BWCA Return to the familiar or chart a new course? Boundary Waters Trip Planning Forum
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CoffeeInTheWoods
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01/26/2021 01:21PM  
At heart, I'm the kind of guy who likes new things. I like to try new items off the menu. I like to take different routes to familiar destinations. I'll find myself starting new books rather than finishing ones I've started.

As I get ready to finalize 2021 plans, there are certain lakes I long to see again (Stuart, Omega, Boulder/Adams, Makwa, and on and on), but there are so many that I have never visited and desperately long to see and experience. What's over that next mountain? I've never been to Knife, LLC, Iron, Crooked, Long Island, Kek, Ogish, Cherry, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum).

I'll go on 3-4 trips this year. The longest will be 10 days and once we head west from Agnes to Oyster, it'll be through new territory until we come out on Mudro. A shorter trip will be back to Clearwater and Caribou so I can show others Johnson Falls and the Clearwater Palisades. An early season trip will be all new territory through Tuscarora to Little Sag and back.

But it's killing me to not get Knife on my list for this year. Not only do I like new things, but I'm also impatient. Waiting until 2022 for my first paddle stroke on Knife will be tough. It might be time to add a fall trip to my calendar!

So how do the rest of you decide whether to return to the tried and true or carve out a new path? This will be my seventh summer tripping in the BWCA, with about 13 trips under my belt. For those of you who have been going for decades, does the wanderlust ever dissipate or are you constantly longing to see yet another new spot?
 
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01/26/2021 02:27PM  
I felt I was missing something when passing through one lake after another to get to just another lake. Now I travel to a lake and spend one or two days exploring that lake and move on to the next and do it all over again. There are still lakes you only pass through but this is a compromise that works for me.
schweady
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01/26/2021 03:00PM  
Lately, we've settled on rotating through a small group (fewer than 10, for sure) of favorite entries . My long-time canoe partner and bow man often stated his goal of taking enough trips that he would visit every entry point. Seemed reasonable. A check of the map that showed the large number of yet-visited EPs (and, some of those relatively unappealing) tempered that hope, at least at our advancing age.

To check on my progress, I counted up how many entry points I've gone through. Hmm... Only 17 different EPs on 45 different trips. The two trips I have planned so far for this season (and maybe a third), will add just one more new EP to the list. Maybe my new goal will be to add one unique EP each year. Maybe two.
01/26/2021 03:01PM  
For me personally, I have struggled with this situation. Especially as the number of trips I could make were limited by work demands and distance to travel to get there. That said, I retired last year and made three BWCA trips in 2020 (May, Aug, Sep). For a several years we went into Quetico via Bottle or McAree, do loops at that end of the park as well as explore some of the BWCA in the area, however, we were spending time on the same lakes more or less. I will say you learn where the good campsites are and where to fish on the lakes. Perhaps for me most interestingly I see how things change over time by going back to the same spots every year. There is some comfort in that I suppose. It's all great.

That said, I did start to get interested in looking for something different and the last few years and I've done exactly that. Maybe we make the same trip a couple years after the first time through the area but I have found some of that newness again; that feeling I had when I started doing canoe trips almost 20 years ago. So we starting tripping more in the BWCA. What I did notice is that in BWCA you see more wear and tear on the sites, more lack of adhering to the leave no trace philosophy, and overall you simply see more people...compared to Quetico. Don't get me wrong I love the BWCA and wouldn't give up my trips. So when the border opens again later this year or in 2022, trips into Quetico will will be like an explosion of opportunity for me; to see a old and new and hopefully very few people, other than my traveling partners.

