The North American Bear Center May Surprise You

One of the top fears of newcomers to the BWCA is bears. Specifically, peoples' imagination can take a wild ride when visualizing bear encounters.

However, the common fear of black bears is largely due to the media's mischaracterization of our largely harmless black bears. If you're one of those scared of a Boundary Waters trip because of these creatures, a trip to the North American Bear Center near Ely may be all you need to unshackle yourself from unwarranted concern.

For example, the Bear Center studies bears by attaching radio collars around their necks, and then monitoring them. When I visited this week, I learned from a researcher that the wild black bears are not sedated when attaching radio collars. Instead, one person may feed some snacks to the bear while the other walks up and straps the collar on a wide-awake, wild black bear. And the bear lets them do it!

You will see lots of interesting and surprising research video throughout this educational and interesting destination.

Above is Ted, the biggest black bear in the viewing area at the Bear Center.

Snowshoe Hares Know It's Spring

This is one of two snowshoe hares I've seen this week. Both of them have recently changed color from a snow-white winter coat to their summer camouflage brown. They know it's spring and they're blending in with the brown and nibbling at the green.

Springtime Boundary Waters Moose

I photographed this cow moose and her calf today while paddling near Lake Four in the BWCA. As I paddled past a narrow inlet, I glimpsed what looked like an upturned tree root. I twice backpaddled against the wind to get a better look, then used my camera zoom to confirm they were moose.

As I approached, I noticed the odd-looking white on their shoulders. When I returned home, I called Tom Rusch, the DNR area wildlife manager in Tower, to ask about the white areas. He immediately recognized the issue. He says that, since about January, these moose have probably been vigorously rubbing against trees to scratch off some of the thousands of winter ticks latched onto them. The scratching tears away patches of the moose's coat and shows their white undercoat and skin.

These ticks aren't the wood ticks found on the family dog, but instead unique moose ticks that grow as large as your pinky fingernail. The ticks stress the moose and are linked to increased moose mortality, and our dwindling moose numbers. Rusch says moose ticks drop off in the spring. If they drop on snow they die. If they drop on grass they reproduce. Shorter winters may be contributing to an increase in these ticks because they drop on grass unveiled earlier by warmer springs.

About three-fourths of area moose show rubbing indicators like this now, says Rusch. However, the white patches won't last through summer. The moose are just starting to blow their coats, and their lighter summer coats will grow through and give them the stereotypical dark brown coat. I hope to get some photos of a healthy-looking bull this fall.

Wenonah - Where Canoes Are Born

We picked up new Wenonah kevlar ultralight canoes at the Wenonah Canoe Factory in Winona, Minnesota, this week. Owner Mike Cichanowski (above, left) greeted us. He grew up in Winona, on the banks of the Mississippi. He's a paddler at heart and has inspired innovation throughout the canoe industry. His company is now the largest producer of kevlar canoes. The plant manager, Mark Amunrud (above, right), gave us a full tour of their production facility, including the composite, Royalex, and polyethylene canoe manufacturing centers.

All Wenonah canoes are made in Minnesota, by people who know and love the Boundary Waters like we do. Throughout the plant, pleasant employees greeted us with helpful info on the construction of their canoes.

We use ultralight Wenonah kevlar canoes because they make portaging a breeze. Most folks who've been there know that trading in a 65 or 70 pound aluminum canoe for a nimble 46 pound kevlar makes the difference between a backbreaker portage and a joyful walk in the woods.

Kevlar canoes are made from the same kevlar fibers as bulletproof vests. They are incredibly light and strong - though the kevlar canoes don't stop bullets.

One of the things that struck us about the manufacturing of Kevlar canoes is the amount of human labor required. Rather than being stamped out or easily molded, the Kevlar canoes require skilled hands at every phase - applying the gel coat, installing the kevlar layup, foam core, foam ribs, seats, and gunnels, and putting on the finishing touches. A video about the manufacture of Wenonah kevlar canoes is at http://www.wenonah.com/.

