Points North

Mar 28 2025 86 ep. 16 mins 128
Points North Podcast artwork

Points North is an award-winning podcast about the land, water, and inhabitants of the Great Lakes. Through narrative, sound-rich journalism that is deeply rooted in a sense of place, each episode entertains, informs, and surprises listeners everywhere.

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Some Things Never Change

Mar 28 2025 27 mins  
Inside rustic cabins and yurts at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park there are log books. For more than 70 years, visitors have written in them. We went into this time capsule to see if people’s experiences here had changed much over the changing decades.

Bear Trouble

Mar 14 2025 18 mins  
When a black bear in Minnesota woke up from hibernation in the middle of winter and attacked three people and a dog, researchers were left with one question: Why?

Presenting REAP/SOW: Buzzkill

Feb 28 2025 28 mins  
Americans stepped up to do something about dying bees. Beekeeping is all the rage right now. But what if all those backyard colonies are making the problem worse?

Back to the Boundary Waters

Feb 14 2025 23 mins  
Erik Grams has been taking trips to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota for over 30 years. It’s his favorite place in the world. But last year, during a fishing trip, there was a fatal accident that left Erik wrestling with his feelings about the place he loved.

A Sticky Solution for Microplastics

Jan 31 2025 19 mins  
Microplastics are everywhere. But after accidentally combining materials in a lab, scientists at the University of Michigan are on the cusp of discovering a new method to capture and remove microplastics from water. Researching it takes time, money, and repeated set backs.

Big Abe’s Net

Jan 17 2025 22 mins  
One calm September day, Big Abe LeBlanc set his fishing net in Lake Superior. Then he called law enforcement and turned himself in. What happened next changed fishing in the Great Lakes forever.

The Squeaky Sand Phenomenon

Jan 03 2025 13 mins  
On April 8, 2024, Meghan Hetfield and her partner Roni Pillischer witnessed a total solar eclipse over Lake Ontario. But in the middle of this intense and beautiful experience, something else kept grabbing their attention: the mystery of the squeaky sand all around them.

Complete With His Language

Dec 20 2024 14 mins  
Kenny Pheasant first became a teacher of Anishinaabemowin at 14 years-old, teaching customers from behind the meat counter at a grocery store. Now, it's his life mission to get more people speaking the Great Lakes’ original and endangered language.

The Iceman Giveth, The Iceman Taketh

Dec 06 2024 18 mins  
This is a tale of two cyclists, one legendary race, and an unlikely rivalry.

Saving David

Nov 22 2024 22 mins  
One minute David Holtfreter was kayaking on Lake Michigan; the next he was in the water, fighting for his life. A fisherman saw David struggling from the shore and swam out about 200 yards to rescue him. But in the rescue commotion that followed, David wasn’t able to give the stranger a proper “thank you.”