MONTEVIDEO, Minn. — Susan Otterholt Kempe paddled into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for the first time having never spent a night camping in the woods. They are original members of a group from their church that began making annual trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in 1986. ADVERTISEMENTTwo paddlers with the Women of the Wilderness group make their way on one of the group’s early excursions in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. ADVERTISEMENTIn nearly four decades of trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the paddlers with Women of the Wilderness never encountered a bear, and luckily so. ADVERTISEMENTLauna Tucker filters water for drinking on one of the Women of the Wilderness group’s earlier Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness trips.