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Story summary
- The U.S. Forest Service closed the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota after the Thumb and Bear Trap Fires each topped 14,000 acres.
- The advancing flames forced Ely residents to evacuate the Echo Trail road and led writer Stephanie Pearson to describe solastalgia over lost centuries-old pines and threatened wildlife.
- Pearson and her sister-in-law Jen paddled south, abandoning their campsite as the fire plume rose into a smoking wall.
