|
Most trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area are staged out of Ely, Minnesota.
Here you will find outfitters, motels, restaurants and food stores.
The nearest big-city airport is Duluth, Minnesota.
You can get to Ely from Duluth (about 2 hours) via rental car
or shuttle bus (your outfitter can arrange this for you).
The outfitter we worked with was Piragis. These folks helped us plan our trip (via phone and email) and then supplied us with all our trip gear. In my opinion, the arrangements were super. We stayed in a motel (the outfitter can help here, too) at Ely the night before and after our trip. The day prior we met with the outfitter and assembled all our gear, including food (we elected to have the outfitter buy our food for us -- saved a lot of work in Ely). The last day we visited the International Wolf Center (which was fascinating) in Ely; then shuttled back to Duluth airport the next morning. Regulations on the BWCA include an entry permit (which the outfitter can help you in advance to get) and a group size limit (9 people, 4 watercraft). You can arrange with your outfitter to shuttle your group to the entry point and then pick you up later at your exit point. A good book on the BWCA is "The Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Volume 1: The Western Region", 1995, by Robert Beymer. You can get a copy of the most recent edition from your outfitter. You will want detailed maps, also available through your outfitter. The flat, glacier-scraped geography of the BWCA is great for canoe-camping, with its thousands of beautiful lakes and islands. To get into a remote area, however, requires portaging from lake to lake. Believe me, you will want a light-weight (43-pound) canoe with padded carrying yoke! Your outfitter will also offer a "duluth pack" (large duffle bag with shoulder straps) for your gear. If you minimize gear, a tandem-canoe pair should be able to walk a portage in one trip: one person with canoe and personal duluth pack; the second person with two duluth packs (personal and group gear). Otherwise, plan time to double-walk each portage. On our loop trip we paddled 26 miles, double-walked 16 portages, and camped 5 nights on different islands. The best time to go is late summer or early fall, when there are fewer bugs and people. In their Special 15th Anniversary Issue (October 1999), National Geographic Traveler listed "50 Places of a Lifetime," and the Boundary Waters is the only canoe area (in the whole world!) included. Some of the most beautiful wilderness photos I have ever seen come from this area (National Geographic, November 1997, cover story: "A Special Place: North Woods Journal"). Have a great trip! |