The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), and Quetico Provincial Park, are truly special places. Combined, they're a massive 2,000,000 acres of undeveloped, protected, wilderness woods and lakes, connected by portage trails and backcountry campsites. You could spend a lifetime paddling this area, constantly seeking new routes and adventures.
The BWCAW-Quetico is so incredible that in Minnesota, I've noticed the phenomena of the "B-Dubber," someone who travels to the Boundary Waters for an annual trip, has a wonderful experience, and then hangs up their paddles and spends the rest of the year dreaming of their return trip to the BWCA-Quetico.
This doesn't have to be the case. There are so many other excellent opportunities for canoe camping in the upper Great Lakes region! Don't get me wrong, if I could make a BWCAW trip every year for the rest of my life, I'd be a very happy guy! But I like to fill my paddling calendar throughout the year—especially during our short paddling season here in Minnesota—and even if it's just an hour after work in the evening on a local creek or lake, a few hours during a busy weekend, or a long weekend campout (one of my favorites is the Thursday night to Monday morning trip; it's long enough to give you a real taste and the timing lets you miss the heavy cabin country traffic).
Below are six of my favorite paddling and canoe camping destinations other than the BWCAW-Quetico areas. Each area is within a day's drive for anyone in the upper Midwest, each area has "front country" access, which allows for an afternoon of paddling, and each area is large or long enough to support a week-long canoe camping trip. In fact, it might take some serious portaging, but a true voyager could paddle through all of these waterways, lake country, and rivers in one long trip!
Now, oil up that paddle, load the wanigan, and get out on the water!
Lake Country Paddling
There's a trio of great lake country canoe camping opportunities located near each other in northeast Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Sylvania Wilderness Area
Sylvania Wilderness Area
Sylvania is a lake and portage trail wilderness area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that shares a lot of similarities to the BWCAW. With 34 lakes and slightly more than 18,000 acres, this area is much smaller than the BWCAW, but still big enough to offer paddlers a scenic week-long cruise filled with old-growth forest, clear lakes, and a beautiful, wild, and unique feel.
Northern Highlands-American Legion State Forest
Northern Highlands-American Legion State Forest
The Northern Highlands-American Legion State Forest (NH-AL) is a huge state forest in northeast Wisconsin with a high concentration of lakes, many with connecting portage trails, and paddle-in campgrounds. There are more than 80 canoe campsites in the forest, including routes on lakes designated as "wild" and "wilderness." The Boy Scouts used to have a national High Adventure Canoe Base in NH-AL, and YMCA Camp Manitowish still runs a canoe tripping program in the area. We really enjoyed our paddle through NH-AL.
Flowage Island Camping
Island camping on “Big Chip,” Wisconsin’s Chippewa Flowage
There are several large and wild “flowages” (reservoirs) in our neck of the northwoods that offer great canoe camping opportunities. The Turtle-Flambeau Scenic Waters (formerly known as the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage) in northeast Wisconsin has hundreds of islands—many with boat campsites—offering paddlers a great opportunity to explore, camp on their own island, and enjoy renowned fishing! There is a section of the Turtle-Flambeau designated as a "quiet zone" for anyone who wants to really get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
We’ve also loved camping on the Chippewa Flowage near Hayward, Wisconsin, as well as Boulder Lake near Duluth, Minnesota. BMP readers have also recommended the Willow Flowage, which is about an hour closer than the Turtle-Flambeau for anyone heading up from the Milwaukee or Chicago area.
River Tripping
Namekagon-St. Croix Nat'l Scenic Waterway
Namekagon-St. Croix National Scenic Waterway
Starting in northwest Wisconsin and flowing down to become the Minnesota-Wisconsin border, the Namekagon River was one of the first to obtain "National Scenic Waterway" status. Largely protected land on either side for the length of the waterway, this river system offers more than 200 miles of paddling with on-river campsites. I've paddled and camped on many sections of this river way many times, and I never tire of this area!
Canoeing and sand bar camping on the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway.
Lower Wisconsin State Riverway
Some of my first canoe camping experiences were with Boy Scout Troop 170 on the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway as we barged along sun burned in a motley fleet of mismatched, dented, begged, and borrowed canoes and gear wrapped in black trash bags, while camping on sand bars—it was a great time! The lower 92 miles of the Wisconsin River are protected, undeveloped riverway, offering a great paddle through Wisconsin's "Driftless Area." A fun, signature feature of a Wisconsin River trip is the sandbar camping. Simply pull up on an unoccupied sandbar, set up camp, and enjoy the western sunset in the river valley. Check out our recent trip down the Wisconsin River here.
Flambeau River
Going over! Running the Flambeau’s Cedar Rapids.
An old northwoods favorite, and one with a special place in my heart! As a boy, I did several trips on the Flambeau River to camp and run the whitewater sections with my dad and my uncle, Tom. This river offers on-river camping throughout most of its length, many obstacle-free sections with good current, and several sections of challenging whitewater, including the (optional) wild south fork of the Flambeau!
Check out our post on a recent paddle down the Flambeau River (yes, as you can probably tell from the photo on the left, some unplanned swimming was involved!)!
Bonus: MAINE!
Maine is a wilderness paddler’s paradise! If you love paddling and exploring Minnesota’s Arrowhead, Maine needs to be on your paddle bucket list. It’s more of the same, but in the most awesome way! Maine’s dense coniferous forest and mountainous terrain are home to long rocky rivers that make for great wilderness paddling trips. Years ago, I fell in love with Maine’s rivers, as well as its unique canoeing culture and woodsmanship traditions. During my weeks spent paddling Maine’s Spencer Stream and Aroostook, Penobscot, Machias, and Allagash rivers, I saw more moose than fellow river paddlers! Maine really is a must-paddle destination.
You might also want to check out:
Our peaceful paddle on the remote and wild Big Fork River in northern Minnesota was filled with the perfect amount of whitewater and wild landscape! It will inspire any paddler to lock in this river for their next paddle destination.