Boy Scout canoe trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness have been a specialty of North Country Canoe Outfitters for more than 30 years. A Boy Scout High Adventure canoe trip offers a rewarding and challenging outdoor experience. Each summer, Scouts, leaders, and Venture Crew members explore the unique wilderness lake country along the Minnesota–Ontario border.
Every trip is individually customized to meet the goals of your Scout troop or crew. We plan detailed, day-by-day routes through thousands of lakes, rivers, and streams spanning more than 2.2 million acres. This allows your group to focus on what they came to accomplish while experiencing parts of canoe country that most visitors never see.
Most High Adventure trips include multiple travel days, typically covering 50 or more miles over a 6- to 14-day period. These journeys emphasize travel into the interior wilderness while practicing Leave No Trace principles and Scouting ethics.
Boy Scouts have been exploring the Boundary Waters and Quetico wilderness areas for nearly a century, continuing a tradition of adventure, leadership, and respect for the natural world.
A day on a High Adventure Boy Scout Canoe Trip
A typical High Adventure Canoe Trip through the Boundary Waters includes daily travel of 6 to 10+ miles per day depending on the groups abilities and canoe route chosen. As a result, a 7-day trip might include 5 days of travel with 2 layover days used for exploring the neighboring lakes around your campsite.
Picture a day of high adventure in the Boundary Waters: waking up to the call of a loon; sitting by a lake of glass eating blueberry pancakes; paddling along the shoreline and seeing mink and beavers in their home environment; portaging your gear to the next lake and spotting footprints of a wolf; fishing for the biggest northern pike you’ve ever caught; watching the sun sink into the forest over the far side of the lake; sitting around the campfire telling stories of the day and planning for tomorrow; slipping into your sleeping bag in your tent as a million stars.
About the Boundary Waters Wilderness
BOUNDARY WATERS CANOE AREA WILDERNESS
Established in 1978, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) has changed little since the glaciers melted. As a result, over 1,500 miles of canoe routes, nearly 2,200 designated campsites, and more than 1,000 lakes and streams are waiting for you.
North of Lake Superior, the Boundary Waters encompasses the northern third of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota extending nearly 150 miles along the border with Canada. The BWCAW contains 1 million acres of woodlands, with over 1200 miles of canoe routes, 12 hiking trails and over 2000 designated campsites. Most importantly, this area preserves its primitive character. Therefore, it allows visitors to canoe, portage and camp in the spirit of the French Voyageurs of 200 years ago.
QUETICO PROVINCIAL PARK
The northern half of our wilderness covers 4,800 square kilometers of untouched wilderness in Northern. Quetico Park is the second largest “natural” park in Ontario. Established in 1913, it was not considered a protected area. As a result, logging, mining, commercial fishing, and trapping continued.
To sum it up
Softly falls the light of day,
While our campfire fades away
A High Adventure Boy Scout canoe trip through the Boundary Waters offers troops more wilderness camping (3 million acres) than any other area in the country. The canoe trails leading from our lakeside base are so remote that nesting bald eagles abound, the portages between the lakes are moose trails, and the humans are just visitors. The Sioux and Chippewa once paddled this same lake country. Your crew has the opportunity to still see the ancient Indian pictographs on the sheer rock faces. This is also the land where the French-Canadian voyageurs traded for beaver pelts with the native populations, treking with their canoes heavily laden with furs.
North Country Canoe Outfitters recognizes that every troop has unique needs, individual circumstances and expectations, and their own budgets. No two troops are exactly the same. We understand your group’s dynamics, and are equipped to work with you and your expectations. We ask the right questions, and give you multiple options and suggestions. You won’t have to worry about pre-set restrictions and limitations. It is our role to facilitate your High Adventure, not put up road blocks, or insist your troop take the same trip every other unit does.
Our lakeside office
North Country Canoe Outfitters is here to facilitate your troop’s High Adventure experience in the Boundary Waters. Though we must adhere to all US Forest Service and Ontartio Ministry of Natural Resources rules and guidelines, as well as our own safety procedures, we give you, the unit leadership, as much flexibility as possible.
- You determine your starting dates.
- You determine how many days are right for your group and your travel plans.
- You determine what your group is interested in doing:
50-miles, fishing, advancement, etc. - You determine what requirements you want your participants to have:
age, health, Scouting skill levels, and social maturity.
We don’t put up roadblocks or limitations. It’s YOUR trip; we want to do it YOUR way.
Explore our total website. Request our Leader’s Guide.
Give us a call at 800-552-5581, or click on the contact links.