Wilderness Maps and Directions to Voyageur Canoe Outfitters

Permit to enter Quetico Park and Canada: Remote Border Crossing Permit Application

October 31, 2009

No More Bottled Water PLEASE!

Filed under: News — admin @ 6:12 am

I have a very difficult time being disciplined and prepared enough to carry my own re-usable bottle of water with me everywhere. It doesn’t make sense because I always manage to be prepared and have plenty of bottled Diet Coke on hand so why can’t I just commit to making the switch with water?

The article I read recently has more good reasons to make the switch. Beyond the normal reason of filling up landfills is the lack of regulations on bottled water. It sounds like the federal government doesn’t pay too much attention to what the bottled water industry does.

I as a business owner who serves the publc am required to take the same precautions as a large city when it comes to the water in our toilets and taps at Voyageur Canoe Outfitters. We have bag filters and chlorinators and turbidimeters and during the season we are required to send bi-monthly water samples from our tap to the State Health Department. Yet it sounds like the next time I send a sample in I should substitute some bottled water and see if it passes the rigid MN Health Department’s standards.

In any case, this article motivates me even more to do the right thing for the environment and for me!

The Everyday Green: The Trouble with Bottled Water by Katherine Butler

Many months ago, just a few weeks into dating my boyfriend, we took a trip down to REI. While he looked around the hiking equipment, I went to do what I always do at REI – wander the organic chocolate aisle and obsess over what’s new and what’s too fattening. (Don’t you?)

But then Boyfriend called me back. He was standing in the BPA-free water bottle aisle, holding out a purple BPA-free Camelbak water bottle. “Do you want me to buy this for you?” he asked. It was the first gift he ever gave me. As I nodded “yes,” I emitted biodegradable heart balloons from my head and melted into a lovely puddle.

And so, I carried around my purple BPA-free water bottle much like a girl might sport diamonds. I proudly filled it up and took it to the gym, carefully fastening it to each piece of equipment. I smugly noted that I wasn’t drinking plastic, ingesting harmful chemicals, or wasting my money on unfiltered tap water some company bottled right out of the tap. I’d look around at other people swigging on their bottled water, and I’d pity their clear lack of a sensitive man who cared enough about her filtered water needs. I was on top of the eco world, smiling at rainbows, skipping with babies, strutting down the clean, eco streets of LA.

Then one day, I left my BPA-free bottle at the gym and all hell broke loose.

It happened like this. I brought the bottle to the gym, stuck it in a machine, and walked right off without it. I came to this realization at home and called the boyfriend, frantic. After establishing that no one had, in fact, DIED, he calmly offered, “Just go back to the gym. It will still be there.” I protested. Of course, evil elves had snatched the water bottle and spirited it off to Evil Elf Land, never to be seen again. “You’re too cynical,” my boyfriend sighed. “It’ll probably be in the lost and found.” I called the gym. After also establishing that no one else had, in fact, DIED, they looked in their lost and found. And it wasn’t there.

I was inconsolable – and secretly vindicated that being cynical was vindicated. Naturally, I did what any enraged green girl would do – I went straight to REI.com and ordered the exact same water bottle. Clearly, I would show the bottle snatchers. See what thievery does to carbon footprints? Seriously, who knew bottled water could be such trouble?

Duh, environmentalists have known! They have known it for-evs. And it’s not just because water is contained in plastic. Sure, it’s going to sit in a landfill for a thousand years unless you recycle it. Especially if you’ve bought plastic bottle #3 (you know, it has the 3 on the bottom). This means that it is filled with PVC (polyvinyl chloride), and it is virtually impossible to recycle because of all the additives that are added.

But it’s also about health. A recent congressional report showed that the FDA has little authority to regulate bottled water. This means that the money you are spending on bottled water might be going to H20 that is actually worse than what is coming out of your tap. Which is regulated. Unless you get your water from a well.

Further, studies have shown that chemicals called phthalates leach into bottled water over time. Phthalates basically go nuts on your hormones. “One study found that water that had been stored for 10 weeks in plastic and even in glass bottles contained phthalates, suggesting that the chemicals could be coming from the plastic cap or liner.” And yes, you guess, it, there are no legal limits for phthalates in bottled water, though they are regulated in tap water.

