When John & Kathy Schiefelbein started North Country
Canoe Outfitters in 1984, their goal was to provide the finest customer
service, and the most in-depth trip planning and mapping, available anywhere
in the border lakes region. That aim, coupled with the best equipment,
abundant portions of top quality foods, and fair pricing, is the hallmark of
their operation today. Tiring of corporate life with the marketing arm of
IBM, and relying on John's proven outdoor experience and "one-on-one people
skills," they located their new business in the center of the world's most
unique canoeing area. The two of them have grown their business from one
employee and twenty canoes, to a staff of sixteen and over one hundred and
fifty watercraft. However, John still personally maps every party's canoe
route ... one-on-one ... just like they set out to do.
John has always been an avid outdoorsman: guiding his
first canoe trip in 1965 as a Boy Scout camp staff member in northern
Wisconsin. Since that time, he has not only paddled the the northern waters
of Canada, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, but the rivers and streams of the
Ozarks, and the backwaters of south Florida. He has climbed the icy 14,500'
summit of Mount Rainier, and scuba dived the islands and reefs of the
Caribbean.
While serving in Vietnam as an electronic intelligence pilot, John taught
the skills of Survival, Escape, & Evasion as his unit's training officer.
Following his military service and prior to moving to Ely, he actively instructed adult Scout leaders
on working with youth, and in the
skills needed to successfully take boys on extended wilderness canoe trips.
John
has been elected several times to the position of President of the Ely
Chamber of Commerce, as well as Vice President of the Ely Outfitter
Association. He has served in several advisory positions to the United
States Forest Service concerning wilderness use and ethics, and has been
honored by them for his professionally superior efforts. Information about
North Country and its owners have appeared on multiple TV programs as well
as in many books, newspapers, and magazines.
OUR STAFF
The staff here at North Country has
been hired with one primary attribute in mind: Will this employee help make
our customer's canoe trip a better experience? We look for high school and
college students, and young adults, who have demonstrated excellence. We
have hired people who have excelled in the classroom, the athletic arena, on
the stage, and in music. Among our North Country Staff members:
Most excelled in music, speech, debate,
and/or drama on the regional and state level,
Several have been high school state athletic finalists and on
Minnesota all-star teams,
Yearly, several graduate as National Merit Finalists and National Honor Society
members,
Several have received
college academic scholarships,
One was named as a university departmental student of the year,
One received an Athletic Letter and competed in the Big 10 Conference Championships,
One received a post graduate medical fellowship,
One graduated first in his
graduate school Master's program,
Our staff is continuously monitored
by the owners, as well as each other, to ensure accuracy and a warm,
welcoming, service-oriented attitude. Normally about seventy to eighty
percent of our staff have worked for us in previous summers. Our section
lead employees usually have three to five years of North Country staff
experience.
John has always been an avid outdoorsman: guiding his
first canoe trip in 1965 as a Boy Scout camp staff member in northern
Wisconsin. Since that time, he has not only paddled the the northern waters
of Canada, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, but the rivers and streams of the
Ozarks, and the backwaters of south Florida. He has climbed the icy 14,500'
summit of Mount Rainier, and scuba dived the islands and reefs of the
Caribbean.
John
has been elected several times to the position of President of the Ely
Chamber of Commerce, as well as Vice President of the Ely Outfitter
Association. He has served in several advisory positions to the United
States Forest Service concerning wilderness use and ethics, and has been
honored by them for his professionally superior efforts. Information about
North Country and its owners have appeared on multiple TV programs as well
as in many books, newspapers, and magazines. 
