What do you have planned for 2024 in and around the bwca with your kids? Share what you’ve got cooking for this upcoming year.

June daddy/daughter trip with my 19 year old daughter. She doesn’t like camping in the bwca anymore so we enjoy the area in other ways now. This year we are going to stop at waterfalls up the North Shore and spend a night at Nelson’s Travelers rest. Then see the waterfalls up to the Canadian Border and then explore tge arrowhead trail and cut over to the Gunflint Trail and spend a night at Rockwood.

June family stay in a camper cabin at the East Bearskin campground with canoeing and hiking on the agenda.

August annual family stay in a cabin at Rockwood.

August father/son bwca trip with my 5 year old for his first bwca trip. Hoping to get a permit for South Kawishiwi River. His name is Bruin and he thinks that visiting Bruin Lake would be awesome.

October annual trip to Nelson’s Travelers rest in Grand Marais over MEA for moose madness.

Definitely going to be doing something but, actually looking to take it as it comes this year. No big definite plans.

Having said that, I think Aurora & I will probably head to Crocodile for a short trip & I'd like to do a longer trip up the Little Indian Sioux as I haven't been up that way in a number of years. Not sure if Aurora (or anyone else) would be joining me if I do that. As mentioned, it really depends on how the cards play out.

Have you done Croc before? I’m a fan. Very remote feel to it for not being very far into the bwca. Big duckling and I camped there when she was 11 entering from the East Bearskin. Small walleye were plentiful. We also entered from the Crocodile River for a day trip as a family a couple of years later.

Here are the trips with my daughters that I'm planning:

1. My two youngest daughters want to go back to Baker AND do a trip through Homer. We'll do one in June and one in July, I hope.

2. Not BWCA, but my oldest and second youngest daughter will join me on a canoe trip to Bowron in northern British Columbia - a return trip for me recreating a favorite childhood adventure.

3. Maybe fudging a little on this one too...I'll be the kid on a camping trip with my dad in September. Not looking at canoes but we will do some fly-fishing in the mountains of the Idaho/Montana border.

Hopefully most of our daughters will join my wife and I for her birthday when we stay in a cabin on a lake in northern Wisconsin for a week. Usually plenty of day trips in a canoe so I think that counts too!

ducks: "What do you have planned for 2024 in and around the bwca with your kids? Share what you’ve got cooking for this upcoming year.

June daddy/daughter trip with my 19 year old daughter. She doesn’t like camping in the bwca anymore so we enjoy the area in other ways now. This year we are going to stop at waterfalls up the North Shore and spend a night at Nelson’s Travelers rest. Then see the waterfalls up to the Canadian Border and then explore tge arrowhead trail and cut over to the Gunflint Trail and spend a night at Rockwood.

June family stay in a camper cabin at the East Bearskin campground with canoeing and hiking on the agenda.

August annual family stay in a cabin at Rockwood.

August father/son bwca trip with my 5 year old for his first bwca trip. Hoping to get a permit for South Kawishiwi River. His name is Bruin and he thinks that visiting Bruin Lake would be awesome.

October annual trip to Nelson’s Travelers rest in Grand Marais over MEA for moose madness. "

Ducks...your 2024 trips look similar to your traditional annual pattern! Good stuff and label me a fan. :) We'll have to compare notes and see if our paths cross again. Hoping Bruin finds an open site on "his" lake!

TuscaroraBorealis: "Definitely going to be doing something but, actually looking to take it as it comes this year. No big definite plans.


Having said that, I think Aurora & I will probably head to Crocodile for a short trip & I'd like to do a longer trip up the Little Indian Sioux as I haven't been up that way in a number of years. Not sure if Aurora (or anyone else) would be joining me if I do that. As mentioned, it really depends on how the cards play out. "

TB...always enjoy your trip reports! Watching your daughter grow up through those reports always makes me smile. Hope you two have some good adventures again this year! I'll be on the LISN in September so wave if you see me. :)

Jaden (my 16 yo son) and I will be doing EP 16 entry up to Fish Stake Narrows in early June. After last year’s success in Snow Bay he jumped at the chance to go back to LLC despite the distance of this route. Planning on heading back through Gebe/Rocky/Oyster to see some new water (for me) as well. It will be his 8th canoe trip with me (5th to BW and 3 to Sylvania), so he’s a seasoned pro by now.

