Paddle and Portage Podcast

Minnesota has more wolves than any other state, outside of Alaska. In fall 2025, researchers with the Voyageurs Wolf Project released an updated study on wolf activity and the population of wolves in an area located about 10 miles southwest of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which is found in the far reaches of northeastern Minnesota. The report tallied about 100 wolves in the study area near the BWCA and Voyageurs National Park. Some media reports highlighted that number as a "crash" of the population. Tom Gable, who leads the project, said the region's deer population ebbs and flows, as does the local wolf population. The duo from the Paddle & Portage Podcast met with Gable in late fall to learn more about the wolf population near the Boundary Waters. Together, they paddled and portaged on the trail of a wolf, one suspected of killing a deer near a remote lake not long before they arrived to the scene. In this episode, we invite you to tag along. This video is made possible by our Paddle & Portage member-subscribers, and by our sponsors, including Sawbill Canoe Outfitters, Sven-Saw, and Ely Outfitting Company.

Constance Simes circumnavigated Lake Superior solo in 2022. When the trip was complete, she'd paddled approximately 1,200 miles around Lake Superior in 57 days. She encountered high waves, of course. She also found deafening silence that moved her to tears.  Simes, who grew up in Iowa and now resides in Wisconsin, spoke with M Baxley about paddling Lake Superior at Canoecopia in Madison, Wisc.  This episode is supported by Loons Nest Coffee and Solbakken Resort on Superior. 

Erin Soderberg Downing grew up exploring the forests, lakes, and trails near Lake Superior and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Now an accomplished writer, Erin says her best ideas for stories often come to her deep in the woods, where she can find plenty of creative space to explore and imagine.  Erin is the daughter of Barb Soderberg. Barb Soderberg’s career with the Forest Service started in 1967 on Superior National Forest, and she was intricately involved with crafting the 1978 BWCA Wilderness Act. She retired from the Forest Service in 2007. Erin and Barb were in Grand Marais for the North Shore Readers and Writers Festival in early November. They met up with Joe Friedrichs from the Paddle & Portage Podcast at Artist's Point to talk BWCA issues, writing, and family life. This episode is supported by Cascade Vacation Rentals.   

Shannon McGrath got her start paddling when she was 12 years old. By the time she was 16, Shannon had completed the Grand Portage from Lake Superior to the inland border lakes of the Boundary Waters. Then came a multi-month canoe trip to the Arctic Circle via the Coppermine and Hood rivers, including a week on the Arctic Ocean. Now in her late 30s, Shannon continues to be a prolific paddler. She makes frequent trips to the Boundary Waters, including this fall, on an annual trip she makes with some of her friends to the BWCA. This year's trip will be perhaps most memorable as it featured a bachelorette party for Shannon.  The Paddle and Portage Podcast met up with Shannon and her crew at Artist's Point in Grand Marais, just before they headed up the Gunflint Trail to start their fall adventure to the Boundary Waters.  This episode is supported by Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness and Northstar Canoes.

The Paddle and Portage Podcast have been on the move in October. The Winter Camping Symposium was a highlight of the month, as was a recent trip to the far west end of the Boundary Waters to meet with one of the nation's top wolf researchers.  In this update from the road, we hear from the podcast duo about who they've been talking with for video podcasts and what brought them to the western edge of the Boundary Waters in search of wolves. 

Stephanie Hansen’s first cookbook took readers to her family outpost on an island on Burntside Lake near Ely, on the edge of the BWCA. Now, True North Cabin Cookbook Volume Two, released this year, focuses on “the cozy months” of October through April.  We hear from Stephanie in this episode of the podcast. We also cook some smoked trout and wild rice chowder that was inspired by the cookbook. We caught the fish. We smoked the fish. We made the chowder. We ate the chowder.  This episode is sponsored by Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles, Williams and Hall Outfitters, and Solbakken Resort on Superior.

Peta Barrett is preparing to retire from Women’s Wilderness Discovery, the company she started in 2014 in Ely, the gateway community to the Boundary Waters. Barrett moved to Ely more than 10 years ago to start up the guiding and outfitting company. She wanted to focus on offering a safe and comfortable place for women to have a means to access the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In this episode, we hear about Peta's journey to the Boundary Waters.  This episode is sponsored by Ely Outfitting Company and Borderland Lodge. 

