We know where Deb Drexler will be at 8:59 a.m. on Wednesday, the 29th. She’ll be at her computer, logged in to Recreation.gov, to book a permit for a four-night adventure in the BWCAW. Deb and her friend Kelly Kautz have co-led an annual summer women paddlers group BWCAW trip since 2018.
The stalwart outdoors women, usually a group of six, most from the Twin Cities Metro, are formed each December by Deb and Kelly. “Some have never been camping,” Deb said.
The group’s bond is palpable as they enjoy the quiet and solitude of the wilderness and support each other through every challenge. “We care about each other and our different experiences and backgrounds,” Deb said. “When we’re in the wilderness, we’re constantly checking in with each other.”
Women Paddlers Group
Deb and Kelly led their first group in the summer of 2018. The trip was outfitted for them out of Ely. They first came to Rockwood Lodge in 2019 and have returned every summer. “We love going through Rockwood,” Deb said.
Some years, the group sets out for a base camp on the first day and spends the rest of the days exploring out and back. “We work harder when base camped,” Deb said. Most years, they plan a route with a new campsite each day.
Deb retired in 2015 after a career teaching elementary school in Minnetonka, MN. So she knows something about organizing.
Deb traces her love for the BWCAW back to a junior high field trip with a Minneapolis chapter of the Girl Scouts. She remembers the trip was about ten days and covered Seagull and Saganaga Lakes. They even entered Canadian waters.
But she already knew something about camping and paddling. Her parents were schoolteachers, and summers were spent traveling the country with a pop-up camper trailer. But more importantly to her love of the BWCAW, her mom enrolled her in canoe lessons on a small lake in Hopkins when she was eight. Those lessons proved helpful when she went on the Girl Scout trip and regularly visited YMCA’s Camp Menogyn on West Bearskin Lake during her teen years. She fondly remembers the longtime Menogyn camp director, Robert “Skip” Wilke.
When asked about her favorite canoe, Deb says the Northstar Northwind. “Depending on the group, we always have at least one three-person canoe, just in case,” she said.
The women enjoy the challenges of the wilderness but are always aware of their limitations. “We know that slips and falls hurt,” Deb said.
The group carpools to get to Rockwood. They arrive the afternoon before the wilderness adventure begins and stay the night in the Rockwood bunkhouse, a great place to spend a night before or after a canoe trip. Deb, Kelly, and their group eat dinner at one of the fine restaurants on the Gunflint Trail and get a good night’s sleep.
“We’re usually out on Poplar Lake (when that’s where they’re starting their route) by 7:30 or 8:00,” Deb said. Some trips have started at other entry points and used the shuttle service Rockwood’s own Carl Madsen performs.
The group uses Rockwood sleeping bags, mats, duffle bags, bear ropes, canoes, and paddles. “One of the things we like about Rockwood is that after we’ve got our gear together, (Rockwood outfitter) Mike Seim always asks if we want a tarp, and I always say yes,” Deb said.
Deb says they sleep three to four people per tent. She likes that the tents from Rockwood are clean and well-kept. They don’t use hammocks, as they’ve seen the rub marks on hammocked trees. They do everything possible to minimize their impact on the environment.
They rarely have a campfire, cooking over small propane stoves. “We’re minimalists in food,” Deb said. One regular member prepares and individually packages their meals and heats them in boiling water. “The variety is good,” Deb added.
They plan their routes to exit about midday as there are always members of the group who need to be back at work the next day.
Misogyny has no place in the wilderness, but Deb has an interesting story about an encounter with what she describes as an older man on a portage. Deb had just carried a three-person canoe across the portage when that older man looked at her and said, “I gotta hand it to you broads.” He likely had someone else portage his canoe.
Deb set the canoe down, looked at the man, and said, “We’re women, not broads.” But there were no hard feelings; it was the BWCAW, after all.
Deb, Kelly, and their adventure group diligently leave the BWCAW a better place than they found it. They are responsible visitors.
Deb, “Because of Rockwood, we always go on the Gunflint Trail to enter the BWCAW.”
They make Rockwood and the Gunflint Trail a better place, too. We appreciate the opportunity to outfit their trips.
