Hi! I’m Hannah and am new to this forum, although I’ve posted as a guest under this username several times. I grew up in Minnesota with the Boundary Waters holding an almost mythic significance for me, although I didn’t get a chance to go for the first time until Sept. 2020, when the stimulus money and more flexible work schedule allowed me to travel from where I currently live in Maryland. Growing up, my family vacationed on the Whitefish Chain in the Brainerd area and I loved everything about it - the loons and smell of the pines and kayaking the most. We also went to the North Shore several times, but never to the BWCA. I grew up reading Sigurd F. Olson’s books, looking at Les and Craig Blacklock’s beautiful photo books of the north country at my grandparents’ house, and reading about the adventures of Eric Sevareid and his friend in “Canoeing with the Cree” and some guys who took the same route much later and recounted their adventure in “Distant Fires.” “The Gunflint Trail” by name was for me the stuff of legends.

Now I’m married and living far from Minnesota, but I’ve been able to talk my husband (from New Orleans) into doing day trips in the Magnetic Lake and Farm Lake/Kawishiwi areas. This June we’re going back and hoping to do part of the Granite River route. He has come to love the waters and forests of Northern Minnesota and looks forward to our trips almost as much as I do.

So this post is really supposed to be about the sounds of the BWCA. I most hope to hear the loons. I’m assuming they’re basically everywhere up there, but my dad and brother (the only family members to venture into the BWCA, when my dad was 50 and my brother was 18) had a weird experience on their trip. They went to Big Moose Lake, which they said was very remote. They didn’t see other people. They got lost in a marshy area, trying to find the waterway, and my brother had to get out and climb around on a huge beaver dam to try to find the passage. They finally made it but said their campsite was deadly silent. They never heard ANY sounds — they said it weirded them out. No wind, no loons, no other birds, no rodents, etc. The only sound they ever heard was in the middle of the night one night, they heard a giant splash. Neither of them wanted to look out of the tent to see what it was. That was it, though — just one huge splash. The rest of the trip, nothing. They said the silence kind of unnerved them.

My question is: how common is this?? Is it more normal to hear lots of sounds (morning birds, wind in the trees, loons in the evening, etc)?

That's exciting,Hannah, that you get to return to the BWCA and Minnesota this coming season. Enjoy the planning part of your trip!

I am surprised to hear there was "no sound" whatsoever and I have no explanation for why that occurred. In my experiences in the wilderness, BWCA and elsewhere, there is an absence of human-made noises but the sounds of nature abound.

In fact, after returning from my first trip and watching the videos, I began to enjoy dabbling with editing the sounds. I purchased a Zoom H5 recorder, along with a few nice mics, to specifically record sounds in the BWCA. I am very much an amateur recorder, but every single time I come back I am astounded at the variety of sounds that I capture.

Like you, one of the almost mythical aspects of the BW for me is the chance to leave behind the human-made noises and enjoy and appreciate what nature is saying. I will note there are personal reasons why the element of sound is intriguing to me and we each have our reasons for tripping.

I hope your trip this season is filled with the sounds of nature, especially frequent calls from the loons. Enjoy!

Hannah - based upon your post, it feels like you are pulled to the BW. Embrace it and don’t look back.
Sounds - the sounds are there but every trip is different; the sounds are never exactly the same given the time of year. Sometimes we just need to close our eyes and let it happen.
Happy planning, happy tripping. Hope to see a trip report from you.

Best - PF

The splash was likely a beaver.

'Distant Fires" is a great book.

The north woods can be noisy. I remember one morning on an island. There were wolves on two shores calling and answering. There was a whippoorwill singing non-stop and low-flying geese honking overhead. There was even a kingfisher circling my island, not adding to the noise, but making the place seem ever busier.

Pert near every lake has loons. Your brother just wasn't lucky.

You will almost always hear the sounds of birds chirping, trees blowing in wind, squirrels chattering, loons calling, and yes, flies/mosquitoes buzzing... but every now and then, the forest goes silent. It's pretty rare in my experience, but does happen. It's pretty cool when it does and yes it can be a bit spooky.

I hope you get to where you want to go! The BWCA (and the entire northwoods, really) is a magical place.

Welcome to to the forum and congratulations on getting your husband out into the BWCA. I am a bit surprised that your father and brother had such silence. I more often hear people newer to the BWCA that have trouble sleeping because of all the strange sounds, but you never know.

Like MissMolly said, the splash was almost certainly a beaver. Imagine wading out into the water with a cast iron pan and smacking the water with it - that's the sound the beaver makes and its common at night.

