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Worst BWCAW Reviews – The Wilderness is NOT for Everyone
This time of the year, the itch for that perfect summer canoe trip begins to intensify as permits are pulled, routes are planned, gear is cleaned, and the days begin to lengthen! It’s also time to remember that for every person who lives and breathes their wilderness trips, there is another who writes theirs off…
A Bird’s Eye of the BW – Telling the Story from Above
It started as a funny game of sorts. As I was scrolling past google satellite imagery dreaming of future canoe country routes and trip plans, I would begin noticing the occasional canoe group on the photos. I soon began looking for them. It was a game of “I spy,” picking out small floating canoes and…
10 Steps in Planning an October Canoe Trip to the BWCA
Fall is a magical season in canoe country: a brief respite of quiet calm between the relative chaos of summer and the icy grip of winter. And, in many ways, the experience of a canoe trip in the BWCA is greatly enriched by the season. Once October 1st rolls around though, the looming threat of…
The Ten Types of BWCA Campsite
Every traveler to the BWCA has their ideal of what a campsite should look like and what features it should have. Perhaps it has a sprawling camp kitchen or a nice overlook. Perhaps it’s perched on an island or alongside a sprawling beach. But whether the campsite is easy to access or is tucked back…
How to Start Wilderness Winter Camping on a Budget
The wind howls around the steep rocky palisade displacing snow which softly blanketed the lichen-speckled crag the night before. The cold wind bites the face as the eyes turn upwards towards brilliant hues of pink and orange igniting the morning sky. The evening dark and long makes the dawn all the more magical. And with…
Let’s Break the Ice on a BWCA November Canoe Trip!
It’s been snowing all week here in Ely which points to a winter season fast approaching. In the meantime, this is one of the more challenging seasons for wilderness travel with many big lakes still open, smaller lakes starting to freeze, and trails and forests covered in fresh, wet snow. To the majority of…
BWCA Superlatives – Setting the Facts Straight
It all goes back to a BWCA trivia contest. That’s when it sank it anyways. I consider myself a BWCA nerd, down to the root, so maybe these things are more obvious to me. In any case, an organization that should have been experts in the topic were incorrect in the answers they provided for…
What’s Old is New Again on Chapman St. – Ely, MN
Summer is nearly upon us and the streets of Ely are bustling with canoeists, campers, and fishermen eager to enjoy their trips to the BWCA. Hopefully we’ll talk with many of them at Portage North and Sundog Sports in our new and improved retail space which we look to reopen sometime this June. And as…
A Fire Perspective: 200 Years of Wildfires
Few natural processes inspire the fear and awe that wildfires do. In nature, fire is a seeming paradox of death and new life. Gigantic, swirling infernos that engulf the landscape in an unheeding wall of flame become landscape-level scars healed by green shoots and wildflowers. And here on the southern edge of the boreal forest,…
The Ten Most Challenging BWCA Lakes to Visit
The Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness encompasses over a million acres and 1100 named lakes interconnected by portages and streams, but sometimes that vast expanse can feel a little cramped, especially along entries where larger numbers of groups congregate. For the cynic who feels the BWCA is lacking some inherent quality of wilderness in this…
