Linda, Annabelle and I took our first backcountry camping trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. We planned to enter at Entry Point 38 – Sawbill Lake. They have a campground run by the outfitter for car camping. The campground takes reservations for half the sites but the others are first come, first served. The outfitter assured me that the campground almost never fills up.
We camped in site 34 which was one of only three sites left. We did one night of car camping. Sunday we would pick up a canoe, two portage packs and a sleeping mat for AB, and enter BWCA. I asked the outfitter for suggestions for camp sites. They marked two on my map. I initially planned to do one portage from Sawbill to Alton, then base camp on Alton. The outfitter’s first suggested camp site was on Alton.
They also suggested an additional portage to Kelso where another of his favorite options was available. On our way out, they suggested we canoe down Kelso River to make a portage to Sawbill. So we could make a loop rather than going out the way we came in.
We intended to eat on the road that night. The campground was a ways down a dirt road. So we didn’t want to leave camp in search of food. Our food sack for the backcountry was a little heavy, so we took some entres out for dinner while car camping. We had spam with ramen and mashed potatoes for dinner.
Most of our food for this trip came from Woodman’s. We had one leftover freeze dried meal from another backpacking trip. We also picked up two deserts from REI. The Woodman’s food was all stuff that would be easily rehydrated. I think our food bill was about $120 for the trip. Pretty good considering the outfitter charges $50 per person per day.