The one caveat per the above, at least for me, is if I'm taking people with me that are new to the experience, especially if they are kids or I'm not sure how they will do, I tend to go to familiar places. This way, I know what to expect and we can make changes on the fly if someone in our party isn't up to the original plan. I want to make sure all party members have an enjoyable and memorable experience. I don't want to experience to leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth. I want them to want to come back and tell others how great it is up there in canoe country.
01/26/2021 03:09PM  
Mostly the decision is made on where permits are available when I decide to paddle in the BWCA. When I dipped my first paddle in May of 1979 I knew I was hooked and wanted to see it all. I have been in most parts and have a few places I still hope to see. Some are just too much for my body to hope to back to.
When it comes to the name that lake posts I will never win...they do look an awful lot alike to me. In honesty there are better waterfalls and rock formations and over the years wildlife sightings in other parts of this great country. But nowhere have I found the lakes and the peace and cleanliness of the environment. And that is just about everywhere in the BWC, so when I get the itch I see what's open. And as I write this I probably would try something new other things being close.
01/26/2021 04:23PM  
For me, it is the quality of the experience that counts. I have been over much of the southern third of the Q and have been in the western, Ely, and Gunflint areas in the BW. Certainly not all by any means, but a nice representation for me. As I age, the fact is that minus a sherpa, I am now much more restricted in distance travelled. Portages seem to have grown in length and vertical elevation changes. As a result, I mostly cover the same areas depending on the year and work on making the best trip possible, each time in. I do not plan any long portages and generally 2 at most unless really short. Then base camping with day trips.
CoffeeInTheWoods
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01/26/2021 04:28PM  
plander:


"The one caveat per the above, at least for me, is if I'm taking people with me that are new to the experience, especially if they are kids or I'm not sure how they will do, I tend to go to familiar places. This way, I know what to expect and we can make changes on the fly if someone in our party isn't up to the original plan. I want to make sure all party members have an enjoyable and memorable experience. I don't want to experience to leave a bad taste in anyone's mouth. I want them to want to come back and tell others how great it is up there in canoe country. "


This is a great point.
cyclones30
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01/26/2021 06:39PM  
There for a while I was almost always doing new entries and routes. To date I've only done one repeat and there was about a 12 year break between those and I was about 12 when I did it the first time.....so memories weren't real solid of it.

So I like the new stuff.
OMGitsKa
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01/27/2021 06:56AM  
As a young person who has only started going to the BWCA for a couple years now, I've always done something new. I will look at online EP maps, look at fishing holes, look at routes and get excited by the endless options. I'm sure at some point ill circle back to my favorites but for now there is so many options that I want to get to its almost overwhelming ha.
straighthairedcurly
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01/28/2021 09:46PM  
Lately we have been sampling different entry points we have never used. Sometimes that means a whole new route. Other times it might mean parts of it are new. I definitely have my favorite lakes, but I have been eager to visit places I have never been. I say you should squeeze in another fall trip to get to Knife...why not?
HayRiverDrifter
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01/31/2021 08:51AM  
One way that I have found to see more areas is long day trips. You can cover a lot of ground with just your solo canoe and a day pack. I typically base camp and do shorter trips and always try to save one day where I can head back in a few lakes and see some new territory.
01/31/2021 09:35AM  
Over the last ten years most of our trips have been to new areas. In a couple cases the area was new to my tripping partners but not to me, but I had not been up there in a long time(almost like new). However we did duplicate two entry points and areas over the last several years because they fit our easier trip model with base camping and daytrips and are worth it for the fishing, scenery and relative solitude - Homer and Crocodile.

Planning on at least two trips this year and it is looking like they will both be new areas. It's all good.
02/01/2021 10:41AM  
I struggle with the same decision. Interestingly enough...my wish list is your "been to" list. My old standby's list reads nearly identical to your wishlist.

Knife, Crooked, Long Island, LLC, Iron, Ogish, all multiple visits.

Sounds to me like we'd be hard pressed to make a bad decision. They're all great!
CoffeeInTheWoods
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02/01/2021 10:49AM  
Speckled: "I struggle with the same decision. Interestingly enough...my wish list is your "been to" list. My old standby's list reads nearly identical to your wishlist.


Knife, Crooked, Long Island, LLC, Iron, Ogish, all multiple visits.


Sounds to me like we'd be hard pressed to make a bad decision. They're all great!
"


That's hilarious. I started out trying to avoid big lakes, but now those are the ones on my list. We'll cross off LLC, Iron, and Crooked in June after crossing off Tuscarora, Little Sag, and Gillis in May. August will be a return to Clearwater-Caribou-Pine. September will be a return to the Kawishiwi Triangle, but with some Gabbros thrown in for a new glimpse.
02/03/2021 12:19PM  
Took my first trip in 1973. Usually do a couple trips a year. I’m not interested in little lakes and lots of portages. I’ve taken the same entry point and same lakes many times. Never gets old.
 
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