Still hoping at an outside chance that my older son will get a long enough and well timed break from the Army in Aug or Sep before he deploys back wherever they send him next, but if not, he’s almost sure to be available in summer 2025 since his contract will be completed.

I always look forward to these trips- one day I’ll get them both there together!

I am looking to take my 5yo son in for his first BWCA trip. I am glad to see Crocodile mentioned, as that is what I am looking at. My only concern is getting a site. If everything works out we will likely be looking at a couple nights in early to mid June, probably a mid-week entry (Tuesday) so I would think that would help with availability? Anyone insight there would be appreciated.

I have been on several trips but always on the Ely side, so it will be a fun change of pace for me in that sense as well.

YetiJedi: "

ducks: "What do you have planned for 2024 in and around the bwca with your kids? Share what you’ve got cooking for this upcoming year.


June daddy/daughter trip with my 19 year old daughter. She doesn’t like camping in the bwca anymore so we enjoy the area in other ways now. This year we are going to stop at waterfalls up the North Shore and spend a night at Nelson’s Travelers rest. Then see the waterfalls up to the Canadian Border and then explore tge arrowhead trail and cut over to the Gunflint Trail and spend a night at Rockwood.


June family stay in a camper cabin at the East Bearskin campground with canoeing and hiking on the agenda.


August annual family stay in a cabin at Rockwood.


August father/son bwca trip with my 5 year old for his first bwca trip. Hoping to get a permit for South Kawishiwi River. His name is Bruin and he thinks that visiting Bruin Lake would be awesome.


October annual trip to Nelson’s Travelers rest in Grand Marais over MEA for moose madness. "

Ducks...your 2024 trips look similar to your traditional annual pattern! Good stuff and label me a fan. :) We'll have to compare notes and see if our paths cross again. Hoping Bruin finds an open site on "his" lake!
"

Thank you. Looking forward to the summer. Really excited abut adding the camper cabin to our adventures this summer

. I’m going to send you an email about Homer.

shouldertripper: "I am looking to take my 5yo son in for his first BWCA trip. I am glad to see Crocodile mentioned, as that is what I am looking at. My only concern is getting a site. If everything works out we will likely be looking at a couple nights in early to mid June, probably a mid-week entry (Tuesday) so I would think that would help with availability? Anyone insight there would be appreciated.


I have been on several trips but always on the Ely side, so it will be a fun change of pace for me in that sense as well. "

I was worried about campsite availability as well, but it wasn’t a problem even entering on a Sunday at the very end of July. IMO… the 2nd site coming from the East Bearskin portage is the best one. If your son hasn’t caught a walleye before, this lake gives you a good chance for him to do it. Let us know if you have any questions.

ducks: "

shouldertripper: "I am looking to take my 5yo son in for his first BWCA trip. I am glad to see Crocodile mentioned, as that is what I am looking at. My only concern is getting a site. If everything works out we will likely be looking at a couple nights in early to mid June, probably a mid-week entry (Tuesday) so I would think that would help with availability? Anyone insight there would be appreciated.



I have been on several trips but always on the Ely side, so it will be a fun change of pace for me in that sense as well. "

I was worried about campsite availability as well, but it wasn’t a problem even entering on a Sunday at the very end of July. IMO… the 2nd site coming from the East Bearskin portage is the best one. If your son hasn’t caught a walleye before, this lake gives you a good chance for him to do it. Let us know if you have any questions. "

Thanks! That sounds encouraging. I was thinking if we have a choice we would want to stay on the west side of croc, as it sounds like the east end is buggier. I saw some reports the fishing is good over there, however.

