Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minnesota

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW)

Rules & Regulations

Following the rules and regulations of the Boundary Waters helps insure a great wilderness experience.

1st) PERMITS

Regardless of time of year, day-use or overnight permits are required within the Boundary Waters. You must also comply with your permit and only enter the BWCA at the entry point and on the entry date shown on your permit and also exit according to the permit.
USFS Travel Permit Fee: $12 for up to a group of 9 persons.

USFS Travel Permit Fee:
$12 for up to a group of 9 persons.

USFS User Fees
(Apply to all BWCA overnight visitors)
Adult: $16
Youth 0-17: $8
Golden Age/Access: $5
Minimum: $20

To increase the chance of securing a permit, please be flexible by selecting more than one starting date and entry point. You need not know what entry point to choose.

USFS Travel Permit Fee is neither refundable nor applicable to a future trip. The entire USFS User Fee will be refunded if a reservation is cancelled two or more days prior to the entry date.

Minimum: $20

2nd) MOTORS

With the exception of a few lakes, any sort of motors are not allowed in the Boundary Waters. This applies to all motorized equipment: boat motors, electric trolling motors, chainsaws, power augers, generators, pumps, snowmobiles, ATV's, remote control boats and planes, etc.

3rd) MECHANIZED TRAVEL

In addition to the Boundary Waters being motor-free, mechanized transportation is not allowed. This includes sail boats, sail boards, paddleboats, pontoon boats, bicycles, wheeled carts, and portage dollies. Mechanical assistance is only permitted over the following: International Boundary, Four-Mile Portage, Vermilion-Trout Lake Portage, Fall-Newton-Pipestone Bay Portages into Basswood Lake, and Prairie Portage.

4th) SIZE OF GROUP

The maximum group size in the Boundary Waters is nine people and four watercraft. You may not exceed either limit at any time or at any place in the BWCA, including portages, campsites, or waterways.

5th) CAMPSITES

Camp only at Forest Service designated campsites that have steel fire grates and wilderness latrines. You may camp up to 14 consecutive days at one site. Be sure to make camp early enough in the day to be able to find an available campsite. Keep the campsite clean and free from litter. Do not build structures, cut live wood, carve names in trees, or write on the rocks.

6th) CONTAINERS

Cans and glass bottles are not allowed. Containers of fuel, insect repellent, medicines, personal toilet articles, and other items that are not foods or beverages are the only items allowed in can containers. Food may be packaged in plastic containers that must be packed out with you.

7th) FISHING LICENSES & LIMITS

Anyone 16 years of age or older who chooses to fish in the BWCA is required to have a license. Fish eaten as part of shore lunch count towards daily fish possession limits.

8th) CAMPFIRES

Fires are allowed within the steel fire grates at designated campsites or as specifically approved on your visitor's permit.
Bringing a small camp stove may be a better idea because it heats food more quickly, has less impact than a fire, and comes in handy during rainy weather.
Due to the potential fire danger, fire restrictions may be put into effect. Check on current conditions just prior to your trip. You may be required to use a camp stove if there is a campfire ban.
If you build a fire, burn only dead wood found lying on the ground.
Collect firewood away from campsites by paddling down the shore and walking into the woods where it is more abundant.
Wood easily broken by hand or cut with a small folding saw eliminates the need for an axe.
Drown your fire with water any time you are going to be away from your camp or at bedtime. Stir the ashes until they are cold to the touch with a bare hand.

Ely sits in the very upper part of Minnesota in St. Louis County. Ely's population is around 3,700 people. Ely is known as the entry point for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and the International Wolf Center, the internationally known Blueberry Festival, and the Root Beer Lady Dorothy Molter Museum.

Ely streets are lined with great merchants and wilderness outfitters. Ely is not just one of these sleepy little towns in the north country, it is a small town with hundreds of thousands of visitors a year from all over the world.

Ely offers not only the ultimate in wilderness experiences, but also some of the finest dining and shopping opportunities as well as many fine resorts and varied year-round recreation experiences. Relaxing in Ely is easy to do. The air is clear, the water pure, the woods are tranquil, the sights breathtaking, and the night sky is loaded with some of most breathtaking sites of millions of bright stars.

Discover Ely Today

Fishing in the BWCA or Quetico is a rewarding experience. The area offers four main species of fish including Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, Northern, and Lake Trout. The state record Walleye weighing 17lbs. 9oz. was caught in Saganaga lake one of our entry points into the Boundary Waters. The state record Northern, Lake Trout, and Brook Trout were all caught in the Canoe Area as well. As you can see the trophy fish are out there along with many smaller breeds of these fish.


Numerous fish populate the BWCA and Quetico Park, but the four most popular species are the smallmouth bass, northern pike, walleye, and lake trout.


The BWCA and Quetico Park offer some of the worlds most exciting and desirable freshwater sport fish. There are literally thousands of fishing spots available, from clear, cold, deep lakes of several thousand acres to shallow beaver ponds. During spring, lake trout are plentiful. In summer, small mouth bass and walleye are common catches.

Nestled in a quiet grove of pines, just outside of Ely, Minnesota, are the cabins and museum of one of the north woods dearest and most colorful individuals, Dorothy Molter. Some remember her fondly as the "Root Beer Lady" while others recall her as the "Nightingale of the Wilderness" or simply, Dorothy.

Dorothy carved out her legacy in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) located within the Quetico-Superior National Forest. Dorothy lived on the Isle of Pines on Knife Lake for more than 56 years where she paddled, hiked, fished, skied and snow shoed this wilderness area, until her death in 1986. She was visited by as many as 7,000 people a year coming through the boundary waters.

Dorothy was a registered nurse from Chicago and the last year-round resident of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), the largest wilderness preserve east of the Rockies. She lived there alone for her last eleven years after the government had kicked everyone else out. Far from being a hermit, until 1975 she operated the Isle of Pines resort.

Dorothy made 11,000 to 12,000 bottles of root beer a year, entertaining 6,000 canoeists who stopped by annually. She died in 1986 after living 56 of her 79 years -- more or less -- at Knife Lake. Root Beer is a potent elixir in the lake-pocked northern reaches of Minnesota.

Today on the outskirts of Ely sits Dorothy Molter Museum. Dorothy's homestead was dismantled in 1987 and transported by dogsled and snowmobile to Moose Lake, and then on to Ely where volunteers restored two of her cabins.

The Dorothy Molter Museum is located on the south side of Hwy 169 on the east end of Ely, MN. Guided tours are available weekends during May and September, and the museum is open daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Monday through Saturday 10:00 am to 5:30 pm, and noon to 5:30 pm on Sundays. Tours are $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for children ages 6-12, and free for children under 6.