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Holiday Winter Gear Gift Guide 2018

While some Christmas carols would have you believe that the holiday season falls squarely in the middle of winter (hear’s looking at you “In the Bleak Midwinter”), in Minnesota, the holidays pretty much kickstart winter which makes them the perfect time to “present” your loved ones with all their winter gear needs. While we know some of you might not even want to hear the words “holiday gift guide” until the Thanksgiving turkey is a distant memory, we wanted to give you a heads up on the off-chance some of these items go on sale during the Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday hoopla. After all, there’s nothing worse than discovering the perfect gift idea for the Boundary Waters lover or outdoors enthusiast on your list until right after you’ve blown the last penny on your holiday gift budget, except maybe paying full price for a gift that was on sale . . . last week.

1. 100% Wool Long Underwear Sure, long underwear kind of ranks up there with socks when it comes to Christmas present “wow” factor, but if you have a winter camper on your list, they probably already know wool is king when it comes to Boundary Waters winter wear, and they will love a pair of 100% merino wool long underwear. Great for warmth and wicking moisture, we aren’t super brand loyal when it comes to wool long underwear. I like Minus 33 in midweight and expedition, while Andy finds Icebreaker fits him best.

2. Fleece-lined Flannel Shirts These have inadvertently become the Tuscarora uniform in the last couple years. They check all the boxes for northern Minnesota wear: nice Northwoods aesthetics, cozy, and easy to layer under and over. Honestly, we wear these year-round – as a base layer in the winter, a shirt in the fall and spring, and a light jacket on those cool summer mornings. Bonus: These are on sale for 20% all weekend over at L.L. Bean.

3. Nils Hand Ice Auger No Boundary Waters ice angler should be without a Nils Hand Ice Auger. The fastest, the most efficient way to drill holes by hand, the Nils takes the struggle out of drilling holes and allows you to spend more time fishing.

4. MarCum fish finder If you have an avid ice fisherman on your list who’s looking to step up their ice fishing game, a MarCum fish finder is a good option. We like them because they come in a variety of price points and are pretty intuitive to use. MarCum’s also a Minnesota-based company and we’ve had great experiences with their customer service.

5. Ion Ice Auger While you can’t use this auger in the Boundary Waters, this is a great option for fishing Boundary Waters border lakes such as Gunflint Lake, North Lake, and the Canadian side of Saganaga Lake or lakes in the greater Minnesota area. This auger makes quick work of ice fishing set-up each day. Lightweight and quiet, the battery holds its charge for an exceptionally long time and since it’s battery, not gas, powered, you don’t have to deal with any smoke or stinky fumes.

6. Duluth Pack Lure Lockers So simple, but so effective, these are a great gift for your fishing buddy. Made of Duluth Pack’s signature heavy-duty canvas, you velcro these little patches around your lures to cover up hooks, saving you from the headaches of snags and tangles.

7. Lake trout ice fishing lures You can never have too many fishing lures in your tackle box. If you’re looking for an affordable stocking stuffer, consider a couple of our favorite lures to set up your angler for lake trout ice fishing season. We like Berkley PowerBait 3 in. Power Tubes in white for targeting large lake trout, while these Northland baits (which I affectionately call “My Little Pony” baits due to their sparkly, pastel palette) are a good bet for lakes with more moderately sized lake trout.

8. Haat Rods Good ice fishing rods are hard to find and these are great ice fishing rods at a good price from a small Wisconsin-based business. These are well-made, high quality rods with good action that are a step above what you can find in your average outdoor goods box store.

9. Hydroflask 32 oz Wide Mouth Insulated Stainless Steel Bottle We’ve had our Hydroflask bottle for years and it goes on basically every one of our outdoor winter adventures. It really does live up to its hype of keeping drinks hot for 12 hours. We’ve used it to bring soup for lunch while we’re out ice fishing, but mostly we use ours to keep our coffee hot . . . see item 10 on the gift guide list . . .

10. Alakef French Roast coffee beans Sorry, we can’t come to your home on Christmas morning to whip up some of Tuscarora’s famous French toast, but you can have a taste of Tuscarora in your coffee cup this winter. We brew Alakef’s French roast in our dining hall, so if you’re wondering what the secret is to our coffee, here we go. Roasted in Duluth, buying Alakef coffee is a delicious way to keep your gift dollars local this season.

