BWCA 1st time BWCA trip/father and son Boundary Waters Trip Planning Forum
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TML
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02/19/2020 12:35PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
I would like to take my 12-year old son to the BWCA this summer. I've not been there, but I've done BWCA-like trips in Canada, many years ago. I welcome your recommendations for a 1st time trip - to familiarize us with BWCA. We will bring our canoe. I am thinking five nights. Thank you.
 
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02/19/2020 12:48PM  
I'll start with saying that it really doesn't matter where you go, just that you go at all. To someone who has never been there before, you probably aren't going to notice the difference between one trip and another. You simply won't have anything to compare it to.

To decide on an entry point you first need to decide if you are going through an outfitter or if you have, or are going to buy, all your own gear. From there you can then decide what your priorities are. Big or small lakes? Is fishing a very important, somewhat important, or are you an explorer and fishing isn't the point of the trip? How far are you willing to go for solitude? Do you want to travel a lot or stick with 1 or 2 campsites to come back to?

A general rule of thumb when traveling a lot is that you might want to plan on 2 nights in a campsite if you have to travel more than 4 hours to get there. Packing up a campsite in the morning, traveling 5 or more hours, then setting up another campsite can take most of your day. More if you are taking your time to explore or fish any of the lakes you travel. So make sure you have time to take in the experience too.

Just pick a few entry points that you think you can get to fairly easily and go from there. Compare your options and how they reflect your priorities. Then you can start looking at other entry points as well if you the first couple don't work for you. Don't stress about making or sticking to a perfect plan, perfection is an abstract thing, especially in nature.
02/19/2020 01:02PM  
Seagull-Alpine-Red Rock-Saganaga is an easy loop trip close enough to civilization in case you need to bug out. Good berries in late July to mid August. I'm sure others will chime in with recommendations.

I don't know where you're from, so making recommendations for other places which are BWCA-like is difficult. The Sylvania Wilderness is Watersmeet, MI (UP) is similar to the Boundary Waters but has special fishing regulations. It's also 1/10th the size of the Boundary Waters and is close to civilization and has cell coverage. Reservable campsites.

Turtle Flambeau Flowage by Mercer, WI is also good, however the whole area is open to motor boats. It seems like most of the time the motor boats are just there for the day for fishing and leave around dusk. The Eastern 1/3 of the park is a *voluntary* no wake/quiet zone for canoeists. Can speak from experience that some treat that as a mere suggestion only. I've also woken up to guided fishing trips 20' offshore trolling the shore along my campsite.
treehorn
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02/19/2020 01:29PM  
TML: "I would like to take my 12-year old son to the BWCA this summer. I've not been there, but I've done BWCA-like trips in Canada, many years ago. I welcome your recommendations for a 1st time trip - to familiarize us with BWCA. We will bring our canoe. I am thinking 5 nights. Thank you."


Are you thinking you'll want to move camps all/most days and thereby do a "route" or are you thinking basecamping mostly at the same spot the whole time?
cyclones30
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02/19/2020 01:32PM  
Tons of people ask the same question here, using the search function will get you lots of answers.

Do you need to catch a lot of fish? Need to see waterfalls or points of interest? Really hate seeing other people? How far can you portage your canoe you're bringing? Do you want to move camp a few times or base camp from the same spot every night?
bombinbrian
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02/19/2020 01:58PM  
First of all, way to go bringing your son on his first trip to the B-dub. Mine was with a scout troop almost 40 years ago. I took my son on his first trip at about the same age.

I prefer the Mudro Entry Point for its ease of making the trip whatever you want it to be. You could go to Fourtown or Horse and basecamp, taking day trips to other places. It gives you the opportunity to do however big of a trip you could want. There's great fishing on many of the lakes in that area as well.
02/19/2020 05:38PM  
Agree with most of the comments, anywhere you go will likely be a great adventure. But if you give us a little more information you will probably get more specific answers. What time of year? July and August are warmer and more stable, other than the thunderstorms. Good for swimming, bugs are there but declining the later you go. Fishing is not as good as earlier but still plenty to be caught. June is better fishing but colder water and less stable weather, bugs are worse.

What's important to you - "solitude" i would argue is relative, pretty much anywhere up there is going to be quiet compared to what you are used to although you could run into groups at portages.

Scenery is everywhere but if you want cliffs, waterfalls, pictographs, river like paddling, those are usually route specific.

Basecamp or move every day, or somewhere in between? This makes a big difference and good trips can be had any way. Three lakes in and set up camp? Loop trip with a different entry and exit usually requires a shuttle from an outfitter. Out and back trips are great, it really does look different on the way back and you get a chance to check out that cool campsite or feature that you saw on the way in.

My guess is that you are hoping your son loves it up there and will willingly return on future trips. To that end I would suggest not making it overly ambitious, adventurous or physically challenging - in other words limit the distances traveled in one day, avoid real big lakes and very difficult portages. If he loves it you can definitely ramp things up next year.

