THE PROM’S & RITTER’S
Life at the end of the Gunflint Trail
Mike and I moved up to the end of the Gunflint Trail less than a year after we got married. We were fresh out of college and the year was 1993. For five years we lived without indoor plumbing and our only source of heat was a wood burning stove. We went to Sport and Travel Shows to market our canoe outfitting business and our business grew. We spent countless hours working and thinking about how we could make Voyageur even better.
The birth of our first child Abigail Elaine in 1999 did little to slow us down. We still spent most of our waking hours eating and breathing Voyageur Canoe Outfitters. The birth of our second child Joshua John in June of 2001 didn’t slow Mike down but it did slow me down a little. My role shifted and my first priority became the children and my first baby, Voyageur, took a backseat.
When the kids started school I had more time to spend on Voyageur again. As they traveled the longest bus route in the state to school in Grand Marais, Minnesota I once again had time for Voyageur. When the kids made it through Elementary School priorities changed and my role shifted again, this time my primary role became chauffeur.
Up and down the Gunflint Trail we drove… To volleyball practice, birthday parties, football games, hockey practice, band concerts and sleepovers. I drove and drove and drove so much so we began to think about buying a house in Grand Marais. Our talk turned into action in May of 2007.
The Ham Lake Fire forced us to evacuate from the end of the Trail. With no place for our kids and crew we made a quick decision to buy a house when we found someone willing to sell us one and let us move in almost immediately with little money or paperwork completed. Our crew, along with our kids, camped out on the floor in sleeping bags while Mike and I stayed on the Trail with friends or at the Fire Hall so we could continue to fight the fire as members of the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department.
We were fortunate to have a place in town we could use as a crash pad. We rented out the upstairs and when we found ourselves needing to be in town early in the morning and again in the evening we didn’t have to loiter at the library or impose on our friends’ hospitality. When the kids had sporting events out of town we were able to cut our drive time and give the kids more sleep by spending the night in town. Eventually we spent most of our winter in Grand Marais and while it wasn’t the end of the Trail it did make life much more manageable.
In 2014 an opportunity arose to embark on a new business adventure. We, along with partners, worked together to build a business from the ground up. In 2015 we opened Voyageur Brewing Company in Grand Marais, Minnesota. We thought with three couples involved we wouldn’t have too much difficulty participating in both businesses. It wasn’t ideal to have two businesses located an hour apart from each other but we managed by splitting our time and energies.
We had always been able to find wonderful people to work at Voyageur and help us manage the outfitters. It allowed us to divide our time and feel comfortable knowing our outfitting business was being taken care of. In 2015 Matt was a 3rd year employee and he invited his girlfriend to work with us at Voyageur. That is where he and Cassidy’s Voyageur fairy tale began. While Matt graduated with an Automotive Technology degree and Cassidy graduated with a Pyschology degree, Voyageur was calling their names.
Cassidy and Matt became managers and took over the day to day operations of Voyageur. Their knowledge and responsibilities grew over the years as ours shrunk. It was a relief to know they could more than fill our shoes.
As the story goes, first comes love, then comes marriage then comes baby in the baby carriage. In September of 2020 they got married at a beautiful outdoor venue filled with friends and family. In 2022 Matt and Cassidy found out they were having twins. The yurt they were living in wasn’t going to cut it for their family of four. In September 2022 they welcomed Willow and River.
They welcomed their third daughter Aurora into the world in September of 2024. As a family of 5 we can’t wait to see what the future holds for them. Raising children at the end of the Gunflint Trail in such a beautiful place is something we know a lot about.
During Voyageur’s off season, the Ritters enjoy traveling the world together as a family. Seeing other places in the world is such a blessing and being able to have a place so special to come home to is something they will never take for granted. They have a great passion and love for the Boundary Waters and all things canoe camping and have really found their calling facilitating trips into the wilderness for Voyageur’s guests.
We knew we didn’t have to worry about not having our very own residence at the end of the Trail because we had experts at the helm. We didn’t need to be there and no doubt would only be in their way. They will soon be owners of Voyageur Canoe Outfitters and until we build a cabin at the end of the Trail we will stay in whatever cabin is available.
It feels like yesterday when I was in their place with my babies. But it’s obviously been a few years since our oldest, Abigail just turned 25 years old. After graduating from Cook County High School in 2018 she spent four years at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. The Covid years weren’t the best time to be in college but she made the most of it by participating on the Club Rugby team, intramural volleyball team and travelling abroad to Australia. Her trip to Australia was cut short due to Covid and her trip to the Galapagos Islands was cancelled but since then she has been making up for it by travelling whenever she can. She worked for the Cook County Highway Department on the invasive species team this past summer using her degree in Environmental Science. She hopes to continue that career path after the first of the year.
Our baby Joshua graduated High School in 2019 and followed his sister to St. Olaf where he played football for four years and also made the best of the Covid years. He didn’t travel abroad during college but last year spent several weeks in Europe travelling with his girlfriend Nicole. His plans to start a career keep getting sidelined by hunting opportunities; archery hunting for deer in Ohio, elk hunting in Montana, chasing ducks wherever they may fly and more. Lucky for Mike he usually gets to tag-along on these adventures. When he isn’t hunting or fishing he can be found helping us out at the brewery where he can talk to guests about hunting and fishing while serving them beer.
We spend most of our time working at Voyageur Brewing Company in Grand Marais. While neither of us serve on any boards or volunteer with organizations we keep busy. Mike loves to help other people by lending his business expertise. He also enjoys playing pickleball and even painted a court on our driveway. While there are no plans to take the helm of a new business he would love to take a boat on the Great Loop.
When I’m not working I can be found in the woods hiking or mountain biking, at a lake swimming or paddling, on a softball field, a pickleball court, a volleyball court, at a fitness class, camping or travelling. The Gunflint Trail will always be my favorite destination but I’ll enjoy looking around the world for a close second.