The power of a place can change lives. It can also determine where someone lives, and how they live.  The Boundary Waters is one such place. In this episode, we learn how two families have been, and continue to be impacted by the power of place.  Special thanks to Andy Cochrane, Stellan & Lena Bengtsson, Scott, Jess, & Niklas Henderson, and Bob & Deb Friedrichs, for participating in this episode.  Thanks also to Chad from Gunflint Wilderness Guide Services for participating in the fishing adventure shared in this episode.  This episode is made possible with support from Sawtooth Outfitters, Loons Nest Coffee, and Solbakken Resort on Superior. 

A small group of kayakers started Team River Runner in 2004 with the goal of helping veterans get on the water. They now offer paddling opportunities to veterans and their family members in more than 60 locations across the nation, including the Yellowstone River in Montana.  Team River Runner seeks to get physically (amputations, mobility impairments) and/or visually impaired veterans in kayaks or other watercraft. This summer, M Baxley from the P&P Podcast traveled to the edge of Yellowstone National Park to learn more about the paddling clinics, and to speak with some of the participants. The adventure took Baxley from Minnesota to Montana. Join the road trip turned paddle trip to hear the full story.  To learn more about Team River Runner, visit their website: https://www.teamriverrunner.org/ This episode is made possible with support from the Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles, Bent Paddle Brewing, the Yellowstone River Motel, and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. 

Chuck Alexander is a canoe guide and carpenter who lives in Maine. He'd long aspired to paddle in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It took meeting a longtime paddler of the BWCA, Tim Cochrane, to make that dream come to fruition. Before embarking on a multi-night trip to the wilderness, the podcast team had a chance to meet Chuck, including a fishing trip to the Boundary Waters. This is the story of how paddling connects us, from Maine to Canada to Minnesota.  This episode is supported by Cascade Vacation Rentals and Sawbill Canoe Outfitters. 

A resident of Duluth is sick with a rare case of West Nile virus in Minnesota. The Duluth woman was in the emergency room at St. Luke’s Medical Center Sunday, Sept. 7. She is now home and recovering from the virus. She believes she was infected with West Nile while on a canoe trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in mid-August. After nearly three weeks, she continues to experience body aches, headaches, fatigue, among other symptoms. The group entered at the Kawishiwi Lake entry point, which is in Lake County near the border with Cook County. This is believed to be one of the first confirmed cases of West Nile virus ever reported from the BWCA Wilderness. Her case is one of only 21 cases of West Nile reported statewide this year, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.  In this news update on the podcast, we hear from the Duluth woman about the West Nile infection. We also talk with Elizabeth Schiffman, supervisor of MDH’s Vectorborne Diseases Unit. 

The intersection of paddling, yoga, and self-reliance carries us into the BWCA Wilderness in this episode of the podcast.  Boreal Bliss Yoga Retreats is a Minnesota business owned by women who bring together themes of self-reliance, seasonal living, and the transformative power of time spent paddling and portaging in the BWCA Wilderness and surrounding area. They've been in business since 2017 and have hosted more than 60 retreats focused on this theme. For their BWCA adventures, they partner with Birchwood Wilderness Camp and Ashley Bredemus. We travel to the end of the Gunflint Trail, South Lake, and Rose Lake in this episode of the podcast.  Music in this episode from Upstream Drifters and Ian Tamblyn.  This episode is sponsored by Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center, Northstar Canoes, Borderland Lodge. 

Just ahead of Labor Day weekend and the start of the transition to autumn, a long time listener of our podcast about the Boundary Waters came to check out the BWCA Wilderness for the first time.   Her name is Karolina Satek. Along with her husband and young daughter, they traveled to the Gunflint Trail and spent a few nights at Borderland Lodge. From there, they explored the surrounding wilderness, ate pasta and wild rice burgers at the lodge, and walked numerous trails leading to and inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The crew at Rockwood Lodge were helpful in showing the ropes on paddling and portaging in the canoe-country wilderness.   In this episode of the podcast, we share the connection between Karolina's first trip to the Boundary Waters and a fishing trip this summer with Barbara Jean Meyers, a musician and radio producer who lives near the Boundary Waters. The theme and general connection between the stories is simple: If you have plans to do something, don't wait around. Get out there and do it.   This episode is sponsored by the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, Ely Outfitting Company, Loons Nest Coffee.    Music in this episode is courtesy of Dusty Heart, Ian Tamblyn, Upstream Drifters, and Blue Dot Sessions.

