The ice is long gone. The bugs are here. Moose calves are walking with their mothers through the woods. The Fishing Opener came and went.

Canoe season has arrived to the Boundary Waters.

In the May issue of the Paddle and Portage digital magazine, we capture the leadup to the 2024 paddling season. Erica Dischino is a photojournalist and documentary photographer based in Duluth. She recently ventured up the Gunflint Trail and met with a number of businesses to document how they are preparing for the upcoming season.

Also featured in this issue of the magazine is the winner of our first ever photo contest! The winner, Matt Frantzen, from Minneapolis, took his photo between South Lake and Rat Lake last summer. Subscribe to the magazine to see some of the submissions, including the winning photo.  Thank you to everyone who submitted a photo for the contest. We will be doing more of these in the future.

Also in this issue we hear from Pam Wright about a group of women she led into the Boundary Waters last year. The group breaks the boundaries of what some might consider as being not strong enough to paddle through the wilderness. To heck with that, the group declared. Age knows no limits in the BWCA and Quetico, as Pam shares in her report.

Our fishing columnist, Jessica Berg-Collman, is back with a full report on how to prep your tackle and other gear for the angling season that is now here. Jess will be sharing many of her seasonal updates through her column, including catch reports and fishing tips for the big water near the end of the Gunflint Trail.

For the featured paddling destination this month, experienced North American paddler Adam Maxwell takes us to the Bloodvein River in Canada. The trip is not for the faint of heart, but Adam and his wife did the journey with their young child, so they too prove that age knows know limits in the paddling community.

Click here to subscribe to Paddle and Portage and to access the magazine.

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