Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

One of the most tranquil places I’ve been on earth. I’ve been up in this area about a dozen times as my great uncle owns a cabin just outside the BWCA. My dad and I have made multiple excursions up into the wilderness area and a couple of times have gone deep into Canada. The lakes are crystal-clear, you often won’t see another human for days in a row (especially in Quetico), and the wildlife is everywhere! I’ve seen moose, black bears, wild turkeys, loons (my favorite, they have this eerily beautiful call), frogs, beavers, fish (of course), and more. Fish practically jump into your canoe.

Some advice:

Use an aluminum canoe. Yes, it weighs 75 lbs vs the 40 lb kevlar boats, but it’s much steadier. The last thing you want is to be in the middle of a large lake when a storm blows in and have to worry about keeping your lightweight canoe from capsizing and having your gear float away or sink! Plus, you really don’t have to carry it that much. Take your time, there’s lots to see if you keep your eyes open. You’ll likely see lots of Native American petroglyphs on the cliffs at the edge of lakes. Prepare for leeches and LOTS of mosquitos.

I spent about two weeks canoeing in the BWCA in 2002, and it was incredible! We had a couple encounters with bears in our campsite. They are very brave so it is essential to hang your food at night! We were mostly into some of the smaller, interior lakes that weren’t very busy. We still saw other people on a regular basis, but it didn’t feel as crowded as the lakes on the periphery, which were quite hectic especially on the portages.

One of the nicest things about camping in the BWCA is that there are toilets at the campsites! Well, not flushing toilets, it’s more of an open air throne (an outhouse without walls.) It may not sound wonderful, but considering on other backcountry camping trips I’ve actually had to dig myself a toilet, this is such a luxury!

My wife, 10 year old daughter and I visited the BWCA in the late summer of 2005. We selected a 4 day, 3 night fully outfitted canoe trip that took us to the heart of the BWCA and we were basically going to canoe our way out of the place.. about 21 miles and more than 15 portages. The unfortunate part of the trip was the rain, of which it either rained hard or lightly sprinkled 60% of the time we there.

This place is exceptionally beautiful and quiet (except the chatter of crickets at night). After the first 2 hours we didn’t see another sole for more than a day and maybe saw another 3 more groups that quietly canoed past our camp. The entire time I bet we ran into no more than 15 people. If you are looking for a place to get your mind off of the hussle and bussle of a city, this place will definitely do that for you. It does come at a price though. You need to be prepared for any type of weather and by all means travel as light as you possibly can. Most of the lakes are rather small and they are interconnected by small, shallow streams that cannot be navigated. That means you need to port all of your belongings from one late to the other. The longest portage we made was over 3/4 of a mile, which we did several times, one to carry the canoe and the other to carry three packs. Admittedly, we brought too much (and strangely enough the thing we brought too much of was food).

I’d recommend a couple of things. Prepare to take your time and get a lot of rest. You should be in good physical condition as these are lakes you are either paddling or you not going anywhere. Bring mosquito repellent or be prepared to be eaten alive, we were pretty well covered so didn’t have a problem. Also be prepared to see some beautiful wildlife and incredible scenery.

I would definitely like to do this again. I think it be fun with more people and without such a long distance to travel in a short period. We felt pushed and really only had one day were we stayed in the same place and enjoyed our camp. Had the weather been better we would have enjoyed it much better. Alas, that’s not something anyone can control.

I just got back from my most recent trip into the BWCAW. We went in at the Kawishiwi Lake entry point and headed to Malberg Lake. The creek between Kawishiwi and Square lake was really low. We had to get out of our canoes and portage some of our gear just so the canoes would float. The creek is solid mud and you’ll sink past you’re knees so you have to get out in the brush. There were a couple of other slightly bad spots but we were able to make it to Malberg as planned (unlike an older couple that just gave up within’ the first hour of their trip).

. . . . was this last weekend. It was idyllic. Perfect. Picturesque. We did the best, easy, beautiful, striking, well-thought trip. The BWCAW is really as amazing as the photos.