New Trip Report posted by kdewahl

Trip Name: Full BWCA Border Route - Crane Lake to Grand Portage.

Entry Point: 12

Click Here to View Trip Report

really enjoyed your story, and you weren't part of the challenge that was going on at the same time? you made great progress every day, including the grand portage itself.

hope some day down the line your buddy can reconnect with his forgotten fanny pack. i suppose that was the phone that had all the photos?

what spurred your interest in doing this route? would you do it again and as part of the challenge along with the other teams?

Nice report. Those boardwalks on the Grand Portage are really nasty in damp/wet weather. Sorry to hear you had a couple wipeouts that damaged the canoe. Fortunately, you both came through in one piece. Sounds like a great trip. You are fast, efficient travelers. You should consider joining the Border Route Challenge next year.

Great report - good trip!
We would LOVE to have you with us on the Border Route Challenge! It happens each fall - usually starting on Labor Day weekend. About 25-30 paddlers do the route in 8 days or less. Again, congratulations!

Brings back memories of a ten-day trip from Rainy to Superior we did in 1963. Our best day we went from Handberg's on Lac La Croix to Dorothy's on Knife. Camped by the falls on the Pigeon before taking the Grand Portage. Sig Olson put us on to an outfitter friend in International Falls where Bronco Nagurski pumped our gas.

My son and I did the reverse trip in 2000. He was 15. We started at Grand Portage and made it to the Pigeon River but could not find the portage into South Fowl. We walked a long a trail and ended up camping there. I noticed marker ribbons and checked the map and realized we were on the Border Route Trail. So the next morning we followed BRT to South Fowl. It was a steep drop down to the lake, we lined the canoe down. Meanwhile our packs went rolling down like bowling balls and we named it bowling ball hill. But then we were in luck and could follow the maps and landmarks. Every day was in adventure, from a close encounter with a moose to the challenge of wind/waves while going around American Point on Basswood. We stopped at Gunflint and got pickles and cheese from one of the stores, it was the best food of the trip! Past curtain falls, onto Lac la Croix and finally ending on Crane Lake where my brother picked us up.
My son kept a journal that he wrote in each night. Some day I would like to transcribe it and share it as a trip report here.
He continued to keep that journal until 2019 when he had kids of his own.