How Volunteers Saved the BWCAW Powwow Trail (and You Can Too and Hike It)
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in addition to being a canoeists’ heaven, also has more than 200 miles of hiking and backpacking trails. These trails offer unparalleled solitude and freedom from busy city life. Most of these trails are maintained by volunteers. BWA Committee volunteers have an incredible story to tell about saving the 30 mile long BWCAW Powwow Hiking Trail, burned almost entirely in the 2011 Pagami Creek Fire. Now, eight years later, the Powwow has been saved thanks to hundreds of volunteers, both novice and experienced wilderness trippers, who ventured and camped on the trail sawing dead falls and new jack pine growth. Hear their story and learn what needs to be done to completely rehabilitate the Powwow for backpackers like you, and how to hike it in 2020.