UpNorthica

Are there any scary ghost stories from the Boundary Waters? That’s a tall order, I gotta admit. I’m neither historian, mystery buff, nor ghost-chasing psychic with a hotline, so why should I know something so obscure?
Just so happens, that while working on another post, I recently came across a very mysterious native legend.
One of [...]

With snow falling already, (sheesh!) holiday shopping can’t be far behind. So why not throw in your bid for this vintage portage pack from 1882? The “buy it now” price is a mere $100,00 American dollars.
While packs like this have never been cheap, this one’s value rests upon more than just how well-preserved it is. [...]

SPOILER ALERT: You won’t see Voyageurs National Park in Ken Burns’ new documentary. Or the St. Croix Scenic Riverway. Or any of the other worthy NPS sites in Minnesota. You can, however, be one of the first to catch them all tonight, at a special screening of Minnesota’s National Park Legacy.
Fitting that it’s premiering [...]

Everyone knows that fires like Ham Lake blaze can help spawn new growth in the forest, but who would’ve guessed it would pave the way for archaeological discoveries? Sue Prom has posted word of exciting goings-on, along the Gunflint Trail.
First, the potential discovery of a fur trade encampment:
‘Forest Service archaeologists may have identified a [...]

Raise your cans of Leinie’s and join us in toasting a victory for the BW: The former site of the Chainsaw Sisters Saloon is now federally-protected wilderness protected from the development of kajillion-dollar log cabins.
With the Mudro Lake entry point literally just out the back door, the rustic saloon became a favorite trailhead stop in [...]

Fact: 200 years ago this week, voyageurs coming off the trail didn’t have the luxury of browsing the gift shop for birch bark picture frames and moose poop incense.
What they did have, was the Rendezvous: a merry mid-summer celebration with plenty of food, sport and dance. This weekend, you’re invited to join them.
Grand Portage National [...]

The past three months of Erik Simula’s story have been set in his homemade birch bark canoe, circumnavigating Minnesota’s Arrowhead Region. Now, as his journey towards Grand Portage brings him at last through the BWCA, it’s easy to see how interwoven Simula’s history is with that of his stomping grounds.

Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the July 4th, 1999 storm that caused so much devastation in the BWCA.
As in so many natural events, it seems difficult to resolve the violence with the idyllic beauty we expect. Thankfully though, if you’ve been up to the BWCA recently, you can see the evidence of the storm [...]

The immediately likeable author/paddler Kevin Callan explores Wabakimi Provincial Park, whose history is just as unique as its geography.
Deep within the park lies Whitewater Lake and upon it, Best Island — hermitage of amateur scientist Wendell Beckwith. Dedicating his life to researching everything from astronomy, to human migrations to the pyramids, to the recurrence of [...]

It’s a honking shame, but the rumors are true: Vandals have cut down the famous “Honking Tree” that stood along Highway 61’s median, just outside Two Harbors.
Back in the early 1960s, while clearing the strip of land to become the Highway 61 Expressway, one road builder insisted that the pine tree shading his favorite lunch [...]

While this post lives a little more DownSouthica (just Winona, not the bayou thankfully) it has everything to do with one of the great loves of any self-respecting Northerner: Canoes.
The Art of the Canoe exhibit at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, MN gives you everything you love about canoes (hand-built beauty and plenty [...]

Following news of modern day piracy got me thinking today: Have the Great Lakes ever had pirates? What! Ridiculous, right? Of course not, I said.
Wrong, said Google.
Pirates did menace the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior at the turn of the last century, but they weren’t after gold. Aye, these scurvy dogs were after [...]