Kooch-i-ching Paddlers Will Head South of the Border

By Alex Ernst

Deer Island sits just a mile south of the Canadian border, and for nearly a century our paddlers have always crossed that frontier, heading north and east to the English, the Bloodvein, the Knife.

This summer, with uncertain access to Canada, we are looking closer to home—to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) Wilderness, a million-acre swath of protected forest in northern Minnesota. Practically in our backyard, the BWCA is world-famous, yet entirely unexplored by Kooch trippers. Until now.

A view of the Boundary Waters’ Gunflint Trail entry point. (Glenn Allenspach)

“A journey through the Boundary Waters is a trip across water and time,” writes Daniel Pauly in his guidebook, “Exploring the Boundary Waters.”

“In one week, you might paddle past a beaver lodge built three summers ago, portage through cedar groves that were old long before the American Revolution, run your hand along billion-year-old granite, and awaken to timeless loon calls,” Pauly writes. “The portage trails often follow prehistoric paths used by generations of Native Americans, and the surrounding forests once hosted mineral prospectors, big-pine loggers, and remote fishing lodges.”

Established by an act of Congress in 1978, the Boundary Waters restrict mining, logging and most motorized access. Visitors must purchase permits in advance and use designated entry points. Any route longer than a few days involves many portages, putting canoeists deep into the wilderness. The Boundary Waters boast more than 1,500 miles of canoe routes and over 2,000 campsites; it is said that you can spend your whole life paddling there and never do the same trip twice!

This summer, if the Canadian border remains closed, our Seniors will paddle to the Boundary Waters from Deer Island—retracing an old Voyageur route that runs along the border to Lake Superior—or back to the island from the Boundary Waters. 

A map shows canoe routes in the Boundary Waters. (Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness)

Younger campers will explore the inner reaches of the park, searching for pictographs, hiking rugged trails accessible from the water, and fishing for walleye, pike and even lake trout.

“There are many spectacular hikes,” says Scott Harris, a veteran of 55 trips through the Boundary Waters. “In Shell Lake, you can hike from your campsite. There are wonderful falls: Devils Cascade, Curtain Falls. It can be fun to try and discover pictographs,” adds Harris, who runs Old Scout Outdoor Products, selling reflector ovens of his own design. At age 72, he already has a permit for this summer!

“The more trips I took out there, the more things came naturally to me. You don’t have to think about all the details. Take the time to sit by the shore—it is possible to become one with nature.”

Although we are planning to send many trips to the Boundary Waters this summer, we are also looking into routes on the Big Fork and Little Fork rivers, which flow north into Rainy River, as well as kayaking on Lake Michigan and a Senior Big Trip on longer rivers further west. If plan A doesn’t work out, we’ve got plans B and C ready to go!

This article was originally published in the Spring 2021 issue of the Kooch-i-ching Tumpline.