UpNorthica

Woo hoo! Our first day here in the Allegheny Mountains was marked by high altitudes, high thrills, and truly high-on-the-hog living.
As part of this Choose Your Own Adventure sweepstakes theme, your votes had me tracking wild boar during our day hike. (Don’t forget to make your pick on Day 2’s activities, later on.)
Read on for [...]

As winners of the Choose Your Own Adventure sweepstakes, we’re in the Allegheny Mountains with the Gear Junkie. But our trip is made even more special because you can vote on our itinerary! Your votes had me tracking wild boars today; watch for that report later tonight.
Our plan for tomorrow: Fly-fishing local trout streams, [...]

Wow! Tomorrow begins our adventure in the Allegheny Mountains, with the Gear Junkie. We’re extremely pumped — and you should be too, since you’re voting on our first day’s activities!
Since the trip is the grand prize of the Junkie’s Choose Your Own Adventure sweepstakes, we want you to be a part of it. We need [...]

Word mighta leaked out that yours truly had won a vacation getaway to the Alleghenies, courtesy of everyone’s favorite gear junkie… uh, well, The Gear Junkie. Good news, right? Well, the better news is that you’ll be a part of that adventure.
As grand prize winner of the Choose Your Own Adventure Sweepstakes, I got to [...]

Find a wolf print on the trail? Hmm, that’d make a neat photo… Meeting a whole pack of wolves, face to face in the wild? Now you’ve got a real story.
Hiker/blogger Nina Asunto and a companion were recently on Isle Royale, when they experienced a close encounter of the Canis Lupis kind; one I’m sure [...]

The windstorm that buffeted Minnesota’s Arrowhead region last Monday, is gone. And gone with it are miles of clear hiking trails.
Best to plan carefully if you intend to hit the Superior Hiking Trail or the BW anytime between now and spring, as reportedly the damage is significant in some areas. How significant?
The SHT has [...]

The “Second Best Long Trail in the Nation” (according to Backpacker Magazine) just got longer — and best-er.
A lucky hiker previews a 28-mile addition to the Superior Hiking Trail. What’s it like? Lovely views, including crossings over the Knife River and Stewart River. Moreover, the stretch fills a gap left wide open since the trail’s [...]

Not that anybody’s hiking season is over, but here’s something to look forward to for 2010. Crews are hard at work on a new trail, just off the Kekekabic:

The Centennial Trail will be a loop trail of 3.3 miles. It will incorporate 1.2 miles of the Kekekabic Trail and a new section, currently under construction, which [...]

A headlamp that’s made to go on your chest? Nope, I sure hadn’t tried that one before.
But when I first saw GoMotion’s Sternum 3-Watt Luxeon LED Kit, I was curious about the concept. Could it actually better a night-time wilderness experience? Would it avoid the drawbacks of traditional headlamps? And would this huge searchlight on [...]

This week, President Obama proclaimed June “Great Outdoors Month,” and with good reason. There’s a slew of celebrations during the month, including National Trails Day, National Fishing and Boating Week, National Get Outdoors Day, and the Great American Backyard Campout.
But before you start Googling all those, check out our list of Five Free Things offered [...]

Missing thousands of Kodak moments to shutter delay over the years (thank you Coolpix) will teach you something: To appreciate the pure experience of simply seeing a thing. You learn how to watch actively. And if perchance you are witness to something remarkable, you become exceedingly good at relishing the magic of that moment. The [...]

Midwest Mountaineering kicks off their Outdoor Adventure Expo on Thursday. Still going strong in its 48th year, it doesn’t look at all downsized due to the recession, we’re happy to report.
That’s only sorta good news, because it’s still impossible to see and do everything. From discovering Arctic Scandinavia by paddle, to protecting our own [...]

Thanks to $557,000 federal stimulus dollars, the Superior National Forest will be getting a long-awaited clean-up. Trails including the Kekekabic Hiking Trail will benefit from “brush clearing, tread work, [installation of] water control structures, boardwalk reconstruction and trail sign maintenance.”
The SNF will partner with the Minnesota Conservation Corps, with work to begin in June. [...]

Some groups think so. Among them is the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee, who’re meeting today with U.S. Forest Service rangers to make those recommendations.
Between the blowdowns and fires of the last some years, parts of the trail have become almost completely obscured — and that’s not just the opinion of the lost hikers of last [...]

Instead of simply pontificating about ‘lessons learned’ from those 2 lost hikers along the Kekekabic, trail founder Martin Kubik decided to walk a mile in their shoes. Or make that, a whole bunch of miles. Following in their footsteps with camcorder in hand, Kubic sought out to find just what they were up against. A [...]