In a perfect world, I might have hiked to Canada on the Superior Hiking Trail by now. Distractions are legion. Spring and Summer were devoted to staining this fence and virtually every piece of bare wood on the property: Fall was devoted (and devotion is still the operating concept) to picking up the pieces of … More Fantasia
In those final fleeting moments before the snow begins to fly, I get twitchy. Must cram in as many fall experiences as possible! Yesterday’s hankering to knock out the next stretch of the trail, before it’d be blanketed under several inches of snow, was overwhelming. Though I only had a handful of four-mile runs under … More Party on the Superior Hiking Trail like it’s 1999. Fox Farm to Rossini.
At the very moment of the autumnal equinox, I was enjoying a fine cup of coffee along the shores of Rose Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with my friend John. We were on the cusp of an epic day. A month prior to this, I saw this entry point into the BWCA … More Do It Anyway. Rose Lake: Crown Jewel of the Boundary Waters.
Perhaps I’m still beating the same drum, but with just another 4 days of cross-country skiing left we’re going to make the most out of each one. We’ll be gone over Easter, and the forecasts show that March should go out like a lamb. It really feels like a celebration of the best March for … More Skiing, Friends, and Lake Superior. It doesn’t get any better.
Here’s my newspaper column this week: As I scrawl these words on a lovely evening, smoke from my wood stove wafts from the chimney and twists up and through large snowflakes falling like feathers. It’s snowing again, as it did the weekend prior, and I welcome it as if it were manna from heaven. Sam … More Glad the Groundhog Got it Wrong
Yesterday I celebrated my March birthday in the proper way, and I’m thankful our healthier winter this year allowed it. I took the day off work, spent the entire day cross country skiing, and capped it off with steaks grilled on my new charcoal barrel grill with the family. I started out at Korkki Nordic, … More My Ideal Birthday Party
I look forward to our annual winter cabin trip all year. We always go remote and rustic, but this year my buddies and I chipped in for something a bit more posh. Rather than lugging our stuff through unmaintained trails to an abandoned shack, we skied a mere 3.5 miles to our home base behind … More Winter Cabin Trip. A great tradition.
I am writing this on the evening before heading out to a wilderness cabin north of Ely with some pals. For a decade and a half we have made an annual pilgrimage to a cabin or yurt several miles from the nearest road or other man-made dwelling. The experience is my equivalent of a Hawaiian … More The Lure of the Wilderness Cabin
This is an account of one of our family’s best days last year. Father’s Day is a glorious all-day event in my home. So committed is my trio of kids and spouse to making it special, they eagerly celebrated it with me a week in advance. Of course an epic adventure was in order. The … More Adventure Begins When Things Go Wrong
International Border: Here I am posting a column I wrote a few years ago for our local newspaper. Space didn’t allow for me to tell nearly enough of the story, but I’ll come back to it here and there. The cabin and locale referred to have been a home away from home for me for … More Journey To the Top of the 48
Ed's Big Adventure 