SPRING WEEK IN QUETICO

Spring Trout Trip              

When four adult, slightly past middle age, guys, get together for a camping trip you know there will lots of jokes, jabs and jabbering.  The great thing about a boyz trip to the Quetico for lake trout is the chance to be little boys again or a primitive hunting party or some combination thereof.   At these ripe ages there less bragging and less muscle testing and a lot more dependence of each other and modesty, the result of what little wisdom that has been gained over so many years.  All for the better to have more fun,  take fewer portages and prepare a few good meals that men have garnered from years of watching their wives. 

This was a laid back, no worries about catching a lot of fish and happy to be out, kind of trip we did last week to the fabled North Bay of Basswood Lake in Quetico Park.   It was the week before fishing opener in Minnesota and two weeks before the same in Ontario.  Lake Trout is the only species that we could keep that were in season.   When we caught a smallmouth bass and a walleye, both handsome specimens, they had to go right back in the lake.   The lakers were playing hard to get on us.  We trolled a lot of water at different depths and saw some great scenery, absorbed too much solar radiation on the hands, ears and nose but rarely had to reel up lunker lakers.   Actually, there were no lunkers caught last week.  The bay was cold and calm most of the 5 days we were there but she was pretty stingy with the red fleshed trout. 

When a lake trout was landed it was meant for the pan and the meals were exceptional.   I made a first for me; trout tacos.   It was just snap decision while hiking the isles of Zup’s grocery in Ely the day before the trip to buy cole slaw mix and dressing and some real big soft taco shells.   I just breaded strips of trout cut off the filets and fast fried them laying them in the taco with some fried cubed potatoes and onion topped with juicy cole slaw.  It seemed to be a hit among the four men cooking around the campfire.    One of my chums for another trout dinner baked his filets over the fire in aluminum foil with butter and onions; another big success story for the guys.   We spent time contemplating how much water to use for oatmeal and whether or not the pork loin over the fire was cooked enough or if a little pink was now ok to serve America’s other white meat.   With the occasional sip of box wine from a plastic bag details of cooking were more easily worked out.  

Perhaps the most solemn moment of the trip was the scattering of the ashes of one of our fathers who passed away recently.  Jack was a friend to all, a great hockey coach and a bit of an old curmudgeon but renowned for his unique expressions and liberal use of language that would be bleeped out on TV.   Not that Jack was on TV but he a star to those of us who knew him.  If you knew Jack you always smiled when his name was mentioned.  He did some fishing up north and he loved to visit Ely with his wife Ann to see what their son was doing now to live the life of a modern entrepreneur woodsman.  Like father, like son, Steve managed to scatter a few choice words in every conversation we had last week.  It’s a loose group when the men that are still boys at heart, make a trip to the woods to catch lake trout in spring.   Enjoy the photos and come up soon. 

Lost Among the Pages of Lost Among the Birds Book Review

What if life took you on a year long journey where every moment was like a grain of sand sifting through a giant hourglass and in the recesses of your mind you could hear the hands of the clock ticking closer to... but none of that mattered because even though time was winding down, the quest, and the journey and the relationship with our winged neighbors drew you deeper and deeper after an unmistakably exciting goal?

"This book came to me from a friend who is only a very casual birder on vacation trips. She and her friend who is even less of an avid birder both recommend it. As a avid birder for, wow, 50 years now I was skeptical. Let it be said that I was judging the book by its advocates and, wow again, was I wrong. I loved it and got so tied up reading it in my usual reading spot, the tub, I think I over soaked again. My wife and I actually used the authors list of birds from his "Big Year" in the back of the book to search out and find birds in Arizona last month.