Here are a few suggestions:
EP 47 to Horseshoe lake for a night or two. Lots of options for daytrips or moving camp including making a small loop of sorts. Decent fishing, unique lake and known for moose sightings. Beautiful area. Possible lakes to visit or camp at include Vista and Gaskin

EP 23 up to Fourtown and west from there to the beautiful lakes of Boot, Fairy, Gun, Gull, Thunder and Beartrap. Great campsites, decent fishing and yu could do a loop by heading east down Gunn to Moosecamp and spending a night. Take the Moosecamp River back to Fourtown for your last night and easy entry. Relatively easy and scenic although there could be a beaver dam pullover or 2:)

Since you have 6 days/5 nights you could easily put in at 39 Baker Lake and head north to South Temperance Lake, perhaps stopping at Kelly or Jack along the way the first night. There is a good loop option from there heading back to Sawbill with a couple challenging portages, or you could do an out and back as we did. South Temperance is gorgeous with decent fishing and both Kelly and Jack have long stretches of river like paddling and are known for both good fishing and moose sightings.

Clearwater to Caribou and camp for a couple days on this beautiful lake with good fishing. Take a daytrip to Johnson Falls which is renowned scenic spot in the BWCA, two sets of falls and a great swimming hole at the lower one. From Caribou head south and exit East Bearskin to Flour and take a nice walk back to Clearwater to pick up the car.

Homer Lake entry is another good option and perhaps a little less challenging but offers good solitude and fishing, daytrips and opportunities to move camp to neighboring lakes. Also a loop back through Brule if that is of interest. A high spot of this trip is exploring the Vern River which is beautiful, remote and has great fishing, yet a very easy trip.

If any of these catch your fancy, i have done trip reports on all of them except Mudro lake. Just go to Planning, Trip Reports and type my name into the search box.

Lots of great options and no dumb questions. Have a great trip.


02/20/2020 06:18PM  
All of the above are good,,,you almost can't go wrong.

From my experience, my son was 9 on his first trip. We absolutely loved going up the North shore of Superior up through Grand Marais and then up the Gunflint trail. Grand Marais is one of the coolest little towns I've been in, and from there it's just an hour max up to the end of the Gunflint.

We used Seagull Outfitters, utilized their bunkhouse the night before the trip, and have been back 4 times since.

First trip was the Granite River route, which fits into your time schedule. There's a description of this route on Seagull's website, and also a Youtube video of this route posted from another outfitter you might want to look at. Best part of this route with a younger child is it's mostly small lakes and river paddling, no big water to mess with.

You could also go the Sag, Red Rock, Alpine route, which we've also done. Enter at Seagull, portage to Alpine, from there go either north to Red Rock or south to Jasper, Alpine, Kingfisher and Ogish, both of these routes are not too tough.

I also agree with previous poster, pick at least one campsite and stay for 2 nights. that way you can concentrate a full day on fishing, hiking, exploring, or other camp activities that you might not be able to do when traveling every day. Catch and eat crayfish, try and start a fire with a bow drill or other primitive method, teach you son how to filet fish, etc.,,,,these are things you will remember forever, and so will he. Also make sure he does his own share of carrying gear on portages, setting up tents, camp, etc., according to his capabilities, he'll grow from that experience and brag about it when he gets home.

Have a great trip.
cyclones30
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02/20/2020 08:06PM  
Tumblehome podcast just did a short route episode on the Granite River, sounds like a cool little area.
billconner
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02/21/2020 06:19AM  
It would seem the highest goal of a "1st time BWCA trip/father and son" is that there will be a 2nd time. Just saying.
02/21/2020 06:21AM  
I'm with Cyclones. What are you looking for? Fish or don't care, isolation or don't care, base camp or moving. If nothing matters then just pick any spot and head in. Every area is a great area for its own reason.
bombinbrian
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02/21/2020 01:32PM  
billconner: "It would seem the highest goal of a "1st time BWCA trip/father and son" is that there will be a 2nd time. Just saying."


We could really use a like button of Facebook. This is great advice.
n8roar
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02/21/2020 02:22PM  
I did not read all the posts but, first you need to pick a spot based on what you want to see and what you want to do. If you are not going through an outfitter then you even have more options.
Decisions:
1 Outfitter? I am coming from Ohio and for the last 20 years I have used Anderson Outfitters on the West Side or used EP16 with no outfitter
2. Base camp or Move each day?
How many portages do you want to do and do you want to see waterfalls?
A. Iron lake off Lac Lacroix is my favorite base camp trip through an outfitter. Rebecca Falls, Curtain Falls, falls from Bottle river into Lac Lacroix and great fishing.
B. EP16 is a 1/2 portage to Nina River, but it is a fairly easy trek trough Agnes and into Boulder Bay our up to Pocket Lake.
c. Sawbill outfitter you literally put you canoe into the water there and move into BWCA.

I started taking my sons when they turned 10 (5 years ago) Your son will never forget it. My quick tip is to let him pick the pace and be flexible to his wishes and the weather. Some days the wind can make it hard to travel. Don't get stuck on having to go a certain distance each day. And teach him everything you can but let him figure it out.

GOOD LUCK!
 
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