The Environmental Working Group backed these claims with a fantastic, complete report about the state of bottled water. Only two percent of bottled waters disclose water sources and treatment methods on their labels and offer a recent water quality test report on their websites. Just 18% of bottled waters disclose quality reports with contaminant testing results. (And they are all Nestle brands.)

So ready to take step away from bottled water forever? REI is a great place to start. You can go with BPA-free plastic which can be recycled in the end. Some people go with stainless steel – except, tread lightly here. Stainless steel water bottle giant Sigg was recently busted for using aluminum bottles with BPA in the liners.

And in the meantime, keep an eye out for a purple plastic BPA-free Camelbak. If you see one being held by a suspicious-looking LA gym goer, you know where to find me.

Comments (0)

October 30, 2009

Baby It’s Dark Outside

Filed under: News — admin @ 5:58 am

It’s that final week before Daylight Savings Time when we really notice how dark the morning sky is. This was that week and Abby had to get out her trusty headlamp for reading in the bus on the way to school. My morning walk has taken place almost entirely in the black of the early morning sky. Thankfully things will look a little bit brighter this coming week.

Saturday night marks the annual ritual of falling behind. The practice of Daylight Savings will allow us an extra hour of sleep on Saturday night and an earlier sunrise, at least for awhile. Come around early December we’ll be back to the darkness and then some until the Winter Solstice when the days will begin to get longer once again.

It’s always amazing how much the daylight hours vary living at the end of the Gunflint Trail.

Comments (0)

October 29, 2009

Makes You Wonder

Filed under: News — admin @ 6:49 am

I recently read a disturbing article which I will include in today’s blog. If there are still people out there who don’t believe in global warming then this article provides not only more facts to support it but also consequences of what catastrophic changes are occuring because of it. I’ve read hundreds of articles on the topic but for some odd reason this one hits closer to home. I guess it’s because it deals with our freshwater Great Lakes and how long term abuse is now wreaking havoc on their fragile eco-systems. This makes me gravely concerned for our precious Boundary Waters and Quetico Park.

I don’t know as much about watershed districts as I would like to but I do know that what happens downstream affects what is upstream. There are still people in the BWCA who was their dishes in the lakes, jump into the water with a soap covered body and throw their leftovers into the water. While one person doing this one time may not hurt anything, hundreds of people doing this repeatedly year after year can and will. Just as run-off from property owners outside of the BWCA also affects water within the BWCA.

Some people get upset when they are required to have proper functioning septic systems on their property. I understand it is a huge expense and hassle to deal with septic as well as with grey water especially when you read an article about Milwaukee’s failing system during heavy rainfalls. Surely one small cabin causes far less harm than the runoff from a major citie’s streets into one of the Great Lakes. But does that mean we should ignore our pollution until we have problems the size of Lake Michigans? I sure hope not.

I want my children to enjoy a good old-fashioned Minnesota winter while living in Minnesota. I don’t want them to have to move farther north to enjoy the things we now enjoy. I’m hoping we all take a look at our lives and the affects our actions have on the natural world around us. Not only for ourselves but also for our children and grandchildren.

ENVIRONMENT-US: Greatest of Lakes Hit By Climate Change

By -, Adrianne Appel*

The slime is Cladophora, a native algae that over the last few years morphed from a well-behaved algae into a green monster that fouls drinking water and beaches, and clogs industrial intake pipes in Lake Michigan, one of the five Great Lakes. Scientists so far haven’t found the reason for Cladophora’s overgrowth. The lake is under such profound environmental stress that any of a number of factors, alone or together, could be the cause, they say.

‘It’s easy to see what’s happening. It’s difficult to understand why,’ J. Val Klump, director of the Great Lakes WATER (Wisconsin Aquatic Technology and Environmental Research) Institute, told IPS.

Top suspects are climate change, which has raised the lake’s temperature and lowered water levels, and the widespread, sinister changes in the lake’s ecosystem wrought by alien zebra and quagga mussels that now cover the lake bottom by the millions.

‘These systems are very sensitive to climate change,’ Klump said.

This isn’t the first time Cladophora, whose growth is fueled by phosphorus and other nutrients, changed into a nuisance plant. It also overgrew in the 1960s and ’70s until excess phosphorus pouring into the lake was halted, a byproduct of industry and household products. With phosphorus under control, the Cladophora had been too, until about five years ago.

‘Something has changed,’ Paul Horvatin, the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes monitoring director, told IPS while onboard The Guardian research vessel on Lake Michigan.

