Hey y'all,

I have a few simple questions because it has been since I was little since I have been to the BWCA. I am planning on a route through Saganaga/ Red Pine/ Seagull in late May/ early June.

1. How are the bugs that time of season?
2. Do camp sites operate on a first come, first serve?
3. What does everyone do for firewood?
4. Is it necessary to hang your food?

Thanks for the help,
K.

1. Be prepared. Permethrin on clothing, headnets for all, and plenty of bug spray per person and you'll be fine. Usually the worst around sundown.
2. Yes.
3. Collect dead and down only. Away from camp. Away from shoreline. Don't try to burn huge, punky logs and then leave the sad results in the fire area or scattered around camp. Don't hack at or cut standing trees, even if obviously dead.
4. Good idea if you aren't using "bearproof" containers like BearVault or Ursak solutions. Actually getting pretty tricky to find perfect spots that are suitable for effective hanging. Some unique rigging can help.

All of these subjects can be extensively searched here with multiple results available.

kriley_76: "1. How are the bugs that time of season?
2. Do camp sites operate on a first come, first serve?
3. What does everyone do for firewood?
4. Is it necessary to hang your food? "

1. Generally bad. Be prepared for them.
2. Yes
3. Go into the woods and gather it. A saw is helpful.
4. It is necessary to protect it in some way. Hanging is one method. A bear proof barrel is another.

Personally I hated hanging the food pack. A bear vault or ursack is a great investment. Maybe your outfitter has one to rent you. Bears don't see well but are all about the nose. Double freezer ziplock your food and place the canister off the trail under bushes. You will be fine and not have the headache of hanging.

You might think about registering here. Then you can join the private forums if you like.

Head net in case of black flies, It's better than bloody scabs on your head. Repellents don't seem to work.

Head net in case of black flies, It's better than bloody scabs on your head. Repellents don't seem to work.

That time of year I'd consider a bug net or something similar like a Nemo Bugout shelter, (essentially a tarp with bug screening down the sides) that you can sit/eat/relax under without the bugs.

Try and find a campsite that's well exposed to the water and maybe on a point or peninsula, the additional breeze will help keep the bugs down. Consider getting a Thermacell or two to keep the bugs down. One of the best ideas I've seen came from a member of this site, suggesting taking a Thermacell down to the thunderbox first thing in the morning ,before everybody does their business, and let it run for 15 minutes or so to clear the bugs out, letting you do your business in peace. As Schweady said, bugs will be worst at dusk, for about an hour, but then will dissipate some, allowing you to sit around a campfire, etc..

Firewood - some campsites are pretty well picked over for already downed firewood, consider paddling away from camp to find a spot to collect wood if necessary.

We've never hung food, always used a blue barrel and secured it with the harness to a tree just outside of camp. Never had a problem. However, if we went out fishing, we'd throw it in the canoe just to be safe. Also gives you additional ballast to trim the canoe.

1. The best bug protection is treated clothing from head to foot - long pants, shirt, socks, hat, buff/bandana, headnet. Plus repellent.
2. Yes
3. The rule is only dead AND downed, away from camp, away from shore. I don't build many personally.
4. Hanging is a PITA and often the textbook hang is not there. You can stash - best bet is one of the approved canisters - BearVault, Backpackers Cache, Bearikade, etc. - or an Ursack. Next would be one of the "blue barrels". Whichever you use, odor control and a clean camp is advised.

Lots of good advice. I'll be honest I didn't read all of them so if someone mentioned this forgive me. The best bear deterrent is keeping your campsite clean. Keep food sealed and do fish cleaning well away from camp. No food in your tent! The mythical food hanging tree that you see in brochures and handouts has eluded me in the the past 30 years. With that being said the Ursack is your friend.

You've gotten great advice. We hang our food between 2 tall trees. We carry a kit with plenty of rope and a couple pulleys. My husband loves the process of hunting down the best trees, and takes pride in hanging it high off the ground. If I were to solo or travel without him, I would be in the Ursack school of thought, because hanging food is about the only camp task I don't like.

+1 on keeping a clean campsite. Plan your meals so there are no leftovers. If you miscalculate and end up with leftovers, double bag them and carry them out. Don't bury or try to burn them, and especially never, ever dump them in the latrine.

In terms of getting a campsite: on weekends and/or busy lakes plan to camp by early afternoon. Plan for a flexible route that gives you plenty of options for finding a campsite.

Have fun!

Duplicate

We usually go around July 1st so black flies are usually gone by then, but we always permethrin everything for mosquitoes, ticks and red bugs(chiggers). I made the mistake of wearing shorty socks one day and apparently sat in a chigger nest. I spent the rest of the trip with about 20 very itchy spots on both legs.
We've had more trouble with mice and chipmunks than bears. They can get in the packs at night and chew through packets. We try to hang with ropes and pulleys. It's an ongoing process that creates a certain amount of friction at pack hanging time. We are planning on finding a method to separate the packs this time as they all try to slide together and twist around each other. We have 2 of the orange igloo water coolers for stashing most of the food in. They are double sided, so they insulate items we want to keep cool. So we have another method of protecting from animals and they have gaskets to keep the smell down. Our are about 14 inches total tall, with about 12 inches of inside space and seem pretty sturdy. They haven't been bear tested, I know, but they certainly seem more substantial than many of the bear containers I've looked at and are about the same weight. (30 ounces without handles)

Sorry, I don't hang my food pack. Bears can get to your pack anyway unless you 'really' do it right. Most people hang their pack because it makes them feel good.

