The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has been an incubator for adventurers throughout its long history. Notables that are still with us today include Will Steger, Paul Schurke, Lonnie Dupre, and Dave and Amy Freeman. Each honed their outdoor skills here and went on to travel the most remote regions in the world.
But before these intrepid Minnesota adventurers, there was Bob O’Hara.
O’Hara began paddling in the Boundary Waters in the 1950s as a boy scout and ventured north into the Canadian Arctic in 1969. He kept going north for another 50 years.
Duluth, Minnesota journalist and author Ryan Rodgers tells the story of O’Hara and of Minnesota’s canoe culture in his book Where the Green Light Shines: A Fifty-year Odyssey from the Boundary Waters to the Far North.
With O’Hara as the central character, Where the Green Light Shines spans generations and includes many who were influential in preserving the Boundary Waters and establishing Minnesota as a paddling destination. Rodgers then takes us north into Arctic Canada with expedition paddlers traveling all the way to the Arctic Ocean.
In my recent interview, Rodgers intimated “Bob O’Hara is a singular guy. He really devoted his life to canoe trips…the decades went by and he found himself one of the most traveled paddlers on the planet.”
O’Hara started traveling in the far north decades before modern electronics, satellite phones, or global positioning technology. He is from an earlier generation, a time when the far north was still being documented. At 85 years old, O’Hara is still paddling today. Rodgers captures stories told by and about O’Hara—a colorful personality and one of the pioneers of modern expedition canoeing.
I have been fortunate to paddle on four Arctic expeditions with O’Hara, including the first modern descent of the Arrowsmith River in Nunavut. Some of the stories told in the book I have been hearing from O’Hara for 30 years.
During my interview with Ryan Rodgers, he turns the tables and interviews me about some of my own stories about O’Hara. Besides being a fun conversation, it helped put in perspective my long friendship with O’Hara and its origins on a far north river.
Whether you are an armchair adventurer or you are planning your next paddling expedition, Where the Green Light Shines gives you a peek into the world of expedition paddling as it once was and where it is today. It adds an important chapter to the chronicles of Minnesota canoe culture and some of its lively characters.
Where the Green Light Shines, published by University of Minnesota Press, will be available in bookstores in July 2026.
Jim Gallagher is a KAXE volunteer and paddler. He produced Paddle Minnesota, essays and interviews about canoeing.
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