I find myself wanting to go to remote Attu Island now this summer; one spot even the author missed in 2013. "Lost" is funny, insightful and just plain fun to read if you're a life long birder or, as my friends have proven, even if you just appreciate the occasional sighting out the kitchen window or on the ferry to Nantucket. Read it, you'll see."  -- Steve Piragis

Lost Among the Birds

by Neil Hayward

Early in 2013 Neil Hayward was at a crossroads. He didn't want to open a bakery or whatever else executives do when they quit a lucrative but unfulfilling job. He didn't want to think about his failed relationship with "the one" or his potential for ruining a new relationship with "the next one." And he almost certainly didn't want to think about turning forty. And so instead he went birding.

Birding was a lifelong passion. It was only among the birds that Neil found a calm that had eluded him in the confusing world of humans. But this time he also found competition. His growing list of species reluctantly catapulted him into a Big Year--a race to find the most birds in one year. His peregrinations across twenty-eight states and six provinces in search of exotic species took him to a hoarfrost-covered forest in Massachusetts to find a Fieldfare; to Lake Havasu, Arizona, to see a rare Nutting's Flycatcher; and to Vancouver for the Red-flanked Bluetail. Neil's Big Year was as unplanned as it was accidental: It was the perfect distraction to life.

Neil shocked the birding world by finding 749 species of bird and breaking the long-standing Big Year record. He also surprised himself: During his time among the hummingbirds, tanagers, and boobies, he found a renewed sense of confidence and hope about the world and his place in it.

We hope you'll enjoy this book as much as we did and remember that you can find it online at The Boundary Waters catalog along with thousands of other titles or here in our upstairs bookstore the next time you visit Ely, Minnesota and Piragis Northwoods Company.

A Walk in the Woods

Fall Hike to the Falls

 Leave work and head out for hike on a Saturday afternoon?  Everyone should be so lucky as to live near a great wilderness like the Boundary Waters.  I couldn’t resist the temptation on a mid-October day with the temps stretching towards 65 and the last of the yellow and gold of fall still on the trees.

The short Kawishiwi Falls Trail is one I’ve hiked a dozen times.  Usually the destination is Fall Lake to see early migrating ducks in April or the falls during high water to gaze at the power of water roaring over the rocks.  This was more of stroll this past Saturday, a saunter really, with a camera, just the I phone camera.  I hope you like the photos but they can only show a moment in time in two dimensions when the experience is so much more.

Take the smells for one; fresh sawed logs from trees toppled over the trail in wind storms this summer, the moist pockets of balsamic air, the sweet smell of popple leaves rotting into humus and  the mist over the falls carrying a few molecules of the pungency of freshwater sponge.   Then there is the human dimension.

People on any trail change the moment to a human experience.  And, were there ever people out on Saturday in the late autumn sunshine.  I’m usually trying to find solitude in nature but it felt really good to see so many people out.  The trail is near town, there’s good parking (all full) and it’s an easy walk.  This trail is all about getting older people, people with kids and just saunterers like me out for a half hour or an hour into nearby nature.   I saw families with little kids, couples holding hands, 6 younger women (younger than me anyway) all carrying big coffee cups and the occasional older guy out by himself, all walking the trail.

Sounds too don’t show up on photos but if they did you’d hear leaves shaking in the breeze, kid’s excited chatter and the background always of the falls.  Noises, smells and the presence of people help to fill the senses on this hike on this day.

I was there in a different mood.   I was in the creative mood with the camera.  I got passed by all the other hikers as I sauntered from one tree to the next rock toward the destination; the falls.    Actually, I forgot about the falls until it hit me in the face with the view at the end of the trail.  I was focused on the yellow birch with their tinted bark and clinging yellow leaves.  It was really a walking meditation, keeping the senses all awake and aware to spot the light.  Light on leaves, light on ancient boulders and their communities of fern and moss, bright light of the sun setting slowly through tangles of brush and crooked limbs of the birch left standing after the storms of this tumultuous summer.

I took an hour to do a half hour hike.  I shot maybe 100 images.   I had no destination so the circular trail was perfect to get me back while never having to decide to turn around.  (great thing about circles)   It was fulfilling.  I hope you have a trail near you too.  Hike it slowly sometime and see the light.

