In this weeks episode we discuss the inevitable march towards universal cell phone coverage and how it will affect wilderness areas, including the BWCA. With the recent news that cell phone coverage will be coming to the Gunflint Trail sooner than later Erik and Adam share their feelings on the matter and how they see […]
The post Tumblehome: A Boundary Waters Podcast – Episode 005: The Wireless Road appeared first on Clearwater Outfitters.
Episode Transcript
[0:00:26 – 0:00:26] Erik: All right.
[0:00:26 – 0:00:27] Erik: Hello.
[0:00:27 – 0:00:31] Erik: Welcome to Tumble Home, a Boundary Waters podcast.
[0:00:31 – 0:00:32] Erik: This is going to be a short one.
[0:00:33 – 0:00:37] Adam: You’ve got me, Eric, and… And Adam here.
[0:00:37 – 0:00:40] Adam: And this is a current events episode of Tumble Home.
[0:00:40 – 0:00:41] Adam: We’re excited to be with you this week.
[0:00:41 – 0:00:43] Adam: I really wish we had that little…
[0:00:43 – 0:00:46] Erik: Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, in the background.
[0:00:46 – 0:00:49] Erik: But I think that’s a copyrighted sound effect.
[0:00:49 – 0:00:53] Erik: So, yeah, we’re just going to record a quick episode here.
[0:00:53 – 0:00:56] Erik: Kind of go over… At the news desk.
[0:00:56 – 0:00:57] Erik: Yeah, we’re at the news desk.
[0:00:58 – 0:01:02] Erik: We’re going to go over something that’s always been kind of important to me.
[0:01:02 – 0:01:08] Erik: And we’re going to set the table for future episodes, which are going to be a little bit more laid back.
[0:01:08 – 0:01:12] Erik: Really hope that that is going to be the future of the show.
[0:01:12 – 0:01:12] Erik: But…
[0:01:13 – 0:01:26] Erik: We’re going to be talking about cell phone coverage in the Boundary Waters and cell phones as they specifically relate to wilderness areas and the Boundary Waters, obviously.
[0:01:26 – 0:01:28] Adam: Is it really a wilderness if you can get a cell phone signal?
[0:01:29 – 0:01:29] Adam: Right.
[0:01:29 – 0:01:30] Adam: Et cetera.
[0:01:30 – 0:01:30] Erik: Yeah.
[0:01:31 – 0:01:37] Erik: And so, you know, recently we residents on the Gunflint Trail have learned that
[0:01:38 – 0:01:41] Erik: cell phone, we’ve always kind of thought that it was going to be coming.
[0:01:41 – 0:01:43] Erik: It was always an inevitability.
[0:01:44 – 0:01:48] Erik: But we have recently learned that, yeah, it’s closer than we ever really thought.
[0:01:50 – 0:01:56] Erik: And this is not because of anything that we were able to affect.
[0:01:57 – 0:02:05] Erik: Essentially, we learned that in 2012, the federal government set some rules up for the FCC to
[0:02:06 – 0:02:21] Erik: That created it so that local governments couldn’t turn away cell phone service providers if there were existing towers, which there are on the Gunflint Trail.
[0:02:21 – 0:02:21] Adam: There are a couple.
[0:02:22 – 0:02:23] Erik: Yeah.
[0:02:23 – 0:02:42] Erik: So these existing cell phone towers are essentially going to be used by AT&T because they bid, you know, after the federal government made those rules to allow any cell phone service provider to come in and use existing towers.
[0:02:43 – 0:02:50] Erik: It was under the, not to be too cynical, guise of public safety.
[0:02:50 – 0:03:06] Erik: And so they’re setting up these first net, is what they’re calling them, public emergency systems for people to be able to use outside of an actual cell phone service provider is what it sounds like.
[0:03:07 – 0:03:11] Erik: But essentially it means there’s going to be cell phone services
[0:03:11 – 0:03:14] Adam: there’ll be signals for emergency purposes, but we all know.
[0:03:14 – 0:03:15] Erik: Yeah.
[0:03:15 – 0:03:19] Erik: It’s eventually going to just, it’s a, I mean, it’s not even a slippery slope.
