Why are we doing this trip?

In summer 2023, we each led 40-day canoe expeditions in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut of the Canadian Arctic. These trips were uniquely beautiful and challenging; but the experience had us missing our home forests. We also came to realize that we would love to spend an even longer stretch living in the woods. So we set about planning our own trip that would connect our favorite waterways of the Ontario Canadian Shield. Our plan is to paddle out from our “backyard” on Burntside Lake on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, venturing to wilderness familiar and unfamiliar!

The arctic canoe trip is considered to be Camp Widjiwagan’s “capstone” expedition, but we want to be true to our own feeling that those trips are not the “end-all-be-all.”

We both feel that we are respectively going through significant - yet exciting - transitions in our lives. This trip serves as something of a marker.

On June 3,2024, we will paddle out from Camp Widjiwagan on the North Arm of Burntside Lake. We will spend a few days paddling through the Boundary Waters before entering Quetico Provincial Park, where we will meander back and forth to experience almost as much of that beautiful area as possible. Then we will travel through Canadian crown land northwest to the Brightsands, Allanwater, and Kopka rivers, which will bring us to Lake Nipigon, the 28th largest lake in the world. We will connect Nipigon to Lake Superior (#1 largest!) on the Black Sturgeon River, and we will head west on Superior, back to the BWCA and travel the ‘border route’ home.

Map

Night-By-Night

Area History