Welcome to Tahoe's BWCAW Pages
Tenderfoot's Planning Guide

Special thanks to J. Walden for the inspiration/suggestion for this new page. We'll try to get as much up, as fast as possible, and as helpful and simple as it can be!

The info on this page will hopefully help new (or newer) BWCAW'ers plan their route and necessary resources/equipment to venture into one of the most BEAUTIFUL places you'll ever find. There have been two pages added to this area, Tent Care submitted by John, and Fish Weight by Length Estimator as discussed by several members of the BWCA Online Forum.

Most importantly:
If all else fails remember the rule of 6p:
proper
prior
planning
prevents
perplexed
paddlers

Thanks to Rick Tavegia, what an excellent slogan!

Lesson 1

Use routes at the suggestion of others. How do you do that? Visit web sites similar to this one, as well as join the BWCA Online forum. These are the two BEST resources for determining a quality, competent, and convenient route.
Some other options are:
1) choose routes with easily accessible, often used entry points. Before veterans question this, let me explain. If you are a beginner, place yourself in a position to receive help if necessary. After all, nothing's worse than being lost from the start!
2) choose routes that are NOT surrounded by marsh symbols on the maps you use. Extra hint: marsh means lots of bugs in the prime part of the BWCAW season :)
3) know your group's capabilities. We usually try not to plan more than 8-10 miles of canoeing before we set up camp. Also, we generally set up a base camp, and let people do whatever they want from there.
4) BE FLEXIBLE. Remember, this is a vacation. Do what the vast majority want to do and allow plenty of time. Everyone will enjoy the BWCAW even more that way.

Lesson 2

Equipment & Food planning...this is probably THE most difficult part of setting up a trip for beginners. Please refer to tahoe's BWCAW GearList for details on the basics of "what to bring". One important thing, bring extra rope. You can always use it for a clothes line if nothing else.
When using nested pots, it has been suggested to me to coat the outside of each pot with a layer of liquid soap. This makes for easy cleanup of soot from cooking over a fire. We have never tried this, letting the soot build up for that "wholesome" camping experience! The suggestion has merit though, especially if you are extremely neat!
Food planning:
see also: Ken E. Brown's "A Boundary Waters Cookbook" suppliment (also located on tahoe's BWCAW GearList.) Richard Tavegia's "one awesome fish breading" suppliment.

Our general philosophy is to eat a good breakfast, snack through lunch, and then a good dinner. Our usual policy is to bring small snickers, milky way, tootsie rolls, kudo's, etc for snacks; and eat cheese and summer sausage/cervalot for each lunch. A usual day would consist of: pancakes & sausage for breakfast, snacks and cheese/summer sausage for lunch and daily routines, then spaghetti for dinner.

How much food should you take along? While there is no exact science to this, I'll present our suggested guide to packing amounts. Again, you can also see Ken E. Brown's suppliment, as he also gives quantities for his menus.

*** Lunch Meat/Summer Sausage/Cheese (lunches)--1/4lb per person/day.
*** Hamburger (precooked and frozen, for hotdishes/pasta)--1lb per 6 people/meal.
*** Pancake Mix (just add water)--3 1/2lbs per 6 people/meal.
*** Egg Beaters® Containers (frozen)--2 per 6 people/meal.
*** Gatorade®/Lemonade (enough for 10 gallons each)--5lbs each, approximately. (We've never brought any home!)
*** Coffee/Hot Chocolate--2lbs each (we have run out in the past.)
*** Candy--no real set amounts, just twice as much as you would think! Estimated: Kudos®/2 boxes, Snickers®/1 bag, Tootsie Rolls®/1 (300pc) bag, and Trail Mix (homemade)/2 ZipLock® bags; for 6-8 people.

Also, take one small, day-style Duluth Pack® (or something similar) to place snacks, coffee, hot chocolate, etc in for evening treats that is not hung up at night (this is for people who hang their food packs.)

Lesson 3

Clothing selection. You will undoubtedly hear multiple suggestions here. Our trips are set for late summer, so the attire will be lighter than if in late spring, etc. Tahoe's Gearlist provides suggestions as well. Let's move from head to toe...

Head gear:
Always take some form of hat. I usually wear a baseball cap, others wear Tilly® hats (very common, nice, durable, EXPENSIVE.) As a friend of mine, Ken E. Brown puts it, "wide-brim for 2 reasons: 1) sunburn -- back of the neck and, my problem spot, the ears, and; 2) shedding rain -- the wide brim will help the rain from running down the back of your neck." I've seen some wearing bandanas even. There is no one right answer, except to have your head covered. Most people will also want to take a pair of sunglasses. The water casts a nasty reflection, beware of sunburn.
Upper body:
We recommend lightweight, light-colored clothing, lots of cotton. T-shirts mostly (or tank tops if you prefer, but watch the sunburn.) You will want at least one sweatshirt, as some mornings do get chilly. A hooded sweatshirt can be most beneficial. It will protect the back of your neck from sunburn and provide coverage in case of rain. Colors to Avoid: Blue and Yellow (especially), they attract bugs and Black, due to the possibility to overheat.
Lower body:
We strongly urge you to avoid denim (blue jeans). It dries extremely slow, gets very heavy when wet, and can cause other problems when hot or wet. In summer, use mostly shorts/swim trunks. For full length items try sweatpants. You could also use nylon pants. They are very lightweight, dry very quickly, and are very comfortable. They have some minor problems with fire/ashes however.
Feet:
Here you will find another HUGE variance. Wool socks or a poly blend are well worth the trip for those who insist on taking something (I usually take 1 or 2 pairs, just in case.) That is the easy part. SHOES, now we have a discussion! We recommend 2 pair (as most people do, one for land {dry} and one for water {wet}.) However, what to take? Suggestions from this group would be: 1)Canvas--dries quickly, 2)Sandals--again, drying time, comfort (your feet are going to get wet anyway), 3)Hiking Boots--when on land, nothing better for hiking, 4)Specialty Shoes (my preference)--these are often Hikers or Sandals, made by companies specifically for outdoor water recreation. One of the best pair I've ever had were mountain climbers. They had an open heal like sandals, but toe like a tennis shoe for protection, with a sole that gripped even the most slimy rocks. They were made by Addidas®. Other good specialty brands: Hi-Tek®, Teva® (an excellent hiking water shoe, not the sandal), Avia® (although they haven't made one for two years now.) Of course, many other experienced BWCA'ers have recommended Jungle-style boots, hip (or smaller) waders, Birkenstocks® (not bad, we've used before), and a boot from Cabelas® catalog, don't recall the description. These will give you much to start with anyway!
Last but not least, Rain gear:
If you plan on 1 trip/year, and you're not sure how often you will come, just use something cheaper. Campmor has good, low-end equipment. You may just want to use a poncho. If you are planning on using it more often, buy the best you can. GoreTex® is good. There are many other products out there as well. Patagonia® makes very good stuff, but it's only for the serious camper. Our rule of thumb, Always buy the best you can afford (if you'll use it often.)

The most crucial thing is this: If you are new, develop a relationship with AT LEAST one of the outfitters in Ely. They are your most accurate, dependable resource if you have ANY questions. You'll find that most of them are more than happy to give advice and help out wherever they can.

Comments or suggestions Email always welcome.

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