The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness are a special set-aside in the
Superior National Forest in the north woods of Minnesota. Containing over 1,000 lakes and streams, 2,200 designated campsites, and 1,500 miles of canoe routes, this treasure provides a great place to escape from the world of civilization. It also, apparently, provides a great reason for cool websites.
The
Swanson party website is one of the most impressive feats of private naturalism I've seen. It has everything from the
68 types of ferns and fern allies you can find in the BWCAW to
lake commentaries for 356 of the biggest (and smallest) lakes that travelers encounter.
There's also the
DC3 website, which has diaries and pictures from a group of BW adventurers from 1977 to 2003. A truly impressive effort, if apparently not ...quite... finished. And while the diaries tell a story arc about a group of friends, the distance between the stories always leaves tantalizing details for the reader to imagine. Such as this tidbit at the end of the
1986 trip, which has as its central detail the fact that one of the party's wives received major burns and had to leave early:
They traveled almost ten miles and portaged four times, (a total of 465 rods), before they reached Snowbank Lake. The wind was very strong. They had to cross the lake the long way and directly into the wind. At one point they didn't move for twenty minutes even though they paddled as hard as they could. They finally reached the landing and headed for the A&W in Ely. From there, Tur called home to check on Beeps. There was no answer. But that's another story.
Naturally, there are also
messageboards set up to discuss trips to the BWCAW,
advocacy organizations to make sure it stays wild, and you can even make entry point
reservations online nowadays.
The Bee Dub previously referenced here on MeFi
posted by norm
on Aug 25, 2005 -
15 comments