[0:03:19 – 0:03:21] Adam: It’s a, it’s a luge run.
[0:03:21 – 0:03:21] Erik: Yeah.
[0:03:21 – 0:03:22] Erik: It’s yeah.
[0:03:22 – 0:03:24] Erik: I was going to say it’s, it’s beyond a slippery slope.
[0:03:24 – 0:03:28] Erik: It’s clearly, clearly means there’s just going to be more cell phone service provided.
[0:03:29 – 0:03:38] Erik: And, uh, yeah, like I said, it’s going to be a short episode and I wanted to just read, you know, a few years ago, this, uh, this topic came up, uh, for residents on the gun Flint trail.
[0:03:39 – 0:03:40] Erik: And, um,
[0:03:41 – 0:03:52] Erik: When I thought I had a voice in the matter before I learned it was essentially, you know, the government saying, no, local governments don’t have a say in this.
[0:03:52 – 0:03:54] Adam: Do this or we will do it for you.
[0:03:54 – 0:03:55] Erik: Yeah.
[0:03:55 – 0:03:59] Erik: And basically the government saying, we know what’s best for you.
[0:04:01 – 0:04:09] Erik: I crafted just a couple of paragraphs in the hopes that there was eventually going to be a point where I could maybe let my voice be heard.
[0:04:09 – 0:04:13] Erik: And maybe not all hope is lost, but it sounds like it might be.
[0:04:13 – 0:04:15] Erik: But I’m still going to go ahead and read it.
[0:04:15 – 0:04:18] Erik: I’m going to start with the first line of the Wilderness Act from 1964.
[0:04:21 – 0:04:37] Erik: A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.
[0:04:38 – 0:04:39] Adam: Now, that’s a quote.
[0:04:39 – 0:04:40] Adam: That seems pretty clear to me.
[0:04:40 – 0:04:41] Erik: Yeah, pretty clear.
[0:04:41 – 0:04:46] Erik: But what I finish up with here in my own words is…
[0:04:47 – 0:05:00] Erik: You know, it’s kind of like the ongoing argument with the Bill of Rights, the Founding Fathers, what they wrote it as, what they saw it as probably were a little bit different than what they actually saw the future being.
[0:05:00 – 0:05:02] Erik: And so that’s where I kind of followed up and…
[0:05:03 – 0:05:09] Erik: Unfortunately, not sure if any of these words will have any effect, but I still feel the same way.
[0:05:11 – 0:05:21] Erik: The Wilderness Act of 1964 created a legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and as such formed a mechanism for designated wild areas.
[0:05:21 – 0:05:23] Erik: Today, the interpretation of this law…
[0:05:24 – 0:05:29] Erik: needed to be expanded and updated to accommodate the technological advancements of man.
[0:05:29 – 0:05:40] Erik: This act was initially built to assure present and future populations that expanding settlement and mechanization of lands did not eventually occupy all lands within the nation.
[0:05:40 – 0:05:51] Erik: The banning of these permanent man-made contrivances specifically set out to offer outstanding opportunities for solitude, leaving the imprints of man substantially unnoticeable.
[0:05:52 – 0:06:06] Erik: At the time, the definition of wilderness could only be used to protect against the current known creations of man, permanent structures, roads, and railway, logging and mining operations, and certain forms of air travel.
[0:06:07 – 0:06:20] Erik: It is with these principles in mind that we wish to amend and expand on the Wilderness Act of 1964 to continue to protect wild, untouched places from another mechanization of man, cellular telephones.
[0:06:21 – 0:06:33] Erik: At the time of the act’s drafting, a wholly accessible form of wireless communications by civilians was unheard of, and the current state of constant connection via satellites would have seemed science fiction.
[0:06:33 – 0:06:44] Erik: Though less concrete, the ever-expanding wireless communications networks threaten to degrade wilderness areas in ways that are as detrimental as roads and railways.
[0:06:45 – 0:06:48] Erik: The connection, albeit wireless, still takes the form of a road.
[0:06:49 – 0:07:05] Erik: The ideas which were proffered in the early 1960s and eventually enacted into law in 1964 have since been recognized by residents and visitors from throughout the world as an incredible environmental and societal achievement.
