Click to View the Full Thread

Author	Message Text
Pinetree	01/15/2025 08:32PM   4keys: "It would take some serious thought and map viewing for some people to count all the lakes they’ve been on. It would probably be easier, tho not as impressive, to count entry points. " That would be interesting also.
naturboy12	01/15/2025 09:15PM   I knew this sounded vaguely familiar. This thread from last year has answers from some. My number is just over 100 unique lakes now. Hoping to add many more as I go. Lakes visited thread
x2jmorris	01/31/2025 01:23PM   I count 68 different lakes I have been to
LesliesDad	01/16/2025 06:43AM   I can't claim to have visited all that many different lakes. However, just for the fun of it, I have started to put Entry Point stickers on the back window of the Cherokee. I'm up to twelve now. ;-) People ask me "What's an EP?", so I get to tell them about the Boundary Waters. P.S. Does McFarland Lake count?
TreeBear	01/16/2025 07:24AM   I'm working on a couple of personal goals with the BWCA - I want to utilize every entry point for a trip at some point (entry and exit) and visit as many of the lakes as I can. Everyone has different driving factors. I just love seeing the incredible variety of Canoe Country, and I have yet to see any two lakes that look the same to me. I just added nine new ones last week and it's amazing how different they feel from eachother from topography, surrounding forests (something that can change from trip to trip), aquatic factors, and even the "feel" of a particular visit from the seasons to the weather to the time of day. My super nerdy spreadsheet says that I have visited 448 named BWCAW lakes and that a Kevlar Canoe has officially passed TuffWeave and Aluminum as my most common means of access. By comparison, I've only been to a paltry 16 Quetico lakes outside of the shared border lakes.
LindenTree	01/16/2025 11:30AM   Copy and pasted from last years thread. "Did a quick route recap and actually counted the lakes. Looks like I am around 130. 70 of those new lakes were from the summer of 2023 in the Gunflint and Tofte Ranger Districts." I probabally only bagged about 10 new lakes last summer of 2024, so I'm guessing around 140 total lakes now. Really not that many IMO.
Pinetree	01/16/2025 06:11AM   naturboy12: "I knew this sounded vaguely familiar. This thread from last year has answers from some. My number is just over 100 unique lakes now. Hoping to add many more as I go. Lakes visited thread " Thanks for making me aware of it.
Pinetree	01/16/2025 09:28AM   TreeBear: "I'm working on a couple of personal goals with the BWCA - I want to utilize every entry point for a trip at some point (entry and exit) and visit as many of the lakes as I can. Everyone has different driving factors. I just love seeing the incredible variety of Canoe Country, and I have yet to see any two lakes that look the same to me. I just added nine new ones last week and it's amazing how different they feel from eachother from topography, surrounding forests (something that can change from trip to trip), aquatic factors, and even the "feel" of a particular visit from the seasons to the weather to the time of day. My super nerdy spreadsheet says that I have visited 448 named BWCAW lakes and that a Kevlar Canoe has officially passed TuffWeave and Aluminum as my most common means of access. By comparison, I've only been to a paltry 16 Quetico lakes outside of the shared border lakes. " Wow, like a Bingo card you almost got the BWCA card full.
Voyager	01/16/2025 08:50AM   I always made it a point to visit the out of the way lakes on my trips. Some I would just walk in, with no load to see what it looked like. I would put my initial on the lake on the map. Lots of them were in PMA's. If I was ambitious, I could dig out my maps and count the "R's". I 'll take the easy way out, and just say "lots".
