No North Shore road is as beloved or storied as the Gunflint Trail. Most people merely visit it; few people claim to have grown up in its wilds–and no one has chronicled and illustrated 100-plus years of one family’s life amid the harrowing challenges and exhilarating immersion in Gunflint’s pristine natural beauty. Until now. 

Cook County native Keith Morris’ new book, “Growing Up on the Gunflint Trail,”  brilliantly fills this gap to create a lifetime of vivid, unique experiences for readers. (Minnesota Children’s Press, 2026, www.minnchildpress.org, 162 pages, 90 photos and illustrations). A book signing and launch reception will be held in Grand Marais on Thursday, May 14, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Johnson Heritage Post. All are welcome to attend this free drop-in event. Additional readings and book signings will be held in Cook County throughout the summer and fall. 

The Morris family operated the first Gunflint Trail flying service on Poplar Lake, and also helped their relatives run the neighboring resort, Nor'wester Lodge. Keith Morris was six days old when his father flew him and his mother from Duluth back to their Gunflint Trail home. Judging by the book’s astonishing detail in text and artwork, Morris, 75, appears to recall every minute since then. Morris graduated from Grand Marais schools, where his artistic talent was nurtured by the talented artist,  printmaker and teacher, John A. Spelman III. He then studied art, biology and environmental studies at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. 

Morris draws on his skills as an engaging and witty storyteller, accomplished wilderness paddler,  kayak designer and builder, expert artist, inventor and renown north woods adventurer to create a lifetime of satisfying experiences through the book’s multimedia offerings. They include: 

• 19 essays, with topics such as “Ice House” and “Loons”, as well as an art section that  includes insightful text descriptions on the inspiration, techniques and challenges of each  piece portrayed 

• 35 photographs from the Morris family archives 

• 55 stunning pencil sketches, linoleum block prints, acrylic paintings, hand-drawn maps, pictures of novel furniture Morris designed and built 

• samples from the two patent filings Morris holds for kayak transport systems

We see photos of toddlers on cross-country skis; grade schoolers building boyhood forts on immense glacial erratic boulders and snow forts up to the roofline. We imagine the forest boyhood of bombing around on a bike over unpaved paths and lonely roads as Morris did as a child, supported in his journeys by his trusty backpack. The backpack so endeared itself to him he memorialized it in the book with an evocative pencil sketch that radiates the timeless and universal love for adventure gear so familiar to those who travel the North’s wild lands. 

The adult stories told through Morris’ artwork and explanatory text impress with their commanding expertise in diverse skills of drawing, printmaking, painting, paddling, building, inventing, Nordic skiing. There is a 100-mile paddle done in a day–and hand drawn map of it; the account of skiing deep into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with a wolf pack tracking him–and the photograph he snapped of the wolves keeping him company; tales of skiing, including travel to  Finland for ultra marathon cross-country ski races, where he hopped a bus to the former Soviet  Union for a quick trip to Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. So inspired was Morris by the exhibits in the Museum of Natural History that when he returned to Grand Marais he designed and built his nature-inspired art furniture, such as the otter table and beaver chair, pictured and profiled in his book. 

“Growing Up on the Gunflint Trail” is the missing-narrative of a mystical place and its early and  emerging tourist culture. It evokes and illuminates iconic family North Shore vacations familiar to  thousands of campers, paddlers, hikers, hunters, anglers, bikers and skiers, all told through the  genial, clever and humorous first-person point of view of the original “lodge kid.” 

Grab your trusty backpack and join Keith Morris in joyful exploration of “Growing Up on the  Gunflint Trail.”