I am planning to take my 12 year old granddaughter to the BWCA for her first time experience and am hoping to plan a 3 to 5 day trip that will be appropriate for an inexperienced but enthusiastic 'rookie'. Among the expectations she has verbalized are: seeing a moose, catching fish, playing in a waterfall, picking and eating wild blueberries.

We have scheduled the week of July 9-14 for our trip and for this initial experience we are planning to use an outfitter to provide everything we will need. Any suggestions as to outfitters, entry points, routes and locations based on personal experience would be most appreciated.

I like your chances in the Kawishiwi triangle for a lot of that punch list.

Look into EP's 31, 32 & 33.

Any of the Ely area outfitters will serve those EP's and be able to help you with a route. Click on the 'outfitters' tab above. I'm sure others will weigh in with specific outfitter recommendations.

ps - I think you may be just a little early in the season to find ripe blueberries. I could be wrong though.

I have found good blueberries in early July. I use Piragis for BWCA outfitting.

Find the sponsors for this site, lots of good outfitters in Ely. Voyageur North is our favorite so far.

As for where, you can catch fish, find berries, and waterfalls at EP 23 Mudro. Head into Horse and either camp there and fish or move down the Horse River to the Basswood river and see the falls above and below where they meet and stay there a night or 2. Head out the same way eventually.

Try EP 47. We are headed there in June and have read trip reports about moose on Horseshoe and a waterfall on Winchel. Shorter/easier portages too. Have a great time!

I took my 12 yr old boy on his first trip to the North End of Kelly Lake through EP39 (Baker Lake) 2 Portages to get there, 1st is 12 rod, second if you chose to use it is 3 rod(or lift canoe up and over small rock area of the stream) You can get up to the campsite on the far north end in about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. While the campsite is not excellent it is pretty nice. It is right near a stream that while not a water fall is flowing and you can stand in parts of it and ride it out into the lake (Located right next to the campsite). If you walk the rocks behind the stream flow, there are some boulders you can jump into the small calm area of the stream. Only about a 6 ft jump, but for my 12 yr old he loved it. The site also contains not only abundant blue berries, but also raspberries. You can catch Northern, Walleye and small mouth in the flowage as well as in the stream around the other corner. We saw a moose cow and calf in that area 2 years ago. This trip offers all but the waterfall, but there is a bonus. If you take a walk down the portage to the Jack lake end and head left right at the end you'll find a small trail leading to an abandoned gold mine. You can actually walk back a short way into the cave. It was the highlight for my son. Being as close to exit as it is and easy paddle, makes for a quick exit should things go south. Email me and I can provide more fishing info in Kelly and Jack plus other lakes on the way in. (You will need a lot of Bug spray that time of year) We went end of July also. Beautiful sunset views.

Forgot to add you can get full outfitting nearby at Sawbill Outfitters and drive to EP or they will even drop you off at the EP by van and pick you up. You could also canoe back to the outfitter via Burnt, Smoke and Sawbill lakes, but this would involve one large portage pretty rough and 2 mid size pretty easy portages.

My Wife's first trip was leaving out of Lake One in June. We arrived late at night and slept a few uncomfortable hrs in the car at the entry. We met our friends right at sunrise and she was complaining that it was cold. It was. Just as we were pushing off into the sunrise mist (from the parking lot) we heard the howling wolves seemingly all around us. 2 minutes later we flushed an enormous golden Eagle from the shoreline that swooped within 10 yds of our canoe before the powerful wings flapped away. She was sold right then.

To be honest, it was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced in the BWCA, and it was her first 2 minutes. Sunrises are the best.

To the OP's question: I think expectations set you up for disappointment. The best things I've encountered have been random/stumbled upon/unexpected. I didn't see a moose until after 4 years of tripping. Still haven't hit the blueberry harvest right.

Perhaps a trip into this area ???

Sons first trip we based camped at the far end of disappointment and day tripped to Jordan Lake to Ima and to Cattyman Falls. It was a 3 night trip.
Daughters first trip Seagull to SAK to Big Sag. That trip was a 5 night trip.
Grandsons first trip Mudro to Fourtown and base camped for 4 nights.
They were all good trips.