-- Steve

Steve Piragis
Piragis Northwoods Company
105 N. Central Ave
Ely, Mn 55731

Fall Comes to the Northland

Yesterday, Steve Piragis and I took a walk along a portage near Ely.  After a day and night of rain, our leaves that had really just begun to deepen in color were falling all around us.  Autumn here in the Northwoods is fickle and comes on fast.  It has no patience for those of us who love it so much and no desire to every hang around as much as we'd like it to.

So, when you have some time, or not, (it is always best to make time) It pays to get outside and relish the oranges, yellows, browns, magentas, reds against the backdrop of green conifers and blue sky.  The yellow in this kevlar Wenonah Spirit II made a cool focal point.

I'm really just along for the ride, but the Piragis Pants and Chota Breathable Waterproof Socks aren't.  They are the real deal and when paired with Chota Caney Fork Portage Boots or Quetico Trekkers, they make perfect sense for your feet during cool water times such right now.  With 5 nights complete with frost already, the waters are fresh with anticipation of being hard in a month and a half if not sooner.  The fish instinctively know this and they are hungry.  The bite is on!

If the beautiful colors aren't enough to entice you into a trip to Ely and the Boundary Waters this Autumn, that should.  Nothing like a fresh fish dinner over the campfire.

Oh, and just because Minnesota is full of surprises, on Sunday, it is supposed to be 76 degrees here in Ely.  Sunshine will never feel so great.

p.s. The next two weekends represent the end of our Outlet Store Season for 2015.  That means less than eight days left for you to save 75% on excellent clothing items in our Outlet Store.  Sale ends when MEA Weekend is over.

The walk in the woods yesterday inspired this poem.

North Country Fall

Leaves are falling,

circling round in their descent

like distant friends might

one day plot a pilgrimage

towards freedom.

Bigtooth Aspens, White Swamp Oaks,

Showy Mountain Ash

Popples and Paper Birches,

Silver Maple; Black Ash,

Pin Cherry, Quaking Aspens

and underneath, Ironwood, Honeysuckle and Anise Hyssop.

Eastern Cottonwoods, Box Elders.

Sugar Maples and a

solitary

Shagbark Hickory, the ugly duckling

amongst a temeritous stand

of Bur Oak.

While the tamarack turn

their backs on their green

coniferous neighbors.

Leafy fingers,

Golden with rust, reach

for the clouds as if 

to pull down the 

snow around their

knobby knees,

before falling selfishly.

Alone, leafless, among all the other

conifers of the North.

Strong smells of woodsmoke

are in the air

and under the raven’s

wing.  Apples burgeon

with Summer’s amorous liquor, heavy

on brown branches that

once blossomed

at the mercy of the same 

visiting winds signaling

the separation of Spring.

Lying on the forest floor

I think of you and how far

and fast I’ve fallen.

In the face of your

fortunate

landing.

@Timothy James Stouffer, 10/09/2015

All Rights Reserved

The Yoke Was on Us

The Yoke Was on Us

The year was 1975.  So, not that long ago.  It was only the best of times. 

We started our job at EPA’s Shagawa Lake Project on Memorial Day Weekend.   It was our first experience taking on a project of our own and being responsible.   Nancy was the technical partner; trained by the master of zooplankton feeding rates, Dr. Jim Haney.   I was supposed to be the theoretician; trying to make some sense of the data and design a good study.   As lowly contractors we got some meager lab space tightly guarded over by our new friends, the full time employees.   The study progressed well with only a couple minor mishaps involving a little radioactive P32 finding a hole in my rubber glove.  I slept a few nights with my arm over the side of the bed.  Can’t be too careful with one’s gametes.  We found Ely night life enticing, spending more than one evening on crawls up Sheridan Street lavishing in our new found freedom.  Hoping our boss doesn’t read this but we missed a couple of sample times in our diel study on the night of July 4^th after a visit to the then famous Legion Club later to be known as the Red Garter.  

