I have entered at Moose Lake #25 only once before but that year we decided to just shoot straight across and get into Wind Lake. So I've never really gotten any experience on Moose Lake before. I've always wanted to go northeast towards Newfound Lake so I finally booked a trip for 4 days so I can finally do it. Does anyone have any recommendations for where to go and stay?

Our group will consist of two newbies to BWCA so we don't want to do anything too strenuous for portages. We tentatively have a plan to go into Ensign Lake but I feel like that is going to be a busy lake with the proximity too Moose and all the campsites on it.

Also how does the Canadian border portage in Sucker Lake work? Is that regulated by customs? I have no idea how to prepare for that if we need to.

You don't have to worry about any international boundary/customs issues on the portages along the border route. So that's nice. :)

Regarding where to stay, it's going to be busy pretty much everywhere in that area. What are you looking for in the trip? Solitude? Good fishing? Great campsites? When you say you don't want anything too strenuous, how much portaging are you willing to do? You can get to Knife Lake pretty quickly without much work (but it's definitely more than staying on Moose).

For me, the motorboats on Moose would be a big turnoff. The portage into Ensign is very, very easy, and while it is a busy lake, so is Moose/Sucker/Newfoundland. You might want to consider heading farther east on Ensign...The western side is the busiest, in my experience, and the eastern end can be quite a bit better.

HoneyGuy101: "Also how does the Canadian border portage in Sucker Lake work? Is that regulated by customs? I have no idea how to prepare for that if we need to. "

If you are referring to Prairie Portage going west from Sucker to Basswood see this thread.

carmike: "You don't have to worry about any international boundary/customs issues on the portages along the border route. So that's nice. :)


Regarding where to stay, it's going to be busy pretty much everywhere in that area. What are you looking for in the trip? Solitude? Good fishing? Great campsites? When you say you don't want anything too strenuous, how much portaging are you willing to do? You can get to Knife Lake pretty quickly without much work (but it's definitely more than staying on Moose).


For me, the motorboats on Moose would be a big turnoff. The portage into Ensign is very, very easy, and while it is a busy lake, so is Moose/Sucker/Newfoundland. You might want to consider heading farther east on Ensign...The western side is the busiest, in my experience, and the eastern end can be quite a bit better. "

For me, I've always preferred the non-motored lakes anyways so I'm hopefully just keeping options open with Moose and Basswood. But my newbie buddy is hoping for solitude and fishing. I definitely envisioned doing some portaging but nothing too long or steep for their sake. We have a couple kayaks that aren't the easiest to portage around. But I would think we could get into Ashigan or Vera Lake even to maybe get away from some people.

I love Moose, and have never been bothered by the motor traffic. I do avoid weekends if possible. I was not impressed with Ensign. Birch, Carp, Knife are nice and easy portages, but not high on solitude in season.

Honestly, I have wanted to do a Basswood shoreline trip, exploring the coves and such. And bring some luxuries since only one portage.

billconner: "I love Moose, and have never been bothered by the motor traffic. I do avoid weekends if possible. I was not impressed with Ensign. Birch, Carp, Knife are nice and easy portages, but not high on solitude in season.


Honestly, I have wanted to do a Basswood shoreline trip, exploring the coves and such. And bring some luxuries since only one portage."

I have always wanted to do a Basswood shoreline trip too. I’ve been intimidated by the large water though too. I guess I’m just more nervous about this time of year and location because we’ve never done it and I’ve heard how busy and annoying this area can be. No matter what we do we’ll be happy because, I mean, it is the Boundary Waters after all.

I really want to show them what the BWCA is all about. We just want to catch some fish (Walleye, Lakers, and Smallies), find at least some solitude, and a nice campsite or two. Isn’t that everyone though? ??