About the Author

Tom Watson is an award-winning freelance writer specializing in a variety of outdoor topics: kayaking, camping, self-reliance, and more. He is the author of Best Tent Camping: Minnesota and 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as a book on self-reliance in the outdoors and a children's book on paddling. He is an active member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers. Tom's appreciation of Minnesota's state parks began as a forestry student at the University of Minnesota where he spent two field campus sessions in cabins at Lake Itasca and Cloquet. As an avid camper and naturalist, he has visited every state park in the system.