Olaf Thorvaldsen's Weather From the Hill column from August 5, 1926 is about wildfires, good weather, flowers, a new place to dance, and poetry.
August 5, 1926 Weather from the Hill, Olaf Thorvaldsen | Cook County News Herald
weather.leaflet.pub
Bryan Hansel
@bryanhansel.com
Photographer and photo workshop leader specializing in seascapes, landscapes & nightscapes. Fav place: Boundary Waters. A good Minnesotan. Grand Marais. Learn more at www.bryanhansel.com. I write at bryanhansel.substack.com and at paddlinglight.com.
I've made a number of maps that show the current wildfires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota and Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. I updated them with statistics as of today and posted them all on PaddlingLight.
BWCAW Wildfire Maps
Back in July I posted my Wildfires of Canoe Country wildfire maps. It showed the overall extent of the fires running from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to Wabakimi, but it failed to show the specifics of each fire. I got many requests to show which campsites and portages were impacted by the BWCAW wildfires. To help you visualize what is within the fire perimeters, I made several BWCAW wildfire maps. Something to keep in mind while looking at these maps is that while they show what is within the perimeter of the fire, they can't show the exact impact.
paddlinglight.com
In 1926, Olaf Thorvaldsen, Grand Marais' weatherman, writes about terrible weather across the country and a murder that happened on the highway in Cook County. This is a crazy column.
July 29, 1926 Weather from the Hill, Olaf Thorvaldsen | Cook County News Herald
weather.leaflet.pub
The classic Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness guidebooks have been updated and reissued as the sixth edition. Stewardship of the series has passed to Louis Dzierzak, and his update makes them as solid as they have been. If you canoe, these should be on your book shelf.
Boundary Waters 6th Edition Guidebook Review
Back in 2001, while planning my first trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, I spread McKenzie maps across the kitchen table alongside a compass, a length of string, and several guidebooks. I'd only ever heard stories from friends visiting the area and didn't know exactly what to expect. One book quickly became indispensable: Robert Beymer's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness The Essential Guide to Minnesota's Paddling Country (4th Edition). After reading through the route descriptions, I settled on Route 70-1, the Lily Lakes Loop. The guidebook's vivid descriptions of the Arrowhead region captured my attention with tales of "high ridges, sheer cliffs, and crystal-clear lakes." I got a permit for September, and when 9/11 happened we decided to do the trip anyway.
paddlinglight.com
Olaf Thorvaldsen's Weather from the Hill weather report from 1926 looks like it'll be accurate again based on the weather data that I have. He also writes about the weather radio station and reports that they will broadcast in August. And Miss Fjell is mentioned. Love interest?
July 22, 1926 Weather from the Hill, Olaf Thorvaldsen | Cook County News Herald
weather.leaflet.pub
My The 2026 Wildfires of Canoe Country map updated with today's fire perimeters.
The Pentagon is withholding causality and hit numbers. The CDC is withholding infection rates. The FDA is withholding information about food contamination. The EPA is withholding pollution and climate data. This corrupt administration is ALL about concealing the consequences of its incompetence.
The 2026 Wildfires of Canoe Country Canoe country in both Canada and the United States is on fire with major fires burning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Quetico Provincial Park, and Wabakimi Provincial Park. Together, these three areas cover over 4,460,000 acres of land and lakes…
The 2026 Wildfires of Canoe Country
Canoe country in both Canada and the United States is on fire with major fires burning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Quetico Provincial Park, and Wabakimi Provincial Park. Together, these three areas cover over 4,460,000 acres of land and lakes devoted to canoeing, and the current wildfires are burning over 1,000,000 acres between the three. The biggest is in Wabakimi and the smallest in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It's hard to get a grip on the massive scale of these fires, and the complicated maps online weren't helping me to visualize them.
paddlinglight.com
Roof Racks That Make You Wonder I thought that a little humor would be in order due to the large wildfires burning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Wabakimi Provincial Park, and Quetico Provincial Park, which are some of North America's premiere paddling destinations. I live in Grand…
Roof Racks That Make You Wonder
I thought that a little humor would be in order due to the large wildfires burning in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Wabakimi Provincial Park, and Quetico Provincial Park, which are some of North America's premiere paddling destinations. I live in Grand Marais, which is one of the gateway communities for the Boundary Waters, and I end up seeing lots of interesting roof racks. Here are a few roof racks that make you wonder. I think the opening photo of the log roof rack on the white car has to be one of my favorites that I've seen.
paddlinglight.com
Back in 1926, Olaf Thorvaldsen, Grand Marais' official weatherman, meets the governor and writes about the weather radio station that they are building.
