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“We went for a hike. The beach was a tumble of exposed bedrock, some formations looking like model pirate ships in silhouette, but soon the gravel narrowed and an outcrop of jagged rock faced us. The girls scrambled up a well-used trail, and then I saw Grace climbing, hand over hand, up the final short rock wall. I was about to yell my customary warning, but she had summited and Bailey was on her heels. They raised their arms, the Lake Superior wind whipping their hair, and I breathed two words: their Everest.”

- Chris Niskanen, Prairie, Lake, Forest: Minnesota’s State Parks

Chris Niskasen

Chris Niskanen spent 17 years as an outdoors writer at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, writing about fishing, hunting, camping and other outdoor pursuits popular in Minnesota. Then, in 2010, he left journalism to lead the communications efforts of the Department of Natural Resources.

During this career, he has written two books, one of which included photos from each of Minnesota’s 66 state parks and 16 essays by Niskasen.

The guy knows a thing or two about outdoors and nature writing. From the excerpt above, he also seems to know about raising adventure-loving daughters.

So I have two good reasons to attend a writing workshop being taught by Niskanen on Nov. 17 at Warner Nature Center in Marine on St. Croix. St. Croix River country being home to a lot of inspiring nature and inspired writers, this is an ideal location for the class.

The workshop is sponsored by ArtReach St. Croix (which I recently joined the board of) and will feature not only in-depth instruction about writing well, but a chance to get outside, too:

During this special writing workshop, author Chris Niskanen will talk about the importance of imagery, point of view, pace, dialogue and research in good nature writing. He’ll stress the importance of avoiding cliches and creating a strong voice and developing a sense of place. Chris believes good nature writing is rooted in keen observation and he will address the skills you should hone in your observation. Class participation is strongly encouraged and you will be challenged to take risks in your writing while enjoying a day of retreat at the Warner Nature Center. Meet other writers around the Nature Center’s 11′ diameter table made from a cross sectional “cookie” cut from the largest Douglas Fir that the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company ever cut down. Enjoy a guided mid-day hike on the Nature Center’s trails. Dress for the weather. Warner even has enough snow shoes for everyone if we need them! Bring a brown bag lunch. Hot and cold drinks provided.

The class costs $60 for ArtReach members and $65 for non-members. You can sign up here. I hope to see you there.

(Cross-posted from St. Croix 360.)

Brews & Canoes
Have a beer with long-distance paddler Daniel Alvarez
Where: Indeed Brewing Company taproom, 711 15th Avenue NE , Minneapolis
When: Friday, Sept. 28, 5 p.m.
More details »

Daniel Alvarez at the Grand Portage

America’s original interstate highway system was its lakes and rivers. But most people today would choose automobile or airplane if they wanted to travel from the northernmost point of the Lower 48 to the southernmost point.

Not Daniel Alvarez. What would have been the adventure if he would have chosen transportation other than a kayak?

Alvarez is currently paddling from Lake of the Woods, specifically the part called the Northwest Angle, to the Florida Keys. His route has taken him across Voyageurs National Park, including Rainy Lake, and all along what’s known as The Border Route in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

From there, it was just a little eight-mile hike over to Lake Superior along the historic Grand Portage.

Outside magazine found the trip crazy enough to support with its first-ever Adventure Grant this spring. The magazine published a profile of Alvarez, calling the trip bold, inspired, and “slightly reckless.”

The word is that the Grand Portage paled in comparison to the other big portage on his trip, the Savanna Portage from the St. Louis River to the Mississippi. That six-mile trail is notoriously swampy and overgrown. Everyone following the trip was relieved when we heard from him after he finished it. It should be the last big portage of his 4,000 mile trip.

When Alvarez paddles into the Twin Cities this week, the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness will be there to greet him. Indeed Brewing Company is graciously hosting a party on his behalf at their beautiful new taproom in northeast Minneapolis.