[0:07:06 – 0:07:19] Erik: The Bonjou Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Gunflint Trail in particular in northeastern Minnesota currently sees over 500,000 visitors annually, yet has continued to conserve the ideals of its founders until now.
[0:07:20 – 0:07:25] Erik: The Gunflint Trail stands as one of the last remaining wirelessly unconnected places in the lower 48 states.
[0:07:26 – 0:07:33] Erik: Because of this, it remains a place one can go to find outstanding opportunities for solitude and escape from the imprints of man.
[0:07:34 – 0:07:46] Erik: It is because of this lack of connectivity that one can become reconnected with what truly matters and is because of the opportunities for solitude we wish to remain unconnected.
[0:07:47 – 0:07:53] Adam: I love the way that you connect the idea of roadways with these wireless technologies that can connect us.
[0:07:54 – 0:07:55] Adam: It is a wireless road.
[0:07:55 – 0:07:55] Adam: Yeah.
[0:07:55 – 0:08:06] Adam: And it’s no different than on some level like putting a road right into Caribou Lake or Clearwater Lake down the road, down the lake here and allowing RVs in.
[0:08:08 – 0:08:10] Adam: I mean, that’s a stretch in some way, but it isn’t.
[0:08:10 – 0:08:14] Adam: It’s a metaphorical stretch and it is the reality now.
[0:08:14 – 0:08:16] Erik: It is a definite metaphorical road.
[0:08:16 – 0:08:23] Erik: And since learning about always kind of knowing in the back of my mind that it was going to happen…
[0:08:24 – 0:08:31] Adam: It always felt like it was going to happen ever since I moved up here and to just like confront this reality that in the next year or two, it’s probably going to be here.
[0:08:32 – 0:08:32] Adam: Yeah.
[0:08:32 – 0:08:32] Adam: It’s sad.
[0:08:33 – 0:08:42] Erik: And I think the most disappointing part about it was that, you know, it was always one of those things that I was kind of just after any kind of intervention that I could have made.
[0:08:42 – 0:08:45] Erik: And then all of a sudden it was like, well, now it’s happening.
[0:08:45 – 0:08:50] Erik: And the government kind of said it was just going to happen six years ago and you had no part in it.
[0:08:50 – 0:08:52] Adam: Yeah, I never even heard about that.
[0:08:52 – 0:08:57] Adam: And it’s like, well, when the time comes, we’ll be able to put up a fight and make these arguments that this is a wilderness.
[0:08:57 – 0:09:02] Adam: And by allowing it, it’s no longer a wilderness in the truest sense.
[0:09:03 – 0:09:04] Adam: And we’ll put up a fight.
[0:09:04 – 0:09:06] Adam: All of a sudden, it’s just like, well, this is a mandate.
[0:09:06 – 0:09:08] Adam: It has happened behind your back.
[0:09:09 – 0:09:11] Adam: We never really had a say, and we’re the ones who live up here.
[0:09:13 – 0:09:15] Adam: And what about the people that come to visit?
[0:09:15 – 0:09:16] Adam: Get away from that all.
[0:09:16 – 0:09:19] Erik: And that’s the other thing is the people that visit, so what?
[0:09:20 – 0:09:21] Erik: We live here.
[0:09:21 – 0:09:28] Erik: We, I think, should have the first say, but there are more people that visit here times 100 that actually live here.
[0:09:29 – 0:09:37] Erik: And I have a lot of feedback, direct conversations with these people on a daily basis.
[0:09:38 – 0:09:43] Erik: And I’d never heard of one person that complained about the fact that there wasn’t cell phone service.
[0:09:43 – 0:09:53] Erik: And just in recent days when I kind of put out on social media that this was happening, overwhelmingly the response was negative.
[0:09:53 – 0:09:58] Erik: Everybody was disappointed in the fact that now the Gunflint Trail was going to be connected.
[0:09:58 – 0:10:02] Adam: It’s literally like there are a lot of reasons this is a special place.
[0:10:02 – 0:10:08] Adam: But like at this point, it’s one of the only places you can literally get away where you can’t get cell phone service.