SurlyDude	01/16/2025 01:21PM   I have a spreadsheet as well - otherwise things can blend together for me. I added in have a caught a Laker in to my sheet now - might go through and make if I caught a fish at all on them. Was disappointed in 9 being the lakes that I have caught a Laker. My normal group are more walleye guys, so I will use that as my excuse. Other stats : total trips 40 and 106 total lakes. Other thing I have in my sheet is how much I have saved on rentals for my canoe and Snowtrekker tent... Mostly so I have some proof to the wife that they were worth the investment. :)
RTurner	01/16/2025 02:19PM   P.S. Does McFarland Lake count? " Anything you visit with that boat counts!
eagle98mn	01/16/2025 05:47PM   TreeBear: "I'm working on a couple of personal goals with the BWCA - I want to utilize every entry point for a trip at some point (entry and exit) and visit as many of the lakes as I can. Everyone has different driving factors. I just love seeing the incredible variety of Canoe Country, and I have yet to see any two lakes that look the same to me. I just added nine new ones last week and it's amazing how different they feel from eachother from topography, surrounding forests (something that can change from trip to trip), aquatic factors, and even the "feel" of a particular visit from the seasons to the weather to the time of day. My super nerdy spreadsheet says that I have visited 448 named BWCAW lakes and that a Kevlar Canoe has officially passed TuffWeave and Aluminum as my most common means of access. By comparison, I've only been to a paltry 16 Quetico lakes outside of the shared border lakes. " I love that I’m not the only one with a spreadsheet, but yours is prettier! BWCA/Q combined: 210 named lakes and 19 rivers/creeks over 21 trips. 49 distinct campsites in 67 nights. 761.2 miles traveled. 26 Entry Points Visited (I too want to visit all in one way or another) :)
Kiporby	02/02/2025 07:08PM   Made me look. After a couple beers I came up with.. 160 BWCA Lakes 122 Quetico Lakes 30 WCPP Lakes
Michwall2	02/02/2025 09:04PM   Pinetree: "Michwall2: "176 - All BWCAW lakes." A person looks back in time, you never dreamed you would see so much water." You are right.
cowdoc	01/21/2025 01:45PM   Nothing better to do on a minus 30 windchill day. Went over maps and journals. 238 BW lakes. Did not count creeks or rivers. Around 80 Quetico lakes that didn't include a bunch of no names. Thank you to my friend Greg who took me on my first trip when I was 40.....24 years ago. Lotta good times and miles since.
RodPortage	01/21/2025 07:04PM   I decided to start keeping track when someone brought this up last year. Looking back through my annual trips from the last 5 years, I seem to have hit exactly 150 lakes within the BWCA, plus 22 named rivers and creeks. The only lake I've done in two different trips, so far, was Long Island Lake. I still have lots of park to cover, so I hope not to do too many repeats for a while longer.
Pinetree	02/02/2025 08:00PM   Michwall2: "176 - All BWCAW lakes." A person looks back in time, you never dreamed you would see so much water.
Michwall2	02/02/2025 07:38PM   176 - All BWCAW lakes.
Stumpy	01/25/2025 08:31AM   Bill Rom Jr, has us all topped.... maybe 1000 or 1500 ? Me 500+....( many no-names and bushwhacks) but I need some modern dude to put a computer sheet together for me, so I can list lakes on routes, and have ones that I already listed deleted. I'm a tech loser. In 2022, after my wife died, I was very depressed. Out of nowhere, I was contacted by Bill Rom Jr. I still consider it an answer to prayers. Canoe Country Outfitters had connected him to me, and my reputation for bushwhacking was the reason. He wanted me to be his guide. For me to guide Bill, was a joke.... but that's what I was called. This guy had canoed several rivers to the Arctic Ocean and crossed Canada. Basically, he needed someone willing. So we bushwhacked into Sineeg Lake, and others. I'd like to sell my house and move to Ely. These days.... I'm dealing Black Jack, at Rivers Casino in DesPlaines IL..... Working weekend nights. Stop by my table.... ask a manager for the crazy singing dealer. I'll give my best advice, to help yo win.... but be careful. Stumpy
Pinetree	01/15/2025 06:41PM   I wonder who would have the honor of being number one? BWCA and Quetico or separate? Maybe LindenTree. I know I would be down on the list, except I may be number one in lake trout lakes visited. Caught lake trout out of 61 different lakes. Skunked in maybe a dozen more or so. I guess I will have to get my mind in gear to figure that out. What I am most proud of is I got to visit so many different lakes in the BWCA and Quetico pursuing lake trout. Some had no name. Problem is the last six years I haven't added to the list at all. What is your number of total lakes visited regardless if you fished them? I know that takes a lot of memory recall for many of you. I am sure no one has visited them all? YET?
