It’s that time of year again, the Christmas and Holiday season is already upon us, 2024 went flying by! If you’re like me, you might be looking for something new, something different for the outdoor adventure lover in your life, better to order early than wait till it’s too late.
If you’re in mind for some National Parks and you want to escape the crowds, I have the best-kept National Park road trip that you can ever imagine. I’m talking about epic views, plenty to do and see, with nary another soul around for miles, an outdoor adventure lovers paradise and be found in that most underrated of States. South Dakota.
Have you ever been in the backwoods … backpacking, camping, hiking, whatever … and you’re sitting there eating some nasty freeze-dried meal, or a MRE, or another stupid power bar? You start thinking about all the good food waiting for you on the other side of your trip.
Like pizza.
Today, I’m going to go over everything you need to know to plan your next Boundary Waters Wilderness Canoe trip. The first time I did this I didn’t even know where to start. You don’t know what you don’t know. The permits, the rules, the canoes, on and on. What to bring and what to plan for.
This story starts with a 43-year-old man, one could call him an experienced Adventurer and someone who was well-traveled and used to remote wild places. He was on an epic travel adventure by all accounts, had just visited the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota, hit the Badlands, and was in the process of exploring the Grand Teton National Park … nothing too crazy for this adventurer who had spent time in Russia and even attended school in Germany.
The things that can happen to outdoor adventures never cease to amaze me. Years go by, books get written, stories get made into movies, and we all know better … yet it happens again and again, like clockwork.
I was recently in the far quiet north contemplating life on the shore of Lake Superior, of course, I had a book in my hands while I listened to the crashing of the waves. A wilderness survival book nonetheless. In fact this book was about some real-life survival stories, one of which happened a mear ~50 miles or so from where I was comfortably reclining on a sofa with a hot cup of tea and my book watching the sun go down over that Big Lake.
And then, much to my surprise, as I scrolled through my phone … I saw a story pop up of basically that exact same thing happening to someone many thousands of miles away in Colorado. It was just too good to be true. Two stories, thousands of miles apart, a decade has passed … yet the same thing was still happening.
In case you haven’t been following the outdoor news, all you bush crafters, survivalists, and outdoor adventure enthusiasts have just been schooled by a 34-year-old hiker who became lost in the mountains of northern California … for 10 days … without food or water when he disappeared!
To knock the rocks or to NOT knock the rocks, is that now the question of our age for us backpacking and wilderness travelers? Apparently so.
Ever heard of the Boundary Waters? Probably. Ever been there? Probably not.
This is one of those areas steeped in tradition and folklore, everyone knows someone who has “gone to the Boundary Waters,” but few people themselves have actually done the dirty deed. Well, six Average Flatlanders packed up the cars, the fishing poles, and little pickle, and headed up to the North Country to explore the Boundary Waters area and find Bigfoot if possible.
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I used to have a granddaddy who told me that a good walking stick was akin to the support of a loving family in most situations. They help you get along when times are tough, they hold you up through it all, and they stick with you when the going is tough (sorry I couldn’t resist).