I am organizing an August trip with some people (particularly a friend and her teen son) who have no experience with camping or canoeing. They very much want to join a BWCA trip so I'm trying to keep it relatively simple.

I set myself some basic rules for choosing a destination that will minimize the opportunities for them to feel overwhelmed. I've decided that it would be best if the trip is a basecamping trip that can be reached easily within the first day and with any portaging limited to short hops (like 80ish rods or less).

Fishing is basically decent in some form or another no matter where you go, so that's whatever. Some day-tripping options are nice, but they're so new to this that I feel like they might have plenty to enjoy just poking around any single lake we camp on.

The three trips that have come to mind that also interest me and others who've been doing this before are:

Rose Lake

Lizz to Horseshoe/Vista (cliche, right? but I haven't done this one, and it must be so popular for a reason)

East Bearskin to the Alder/Pierz/Canoe area

Honestly, I lean toward Rose or Alder because they each have falls that can be seen/visited which I think will make for a particularly fun and memorable first trip for these guys.

I know anything I choose will be great, but I figured I'd see what anyone here would have for thoughts since all we can do, now that it got all wintery, is plan.

You will not go wrong with any of the trips you have outlined.

Also, go to the forum page and scroll down from the trip planning one all the way down to BASECAMP BASICS forum. You and they will find many ideas which could prove useful for first timers. Good luck

If you go the Poplar route I would head to Gaskin. There are some very nice, large campsites on that lake. Horseshoe has some nice sites as well. Vista has only 1 "good" site. There are some nice day trip options in this area. My last three trips have been to this area. The most difficult portage is between the the south arm of Horseshoe and Gaskin, but it's relatively easy. Don't take the smaller portages out of the north end of Horseshoe to Gaskin, the longer one is much easier. The narrow lakes north of Gaskin are very scenic. I wouldn't stop on Caribou, keep going to at least Horseshoe.

Copied and pasted this from another recent post but it seems to apply very well to what your goals are. It's a great area and would be a simple and easy introduction to some new future BWCA lovers:)



This one is kind of off the radar and falls into the minimal, few and easy portage trips. Offers very good fishing, nice scenery, good daytrips, and few people. Enter at the nice gravel landing at #40 Homer Lake. Canoe across this pretty island studded lake and pass by two nice campsites that are not even in the BWCA (no shame in that). Another site is on the west end within the BWCA. Take the portage into Whack lake a grueling(just kidding) 21 rod walk that could have some mud at the beginning. Paddle across Whack to the 14 rod portage into Vern Lake and choose from one of two campsites...the one to the southeast is very nice and right across the lake from a very cool daytrip opportunity. The one to the northwest is also reportedly pretty nice although we did not see it.

The Vern River right across from the SE campsite is a really neat way to spend anywhere from a few hours to a full day's adventure. Good fishing and scenery along the way. We also daytripped to East Pipe and Pipe Lake on another day, a really scenic trip. Fishing for us in the area was very good and we caught a lot of decent fish right from our campsite including walleyes, pike and SMB.

I don't think this is a highly travelled area, we saw but 2 canoes the whole time in early July while we were there. There are opportunities to go further if by some chance the sites were taken or you just felt like it, Juno Lake is a cool place too and Pipe Lake is pretty remote but not far. You can be in camp within 3-4 hours or less depending on how hard you want to push it. We loved the area, convenience, scenery, fishing and especially the vern River, even though we did not go that far up (cuz the fishing was so good).


Here's a trip report with photos, seems like it might fit with what you are looking for:



Homer to Vern

I am a huge fan of the Rose option.

straighthairedcurly: "I am a huge fan of the Rose option. "

+2,especially given your objectives

Yeah, Rose is currently my leaning since it seems to have quite a good bang for relatively little buck so to speak. I particularly like the Vento area's ability to really contrast geologically against what we usually get to see in most other places, and Illinois folk like these two newbies I've discussed should find it downright exotic. I like the Homer idea and will probably lump that in with my laid-back and beginner options. I'm trying to do at least one easy trip and one other trip every year now that I've changed careers to my own business and can have some freedom to actually do things with my life.

I'm more familiar with the eastern BW, so I welcome any ideas for particularly nice easy trips in the west. Hog Creek-Perent is already on my list.

Just for the sake of conversation, the other trip I'm hoping to do next year is Wine Lake (I and my friends do tend to lean toward basecamping as you may notice, but I'm not exclusively committed to it). I just have to see if my usuals can be convinced to do the Lujenida-Zenith portage.

I also want to do a trip to something like Boulder/Adams/Vee/Fee via Little Sag, and a trip to Rebecca & Curtain Falls is on the bucket list.

One option that would probably fit the bill in the west is EP 32 - South Kawishiwi River.

It does start with a 123 rod portage, but after that, the world is your oyster...you can access a lot of different areas via short portages. There are a bunch of rapids/falls around, and good fishing. Nice campsites too.

My first thought would be the Numbers Chain of lakes. Nothing but easy short portages and tons of campsites and places to explore. The downside though is the large number of people due to it's popularity and ease of access.

See two areas in one trip if you are topping your canoes on a vehicle.
As day-trip, enter Daniels take the stairwell portage to the top. See Rose Lake at an elevated perspective and some neat little waterfalls on your hike. A very nice day trip. Might be a wee bit of a thigh burner climbing stairs but what a view! Paddlers on Rose Lake look miniature from up there.
Then, for the heart of the trip, basecamp on Alder / Pierz/ Crystal with a day trip to Johnson Falls.
As trip leader, make it a rule: Everyone wears PFD when paddling. No exceptions.

The above is a great idea. Canoe Lake has a couple of special sites.

The first BWCA trip I organized for folks, we went in on E Bearskin and then canoed to Crystal. We took a day trip to Johnson Falls and then came back out after another night on Crystal where my hammock ripped thru. :/

Anyway, Canoe and Crystal were great and Johnson Falls was lovely.

Well, I was personally leaning toward Rose for this trip, but I got feedback from the newbs which has lead to a group consensus of E Bearskin entry. We'll basecamp somewhere in the Alder/Pierz/Canoe area and poke around the area for a few days and, of course, visit Johnson Falls.

With no experience canoeing or camping you might want to think about giving them a taste of each before your trip.

I think most State Parks offer canoes for rent. Take them out for a couple hours - letting them each experience paddling, "duffing", and carrying, if there's a yoke. Set out on a hiking trail carrying packs..."now imagine this trail is muddy, rocky, and you're swatting at bugs". See if they still want to go.

But really...I think you should think about a little pre-trip training.

Boppasteveg: "With no experience canoeing or camping you might want to think about giving them a taste of each before your trip."

I know I wrote "no experience," but that was merely a simpler way to convey that they have next to no experience compared to me and most people on this forum. They technically have both paddling and camping experience, and even technically experience canoe camping, but nothing like the BWCA. Their crowning canoe camping achievement, as far as I know, is paddling an aluminum canoe a short distance to camp on a party lake in a state park. Heavy equipment, coolers, beer...

They know this isn't that and are ready and confident to see what a "real" canoe camping trip is all about. They'll be fine.