Northwoods Memories Multimedia Productions

When we were in Ely, summer of 2008, I had a conversation with Steve Piragis, owner of Piragis Northwoods Company and the Boundary Waters Catalog.  I was introducing him to our fledgling series of Northwoods Pictograph bulletins.  In the course of the conversation he asked me about the Island River Pictograph site.  During this same visit he had asked me about the South Hegman Lake Pictograph site.  His account with pictures of his trip to the South Hegman Lake site was printed in Boundary Waters News, their on-line newsletter, Fall of 2008.

In June of 2009, after a trip to Ely, I wrote Steve passing on information I had gathered based on some research and our visit to the Island River site.  In it I also included information about  the South Hegman site, and that information was included in my blog post on September 28, 2009.

In July of 2009, Steve reprinted the original article from the previous Fall and my letter to him about the two sites.  Following is the approximate text of part of that publication.  I have edited it slightly from what was published to try to clarify some of the points in my original writing.

I have several unanswered questions about this site: (more…)

When we were in Ely, summer of 2008, I had a conversation with Steve Piragis, owner of Piragis Northwoods Company and the Boundary Waters Catalog.  I was introducing him to our fledgling series of Northwoods Pictograph bulletins.  In the course of the conversation he asked me about the South Hegman Lake site and if I thought it was real.  While the North Hegman Lake site is well known and authentic, we had not heard about the South Hegman Lake site.  He had recently heard of the site and he had visited it and taken some pictures.  He offered to send me the pictures from the site and references to the site location.

His account with pictures was printed in Boundary Waters News, their on-line newsletter, Fall of 2008.  He sent me the pictures and I reviewed them.

Then in May of 2009, Edwina and I visited the South Hegman Site on an easy day trip.  During that same week in Ely, we crossed paths with Steve again when we were eating at the Chocolate Moose.  He asked me about my opinion of the Island River Site.  He wondered if the very large green and gray images were authentic.  We visited briefly about them before moving on to breakfast. (more…)

For all of our readers who are associated with Boy Scout units headed to the Boundary Waters or Quetico based out of Charles Sommers, the Northern Tier Canoe Base, our Northwoods Pictograph bulletins are not currently stocked in the store there or in the outfitting department.  We wanted to let you know so that if you are traveling a route with pictograph sites, and you are interested in having your Scouts learn about pictograph sites and the related Ojibwa culture, you will need to pick up bulletins before arriving at the base.

You can order from our website, or if you want to save shipping charges, there are several outfitters close to Sommers who carry a complete stock of the bulletins.  You can check our “shop” pages or the “links” page for a list of those outfitters who stock our bulletins. (more…)

Our Northwoods Pictograph project is based on our commitment to revisit every pictograph site seen in the past and visit those we have not yet seen.  On our first trip in 2007, we visited 13 sites through 4 entry points in Quetico and two entry points in the Boundary Waters.  This trip consisted of four individual trips of one or more nights and two day trips of a few hours each.  In this report on the first part of the trip, I will cover the day trip to the Sea Gull Lake pictograph site (in the BWCA) and the overnight trip to the Cache Bay site across the Canadian borderOrder Cache Bay and Seagull Lake Bulletins.

Northwoods Pictograph bulletins used on this trip:  Saganaga Lake, Cache Bay and Seagull Lake  (one bulletin covering two sites).  Order Bulletin here .
 

 Fisher Map used on this trip:  F 19

McKenzie Map used on this trip:  Map 6

  I also provide some information for future paddlers or those interested in simple trips, pictures of the Cache Bay Ranger Station, a video clip of the Quetico sea plane resupplying the Cache Bay Ranger station,  and the account of a completely unexpected and exciting encounter with a group of paddlers who reported a new petroglyph site. (more…)

Folks who have not been to canoe country ask us many questions about planning a trip.  Invariably, we answer their question, and quickly add, “Figure out the dates of your trip and contact your outfitter with those dates as soon as possible.”  We addressed the idea of finding an outfitter and what they can do for you in an earlier post.  Now we must address the “dates” issue.

Permits are required for entry into both Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada, and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northeastern Minnesota.  Both areas are controlled entry, meaning that only a specific number of permits are allowed per day into each entry point.  Additionally, there are a maximum number of canoes and people allowed under each permit.  Outfitters are experts at handling this information.  But they cannot begin to help you until they know the date you will arrive at their base, and the date you want to go out on the trail.  The most important thing for you to realize in this process is that “the early bird gets the worm.” (more…)