I recently took a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and it did not disappoint.

This trip was with three friends from high school and was probably the most relaxing one of my life!

Even though we had a long portage right from the vehicles, and some challenging spots during the paddle in, we were rewarded with seclusion. Two of the three nights we were the only ones on the lake, aside from a loon 🙂

I was in my own canoe on the way in, and paddled back to the first portage Friday morning to grab the fourth member of our party as he was not able to come with Thursday morning. I have always dreamed of taking a solo canoe trip, and although I have not done so to-date, this 3 hours of paddling alone early in the morning was pretty fantastic…maybe someday!

This trip was amazing for many reasons.

• The company was great. Lots of laughs, good conversations, and just plain good times – we always seem to have a blast!
• The weather was nearly perfect. Sure, it was a little warm, but when you’re surrounded by water there are plenty of chances to cool off. It rained for only 20-30 minutes our last night shortly after 8:00 PM, that was it.
• The bugs also were not all that bad. My dream is to go in Sep/Oct some year when they are non-existent, but mid-late August is pretty great as well!
• We had a perfect little island next to our campsite that had some good jumping spots (I also realized how inept at diving from more than three feet off the water I am…but eventually came around after being taught like a 4-year-old how to dive again)
• Simple – we ended up doing no fishing and didn’t even start a fire (can it even be considered a canoe trip without those?!?) – crazy as it sounds, this is true. Lots of swimming, campsite bocce, naps, reading, day-trips, eating, etc. to fill the time! I’m guessing we would have had a fire if temps at night were lower, but not this trip.
• Crazy views of the night sky – I’ve seen a lot of night skies, even on other canoe trips, but Friday night of our trip had the best night sky I have ever seen. Insane amount of stars, zero light pollution from nearby cities, heat lightning in the distance, shooting stars, and the Milky Way stretching across much of the sky. We stayed up pretty late just laying on our backs and looking up – something I haven’t done in way too long!

It was neat seeing everyone’s camp setups too – everyone had a different style shelter for the trip. One person had a 3-person tent all to himself, another was in a hammock, another in a bivy-sack/tarp combo, and I was in a simple bug net with a bathtub floor under a tarp.

I really enjoyed the breezy nature of a tarp and the views I’d wake up to not being inside/under a rain fly. I feel like I’m getting older or something, because I’m not sleeping as well on the ground – I may transition back to my hammock setup now that I have a larger tarp to be under.

Everyone had neat pieces of gear that others naturally wanted after seeing/trying, so I think most of us placed some online orders after getting back to cell service 🙂 I really enjoy refining my gear list to be both ultra light, comfortable, and fun…while still remaining safe (always pack a first aid kid, no matter how light you want to keep your pack)!

We even had a sweet pulley system for our food pack, complements of an engineer in the group – that was a first for me and made lifting the food pack a whole lot easier.

If you have never stayed over night in the BWCA, I highly recommend it. The experience is like non-other and odds are you will get hooked on outdoor adventures. Side note: Feel free to reach out with questions you may have, I’m happy to help!

Already looking forward to my next BWCA trip, whenever it may be.

Keep getting outside everyone!