Andrew Slade's parents first set eyes on each other on Minnesota's North Shore of Lake Superior, and Andrew's life has centered there since birth-despite growing up in the Twin Cities. As a kid, he caught nets full of smelt at the Cross River, jumped cliffs into the deep pools of an unnamed North Shore river, helped to band woodcock in the open fields of North Shore homesteads, and shut his eyes tight each time the family wagon drove around Silver Cliff (today there's a tunnel through the cliff and his eyes stay wide open). With his intrepid father, he had to abandon a mid-1970s assault on Carlton Peak due to a lack of recognizable trails.

As a canoe guide and outdoor educator in Ely, he learned that "sauna" is a three-syllable word (sow-ooh-nah). In his twenties, he bushwhacked by snowshoe much of what is now the Manitou-Caribou section of the Superior Hiking Trail. At age 28, in his "before kids" era, he was the editor and lead author of the first Guide to the Superior Hiking Trail.

Slade graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BA in environmental education and from the University of Montana with a MS in environmental studies. His favorite wildflower is Mertensia paniculata, the native North Shore bluebell.

Andrew has worked for environmental education and preservation organizations on the North Shore since 1992. You can reach him at andrew@thereandbackbooks.com and read his North Shore blog at bestnorthshore.com.