We head west in this episode, to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. M Baxley joins a group of paddlers who came together under the leadership of Jordan Taylor and Sandra Newbury to travel on the Salmon River in Idaho. One of the great rivers of the West, the Salmon rolls through the Frank Church, the largest federally managed wilderness in the United States outside of Alaska. Confluences River Expeditions provided the group with rafts and raft guides while the other boaters traveled the river via canoes and kayaks. Join us as we head to the river of no return. This episode is supported by Bent Paddling Brewing Company, Sawtooth Outfitters, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.

The Paddle and Portage Podcast team spent time paddling and talking around a fire with Minnesota author Joe Whitson in early August. Joe is the author of the new book, “Marketing the Wilderness.”  Joe’s book pulls back the curtain on the outdoor recreation industry, on the glossy images, the feel-good branding, the well-meaning campaigns, and asks, “What’s being left out?” It traces how the idea of “wilderness” in the U.S. was built through marketing strategies that romanticize land as empty and pristine, while erasing the Indigenous people who’ve always been there. Joe discusses the concepts he raises in his book on this episode of the podcast. 

Abby Golden has been teaching at an organization called Wilderness Water Safety for 15 years. She is a certified lifeguard, wilderness first responder, and experienced wilderness trip leader. She has led trips in the Lake Temagami area as a trip leader for Camp Wabun and has traveled extensively throughout the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Born and raised in the St. Croix River Valley, she talks about water safety and shares stories of danger and death and what we can learn from these anecdotes from the BWCA and beyond. This episode is supported by Rutabaga Paddlesports and Ely Outfitting Company.

Kari Kennedy is the producer of Almanac, a popular and long-running news program on Twin Cities PBS. She's also in love with the Boundary Waters. The Gunflint Trail has become a home away from home, and trips to the BWCA Wilderness are a big part of that experience. Kari shares her story in this episode of the podcast.  Support for this episode comes from Northstar Canoes, Loons Nest Coffee, and Williams & Hall Outfitters. 

He first paddled on Seagull Lake. It didn't go well. A fishing boat had to rescue him. A few days later, he drove a transport tow. In a blizzard.  Graham Schatz is working at Seagull Canoe Outfitters this summer. He is not a typical "Trail Kid," those who lug canoes and clean cabins at the resorts on the Gunflint Trail each summer. Graham is an actor who has been attending acting school in Los Angeles. This summer, when he came to the Gunflint, it was his first time experiencing the Boundary Waters.  Graham's story illustrates something about the BWCA: The power of this place to transform knows no boundaries.  Music on this episode from the Upstream Drifters and the Blue Dot Sessions.  This episode is supported by Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center and Borderland Lodge. 

Checking in with an update from their epic paddle are the Hudson Bay Girls. The four paddlers left Lake Superior and the Grand Portage in May. They're bound for Hudson Bay and share this update from Norway House, just north of Lake Winnipeg. In an update sent to Paddle and Portage July 21, they report: "We’re checking in from Norway House! We have been through so much so far. From navigating backcountry travel restrictions, dodging wildfires, a trip altering injury, and ever changing weather conditions- we have been busy!" Listen to the full audio report in this episode of the podcast.  Photo from @aidant_007 on Instagram. Music on this episode from Canadian folk singer Ian Tamblyn and the Blue Dot Sessions.  This episode is supported by Bent Paddle Brewing, Save the Boundary Waters, Drury Lane Books. 

Kate Wright is the director of marketing for Bending Branches Canoe & Kayak Paddles. An experienced paddler, Kate and her husband are taking their young child to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in the summer of 2025 for the first time as parents. Kate spoke with guest host Erin Walker from the Lost Lakes YouTube Channel for this episode of the podcast.  This episode is supported by Canoecopia, Women's Wilderness Discovery, Friends of the Boundary Waters, Sawbill Canoe Outfitters, and Cascade Vacation Rentals.