The post regarding “emergency campsites” when nothing is open prompted this message. I have been tripping here for 30 years and have only camped illegally once when no sites were available.

I have been considering a solo crossing of the BWCA while watching Beave and the water tribe event the last few years. I would be taking a leisurely time compared to their record times. However I would like to be able to paddle late into the day and cover as much water as my old body is capable of.

However I’m in no mood for having a great all day paddle only to find zero open sites. I typically like October when sites are readily available. But I would want this trip to be mid September with longer days. I have talked myself out of this trip because of my expectations of poor campsite availability.

Lots of comments about poor planning and getting a campsite early. Yeah I know, as I stated been doing this for a lifetime. So how exactly is someone suppose to travel long days for this trip? Seems to me it is at least somewhat mutually exclusive unless extreme shoulder seasons.

I feel your pain, and I have no answer for you. I miss Quetico. Being on a time schedule and stressing about a place to camp that might take us way off our route is the exact opposite of what we go up there for. Using the prime AM fishing hours to travel is a bummer as fishing is the main attraction for us. The last thing in the world that I want to do in the afternoon is hang out in camp with the bugs or try to fish in the heat of the day. Everything we do is designed to maximize time on the water and minimize time in camp, as that is what we love. Anyway, I guess it is what it is.

I did a solo trip a few weeks ago and had fears that I would not be able to find sites on several lakes, but my worry was all for naught. I had no trouble finding sites to stay at. I do travel early and look for camp around noon, but no matter what lake I was on, there were still open sites at the end of the day.

egknuti: "I did a solo trip a few weeks ago and had fears that I would not be able to find sites on several lakes, but my worry was all for naught. I had no trouble finding sites to stay at. I do travel early and look for camp around noon, but no matter what lake I was on, there were still open sites at the end of the day. "

Me too. 10 days and I found open sites all along my route, including on some popular lakes like 1 and 2 or Polly. This was just before the Fourth or July and I expected crowds I did not find. Suggest you read through som of the other recent trip reports to see what others are finding. I suspect poor fishing from the heat has caused some to cancel or shorten their trips, and it could be that there are permits taken that are not being used. Wonder if a lot weren’t snapped up when we were still in pre-vaccine lock down.

We put in July 8. A Thursday. EP16. Moose river north to Lake Agnes to Lac la Croix. We paddled all the way to Tiger Bay-about 9 hours. Got there around 5 pm. We had 3 options . We knew We were taking a risk to possibly not find a site but everything worked out well. From experience paddling on Tuesday Wednesdays or Thursdays we’ve been able to find open sites.

The biggest concern I had, when I made the emergency campsite post was regarding that almost all of the permits that have been obtained in the whole area. Where I am entering (East Bearskin) the last time I checked (about 2 weeks ago, there were no permits available until the 2nd week of September. I have been going to the BWCA for 10 years, and I can't remember seeing the available permits being so few.

And to add to it, a lot of the hotels/motels in the area have been sold out.

And..... I am entering on a Tuesday (which I have never done before)

And...... I have read that due to the fires, people are being located to other sites. (Fires are pretty far from where I am going, but) One article I read mentioned "already crowded and challenging to find campsites" when referring to people being relocated due to the fires.

I was surprised by some of the accusatory comments I received about poor planning and laziness. (In the past, I have only received helpful comments on this forum).

Some act as though simply leaving early in the morning is the end all solution to finding 1 of 14 available campsites on 5 lakes.

In the end, I did get some good info and I have a plan for what I will do to sleep for 1 night if we cannot find a campsite. Maybe it won't be as crowded as I am fearing.

I've never had trouble finding a site in September, even last year with the increase in visitors, we had our choice of sites - though the weather was not great when we entered, which may have been a factor.

I've gone on solos for the last 5 years in September and the lack of sites was never an issue. My problem has always been the nasty N'westerns that blow for 3 or 4 days. But September is a great time to be up there.

Apologies if the tone was accusatory in my post. I read the op (rayljr1) that there was concern about finding any sites at all, not concern about finding a site after paddling by many open sites earlier in the day.

My response was directed at suggestions being given to simply camp at the portage, or pull the canoe ashore and go deep into the woods. No. That is against the rules. If sites are full, you paddle on. Or, as others and I have had to do, you paddle out. The deeper parts of the park (lakes accessed by portaging more than four portages, tougher portages help) are typically easier to find sites, but paddle anywhere within a day of an entry point, good luck if you're not on the water early and finding a site by noon. It's the way it is now, and it was this way before the pandemic.

I think in Sept you'll be fine...and the border is usually quite a ways from most entry points so you're not dealing with base campers that only go a lake or two in.

Most of the time it seems like those long trips are done in May or Sept....both on the less-busy times of the year. Do the trip! I think you'll be fine

Times are a-changing. There are more people clamoring for the peace of the woods. (Which is canceling the 'peace' of the woods. haha.)
It could be a fluke, but an oddity I've noticed reading recent Trip Reports is the comments (surprises) on the availability of campsites as folks move on from lake to lake. Doesn't seem to correlate with the bookings/lack of permits available. Are more people paddling further north and that's creating a mid-zone availability between entry lakes & far-north lakes? (rhetorical) Family units will ease up once kids start back up in school. Does that mean increased campsite availability?
I've paddled at night but never paddling at near dusk seeking a campsite. Must be a stressful predicament.

The talk about not being able to find an open campsite is mostly unfounded. And where you'll be travelling, not a problem. In my experience on this route in September, the only busy areas are around Fish Stake Narrows to Crooked Lake and from Birch Lake to Ottertrack. But even those areas you'll find sites that are open.

Go for the Border Route and have a great challenge of your own.

egknuti: "I did a solo trip a few weeks ago and had fears that I would not be able to find sites on several lakes, but my worry was all for naught. I had no trouble finding sites to stay at. I do travel early and look for camp around noon, but no matter what lake I was on, there were still open sites at the end of the day. "

My experience was similar. My daughter and I just got back yesterday and we are an early to rise and early to camp pair, however, MANY of the people we talked to were first timers and were getting on the water much later. We got the great site on South Temperance because the people who had been there didn't leave until after noon. We saw a lot of people still on the water at 5 or 6 PM. We got a nice site at every lake we went to, and we were on popular lakes like Winchell, Gaskin, Long Island, and Cherokee. The off the beaten path sites we passed were all open.

Actually, I would also add, we must like weird sites, because we got the best site on several of the lakes. The cliff site on South Temperance, the Island with the great sitting rock on Cherokee, the big island site on Gaskin. Maybe we just lucked out, but we had really worried about not getting sites at all, and instead our entire trip was our favorite site on each lake we went to - on our early days, but also on days when we had lazy mornings and when we went really far.