What's the draw of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area if other well-known Paddling Areas are closer (or the same distance)?

[canootrippa]

Hey Trippers,

I'm seeking some advice. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area would be about an 18 hour drive for me. I've never been there and I'm trying to figure out what the BWCA offers that other classic tripping areas might not.

Algonquin Provincial Park is about 6 hours away (with no Toronto traffic), the Temagami Region of Ontario is about 8 hours, Quetico Provincial Park would be about 19 hours, Wabakimi Provinical Park would be about 20 hours, and Woodland Caribou Provincial Park would be about a 22 hour drive.

Based on your experience, what does BWCA offer that the others do not?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

 

[Alan Gage]

A caveat to my advice is that I've never been paddling in the BWCA. I have done Woodland Caribou a couple times and some trips farther north and west.

I think the main thing the BWCA has to offer over other tripping areas (such as Wabakimi or Woodland Caribou) is easier access, more reliable portage trails, and known camp locations.

I know many experienced canoe trippers that return over and over to the BWCA and enjoy it very much so I'm not saying there isn't a real wilderness experience to be had but when I would go tripping I was looking for more solitude and more of a sense of exploration. While frustrating at times I enjoy the challenge of finding seldom used portages (or portaging where none exists) and the freedom and challenge that comes from not having designated camp sites. I also enjoy river travel, which the BWCA, as far as I know, doesn't really offer.

Alans

 

[sweeper]

Double caveat here

-Never been there
-It's at the far end of most of the places I'd paddle at.
It's an 11- 13 hour drive for us to the Allagash put-in, about the same in the other direction to Algonquin.
I don't mind the drive if I have to, but in that direction I have enough paddling in Algonquin; I don't need to.
Less time driving, more time paddling.

 

[ppine]

I have paddled the BWCA only once back in 1985. Its big and it is famous. There are rivers to be had and long trips are possible. Some people like being able to readily find portage trails. I liked the designated campsites because they had latrines. In those days we drank the lake water without treating it. It is much more crowded now. We had some difficulty finding portage trails once we were more than about 40 miles from a common put in location.

We were on the Canadian border some of the time, and could see Quetico.

I really liked the experience of being in the North Woods. It was much different than big western rivers, reservoirs and the Rocky Mountains, the Cascades and the Sierra.

 

[jdeerfoot]

It was a great place to start for me - first trip was in summer 1973 base camping off the Gunflint Trail, which is on the east side of the BWCA. It was crowded back then and continues to be currently. I was last there in late October 2018 and was a bit surprised that we encountered paddlers every day and this was a 5 day trip during the week . On Friday pm as we paddled out a steady stream of paddlers passed us going in.

Back at Sawbill Outfitters the owner noted that it seemed like a typical late October weekend to him. The BW is just too crowded for me, so I have tripped in Canada for the past 20 years. On my summer trips in the BW you needed to start looking for a campsite in the early afternoon. I will be 80 years old next year and I intend to continue paddling in Canada (base camping the past 2 years) until I age out.

 

[Tryin']

[snip]

Based on your experience, what does BWCA offer that the others do not?

More civilization and more people. Not a belittlement, but what it is, more developed portages, pit toilets, fire grates, steady traffic, and thousands of works of incredibly granular data for trip planning. And a lot of cell service.

FWIW, a lot of videos I see out of Algonquin look similar to the BWCA as far as portages and people, especially the popular routes. Algonquin is about 1.8M acres, BWCA is about 1.1M.

 

[Art D]

Is the BWCA crowded everywhere in those 1.1 million acres, or are there corners you can still get lost in?

 

[billconner]

I started canoeing in Question. Have mostly canoed BWCA and Quetico. What I find great are the large variety of places to go. I pick an entry and a first day direction and take a bunch of maps and plan as I go. So many places you have a narrow set of choices and basically follow a trail. It seems some Canadian parks require you plan a trail, reserving sites or lakes. So Quetico year round or BWCA before June or after August. (I love Quetico in October!) Have not done Wabakimi nor Woodland Caribou.

 

[Tryin']

Is the BWCA crowded everywhere in those 1.1 million acres, or are there corners you can still get lost in?

Crowded is a relative spectrum, and the BWCA has pieces that are all over that spectrum. The PMAs are almost untraveled. The big entry lakes may have 30+ groups on them. The layout of entry points that makes the area so easy to access make it, well, easy to access.

Find an area that takes at least one really good hump to get into, and the company drops off quick. Just make sure that the area doesn't have another EP that offers a much easier entry to the same general location. There are a few areas that have an EP that requires a mile plod to get into, but is also serviced by an EP that only has three 50-rod hops to arrive at the same location. Needs and Lizz/Swamp immediately come to mind.

Its not Nunavet, and its not the Current River.

 

[PortageW/Cerberus]

I'm 4-5 hours from the BWCA entry points. I'll go 7 - 12 hours to get to the Canadian Parks (Quetico, WCPP, etc) every time.

 

[memaquay]

Don't forget Ontario Crown Land trips as well. Marshall lake loop, or Steel river loop........no thunder boxes, no maintained portage trails, and no people. They are within your 18 hours time frame as well, depending where you are coming from, could even be less.

 

[Gamma1214]

Like Alan, I think the draw is easy access, easy to find ports & the fact that people know about the BWCA. I feel like it's also far easier to plan an "escape route" in the event that someone finds they are not up to the adventure or to find help if they're a bit out of their depth.

My 1st tripping destination was the BWCA for just these reasons and, if asked today, I always suggest starting someplace like BWCA, the 'Daks, Algonquin, etc... someplace heavily traveled & close to civilization. I'd even consider going back to one of those locations if I was taking someone along that was inexperienced and might need to bail early.

At this point, however, I'll second Mem's suggestions about the Steel River & Marshall Lake- both outstanding trips but I am unlikely to have ever heard of them if not for this forum.

Ports are still relatively easy to find & follow but it is far more of a wilderness feel and, in fact, it IS really wilderness and care must be taken since help is not readily available. They may not be the place to start if you're in doubt about your abilities.

My progression was BWCA to Mem's Crown Land trips and I'm now planning to hit Crown Land around (& through) Wabakimi.

That will force me to hunt for some less traveled portages and should be a good tune-up for a more extensive exploration of the Marshall Lake area where ports may have vanished completely.

Just like making one or two tough ports buys you more solitude in the BWCA, the challenges of lesser traveled Crown Land routes make people more scarce or completely non-existent. It's all a matter of what you seek from the experience and what you're willing to go through to get it.