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Woman of the Boundary Waters: Canoeing, Guiding, Mushing and Surviving
Book by Justine Kerfoot, Les Blacklock
200 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
July 10, 2012
This book gives the impression that the more active your life is, the shorter the book. Her life on the Gunflint Trail is singularly impressive, but I wondered how she felt about spending a winter making new furniture for the lodge that burnt down, or the gradual relocation of all her native friends. She suggests her opinions about the use of the wilderness in a laconic, unsentimental way, as if opinions don't matter much at all, which makes sense if you spend so much of your life outside.
January 17, 2022
Now I need to visit Gunflint Lodge and learn about the next years of her life and the life of her project - the North.
January 6, 2013
I grew up in Minnesota and spent a good bit of time in the north country - summer camp in various places, annual family vacation at lodge on Leech Lake, and lots of one and two-week canoe trips starting in the later 1950's. We tended to go to the Ely side of the Boundary Waters rather than the Gunflint, but I am familiar with nearly all the places in this book.
With that background, I really enjoyed this book. It begins in 1927 when the author and her parents bought a "lodge" on Gunflint Lake. Things were primitive by today's standards but the author was hooked on life in the north country - hunting, snowshoeing, dogsleds, cutting firewood, fire, cold - all of it. I really liked the story of this country before 1950. Her stories reminded me of a mix of Laura Ingalls and Sigurd Olson, although not as well written. I particularly liked the stories about her relationship with her Indian neighbors - so totally and wonderfully normal. I liked the insight from the side of the lodge owner and resident on topics such as snowmobiles and the Boundary Water Act. I loved the pictures.
The last couple of chapters are pretty bad and the book would be much better without them. The book ends abruptly and the book would be improved with some editing. That said, I am forgiving of memoirs. The story wins out over the editing.
With that background, I really enjoyed this book. It begins in 1927 when the author and her parents bought a "lodge" on Gunflint Lake. Things were primitive by today's standards but the author was hooked on life in the north country - hunting, snowshoeing, dogsleds, cutting firewood, fire, cold - all of it. I really liked the story of this country before 1950. Her stories reminded me of a mix of Laura Ingalls and Sigurd Olson, although not as well written. I particularly liked the stories about her relationship with her Indian neighbors - so totally and wonderfully normal. I liked the insight from the side of the lodge owner and resident on topics such as snowmobiles and the Boundary Water Act. I loved the pictures.
The last couple of chapters are pretty bad and the book would be much better without them. The book ends abruptly and the book would be improved with some editing. That said, I am forgiving of memoirs. The story wins out over the editing.
June 16, 2012
This was a re-read for me. We had our first copy 20 years ago. She has a good sense of humor and frankness, the stories are great. She seems like the "strong outdoorswoman", doing whatever has to be done, and then every once in awhile shares her soft heart and/or her mistakes. So it's a great read, especially if you like the "wilderness".
We just got back from staying at the Gunflint Lodge that her mother purchased and that Justine developed. Her son Bruce is still running it. A lot different from the early days but the area is still mostly pristine, even while recovering from the record-setting Ham Lake fire in 2007. I unfortunately did not make it into a canoe in her honor while there so I'll have to go back. :)
We just got back from staying at the Gunflint Lodge that her mother purchased and that Justine developed. Her son Bruce is still running it. A lot different from the early days but the area is still mostly pristine, even while recovering from the record-setting Ham Lake fire in 2007. I unfortunately did not make it into a canoe in her honor while there so I'll have to go back. :)
August 11, 2009
What a woman! What a life! From the back dustjacket:
"An infinitesimal speck in the cosmos, I stood on the shore of Gunflint Lake beneath a great white pine - matriarch of a fast-vanishing tribe. And I knew I was home."
"An infinitesimal speck in the cosmos, I stood on the shore of Gunflint Lake beneath a great white pine - matriarch of a fast-vanishing tribe. And I knew I was home."
May 28, 2025
Only three bc I’m still unclear on the “white savorism” aspects of it. I love the BWCA with my entire heart, and at times while reading this book I found I could not stop from crying.
July 2, 2016
This is the best book I've read by Justine Kerfoot. My family knew Justine as she owned a lodge not too far from our family cabin in the area that eventually became known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
November 13, 2023
Everything about this book, from its first-hand accounts to its photographs and illustrative sketches are invaluable documentation of a time, place, culture and way of life that sorely needs it. If someone were to destroy all copies of this book I would accuse them of not just getting rid of something extremely enjoyable to read, but expunging a vital text of history.