[0:10:08 – 0:10:13] Adam: It’s one of the things that makes this area special today even more than it was 10 years ago.
[0:10:14 – 0:10:18] Adam: And now that we’re going to lose this, it seems very wrong.
[0:10:18 – 0:10:19] Adam: And I agree.
[0:10:19 – 0:10:21] Adam: This is why a lot of people are upset about it.
[0:10:21 – 0:10:30] Adam: On the other hand, depends on what kind of cell phone you have, you can get a signal from Thunder Bay in a lot of the areas around us here.
[0:10:30 – 0:10:31] Erik: Yeah.
[0:10:31 – 0:10:36] Adam: And so it’s already here in some ways if you have the right cell phone or plan or international coverage and…
[0:10:37 – 0:10:42] Erik: There was always that, but it wasn’t ever all-encompassing.
[0:10:42 – 0:10:43] Erik: It was pretty remote.
[0:10:43 – 0:10:49] Erik: If you wanted to sign up for it, you could maybe do text messages, but it was never a strong signal.
[0:10:49 – 0:10:56] Erik: I’m not trying to diminish the fact that there is a huge safety aspect involved.
[0:10:56 – 0:11:06] Erik: And I think there’s probably a longer conversation that we can have eventually about, you know, we get that question a lot here at Clearwater is like, what do you do in an event of an emergency?
[0:11:06 – 0:11:08] Erik: If you’re out in the wilderness, there’s no cell phone service.
[0:11:09 – 0:11:09] Erik: Yeah.
[0:11:09 – 0:11:21] Erik: Um, you know, and that is a concern, you know, obviously there are, uh, people that are taking trips that, you know, there are kids or, or older folks that might need to have closer contact with people.
[0:11:22 – 0:11:23] Erik: Um, and,
[0:11:24 – 0:11:25] Erik: And there are ways around that still.
[0:11:25 – 0:11:26] Erik: There are still satellite phones.
[0:11:26 – 0:11:31] Erik: There are still spot, you know, GPS trackers that you can initiate a search and rescue.
[0:11:31 – 0:11:37] Adam: I’ve literally seen people waving a white shirt on shore and you go over and, you know, hey, what’s wrong?
[0:11:38 – 0:11:39] Erik: Yeah, and there’s that.
[0:11:39 – 0:11:41] Erik: That is the discussion.
[0:11:42 – 0:11:49] Erik: When I talk to people, it’s like each individual circumstance is completely unique.
[0:11:49 – 0:11:58] Erik: I’ve been here long enough where I’ve seen people handle an emergency situation in a way that they were able to make it out.
[0:11:58 – 0:11:59] Erik: They sent for help.
[0:12:00 – 0:12:02] Erik: Somebody paddled back and sent a message.
[0:12:03 – 0:12:11] Erik: We’ve been living as a species long enough, much longer without cell phone coverage than we have with it.
[0:12:12 – 0:12:19] Erik: We’re not unable to survive without the constant connection to cell phones.
[0:12:20 – 0:12:24] Erik: But I’m not trying to diminish the fact that there is a safety aspect involved in it.
[0:12:25 – 0:12:29] Erik: Um, but I, I just, I, I, I always hated that.
[0:12:29 – 0:12:32] Erik: That’s, it’s so easy to just say, well, safety.
[0:12:33 – 0:12:37] Adam: And then everybody, you can’t disagree with that because of safety.
[0:12:37 – 0:12:39] Adam: Well, Oh, now you look like a jerk.
[0:12:39 – 0:12:40] Adam: If you say no, exactly.
[0:12:40 – 0:12:40] Erik: Yeah.
[0:12:40 – 0:12:41] Adam: Like, well, you’re sure.
[0:12:41 – 0:12:44] Adam: Like for people driving the gun fun trail, um,
[0:12:45 – 0:12:45] Adam: Yeah, things happen.
[0:12:45 – 0:12:46] Adam: It might be nice.
[0:12:47 – 0:12:50] Adam: But when you’re in the wilderness, it’s too close.