So Ely was the oasis at the end of a long road from New Hampshire for me and my research partner.   We gained a best friend who worked at Canadian Waters that summer.  She was a blond Swede from St. Paul named Margot (but pronounced Margit) with so much Minnesotan accent we thought she was a recent immigrant.  After a week or two of hearing all the stories about the wilderness out our back door ( we lived in the basement of Shagawa Inn) we set off with Margot’s advice to explore the wilderness.  She was flabbergasted at our suggestion that we might camp on one of the wild islands of Shagawa.  After all, we had spent many hours in white lab coats in our Boston Whaler sampling the waters of Shag and kinda liked it.   After proper admonition, we found the portage to Hegman and off we went on our first wilderness trip.

My dad was a boat dealer in Massachusetts so when he heard that I was spending  a summer in Ely, Minnesota he told me about the ads he’d seen in Outdoor Life for years about the Canoe Country.   After loading up a ton of science gear in my Volvo I strapped on a Grumman to the roof and took off for the cross Canada highway to Grand Portage and the wilds of Minnesota.  The canoe turned out to be essential that summer as slowly the summer progressed and paddling wild lakes became almost as important as catching wild Daphnia and rotifers.   It was that first outing though that Nancy and I made a major discovery.   The trail to Hegman is wide and sloping and outfitted with steps for the uninitiated.   We hoisted the canoe on our shoulders, one in the front and one in the rear upside down and off we went.  On the somewhat jerky hike to the lake we met a fellow traveler climbing back up the parking lot carrying his canoe by himself from the middle of the canoe.  What was that?  A few more canoes at the put in had something like pads hanging off the center thwart.  That’s how Minnesotans carry a canoe?   Unheard of in New England where portages are just for the wimps who don’t run the white water.   It looked intriguing however and I called my dad as soon as we got back to the lab that Sunday.  As a long time Grumman dealer (since 1955) he said it was what is called a yoke and it just tightens down to the center thwart.  Dad had one on the shelves in Athol, Mass collecting dust for the past 20 years.   What a revelation!  In a week we had a yoke of our own and ever since the yoke has been on us.

Steve

Blog for American Rivers by Steve Piragis

Somehow rivers speak to us don't they?  More than placid lakes that lie still and demur asking only to be respected, rivers demand your attention.  Spring whirlpools turn to summer's lazy meanders and the surface for transporting leaf boats to the sea in fall.  Lakes seem safe in winter for us to ski or fish or camp but rivers have the unpredictable personality that tempts us to take a chance.  It's the the headwaters of big rivers that I love the most.  Small streams merge into medium streams.  Rocks, not mud dominates the benthos.  Hatches of midges and stoneflies emerge from cold waters then the best of all, the dragonflies of June walk out on a rock and unzip themselves down the back, unfurl their wings and set sail in the fragrant air of a blooming June day.  Such is the mood and the temperament of the Kawishiwi River winding its way thru the heart of America's canoe wilderness, the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. 

How could a wilderness river so pure for twelve thousand years since it's birth under glacial ice be threatened?  This gem, flowing tea amber from bogs and lakes that lie within the Precambrian bedrock, has a small problem.  A billion plus years before that last glacier melted during a time of crustal uproar these Algoman highlands were being injected from the mantle of the earth with a magma rich in metal ions hot to mate with the sulfur atoms in the country rock that this magma was invading.  The marriage made in hell lay dormant through a quarter of the earth's life until now.  Now the metals bound to their mate sulfur are immensely valuable to the planet's masters.  We, the members of the technology culture, have in insatiable and gluttonous appetite for metal.  The problem the Kawishiwi has is that these metals are sleeping in the crust just below the river and are being awakened by the core drillers taking biopsies to assess their riches.  Metals tied to sulphur in a sulfide marriage brought up to the light of day and the exposed to the rains and winds get divorced quickly and remarried hot to travel on the river as sulphuric acid and loose metal ions.  The river suffers when plants and frogs and fish burn out on the acid or suck up the metals to become toxic to the trophic layer above them.  

