Canoeing Minnesota's Boundary Waters With Three Generations

Back when my camping clothes fit more loosely, I measured the success of an outing in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) by the distance covered. The more miles paddled in a day somehow added to the value of the trip. That was pre-kid and grandkid thinking.

Canoeing with family and friends in the BWCAW is about quality, not quantity, my wife reminded me before I shoved off on a five-day, four-night adventure with one grandpa, three dads and five young men.

Only two of our group, another dad and me, had ever been in the Boundary Waters. The five preteen and teenage boys, one dad and the grandpa would probably not look upon lengthy paddling days or long portages — unloading canoes and carrying them and all the camping gear over a primitive footpath between lakes — as an accomplishment.

My wife added this caveat: "You're there to enjoy yourselves, Jim, not to see how far you can go. If that means staying in one site for a couple of days to let the kids play in the lake, then that is more important than covering a set distance."

Picking up on the tone of our conversation, I agreed. "OK. We won't kill ourselves on the portages, either," I offered. "We'll just double portage our gear and not worry about how fast we do it." That concession drew an approving smile.

It's always good to be reminded of priorities. If the other experienced dad and I wanted our multi-generational group to enjoy the Boundary Waters as much as we did, they would have to feel that this trip was mostly fun with some work mixed in, not the other way around.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area is the country's largest canoe wilderness. With over one million acres of forest and water, it stretches for about 150 miles along the international boundary adjacent to Canada's Quetico Provincial Park, bordered on the west by Minnesota's Voyageurs National Park. 

The Boundary Waters is sprinkled with over 1,100 lakes and hundreds of miles of rivers and streams amidst the vastness of Superior National Forest. Though rugged, a family and friends canoeing adventure in the pristine BWCA is a wonderful way to discover the most important things in life.

We pushed off on our adventure of discovery in three canoes. We rotated paddlers so everyone had a chance to lounge like a lizard amid the gear in the middle of the canoe. Usually, it didn't matter that a couple of our canoes zigzagged across a lake, powered by inexperienced paddlers. When the sky threatened or the wind howled, we made haste to a nearby shore.

After a first-day storm faded, the broad sky over Pipestone Bay opened into a vault of warm blue. We selected a shady, spacious campsite under the pines by 2 p.m. By getting an early paddling start, we reasoned, we'd get the pick of campsites by early afternoon.

When the kids were hungry, we fired up our gas stove for a first-night meal of chicken, peas and potatoes. We devised teams for kitchen patrol duty for the duration of the trip. This meant when each team's turn came, it cooked and cleaned up for all of one day's meals. Nobody (like the dads) got stuck doing all of the work.

Everybody pitched in to strike camp in the morning, set up the next camp in the afternoon and keep an eye out for the bandit chipmunks and gray jays that dearly loved to steal our food.

I was the group weatherman. After years of bad weather experiences outdoors, I had learned to keep an eye on the sky and maintain a "bomb proof" campsite, that is, a site where clothing, tents and gear are always secure. In that way, we only had to throw on rain parkas or hunker down in our tents if storms hit — which they did.

It rained some every day — mostly in the late afternoon or evening and sometimes with thunder and lightning. But it would blow over, exposing a colorful dusk sky that soon filled with stars and haunting loon calls echoing over the lakes. This was that mellow time of night, just after finishing the camp chores: tents secured, all gear gathered and stowed under beached canoes. We would linger by the campfire swapping stories, or crawl into one of the tents for games.

Credit: Jim Umhoefer

We swam at every campsite, too. Two of the teenagers liked to race canoes by "gunneling," balancing on a canoe's sides and bouncing to propel it forward. Taking tumbles in the lake was part of the fun.

Most of the time, our paddling was easy, and we chatted and laughed our way to the next lake. One day, though, the wind grew nasty, and we had to regroup on shore to plan how to push on to the nearest campsite.

With the three strongest paddlers in the sterns of the canoes and the next-most-experienced paddlers in the bows, we paddled as hard as we could into a gusty headwind. It was a struggle, but when we beached safely that afternoon at a beautiful campsite, we knew persistence, planning and teamwork had paid off.

In the end, time was the essence of our wilderness jaunt — time made for family, friends and fun in a place where time didn't matter. As it turned out, the miles covered didn't matter either. When the kids asked if we could do this again some other time, I knew that was what mattered most.

The BWCAW: The Boundary Waters is part of the Superior National Forest of northeastern Minnesota. The wilderness area contains over 1500 miles of canoe routes, 12 hiking trails and over 2000 designated campsites. Nearby jumping off towns include Ely, Cook, Grand Marais and Tofte. For general BWCA background and details, visit bwca.com.

Credit: Jim Umhoefer

Permits: About 200,000 people visit the BWCA each year. Permits are required for groups to enter the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) during all seasons. Group size is limited to nine people and four water craft. Get permits from the U.S. Forest Service, from private outfitters or Recreation.gov (1-877-444-6777). Between May 1st and September 30th, permits need to be reserved and are limited by day and by entry point to reduce impact on the wilderness. It is essential to plan your trip early — online permits are available beginning on the last Wednesday in January.

Outfitters: Our group booked the trip through a private outfitter in Ely. Full or partial outfitting packages are available if your group doesn't want to haul gear. Outfitters can provide trip planning, permits, gear rental, meal plans and guiding services. Dozens of companies are waiting to help you.

Water: To be safe, filter, boil or chemically treat drinking water. Some parasites cause severe illness.

What to wear: The trick is to stay warm and dry no matter the weather. Take shoes that can get wet for portaging and loading/unloading canoes. Be prepared for mosquitoes and flies, though our mid-August trip was pleasant.

Jim Umhoefer is a freelance writer and photographer specializing in human interest, travel and outdoor stories. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Kansas City Star, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. His travel stories have been published in magazines  such as Better Homes and Gardens, The World and I, Snow Country and others.  He is also the author and photographer of four outdoor guidebooks about Minnesota and Wisconsin. Read More