[0:12:50 – 0:13:03] Adam: Whereas, yeah, if they have coverage on the trail, then if you’re three lakes in and you hear somebody yapping on your phone, it’s going to really take away from this mystique that you’re in an actual wilderness if you have this kind of connection.
[0:13:03 – 0:13:06] Adam: Again, the highway will reach farther into the park.
[0:13:07 – 0:13:08] Adam: You’re going to be on pavement the whole way.
[0:13:09 – 0:13:11] Adam: You can’t leave the pavement behind any longer.
[0:13:12 – 0:13:12] Erik: Yeah.
[0:13:12 – 0:13:18] Erik: And that’s the other aspect of it that, you know, I do hear a lot of people who are not necessarily like pro.
[0:13:19 – 0:13:25] Erik: I honestly haven’t heard anybody that’s 100% pro cover the entire wilderness area with cell phone coverage.
[0:13:26 – 0:13:29] Erik: But there are people that are, you know, a little bit more tempered to it.
[0:13:29 – 0:13:33] Erik: And their argument is, you know, if you don’t want it, just turn off your cell phone.
[0:13:34 – 0:13:37] Erik: And yeah, I mean, you can do that whenever.
[0:13:37 – 0:13:37] Erik: Yeah.
[0:13:37 – 0:13:38] Erik: And that’s fine.
[0:13:38 – 0:13:38] Erik: That’s good.
[0:13:38 – 0:13:42] Erik: I think people should turn off their cell phones more often regardless.
[0:13:43 – 0:13:44] Erik: The problem is everybody else.
[0:13:45 – 0:13:45] Adam: Yeah.
[0:13:46 – 0:13:47] Erik: Like everybody else isn’t.
[0:13:47 – 0:13:50] Adam: You can turn yours off, but the guy camping across the lake didn’t.
[0:13:50 – 0:13:51] Erik: Yeah.
[0:13:51 – 0:13:59] Erik: And as an outfitter, I do fear having to try to accommodate for people calling from the woods.
[0:13:59 – 0:13:59] Adam: Yeah.
[0:14:00 – 0:14:00] Adam: My stove doesn’t work.
[0:14:01 – 0:14:01] Erik: Yeah.
[0:14:01 – 0:14:04] Erik: Just a practicality of like… How do you set up this hammock?
[0:14:04 – 0:14:04] Erik: Yeah.
[0:14:04 – 0:14:06] Erik: Come pick me up in this place that’s…
[0:14:06 – 0:14:07] Adam: Which way are we supposed to go on this portage?
[0:14:07 – 0:14:08] Adam: Two hours away.
[0:14:08 – 0:14:09] Erik: You know, it’s…
[0:14:10 – 0:14:28] Erik: There’s all kinds of little things that go into it, but the bigger picture of it is just it’s more of a feeling and it’s just a disappointment to know that, yeah, it’s there and you can turn it off if you want, but you can turn off your phone in the suburbs.
[0:14:29 – 0:14:32] Erik: You can turn off your phone in Minneapolis, but you don’t feel like you’re in the wilderness.
[0:14:32 – 0:14:34] Adam: You can always turn it back on.
[0:14:34 – 0:14:36] Adam: It’s not the same if you have that in your back pocket.
[0:14:36 – 0:14:38] Erik: Yeah, it’s not the same.
[0:14:38 – 0:14:43] Adam: It’s like this self-accountability, and you’re going into the wilderness, and you’re going to survive.
[0:14:44 – 0:14:47] Adam: But now it’s like, well, you always have this bailout plan.
[0:14:47 – 0:14:48] Adam: Right.
[0:14:48 – 0:14:49] Adam: It’s too bad, honestly.
[0:14:49 – 0:14:49] Adam: Yeah.
[0:14:49 – 0:14:53] Erik: No, and it’s always been one of those things that I kind of always felt was coming.
[0:14:54 – 0:15:06] Erik: I was kind of excited to be somebody who could stand up and say, you know, I’ve lived up here so long and I know why I feel like it’s a resource.
[0:15:07 – 0:15:18] Erik: It’s a diminishing resource to be able to have a place that you can go and whether you like it or not, be disconnected, be unconnected, not have a cell phone, you know, not have coverage.