straighthairedcurly	01/15/2025 07:22PM   Tuscarora Borealis has to be way up there. I still have a lot of areas of the BWCA that I haven't visited...mostly the western regions. From Basswood and all the way east I've been pretty well traveled. No idea on the number of lakes I've visited as I've never counted, but now I'm curious. One question is super easy to answer though. How many BWCA lakes have I fished? Zero.
OgimaaBines	01/15/2025 09:32PM   Pinetree-That's a lotta laker lakes! I hope to keep racking them up. That would take a little while to determine but would be fun to put a number to it. I've seen some pics on here of a fella that wrote the name of all the lakes he's visited on the inside of his canoe (couldn't find it in the forums). Seems it would jog your memory and help you get more out of all those trips and the one you're on.
Pinetree	01/15/2025 07:43PM   I am sure there are a few old timers visited more lakes than we new existed. Ben and Stumpy are up there I bet.
4keys	01/15/2025 07:46PM   It would take some serious thought and map viewing for some people to count all the lakes they’ve been on. It would probably be easier, tho not as impressive, to count entry points.
YetiJedi	01/15/2025 11:18PM   naturboy12: "I knew this sounded vaguely familiar. This thread from last year has answers from some. My number is just over 100 unique lakes now. Hoping to add many more as I go. Lakes visited thread " Good thread last year and fun to follow again this year! 32 trips for me with just over 150 unique lakes. I'm still a comparative newbie. Good timing to consider a new route or two with permit day just around the corner. On, and to the original post. 1 lake trout caught for me so far but I'm not sharing my secret spot!
Speckled	01/16/2025 10:59AM   Pinetree: "naturboy12: "I knew this sounded vaguely familiar. This thread from last year has answers from some. My number is just over 100 unique lakes now. Hoping to add many more as I go. Lakes visited thread " Thanks for making me aware of it." Trip count has increased since I put my list together, but no new lakes have been added. 2025 plans also have no new lakes in the works. It's hard at this point to mix it up. We have some real favorites and definitely gravitate towards them in planning.
Pinetree	01/16/2025 06:08PM   eagle98mn: "TreeBear: "I'm working on a couple of personal goals with the BWCA - I want to utilize every entry point for a trip at some point (entry and exit) and visit as many of the lakes as I can. Everyone has different driving factors. I just love seeing the incredible variety of Canoe Country, and I have yet to see any two lakes that look the same to me. I just added nine new ones last week and it's amazing how different they feel from eachother from topography, surrounding forests (something that can change from trip to trip), aquatic factors, and even the "feel" of a particular visit from the seasons to the weather to the time of day. My super nerdy spreadsheet says that I have visited 448 named BWCAW lakes and that a Kevlar Canoe has officially passed TuffWeave and Aluminum as my most common means of access. By comparison, I've only been to a paltry 16 Quetico lakes outside of the shared border lakes. " I love that I’m not the only one with a spreadsheet, but yours is prettier! BWCA/Q combined: 210 named lakes and 19 rivers/creeks over 21 trips. 49 distinct campsites in 67 nights. 761.2 miles traveled. 26 Entry Points Visited (I too want to visit all in one way or another) :)" I wish when I started I would have had a spreadsheet and more important a diary to look back at.
bennojr	01/16/2025 08:36PM   I count 321. A couple of them are rivers and there are a couple small lakes missing. A few adjacent lakes like Gunflint, Moss and Round. Other than that everything else is within the BWCA. I'm sure there are a few who have me beat but just didn't want to do the work of figuring it out. I know I didn't the last time this came up.
