Henry David Thoreau said, "We can never have enough nature." There are many things people should take in moderation, but when it comes to going out in nature, people should go full force and experience everything it has to offer. In many places, it is becoming increasingly harder to do that. The pressure of modern life, the cities, towns, and roads expanding everywhere make it difficult to get away from everything and truly be in a wild part of the country. Luckily, thanks to preservation efforts, there are some places where one can find the nature that is a necessity to a life well lived.
One of those places is the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) in northern Minnesota. The BWCA is 1,090,000 acres. That is over 1,500 square miles of lakes, forests, rivers and streams. National Geographic named it one of the top 50 adventures of a lifetime. There is so much to see and explore that narrowing it down can be difficult. Though the wilderness is vast and contains thousands of miles of canoeing opportunities, the BWCA is surprisingly accessible to a diverse group of people. "It's a whole mix of people that come in to rent canoes, get a permit, and get outfitted for a trip into the Boundary Waters," Drew Brockett of Piragis Northwoods Company in Ely, MN says. "We get lots of families with young kids, older people, young couples, and more. It is a great place to take it easy, but get a work out, in pristine wilderness."
Brockett says that some people come in and just get the basics, a canoe and a permit, while others come in and get everything they need for a trip, including tents, food, hiking essentials, etc. "I'd say the average trip is 4-5 days," Brockett tells The Buzz, "And people make loops through the waters that work for them." Brockett says that there are many entry points to the waters and places like Piragis Northwoods Company help visitors decide what’s best for them. "There are easier and more difficult entry points. For example, if a particular entry point has a lot of portaging (carrying a canoe over land), it might not be suited for an older group," he says. The canoes that Piragis uses are ultra-lightweight, which make it a lot easier to portage.
Kids jump into lake at Boundary Waters [Photo/Kate Kinkade]
So, besides the sheer amount of wilderness, why do people come to the Boundary Waters? "It is unreal out there," Brockett visualizes. "The wilderness is so pristine and there is so much to see." Although seeing wildlife is not guaranteed, the Boundary Waters is home to black bears, wolves, moose, beavers, otters, and others. "You never know what you are going to see which is pretty cool," he says.
The wolves are a particularly interesting story. For many years, wolves were trapped and killed, due to their tendency to kill livestock. Wolves were almost eradicated from the lower 48 states, though they never quite left Minnesota because of the inaccessible nature of the Boundary Waters. Now, the timberwolf is listed as an endangered species in Minnesota and protected, therefore their numbers have rebounded. On a trip through the Boundary Waters it is possible, even common, to hear wolves howl and occasionally they are seen.
Beyond wildlife, the remoteness of camping and fishing is unparalleled. The 1,000-plus lakes are filled with fish, such as walleye, trout, bass, and more. Camping can be as simple as going a bit away from an entry point and setting up a base camp to paddling to remote parts of the wilderness area, where very few people ever go. Though BWCA is one of the most visited wilderness areas in the United States, since it is spread out over 1 million acres, encounters with other people are minimal.
The season for canoeing the Boundary Waters is typically May-September. May is a relatively cold month, where some lakes might still have some ice on them. This might not appeal to a typical summer vacationer, however to someone who does not like mosquitoes swarming them while they fish, this is a great month to visit. June is the month when tourism starts to pick up because the days get warmer. That being said, throughout the summer, nights can get down into the 40s and 50s this far north. July and August are prime months in terms of the heat and swimming; however the mosquitos are typically at their peak during these months. September is a perfect month for fall colors and to witness the close of the season.
One of the most famous guides in the Boundary Waters was Sigurd Olson, who died at the age of 89 in 1982. Olson wrote extensively about conservation, as well as a beauty of the North. In The Singing Wilderness Olson writes, “There is magic in the feel of a paddle and the movement of a canoe, a magic compounded of distance, adventure, solitude, and peace. The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness and of a freedom almost forgotten. It is an antidote to insecurity, the open door to waterways of ages past and a way of life with profound and abiding satisfactions. When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known.”
We as a people are fortunate to have a place to experience the canoe in its natural habitat, as well as the wilderness in all its glory, at the very top of our country inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.