[0:15:19 – 0:15:24] Erik: I wanted to be able to have the chance to voice my opinion on it.
[0:15:25 – 0:15:30] Erik: But by all accounts, it sounds like it was kind of preordained.
[0:15:30 – 0:15:33] Erik: The federal government said, you know, you can’t deny this.
[0:15:34 – 0:15:35] Erik: It’s the way of the future.
[0:15:35 – 0:15:37] Erik: It’s an imminent domain to a certain extent.
[0:15:39 – 0:15:42] Erik: I’m a little bit…
[0:15:42 – 0:15:45] Adam: It’s a government mandate, and it’s not even from the local government.
[0:15:45 – 0:15:46] Adam: It’s…
[0:15:46 – 0:15:54] Adam: Even the local people, and this is a quote from the story we heard on the radio, they should expect it, that this is coming.
[0:15:54 – 0:15:55] Adam: You really have no say.
[0:15:56 – 0:15:59] Adam: And from these human contrivances, as you put it.
[0:16:02 – 0:16:10] Erik: Add it to the list of things that the general public doesn’t want, but the federal government…
[0:16:11 – 0:16:12] Erik: Says we need.
[0:16:13 – 0:16:14] Adam: So it’s on its way.
[0:16:15 – 0:16:16] Adam: Yeah.
[0:16:16 – 0:16:19] Adam: And, you know, it’s like, well, it’s going to be here.
[0:16:19 – 0:16:22] Adam: I mean, I just heard this story today about Starlink.
[0:16:23 – 0:16:26] Adam: It’s not a new thing, but they launched it on Wednesday.
[0:16:26 – 0:16:41] Adam: It was a SpaceX launch, and they put up Tintin A and Tintin B, which are two small satellites that will be in geostationary low Earth orbit over the general U.S. continental surface.
[0:16:42 – 0:16:58] Adam: And they’re the first two of what are planned to be thousands of small satellites that will create what is called a Wi-Fi constellation, in which eventually in the near future we will have high-speed Wi-Fi internet everywhere.
[0:16:58 – 0:17:04] Adam: This will be like everybody with a cell phone, whether you like it or not, will have a satellite phone in their pocket.
[0:17:05 – 0:17:07] Adam: And that’s coming too.
[0:17:07 – 0:17:08] Erik: Regardless of what’s happening now, I mean…
[0:17:09 – 0:17:15] Adam: They’re going to put these towers up like, well, yeah, in 10 years, everybody’s going to have a satellite phone in their pocket, and that’s just the way it’s going to be.
[0:17:15 – 0:17:24] Adam: So at least at that point, we won’t have to deal with these towers and possible light pollution because I sure do enjoy the darkness that we experience here.
[0:17:25 – 0:17:28] Erik: Yeah, hopefully that’s not something that changes in the future, but, you know.
[0:17:28 – 0:17:33] Adam: It sounds like they’re going to be using the existing towers at the mid-trail and then up at Gunflint.
[0:17:33 – 0:17:38] Adam: So there shouldn’t be any new, like, large-scale lights that are going up or anything like that, but…
[0:17:39 – 0:17:43] Adam: Even here at Clearwater at night, on a clear night, you can see the lights of Thunder Bay.
[0:17:44 – 0:17:50] Adam: Slowly and slowly, the civilization is encroaching upon this wilderness in small ways.
[0:17:50 – 0:17:55] Adam: And it’s like every small little step they take, well, you know, it’s 2018.
[0:17:55 – 0:17:56] Adam: That’s the way it has to be.
[0:17:56 – 0:18:03] Erik: Yeah, it’s an inevitable march towards everybody being connected and everybody having a light over their head.
[0:18:03 – 0:18:03] Adam: Yeah.
[0:18:05 – 0:18:06] Adam: So what’s next?
[0:18:06 – 0:18:09] Adam: Do we just go Edward Abbey and the monkey wrench gang on them?
[0:18:09 – 0:18:11] Adam: I don’t think that’s going to solve it either.
[0:18:11 – 0:18:15] Adam: I mean, you can take down the towers and they’re going to put up the satellites.
