My son is going on a trip with his Boy Scout troop next summer to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in MN and adjoining Canada. Myself and a couple of friends are tagging along to just camp out and explore the area as we have never been there. We will be there for 6 nights and 7 days next July. Anybody have any good recomendations on where would be good to camp?

Do you know where in the BWCA they're going to be? Based on the BFRO database, St Louis County is the MN 'hot spot' (really, more like a luke warm spot). Also, check out Minnesota Bigfoot. More reports and also a whole book dedicated to bigfoot in my state. Also also, we have a really long thread on Minnesota here.

As far as camping goes, I have a cabin so I won't be any help! :laugh:

They are not sure yet where they are going to be exactly, but we won't follow them, we are gonna follow the bus up there, and then just meet them on the way back, so we are free to go anywhere we want to go. I'll check out the links, Thanks :new_thumbsupsmileyanim:

what?!?! you mean you don't want guests?!?! :new_lmaosmiley:

If you plan on camping in the BWCA you need to get an entry permit. A permit doesn't specify a campsite but only an entry point. It's best to get one well in advance of your trip.
There are quite a few websites with information. This one has a public forum.
http://www.bwca.com/
This one has general info and a link to reserve a permit.
http://www.bwcaw.org/

If you want to drive to your campsite you'll have to camp outside the BWCA. Superior National Forest has many good spots to drive to and includes the BWCA so you could plan your trip around the scouts and be relatively close. Again it's best to make reservations especially before making such a long trip. Here is a website for the Superior National Forest.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/superior/

It's very buggy in northern Minnesota in July so stock up on bug spray, preferably with a fairly high DEET content. Wood ticks can be bad too and DEET is the best defense.
The weather should be nice with daytime temps in the 80's with cooler evenings, depending how close to Lake Superior you are, but rain is always a possibility.

It's a VERY beatiful area and you should really have a great time.

I can attest to this. My mother in law keeps trying new bug spray every year because she thinks DEET is bad for you or something. My experience is NOTHING works as well as DEET-based sprays. This last summer was a disaster until I got my own Deep Woods Off. That fixed the little bastards.

And the ticks are nothing to sneeze at, either. If you're not wearing long sleeves and pants, you should check yourself whenever you come in.

Hi Bipto!

The problem that your mother in law is probably referring to are the cases of some kind of reaction to DEET that has caused paralysis (I think there were some deaths) from high concentrations of DEET in some of the bug repellants.

Of course, the investigative journalism report was on 20-20 or a similar type of program. I believe that one of the suspect formulations was that which the military gives the troops and is rumoured to be much higher in concentration of the active ingredient.

I will look around when I have 2 minutes and see if I can find it for you. This is the reason that my wife won't let me spray the kids and I have to try all sorts of other stuff.

I grew up in the far north of Ontario and the mosquitoes and blackflies don't leave marks on me at all. The crazy thing is that, of my 3 kids, the middle one reacts the same way I do and the other two look like they have been eaten alive after a few days up there, funny that, inherited immunity?, nah!!

Cheers

Alex

l'll use 100% DEET whenever I think it's necessary, and I've never had any kind of reaction. Most of the time I think a lower concentration works very well.

My wife is a mosquito magnet and I hardly ever get bit, but I hate the little bastards.

With West Nile and Lyme Disease and who knows what else , I think l'll take my chance with DEET. I think you'd almost have to take a bath in it before you get any adverse affects.

We've camped at a few places along Lake Superior. The campground we like the best is Temperance River. They have some campsites right on Lake Superior. If you're able to get one of those sites, you would have a view you'd have to pay a pretty penny for if you were hoteling it. It's quite possible there are other campgrounds with campsites right on Lake Superior, we just haven't investigated very recently on that. Periodically they change or create new camp areas in different areas along Lake Superior. Temperance River campground is about 30-40 miles from the Canadian border.