x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Paddle and Portage Podcast

Paddle and Portage Podcast

This podcast is produced by people who live near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Quetico Provincial Park. It is the source for storytelling, news, and information about the canoe-country wilderness and other paddling destinations across North America. All music on this podcast, unless credited otherwise, comes from Ian Tamblyn and the Blue Dot Sessions.

sports wilderness

All Episodes

23:15

Forest Service Budget Woes and What It Means For the...

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/10/31

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 doing the right thing out on the land, in the Boundary Waters, with digging latrines and cleaning portages and any of those other sorts of services?”

en

18:40

Updates From The Road: Winter Camping Festival and...

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/10/27

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. In this short track from The Road, we hear about a busy weekend of travel for the podcast duo. Stops along the way include a visit with Baihly

en

27:43

Episode 16: The Barrens of Nunavut

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/10/17

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 encounter with the subarctic taiga, and by far the most remote expedition they had ever undertaken. Erin shares details about the experience in this episode

en

36:53

Episode 15: Traveling Sober in the BWCA Wilderness

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/10/09

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 without any alcohol. In fact, it was the centerpiece of their trip. This episode is sponsored by: Sawbill Canoe Outfitters Friends of the Boundary

en

00:33:33

Episode 14: Celebration of Life for a Vietnam Veteran...

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/09/22

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 do so, with a funeral. This episode is supported by: Solbakken Resort on Superior Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters Bent Paddle Brewing Cascade

en

00:29:10

Episode 13: Rescue on the Granite River

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/09/08

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 is sponsored by: Ely Outfitting Company Friends of the Boundary Waters Women's Wilderness Discovery Sawtooth Outfitters Campaign to Save the Boundary

en

00:08:04

A Letter From Cache Bay: Featured Short Track

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/08/29

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 ranger in the history of the park. Over the course of three decades, Janice raised two children on the island. She saved the lives of canoeists who

en

00:41:13

Episode 12: The Dan Cooke Tribute Paddle and Stories...

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/08/23

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, and in the episode we hear from a number of people who attended the event and participated in the flotilla. We also hear segments from an archived

en

00:29:04

Episode 11: The Ely Challenge

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/08/08

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 simple: Paddle across Saganaga Lake at the end of the Gunflint Trail to Moose Lake on the Ely side of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Go to Ely

en

00:33:21

Episode 10: The Sounds Of Mallard Island

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/07/24

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 brothel on Rainy Lake, before Oberholtzer bought it and stationed it on the edge of the island. Part of the structure still hangs over the edge of the

en

00:28:39

Episode Nine: Summer Storms Bring BWCA Community...

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/07/09

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 formed at the Mudro Entry Point. A tent village, as it goes in the Boundary Waters. The flooding destroyed the nearly 6-mile road leading from the Mudro

en

00:30:49

Episode Eight: Experienced Introduction To The...

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/06/24

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-day paddling adventure. We also hear from Mary Ellen Ashcroft and Angelina Elido. Mary Ellen was introduced to Angelina via Linda Newman, a resident of

en

00:40:55

Episode Seven - Sex In The Boundary Waters

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/06/08

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 who once spent an entire year living in the BWCA; Anna Hennessey and Emily Ford, two experienced backcountry travelers who frequent the wilderness; and

en

00:36:00

Episode Six Northern Lights On The Fishing Opener

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/05/24

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 Friedrichs. The group ventured to new waters for this year's opener. They found largemouth, smallmouth, brook trout, lake trout, and walleye. Large fish were

en

00:48:05

Episode Five - Author Tony Jones And The Path To Wild...

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/05/09

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 book, "The God of Wild Places." In this episode of the podcast, Tony paddles with Joe on the edge of the BWCA to share some of his journey from being a

en

00:37:04

Episode Four - A Greater Meaning To A Winter BWCA Trip

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/04/09

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 year for an extended winter camping trip. They are quick to reference some of these same common threads, but they also know it runs deeper than that

en

00:34:23

Episode Three - Going Off Trail in the Boundary Waters

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/03/08

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 are likely to be on the other side. The next level is to go off the trail completely. Bushwhacking in the Boundary Waters is about going off trail. It’s

en

00:47:38

Episode Two - The Other Side Of Wild Ice

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/02/09

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 vary drastically, not just from one lake to the next, but on the same lake. Two Grand Marais residents found out how dangerous the ice can be early in

en

00:47:06

Episode One - Wind Is The Ultimate Game Changer

Paddle and Portage Podcast ·

2024/01/10

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 meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Duluth, and a fisheries biologist from the Department of Natural Resources in Grand Marais, bring science and

en

99 results

Similar Podcasts

Keeping Karlsson Fantasy Hockey Podcast

Elan Dubrofsky and Brian Kom

Daily Fantasy Sports by Ship It Nation

Ship It Nation

Fantasy Football Today

CBS Sports, Fantasy Football, FFT, NFL,...

Bring The Pain

Heat00veride

ESPN SportsCenter Update

ESPN