The cold winter of Northern Minnesota, while harsh, can create some of the most amazing spectacles of nature. The clear black glossy ice allowing you to see the rocks beneath your feet. The glistening of snow blowing on a sunny day. Or maybe it’s the silence of a wilderness lake at sunrise. All these epic views tend to take place when it’s below freezing and chilly to the bone. While that might keep some folks away from our winter wonderland, for the boy scouts, we tackle these challenges and are often rewarded handsomely with the most magnificent sunrises, sunsets, and wildlife the Northwoods has to offer. In this month’s Northern Tier blog post we are going to talk a little more about the strategies we use at Northern Tier to stay warm. Our gear helps us

Every year scouts from across the country want to go come up to Northern Tiers Okpik Program but struggle to find the fellow scouts and advisors to come with them. We get it. Not everybody wants to come up to build snowmen, play broom ball, go sledding, and learn to stay warm in extreme temperatures. It just sounds like a miserable time doesn’t it? It is precisely for those scouts Northern Tier offers our all-important individual winter treks. On these treks scouts from across the country are paired into one unit, given 2 interpreters to guide them and, sent out into the great white North equipped with everything needed to have a great winter adventure.   The individual treks this

What does it mean to be an Interpreter?  If you have ever been to a Northern Tier program either Summer or Winter, then you are probably familiar with our Interpreter program. Each crew that goes on a trek with us gets paired with one of our interpreters who has been trained on the programs and activities that you signed up for. Whether you’re dog sledding across a frozen lake or paddling a lake in a canoe, at Northern Tier, you will always have one of these trained staff members to guide you on your way, teach you new skills, and inform you about the

When the adult leaders of Region 10 launched the first scout canoe trip out of Winton Minnesota in 1923, I doubt they were trying to start anything big. They weren’t on a mission to build a program that would last and go on to send thousands of scouts on life-changing experiences through a 100-year legacy. No, instead I believe they were focused on satisfying their own itch for adventure and sharing a wilderness experience with the scouts they had. They wanted to show them what true wilderness was and to help the scouts learn the lessons that the Northwoods has