11. Camelbak H.A.W.G. Mil Spec Backpack We got this backpack for me to take hiking through the Peruvian Andes because I needed a backpack with a chest and waist strap and the idea of not fumbling with a water bottle at 15,000+ elevation was appealing. Turns out, this is the perfect sized day pack and sits comfortably on both Andy and my backs. We don’t often use the Camelbak insert, but it does come in handy on longer hikes. It also works very well as a carry-on bag, fitting easily under the seat in front of you so you don’t have to get into hand-to-hand combat over the overhead bin space.

12. Light My Fire Original Swedish Firesteel Whether you ice fish, winter camp, snowshoe, or cross country ski, having the ability to start a fire is one of the best things you can do for winter safety. This small, compact magnesium fire starter is a great option for the Christmas stocking. Unlike matches, the Swedish Firesteel will work even if wet and the striker handle doubles as an emergency whistle.

P.S. None of the links below are affiliate – we just really like these products and think they could make your winter Boundary Waters adventures even better.

Boundary Waters Recommendations

The Best of Camp Reads: Edition Two – Epic Journeys in a Boat

We’re back, with another batch of book recommendations for your camping, travel, or winter fireside reading pleasure! Last year, we revealed some of our favorite outdoor adventure reads. (Check out our post – The Best of Camp Reads: Edition One.) This year, we got even more specific and settled on “epic journey featuring a boat” for our book recommendation theme.

Read on to see if you agree with our recommendations and definitely let us know if we missed an obviously epic (boat) adventure or two.

Pre/Early Readers

Paddle-to-the-Sea, by Holling Clancy Holling

Holling Clancy Holling wrote numerous children’s books in the mid-2oth century with an educational slant, often focused on American geography. His most famous work, Paddle-to-the-Sea is a beloved piece of North Shore elementary school curriculum and is responsible for thousands of canoe figurines bobbing around Lake Superior. A young boy in the Nipigon region of Ontario carves a figurine of a man in a canoe and sets the figurine, named Paddle-to-the-Sea, adrift in Lake Nipigon hoping the figurine will eventually make his way to the Atlantic Ocean via the Great Lakes waterway. As Paddle moves through the Great Lakes, he provides a firsthand look at the geography and industries that shape the region. Perhaps the most literary feat Holling pulls off is making you truly care about the fate of an inanimate object.

Young Readers

La Belle Sauvage, by Philip Pullman

I hesitated to put La Belle Sauvage (Book One in The Book Of Dust trilogy which builds off the story started in Pullman’s extraordinary His Dark Materials trilogy) in the “young readers” recommendation slot, but since it’s the only book included in this post that’s officially classified as “young adult literature,” here it lies. Just know that if you’d prefer to not have your child exposed to the F-bomb or themes of sexual abuse, don’t give your kid this book. In fact, a couple of the books recommended below for adult readers would actually be better choices for middle-school age readers.

At any rate . . .

If you’re already familiar with Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass), La Belle Sauvage continues Pullman’s exploration of metaphysical themes and the story of Lyra Belacqua, but picks up the narrative thread at the time of Lyra’s birth. La Belle Sauvage is the name of main character Malcolm Polstead’s beloved canoe and the canoe plays an important role as Malcolm paddles epic floods to carry baby Lyra to safety as the world around him turns towards war.

Adult Readers

The Odyssey, by Homer

If you haven’t read The Odyssey since you were assigned it in middle-school English class, it might be time to give it another go. One of the oldest adventure stories in Western Civilization, Homer’s The Odyssey tells of Odysseus’s ten years lost at sea with his crew after the Trojan War. During their decade of epic adventures (and misadventures), Odysseus and his men survive storms, cannibals, mythical creatures, and enchantresses. The English translations of The Odyssey are very readable so don’t let the story’s classification as a “classic” scare you off.

