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Boundary Waters: The Classic Minnesota Journey

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It’s the deep heart of winter. But this short video, released last week by Erik Nelson for TPT Rewire, is full-on summer. It documents a trip from the city to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota, and it makes us pine for a hot July day and some time away from it all.

Here’s what Nelson said about the trip and the video above, titled simply “Are You MN Enough?: Boundary Waters.”

“We would have been completely lost, paddling at night, but every minute or two the lightning would show us where the shoreline was and keep us on track. We had set out to go from the middle of the city to an island deep in the Boundary Waters over the course of an afternoon, but a late start meant we were finishing our first portage just as night fell and a lightning storm moved in.

After an hour or two of uncomfortable paddling, we decided that the storm was moving parallel to the lake and not coming toward us. We pushed on and made it to our campsite late at night.

Over the next two days, we all agreed that some of the sacrifices needed to get three dudes into a small canoe (like leaving behind camping luxuries in favor of extra beer) were the right choices to make in the end.”

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