The Barack Obama administration has pledged to provide five billion dollars over 10 years for the ailing Great Lakes, and part of the first installment of 475 million dollars will be used to research invasives, Horvatin said.

The five Great Lakes extend across 244,000 square kilometres that straddle the U.S. and Canada, just 2,400 kilometres from the polar ice cap. The lakes support shipping to the Atlantic Ocean, and some of the richest commercial fisheries in the world. About 40 million people take their drinking water from the Great Lakes.

At the same time, the lakes are massively polluted with chemicals and heavy metals, particularly the bottom sediment, after hundreds of years of industrialisation. The lakes are closed systems, and they hold onto pollutants. Forty-three Great Lake harbours are considered highly toxic waste sites.

‘The good news is we are seeing a decline in PCBs and DDT. The bad news is they haven’t declined enough,’ Horvatin said.

Even today, large quantities of sewage flow from urban areas like Milwaukee into Lake Michigan during very heavy rains from overwhelmed storm drains. Thirty percent of Milwaukee storm water pipes test positive for human fecal contamination on a normal day, Klump said.

Incidents of sewage overflow into the lakes are increasing, as climate change brings more days of torrential rains to the Midwest, according to the Nelson Institute at the University of Wisconsin. The Midwest is warming overall, with more extreme hot days in summer, warmer winters with less snow and less ice on the Great Lakes.

According to the Great Lakes WATER Institute, winters in Wisconsin, which borders Lake Michigan, are now four degrees F warmer than before 1980.

As soon as 2030, the amount of spring snow pack would be halved, and Lake Michigan could be devoid of ice for much of the winter, according to models of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Lake Michigan water is already 58 centimetres below normal, near its lowest recorded level, because of evaporation from summer heat, according to the Nelson Institute.

Lake Superior was typically covered 60 percent with ice for most of the winter but today 20 percent is the norm, Klump said.

‘The bottom line is by the mid to end of the century, we will be in a different climate zone,’ Klump said. The Midwest climate will be like that of the more southern U.S. state of Arkansas, he said.

According to Brian Shuter, a zoologist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, these changes may cause cold-water fish, like salmon, lake trout and brook trout, to move north, and warm-water fish like carp and catfish to move in.

Today, the native Karner blue butterfly, an endangered species that thrives in the natural habitat of Indiana Dunes National Park, on the southern tip of Lake Michigan, is in trouble, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Snow insulates the butterfly’s eggs from the freezing winters but fewer are surviving now because there is less snow.

The temperature, water level and other changes to Lake Michigan have created the perfect habitat for aggressive new species like the hybrid cattail to replace sedge meadows that surround Green Bay, one of the richest commercial fisheries in the world, according to research of the Great Lakes WATER Institute.

The zebra and quagga mussels, originally from Russia and Ukraine, are so plentiful in Lake Michigan, they have drastically altered the lake’s ecosystem during the past 19 years.

The mussels are aggressive filter feeders and during the past five years, their filtering has changed the lake’s trademark murky, plankton-rich water - to clear. Light now penetrates into the lake, where it never has before. Divers love the change and so does Cladophora, whose growth is stimulated by light.

As the mussels filter, they excrete concentrated amounts of phosphorus, which also may be encouraging Cladophora growth. Quagga mussels excrete even more phosphorus as temperatures rise, as has been happening in Lake Michigan, Harvey Bootsma, a scientist at the Great Lakes Water Institute said.

Plankton are a rich food source for many native fish. With large quantities of it being taken up by the mussels, ‘The fish are getting skinny,’ Bootsma told IPS.

Anyone near a Cladophora-clogged beach can tell something isn’t right with Lake Michigan.

‘When the stuff decomposes it smells like a pig barn,’ Bootsma said.

And that’s not all. The heaps of dead algae on the beach threaten the quality of the water.

Mounds of dead Cladophora wash up on beaches with zebra mussels attached. Gulls and other birds stroll over the algae, eating the mussels and depositing fecal material with high concentrations of toxic e. coli bacteria. The whole mess rots in the sun and stinks, and the bacteria contaminates the water, Bootsma said.

Birds are suffering, too. In 2007, more than 17,000 birds died from botulism, which normally lives harmlessly in small quantities in lake sand but is concentrated by the mussels, Horvatin said.

