Lunch with Friends – Being Blind in the Boundary Waters
Lunch with Friends
12pm-1pm
Thursday, March 26, 2026
Virtual (Register Now!)
How do you navigate a wilderness you can’t see?
Please join us for an inspiring midday conversation with Kelly Carver — a Minneapolis resident who has been paddling the Boundary Waters for over 40 years, including the past three decades since becoming legally blind. Diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease after his very first BWCA trip in 1982, Kelly refused to let vision loss define what was possible for him in the wild places he loves.
Since then, remodeled properties, built a cabin near White Iron Lake on the edge of the Boundary Waters, and taken his adventures far beyond Minnesota — trekking to Nepal, exploring Patagonia, and venturing through Glacier National Park. In the BWCA, he’s canoed its full breadth, including the legendary nine-mile Grand Portage as part of the epic 220-mile Border Route.
In this conversation, Kelly will take us inside what it’s really like to experience wilderness without sight — how losing one sense has sharpened the others, and what that shift has meant for the way he moves through the world.
His story is a reminder that the wilderness belongs to everyone willing to step outside their comfort zone. Don’t miss this free virtual conversation!