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing

This is another “adult” book that could double as a “young reader” book for anyone in middle school and up. What started as just another early 20th century Antarctic expedition, quickly became one of the most epic true stories of survival and human resilience. When Sir Ernest Shackleton’s aptly named boat The Endurance becomes encased in ice in the Weddell Sea in early December 1914, Shackleton marched his crew of 27 men across the shifting ice shelf to sail to Elephant Island in lifeboats. From there, Shackleton must sail one of those open boats 650 nautical miles with minimal navigation tools to reached South Georgia Island where he can get help for the men remaining on Elephant Island. Incredible really is the only word to sum up this tale.

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

Who doesn’t like a good shipwreck story? Life of Pi focuses on the childhood of Pi Patel, but primarily focuses on what happens to Pi after the boat he’s traveling to Canada on with his family and a bunch of zoo animals sinks, leaving Pi alone on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. In a journey somewhat reminiscent of the Kon-Tiki, Pi and Richard Parker drift across the Pacific Ocean. The story of Pi and Richard Parker’s survival on the lifeboat is interesting in and of itself, but the novel’s larger exploration of “the truth about truth” makes the book particularly compelling and also provides some interesting plot twists.

Although I do enjoy the work of Ang Lee, I liked the book so well, I probably won’t ever watch the movie. If you watched the movie, but didn’t read the book, this is an easy and thought-provoking read.

Undaunted Courage, by Stephen Ambrose

The Lewis and Clark expedition is the ultimate American adventure story, as evidenced by the ubiquitous signage about their voyage any time you drive out West and come within 20 miles of the expedition’s path. Although I always think of Lewis and Clark trekking over the Rocky Mountains, a large portion of their multi-year expedition took place in boats on the Missouri River. Undaunted Courage provides an interesting and in-depth look into a truly impressive journey.

Boundary Waters Day Trips / Boundary Waters Recommendations

The Best Fall Color Hikes on the Gunflint Trail

We think every season is hiking season on the Gunflint Trail. However, it’s seems like for many people, autumn holds the title of “favorite hiking season.” Although the Gunflint Trail doesn’t boost a large population of maple trees like the Lutsen/Tofte area of Cook County closer to the shore, the fall color season is still pretty stunning, with crimson moose maples, golden aspens and birch, and blazing tamaracks.

As we approach peak fall colors on the Gunflint Trail, here are some of our favorite “leaf peeping” hikes.

Since it’s basically our backyard, we recommend the Centennial Hiking Trail year-round, but the trail really is in its elements in the autumn. A 3.3 mile loop, you’ll want to budget about 2 hours of hiking time for this moderately difficult hike. Not only will you view abandoned mining test pits and walk on a 19th century railroad grade, the second half of the hike offers great vistas, especially looking across the Round Lake Rd beaver ponds towards Gunflint Lake.

Access the trail from either a small pull-off on the Round Lake Rd (located just past the beaver pond – do not park by the snowmobile trail crossing) or the Kekekabic Hiking Trail parking lot about .5 miles up the Gunflint Trail from the Round Lake Rd.

You can certainly get some nice fall color views from the Magnetic Rock trail, especially from the open rock faces overlooking spruce and tamarack bogs, but for the best fall color vistas around Magnetic Rock, we recommend Magnetic Rock as approached from Warren’s Road. We did this 3.3 mile hike (one way – assuming you park a car at each end of the trail, or 5 miles if you want to hike back to Tuscarora) back in late fall 2015 and loved the panoramic view offered of Gunflint Lake and beyond. As you hike northwest towards Magnetic Rock, you’ll both view and hiking through a valley. You can read our full write-up here.

If you don’t want to go all the way to the end of the Gunflint Trail, consider swinging into the Northern Light Overlook parking lot about 13 miles up the Trail from Grand Marais. From there, you’ll access a short, but very steep hiking trail and within 20 minutes time, you’ll be drinking in view of Northern Light Lake, the Brule River, and the Gunflint Trail. This trail is sometimes referred to as “Blueberry Hill” (not to be confused by a hike of the same name on the grounds of Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center), but all the signage refers to Northern Light.