He and other researchers hope to answers soon.

‘We’re trying to look at the whole food chain and how it has changed over time,’ he said.

*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ - International Federation of Environmental Journalists- for Communicators for Sustainable Development (www.complusalliance.org).(c) NoticiasFinancieras - Inter Press Services - All rights reserved Copyright (c) 2009 IPS (c) 2009 IPS - Inter Press Service. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

Comments (0)

October 28, 2009

Slow Down

Filed under: News — admin @ 6:51 am

Slowing down to 45 miles per hour? Hmmm. Not sure that’s going to happen real soon when I’m driving. I’ve managed to avoid my share of animals in the road and I’ll only drive as fast as my guardian angel can fly. Thank goodness she flies an F-15 like my brother-in-law!

Give Wildlife a Brake

Did you know that the number of automobile-wildlife collisions substantially increases in fall? Fewer daylight hours results in poor driving conditions during morning and evening commutes. Wildlife is more active in the evening and early morning and especially active in the fall. Animals that hibernate, like bears or raccoons, travel widely between patches of nut-producing trees to fatten up for winter. For deer, fall is breeding season—males will brave the danger of crossing roads without a second thought to pursue females! Most of us have seen squirrels or rabbits dart about and make sudden turns when in front of a moving automobile. This is also what they do when chased by a predator. This behavior makes them more likely to be hit by vehicles. Raccoons, skunks, opossums, foxes, armadillos, bears, deer, birds, snakes, frogs and turtles are all frequent victims of collisions.

Viewer Tip: Give Wildlife a Brake Week occurs from October 24-31. By simply increasing alertness and awareness while driving, the impact to American wildlife can be reduced. Scientists estimate that simple precautions such as slowing down to 45 miles-per-hour will substantially reduce the chances of a collision. In addition to speed control, scan roadside edges ahead of your car for movement or the reflection of an animal’s eyes in your headlights.

This information is provided by the Georgia Wildlife Federation. For more information, visit www.gwf.org.

Comments (0)

October 27, 2009

Sasha’s Sibling?

Filed under: News — admin @ 6:40 am

I’m not sure how many of you remember the Hamm’s Beer bear. I am pretty sure the cartoon version of the bear came out in commercials first and then they began using a real bear. One of the real bears used in the commercials was named Sasha. She spent quite a bit of time at the end of the Gunflint Trail staying at Chik-Wauk Lodge(future home of the museum and nature center opening in 2010). Sasha no doubt enjoyed her beer and perhaps is a distant relative to a bear in Wisconsin who also likes his beer.

FOX 21 Exclusive: Video of bear caught in beer cooler

By Beth Jett and photojournalist John Thain, FOX 21 News

HAYWARD - FOX 21 has tracked down new details and the rest of the story of a black bear that ran into a Hayward grocery store and hid in the beer cooler.

FOX 21 exclusively obtained the surveillance video of how it all played out, which is something the store is capitalizing on.

"He just knew where to go," laughed one woman outside the Marketplace Foods Store. "Knew where to go to have a beer." That’s just one of many jokes coming out of the most exciting thing to happen in Hayward lately. Shoppers can see the pictures of what happened on the marquis outside the store.

"There it is," said shopper Terry Fairclough, looking at the pictures on the electric sign. "Unbearable!" Another caption reads, ‘Stock up for all your hibernation needs.’

"I’m stocking my hibernation needs," Fairclough laughed.

It all comes after an unlikely shopper strolled into the store last Thursday night around 8:15. He went right past the apples and hot chicken and straight into the liquor store.

"We had to evacuate all the customers out of here which was pretty hard because everybody wanted to see the bear in the liquor store," said Amy Johansen, the store’s bookkeeper. She had to call the store manager at home to tell him what was going on.

"I’m telling him, you’re not gonna believe this, but there’s a bear in the store," Johansen recalled.

"I remember saying, ‘Do what?,’ said store manager Jon LeBlanc.

Johansen explained, "It took me five minutes to convince him that there was a bear in the store."

"Would you believe someone telling you that? No," said LeBlanc, defending why he thought it was all a joke at first. Even the clerk in the liquor store wasn’t aware of who had sauntered in.

"When the bear crossed the doorbell and it went off, the cashier thought it was another customer until he came around the corner and ran into it," said Johansen. "He said the first thing that crossed his mind was ‘I’m not checking that thing’s ID’.