I often hear wood grouse drumming. It starts slow, picks up speed, and then winds back down.

Loons will be on many if not most of the lakes other than very small ones, and sometimes just fly over. Loons make 4 different calls.

Also as MM mentioned, the whiporwill's can call all night long. Last summer I also had a bird sit above my tent at 2:00am. Others on the site identified it as a black billed cuckoo.

Tree frogs and mosquitos can make lots of noise. Rabbits running through camp at night sound way bigger than they are. And there's a rugged little insect called a sawyer beetle that makes an incredible sawying/scrapping type sound.

I think the sound that captures my attention the most is the wind. I have a small fear of the wind, so it definitely registers in my brain whenever the wind is active. I love the sound of water, whether it's a waterfall or the waves gently (or aggressively) smashing into the shore. Any sounds coming from animals are a blessing to my ears, too.

A lot of it is time of year and location. When we tripped in the Ely area we never saw a moose, bear, eagles and just an occasional loon. We switched to the Gunflint area and to mid September. Every year for the past 8 years that we have put in on Seagull Lake we have seen moose (several times had them in camp), eagles, loons, otters, etc.

Colder temps, fewer people and fall (when the larger animals are more active) and you will see and hear a lot of wildlife.

Last year in the middle of the night a moose came crashing through a march breaking limbs and back on to land where we were camped. It hung around most of the week just out of the camp site area.

Welcome to bwca.com!

Incredible first 'official' post. Thank you for sharing.

I think one of the great benefits of spending time in the BWCA is that (as Sigurd Olson says) it offers a unique opportunity to get back in touch with natural rhythms, and sounds are certainly a big part of that.

In fact, that's why I lean towards base camping or, at least spending a couple nights at a given site. It affords an opportunity to really take those type of things in.

It's a cool progression. At 1st the business of getting there, setting up, cooking supper don't allow for much contemplation. Afterwards, as you alluded to, the silence can indeed be deafening. But, if you give nature a chance there's a well choreographed orchestra going on - and, for those who have ears to hear it, it can be magical.

Another phenomenon is if you ever get a chance to spend a windy day up there. Not ideal, as you'll likely be stuck in camp. But, once the wind dies, it's truly amazing what you can then hear.

Sorry for rambling, but you struck a nerve.( in a good way.)

Welcome Hannah,

I am so glad you have been able to follow the call of the wilderness and make it to the BWCA. If you enjoyed "Canoeing with the Cree", I recommend reading "Hudson Bay Bound" which is about 2 women retracing that route recently.

Some of the common sounds: loons (of course), beavers slapping in the night, wind in the white pine trees, green frogs, white-throated sparrows, owls, grouse


White-throated sparrow

Northern MN is on the southern edge of breeding territory for loons. As climate change continues, we may see and hear fewer of the loons on the lakes of the BWCA. But for now, they are quite common, especially on larger lakes.

Other critters to watch for (rather than listen for): otters, moose, black bears, mink

Have a wonderful trip. I hope your husband enjoys it and you can return for longer adventures.

That's a good question. What time of year did your brother and father go? I ask because I have also experienced absolute silence in the BWCA.

It happened in the early fall, but more like the middle fall for the BWCA, the first week of October. I was canoeing all by my lonesome, out on a week trip through part of the border lakes. That day was a beautiful, blue as a bluebird sky without a trace of wind of any kind. The week before had been chilly, not quite to the point of freezing, but enough to signal to any of the animals and birds behind schedule to get a move on because winter was coming.

I paddled down Crooked Lake that day, letting the sun warm my shoulders, and I didn't see a single human soul. Saw an occasional goose, and a beaver, but not a loon. Got to the Table Rock campsite late that afternoon and pulled in for the night. And it was silent. No wind. No whistle through the pines. Not a ripple lapping the shore.

All night it stayed that way. So silent that my hearing sense was working overtime, just to sense any noise. All I heard was the rustle of my sleeping bag, my breath, and my heartbeat.

The next day it had clouded over and started to sleet/rain/snow as I made my way down to Horse Lake. Ended up leaving that day and when I got to the parking lot, my truck was the only one there. Seems like I was one of the animals behind schedule that day.

