#boundary waters canoe area

[thebarkpaladin]

BWCA trip is complete! 5 days/4 nights in the number lake chain. Shiro had fun being a boat dog and living outdoors for the week, and I was incredibly happy to be back in my favorite place again.

[vintagecamping]

The boys warm up by the fire, while camping somewhere in Superior National Forest.

Duluth, Minnesota

1981

[chaddavisphotography]

A Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness sign in the Superior National Forest.

[wilyzombie]

[wisco-warrior]

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota

[rjzimmerman]

Good story from Yale Environment 360, without a paywall (I think), about beavers, public land, wildfires, endangered species, the largest beaver dam in the world, the degradation of that land and the large pond behind the dam due to the tar sands mining activity in the vicinity. In other words, a microcosm of all the bad stuff and good stuff intersecting in one place in Canada. Excerpt from this story:

Wood Buffalo National Park, the largest national park in Canada, covers an area the size of Switzerland and stretches from Northern Alberta into the Northwest Territories. Only one road enters it from Alberta, and one from the NWT. If not for people observing it from airplanes and helicopters, and satellites photographing it, little would be known about big parts of it. The park is a variety of landscapes — boreal swamps, fens, bogs, black spruce forests, salt flats, gypsum karst, permafrost islands, and prairies that extend the continent’s central plains to their northern limit. The wood buffalo in the park’s name are bison related to the Great Plains bison. In this remoteness, the buffalo descend from the original population, and the wolves that prey on them are also the wild originals. Millions of birds summer and breed here. The park holds one of the last remaining breeding grounds of the whooping crane.

Other superlatives and near-superlatives: the delta in the park’s southeast where the Peace River and the Athabasca River come together is one of the largest freshwater deltas in the world; last summer, some of Canada’s largest forest fires burned in the park and around it; and — just inside the park’s southern border — is the largest beaver dam in the world.

The dam is about a half-mile long and in the shape of an arc made of connected arcs, like a recurve bow. The media has known about it for 16 years, and in that time no bigger beaver dam has come to light, so it’s still known as the biggest, and scientists believe it almost certainly is. Animal technology created it, but human technology revealed it.

Many of the beavers that have reestablished themselves globally are descended from beavers that were planted by wildlife biologists. The thriving beaver population of Tierra del Fuego (another place Thie has studied) is descended from beavers brought to Argentina from Canada’s Saskatchewan River, who are themselves scions of beavers transplanted from upstate New York. No reintroduction of beavers was done in Wood Buffalo Park. Thie believes that the beavers who built the dam are of original stock. Like the wood buffalo and the wolves, they were too remote to be wiped out.

The park is suffering the worst drought in its history. Flows are down by half in many places, owing to climate change, water diversion, poor seasonal snowpack, and dams on the Peace River, upstream in British Columbia. A danger that seems inescapable comes from the oil sands that are being mined for crude-oil-containing bitumen, and from tailing ponds that hold trillions of liters of mine-contaminated water. The ponds are near the banks of the Athabasca River, just upstream from the park boundary. They are fatal to birds that land on them. Given the direction that water flows, conservationists and native people fear the tailings will pollute the park eventually. Toxic chemicals have already been found in McClelland Lake, just southeast of the park. Locals stopped taking their drinking water from the lake years ago.

Gillian Chow-Fraser, the boreal program manager for the Northern Alberta chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, in Edmonton, travels in the park often by helicopter, canoe, and foot. She has described the park’s environment as “super degraded.” When I spoke with her by phone not long ago, she talked about a recent tailing basin leak that was not reported to the First Nations downstream of it for nine months. In places that used to flood regularly but now don’t, the land is drying out and vegetation disappearing. Though she crisscrosses the park, she has never seen the world’s largest beaver dam, but she’s grateful that it’s there and bringing the park attention.

[have-you-been-here]

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area within Superior National Forest Minnesota, United States

[paddymcgintysgoat]

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness comprises 1,090,000 acres of pristine forests, glacial lakes, and streams in the Superior National Forest. Located entirely within the U.S. state of Minnesota at the Boundary Waters, the wilderness area is under the administration of the United States Forest Service.

[aquilathefighter]

Fluffbruary 15: Tent

All of my @fluffbruary ficlets can be found on AO3 here!

They're in the US because I wanted them to go to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness because I am so normal about that place. (Minnesota/Ontario border between the USA and Canada)

Fandom: The Sandman (2022)

Relationship: Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling

Dream is sitting on a log in the forest. In the United States. How he has come to be here in this moment, he asks himself. Then he turns his head. Hob is fumbling with a tent pole, trying to get it to stay in the grommets on the corners.

“Dream, love, can you come help? I just can’t get it to stick,” Hob grumbles.

Dream joins him and flicks some sand at the uncooperative tent. It jumps to attention and Hob scoffs.

“Well, if I knew you could do that I would’ve asked for your help 10 minutes ago.”

“You seemed quite insistent you could ‘do it yourself,’ beloved.”

Hob rolls his eyes. “I’m sure I did. It’s done now, so let’s get our bags inside and you’ll get a fire started for dinner.”

