Our entire family (and another) were able to get up north for a 2-night trip earlier this summer and had a blast!

For both parties involved, it was our first family overnight trip into the BWCA, so the adults were expecting potential disaster to say the least – and everyone we talked to about it sort of thought we were nuts 🙂

I didn’t really dedicate any time to packing, which lead to some scrambling last-minute and should be avoided at all costs! On top of that, our kids will feast on something one day and say they hate it the next, which makes for joyous times as a parent. Oh, and none of them like the same thing (unless it’s candy). Go team!

Well, long story short we ended up really enjoying our time in the woods unplugged from it all. Lots of laughs, time on beach (right in our campsite!), fun little hikes, playing random games around camp, and exploring the lake we were on.

A couple things to note:

• Get the proper canoe!! – As you can tell in the lead photo, we had 2 adults and 3 kids, along with ALL of our gear in one canoe. This could have been a very dangerous situation in a smaller, fully loaded canoe. However, we rented a 19+ foot, 39 inch-wide kevlar canoe from Sawtooth Outfitters in Tofte that handled everything really well! This may be redundant since I already said the canoe was 39″ wide, but it was EXTREMELY stable on the water (even in some windy/wavy conditions) – at no point was I worried about it tipping over.
• Keep your expectations in check – If you’re used to packing light and covering the miles, filled with endless portages on your solo/child-less canoe trips, it is probably a good idea to plan for shorter days in the canoe. Not that it can’t be done, but it might be something to work towards vs. attempting on your very first trip. This was something we luckily did not need to learn the hard way — we chose to camp on the same lake we put in on, which completely eliminated the nightmare of double- or triple-portaging all of our gear with potentially (most likely) tired, hungry, thirsty kids. It also took less than 20 minutes of paddling to reach a group of sites to choose from.
• Try to land a family-friendly site – This one can be a bit difficult as sites are first-come, first-served in the BWCA, but build in some time to scout out different options once you’re on the lake. With kids, it’s helpful to have a good canoe landing (not too tricky) and ideally a shallow entry into the water (helps reduce in-camp stress for parents). We scored big time in this department as our site had it’s own shallow-entry beach landing, as well as tent pads that could house two 6-person tents, jackpot!
• Kids LOVE hammocks – Wow, do they ever! They spent soooooo much time in the hammocks relaxing, being silly, reading, swinging, etc. Does each kid need one for future trips now? Possibly 🙂
• Avenza app – Similar to my backpacking trip this spring, this app was incredible! You simply download the map you need within the app, and when you get your destination (with or without service), open the app and you will see a little blue dot representing WHERE YOU ARE ON THE MAP! No more guessing what island that is or where you are in relation to campsites. Also: YOU STILL NEED TO BRING AN ACTUAL MAP (OR MAPS) THAT COVERS YOUR ENTIRE ROUTE. You do not want to rely solely on your phone for navigation purposes as it could run out of battery, get lost, drop into a lake never to be seen again, or break. Always carry the actual map(s) with you.

I can’t begin to explain how amazing it was to share a Boundary Waters experience with my wife, our three kiddos, and another family — I’m really looking forward to future family trips!