His first walleye is still a box we need to check so that is a main reason for choosing crocodile. He has specified a "HUGE walleye" is what he is looking for but without anything for him to compare to I'm sure whatever we catch will suffice!

Hope today was good for everyone today! We’re all set to go to Croc for our first (of many, I’m sure) father-son BWCA trip.

Some old trip partners invited us along on a trip to/through Hog Creek in August.

shouldertripper: "Hope today was good for everyone today! We’re all set to go to Croc for our first (of many, I’m sure) father-son BWCA trip."

Have fun! I love my one one one trips with each of my kids. Priceless!

For my 5 year old son’s first bwca trip I got my first choice of a South Kawishiwi River permit for mid August on my top choice for date. I was on right at 9:00 and when I finished booking I looked back at 9:05 and all of the August and most of the July permits were gone.

I’m so glad I was able to get on at 9:00. Originally I was going to go on at 10:30 and I wasn’t too worried because I had like 15 dates that would work. When I checked the reservations at 10:30 out of curiosity I would have been down to either my 3rd entry point and 12th date or 4th entry point and 4th date.

Bruin keeps telling everyone he sees that he’s going to the Boundary Waters and Bruin Lake. He might be as excited as me!

Just one trip on the books this year. My husband and I are taking our 3 daughters to Brule Lake in early July. Planning on doing a base camp and day trips to fish and explore. I took my two older daughters to Brule for a mother daughter trip in 2021, so excited to go back this year with the whole family. We don’t usually do base camp trips, but the girls want to spend time exploring, reading, relaxing, and fishing, so we figured we’d give it a try this year!

We've got 2 BWCA trips this year. Our first was in May with the oldest kiddo. Went in through Kawishiwi Lake and up to Malberg.

We'll be headed in again in August through Sawbill and plan to camp on Alton. We're bringing both kiddos (10 and 3), and then my husbands parents and my dad. We started bringing grandparents when we brought our little guy in for the first time (he was 14 months) and discovered it helps immensely to have extra sets of hands with a toddler. Grandparents were also a huge help with the older one because she could spend time with them if we were busy with camp chores or with her little brother.

Aside from that, we'll do some trips to the cabin and we'll be heading to Porcupine Mountains in Michigan in October with the kids for a MEA camping trip.

2 of my adventures with kids are in the books.

June 6-8 my 19 yo daughter and I hiked to several waterfalls along the North Shore and the Oberg Mountain loop and spent a night a Nelson’s Travelers Rest in Grand Marais. Then we went to High Palls at Grand Portage and then hiked to the 270 overlook up the Arrowhead trail before spending that night in a bunkhouse at Rockwood. We helped with the Gunflint cleanup before heading home. Highlights were the one on one bonding time with on of my kids and seeing a wolf.

June 10-13 the whole family including the dogs stayed in a camper cabin at East Bearskin campground. Highlights were being unplugged together as a family, watching a cow a calf moose feed in a pond for an hour, and hearing people think our Newfie was a bear before realizing that it was attached to a leash and a human. LOL

Had an extended Memorial Day weekend trip with just my two boys (9 and 10) on Sawbill and Alton. Thankfully we experienced great weather while we were there and could spend a lot of time on the water. Had lots of chats about what to do if we ended up getting wet in the cold water. Not their first time in the BWCA, but easily the most mileage they have helped paddle on loops around these two lakes. The black flies were pretty thick out of the wind, but not a problem with head nets and didn't see a single mosquito around camp. Even though the fishing was slow, exploring new areas and the excessive consumption of smores made for a great trip.

Unfortunately we are feeling really disappointed right about now. Had been planning and preparing for a trip to Crocodile with my 5 yo for his first ever trip. On the drive up our van gave us troubles and we never made it up. We spent the next couple days getting it figured out and by the end just felt lucky to get back home. It didn’t really settle in how let down we were for a couple days but it really sucks. I’m trying to figure out another quick trip closer to home to squeeze in to try to make up for it for him, but my work schedule is really tight right now.