Welcome to the BWCAW blog of Ely Outfitting Company and Boundary Waters Guide Service!

See our websites at ElyOutfittingCompany.com and BoundaryWatersGuideService.com.

We are a Boundary Waters canoe trip outfitter, Quetico outfitter, and guide service in Ely, Minnesota. This Boundary Waters blog shares photos, stories, humor, skills, and naturalist insights from guiding in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).

Most entries are from our founder and head guide, Jason Zabokrtsky. He is the Boundary Waters Blogger.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Project Polar Bear

When the Minnesota dogsledding season ends, we go north for Project Polar Bear.

We are traveling by truck (and dog trailer) and train to Churchill, Manitoba, the first of April. Once there, we will be dogsledding and camping in what the locals have dubbed the "Polar Bear Capitol of the World." The area is one of the world's largest polar bear denning sites.

Dave Freeman and Amy Voytilla are Wintergreen guides and run an educational nonprofit called the Wilderness Classroom. Dave and Amy are on the trip, and schoolchildren from around the country will be following us online through the Wilderness Classroom website. Dave and Amy also came up with the name, "Project Polar Bear."

We are hoping to keep Boundary Waters Blogger updated via satellite link during the trip, so be sure to follow us the first two weeks of April.

I took the above photo of polar bear tracks on the Arctic Ocean in April 2006.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm looking forward to following your posts about this trip - I'm hoping to do this route in a few years.

Jason Zabokrtsky said...

Jason Estes, thanks for following the blog. Hudson Bay should be a grand adventure! I hope our blog entries help with your planning.

Jenn Thomason said...

I was so excited to see this posting. It is a great way to get my kids here involved in something they know nothing about. We spent some time this afternoon reading through and posting on the wilderness classroom blog. They were mostly engaged listening and reading the information that is incredibly foreign to them. Thanks for sharing!
Jenn

Jason Zabokrtsky said...

Jenn Thomason, I'm happy to hear your students are enjoying the blog! There will be lots more to come, including video and audio updates, and lots of photos! Keep commenting! It's fun to have a classroom in Australia following us. Oh yeah, what would Drew think of a dogsledding "last hurrah?"