Boundary Waters Trip Tips and "How To"

The Most Dangerous Thing You’re Doing in the Woods

The recent news story about three Isle Royale hikers being airlifted off the island after they became severely dehydrated reminded us that while campers are often hyperaware of the risks associated with getting lost, getting injured, or running into a bear, they often forget about the risks associated with not drinking enough water. But perhaps the most dangerous thing you can do while camping in the wilderness is letting yourself get dehydrated.

As our society becomes increasingly urbanized, we’ve become more fearful of a lot of things in the woods and waterborne illnesses rank pretty high on many people’s lists of Boundary Waters anxieties. However, waterborne illnesses are extremely rare in northern Minnesota and while no one wants to get giardia, it takes many days before giardia becomes symptomatic, so you probably won’t even know you have it until you get home. Obviously, you should avoid contracting giardia at all costs, but the point is that it’s not going to cause an emergency while you’re in the middle of the woods.

On the other hand, dehydration has a lot of unfortunate side effects that can put a powerful and immediate damper on your trip. The irritability and splitting headache that come with dehydration are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes dehydration’s unpleasantness. Let’s say you get dehydrated and you start losing some cognitive function. As a result, you might find yourself lost or having trouble making basic decisions. Or your motor skills start to suffer in your dehydrated state and you slip on a portage and end up with a twisted ankle . . . or worse. If left untreated, dehydration can lead to dizziness, cramps, fever, and loss of consciousness.

It might seem like an oxymoron to become dehydrated in a wilderness area that literally has “water” in its name, but we see it all the time. People come back from their canoe trips and they just seem a little . . . off. They’re confused and have trouble focusing and articulating. Sometimes they can barely make it up the outfitting building steps to collect their car keys. Get a bottle or two of cold water in them and they snap right back to life.

It’s kind of crazy that people spend their time in the Boundary Waters with “water, water everywhere and every drop you can drink” not drinking water. The chances of accidentally drinking water that will make you sick in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are very low. The basic rule of thumb is if it looks water you wouldn’t want to drink, don’t drink it. If you can see tadpoles swimming around in scuzzy green-tinged water, that is not what you should be drinking. But water taken from the middle of the lake where it’s getting sterilized by the sun’s ultraviolet rays all day, every day, is pure, delicious, and perfectly safe. Just dip your water bottle in and have a drink whenever you’re thirsty.

Still, we hear a lot of reasons why people don’t drink enough water on their canoe trips.

Reason #1: The filter took too long.

If the pump-style water filters are driving you crazy (it can take about 2+ minutes to fill a single Nalgene bottle) consider switching to a gravity filter, which is a great hands-free way to filter a large amount of water.

Or use the “poor man’s” water method. At the end of each day, fill your largest cooking pot with water. Bring the water to a rolling boil and sustain the boil for 1 minute. Cover the pot and let it cool overnight. The next morning you’ll wake up to cool, sterile water to fill your water bottles with.

Perhaps the most convenient option if you’re uncomfortable with drinking the water straight from the lake is to use a water bottle with a built-in water filter such as a LifeStraw, Katadyn, or Sawyer.

Reason #2: I don’t like the way it tastes.

It’s true, lake water just doesn’t taste like tap water. There’s a fair amount of tannins in Boundary Waters lakes that give the water a taste some people find off-putting. If you find lake water unpalatable, your best bet is to mask it with some sort of powdered beverage mix like Kool-Aid, Crystal Light, Gatorade, Tang, or lemonade. Just remember that any caffeinated beverages you consume don’t count as hydration, so don’t count your morning coffee or tea towards your daily water intake.

Reason #3: I can’t drink it because it’s not cold.

Room-temperature beverages are kind of what a Boundary Waters trip is all about and there’s not much any of us can do about it, short of hauling in ice packs or dry ice. If the lake temperatures are still pretty cold, you can use the lake as a fridge – just float your filled water bottles in the lake until cool. However, in high summer, when the surface water is around 70 degrees, this method is not super effective. If you really can’t stomach warm-ish drinking water, you may need to limit your Boundary Waters travels to spring and autumn.

