In September 2015, Dave and Amy Freeman set out on one of the more ambitious journeys ever taken in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The two explorers would spend the next year living inside the wilderness area, exploring more than 500 water bodies by canoe, skis, and dogsleds. They were able to experience the Boundary Waters through all four seasons while immersing themselves in a place they’ve cherished and explored all their lives as native Minnesotans.
Although they wrote a book about the expedition, the real goal of the Freemans’ year in the wilderness was to bring attention to the proposed copper-nickel mine on the edge of the Boundary Waters — a proposal that continues to rear its ugly head today. Over the last few months, the Trump administration and some members of Congress have worked to roll back a 20-year mining moratorium, established in 2023, to get the Twin Metals mine back on track. A pending vote in the U.S. Senate, if it ever happens, could serve as the final blow to these protections.
With all this happening in the background, there is perhaps no better time to revisit the Freemans’ epic 12-month expedition.
So, in this week’s episode of The Outdoor Life Podcast, I chat with Dave and Amy about their year in the wilderness. We talk about their connection to the place, some of the most enduring moments from the expedition (like a run-in with a wolf pack), and how the 365-day trip only deepened their ties to the Boundary Waters.
“We already had a real appreciation for the place — we knew how special the Boundary Waters is. But I think spending a year out there helped us really understand how special it is to so many thousands and thousands of [other] people across the country,” Dave says of the fellow outdoor lovers they met during and after their yearlong trip. “Stories would pour out about how special the Boundary Waters is to them, and how it needs to be protected. It really just hammered home that this is the nation’s most popular wilderness area, and it has been ever since the Wilderness Act passed in 1964.”
We also touch on the fact that you don’t have to spend a full year in the Boundary Waters — nor do you have to be a National-Geographic-level explorer — to fully appreciate it. The accessibility of the BWCA and the “choose your own adventure” aspect of the watery wilderness are part of what make this place so special. And why it’s just as worthy of protection today as it was three, or even 10 years ago, when the Freemans launched their expedition.
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“Every summer, we see couples in their seventies or eighties who are out there with a lightweight canoe, just the two of them, and they’re still trucking,” Dave continues. “Then you’ll see a family with two or three little kids, all tucked into a 21-foot canoe with toys and little packs hanging everywhere, and they’re out there in the wilderness.”
Listen to this week’s episode on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen to our episode on why the proposed mine outside the BWCA is a bad deal.
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