2021

In the past few years, many intrepid Rovers have walked through the Valley of Death.

We passed through Hell’s Gate in the Funeral Mountains to explore a ghost town. We hiked through canyons of Marble and canyons of Gold, and traversed a wide plain of bitter white salt. We passed under a great bridge of rock, and saw a vast cathedral of red stone far above. We visited the Devil’s Golf-course and his Cornfield, and braved the burning sand dunes full of Rats, Lizards, and Snakes. We faced gale-force winds on the rim of an ancient volcanic crater, and negotiated flooded roads on our return. We saw a lovely waterfall, surrounded by green trees, hidden deep in a narrow canyon. We made our camp in the Furnace, where the sky flamed red at dawn and dusk, but our campfire burned low with eerie flames of green and blue in the dark. Ravens circled us by day, and Coyotes howled by night.

This is our story!

Bob J has been a Rover for decades and is currently the Club archivist. He has led many trips, nationally and internationally.

There are lots of camping cookstoves on the market, so how do you decide? Considerations may involve outside temperature, type of fuel, how quickly it boils water, ease of set up, maintenance issues, size and weight, type of trip, etc.

Chris Fothergill, a longtime Rover, former Rover Board Member, and REI associate, has extensive experience with stoves and other outdoor gear.

Over 200 miles of hiking and backpacking trails wind through Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, from day-hike distances to the sixty-five mile Border Route Trail. Most Rovers are familiar with the Border Route Trail, which Rovers built and help maintain through our Border Route Trail Association. This presentation will introduce resources for hiking, backpacking, and trail conservancy across the BWCAW, an overview of how volunteers have kept wilderness trails on the map, and the recent BWAC focus of bringing back the BWCAW Powwow Trail from the ashes of the 2011 Pagami Creek megafire.

The Boundary Waters Advisory Committee (BWAC) is an all-volunteer Minnesota nonprofit founded in 2002, with a mission to preserve existing historic trails in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. BWAC recruits and organizes volunteers for guided work trips to BWCAW trails, and advocates for wilderness trail funding to keep trails maintained and open.

Susan Pollock is a wilderness paddler and WCAW solo backpacker. She has been a crew member, crew leader, and is now president of the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee. She is replenished by the forest and by the people she has the privilege to hike with, and enjoys introducing others to backpacking and trail advocacy.

Debra Kuehne, Minnesota Rover and BWAC volunteer, will join the presentation to talk about her experience as a trail clearing volunteer with BWAC.

Susan Pollock, President of  the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee has been a volunteer, trips chair, and now am president of the Boundary Waters Advisory Committee, an all-volunteer Minnesota nonprofit with a mission to preserve historic trails in the BWCAW.

Part 2: Giant’s Causeway and Donegal Town

This is Part 2 of a presentation about a solo hiking experience in 2019 at Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland, and the following four days in Donegal Town, Donegal, Republic of Ireland. In Donegal Town I toured the O’Donnells castle and the ruins of the Franciscan Abbey, both built in 1474. I hiked the Fairy Bank Walk along River Eske and part of the Blue Stack Mountains Way hiking trail. An unexpected high point was a 3-day Military Tattoo with a parade with bagpipe marching units and several days of costumed re-enactments from five periods of military history. Please join me for one of the best trips I’ve ever been on!

Joannie J,

Joannie joined Rovers in August 2001. She enjoys xc skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, kayaking, biking, camping, and finding new adventures. She also enjoys banging pots at improvised campfire drum jams and other camp entertainments.

Voyageurs National Park is Minnesota’s own National Park. it encompasses 4 large lakes and is accessible only by water. Paddle or take a shuttle boat in and experience beautiful hiking trails, front country and back country campsites, the opportunity to backpack into an interior lake and have a campsite and canoe waiting for you. See extensive  wildlife: beavers, moose, wolves, loons, and more. It is also a newly designated Dark Skies location. The presentation will include the history of the park, recreational opportunities here, wildlife, and geology.

Erik Ditzler is a supervisory park ranger interpreter new to Voyageurs National Park.  He arrived last fall, coming from Arkansas Post National Memorial.  He enjoys hiking, canoeing, and watching wildlife.