Everyone at the Friends is eager to congratulate Alvarez on his accomplishments so far, and thank him for his support. The adventurer is making a donation to the Friends and other conservation organizations working on behalf of the waterways he is paddling, as well as keeping up an inspiring pace on his well-written blog about the trip and the issues he learns about along the way.

I would be hard-pressed to pick a favorite post from his blog so far, but Alvarez made as fine a case for wilderness in a blog post from July as anything I’ve read in recent years:

“Just look at a road map and ball your fist up,” Rolf Skrien said. “That”s how big it is, just the size of your fist on a map, that’s all the wild left.”

Rolf’s an old-timer, past 90, and other than when he was in the Pacific fighting World War II, he’s been paddling around the Boundary Waters. He used to run an outfitter off the Gunflint Trail north of Grand Marais and spent more nights on the lakes up there than off them.

Continue reading…

The truth is, wilderness is indeed a dwindling resource. But Alvarez is paddling proof that it’s still out there, if you just go looking for it.

Get details and R.S.V.P. for the party for Daniel on Facebook.

Kayaking in the BWCAW

Cross-posted from The Heritage Initiative:

Wolf Creek Bar, circa 1940s, photo courtesy Russ Hanson

The seventh annual River Road Ramble is this Saturday, Sept. 22 along the scenic and historic highways of Polk and Burnett Counties in northwest Wisconsin.

The Ramble is a self-guided driving tour approximately 40 miles long. It features historic sites, open houses, food, garage sales, and fall colors along beautiful roads.

Ramblers are welcome to take the tour anytime between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, traveling all or part of the route between St. Croix Falls and Grantsburg, and back again.

There are 20 historic sites on the route, including several one-room schoolhouses and churches. There are also about as many other kinds of stops, including the Festival Theater in St. Croix Falls, and River Roads Wolf Creek Bar, which has served liquor continuously since 1832.

Visit the River Road Ramble’s official website for details, including:

• Descriptions of the stops
• Map of the route
• A printable tour guide written by local historian and writer Russ Hanson

See you on the road!

Cross-posted from The Heritage Initiative:

The seventh annual River Road Ramble is this Saturday, Sept. 22 along the scenic and historic highways of Polk and Burnett Counties in northwest Wisconsin.

The Ramble is a self-guided driving tour approximately 40 miles long. It features historic sites, open houses, food, garage sales, and fall colors along beautiful roads.

Ramblers are welcome to take the tour anytime between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, traveling all or part of the route between St. Croix Falls and Grantsburg, and back again.

There are 20 historic sites on the route, including several one-room schoolhouses and churches. There are also about as many other kinds of stops, including the Festival Theater in St. Croix Falls, and River Roads Wolf Creek Bar, which has served liquor continuously since 1832.

Visit the River Road Ramble’s official website for details, including:

• Descriptions of the stops
• Map of the route
• A printable tour guide written by local historian and writer Russ Hanson

See you on the road!

The sound of rushing water greeted us Friday evening as a friend and I launched our canoe on a small Wisconsin river which shortly downstream spilled into the St. Croix. We had fly rods and dreams of bass and muskies, and also my camera and thoughts of a summer sunset.

The birds sang their twilight songs and we paddled and waded, casting colorful streamers and poppers into fast water. When we reached the big river, it was in a place where the valley is a good mile wide, a multitude of channels weaving between islands.

The sun was not far above the Minnesota bluffs and the water was glassy. Although I’ve experienced such beauty and solitude on the St. Croix many times, it never ceases to amaze me when I can get to such a place an hour after leaving home.

We weren’t the only ones enjoying the beautiful summer night. From the Minnesota side, we could hear the roar of motorcycles on Highway 95, at least a mile away. They of course had no way of knowing that two men were paddling quietly through the backwaters below, though I suppose they could have guessed. There was no doubt in our minds that they were on the highway.