I learned many pragmatic and factual things. I learned about boughs of balsam fir for bedding. I learned about how some of the first telephone lines people in more remote places were strung up by the people who lived there and were maintained by those same amateurs by and large. I learned enough that I am going to have to re-read it a few dozen times to be sure I remember each element. The book really lends itself to re-reads and quick references as well, with the pictures and strong themes for the chapters creating handy memory-aid "trail markers" to go by.
In reading you also really get a feel for how it must have been to witness and experience what Justine has witnessed. As an author she does an excellent job of alternating between fact and personal reflections, be they her changed opinions, her feelings, or her thoughts. And as for changed opinions, she has a few! Some stated very out-right (like her shift from going moose trophy hunting just-because to seeing killing an animal as something she takes more seriously) and others left more ambiguous but (I think) clear enough to read between the lines. This is so very helpful to read. It is maybe one of those key benefits being able to read gives you. You get to ghost-live versions of other people's life experiences, and the more someone shares of her thought processes, shifts in opinion or feeling along with the vents of her life, the closer that ghost gets to real. One of the aspects of this that made me smile was seeing how in her elder years recounting her mistakes or changes didn't seem to come with any anxiety or harsh self-recrimination. And yet that also didn't seem to be coming from taking it lightly or pretending like it never happened. (Self)-forgiveness without forgetting or reverting. It's a balance I think has got to be lovely to finally have.
The only element I felt might hang-up some people who would otherwise like the book is how it (unannounced) moves back and forward throughout her 'timeline'. This is because it seems to be (generally) organized by topic and then by timeline. Before I noticed this I felt a little disoriented, but it didn't take away from enjoying it overall. After I realized, it was some extra fun. First, to piece together the story in chronological order instead and tell it to myself that way. Then, to think about why an author would choose to organize her book as Justine did, and how reading it with that structure impacted a reader's experience of her story. Ultimately I decided the way she told her stories flowing out from one point, topic, idea, or "kernel of memory" but then going generally in past-to-present order (with some anachronistic asides) made them feel very intimate. It is a lot like how people talk to themselves or close friends about their recollections. Ordered, in away, but in rhyme not with any consistent singular rationale. Looping, not in a line. So in the end though it disoriented me, I appreciated this characteristic of her book.
The only other thing I could see someone feeling upset over is if they expected this to be nothing but sled dog and mushing stories. Justine certainly writes about that, but it isn't only or even primarily that. Luckily for me I was much more into the nature and remote subsistence angle, plus anthropological and historical interest.
I read this over about two weeks, and it was most enjoyable when I was able to read it sitting outside. You will most likely be left with wanting to go visit the Boundary Waters again or perhaps go even further north into Canada.
I learned many pragmatic and factual things. I learned about boughs of balsam fir for bedding. I learned about how some of the first telephone lines people in more remote places were strung up by the people who lived there and were maintained by those same amateurs by and large. I learned enough that I am going to have to re-read it a few dozen times to be sure I remember each element. The book really lends itself to re-reads and quick references as well, with the pictures and strong themes for the chapters creating handy memory-aid "trail markers" to go by.
In reading you also really get a feel for how it must have been to witness and experience what Justine has witnessed. As an author she does an excellent job of alternating between fact and personal reflections, be they her changed opinions, her feelings, or her thoughts. And as for changed opinions, she has a few! Some stated very out-right (like her shift from going moose trophy hunting just-because to seeing killing an animal as something she takes more seriously) and others left more ambiguous but (I think) clear enough to read between the lines. This is so very helpful to read. It is maybe one of those key benefits being able to read gives you. You get to ghost-live versions of other people's life experiences, and the more someone shares of her thought processes, shifts in opinion or feeling along with the vents of her life, the closer that ghost gets to real. One of the aspects of this that made me smile was seeing how in her elder years recounting her mistakes or changes didn't seem to come with any anxiety or harsh self-recrimination. And yet that also didn't seem to be coming from taking it lightly or pretending like it never happened. (Self)-forgiveness without forgetting or reverting. It's a balance I think has got to be lovely to finally have.