Meanwhile, LeBlanc and four law enforcement agencies rushed to the scene, not sure what they would find.

"The first thing I thought of was how much damage could be done?" said LeBlanc. He was pleasantly surprised. The bear, thought to be a male yearling, about 125 pounds, walked right past the imports and blackberry brandy and didn’t touch a thing. That was until he got to the walk–in beer cooler.

"His paws must have hit the cooler door and the cooler door went open," said LeBlanc demonstrating. "Then he went in." He said the bear mosied around the 34–degree cooler until he found a shelf about 10 feet up and that’s where Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Agents found him.

"The animal was sitting peacefully in the back of the beer cooler," said Matt McKay, a DNR agent called to the scene. The bear was eventually tranquilized, and safely carried out of the cooler. As it turned out, the bear was taken to the local DNR office in Hayward where it spent the night. Then, first thing Friday morning, it was released into the wild totally unharmed.

"He looked healthy and he just was glad to be outta that situation, I’m sure," said McKay. Store employees were relieved at the outcome. "This bear didn’t do anything wrong," said LeBlanc. "It was a great ending. Nobody was hurt. No damage was done.

Authorities said the bear came into Hayward earlier that day and climbed a tree, where authorities monitored him until dark. They say that’s when he came down and some children chased him into the store’s parking lot.

And, by the way, no–the bear did not drink any beer.

Check out the video!

Comments (0)

October 26, 2009

Just One More Reason

Filed under: News — admin @ 6:37 am

Not that anyone needs another reason to visit the Gunflint Trail but just in case they do they can say they traveled Minnesota’s newest National Scenic Byway. It seems like it was just yesterday when the Gunflint Trail became a Minnesota State Scenic Byway but in fact it has been ten years already. Mike worked on that original committee and then a few years later I became a member of the Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway Committee.

The committee was responsible for developing a Corridor Management Plan. I think that’s what it was called anyway. We compiled information about the geological and historical aspects of the Trail as well as the natural world and recreational opportunities. We talked about things the Trail should have and places of interest we could highlight. I remember during that time I attended the North Shore Scenic Byway Meetings and listened to the group dream about rock cairn signs that are now in place along that Scenic Byway. Sometimes it takes awhile to get things done but it is usually worth the wait.

It’s wonderful to see everyone’s hard work paid off with the Gunflint Trail receiving a National Scenic Byway Designation. Congratulations and Way to Go Everyone!

Gunflint Trail gets scenic designation

By John Myers
Duluth News Tribune

Updated: 10/20/2009 09:07:26 AM CDT

Visitors to the Gunflint Trail don’t need the U.S. Department of Transportation to tell them how beautiful the 57-mile drive is. But now it’s official.

From the winding uphill climb above Grand Marais and Lake Superior, through the scenic white pine "gateway," past the overlooks at Loon and Gunflint lakes and on to the trail’s end at Saganaga Lake, the Gunflint Trail has been designated an official National Scenic Byway.

The designation was announced last week at a ceremony in Washington and, while it doesn’t include any regulatory authority, it does offer the clout of the national byway system as a tool for preservation and marketing.

"That drive is an important part of the experience," said Nancy Seaton, who runs Hungry Jack Outfitters just off the Gunflint Trail with her husband, Dave. "And this means that will be there for the future."

Seaton said she expects the designation to remind people of the value of unspoiled, scenic vistas like those the Gunflint Trail offers and also serve as a marketing tool. The designation tells people "there’s something here. There’s something to see, to experience."

"But it [the Scenic Byway designation] is really not going to change anything. And that’s sort of the point," she said. "It really means that if someone proposes building a six-story hotel on Poplar Lake, for example, that we have this clout of a national designation behind us when we say that’s really not compatible with the natural or historic intrinsic qualities of the Gunflint Trail.

The dead-end wilderness road, officially known as Cook County Road 12, serves 22 tourist-oriented businesses, a few dozen permanent residents, hundreds of seasonal cabin owners and thousands of summer and winter visitors.

The original trail apparently had its origins as a foot path for American Indians, then for geological surveyors. It became a dirt road of sorts in the 1920s and an angler’s and canoeists’ access to what is now the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Canada border lakes in the 1930s.

While the road has been widened, straightened and paved in recent decades, it retains much of its historic and scenic charm — and is a great opportunity for people to see moose, bears, wolves, deer, loons, eagles and other wildlife.

