Hi there,

My dad and I are planning our first trip up to the Boundary Waters for the first week of October. We've both done a fair amount of canoeing before (him more than me) but haven't done anything like this before. We're planning on starting at Ely and spending 3 days and 2 nights out in the BW. What's a good introductory route that we could do? Every time I start reading and looking at maps, it gets pretty overwhelming because there are unlimited options. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

Here are a couple of suggestions for a first trip in October:
- Go into Little Gabbro. It's not too far out from Ely and it's one portage in from the parking area. You can fish Little Gabbro and Gabbro and have good campsite options.
- Little Indian Sioux (Entry Pt. #14) - further out from Ely (about 45 minutes up the Echo Trail) and you would have about 3-5 portages depending what your destination lake would be. Your choices would be Lower Pauness, Upper Pauness, Shell, Lynx or Heritage.

Two good choices to begin with IMO. Good luck.

--Hegman Lakes off of the Echo Trail for lots of options. For a very easy trip you could stay on South Hegman. For a bit more work you "lift over" into North Hegman then portage to Little Bass and camp there. For a much bigger challenge, continue from North Hegman through Trease and portage up to Angleworm or even Home. I did this third trip years ago and enjoyed camping on Home, then going to Gull and Gun for some addl. sightseeing and fishing. It was a lot of fun but that portage from Trease to Angleworm is without a doubt a real tester. Whatever you'd do with the Hegman entry option, I would make a point to check out the pictographs on North Hegman--probably the most distinct picto's you'll find anywhere in canoe country.

--Moose Lake, off of Fernberg Road, to Splash/Ensign then maybe on to Ashigan. Pretty easy portages. Lots of campsite options on Ensign. If you go into Ashigan all except for the furthest west site are pretty nice campsites, IMO, with the one closest to the Ensign portage having some really cool rocks out front. For a side trip from Ashigan, a very do-able portage will get you into Gibson and bring you to scenic Cattyman Falls. One downside is my only-ever bear trouble through dozens of trips happened on Ashigan and the Ensign/Ashigan area has been noted for bear activity (because lots of people there with food).

--The "number" lakes chain, also off of Fernberg Road. Again easy portages and plentiful campsite choices.

Those are some favorites of mine that would work well for 2 nights, though others will suggest--and with research you will find--plenty of other ideas as well.

Your planned time of travel should not present any "crowding" issues at portages and looking for campsites although this season the traffic and usage levels are differing from most previous years.

Have fun!!!

If you want to see some pictographs, you could enter South Hegman and proceed to North Hegman.

Slim lake (the one by Ely) entry. Smaller lakes all with shorter portages between, usually a quieter area. Only downside is if you really wanted to put on paddle miles there aren't a ton of long day trip options. You could move camp both nights or stay at the same site both nights.

Something to consider would be entering at EP16 (Moose/Portage River North) and head for Lake Agnes. Its about 5 hr total and the portages aren't too bad. Some river paddling and some lake paddling. Day trip options include Boulder Bay on Lac La Croix or Oyster Lake. If you don't make it all the way you can find plenty of decent campsites on Nina Moose Lake. Good fishing on all above mentioned lakes.