I put a bell on my pack and tie a rope from it to my tent. Crazy? I dunno. I'll wake up if a bear comes and can scare him off. Been doing it this way for a long time.

-Tom

Hard to know if bugs will be really bad. I went in on June 1 last year for a week and had no blackflies. Bring a head net just in case. It'll be cool enough to wear long sleeves basically all day long so bring stuff you can tuck into your pants, stuff with a collar. Combined with rain gear you can prevent bites pretty well.

I am a mosquito magnet and all my life I have not found any bug repellent that seems to work any better than other, until last year when I tried picaridin. I watched mosquitoes land on my permethrin-soaked pants and not die or fly away drunkenly, so I'm not sold on it yet. Picaridin, however, WORKED. They would fly close and then fly away. I watched it happen to my friend. We both noted its effectiveness in repeated astonishment.

There were still a few intrepid ones that got close or wanted to land, but it was such a massive reduction (from "can't stand still" to "occasionally swatting") that I'm always going to have it with me in the spring/summer/fall months, any time I'm going to be outside for an activity (around town or in the wilderness).

As a bonus, picaridin doesn't melt plastic like DEET and has been tested by the FDA multiple times and has been found to be very safe to humans and even to other wildlife (whereas permethrin is toxic to fish and I have my doubts about DEET).

kriley_76: "Hey y'all,

I have a few simple questions because it has been since I was little since I have been to the BWCA. I am planning on a route through Saganaga/ Red Pine/ Seagull in late May/ early June.

1. How are the bugs that time of season?
2. Do camp sites operate on a first come, first serve?
3. What does everyone do for firewood?
4. Is it necessary to hang your food?

Thanks for the help,
K.
"

1. How are the bugs that time of season?
*Multi-factorial response: Weather, water temp, precipitation, etc. can all be huge factors in bug problems. Could be mosquitoes, gnats, black flies, or a combination of all 3 with multiple levels of severity.
2. Do camp sites operate on a first come, first serve?
*Yes, always.
3. What does everyone do for firewood?
*STRICTLY follow the BWCA policy and procedures available on-line or at any permit issuing station.
4. Is it necessary to hang your food?
*Yes, unless you have a anti-bear food barrel. Follow the BWCA policy procedure and recommendations. Bears, mice, and other curious creatures can chew through your packs.

Tip: Bring an extra paddle. Seriously. Strap it to the thwarts and don't remove it when portaging. It's always in place and ready that way.

For bugs, we purchased this inexpensive net for a bed on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/SSoonyi-Mosquito-Bedroom-Camping-Shelter/dp/B00ZZZVYXW/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=

It is so light and packable, particularly in a compression sack - so it wouldn't have been a big deal if we didn't use it - but it was an absolute godsend. Easy to rig up on trees at the site with just a bit of paracord (see photo below). Our group of 9 adults and all our small camp chairs fit underneath, where we could play cards til the bugs disappeared. Also found Frogg Toggs rain suit to act as a repellent, but only because it doesn't breath at all. Better for cooler nights.

kriley_76: "Hey y'all,

I have a few simple questions because it has been since I was little since I have been to the BWCA. I am planning on a route through Saganaga/ Red Pine/ Seagull in late May/ early June.

1. How are the bugs that time of season?
2. Do camp sites operate on a first come, first serve?
3. What does everyone do for firewood?
4. Is it necessary to hang your food?

Thanks for the help,
K.
"

1. Bugs can be very bad that time of year but they can be bad really anytime during the summer. No matter when you go prepare for bugs. Repellents, head nets, and permathrin on your clothing. Treating your clothing with permathrin is cheap, easy, and works well on ticks as well. I won't go without doing it.

2. Yep, first come first served. Start your travels early in the day and plan to start looking for a campsite by early afternoon.

3. Firewood isn't hard to find you just may need to look away from your campsite. Taking a canoe down the shore or to a nearby part of the lake that offers a reasonable landing spot and then heading into the woods just a little bit can often be the quicker way to stock pile wood rather than trying to scrounge up wood that others have missed around your campsite.

4. I usually hang my pack. I would for sure protect it in someway or another. Either hang it or use a bear proof barrel. Barrels should be available to rent at most outfitters. Hanging it can be a bit annoying and can sometimes be hard to find a place to hang it that actually makes it safe but it can also be a fun challenge.

Another useful tip for an inexperienced bwca traveler:

Get comfortable with the maps. They aren't hard to read but you need to check them often and follow along on the map as you travel otherwise you can quickly lose track of your position. All islands start to look the same after awhile and losing track can cost you lots of miles of extra paddling while you figure things out. I usually break my travel up into sections, for example I identify an island, bay, point of land etc on the map and then identify it on the lake and then paddle to it. Once I've done that I pick another landmark along my desired route then paddle to it. Makes it easy to "stay found". Much harder to get lost if you follow along on the map and know your position along the way, thats what I call "staying found". Also make sure others on the trip know the map and where you are on the map. I often see people on the trip differ to one navigator. If something happens to the navigator then the others may not know where they are.

nofish makes a great point on navigating. Take an extra map and assign a 2nd person to also keep track of where you're at. But, don't fret getting lost, it's not like you're in the Amazon or something...We've been lost, in a weird way it was kind of fun and amusing.

Take a bug whacker for each tent. No mess as in hand swatting. Come at them from below.