After a week of questioning from members of the press, Congressional staff, business owners, and people who are feeling left in the dark, Canadian officials are still being vague when it comes to the future of the Remote Area Border Crossing (RABC) Program. Luke Reimer, a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency, told Paddle and Portage N…

In this update from the road, we hear about a tour Bear Paulsen and Joe Friedrichs took of the Bending Branches facility in Wisconsin, share audio from an event for Last Entry Point at Fitger's where Rick Slatten and members of Mark Ham's family spoke, and M Baxley brings us an update from Emily Ford. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by: Be…

Not everything about winter camping is pleasant. It can be cold, windy, and basically one giant bundle of brutal. Other parts can be, and often are, magic. Sunsets. Solitude. Adventure. The Winter Camping Symposium is a gathering to celebrate the arrival of winter and the gear that allows us to embrace the cold months in places like the Boundary Wa…

The U.S. Forest Service is facing a budget cut for 2025. Looking ahead to the 2025 paddling season, if some of the seasonal backcountry staff are absent from the BWCA Wilderness it could dramatically impact the visitor experience, Forest Supervisor Tom Hall acknowledged during a recent public meeting in Grand Marais. “How do we make sure that we’re…

The Winter Camping Symposium is a gathering to celebrate the arrival of winter and the gear that allows us to embrace the cold months in places like the Boundary Waters. The Paddle and Portage team attended the 2024 winter camping celebration near Moose Lake. We’ll be sharing stories from and about the event in the next full episode of the podcast.…

Erin Walker and Jon Kelly are the duo behind the Lost Lakes YouTube channel. They live on an inland lake not far from the Canadian shores of Lake Superior. This summer, Erin and Jon embarked on a three-week, 280-mile (450-kilometer) canoe trip into the subarctic barrens. It was a journey of many firsts: their first time in Nunavut, their first enco…

Booze or a dry run? Opinions vary about bringing alcohol on a trip to the Boundary Waters. Many enjoy sipping whiskey or wine around the campfire. Others prefer no alcohol at all. And then there are those who tip back and glug until the bottle is gone. In this episode, we hear from a group of five paddlers who chose to paddle the BWCA Wilderness wi…

Herb Koenig and Jim Crigler loved to paddle in the Boundary Waters. It was the one place where they felt comfortable talking about their experiences serving as helicopter pilots during the Vietnam War. In this episode, we hear about why the Boundary Waters opened the door for reflection, communication, and adventure for these two veterans. And we d…

Episode 293: In this episode, Renee Onesti from Ken Elastomer Products joined us to discuss effective strategies for maintaining a sustainable safety program in the manufacturing industry. Renee shares her extensive experience, spanning over 25 years, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing safety as an ongoing journey rather than a one-time a…

In this episode, Tim and his daughter Sylvie embark on the trip of a lifetime. The crossing of the BWCA from west to east along the voyageur highway is abruptly interrupted by a tragic slip on the Granite River. What unfolds next is a skillful evacuation by fellow paddlers that redeems everyone's belief in the power of human kindness.This episode i…

Episode 292: In this episode, Nick Coia from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation is joined by Diane Conner, Safety Manager at Miller Transfer and Rigging, and the 2024 Safety Improvement Award winner. Diane shares her journey of transforming the safety culture at Miller Transfer and Rigging over the past two years. Learn about her strategies f…

Episode 291: In this episode, we dive into the concept of "Safety in Action" with Matt Mohler, the EHS Manager at Delta Systems in Streetsboro, OH. Matt shares his extensive experience as a safety manager and the journey of fostering a proactive safety culture in the workplace. Matt discusses the importance of engaging employees, making safety a vi…

Episode 290: In this episode, Mike is joined by Kim and George from Pyrotech in Aurora, Ohio, to discuss their innovative safety program, "Find It, Fix It." Kim Chmelarsky, the safety officer at Pyrotech, and George McSears, the manufacturing manager, share their journey of transforming workplace safety. Discover how they skyrocketed employee parti…

Janice Matichuk first set foot on her island in Quetico Provincial Park in 1985. Located near the end of Minnesota’s iconic Gunflint Trail, this remote park is the heart of North America’s “canoe country.” Decades later, and enduring beyond her untimely passing in the summer of 2020, Matichuk’s legacy includes being the longest serving interior ran…

Dan Cooke was a "mentor's mentor" when it comes to the paddling scene in North America, particularly around the Boundary Waters region. The longtime owner of Cooke Custom Sewing, Dan passed away July 1. A paddle parade was held on Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis August 10 to honor the life of Dan Cooke. Stories were shared about Dan’s love of paddling,…

In life, people tend to get consumed by the concept of how something can be done, without giving thought as to why something should be done. When the Paddle and Portage Podcast first heard about the Boundary Waters paddle known as the Ely Challenge, we were guilty of this notion. We became fixated on the how. The idea for the Ely Challenge is simpl…

Emma Froh is an architect from the Twin Cities. She recently spent a week on Mallard Island, the former home of wilderness advocate and Boundary Waters paddler Ernest Oberholtzer. Emma and two of her colleagues, Mary Springer and Natalya Egon, were staying in what’s known as the Cedarbark House at Mallard Island. The structure used to be a floating…

Rain. It’s marked the start to the paddling season this year across the Boundary Waters. There was so much rain, in fact, that many portages and waterways across the BWCA flooded in late June. Roads near the Boundary Waters, from the Echo Trail to Highway 61, also flooded and were damaged by the heavy rain. In one area of the BWCA, a community form…

