The Boundary Waters Wilderness

The area around Camp Voyaguer conveys the grandeur of nature. Volcanic action first formed the region billions of years ago. Icy glaciers receded thousands of years ago leaving behind a land dotted with countless lakes, rivers and towering cliffs. From our dock, the vast Canadian Shield stretches east to Lake Superior and north to Hudson Bay.

Native Americans were the first to paddle the cool, clear waters through this wilderness. They were followed by eighteenth-century French Voyageurs who ventured inland from Lake Superior to meet the European demand for beaver and precious furs. They traveled in 25 foot birch bark canoes from lake Superior northwest for 2,000 miles to Lake Athabasca. Our modern Voyageurs enjoy the same routes, vistas and campsites shared by these early explorers.

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) was carved out of the Superior National Forest by an act of Congress in 1978. It is comprised of more than one million acres of land and lakes that extend 150 miles across the Minnesota-Canada border. The thousands of lakes and rivers in the park provide more than 1,200 miles of paddling routes. In addition there are hundreds of miles of hiking trails. The unmatched beauty of the Boundary Waters is characterized by pristine lakes, plunging waterfalls, sheer cliffs, expansive forests and scenic vistas. The abundant wildlife includes: moose, deer, beaver, otters, bald eagles, loons, osprey, ducks and a variety of fish just waiting to be caught.

Canada's Quetico Provincial Park adjoins the BWCAW to the north. Quetico offers another 1.2 million acres of territory that is even more remote and just waiting to be explored.