straighthairedcurly	01/16/2025 06:55PM   TreeBear: "I'm working on a couple of personal goals with the BWCA - I want to utilize every entry point for a trip at some point (entry and exit) and visit as many of the lakes as I can. Everyone has different driving factors. I just love seeing the incredible variety of Canoe Country, and I have yet to see any two lakes that look the same to me. I just added nine new ones last week and it's amazing how different they feel from eachother from topography, surrounding forests (something that can change from trip to trip), aquatic factors, and even the "feel" of a particular visit from the seasons to the weather to the time of day. My super nerdy spreadsheet says that I have visited 448 named BWCAW lakes and that a Kevlar Canoe has officially passed TuffWeave and Aluminum as my most common means of access. By comparison, I've only been to a paltry 16 Quetico lakes outside of the shared border lakes. " Interesting that you have been to Abita. I've been there, too, mostly in the winter since it is near my sister's cabin.
Pinetree	01/16/2025 08:47PM   bennojr: "I count 321. A couple of them are rivers and there are a couple small lakes missing. A few adjacent lakes like Gunflint, Moss and Round. Other than that everything else is within the BWCA. I'm sure there are a few who have me beat but just didn't want to do the work of figuring it out. I know I didn't the last time this came up." Wow, what is most important you seen a lot of country. So how many years you been going?
bennojr	01/16/2025 09:30PM   Pinetree: "bennojr: "I count 321. A couple of them are rivers and there are a couple small lakes missing. A few adjacent lakes like Gunflint, Moss and Round. Other than that everything else is within the BWCA. I'm sure there are a few who have me beat but just didn't want to do the work of figuring it out. I know I didn't the last time this came up." Wow, what is most important you seen a lot of country. So how many years you been going?" I bought my place here near Isabella about twenty years ago and started canoe tripping about then. At first it was just day trips and then worked it's way up to 33 nights before tapering off. I retired at the end of 2016 and have become quite the loner. The less I see of the works of my fellow man the better. There Is a YouTube gal, girloutdoors, that once said that what we are doing to the planet is an embarrasment. I couldn't agree more. When people speak of loneliness I honestly don't think I know what they're talking about. Anyway, I like to travel to different places within the BW or hike along the SHT.
Dreamer	01/16/2025 10:29PM   I have done about 159 different lakes. This counts lakes like Triangle, on my way in to an entry point, so in reality a few less. I have done quite a few repeat trips. In the last several years, I've tried to go to new areas every trip. I'm finding that I enjoy trips so much more if I haven't yet been there. I've only done one Quetico trip to Saganagons many years ago. I've been through 15 different entry points, many multiple times...
bennojr	01/17/2025 08:49AM   If you can figure out how to email me I can send a text file of my info on the BWCA lakes... nearly 700. It can be copied and pasted to an excel spreadsheet. At least the ancient version I have.
mapsguy1955	01/17/2025 01:49PM   15 trips, but almost all lakes (35 maybe?) on the north end of Quetico. Haven't counted lakes but I usually go the same places because I just am so happy there! Every trip it seems different but at the same time familiar. It never gets old. Only one trip to the BWCA and that was about 15 lakes with NO lake trout!
OldGuide2	01/17/2025 04:35PM   Since the first trip in 1959 up to last summer a lot, but have never kept count. Even if it were just a handful it is the experience that counts. Still like to read reports about various trips to places I have been just to see how they have changed.
Pinetree	01/17/2025 02:54PM   mapsguy1955: "15 trips, but almost all lakes (35 maybe?) on the north end of Quetico. Haven't counted lakes but I usually go the same places because I just am so happy there! Every trip it seems different but at the same time familiar. It never gets old. Only one trip to the BWCA and that was about 15 lakes with NO lake trout! "4 That is the only place just about in Quetico-BWCA I have not been, that is my next go to place.