The 8 Best BWCA Routes

[Glenn MacGrady]

8 Best Canoe Routes in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness​

Our members with BWCA experience can comment on this article's apodictic assertion about "best". The article itself is divided into two 1-day trips, two 3-day trips, two 4-day trips, one 5-day trip, and one 7-day trip.

 

[Jatfomike]

I clicked on the link from my iPhone and started getting pop up messages warning about viruses and such🤷‍♂️ ….I closed it out…
I would hope the Frost River route made the list!

Mike

 

[billconner]

I was not successful in finding details - like a map - of the routes. There does seem to be an eastern bias, and I've always been an Ely guy.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

New word for me, Glenn. Thanks! And no, it wasn’t “assertion,“ but close.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I clicked on the link from my iPhone and started getting pop up messages warning about viruses and such🤷‍♂️ ….I closed it out…

Mike

The link is to an article in the online edition of Paddling Magazine. It should be benign.

 

[Boreal Birch]

In the late sixties and early seventies during my college years, I worked summer jobs in the Minnesota iron mines to be close to the BWCA. Back in those days local folks could get a yearly permit, so they could enter the Boundary Waters any time they wanted. There were also motor routes throughout the interior of the area too. I traveled all these routes back then in my father’s Grumman canoe. Back in those days aluminum canoes were the normally seen boats with the very seldom spotted wood canvas canoes used by the Charlie Sommers Boy Scout Camp or the Camp Widjiwagan. My iron mine jobs were shift work, our week ends were in the middle of the week, once a month we would get what was called a long weekend, get off Thursday morning at 8:00 AM be free until 4:00 PM Tuesday afternoon. With the help of 2hp Johnson outboard on a side mount, I could travel the main canoe routes rapidly to get to the paddle only areas that held the best fishing waters. We also made some big loops up into the adjacent Quetico Provincial Park the country up there was really special with no other people on any of the lakes.
During the college year, we also ditched classes on Friday & Monday to create four day weekends for ice out Lake trout fishing expeditions and fall duck or grouse hunting trips to the B-dub.
It was a great training ground for the truly wild country of Alaska that I moved to after my college years.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

... apodictic assertion ...

New word for me, Glenn. Thanks! And no, it wasn’t “assertion,“ but close.

Aristotle is turning in his grave.


Magazine editors know that readers like lists. The internet is also full of lists. Just look for product reviews and you'll get "The 12 best doohickeys of 2022". Take it with a grain of salt (or throw in the whole shaker.)

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Thanks sweetfancymoses. I googled apodictic and Aristotle, and once again faced the depth of my ignorance. Sorry for the diversion, Glenn, but I had to publicly confess.

 

[dogbrain]

It seems that the writer took very little more time to write the article than it took for me to read it. Nothing of any value there.

Mark

 

[ppine]

Any good BWCA trip should include some big lakes, small lakes, a few rapids, some remote country and some time on the Ontario border.
I liked the trip from Moose Lake, Basswood Lake and up the Horse River to the Big Current.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I was not successful in finding details - like a map - of the routes.

Yeah, it's not very informative without accompanying maps, unless one already is—take note, Professor Pitt—pansophical about BWCA geography.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Yeah, it's not very informative without accompanying maps, unless one already is—take note, Professor Pitt—pansophical about BWCA geography.

I used to think I had a good vocabulary. But no more. I am a mere illiterate pretender.

 

[Gamma1214]

I was not successful in finding details - like a map - of the routes.

paddleplanner.com is still the best online source I have found for BWCA maps. It's not as good as it was before they decreased the free part and moved most of it to the pay side but you can still use it to follow routes like the article describes or trip reports on here.

 

[Kliff]

Thanks for posting this. I'm just starting to plan a BWCA trip for this summer. Haven't been there in a long time, so I'm starting from square one. It'll be my wife and I, possibly our dog, if I can get her to settle down in the canoe. I'd say i'm upper intermediate, my wife a beginner. It'll probably be a 7 day trip, not necessarily looking to set any distance records. More of a leisurely paddle. If anyone has any suggestions for entry points or routes, I'd appreciate any input I can get.

 

[Gamma1214]

anyone has any suggestions for entry points or routes, I'd appreciate any input I can get.

Just a thought but you should probably start a new thread so that, in the future, others in early planning stages of a similar trip can find the suggestions without reading through this thread.

 

[billconner]

So many great routes. What time of year? Any reason you would or would not use a shuttle, to exit other than where you entered? Any preference for east or west side?

 

[Kliff]

I'm a teacher, and so is my wife, so probably early June-mid August. I have no problem entering/exiting at different points. I live in Wisconsin, but other than that, I have no preference east or West. Last time I was there, I put in in the Ely area. Found another source for suggested routes, and I'm sure there are tons more out there.

Planning a Trip to the BWCA? Here Are Four Routes You Gotta Try - friends-bwca.org

Everyone has their list of favorite lakes and routes in the BWCA. Deciding which entry point to go in at is tough — do you pick an old favorite or somewhere new? Even more baffling is which combination of lakes, rivers, ponds and portage trails will make up your route?

www.friends-bwca.org

I guess I'm looking for the equivalent of a 4-5 day trip at a moderate to brisk pace, and I'll slow it down to 6-7 days.

 

[GeoBoy]

We stayed with Canoe Country Outfitters in Ely, MN. The have a great facility with tent sites, cabins and RV sites on Moose Lake, they also offer rentals and transportation. Nice people.

 

[billconner]

I think GeoBoy means Canoe Country Outfitters - CCO - and I'm very partial to them also but you may not need lodging coming from WI.

You're in busy season. I prize solitude so would avoid that time but, at your time, I'd look at entering Little Gabbro or South Kawishiwi and head to Bald Eagle and do the loop through Gull, Peitro, Camdre, Clearwater, and Turtle. From S Kawishiwi it's around 30. Enter Farm Lake and do the Kawishiwi Triangle - adds 10 miles or so. I've just not found many people on that loop through Clearwater and both pretty and varied. Even a bit of fire aftermath. Must be good blueberries.

Not sure you can go wrong and if you do use CCO, they are very knowledgeable.

 

[Kliff]

I think GeoBoy means Canoe Country Outfitters - CCO - and I'm very partial to them also but you may not need lodging coming from WI.

You're in busy season. I prize solitude so would avoid that time but, at your time, I'd look at entering Little Gabbro or South Kawishiwi and head to Bald Eagle and do the loop through Gull, Peitro, Camdre, Clearwater, and Turtle. From S Kawishiwi it's around 30. Enter Farm Lake and do the Kawishiwi Triangle - adds 10 miles or so. I've just not found many people on that loop through Clearwater and both pretty and varied. Even a bit of fire aftermath. Must be good blueberries.

Not sure you can go wrong and if you do use CCO, they are very knowledgeable.

Thanks Bill: That looks just about like what I'm interested in. Lots of options for "wrong turns" to extend the trip. I'm planning to get Fischer maps of the area, to start planning. Yeah, I know it's busy season. One of the downsides of teaching.... not very flexible on days off. Hoping to hit it during blueberry season. Between berries & fish, I might not get too far.