Boundary Waters Guided Trips: Full, Partial and Fully Guided
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area is a million acres with more than a thousand lakes, no motors across most of it and no marked trails other than portages. Three levels of help exist. A fully guided trip sends a guide with you who picks the route, runs camp and cooks. Full outfitting supplies canoe, tents, sleeping kit, food and permit assistance and sends you off alone. Partial outfitting rents you the pieces you lack. Entry permits are quota controlled from 1 May to 30 September and go on sale in late January. Our Boundary Waters canoe weekend is the short version of the trip.
The three levels, and who each suits
- Fully guided. A guide travels with the group, chooses campsites, cooks, and knows which portage is 80 rods of mud. Right for a first canoe trip, for anyone nervous about navigation, and for families who want somebody else doing the logistics. It is the most expensive option by a wide margin.
- Full outfitting. The outfitter provides a Kevlar canoe at around 40 pounds, tents, packs, sleeping bags, stove, food and a route plan, plus a tow across the first big lake if you want one. You paddle and camp alone. This is what most people should choose for a second trip, and many for a first.
- Partial outfitting. You bring your own kit and hire the canoe, or the food, or a pack. Cheapest, and it assumes you know how to read a map on water.
All three are available from the outfitter towns: Ely on the west side, Grand Marais and the Gunflint Trail on the east, and Crane Lake in the northwest.
The permit, which decides everything
Every overnight trip needs a quota permit tied to a specific entry point and a specific start date, from 1 May to 30 September. The number of parties allowed to launch at each entry point per day is fixed, which is why the Boundary Waters stays quiet.
- Reservations open in late January on recreation.gov for the coming season, and the popular entry points for July weekends go the first morning.
- Your entry point sets your trip. Some put you on a chain of small lakes with short portages, others start with a two mile crossing of open water. See our entry points guide.
- Outfitters will hold and manage the permit for you, which is one of the real advantages of booking through one.
- Groups are capped at nine people and four watercraft, which is a hard limit.
- Outside the quota season a self issued permit at the entry point is enough, and October in the Boundary Waters is superb if you can handle cold water.
What a trip actually looks like
Distance in the Boundary Waters is measured in rods, and a rod is 16.5 feet, so 320 rods is a mile of carrying your canoe. A moderate day is six to ten miles of paddling with two or three portages. A hard day has a 200 rod portage in it, twice, because you go back for the second load.
You camp at designated sites with a fire grate and a box latrine, first come and never reserved, so the day's plan always includes a fallback site. Bear hangs are standard practice and hard sided canisters are increasingly common. Fishing is a large part of the appeal: walleye, smallmouth bass, northern pike and lake trout, and a Minnesota licence is required. See our Boundary Waters fishing guide.
When to go
- Mid May to early June: cold water, walleye opener, and black flies and mosquitoes arriving.
- Mid June to mid July: warmest water, biggest bug pressure, longest days.
- August: quieter than July, blueberries, and warm swimming.
- September: the best month. No bugs, colour in the birches from mid month, and far fewer parties. Nights drop near freezing by the end of it.
- October: permits are self issued, the lakes are empty, and cold water becomes a genuine safety issue. Only for experienced paddlers with the right clothing.
More detail in the best time to visit the Boundary Waters.
Crossing into Quetico
The Boundary Waters shares a border with Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, and the paddling on the Canadian side is quieter still. Crossing requires Canadian park permits and a remote area border crossing permit arranged in advance, plus passports for everyone. Several Ely and Gunflint outfitters run guided Quetico trips and handle the paperwork, which is the sensible way to do it the first time.
Questions to ask an outfitter
- Which entry points do you still have permits for on my dates?
- Is the guide included, and what is the guide to guest ratio?
- Are the canoes Kevlar or aluminium? The weight difference is the difference between an enjoyable portage and a grim one.
- Is a tow included, and how far does it take us on day one?
- What is the food plan, and can you handle our dietary needs from a canoe pack?
- What happens in a storm, and how do we reach you if something goes wrong?
Have us set the trip up
Tell us your dates, your group size and how much you want to carry, and we will match the entry point and the level of outfitting to it. Planning is free, and we earn only if you book through us.
Boundary Waters Guided Trips: Full, Partial and Fully Guided FAQs
No. Most parties paddle unguided with full outfitting, where the outfitter supplies canoe, camp gear, food and a route plan. A guide is worth it for a first canoe trip, for weak navigation skills, or for families who want the logistics handled.
Every overnight trip from 1 May to 30 September needs a quota permit for a specific entry point and start date, with a fixed number of parties allowed to launch each day. Reservations open in late January on recreation.gov, and outfitters will hold and manage the permit for you.
Full outfitting supplies everything: canoe, tents, sleeping kit, stove, food and permit help. Partial outfitting rents you only the pieces you lack, usually the canoe. Neither includes a guide unless you book a fully guided trip.
September. The bugs are gone, the birches turn from mid month, and far fewer parties are on the water. Mid June to mid July has the warmest water and the worst mosquitoes.
Six to ten miles is a moderate day, including two or three portages. Portages are measured in rods, and 320 rods equals a mile, so a 200 rod carry done twice for two loads is a serious piece of work.
Yes, with Canadian park permits, a remote area border crossing permit arranged in advance and passports for everyone. Several Ely and Gunflint Trail outfitters run guided Quetico trips and handle the paperwork.