By the way, if you have Spotify, and are homesick or want to demonstrate what an evening in the BWCA typically sounds like, I recommend Gordon Hempton's recording he took in the evening at Astrid Lake, just outside of Entry Point 16, back in 1998. The track is called Homecoming, and its about 20 minuets of a straight recording, no editing. Wait for the loons, but the spring peepers are perfect. Spotify - Gordon Hempton - Homecoming

Time of year plays a role , I hear Loons the most in June for example. I don’t think I’ve ever been up North when I didn’t hear the sounds nature.

Great books Hannah! I usually bring a S. Olsen book to the BWCA and wind down the day that way. Once I read a chapter called the "Loons of Lac Lacroix" and realized I was at the same site he wrote about on Agnes. I knew I was in the right spot that day.

I've had some pretty quiet nights outside up there, and it can throw you a bit. Last year on Gneiss it was almost silent but for a whipporwhil, something that sounded like rocks clacking together, and some bug that sounded like it was crunching and munching through wood. Quietest night ever, my wife and I were at elevation in Colorado and it was so quiet. No wind, bugs, birds, nothing. It was very difficult to fall and stay asleep. We both kept waking up to imagined/dreamed noises outside the tent.

BP has exactly 14,000 posts! Don't post again for a while, BP. I like all those zeroes.

I was also going to ask what time of year they were there. I have also experienced very quiet periods of time in the BWCA in the fall. I have only been there once in September. Many of the song birds are no longer looking for mates (the purpose of much singing). The grouse are not thumping their chests. Many bugs have to wait for the warmth of the sun to be out and about.

While loons seem to be everywhere, they are not. They have cycles throughout the day where they fly to forage in lakes outside their home base. Then about sundown, they take to the air again to return. We have many time thought we had a loon pair on the lake for the night only to see them leave late in the day.

I grew up in northern Wisconsin and the sounds of frogs in the evening are almost always present throughout the spring, summer, and early fall. They are definitely cyclical in the BW. Spring time - yes. Lots of frog sounds. The rest of the year can be hit or miss. Definitely not in the fall.

Last year was the weirdest year I can remember in the BW. There was more silence than I can remember in August. In 4-5 days, I only saw/heard 2-3 chipmunks, 1-2 squirrels, no mice. The song birds were few and far between. I believe that the heavy drought meant a big reduction in natural foods for smaller mammals and birds. I saw a 2-3 acre blueberry patch that was brown. I can remember seeing them without berries before, but completely brown? No. If this was the case for all natural food bearing plants throughout the BW. I think a lot of the smaller mammals didn't make it or simply were never born. The birds have the option of flying to better food sources. But it still leaves a lot of empty space in the BW.

I wonder even with normal or above average rainfall this year if there will be a shortage of natural foods for mammals and smaller birds. Simply because the plants hosting their foods won't have recovered sufficiently to have energy to put out berries and seeds.

missmolly: "BP has exactly 14,000 posts! Don't post again for a while, BP. I like all those zeroes. "

Ooops I did it again

Welcome Hannah

Basspro69: "Welcome Hannah "

Now you're 007. I'm good with that too.

I encountered complete total silence on my very first evening of canoetripping in the BW. It was wild to say the least. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs where background noise is a constant.

So me and my girlfriend pitched our tent on Juno Lake in 1983. Probably June or maybe july. Around 5 pm it got so quiet I couldn't hear anything. I remember talking across the lake back to my girlfriend who was on shore a long ways away.

I remember sitting by shore and thinking we could hear our heartbeats. Later in the tent after dark we heard branches snapping across the narrow lake. Soon we heard them cracking in the forest behind us.

Long story short a bear came in camp and nosed around before leaving and pulling down our food pack effectively ending our planned weeklong trip. Besides the Bear it was the uncanny silence that I remember. I've taken over 20 trips since then and never experienced the quiet like that ever again. I never have seen a bear again either. Go figure.

Thank you all for your thoughts (and welcomes)! I am getting so excited for our trip this June. My favorite sound of the wilderness is definitely the sound of the loons.

My brother and dad were in the BWCA at Big Moose Lake in mid-August when they had absolute silence for a few days at their camp site. This was awhile ago, though, in 2009.

Hope your trip is all that you dream, Hannah! My wife and I also love the loons; each pair we see gets named Larry and Lucy (one of our daughters started that about 15 years ago).

My favorite BWCA sound of all time came from a bull moose who spent hours at the landing of our site. He was almost shoulder height in the water, and when he pulled his head up from grabbing a mouthful of plants, the water would cascade off his antlers and down his back; the sound of a moosy waterfall. Then, his jaws would crunch, crunch, crunch the plants. I can hear both sounds as I type; love it!