The only element I felt might hang-up some people who would otherwise like the book is how it (unannounced) moves back and forward throughout her 'timeline'. This is because it seems to be (generally) organized by topic and then by timeline. Before I noticed this I felt a little disoriented, but it didn't take away from enjoying it overall. After I realized, it was some extra fun. First, to piece together the story in chronological order instead and tell it to myself that way. Then, to think about why an author would choose to organize her book as Justine did, and how reading it with that structure impacted a reader's experience of her story. Ultimately I decided the way she told her stories flowing out from one point, topic, idea, or "kernel of memory" but then going generally in past-to-present order (with some anachronistic asides) made them feel very intimate. It is a lot like how people talk to themselves or close friends about their recollections. Ordered, in away, but in rhyme not with any consistent singular rationale. Looping, not in a line. So in the end though it disoriented me, I appreciated this characteristic of her book.
The only other thing I could see someone feeling upset over is if they expected this to be nothing but sled dog and mushing stories. Justine certainly writes about that, but it isn't only or even primarily that. Luckily for me I was much more into the nature and remote subsistence angle, plus anthropological and historical interest.
I read this over about two weeks, and it was most enjoyable when I was able to read it sitting outside. You will most likely be left with wanting to go visit the Boundary Waters again or perhaps go even further north into Canada.
March 17, 2023
Reread.
We just spent a few days snuggled in a cabin at Gunflint Lodge. We did not want to leave. Justine’s legacy is everywhere on the trail. For years, our family passed the Grand Marais newspaper around until we’d all got to read it. Justine’s column was always the first thing I’d read.
The people who blazed this trail were tough, kind, hearty folks. It’s an absolutely stunning part of our state. And it’s clear waters, quiet, and dark skies are treasures.
Justine did not want this to be as protected a wilderness that it is. She points out a few instances of what lunacy some of the regulations are. But she was a business owner and that did cloud her judgement regarding keeping the BWCA pristine and protected.
Justine lived genderless and ageless. And people loved and respected her for it. We should get our kids reading and learning about the women up the trail and in the BWCA (Dorothy Molter) and lead discussions about how the wilderness didn’t and still doesn’t discriminate.
She blazed more than just the Gunflint Trail. I’ll be rereading more from Justine soon. Revisiting her life through her words lifts me up.
Highly recommend
We just spent a few days snuggled in a cabin at Gunflint Lodge. We did not want to leave. Justine’s legacy is everywhere on the trail. For years, our family passed the Grand Marais newspaper around until we’d all got to read it. Justine’s column was always the first thing I’d read.
The people who blazed this trail were tough, kind, hearty folks. It’s an absolutely stunning part of our state. And it’s clear waters, quiet, and dark skies are treasures.
Justine did not want this to be as protected a wilderness that it is. She points out a few instances of what lunacy some of the regulations are. But she was a business owner and that did cloud her judgement regarding keeping the BWCA pristine and protected.
Justine lived genderless and ageless. And people loved and respected her for it. We should get our kids reading and learning about the women up the trail and in the BWCA (Dorothy Molter) and lead discussions about how the wilderness didn’t and still doesn’t discriminate.
She blazed more than just the Gunflint Trail. I’ll be rereading more from Justine soon. Revisiting her life through her words lifts me up.
Highly recommend
July 30, 2023
I wanted to go with 3.5 stars, but rounded up.
Very interesting story of Justine Kerfoot's life on the Gunflint Trail. Her parents bought a resort prior to the Great Depression and the resort remained in the Kerfoot family until the 2000s. In the book, Justine recollects what life was like living in a forest, on a lake, and so far removed from even her closest neighbors. (Imagine having to snowshoe for several hours in order to check in on a neighbor!) Justine was a guide (for canoeists, fishermen and women, trappers, and hunters), resort owner, educator (she homeschooled her 3 children for several years), and advocate for the resorts on the Gunflint Trail. Engaging writing and interesting stories.
If you liked _Grandma Gatewood's Walk_, you might also enjoy _Woman of the Boundary Waters_.
Very interesting story of Justine Kerfoot's life on the Gunflint Trail. Her parents bought a resort prior to the Great Depression and the resort remained in the Kerfoot family until the 2000s. In the book, Justine recollects what life was like living in a forest, on a lake, and so far removed from even her closest neighbors. (Imagine having to snowshoe for several hours in order to check in on a neighbor!) Justine was a guide (for canoeists, fishermen and women, trappers, and hunters), resort owner, educator (she homeschooled her 3 children for several years), and advocate for the resorts on the Gunflint Trail. Engaging writing and interesting stories.