In winter, the stories left by our non-human neighbors are visible in the snow. With time and attention, we can learn to read the snow like we read the morning newspaper: What happened here? Who did that? How does this affect me? Learn questions to ask & how to identify the tracks you find on your next adventure, whether in your backyard, nearby park, or the BWCA.

Kirsten Welge is a volunteer with the Minnesota Wildlife Tracking Project, and has led teams for wildlife track surveys and monthly trailing practice for the last four years. She holds a Level II in Wildlife Track & Sign Identification and Trailing through Cybertracker International. Through her business, Natural Awareness LLC, she integrates her background in public health with wildlife tracking to help others relax and thrive through connection with themselves and the natural world.

Tune in before the presentation for the Minnesota Rovers Annual Meeting where we will announce the results of the Board of Directors election.

In this presentation you’ll get a sampler of the best hiking and paddling routes on Canada’s Lake Superior coast. Routes include Pukaskwa National and Lake Superior Provincial Parks, Sibley’s giant whale tail, the Slates, Pic and Michipicoten Islands. David Wells will describe key must see features for each route along with logistics and tips to facilitate your travel.

As Director of Naturally Superior Adventures, David has been leading and organizing adventures on Canada’s Lake Superior Coast for more than 25 years. Based in Wawa, his objective is to share the power and beauty of Canada’s Lake Superior coast with you

You can easily spend a small fortune on gear. Or you can find ways to get it inexpensively, or even to make your own gear.

Tony Schmitz got bitten by the make-it-yourself bug about 20 years ago, when he started building kayaks in a basement workshop just barely big enough to accommodate a finished boat. Since then he’s built dozens of kayaks, canoes and baidarkas. Along the way he’s also constructed paddling garments, sprayskirts, paddles, tarps, alcohol stoves, neoprene mittens, mukluks, a composting toilet, and other stuff he’s probably forgotten about. For the cheapskate paddler and hiker, he’s got advice that will help you get started — and finish — a project that will leave you with affordable gear in your hands.

Rohan presented on January 5 on trekking in Nepal with his wife and daughters.  During the descent he had a medical emergency pop up unexpectedly. He  had to leave the trail and get to Kathmandu immediately to get the appropriate treatment before the illness could become life-threatening. Though Rohan trekked in Nepal three times and knew the area, as well as having a medical background and search and rescue background, it was quite difficult despite having evacuation insurance. He was able to arrange a helicopter evaluation. He will discuss the decision making process, the logistics and complicating factors in organizing the evacuation.

Rohan was born in Sri Lanka and then emigrated to the US 30 years ago to live with his wife, who he met during her second year of solo backpacking around the world. For our honeymoon we took a year off and backpacked around the world for a year, spending 9 months in the African continent and the rest in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. During this time (1993 – 1994) he did his first alpine hiking for 35 days exploring the Mt. Everest region. In 2004 he spent 24 days hiking the Annapurna circuit. As parents, Rohan and his wife have focused on taking our daughters and showing them the beauty of raw nature, different cultures, different ways of living  and the need for nature to be respected and taken care of for the future generations. Taking them hiking in Nepal was a bucket list item.

This will be a group presentation about tricks and hacks to stay warm in Minnesota winter while playing outdoors.

More to come!

Our presenter, Anton, has hiked in many parts of the world and there is no place in the world he would want to go to do an alpine hike. There is no place in the world that has the sheer beauty, the people, the food, and the culture as one gets trekking in Nepal. When you add to that it is a safe place where you can hike at your own pace, stay as long as you can with no need to pre book lodging and food, no need to follow a set itinerary, don’t need to carry a lot of stuff, and spend $ 15 to 20/day for all your meals and accommodations – it is hard to beat. He and his wife and daughters, aged 16 and 19, hiked the Langtang Trail.

Anton was born in Sri Lanka and then emigrated to the US 30 years ago to live with his wife, who he met during her second year of solo backpacking around the world. For our honeymoon we took a year off and backpacked around the world for a year, spending 9 months in the African continent and the rest in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. During this time (1993 – 1994) he did his first alpine hiking for 35 days exploring the Mt. Everest region. In 2004 he spent 24 days hiking the Annapurna circuit. As parents, Anton and his wife have focused on taking our daughters and showing them the beauty of raw nature, different cultures, different ways of living  and the need for nature to be respected and taken care of for the future generations. Taking them hiking in Nepal was one of their bucket list items.