Outfitters.

We share the latest on access to Quetico Provincial Park now that telephone reporting is replacing the RABC Program. Hear a firsthand account of how the new telephone reporting system to access Quetico works. Spoiler alert: It works great!

Also in this episode, we hear from Bryan Hansel, a photographer who lives near Grand Marais about the public's right to film, take photos, or make sound recordings in the BWCA and other wilderness areas across the country. It's been a long road, and finally there's clarity on what is allowed.

This news track is supported by City Cast Twin Cities and Northstar Canoes.

The St. Louis River Estuary is the confluence of the St. Louis River with Lake Superior. At 12,000 acres, the St. Louis River Estuary is the largest freshwater estuary in North America and is considered by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to be the headwaters of the Great Lakes.

Over the past 150 years, industry and other human activity disrupted and altered natural habitats at this estuary, as shorelines and near shore areas were dredged and developed, and chemical contamination impacted the waters, according to the DNR.

People recognized that legacy sediment contaminants needed to be remediated and damaged habitat needed to be restored. This work started decades ago and continues today.

The Paddle & Portage Podcast team recently traveled to the estuary for a paddle trip. Joining the podcast duo were staff from the Lake Superior Reserve and the St. Louis River Alliance.

This episode is supported by our listener-members, and by Cooke Custom Sewing, Loons Nest Coffee, and Friends of the Boundary Waters.

Don Beans first heard about the Boundary Waters when he was a kid growing up in Ohio. And he did so via a magazine, and through the words of longtime Ely resident Bob Cary, a local author, journalist, artist, and wilderness guide.

About 10 years after reading one of Bob Cary’s articles, Don left Ohio and headed north. The year was 1983. His destination: Ely.

In this episode, we hear the story of Don Beans and his journey to the Boundary Waters. Special thanks to Cindy Smyka and the Jasper Company, a multigenerational family business dedicated to hospitality, for their contributions to this episode.

This episode is supported by you, our listener-members. Support also comes from Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles and Ely Outfitting Company.