Features
Two winters ago, I was lucky enough to visit Hawaii. After dozens of wipeouts, I surfed a wave for the first time in my life. While I rested on my belly on my board, I watched an old man standing up on his board and smoothly paddling out to catch another wave. He was smiling even more than I was. I asked around and learned that what he was doing was called stand-up paddleboarding or SUP.
The 85-year-old Virginia may look like a distinguished lady as she motors along the wind-whipped surface of Rainy Lake near Voyageurs National Park, but her life story teems with drama and secrets. She sank twice – for each of her three owners. It was said that during Prohibition she was sometimes taken to Canada, loaded up with liquor and steered back to a small island, where a speed boat would come and pick it up the illicit goods for distribution in the United States.
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About an hour’s drive northeast from Thunder Bay on Highway 11/17 is the town of Nipigon, which some people call the “Crossroads of Canada’’ because it is here that Canada’s major highways intersect, and where Canada’s two transcontinental railways join to travel a pair of bridges over the Nipigon River.
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On June 26, 2010, my friend Greg Petry and I were sitting in a Duluth hotel room watching the 10 o’clock news. The desk anchors on Fox 21 segued to a feature segment about a couple of kayakers.
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Thundering and Wild: Kakabeka Falls & Its Cozy Country Village Next Door
A 20-minute drive west of Thunder Bay takes you to Ontario’s second largest waterfall, thundering Kakabeka Falls, one that many have said is more spectacular than the famous Niagara Falls. Canadian painter Paul Kane wrote in 1846 that not only was Kakabeka Falls more splendid than Niagara but that the "scenery surrounding them is infinitely more wild and romantic."
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A 20-minute drive west of Thunder Bay takes you to Ontario’s second largest waterfall, thundering Kakabeka Falls, one that many have said is more spectacular than the famous Niagara Falls. Canadian painter Paul Kane wrote in 1846 that not only was Kakabeka Falls more splendid than Niagara but that the "scenery surrounding them is infinitely more wild and romantic."
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Rose Falls by an Unusual Approach
Rose Falls has the feel of an ancient place — if you touch one of the massive cedars it might awaken from a long sleep and say something profound in an eerie voice. Here gravity pulls water out of Duncan Lake through a narrow cut in the rocks, cascading 136 feet closer to our planet’s center. All of us have access to this rare, raw power.
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Rose Falls has the feel of an ancient place — if you touch one of the massive cedars it might awaken from a long sleep and say something profound in an eerie voice. Here gravity pulls water out of Duncan Lake through a narrow cut in the rocks, cascading 136 feet closer to our planet’s center. All of us have access to this rare, raw power.
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All in the Name of Trails
Martin Kubik, who formed the Kekekabic Trail Club in 1990, doesn’t mind playing hardball when it comes to his passion. While he is but one of hundreds of volunteers who help maintain trails in the Superior National Forest, his contribution to trail building here is bigger than most.
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Martin Kubik, who formed the Kekekabic Trail Club in 1990, doesn’t mind playing hardball when it comes to his passion. While he is but one of hundreds of volunteers who help maintain trails in the Superior National Forest, his contribution to trail building here is bigger than most.
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The Accidental Gardener: Join a CSA and Eat Fresh
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Locally grown food is so wonderful — it’s fresh, it’s delicious and, more often than not, it’s organically grown and chemical-free.
Many gardeners in the Northern Wilds know this very well — their backyards provide them with lots of fresh vegetables every year.
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Smelt, a Spring Taste Treat
To say everything I know about smelt I learned in kindergarten might be an overstatement, but my memories of the small, silvery fish begin there. One sunny April day, Mom and Dad picked me up at school when kindergarten got out for the day. We drove to the Lester River, on the eastern edge of Duluth.
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To say everything I know about smelt I learned in kindergarten might be an overstatement, but my memories of the small, silvery fish begin there. One sunny April day, Mom and Dad picked me up at school when kindergarten got out for the day. We drove to the Lester River, on the eastern edge of Duluth.
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The Madam of Cook County
Margaret Matthews, who operated a brothel at the end of the Gunflint Trail more than 100 years ago, was known for her generosity.
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Margaret Matthews, who operated a brothel at the end of the Gunflint Trail more than 100 years ago, was known for her generosity.
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Don’t let the doldrums of winter get you down! Now is the time to plan your warm-weather adventure. Northern Wilds writers have come up with five destination expeditions, including hiking, cycling, canoeing, kayaking and fly-in fishing. These all require more planning than the typical weekend excursion, but they’re all worth the effort.
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