The intrusion of motorcycles is nothing new in my many trips on the river. The river is not wide enough to escape their sound and it is frequently the only impact from the outside world on otherwise quiet and solitary fishing trips.

When I tweeted out some thoughts about this issue over the weekend, another individual reported on his family’s trip to a popular state park:

@gregseitz Hear, hear. Bikes on the Wisconsin side really reduced our enjoyment of Wild River State Park a few weeks ago.

— § (@lawremipsum) June 30, 2012

It’s certainly not just canoeists on the river who are affected. As I drive around the St. Croix valley, I love looking at the real estate. There are many roads featuring many great houses — secluded amongst woods and hills and running water. I like to think about living in such a place someday.

But if the road is scenic and especially if a house is anywhere near a hill, I know I would never live there, putting up with the bikes gunning it up the hill everyday. Like homes near the airport, it must be aggravating to sit on your own patio and have to stop conversation every time an engine drowns you out.

The river was flooded when we were paddling around Friday night. We cruised right over what were normally high banks, wove between trees on sunken points and islands. The fish were a little hard to find, but the consolation was the incredible colors in the sky, reflected on the perfectly still waters, and the feeling of being far from the modern world.

These days near the summer solstice are made for evening paddles as the light lingers in the sky until 10 p.m. Almost as stunning as the sunset was the warm light it cast on the Wisconsin shore.

The St. Croix River is not just another pretty lake. It was one of the eight rivers included in the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. Anybody who has canoed, kayaked, boated, fished, or swam the river knows it’s special. The Wild & Scenic Rivers Act included this defintion:

It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.

The legislation protected rivers from new dams, and also from most development on their banks. It essentially tried to keep them the way they are — to the extent that is ever possible with a river.

Enormous effort is put into keeping the St. Croix wild and scenic. Its stewards work to control invasive species like zebra mussels, asian carp, and buckthorn, invest in water treatment and agriculture practices that promote clean water, and argue for decades about building a new bridge. When passing the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Congress probably did not consider motorcycles, and how they could degrade a river.

Loud motorcycles simply were not a big problem when the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was passed. The organization Noise Off says 45 percent of motorcycles today use aftermarket exhaust systems, specially designed to make them extremely loud. In the 1970s, just 12 percent of bikes had the noisy exhaust systems — this is not some long tradition that we ought to honor, but rather a growing trend that needs our attention.

Federal law prohibits vehicle exhaust from exceeding 80 decibels, but most after-market systems hit 100 decibels. The problem is that in order to bust violators, police would have to have the time and special equipment to measure noise levels. Which they don’t, unless the public demands it.

The question is, don’t motorcyclists have a right to their noise? This is America, after all. But as is so often the case in our nation, one person’s freedom conflicts with another person’s rights. The history of America is filled with debating how to balance those conflicts. It’s a question with difficult answers, but America’s favorite neighbor had a simple one.

There is a 2001 episode of the radio show “This American Life” in which the great Mr. Rogers helped solve problems in the reporter’s neighborhood. The first issue he addressed was between a woman and her loud downstairs neighbor (who happened to be the reporter). The young man wanted to listen to his music loud, late into the night. His upstairs neighbor banged on her floor with a broom when she can’t sleep.

Mr. Rogers sided with the woman. He says the reporter should keep his music down. The reporter says his apartment is his space, and why shouldn’t he get to listen to whatever music he wants in his space. Mr. Rogers simply says, “We started with silence and I will always uphold a person’s right to silence.”

I like silence a lot, although it’s really more a matter of the “original state” as Mr. Rogers might say. As we made our way back to the car Friday night, it was anything but quiet. We had to pull the canoe up the last 100 yards because the water was too shallow.

As we waded upstream, the river pushing against as, all I could hear was the sound of the fast-moving water on the rocks, my legs and the canoe. Fireflies blinked on the banks, and great blue herons and bald eagles flew overhead, headed to their nests for the night.