Give thanks for Minnesota State Parks
Posted by Zach Johns on Wednesday, November 28, 2012,
In :
Hiking
Just because it's after Labor Day doesn't mean we can't keep swimming and northern Minnesota offers some great places to do it
Posted by Zach Johns on Wednesday, September 5, 2012,
In :
Swimming
The View From the Summit
| Zach Johns |
| Hibbing, Minnesota |
Zach Johns is an alpine skier, backpacker, paddler and all-around nature lover who lives on Minnesota‘s Iron Range. Originally from Osceola, Wis., Johns attended the University of Minnesota-Duluth so he could ski every day and be close to the trails of his beloved North Shore. There, he earned a degree in Communication and was editor of the student newspaper. However, the real education he gained at UMD was in honing his outdoor skills. He took courses in subjects such as backpacking, winter camping, rock climbing and canoe tripping. By the time he graduated, that was all he wanted to do. In January of 1997, he moved to the Range where he met a group of die-hard skiers dedicated to making turns at Giants Ridge every single day of the winter (when they weren’t out skiing the big mountains of the west.) Throughout the late nineties he built a very impressive ski resume, taking several trips to Utah, Montana, Wyoming, California, British Columbia and Alaska. During the off-season, he took to the hiking trails. In 1997, he hiked the entire Superior Hiking Trail during the single season (what had been completed until that time) and in following years, took trips to Yosemite, Glacier and the Grand Canyon. He also made two attempts to climb King’s Peak, the highest mountain in Utah, but failed to summit both times. In 1999, he attempted the infamous 43-mile Kekekabic Trail through the heart of the BWCA and limped out after only ten miles with a hernia. He did finally complete the Kek in 2005, during one of the hottest weeks on record. Besides hiking, he also continued dabbling with paddling, making several canoe trips to the BWCA and became an enthusiastic (yet very novice) whitewater kayaker. He is now a father of two sons, Nick and Jackson, who accompany their father on nearly all his adventures. Both were skiing fairly soon after they could stand and from 2006-2011, the three hiked in every state park in Minnesota, 195 miles of hiking in 65 parks. Since becoming a dad, Johns has suddenly realized that you can’t just be out there skiing, hiking, paddling, etc. without also working to protect the very things you love. With that in mind, he founded an adventure club at work to get co-workers outside who might not otherwise be inspired to go. The club has gone on hiking, paddling, winter camping and cycling trips and annually go on a trash pick-up hike to celebrate Earth Day. He believes that once you get people out into beautiful wild places, the more likely they will be to protect them. He has also done a lot of volunteer work for the Superior Hiking Trail Association including adopting a backcountry campsite which he and the boys maintain twice a year. It is of extreme importance, he believes, to introduce children to the outdoors early. Not only is it good for them, but they will be the ones protecting these places once we are gone. Future plans? There are a few local goals to check-off including hiking the Border Route Trail in the BWCA and Isle Royale. Mostly, it’s just to take the boys hiking and camping in more of our national parks, skiing the big western mountains, and more of their usual seasonal cycle: Giants Ridge in the winter, Superior’s North Shore in the spring, South Shore in the summer and back to the North Shore in the fall.
|
Tags
alpine amnicon falls backpack badlands bag baptism bark bass beach big sky biking birch biwabik boundary waters canoe area wilderness bwca bwcaw camp camping canoe canyon caribou river carnival cascade river state park chalet chisholm clean cold croix dairy detroit devil devil track river valley documentaries downhill duluth eagle mountain ely fall forest giants giants ridge gps grand grand marais grand teton grouse hibbing hike hiking horseshoe ridge iron jackson hole jacuzzi jay cooke state park johns jump kekekabic kids king's peak lake lake superior lake vermilion leaves leveaux lions lookout luke jordan lutsen magazine maple marais march mccarthy midwest mountaineering's outdoor adventure expo minnesota minnesota north outdoors minnesota state parks montana mount rushmore mountain national nfl north north country trail north shore northern northshore northwoods oberg olympics outdoors packers park parks pattison peak pincushion pine pirmin powder queen quinzhee race racing range ridge river rock runs shore ski skiing skis sleeping slopes slush snow snowboard son spirit mountain split spring squaw valley st. st. louis river state straight lake state park supeior superior superior hiking trail sven and ole's swim swimming team teddy roosevelt tettegouche thanksgiving track trail trailhead training trudee two harbors umd utah vikings virginia volunteer water wild wilderness winter wisconsin wolf yellowstone zach zachary zipple bay zurbriggen