About six Wenonah Kevlar canoes are born every day. We took the above three home today.

Tomorrow I begin a three or four day solo BWCA paddle with our new Wenonah kevlar Encounter canoe.

Patriotic Urban Paddling

People often ask what we Boundary Waters guides do on our days off. My response is that our days off look a lot like our days on.

For example, Kate and I are in DC visiting friends (it's the Ely "mud season," after all). But, you can't keep us away from getting our paddling fix while around open water.

Today we rented kayaks from a fun place called Jack's Boathouse in Georgetown. We did a self-guided kayak tour of Washington landmarks from the Potomac River. If you're in DC and looking for a way to be a way cool tourist, talk to Paul at Jack's Boathouse and he'll get you some nice boats at a fair price. They even have some made-in-Minnesota Wenonah canoes.

This photo shows us paddling with friends in front of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.

Hudson Bay Recap

We've returned happy and healthy from our Hudson Bay dogsledding adventure.

Every spring, after the Minnesota dogsledding season ends, Wintergreen Lodge leads dogsled adventures to various destinations such as the North Pole, Greenland, Svalbaard, other Arctic locations, and the Rocky Mountains. Eight of our Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge guides left Ely by truck and dog trailer on April 3 bound for Churchill, Manitoba, via truck, train, dogsled, and ski. Local Ely Wintergreen guides who joined the trip include Paul Schurke, LynnAnne Vesper, Kate Ford, Don Watson, Ellen Root, Dave Freeman, Amy Voytilla, and Jason Zabokrtsky.

We drove to Thompson, Manitoba, boarded the "Tundra Train" going north toward Churchill, and then got off the train at a tundra stop for a six day, hundred mile journey by dogsled and ski to Hudson Bay and Churchill. The trip also included five additional adventurers who joined to learn about dogsledding, winter camping, Arctic wildlife and tundra travel. A unique feature of this trip is that schoolchildren around the globe followed our progress via electronic updates to WildernessClassroom.com, an educational nonprofit led by Dave Freeman.

We experienced dogsledding on the frozen Manitoba tundra and pack ice of Hudson Bay, endured the unrelenting frigid winds of vast open expanse, and journeyed along the tracks of recent polar bears and polar bear cubs. This photo shows our team on Hudson Bay. Pack ice extends to the horizon.

Dog Treats With a Twist

It's a Wintergreen tradition to buy the dogs soft serve ice cream cones when returning from long trips. This is Daisy enjoying hers after we crossed the border back into the US today.

Polar Bear Jail

As we arrived in Churchill, we dogsledded to the Polar Bear Jail. It is where problem bears are taken, on the edge of town. These photos show the polar bear traps used for the problem bears.

Churchill Northern Studies Center

We spent our day dogsledding and skiing with our heads down and noses angled away from the wind. Sustained winds blasted us as we traveled along the coast of Hudson Bay to the Churchill Northern Studies Center. Wind speeds peaked at about 30 mph, with an air temp of about 0 degrees F today.

The Center is an incredible change from the camping we've been doing. It is heated, and has hot showers, a full kitchen, and internet access. The Center is a base for polar bear and other arctic researchers.

When we arrived they had us sign a stock form acknowledging the risk of polar bear attacks. One section of the form forbids us from camping here because of the danger. It seems ironic to be signing such a document after all the camping we've done this week.

Tomorrow we will dogsled and ski about 10 miles to the town of Churchill.

Windbound

We are in the midst of an all out gale. Winds blowing upwards of 35 mph have stopped us in our tracks. Air temps are about 10F, but the wind chill has pushed temps into the deep freeze.

Blowing snow is piling up in drifts around the dogsleds and we have hunkered down at an abandoned research station on the shores of Hudson Bay. We have kept warm building snow walls to shade the dogs from the wind.

A photo shows our dog, Franky, behind his snow wall. Another photo shows a dogsled getting drifted over.

