Boundary Waters, MN

“you said the weather is supposed to be minus 35 while your relatives are on their trip....

at minus 35 degrees, I'll stay in VA. What were you talking about?...Your baby sister's age? Shes a year older than me.”

“I had a chance to go up to the BWCAW last June it was a wonderful trip.The water is clear and the bottom rocks look golden.We did a trip from Popular Lake to Ham Lake I think it was 14 lakes 16 portages if I remember right withone portage being 184 RODS it was a tough one.It is great to be paddling when the water is flat the sky refects the lake.We paddled into the wind on every lake it seemed but one and had to stay put one day because of high winds.

We used Gunflint Outfitters for gear and canoes if I ever get to go back I would like to take my own Backpacking Gear and get one of those Lightweight Canoes.

If you get a trip together e-mail me maybe me and my son could go kevinlikestohike@yahoo.com

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Let's Go.”

“Great pictures, Prosecutor. I'm going to have to get up there one of these days.”

“Uhhh WOW. Yes, I'll try to figure out if it'll be possible for me to go this year and I'll let you know. That looks awesome.

...what do ya mean when you say one portage was 184 RODS? lol. 16 portages is a lot isn't it...how many days was that spread over?”

“sweetpeastu - One Rod is 5½ yards or 16½ feet. So 184 rods is 1,012 yards or 3036 feet. That equates to a little more than ½ mile. (One-half mile is 880 yards or 2,640 feet.)

Yes, 16 portages is a lot. Not necessarily in distance, but in unloading the canoe and then reloading for each portage. It can make you think twice about how much beer you want to carry!

The longest portage, which I ever did, was about one mile. I had to do two trips to get everything to the next lake. It was not bad, as I was younger and in better condition then. On that one I was able to use some canoe rests along the way A canoe rest is provided by a branch or bar 6 to 10 feet above the ground. You can rest one end of the canoe on the bar or branch and the other end upon the ground. Then you can easily step out from under the canoe. After the rest, you easily step back under the canoe and continue forward along the portage trail.

Also, canoe carriers can look for two closely spaced trees forming a “V” in which to wedge the bow of the canoe.
”

“I had talked to Gunflint Outfitters the same one we used last year and she told me if I brought my own gear and rented a canoe form the it would be about 350.00 for the week they also have what they call Canoe Cabin that you can stay in the day you arrive and get back”

“Oops, Sweetpesstu, my bad. So sorry.


I haven't read this whole thread, so maybe someone else has mentioned this. The Boundary Water is an awesome place. But it's crowded. It's a mad dash for available camp sites. Bears are getting acclimated to humans. All of which detracts, IMO, from the solitude.

If you are willing to go further north there is Quetico. But if you are willing to further north still, there is Woodland Caribou Provincial Park. There you can really claim you are in the wilderness. You are allowed to camp anywhere because there are so few people who visit. If I remember correctly, the last two or three hours of our drive to our put-in point was logging road. Some people "cheat" and take a floater plane in. There are no motorized boats on any of the lakes save for a few. And those exist only because a boat motor was brought in by snowmobile during the winter. When we were there last time, we did run into one other group of people during a portage, but that was it. We didn't see another soul the whole time. One night we slept on the most beautiful island covered in 6 inches of spongy moss, and the loons serenaded us to sleep each evening. It's a glorious place I tell ya!”

“Sweetpeastu 16 portages is alot it was just like a backpacking trek.We put in on Popular Lake on Sunday Morning and took out on Friday Afternoon.I didn't really see very many people after the second portage and most were coming out then on Friday when we were coming out there were a few people.One thing I thought was nice at each Campsite they have a brown bucket chair for a restroom.I have not been to Quetico I someday hope to go though.It was going to cost extra money for Permits and I heard you now need a passport to cross.I thought is you can get the Best Bang For The Buck in the BWCA.16 Portages didn't leave us very much time to fish and some of the Lakes although pretty were just another Lake with Pine Trees.Maybe next time go in about 3 or 4 lakes and Basecamp and Day Trip over to some other Lakes.I will add that I went the third week in June and they have real BIG MEAN BUGS.”

“I know this is a BWCA thread, but I wanted to share these stats for anyone else who might want to plan a trip.

BWCA 250,000 visitors per year
Quetico 20,000 visitors per year
Woodland Caribou 1,000 visitors per year”

“If you are thinking about a trip to bwca the Boundry Waters Journal magazine is a good place to start to get the feel of what you may expect up there”

“For a little more info on the portages try:
http://www.quietjourney.com/

For some good trip reports/pics and other info try:
http://www.bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=forum.conference&confid=1

These places give you more up to date info on conditions”