I have just returned from a week of canoeing in my favorite place–the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota. It’s clear up there by Canada in moose country. Nothing but lakes, trees, and the oldest exposed rock in the world. Once upon a time, glaciers scraped the land all the way down to the bedrock that solidified about 2.7 billion years ago. This solid rock doesn’t let water filter down through it, so water pools on top creating an ecosystem that is more lake than land. Perfect for fish, beavers, waterfowl of all sorts, and me!

I went on my first canoe trip as a Counselor in Training with Camp Olson, YMCA when I was 15. I got thrown in the deep end for my first camping experience with 12 days in the Boundary Waters and its Canadian equivalent, Quetico Provincial Park. It was a real shock to the system with no buildings, no electricity, no sign posts, no plumbing…nothing but the wilderness and a group of seven girls with their counselors. I learned quickly and gained skills that have been with me ever since. I paddled all day every day, carried a canoe on my shoulders for a mile, and navigated with a map. I learned how to build a fire and cook over it, how to hang the food up in a tree to keep it safe from bears, and how to get along with others as we faced adversity in the form of cold, rain, hunger, and fatigue from physical challenge.

From there I led canoe trips with camp, went on to do a semester with the National Outdoor Leadership School, and put together a Boundary Waters trip program for my school. I continue to take personal trips, both solo and with friends, and intend for it to be a part of my life forever.

On this trip my boyfriend came with me, and we were spoiled with sunny weather and an unheard of number of bugs–none! We were able to swim every day and then sit around camp in shorts and a t-shirt with not a mosquito to harass us. The blueberries were ripe and the water was warm and clean. He caught some fish and I wrote in my journal.

I have come home inspired by the flora of the Boundary Waters and am planning my next set of soaps as a tribute to this special place. The Boundary Waters Collection will be ready in time for the holidays, if not before. It will be a set of four soaps, among them one inspired by a stop we made at the Spice Lake burn area.

The Spice Lake fire burned for a couple weeks in June, and was small as these things go. It happened to be right on our planned canoe route, so we pulled over for a lunch stop and explored the moonscape of a recent wildfire burn. Charcoal lumps everywhere, blackened tree skeletons still standing, and rocks still covered with toasted lichens. But creeping up through the char, life was already returning in the form of sumac and fireweed.

This new soap will be a tribute to the regenerative force of fire in the northwoods ecosystem. A blend of evergreen oils will be the main scent, and it will be topped with seeds from the Jack Pine, Pinus banksiana, which has cones that are sealed with a waxy resin that will only melt at 114 degrees Fahrenheit. The seeds can only be released when a forest fire sweeps by and melts the resin, allowing the cone to spring open. The northwoods are full of plants that depend on an environmental trigger to reproduce, a phenomenon called serotiny in the field of botany.

There will almost certainly be activated charcoal involved, and perhaps a touch of lichen or fireweed to top it off. Stay tuned for more from the Boundary Waters collection, and be sure to contact me if you would like to order ahead of time, or maybe even just talk Boundary Waters. I would be happy to talk Boundary Waters all day long.

The Boundary Waters Collection

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