Sue Weber, Gunflint Trail resident, noted the designation comes just two years after the Ham Lake forest fire that burned across the Gunflint Trail, destroying more than 150 buildings in Minnesota and Ontario. Much of the burned area already has returned to lush green vegetation.

The designation "even in the wake of natural disaster, is uplifting to the community spirit," Weber said. "The Gunflint Trail community feels a deep connection to the area and to the curvy road that intersects the forest."

The National Scenic Byways Program is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. The program is a grass-roots collaborative effort established to help recognize, preserve and enhance selected roads throughout the United States. Since 1992, the National Scenic Byways Program has funded 2,672 projects for state and nationally designated byway routes in all 50 states.

The Gunflint Trail National Scenic Byway joins seven others in Minnesota with official national designation, including the North Shore scenic drive along Lake Superior, Edge of the Wilderness in Chippewa National Forest, the Great River Road along the Mississippi River down much of the state, Grand Rounds Scenic Byway between Minneapolis city parks and lakes, Historic Bluff Country Scenic Byway in southeastern Minnesota, the Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway and Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway in north-central Minnesota.

Comments (0)

October 25, 2009

Shoe, Shoe

Filed under: News — admin @ 6:57 am

My closet is filled with shoes I never wear. I know I should get rid of them but the problem is I can’t stand to throw them into the garbage. The County Recycling Center Thrift Store doesn’t want them and most of them aren’t in good enough shape anymore.

I’ve heard of several programs for shoe recycling but there isn’t anything locally. Sometimes I remember to bring the children’s shoes down to St. Cloud where there are drop off locations throughout their town for the Good Will or Salvation Army, but most of the time I forget.

If you’ve run, no pun intended, into similar problems then see if this blog entry helps you get rid of your shoes.

Just Do It. (Recycle, That Is.)

Hey Mr. Green,

My favorite resource for information about recycling almost anything is Earth 911. You specify what you want to recycle, type in your ZIP code, and get the location nearest you.

Regarding footwear, there are an estimated 1.5 billion pairs of unworn shoes languishing in U.S. closets—enough, maybe, for the most desperate shopaholic, or all the world’s shoeless. But there are plenty of organizations that recycle them, including Soles4Shoes, which takes all types of "gently worn" shoes. For women’s shoes, there’s SimplySouls. For sports shoes only, there’s Nike—but don’t let its recycling program convince you that Nike is environmentally innocent, and don’t get all utopian about recycling, as Sole4Soles does with its slogan "Changing the world, one pair at a time," or SimplySouls’ "Saving the Earth, one shoe at a time." It’s gonna take a bit more effort than basking in the glow of a recycling ritual to fix the environment.

Nike takes worn-out athletic shoes and grinds them into Nike Grind, which sounds like runner’s boredom but is actually a substance used in those cushiony athletic surfaces. Critics charge that while Nike has made some improvements since the 1990s, it dumps or burns scrap rubber in Indonesia—and that laborers in Nike and other shoe and sportswear factories in Asia lack the right to organize, are fired for union activity, and cheated out of pay. See, for example, this site or this one. Since Nike itself admits that there are still problems, it wouldn’t hurt to remind the company to try harder to solve them.

What do I do with my old stuff, like used shoes? I hate the thought of filling our landfills if my junk can be someone else’s treasure. How do I learn what can be reused or recycled and where to send unwanted items?

–Kirstin in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

Comments (0)

October 24, 2009

There’s Something in the Water

Filed under: News — admin @ 6:40 am

What is it about the water in Winona that makes people want to build canoes? Mike Cichanowski owns and operates Wenonah Canoe and Current Designs Company based in Winona, MN. We had the opportunity to tour his phenomenal business and we outfit with his canoes, the best canoes out there.

Established formally in 1968, Wenonah Canoe has roots reaching back to the 1950’s. The company is the outgrowth of a lifelong devotion to paddling by Mike Cichanowski, who began canoeing as a young Boy Scout, and who began manufacturing canoes while still in college.

Today, Wenonah is among the largest makers of canoes in general, and is the largest maker of ultra-light and high-performance models. Our twenty-plus recreational designs (we also produce competition designs) are distributed by nearly 400 knowledgeable paddlesports retailers throughout the U.S. and Canada, and in several European countries.

