A trip to the Boundary Waters surely doesn't begin on the date printed on your entry permit, which in this case was Wednesday, September 4th, 2024. Instead, it starts many months in advance in front of a computer screen hoping and waiting to see if you can snag a permit on Recreation.gov on the January morning they become available, after which most popular entry points are booked solid for the summer. Entry Point #69 John Lake only allows one overnight entry per day, so I was ready the morning permits opened and pounced on the Wednesday following Labor Day.
Permit secured, I spent time over the next several months in spare moments here and there reading about the lakes, campsites, portages and points of interest along my route. BWCA.com is an amazing resource for this, a paddling community with vast knowledge willing to share with both new and seasoned trippers. I also plot out possible routes on another website, PaddlePlanner.com, which has wonderful mapping programs to help you determine your length of daily travel so you can choose approximately when and where to camp each day. Both sites have been and continue to be invaluable to me in determining trip details and helping me to be properly prepared. I also take a peek at some details on each lake I hope to stay on at dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind, a site that provides helpful (but sometimes outdated) information like fish species present, lake depths and water clarity.
A few weeks before the trip, I have a route planned that has plenty of flexibility built into it. Weather, campsite availability, fishing success and your general feel for any given day will often change that route, but its important to have something put together to share with your family in case something happens while you're out in the wild.
A week or so in advance I reactivate the monthly subscription for my Garmin inReach, a 2-way satellite messaging device that serves as my emergency contact device should I need to make an SOS call for myself or another group having issues, as well as a GPS tracking device and simple way to text my family a location and status when no cell service is available. This is not a 100% necessary item, but the peace of mind it offers both me and my family has been well worth the extra expense.
One of the last steps is creating a basic menu and supply list for the trip and purchasing any needed gear upgrades and replacements. New for me this year were a pair of Merrell Wildwood Aerosports, which allow for wet-foot portaging in warmer water temperatures and are a great improvement over the Keen Sandals I had been using for years.
A wilderness trip with multiple miles of portaging/hiking and 10-15 paddling miles daily requires solid caloric intake to fuel and with only so much space in my bear-resistant food container (BV500), I have to make smart choices that are easy to prepare and tasty at the same time. Cans and glass bottles (plastic bottles are OK) are not allowed in the Boundary Waters, which does limit what you can bring along with you for meals. This trip I choose mostly dehydrated or freeze dried meals from several different companies, along with staples like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, granola, snack bars, tuna, oatmeal, beef sticks and fruit snacks. In the end, I bring about 2300-2500 calories per day, which is usually supplemented by fish a couple times per trip.
The night before I leave for a trip, all the bags get packed and the canoe gets put on the car so that when departure day finally arrives, I am ready to drive. With this year's trip taking me along the North Shore of Lake Superior, I opt to pick up my permit 6 1/2 hours into my drive at Sawtooth Outfitters (https://sawtoothoutfitters.com/), in Tofte, MN, where i get some last minute updates and route information before continuing on my journey to the Arrowhead Trail. I do stop multiple other places along the North Shore as well, taking in some of the popular sights that make the drive along Lake Superior so enjoyable.
The Arrowhead Trail sounds like something more extravagant and inviting than it really is, but it's just a road, paved for a few miles after it leaves the tiny community of Hovland, then gravel for the last 15 or so miles until reaching my destination and final prep phase at McFarland Lake Campground.
An unassuming place, this campground is nothing more than 4 non-reservable sites among the woods, each with their own picnic table and fire pit, along with a pit-style outhouse and a boat ramp to MacFarland Lake. There is no drinking water source and no trash disposal (which I was aware of ahead of time thanks to my research) and when I arrive not a single other person to be seem or heard anywhere. This allows me to delve into my packs, finalize everything for what my usual BW companions refer to as "plunge day" and then go off exploring the area before dark. This planned downtime is the final step in facilitating my mental status to swtich from "fast paced world" to "slowly consume every ounce of the outdoors". Some people drive up and enter the BW on the same day, but this extra night at the edge of the wilderness helps to center my mind and body for the trip to come.
Preparations complete, I drift off to much needed sleep. The adventure 8 months in the making begins before sunrise!
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