home > plan your adventure > mapping your route

Here are a few tips on how to select a route for your next trip:

1. Ask US! ... We know more about routes than anyone. So, if you're smart, you'll rent some gear from Moose Track Adventures and take advantage of all the years of routing we have done. Be sure to explain the make-up of your party so we can make good recommendations. 

2. Read guides books ... of which there are many. But don't take their recommendations as gospel ... just as a rough guide for your party. Some of the books are dated and you might travel much faster or slower than folks did when the book was written.

Here are some books to get you started:

• Boundary Waters Canoe Area, The Western Region, The Eastern Region, by Robert Beymer
• Canoe Country Wilderness: A Guide's Canoe Trails Through the BWCA and Quetico, by William N. Rom
• Canoe Trails through Quetico, by K. Denis
• Magical Maps CD-ROM, Boundary Waters Canoe Area, by Sean Roulo
• Paddlers Guide to Quetico Provincial Park, Robert Beymer
• The Boundary Waters Journal quarterly magazine, Stu Osthoff, Editor

3. Buy some maps of the area (s) that look good. By looking at actual canoeing maps, not free park maps, you'll be able to get a sense of the terrain you'll be portaging through, the lengths of the portages, and the sizes and shapes of the waterways you'll traverse. Remember that it can take 2 or 3 maps to cover a typical trip. Take a piece of string and make yourself a ruler to measure the mileages on your maps... each map has a legend on it that tells you how many inches to the mile.

4. Check with a local Forest Service office. They may not have tons of routing advice but they should be up on important factors such as water levels, bug conditions in a particular area, and if certain portages are in good summer condition.

5. Take all of the above with a grain of salt. You may love a lake or a campsite that someone else didn't. You may catch tons of fish in a lake your neighbor got skunked in. You may find a "horrible" portage quite reasonable (because you packed less junk!). And you may simply catch the wind at your back on a larger lake ... hey, it can happen. Folks love to tell bear stories, bug stories, and and nasty portage stories. You can learn something from all these sources ... but your trip might follow the same route and have a completely different outcome.

Above all ... the lighter you pack the better any route will be! If you are packed light you are free to alter your route in any number of directions ... taking advantage of changing conditions.