Following the Winchell Expedition Video Presentation

During the spring of 2021, I retraced the 1879 route taken by Minnesota State Geologist Newton Horace Winchell. The route was approximately 160 miles with over 30 miles of portages. It started on Lake Superior in Grand Marais, MN, USA. Then I followed a route that would have been close to what was called the Iron Trail into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which is America’s most visited wilderness area. It’s a million acres of wilderness with over 2,000 lakes and 1,200 miles of canoe routes. I paddled through the BWCAW to meet up with the historic Ojibwe canoe route from Knife Lake to the mouth of the Poplar River, which is on Lake Superior. That’s where I ended my trip. It took just under two weeks to complete the trip.

I gave a presentation about the trip at virtual Canoecopia. The presentation I gave was live online. Before the live presentation, I practiced and recorded a backup video in case anything went wrong. I put the backup video onto YouTube, so you can watch it. I think I gave the live version a bit better than this practice version, but this version covers everything. I hope you enjoy it.

I previous wrote a bunch of articles about the gear I brought with me:

• Lightweight Camping Cook Set for Canoeing and Kayaking
• Clothing for the Boundary Waters
• Tent, Sleeping Bag and Portage Pack for the Boundary Waters
• Miscellaneous Gear for a Boundary Waters Trip
• Food for a Boundary Waters Canoe Trip
• Solo Paddling Gear for the Boundary Waters