The fire is perfect for cooking when Dream arrives back at the fire ring. He sets up Hob’s cooking equipment for him and moves to unpack the zip-lock bag labelled “Dinner 1” prepared by the outfitter. Hob has insisted on cooking for him so he gets the “full experience” of camping in the wilderness. Hob plants a kiss on his head and bends down to get to work with the meal. Dream watches him work, expertly maneuvering between the boiling pot of rice and beans and the hot dogs on the grill. They sit in silence as Dream watches Hob, taking in the scents and sounds of the boreal forest they find themselves in. Hob sits back on his knees, pulling the pot off the heat and brandishing the plate of hot dogs to slice them and add to the mix. Dream hands him the other two plates they brought along and he piles the hearty mixture on.

Dream reluctantly takes a bite and grimaces. The mixture is much too salty for his taste, although he can see how that could be helpful if he sweated. Hob certainly did, and Dream took pleasure in seeing the glistening of his skin, glowing even brighter in the Minnesota sun.

When he glances at Hob’s plate, he has already gobbled down his portion and is looking at Dream expectantly.

“Y’gonna eat that? I know you don’t need to but I’d like to see you have a few more bites. Then I promise I’ll eat the rest.”

Not wanting to displease his lover, Dream swallows three bites of the unholy mix. He places the plate on Hob’s lap and stands to begin cleaning up the mess, grabbing their other pot to boil water to wash up. Hob soon joins him to suds the dirty dishes up and they walk deeper into the forest and away from the lakeshore to deal with the soap and dirt.

They set the dishes to dry as the sun dips lower into the horizon, sky darkening to show the glimmer of stars unpolluted. Hob wraps an arm around Dream.

“It’s so beautiful. We can’t see anything like this in London anymore. I remember when we could, thought I might not see them like this again.” Hob sniffles and rests his head on Dream’s shoulder. “I’m sure it isn’t much for a cosmic entity, but thank you again for coming all the way here with me.”

“I would go anywhere with you, Hob Gadling.” Dream kisses the top of Hob’s head, watching his eyes flutter closed. “Beloved. You need rest. We are going to the tent.”

He ushers a sleepy Hob into the tent, where he finds their sleeping bags have been zipped together and mats laid side by side so they could share a bed as they do most nights. Hob crawls in and looks at Dream expectantly. He joins his love and snuggles close to Hob’s warm body.

Tomorrow, they will rise early again and paddle to the next lake where they will repeat the same process of tent raising and cooking by fire. Dream doesn’t quite understand the appeal of doing so much physical labor, but it makes Hob happy. It’s no hardship to do whatever it takes to get to see that gorgeous smile.

[meraxes-of-new-albion]

Peridot and pea! 🟢

Peridot: what's on your bucket list?

I really want to take a trip to the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area, it's an enormous park in the far north of Minnesota, right up against the Canadian border). I've only ever really gone car camping before but the idea of taking a week, being totally unreachable by the outside world, and just being present in nature sounds amazing.

Pea: what's a plant you really like?

I'm not a huge botanist tbh, this is kinda hard 😅

I really like hanging out in red pine forests, though, so I think I'll pick those; they're always very airy in a way, it's really nice.

Thanks for the ask! 💛

[stumbleimg]

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Minnesota. (2400 x 3600) [OC]

[wisco-warrior]

Bryan Hansel Photography

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness - MN

[brie8384]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Boundary Waters and Canoe Area Wilderness Travel Souvenir Ceramic Art Coffee Mug.

[healthyfamz]

Huge pike caught in the BWCA would have broken the Minnesota state record Spanning northeastern Minnesota and... https://healthyfamz.com/huge-pike-caught-in-the-bwca-would-have-broken-the-minnesota-state-record/?feed_id=1219&_unique_id=66cf72febe7aa #Exercise #Family #Fitness #Indoor #News #Outdoor #Recreation #Workouts

[crazygoodfishing]

Boundary Waters Fishing Trip on Knife Lake for Smallmouth Bass

Spent 3 days on a boundary waters fishing trip with my kids and some friends. Enjoyed camping and fishing in Knife Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on the Minnesota/Canadian border. Caught lots of smallmouth bass and had a great time with friends and family.

#BoundaryWaters #BWCAFishing

00:00 What is the BWCA?

00:33 Boundary Waters Fishing Highlights

01:00 Planning and executing a trip to the BWCA

01:44 Getting a tow down Moose Lake

02:04 Portaging in the BWCA

03:16 Fishing for Smallmouth Bass

04:14 Sunsets and Campfires

04:37 A day of fishing in the Boundary Waters

07:22 Catching a big bass

09:42 Ending the Trip :(

Thanks for watching our video about our boundary waters fishing trip! We hope you liked it and took a second and clicked like and also subscribed to our channel. Thanks!!!

[crimechillers]

Robbed by Jake Smith in Quiet Ely, Minnesota

On a fateful evening in Ely, Minnesota, a town celebrated for its serene wilderness and gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, my world turned upside down. Nowadays, when tranquility is mentioned, my heart quakes with irony at the memory of how my peace was violently snatched away by a man named Jake Smith. The day had been draped in Ely’s usual quiet charm. Sportsmen spoke…