Not too long ago I had a flat tire and therefore went to the Tire Store to get it fixed. Leaving it safely in the hands of the Tire Guys, I turned around to leave and was stopped in my tracks when a middle-aged guy said, “You’re Hurricane Bob! From the magazine.” 

Mary and Joy like things that have a beginning and an end and are challenging.  This was for Mary Tuchscherer and Joy Zasadny to paddle 360 miles BWCAW last August.

by Dave Simpkins

Trails Editor

Birch bark canoes, sled dogs and living near Grand Portage has brought Erik Simula as close as a person can get to the lives of the early voyageurs and Ojibwe people.

Last summer, he learned firsthand what it is like to paddle 1000 miles over 108 days, as he fulfilled a lifelong dream of paddling the Arrowhead in his handmade birch bark canoe with his 40-pound sled dog Kitigan.

His 14-foot canoe was made in the Ojibwe-Anishinaabe old tribal form, weighing 45 pounds dry and 65 pounds wet. It was made of local white cedar framing, split black spruce roots and white birch bark for the hull and pine resin mixed with charcoal and bear grease for sealant. He harvested much of his bark and made repairs along the way.