We are passing the time resting, snacking, playing games, enjoying conversation and waiting for the weather to break.

We continue to follow proper protocol for camping in polar bear country. For example, you see in the photo of camp that the dogs are staked out in rows to the left and right, and we sleep in between them. This configuration ensures that the dogs sound off should a polar bear approach in the night.

Tomorrow we will hopefully awake to lighter winds. We will dogsled to the Northern Studies Center near Churchill.

Hudson Bay!

The weather has remained ideal. The sun continues to shine brightly and we are slathering on sunscreen. The wind has calmed today.

The scenery is changing rapidly. As we move further north, the trees are getting smaller and smaller, and fewer and fewer.

The efficient traveling conditions allowed us to log 25 miles today. Our tired bodies felt uplifted when we arrived at Hudson Bay and its shining expanse of white flatness this afternoon.

Today we saw a white arctic hare that blended in with its snowy surroundings, and we saw a fox scampering across the tundra in front of us.

We pulled into camp at about 6:30 tonight. We are camped at an abandoned research station on the shores of Hudson Bay.

Most of the area polar bears have recently moved onto Hudson Bay to hunt seals. Tomorrow we will venture out onto the bay by dogsled to see what the ice holds.

Covering Miles

We covered a lot of ground today - about 23 miles by dogsled and ski.

We are passing through some brushy areas with small trees. The snow collects in these areas and can mean deep, fluffy, difficult to get a dogsled through, conditions. The dogs bottom out in the deep snow and the sled starts to snowplow. However, none of these places slowed us down more than we expected.

The wind has changed from a NW to an easterly gail, and we wonder what change in weather that may mean. The wind of 15-20 mph today dropped our windchills to subzero. The air remained in the teens or low twenties.

We saw more polar bear tracks in the snow today.

We pulled into camp at a little after 6 PM and luckily found a good spot out of the wind.

We are sleeping in 60 below sleeping bags. The photo shows Amy waking up this morning after spending the night cozy in a dogsled bag. Behind her are some of our team waking up after sleepig under the stars.

Polar Bear Tracks

Today we traveled about 15 miles. The wind started out gusty. We saw several firsts. We saw tracks in the snow from polar bears (including tracks from a mother and two cubs, shown in the photo), caribou, wolves, wolverines, and fox.

The wind subsided and a blazing sun is giving us a tan. The temps again today are about 32F.

Today we traveled about 15 miles, and set up camp in the sunlight.

We Launch Dog Teams

We've received several varying reports from the conductor regarding the arrival time for our drop off point. Originally we heard mid-morning. It kept getting pushed back due to the rough track conditions.

At 1PM, the train screeched to a halt, the freight door slid open, and we started on assembly line unboarding. The train staff took quite an interest in us. All three of them gathered in the box car to admire our jovial scene. The conducted snapped photos, looked at me with a smile and said, "I may never see this again."

We waved goodbye to the train and watched it bounce away down the tracks. The group quickly harnessed dogs, hitched them to the sleds, and finally launched our dog teams across the frozen tundra.

We are fortunate our trail conditions are relatively firm with wind-packed snow. The sky is blue, the Arctic sun is shining, the temp is about 32F and the winds are calm. This region is known for high winds, and a ground blizzard swept through last week. We feel fortunate for our current ideal conditions.

One building exists between where we launched and Hudson Bay. Is is called Watchee Lodge. We dogsledded six miles to the lodge and took a lunch break. During February and March, photographers and tourists flock to Watchee Lodge. They are here to see mother polar bears emerge from their earthen dens with polar bear cubs in tow.

I spoke with a polar bear tracker there who searches out polar bears so visitors can be guided directly to them. Most of the polar bears just recently left this area to hunt seal on Hudson Bay. The polar bear tracker says they saw a bear last week, but they haven't been looking because they are closing up the lodge for the season. I ask the polar bear tracker if we will see any polar bears. With a steely expression he grunts, "I hope not."