Your best bet is to make drinking water something so automatic that you don’t even think about it on your canoe trip. Figure out some sort of hydration accountability system, such as making sure everyone drinks water at the end of every portage and don’t be afraid to be a “hydration bully” to your canoe trip buddies. One good rule of thumb is to have everyone pay attention to their lips. If your lips are dry, you’re on your way to dehydration and it’s time to have a sip of water, even if you don’t feel thirsty yet. In fact, the best bet is to drink enough water that you never feel truly thirsty.

Boundary Waters Trip Tips and "How To"

How Not To Get Lost in the Woods

Each year, a handful of people get really lost in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In this 1.1 million acre wilderness area lacking both navigational signs and cell phone service, the odds of getting horribly lost are extremely low. Of the 250,000 annual BWCAW visitors, only a dozen or so require Search and Rescue assistance each year. Still, you can make your odds of “staying found” even lower by following these tips.

In the Boundary Waters (and in life) practicing good situational awareness is the best way to avoid emergencies such as bodily harm or getting lost. Simply keeping your map in front of you at all time and actively identifying landmarks on the map as you pass by them is usually all that is needed to successfully navigate in the Boundary Waters. We often tell our guests to imagine themselves in a little canoe icon that’s moving across the map, just like you can follow that blue location dot on your phone’s map app. Another things that really seems to help people navigate in the Boundary Waters is to turn the map so it’s always pointed the way you’re going.

It seems like a high percentage of BWCAW visitors are “map people,” who really enjoy studying maps and are pretty geographically savvy. But whether or not you feel you have an innately good sense of direction, we believe everyone has the ability to be a good wilderness navigator. In this day and age where we have GPS units built into our phones and vehicles, we can become pretty passive navigators, so it’s not a bad idea to “practice being found” when you’re traveling on unknown route or navigating through a new city by being a more active navigator. Look at the full route so you picture it in your mind as you drive before you hit the “get directions” button. When you feel turned around in a city, find a landmark that will help you figure which direction you’re pointed. When you hone these skills in your everyday life, you’ll make it that much easier to navigate with a paper map in the Boundary Waters.

Even if you’re not the primary navigator on your trip, always have a general idea of where you are on the map. On the off chance that your primary navigator becomes incapacitated, you need to be a position where you can pick up the navigation “slack” for your group.

You might consider yourself pretty good with directions, but if you’ve been on a particular canoe route countless times, you still shouldn’t solely rely on your memory. Trees fall down, beavers build dams, hillsides erode. Take a gander at the map every 10 minutes or so to avoid any nasty surprises.

Although there are a lot of great GPS devices that can make navigating in the Boundary Waters infinitely easier, we still strongly recommend that every group has at least one complete set of paper maps that covers your entire route. You can still plan to exclusively use your GPS device during your trip, but a good back-up map is a must in case you run out of battery or drop your device in the lake or on a rock. You can’t go wrong investing in a set of Fisher, McKenzie, or Voyageur maps and they make a great trip souvenir.

No one sets out on their trip planning to get lost in the woods, but it’s good to remember that it’s a fate that could befall any Boundary Waters visitor, regardless of age or experience. When you getting that niggling feeling that something’s not right and you’re not exactly sure where you are, stop at that very moment, study your maps, and figure it out. If you can’t, backtrack to a point where you’re sure you know where you are. If possible, flag down another group and ask for directions. Most people are more than happy to help.

Remember, getting lost on a lake is not a big deal. Sure, it’s not a pleasant experience and you might lose some time, but when you’re lost on a lake, you’re in a self contained area and the likelihood of bumping into other people who can point you in the right direction is pretty high. Eventually, you will figure out where you are and can get on with your trip. However, getting lost in the woods is a big deal, so practice extra careful situational awareness if you ever find yourself off the beaten path in the Boundary Waters forest. Stick to establish portages and trails to make it easy to back track.

Have you ever gotten lost in the woods? How to you get “found”? What advice do you have for navigating in the Boundary Waters?

Tuscarora Lodge & Canoe Outfitters

Holiday Winter Gear Gift Guide 2018

The Best of Camp Reads: Edition Two – Epic Journeys in a Boat

The Best Fall Color Hikes on the Gunflint Trail

The Most Dangerous Thing You’re Doing in the Woods

How Not To Get Lost in the Woods

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