It's rather simple isn't it? Don't risk the life of one of the world's most pure rivers flowing through the heart of the most loved wilderness to feed the insatiable  appetite of this culture.  The river deserves our love and our willingness to fight for it;  even to commit to use less metals ourselves and enjoy our brief lives on this enduring planet more in the company of a river with personality, a river with life and liberty and purity, a river like the Kawishiwi.  

Steve Piragis

Storm Clouds Roll In

Dinner Light Show at Underhill Farm Last Night

Photography can be demanding of time, patience and pure will but last night the clouds lit up and photos appeared between sips of a really pretty darn good cabernet and bites of a really damn good organic roast just off the grill.

Here's what I shot of the clouds from our homestead while Nancy and I sat eating a lovely dinner on our deck.  We were on the northern edge of some severe weather that was passing by us just to the south and changing flashing bold colors and patterns, changing by the second.  Wish you all could have been there.

Cell Phone Tower Project will Shrink Wilderness

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/06/22/piragis/

Commentary from MPR NEWS
Court's decision to allow cell tower makes the wilderness a little smaller
June 22, 2012

By Steve Piragis
Steve Piragis is proprietor of Piragis Northwoods Co. in Ely.

On a clear, moonless night in December last year, I was alone in the middle of Gabbro Lake. The ice was clear and the wind was still; only the rumble of expanding ice broke the silence.

Out of range of all manmade light, the stars seemed to almost hum in the sky. As I walked along, awake and alive in the moment, a new light appeared between low hills on the northeastern horizon: a red, blinking light.

What was pure wilderness, like no other that a person can find in Minnesota, suddenly was interrupted. The Lookout Ridge tower is miles away from Gabbro by Snowbank Lake, yet on a clear night in winter the red strobe demanded my attention and disrupted what Ely advertising calls "the last great pure experience."

Is this experience becoming less pure as more towers and more lights are allowed to infringe on wilderness?

Winter or summer, the Boundary Waters is an escape from the modern world. It's where I go to find a pace of life that is natural. Where my mind can fix on one task or one view at a time. It's really why I love wild places. The gyrations of the mind settle down for a while and we see life in the present.

The sights are subtle here but no less impressive than the Grand Canyon or Yosemite. In summer it's the call of the loons, wings slapping the water as they struggle to lift their airframes off the lake. In fall it can be the glow of golden birches and poplar set ablaze in the late afternoon light and the sting of frost on the gunwales in morning. Winter is the quiet season, when I usually find the Boundary Waters mostly to myself. It takes only one short portage to a lake like Gabbro to find pure solitude. Booms of expanding ice break the silence, but overhead the silence of space seems close. In my mind it's as close as I can get to God, alone, walking on a frozen lake.

If we go to wilderness to find peace, quiet and solitude, do we need to bring with us the devices of our lives we sought to escape? On a calm evening in summer, camped on a wilderness lake, wouldn't it be annoying to hear a fellow camper talking on his cell phone? Do we need our iPads every night to have fun? Is it really the last pure experience if we have towers piercing the horizon with red strobes, reminding us of the jobs and responsibilities we left behind? Won't some of us start to think that maybe we need to find a more pure wilderness?

The profit motive may have made our country great, but now it threatens to impair wilderness like the Boundary Waters as huge corporations like AT&T struggle to compete and look to fill in big gulps of land on their coverage maps. Compromise on the issue of cell towers wasn't good enough. A 200-foot tower with 87 percent coverage wasn't good enough. Any budget for legal fees was OK as long as the corporation won in the end and its right to light up the night sky with red strobes was upheld.

The loons will still call and the fish will still bite and the stars will glow on moonless nights. But to escape the flashing strobes we'll have to paddle or snowshoe a little farther, and the wilderness will be a little smaller.