We dogsledded a few hours after Watchee Lodge and camped on Fletcher Lake. The moon is bright, but we still see white-colored northern lights fade in and out across the lake.

Total dogsledding today: 14.5 miles.

Trucks, Trains and Dogsleds

We arrived in Thompson, Manitoba, at about 2:30PM. We drove straight to the train depot, staked out the dogs, and then put our sleds, dogs, and gear in order next to the tracks to await the next leg of our journey.

We heard several times that the Tundra Train is "always late." It remained true to its typical tardiness today, at a couple of hours behind schedule. Once it arrived, at about dusk, we loaded the dogs and sleds in the box car along with someone's truckload of fresh produce, a plush living room set, and some miscellaneous luggage. It took about 15 minutes, we grabbed our seats and the train started to creap north.

Really, it creaps north at only about 28 mph, and sometimes much more slowly. The slow pace is necessary because the frost heave from the tundra has left the tracks in a terribly uneven condition that would bounce a speeding train right off the tracks like a rubber ball.

We will be training overnight (about a 13 hour ride). Then the conductor stops the train on the tundra - not in a town - and we will carry on by dogsled to Hudson Bay and Churchill.

We are sleeping in our train seats tonight.

The Dogs Know

At 6AM we arrived in the Wintergreen kennel to start loading sled dogs into the trailer, and launch our journey to Hudson Bay. That's earlier than we are typically at the kennel.

The dogs knew something was up instantly. I walked several dogs from their doghouses to the trailer. Lightning had a glint in her eye, leaned forward for mechanical advantage, and pulled me with all her might to the trailer. Then she hopped into the portable kennel and I closed the door. The photo shows the main entrance to the Wintergreen kennel this morning.

We hit the road with 20 dogs in tow at 6:30AM. It's now about 17 hours later and we are still driving. We are in Canada's Manitoba Province about 100 kilometers south of Grand Rapids. It is snowing.

We stopped for a generously privided lunch at the home of an expert on the Canadian Inuit Dog, near Winnipeg. The photo shows our guide Don Watson leading the dog Steve back to the trailer after a water, stretch, and bathroom break.

We will pull off the road and camp soon.

The dogs know a new adventure in a foreign land is underway, and they are excited. We are too.

Project Polar Bear Gear Pack Out

The below photo shows our smaller dogsleds used for lodge-based trips around Ely. They are now mere skeletons with their sled bags stored for the season.

Today we are packing out dogsledding camping gear for Project Polar Bear. Guide Dave Freeman, the director of Wilderness Classroom, is shown above making a repair to the brushbow of a big camping sled we are taking north.

Project Polar Bear - April 2 - 12, 2009

Between our Minnesota dogsledding season and summer BWCA canoe guiding season lies a wonderful opportunity for new adventure.

This year most of our guides are going north to dogsled around Hudson Bay. We call it Project Polar Bear. You can learn all about it with real time online multimedia updates thanks to Dave Freeman, Amy Voytilla, and the Wilderness Classroom.

Dave and Amy run the educational nonprofit called Wilderness Classroom. They are providing an online multimedia educational adventure on their website, and are sharing their resources to update Boundary Waters Blogger. You can find more on Project Polar Bear and educational info, audio, video, and lots of photos at the Wilderness Classroom website: http://www.wildernessclassroom.com/polarbear/index.html. The site is designed for primary school students to learn through this adventure, so tell your favorite teachers about this opportunity.

Wolf Tracks

We caught a glimpse of a lone wolf trotting across the ice while dogsledding home today. These are his tracks in the fresh snow.

Trail? What Trail?

Seven strong young people with a zest for adventure allowed us to take a particularly challenging route, and cover over 50 miles by dogsled. Obstacles like scaling this rock face with a dog team started to seem simpler and simpler after the incessantly challenging terrain we regularly encountered. This is us leaving Lake One in the BWCA for a bushwhack on a winter only route through the woods.