We make a diverse range of canoe types, each created to suit the needs of particular individuals or of specific paddling situations. We also offer choices of hull materials, construction methods, and optional equipment to tailor our canoes even more closely to their owners.

Our guiding philosophy is to match people with their ideal canoe to achieve a comfortable fit and a better paddling experience.

Beyond canoes, we also produce exceptional touring kayaks under the Current Designs brand name, and we offer top-quality accessories including paddles and other gear for canoeing and kayaking. This merchandise is available at many of our dealers, or from our printed catalog, or in the Accessories section of this website, where it can be ordered by calling us toll-free.

For more than 35 years, Wenonah Canoe has married modern technology together with historic ideals to advance the frontiers of paddling performance while preserving the value of paddling enjoyment.

Fast forward to 2009 and a new canoe company is emerging from the banks of the Mississippi River in Winona, MN. Will this group of guys be making canoes 35 years from now? Who knows for sure, but they will have fun for now.

By Dustin Kass dustin.kass@lee.net | Posted: Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Winona’s newest canoe company started earlier this year as a simple idea, a "what if" discussed by two cousins in their grandfather’s workshop.

The "what if" soon morphed into a "why not," and last weekend a handmade, cedar-stripped canoe, the first made by Sanborn Canoe Co., was being pushed into frigid lakes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

The 16-foot vessel is the product of a close-knit group of seven men with a passion for the outdoors - Michael and Mark Boysen, Greg, John and Zak Fellman, Kevin Kreisel and Todd Randall.

It’s also the first in a long line of canoes the group plans to produce, with the idea that even if the company doesn’t make them rich, it will help pay them to continue their wilderness outings.

"It’d be great if we could retire," said Mark, to a round of laughs.

"I just hope it can pay for the trips," Kevin said.

Canoeing and enjoying the outdoors together has been a way of life for the group for years. Cousins Zak and Todd have been on canoe trips together "since they were born," Greg said. The bonds between the other men go about as far back.

Yet it seemed fitting somehow that Zak and Todd first discussed building their own boats in the workshop that day. Their grandfather had long had a passion for woodworking, and they recalled him telling stories about how his church group built six canoes one winter, which would be used come spring to show disadvantaged children the joys of the open water.

Their conversation started as a musing about how cool it would be to build their own boats, but soon moved to a serious discussion about how they could do it. That idea expanded to include all seven men, who each put up money toward the first canoe and paddles.

The fact that none of the men had any experience making canoes did not deter the group.

"We bought a book and studied it," Zak said. "We learned about how we would go about doing it."

Using borrowed tools, space at Mark’s Sanborn Street residence and a lot of trial-and-error, the group soon produced its first paddles and, then, its first canoe. Their reference materials said a handmade canoe should take about 80 hours of work; theirs took more than 100, though "we probably spent another 250 just standing around talking," Mark said.

And, they’re quick to point out, the products are getting better. They have already started work on another two canoes, and they plan to incorporate new design points in those.

They have also placed an emphasis on making both the paddles and canoes lightweight. The first paddles they made weighed more than two pounds, but some of the latest models weigh about one pound, they said.

The men took pride in the skills they were learning during the process, but they also realize part of their enjoyment was that the work simply gave them another excuse to work alongside their buddies.

"It’s good just to get together, hang out," Zak said.

For more information visit their website at Sanborn Canoe Company.

Comments (0)

October 23, 2009

Fire at Gunflint Lodge

Filed under: News — admin @ 5:21 pm

Around one o’clock this morning a fire broke out in a cabin at Gunflint Lodge. The cabin was occupied but luckily everyone escaped without harm. The Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene and kept nearby buildings from burning.

The cabin was one of the oldest on the property and was located farthest from the Gunflint Trail. The cabins were duplex cabins number 26 and 27 and had undergone a remodeling not too many years ago. I’m not sure if those cabins were available for timeshare sale or not. In either case they will have two less cabins to fill for the winter.

Comments (0)

Baby It’s Dark Outside

Filed under: News — admin @ 5:58 am

It’s always amazing how much the daylight hours vary living at the end of the Gunflint Trail.

Comments (0)

Older Posts »

Voyageur Canoe Outfitters
189 Sag Lake Trail
Grand Marais, MN 55604
1-888-CANOEIT
218-388-2224

Facebook

E-Mail Questions