If you liked _Grandma Gatewood's Walk_, you might also enjoy _Woman of the Boundary Waters_.
January 20, 2019
Interesting book that details the daily life of the lady/family that started the Gun Flint Trail lodge and managed it for 50+ years. Also interesting to see how the changes of progress affected the lodge and the environment. Recommend to anyone who enjoys true human interest stories. We moved to another town and my hubby had a heart attack, so reading on a back burner for awhile. That's why it took me so long to finish this book! It's really a very easy read.
July 10, 2019
Purchased on a recent trip to the Gunflint Trail at Gunflint Lodge. Amazing woman, with a sense of story that, as the review from Minnesota Monthly state, "...telling what she knows about survival and contentment in an untamed territory with human compassion, and not one wife of sentimentality."
Forthright and detailed, she never once shared 'this is how I feel'. Great information about the way things were back when.
Forthright and detailed, she never once shared 'this is how I feel'. Great information about the way things were back when.
June 28, 2023
Straightforward, delightful writing. Fascinating stories about tradition, rustic life in the woods 100 years ago. Everyone interested in Cook County or the Gunflint Trail should read at least the "Early Days" chapter.
"You know a vacation in the bush can put a person's feet back on solid earth, renew perspective and give one a dioramic outlook on life when the surface has become flat without light or shadow."
-Justine's friend Gene Bayle, during a dog mushing trip to visit a remote trapper.
"You know a vacation in the bush can put a person's feet back on solid earth, renew perspective and give one a dioramic outlook on life when the surface has become flat without light or shadow."
-Justine's friend Gene Bayle, during a dog mushing trip to visit a remote trapper.
December 4, 2024
It started out slow, but I ended up being so interested in her experiences and couldn't help comparing them to my memories in the Boundary Waters. After learning about the deep community that existed back then, it is sad to think it has changed in part to the regulations intended to preserve. A theme I've seen in Western conservationism is to separate the people from the land instead of finding a harmony between people and the land.
October 26, 2023
This is an interesting read about life on the Gunflint years ago. We met Justin's daughter-in-law last month while visiting the Chik-Wauk Museum. I wish I had read this book before talking with her. But it was interesting visiting with her and discussing some of the things spoken of in this book. The Gunflint is a beautiful drive! I loved the area and will definitely go back.
December 19, 2024
It was a fascinating book. I learned so much about life in the Northwoods and how life changed in the span of Justine Kerfoot's experiences. I appreciated her candid opinions on the designation as a wilderness area. She is a total BA and I admire her. This book far outshines the rootbeer lady in my opinion.
February 26, 2017
What an amazing and inspirational woman!
Her stories are short and to the point, but she shares some incredible experiences.
If you've been on the Gunflint Trail, you'll probably enjoy reading about some of its history.
Her stories are short and to the point, but she shares some incredible experiences.
If you've been on the Gunflint Trail, you'll probably enjoy reading about some of its history.
February 1, 2020
Too often historical books are about men. . . . I loved reading from Justine's perspective. It is a must-read if you are a BWCA fan. This book provided practical information, lively stories, and the history of the BWCA from the 1920s to the 1950s. A good read.
April 15, 2020
Great Read
A fascinating read from an author whom lived a fascinating life in an extraordinary place and time. I'm envious that I will never be able live these kinds of adventures from a time long gone; this book is as close as I can wish to come. Highly recommended read.
A fascinating read from an author whom lived a fascinating life in an extraordinary place and time. I'm envious that I will never be able live these kinds of adventures from a time long gone; this book is as close as I can wish to come. Highly recommended read.
November 5, 2020
One woman's life in the north country as she learns to live in the area to one day become the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Fascinating details of day to day life but few personal feelings expressed. As another review noted, sometimes we need to be forgiving of memoirs.
August 28, 2021
Engrossing autobiographical story of the woman who worked Gunflint Lodge located near Boundary Waters. She describes the early years when they lived by candle light through the 80s when regulations caused many lodges to close. Lots of insight and description of life.
March 29, 2025
Great historical record of a Minnesota treasure, the Gunflint Trail. The book describes Fascinating people, a strong community and a work ethic that boggles the mind. Great afternoon reading on a cold Minnesota day.
September 10, 2018
An amazing story of a life well lived, filled with hardships, challenges, and big rewards. Also an interesting and engaging history of the Gunflint Trail in arrowhead region of MN.