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts: Destination Boundary Waters

We are getting a lot of interest lately from Boy Scout and Girl Scout groups across the country.  It stands to reason, the Boundary Waters has long been a great destination for High Adventure trips and once in a lifetime opportunities for Scouts.  Here at Piragis we are proud to support Scout groups in their efforts to expand their wilderness horizons. 

We believe that a first experience in canoe country should be complimented with first-class, ultra-lightweight kevlar canoes and the lightest, best back country camping gear available.  Scouts deserve the best and we're here to make sure they get the best and at discounted outfitting rates.  Our goal is to make the trip memorable and fun and plant the seeds for many return trips to Ely and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

If you are a scout or you know of a troop in your area we'd be happy to send them outfitting information.  You can always contact Drew or Adam at 1 800 223 6565 to plan your trips.  We just booked a group of 27 (3 separate groups of 9) last Friday.  The season is underway already even though the lakes are freezing over. :)

What follows are a couple of letters from Steve Piragis and a couple of short testimonials from Scout Trip Clients:

 Always a Scout

I often get asked what got me interested in the outdoors.  I always answer: My Dad and Boy Scouts.  I grew up in the hills of central Massachusetts, a part of the East where progress was slow to take over the land.  My dad took me trout fishing the streams in the deep woods when no trespassing signs were rarely seen.  Good old Troop 18 met in the basement of the Catholic Church but the big fun was on camp outs and at summer camp on the lake.  Scouting was about all the good things in the Scout Oath but the fun was out in nature.  Hikes, campouts and paddling around Sandy Lake or up on the wild part of the Connecticut River. 

Scouts in the 1960’s didn’t have the best of equipment.  In fact it was really pretty primitive; canvas tents, no sleeping pads, heavy aluminum canoes and splintered wooden paddles.  I’m still amazed that any of us made it to middle age without major back issues and crooked spines.  The Scouts of today have all the gear available to make even better memories.  They should be safer in their outdoor adventures and a whole lot more comfortable.  We forgot long ago the misery of sleeping on cold ground and the weight of the portage packs but there is no need to make any trek or paddling trip a endurance test for young bodies.

I’m proud today to be able to outfit the Scout groups that come through Piragis Northwoods Company for their Boundary Waters/Quetico canoe trips with the lightest gear and canoes available.  Boy and Girl Scouts of the 21st Century of course don’t know how really good they have it but we can smile and know they will grow up to know and love the outdoors perhaps even more than we did. 

Eagle Scout: Steve Piragis

Steve Piragis
Piragis Northwoods Company
105 N. Central Ave
Ely, Mn 55731

1 800 223-6565
1 218 365-6745


"Our trip to the Boundary Waters was the highlight of the year for many of our scouts and we are already discussing a return trip. The 2009 trip was my fifth trip to Ely and the fifth time using Piragis Northwoods. This is not a coincidence, but a tribute to you and your staff for the excellent service and gear you provide time and time again. It is with much gratitude that I tip my hat to everyone at Piragis."

Dave Herbster, Sabetha, KS

"I can't tell you how much we enjoyed our High Adventure in the Boundary Waters, and how smooth and easy you guys made it for us. The packs, canoes, paddles and vests were all top-notch and the price was right on. Your facility is great, especially the showers! Rest assured I will ABSOLUTELY recommend you in the future, and when (not if) we return to the BWCA you will be our first and, most likely, only call."

Tony Anaya – Cincinnati, OH

Dear Scout Leader:

I'd like to introduce myself and my company with the hope that what follows will be of mutual benefit and enjoyment to both the Boy Scout council and the scouts as they continue to explore the outdoors.  I'm writing to you from beautiful Ely, Minnesota on the edge of over 2000 wilderness lakes that are only accessible by canoe.