July 15, 1926 Weather from the Hill, Olaf Thorvaldsen | Cook County News Herald
weather.leaflet.pub
Trump Decimates Two National Monuments, Affecting Multiple Bikepacking Routes bikepacking.com/news/trump-d...
Trump Decimates Two National Monuments, Affecting Multiple Bikepacking Routes
Protections have been rescinded for 90% of the land protected within Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments...
bikepacking.com
After a months-long occupation, Minnesota is still recovering from a retribution campaign waged by the federal government. Now, Minnesota stands with Houston in demanding accountability for the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. This bloodshed cannot be normalized.
Olaf Thorvaldsen finds himself among the 4th of July celebrations in the village of Grand Marais in more than one way. Miss Fjell shows up again. I've looked back through his columns and we haven't learned her first name, yet.
July 8, 1926 Weather from the Hill, Olaf Thorvaldsen | Cook County News Herald
weather.leaflet.pub
I recently paddled the Namekagon River in Wisconsin using a raft that carried my bike. I used the bike to get to the start of the river. In this post, I talk about the gear I used, and what worked and what didn't.
Bikerafting Trip Recap: What Worked and What Didn’t
I recently did a bikerafting trip on the Namekagon River in Wisconsin. The Namekagon is part of the Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway, which is managed by the National Park Service. The total distance of the trip was 86 miles of riding, 97 miles of rafting. I finished most of the Namekagon. I started at river mile 91.9 instead of at the Namekagon Lake dam at 99.5 miles due to low water. I had wanted to run the upper section of the St. Croix to the confluence as well, but I cracked my rim where the spoke nipples come out in multiple places.
paddlinglight.com
Olaf Thorvaldsen writes about baseball, a new "tea room" that opened in Grand Marais, and, of course, the weather in his July 1, 1926 edition of Weather from the Hill.
July 1, 1926 Weather from the Hill, Olaf Thorvaldsen | Cook County News Herald
weather.leaflet.pub
Olaf's latest 1926 weather column, which isn't really about the weather at all.
June 24, 1926 Weather from the Hill, Olaf Thorvaldsen | Cook County News Herald
weather.leaflet.pub
The commercial fishery boats head out to check their nets for herring in the morning. Lake Superior, Grand Marais, MN.
For over a year, photographers and paddlers didn't know if posting BWCAW trip videos online was legal. The USFS just answered that question. Here's what changed.
The Wilderness Loophole? Closed!
The EXPLORE Act, signed into law on January 4, 2025, contained a provision called the FILM Act, which aimed to standardize rules around filming, photography, and audio recording on public lands. But it also carried language that could have undermined creatives' free speech rights in congressionally designated wilderness areas. I called this The Wilderness Loophole. Now, we have final clarification from the USFS about this loophole, and it's effectively closed. What Was the Wilderness Loophole? Since 2025, the implementation of the FILM provision of the EXPLORE Act has rolled out across the various public agencies (see: …
paddlinglight.com
In his June 17, 1926 Weather from the Hill column, Olaf Thorvaldsen talks trout, fishing, and the weather. Plus, the upcoming 4th of July celebration.
June 17, 1926 Weather from the Hill, Olaf Thorvaldsen | Cook County News Herald
weather.leaflet.pub
I updated my gear list for a paddling trip that I'll be taking in the near future. I still need to weigh some of the paddling gear, but here's the current list. I'm at a 10 pound base weight (pack weight). That's pretty light!
I'm putting together my gear list for the summer, and much of the list is the same as last year's list. But, I changed up some big items, such as my tent and sleeping bag and stove. The goal for this year's gear was to simplify and lighten up. This year has been a struggle with getting outside. Being self-employed, I have some flexibility in my schedule and biased my workload to the spring. Then the spring filled in with 1:1 photo workshops and a few unexpected projects. That meant that there was a lot of time working and very little time in the outdoors.
paddlinglight.com
It was a stunning night for sunset at the Grand Marais lighthouse and the colors over the Sawtooth Mountains were amazing.