[0:18:15 – 0:18:18] Adam: And we’re definitely not advocating for knocking over towers.
[0:18:18 – 0:18:19] Adam: No, we’re not.
[0:18:19 – 0:18:20] Adam: It was a metaphor.
[0:18:20 – 0:18:20] Erik: That was a metaphor.
[0:18:21 – 0:18:24] Erik: And, you know, we’re hitting a short podcast here.
[0:18:24 – 0:18:26] Erik: We want to really finish with…
[0:18:29 – 0:18:36] Erik: saying that we’re probably going to continue the conversation that we started with here today, but we also want to kind of move forward.
[0:18:37 – 0:18:46] Erik: We’re going to continue talking about the great aspects of wilderness, wilderness camping, paddling, fishing, travel, everything in general that has to do with the Boundary Waters.
[0:18:48 – 0:18:53] Erik: And, you know, next week we’re going to be talking about Caribou Lake specifically.
[0:18:53 – 0:18:54] Erik: Just Caribou Lake.
[0:18:54 – 0:18:55] Erik: We’re not going to be going on.
[0:18:55 – 0:18:55] Erik: It’s a great lake.
[0:18:56 – 0:18:56] Erik: Yeah.
[0:18:57 – 0:18:59] Erik: But we want to get some feedback from you.
[0:19:00 – 0:19:01] Erik: What are your experiences with the lake?
[0:19:01 – 0:19:03] Erik: Do you have any questions for us?
[0:19:04 – 0:19:07] Erik: If you do, you know, we would love to hear from you.
[0:19:07 – 0:19:09] Erik: That’s what we would eventually like this podcast to be about.
[0:19:10 – 0:19:12] Erik: We want it to be a back and forth.
[0:19:12 – 0:19:15] Erik: We want it to become a community in a way.
[0:19:16 – 0:19:23] Erik: And if you do want to get in touch, we are at tumblehomecast at gmail.com.
[0:19:23 – 0:19:29] Erik: You can also find us on Facebook at Tumble Home, a Boundary Waters podcast.
[0:19:29 – 0:19:34] Erik: And if all else fails, you can find us on clearwatercanoeoutfitters.com.
[0:19:36 – 0:19:40] Erik: And another way you can connect with us is through Fantasy Iditarod.
[0:19:40 – 0:19:44] Adam: That’s right, it’s a new fantasy sport based on dog mushing, and we will be playing here on Tumble Home.
[0:19:44 – 0:19:46] Adam: You can check it out on Facebook.
[0:19:46 – 0:19:47] Adam: We will post a link to the game.
[0:19:48 – 0:19:55] Adam: But the pack name will be Tumble Home, so go ahead and sign up for that, and we’ll talk about the results on a future show.
[0:19:55 – 0:19:58] Adam: A little preview, you may want to pick up Allie Zirkle.
[0:19:59 – 0:20:06] Adam: She’s going to cost you a lot, but she is married to Alan Moore, you may know, the current UConn Quest champion, and that team looked great.
[0:20:06 – 0:20:08] Adam: I’m sure she will do well.
[0:20:08 – 0:20:17] Adam: And a Dark Horse candidate you may want to grab is Ryan Reddington, the current Bear Grease champion, and he’ll probably be quite a bit cheaper, and I’m sure he’ll probably finish top 20, so…
[0:20:18 – 0:20:19] Adam: Go ahead and sign up.
[0:20:19 – 0:20:20] Adam: You basically get a budget.
[0:20:20 – 0:20:27] Adam: Sign as many mushers as you can get, and then they get points for the fastest of the checkpoints and how many dogs they complete with.
[0:20:27 – 0:20:32] Adam: So it’s a lot of fun, and Eric and I will both be playing, so we’ll see how we do.
[0:20:32 – 0:20:33] Erik: Yeah, check the show notes.
[0:20:33 – 0:20:36] Erik: We’ll link to the page where you can sign up for your team.
[0:20:37 – 0:20:40] Adam: And, yeah, we’ll update the results as they’re happening.
[0:20:40 – 0:20:43] Adam: So join us at Fantasy Iditarod.
[0:20:43 – 0:20:45] Adam: Until then, happy paddling.