My name is Steve Piragis, owner and co-founder of Piragis Northwoods Company and the Boundary Waters Catalog.  My wife, Nancy and I began our business in Ely, Minnesota in 1979.  Our commitment to preserving wilderness for canoeists and campers alike has remained steadfast.  Our backyard is home to the world's greatest canoeing area.  New adventures are launched from Ely everyday.

Our knowledge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and our northern neighbor, Ontario's Quetico Park is based on our extensive travel experience and dedication to the sport of canoeing.  Simply put, our canoe outfitting staff knows the routes because we paddle them.  We know the gear because we use it.  Before it ever makes it into our rental fleet onto the retail store floor or pages of the catalog, it experiences real use in the great outdoors.

As canoe trip outfitters we specialize in lightweight canoes and gear that are durable enough for wilderness conditions but light enough to take the strain off of backs both young and old.  Forty-four pound kevlar canoes and 15.5 oz kevlar paddles are standard equipment here and they really make a difference.  We offer full-outfitting packages including all the gear and food needed for a canoe trip and we also have partial canoe trip outfitting that allows paddlers to rent a single canoe or piece of gear by the day.

You can find us online at www.piragis.com and reach us by phone at 1-800-223-6565.  Ely, Minnesota is the destination for canoe campers.  With our extensive experience and clients who return year after year to rent from us, we know that should your leaders and scouts desire to travel to the Boundary Waters, we can plan the trip of a lifetime for them to enjoy.

Thank you for your time,

Steve Piragis, President
Piragis Northwoods Company
105 North Central Avenue
Ely, MN  55731
1-800-223-6565

A letter to Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Scout Leaders from Steve Piragis

Always a Scout

I often get asked what got me interested in the outdoors.  I always answer: My Dad and Boy Scouts.  I grew up in the hills of central Massachusetts, a part of the East where progress was slow to take over the land.  My dad took me trout fishing the streams in the deep woods when no trespassing signs were rarely seen.  Good old Troop 18 met in the basement of the Catholic Church but the big fun was on camp outs and at summer camp on the lake.  Scouting was about all the good things in the Scout Oath but the fun was out in nature.  Hikes, campouts and paddling around Sandy Lake or up on the wild part of the Connecticut River. 

Scouts in the 1960’s didn’t have the best of equipment.  In fact it was really pretty primitive; canvas tents, no sleeping pads, heavy aluminum canoes and splintered wooden paddles.  I’m still amazed that any of us made it to middle age without major back issues and crooked spines.  The Scouts of today have all the gear available to make even better memories.  They should be safer in their outdoor adventures and a whole lot more comfortable.  We forgot long ago the misery of sleeping on cold ground and the weight of the portage packs but there is no need to make any trek or paddling trip a endurance test for young bodies.

I’m proud today to be able to outfit the Scout groups that come through Piragis Northwoods Company for their Boundary Waters/Quetico canoe trips with the lightest gear and canoes available.  Boy and Girl Scouts of the 21st Century of course don’t know how really good they have it but we can smile and know they will grow up to know and love the outdoors perhaps even more than we did. 

Eagle Scout: Steve Piragis

Steve Piragis
Piragis Northwoods Company
105 N. Central Ave
Ely, Mn 55731

1 800 223-6565
1 218 365-6745


"Our trip to the Boundary Waters was the highlight of the year for many of our scouts and we are already discussing a return trip. The 2009 trip was my fifth trip to Ely and the fifth time using Piragis Northwoods. This is not a coincidence, but a tribute to you and your staff for the excellent service and gear you provide time and time again. It is with much gratitude that I tip my hat to everyone at Piragis."

Dave Herbster, Sabetha, KS

"I can't tell you how much we enjoyed our High Adventure in the Boundary Waters, and how smooth and easy you guys made it for us. Also, let Bert know we appreciate all of his work on our trip, too. The packs, canoes, paddles and vests were all top-notch and the price was right on. Your facility is great, especially the showers! Rest assured I will ABSOLUTELY recommend you in the future, and when (not if) we return to the BWCA you will be our first and, most likely, only call."