We all have to start somewhere. Even Sigurd Olson had to be shown how to paddle and portage a canoe at some point. We share stories in this episode about people taking their first trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. We hear from Bob Carlson, who took a group of young paddlers on the Frost River in the BWCA this spring during a multi-…

Sex in the Boundary Waters. It's a thing. Happens on some trips, not on others. In this episode of the podcast, we explore the sexual energy that stirs in the Boundary Waters and other wilderness areas, and among the people who visit these types of wild places.Featured in the episode of the podcast are: Dave and Amy Freeman, experienced paddlers wh…

Sex in the Boundary Waters. It's a thing. Happens on some trips, not on others. In this episode of the podcast, we explore the sexual energy that stirs in the Boundary Waters and other wilderness areas, and among the people who visit these types of wild places. Featured in the episode of the podcast are: Dave and Amy Freeman, experienced paddlers w…

Traveling across the Boundary Waters in May represents many things. A sign of spring. The start of the paddling season. And, of course, the great Fishing Opener. The team from 2023's epic and nearly fatal Fishing Opener trip on the Temperance River are back again this year. Omaha Erik Dickes. Kevin The Kman Kramer. Lord Baxley. And Freddy Friedrich…

Tony Jones is an accomplished Minnesota author who has a passion for wild places, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. As he describes it, when Tony walked out of the church several years ago and into the woods, he left the orderly pews and numbered hymns for chaotic spaces and untamed wilderness. Tony writes about this in his new b…

Friendship is an often-overlooked component that brings people to the Boundary Waters. So often we’re quick to reference solitude, natural beauty, the means to get away from the day-to-day grind, and other factors that bring people to the BWCA and Quetico. Three friends, Chad Roy, Mike Larson, and Glen Bruchmann, come to the Boundary Waters every y…

Episode 289: Did you know that 300,000 people are expected to be in Portage County, OH, for the solar eclipse on Monday, April 8th, 2024? Local emergency management professionals are expecting more traffic and potential cell phone disruptions. McKenzie Villatoro, the EM Specialist and LEPC Information Coordinator for the Portage County EMA, joined …

Episode 288: Allison Sharer, Senior Consultant at Working Partners, and Katie Szumigala, Training Coordinator at Safex, joined us to talk about new drug trends threatening Ohio's workplaces and give us a preview of their 2024 Ohio Safety Congress presentation. Now available on your favorite podcast app! For more info on OSC24, visit the website at:…

Not every lake in the Boundary Waters has a portage trail leading to its shores. Many of these lakes are gifted with the absence of humans. Similarly, the grueling grind of a long portage can be viewed as an obstacle to prevent some people from traveling deeper into the canoe-country wilderness. Others embrace such portages, knowing fewer people ar…

Episode 287: Public speaking is one of the biggest fears of safety professionals. Rachel Ippolito of Rippolito Strategies joined us to give a few tips & tricks and provide a preview of her 2024 Ohio Safety Congress presentation. Now available on your favorite podcast app! For more info on OSC24, visit the website at: https://www.ohiosafetycongress.…

Episode 286: Thomas Beers is the EMS Program Manager for the Cleveland Clinic and a Full-time Firefighter/Fire Investigator in Cleveland Heights. He joined us on our podcast to give us a preview of his 2024 Ohio Safety Congress presentation titled, The First Response to Human Trafficking. Now available on your favorite podcast app! For more info on…

Episode 285: Tommie Jo Brode is the President of Venice Solutions Group LLC, a practicing lawyer and business consultant. She joined us on our podcast to give us a preview of her 2024 Ohio Safety Congress presentation titled, Effective Written Communication in the Workplace. Now available on your favorite podcast app! For more info on OSC24, visit …

It was a season to remember for most who had the good fortune to go ice staking on a frozen lake in the Boundary Waters this winter. The ice came early, and it stayed clear of snow for many weeks. From November until early January, many lakes across the BWCA were ideal for ice skating. Some of the ice, however, was dangerous. Ice thickness could va…

Episode 284: Randy Anderson is the co-founder of E3 Professional Trainers, LLC. He joined us on our podcast to give us a preview of his 2024 Ohio Safety Congress presentation titled, Confronting Difficult Underperformers. Now available on your favorite podcast app! For more info on OSC24, visit the website at: https://www.ohiosafetycongress.com/ To…

Episode 283: What is the importance of stretching for workers in the industrial or construction setting? What are the types of stretching? Taylor Anderson, an HSE Consultant at Safex in Columbus, OH, joined us on the podcast to answer these questions and give us a preview of her 2024 Ohio Safety Congress presentation titled, Stretching for the Indu…

Episode 282: In this interview, Matt Lis, President of RM Leadership Group LLC (Crestcom), gives us a preview of his 2024 Ohio Safety Congress presentation titled, How to Deal with Difficult People. For more info on OSC24, visit the website at: https://www.ohiosafetycongress.com/ For more information about Matt, visit his website at: https://crestc…

If we've said it once, we've said it a 1,000 times: Wind is the ultimate game changer on any trip to the Boundary Waters. In the first full-length episode of the podcast, hosts Joe Friedrichs and Matthew Baxley navigate the complexities and challenges of wind during any given trip to the canoe-country wilderness. Expert guests, including a meteorol…