The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a natural landscape largely unchanged by human hands. If you haven't seen it, you're missing a great life experience. The 20 trips in this book are designed to give beginners confidence. They also offer features that even experienced canoeists will appreciate, like easier access points and manageable routes that lead to great campsites and impressive scenery. Get ready for a Boundary Waters adventure you'll never forget.
Teasing out the history of a place celebrated for timelessness--where countless paddle strokes have disappeared into clear waters--requires a sure and attentive hand. Stephen Wilbers's account reaches back to the glaciers that first carved out the Boundary Waters and to the original inhabitants, as well as to generations of wilderness explorers, both past and present. He does so without losing the personal relationship built through a lifetime of pilgrimages (anchored by almost three decades of trips with his father). This story captures the untold broader narrative of the region, as well as a thousand different details sure to be recognized by fellow pilgrims, like the grinding rhythm of a long portage or the loon call that slips into that last moment before sleep.
"True survival odysseys of two wilderness adventurers who entered the woods in search of tranquility-- but found something else entirely"--Page 4 of cover.
Since its establishment as a federally protected wilderness in 1964, the Boundary Waters has become one of our nation's most valuable--and most frequently visited--natural treasures. When Amy and Dave Freeman learned of toxic mining proposed within the area's watershed, they decided to take action--by spending a year in the wilderness, and sharing their experience through video, photos, and blogs with an audience of hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens. This book tells thedeeper story of their adventure in northern Minnesota: of loons whistling under a moonrise, of ice booming as it forms and cracks, of a moose and her calf swimming across a misty lake. With the magic--and urgent--message that has rallied an international audience to the campaign to save the Boundary Waters, A Year in the Wilderness is a rousing cry of witness activism, and a stunning tribute to this singularly beautiful region.
Manual for canoeists which particularly concentrates on Canadian rivers and Canadian sources of information for maps, carriers, access roads, etc. Appendices include equipment list, medical kit, international rating scale of rapids.
One man, one canoe, five solo journeys to five remote wilderness regions in Western Ontario, Canada. Can you imagine being retired (over 60), healthy and determined to research and travel alone for three weeks or longer on numerous wilderness trips into areas that you know little about? Can you imagine not being in verbal or social media contact with anyone for over one hundred days of travel? What does it take to be self-sustained and responsible for all of one's actions and decisions? The solo canoe journal stories are a combination of the day to day excursions and decisions that a solo paddler must make to successfully navigate from one lake or campsite to another and to another and so on while managing to stay safe and to not get lost in the wilderness. The journal stories are also filled with very real and personal insights into the mind frame of the author who attempts to relate to the reader the intense feeling of what wilderness, or solitude or fear or a number of intimate emotions means to him in the moment. Alone in a Canoe also includes detailed gear and food lists and trip statistics. The stories are inspiring. It is a must read if you ever dreamed about what it would be like to be alone in a canoe in the wilderness for any length of time. The book is printed in an 8 1/2 by 8 1/2 format to enhance the more than 200 color photos documenting the journeys. People who Paddle a Canoe, Outdoor and Wilderness Enthusiasts, Backcountry Educators, Adventure Advocates, Future Campers, Fisherman, Recreators, Dreamers, Individuals who Cherish Solitude, and Folks who enjoy great Nature Photography will enjoy this book.
The events in these true tales of the canoe country of northern Minnesota and Ontario were compiled over the authors lifetime of experience in the woods. Working with Boy Scouts and, in his later years, with employees, friends, family, and folks from his church, the author has led perhaps over five hundred people on trips into the Boundary Waters. The experiences on these trips over the past fifty years have provided a wealth of material that the author has crafted into enjoyable stories. Some of the stories are educational, many are hilarious, more than a few are inspirational, all of them are entertaining. Each story stands alone, but the book is best read from the beginning. Words followed by asterisks are defined in a glossary for readers unfamiliar with canoeing or the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. After reading this book, the author hopes you will be better informed about the lake country, you will have a greater appreciation for the wilderness, and you might even be encouraged to take a canoe trip to see Gods country for yourself. If this happens, then the author has succeeded in his purpose.
Find your way into the eastern BWCAW via 28 entry points, accessible near Grand Marais, Minnesota, from the Sawbill and Gunflint trails. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northeastern Minnesota—over a million acres of wilderness on the US-Canada border—is a magnet for visitors seeking to explore some of the most beautiful waterways in the world. With a canoe or kayak, you can paddle its remote lakes, rivers, waterfalls, forests, and trails. Boundary Waters Canoe Area: Eastern Region by Robert Beymer and Louis Dzierzak helps you select the perfect trip for your schedule, ability, and interests. This classic guide—along with its companion volume, Boundary Waters Canoe Area: Western Region—has been the trusted source for more than 40 years on where to go in the BWCAW and its 1,000+ lakes. Now fully updated, it’s the bible to the 1,200 miles of canoe routes and 154 miles of portage trails in the wilderness. The guide describes 28 entry points in the eastern part of the BWCAW—those accessible near Grand Marais, Minnesota, from the Sawbill Trail and the Gunflint Trail. For each entry point, both a short and a long route are described, along with all the information you’ll need to plan a successful trip. Inside you’ll find: Complete trip data, including total distance, time, difficulty, required Fisher maps, and permit and quota requirements Day-by-day details, such as number and difficulty of portages and recommended campsites Fishing recommendations for surrounding lakes and rivers Wise advice on navigation and points of interest Added bonus: “Lake Index for Fishing,” covering the 242 lakes that lie on this book’s described routes
To do with the calling of loons, with northern lights, and the great silences of land lying northwest of Lake Superior. It is concerned with the simple joys, the timelessness and perspective found in a way of life which is close to the past. I have heard the singing in many places, but I seem to hear it best in the wilderness lake country of the Quetico-Superior, where travel is still by pack and canoe over the ancient trails of the Indians and voyageurs." Thus the author sets the theme and tone of this enthralling book of discovery about one of the few great primitive areas in our country which have withstood the pressures of civilization. Acute natural perceptivity and a profound knowledge of the relationships to be found in nature combine here in vivid evocations of the sights, the sounds, the vast stillnesses, and the events of the wilderness as the seasons succeed each other. But Mr. Olson is not content merely to "describe; he probes for meanings that will lead the reader to a different and more revealing way of looking at the out-of-doors and to a deeper sense of its eternal values. In each of the thirty-four chapters of The Singing Wilderness he has sought to capture an essential quality of our magnificent lake and forest heritage. He shows us what can be read from the rocks of the great Canadian Shield; he offers a delightful essay on the virtues of pine knots as fuel; he writes of the ways of a canoe, of flashing trout in the pools of the Isabella, of tamarack bogs, caribou moss, the flight of wild geese, timber wolves, and the birds of the ski trails. And much more, with something to satisfy every taste for wilderness experience. Superbly illustrated with 38 black-and-white drawings by Francis Lee Jaques, The Singing Wilderness is a book that no lover of nature will want to be without. To anyone who contemplates a vacation in the lake country of northern Minnesota and adjoining Canada, it is the perfect vade mecum.