Tony Anaya – Cincinnati, OH

Dear Scout Leader:

I'd like to introduce myself and my company with the hope that what follows will be of mutual benefit and enjoyment to both the Boy Scout council and the scouts as they continue to explore the outdoors.  I'm writing to you from beautiful Ely, Minnesota on the edge of over 2000 wilderness lakes that are only accessible by canoe.

My name is Steve Piragis, owner and co-founder of Piragis Northwoods Company and the Boundary Waters Catalog.  My wife, Nancy and I began our business in Ely, Minnesota in 1979.  Our commitment to preserving wilderness for canoeists and campers alike has remained steadfast.  Our backyard is home to the world's greatest canoeing area.  New adventures are launched from Ely everyday.

Our knowledge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and our northern neighbor, Ontario's Quetico Park is based on our extensive travel experience and dedication to the sport of canoeing.  Simply put, our canoe outfitting staff knows the routes because we paddle them.  We know the gear because we use it.  Before it ever makes it into our rental fleet onto the retail store floor or pages of the catalog, it experiences real use in the great outdoors.

As canoe trip outfitters we specialize in lightweight canoes and gear that are durable enough for wilderness conditions but light enough to take the strain off of backs both young and old.  Forty-four pound kevlar canoes and 15.5 oz kevlar paddles are standard equipment here and they really make a difference.  We offer full-outfitting packages including all the gear and food needed for a canoe trip and we also have partial canoe trip outfitting that allows paddlers to rent a single canoe or piece of gear by the day.

You can find us online at www.piragis.com and reach us by phone at 1-800-223-6565.  Ely, Minnesota is the destination for canoe campers.  With our extensive experience and clients who return year after year to rent from us, we know that should your leaders and scouts desire to travel to the Boundary Waters, we can plan the trip of a lifetime for them to enjoy.

Thank you for your time,

Steve Piragis, President
Piragis Northwoods Company
105 North Central Avenue
Ely, MN  55731
1-800-223-6565

Fireplaces in Quetico

I'm curious to know what others who love Quetico Park think about the issue of fireplaces at campsites. I for one really do not like the cast iron grates that the Forest Service has at all sites in the BWCAW. They take too much fire to heat up and waste wood. A small fire of sticks over a smaller grate will boil water in no time if the pot is near the peak of the fires heat. In Quetico you have to bring your own grate.

An old refridgerator wire shelf will work or a good commercially made grate that can be tiny for a couple or huge for a big group. So you find the fireplace that is at every camp site in Quetico and begin figuring it out for your grate.

Some of these fireplaces look like a pile of smoke stained rocks set in a matrix of ash, dead blackened wood and the ubiquitous aluminum foil. It's an ugly mess especially if its wet. When I see this I just can't help myself and I start pulling it apart and cleaning it up.

Is anyone else out there offended by that mess we have to call a fireplace at Quetico campsites? What do you do about it? It's possible to just figure it out with minimal effort or you can get aggressive and pull it apart. I've done both but I must have been a mason in another life cause I love building or rebuilding a really cool fireplace for ourselves and those who come after us to the site. What if we all rebuilt the fireplaces to be functional and even beautiful?

Maybe other campers would have enough respect for the firesite to pull out the damn aluminum foil and repair the rocks that fall in and leave a fire site with a good supply of nice dry wood. I have even built in a wood storeage box that keeps wood dry under a big flat rock.

I guess if you cook with gas you can totally ignore the fire. To me the hearth is the center of the camp and a place where all the food is cooked and people gather just like a kitchen. With our two family Quetico trips I love to cook around an efficient and neat fire. I'm curious is any of this bothers any of you. Maybe I'm being too anal about the whole thing. God help us if the Canadians have to start putting in cast iron grates and latrines because so many campers are piggish about camp maintenance. Sorry but I had to get it off my chest.