Picture yourself paddling in a serene lake surrounded by the splendor of Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota. Aspen, cedar and paper birch trees dot the lakeside landscape.

Sound cool? Well, students enrolled in Landscape Architecture 309 (Field Travel) got to experience this scene first hand during their Boundary Waters Field Study in Minnesota last week.

For the past 25 years, landscape architecture students have been taking these trips to use the wilderness as a classroom. But, the trip is just as an important learning tool for landscape architecture professors, Gary Hightshoe and Ken Lane.

“This wilderness cannot be experienced in a book,” Hightshoe said. “Students can’t become advocates for conservation, and we cannot mold people’s value systems without giving people an opportunity to find what they hold dear.”

The trip was many of the students’ first experience in the back country. One goal of the trip was to expose them to a wilderness setting so they could learn to appreciate it.

“Areas that are minimally touched by human activity are becoming increasingly rare,” Hightshoe said.

The trip included canoeing a series of lakes that were linked by portages. The canoes and all the gear had to be carried from lake to lake for the on-going journey.

“I never had to work so hard to have a good time,” Brad Overturf, a senior in landscape architecture said.

Students said being away from civilization gave them time to reflect. “This is a nice place to go to get away from distractions and prioritize what is really important in your life,” senior in landscape architecture Trent Marsh said.

One of the students’ highlights of the trip was a canoe ride at night. “The water was like glass,” landscape architecture senior Sarah Fencl said. “And you could see the constellations’ reflections on the water.”

Along with the fun of the trip and the beauty of the Boundary Waters, the students got some real life experience in conservation and resource management.

“We got to learn about carrying capacity,” Hightshoe said. “If you exceed it, you not only get environmental damage, but the experience is diminished.”

The trip provided students who will be on the front lines of conservation, resource management and other environmental issues a glimpse at a pristine wilderness and how these sensitive areas need to be managed for future generations to enjoy.