Real bummer the border is closed, what, at least to June 21 and likely beyond. WCPP is going to be a quiet place this summer.
It is kind of ironic how the seasoned Quetico and WCPP paddlers are asking for advice about BWCA, instead of the other way around.
My absence from Ontario only makes the heart grow fonder.

Joe

Hi Joe, I’m sorry your trip has been delayed/cancelled, hopefully both the US and Canada can get this virus under control very soon. Our 2020 WCPP trip starts in 12 days thanks to Ontario Parks opening the backcountry. We are very exited to return for a second time!! Stay safe and healthy.

Cheers,
Ian

I hear you, Joe. I'm still hoping things will open by later in the summer for my 1st WCPP trip, but if they extend border closure to August 21 or there are other restrictions, I'll start making BW plans. It's too bad you had to alter even your BW plan.

Yes, the sounds of canoes snapping branches from downfalls on portages, the curses as one sinks into a bog along a portage trail, the slap of hand on arm to smash a deer fly are missing from the Woodland right now.

Awhile back I wrote Claire about a trip>>>"...I wonder what it would be like if we weren't here...it would be like this only we wouldn't know this...." It was aimlessly referring to mid afternoon along a lake shore watching the waves on rock, dragonflies scouting shorelines, wind in popple leaves, clouds growing in the west. So all those little things that grow into one's trip are happening and we miss them deeply.

Like you, we're headed at sometime into the BWCA for a brief time: wonderful place, a home for us in the late fall when the leaves drop and the snow rides the northwest winds down the lakes. But, those bogs, lake trout, portages blocked by downed spruce or snapped jack pine, big lakes, and no roads north of the horizon have been home to us for a long time and we ache for them.

We certainly understand the border closure and realize that our canoe trip pales to the health needs of others. The BWCA is grand country and the last months have shown that the need for open spaces, public lands, and quiet time out of doors is vital to the make up of all citizens.

Enjoy your trip north, the bugs appear to be peaking! The new greens of the forest should be a delight and the waters cold enough to keep the lake trout near the surface. Good travels.
Birch, Carol, Tom/Hayward, Wisconsin

WCPP and Quetico will probably get higher than usual number of Americans visiting next year.

oldzip, I still tell stories about slogging through a bog in the middle of nowhere and meeting Birch first, then you and Carol. It was a great trip and great meeting you two out there.

Joe (and daughter Caroline) from SE Missouri.