October 28, 2022
very interesting for the accounts of living on the gunflint trail in the 30's.
December 9, 2022
Really enjoyed this book!!! The stories she tells are very entertaining to read!!!
September 6, 2015
The author, Justine, and her mom moved from suburban Chicago to remote northern Minnesota/Canadian border area in the late 1920s to run a lodge on Gunflint Lake. She lived there until her death in 2001. This non-fiction book describes living in the north woods in fairly primitive times. The book feels more like a collection of short stories, i.e. she describes the evolution of telephone lines to the area over the years or how electricity came in. Then she discusses a lovely relationship with the Native American population and how they learned and worked together. Lots of discussion of trapping, hunting, gardening, raising animals, canoeing, and general northwoods survival. She was the handyperson for the lodge - installed plumbing, fixed machines, fell trees, ran the dog sled, etc.
What is interesting is what is left out - marrying her husband Bill is summarized in about 3 sentences. And their divorce is summarized in 1 sentence. She is efficient with her words.
Overall, interesting perspective on life back in the day. I had recently stayed at the Gunflint Lodge and paddled the boundary waters area so that's what put me onto Justine's story. She's definitely a plucky woman!
What is interesting is what is left out - marrying her husband Bill is summarized in about 3 sentences. And their divorce is summarized in 1 sentence. She is efficient with her words.
Overall, interesting perspective on life back in the day. I had recently stayed at the Gunflint Lodge and paddled the boundary waters area so that's what put me onto Justine's story. She's definitely a plucky woman!
April 23, 2014
I had a veggie burger at the Gunflint Lodge last summer and it was delightful, so it's nice to know how that came about. Justine Kerfoot's mother bought the lodge and store in 1928 and Woman of the Boundary Waters is about the early days before the BW was a designated Wilderness Area, back when there were a few Indian and trapper families living on Gunflint Lake. Some later chapters are organized into vignettes: disasters, the war, animals. Mrs. Kerfoot remembers when everyone in the area got their first snowmobile, and the dog team that the snowmobile replaced. She raised three children at Gunflint Lodge, and recalls when they got electricity and phones and indoor plumbing. She snowshoed around for miles, and hunted, and nursed fawns back to health in the kitchen, and watched the seasons change for fifty years. Essential reading for Minnesotans.
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October 24, 2009
"An infinitesimal speck in the cosmos, I stood on the shore of Gunflint Lake beneath a great white pine-matriarch of a fast-vanishing tribe. And I knew I was home." Justine Kerfoot
Nostalgia
Let me return to the Northland
To the deer and the streams and the larch.
To that shack beside the Gunflint
For haven at the end of this march.
Where a man's success is measured in sweat
His pay a happy life.
There let me live and build and thrive
Forgetting these years of strife.
A venison steak and wild rice
Not caviar and paste.
A balsam bed and cedar fire
Fresh air enough to waste.
Tooth-chilling water from out of the North
Day slipping quietly away.
The eerie shriek of a loon at night
I want to return and stay.
Vern Helmen
Nostalgia
Let me return to the Northland
To the deer and the streams and the larch.
To that shack beside the Gunflint
For haven at the end of this march.
Where a man's success is measured in sweat
His pay a happy life.
There let me live and build and thrive
Forgetting these years of strife.
A venison steak and wild rice
Not caviar and paste.
A balsam bed and cedar fire
Fresh air enough to waste.
Tooth-chilling water from out of the North
Day slipping quietly away.
The eerie shriek of a loon at night
I want to return and stay.
Vern Helmen
January 1, 2012
An honest, straight-forward telling of life as a lodge owner in the near-wilderness now known as the "Boundary Waters Canoe Area" on the border of Minnesota and Ontario. The author lived in the Gunflint Trail area from the 1920s until the area became the BWCA (when living there became restricted), and then remained on the edge of the wilderness area until her death around 2000. A fascinating read into a time that will never exist again, a time that was already gone in much of the US by the time she arrived in Gunflint.
October 29, 2013
Charming book about the life people lived in the wilds of Minnesota in the 1920's and 30's. Kerfoot's humor and style of writing keep me coming back to what should have been a dry read. I enjoyed learning about ice harvesting, cabin building and communication systems coming into areas that only had deer trails. Short and sweet...I picked it up in the Jackson Hole airport for some local enrichment.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews