I reserved the two permits I wanted for the entry days I wanted. One group trip and one solo. I hope everyone else was as fortunate.

I wish the USFS would put the ep number and not just the name of the ep.

I tried to get an EP19 for June 1st, but was too slow. So, EP37 it is. I used that entry point in 2020, looking forward to exploring that area again.

Went back to my old ways this year. Will wait until a week or so before I want to go and see what is available and then go there. Hopefully it will force me to see parts of the BWCA that I have not seen before. The Good, Bad and Never Ugly.

JimmyJustice: "Went back to my old ways this year. Will wait until a week or so before I want to go and see what is available and then go there. Hopefully it will force me to see parts of the BWCA that I have not seen before. The Good, Bad and Never Ugly."

That's the best way. Back in the day I would ask my buddy if he wanted to go to the BWCA this coming Tuesday through Saturday when he would come through the line at Holiday Sports in Fridley as I was cashier. He'd say- "sure-- where are we going"
-- Don't know yet. We figure something out!!

JimmyJustice: "Went back to my old ways this year. Will wait until a week or so before I want to go and see what is available and then go there. Hopefully it will force me to see parts of the BWCA that I have not seen before. The Good, Bad and Never Ugly."

I like that, especially the last sentence.

I have done that many times. The only problem is finding a bunkhouse the night before. We used to go up the day of, but it gets to be a long day, we don't get much sleep the night before (maybe 1.5 hours), and by the time we get the tent set up, we just want to crash. We find we're a lot more rested if we go up the day before entry. We take our time packing in the morning, head up midday, and stay over night some place. But that's tricky with some entry points, as the hotels and motels along the north shore have gone to two night minimums. But, It always seems to work itself out. When we did EP37 last year, we just slept in, drove up the day of, and entered around 3 pm. It's a little risky though, as campsites may be taken. I prefer to get an early morning start, and not have that issue. Less wind too.

Had some major issues that I've never experienced before.

Managed to get a Little Gabbro permit in my cart, only for there to be an issue with my account that prevented me from booking the permit. In fact, I can't book ANY permit. Never had an issue before. I've booked dozens of permits.

Needless to say I'm not pleased. If anyone got a July 4 Little Gabbro permit I'll pay good money for it.

I was able to get my 2 planned permits and got a sep baker lake for the annual get the wife out in the woods trip.
Going to get the Frost River and points beyond off the list in may, the the cornucopia ROMEO (retired old men eating out) crew out for a few days late August. And of course if anyone asks what next Tuesday looks like I will say a great day for paddling

airmorse: "I wish the USFS would put the ep number and not just the name of the ep."

YES!!

I was able to get right on and get the permit I wanted for Little Indian Sioux N . My retirement trip!

treehorn: "

airmorse: "I wish the USFS would put the ep number and not just the name of the ep."

YES!!"

Totally agree.

Got our entry point for Saturday, June 8th!

geotramper: "Had some major issues that I've never experienced before.


Managed to get a Little Gabbro permit in my cart, only for there to be an issue with my account that prevented me from booking the permit. In fact, I can't book ANY permit. Never had an issue before. I've booked dozens of permits.


Needless to say I'm not pleased. If anyone got a July 4 Little Gabbro permit I'll pay good money for it."

That stinks! Can you shed any light on what the “issue” was with your account?

I was able to get #14 LIS for early June without any issues. This was my first time trying to get a permit on permit day. I was a little nervous after reading all the horror stories.

I watched permits disappear in front of my eyes. Each time I refreshed or changed dates more permits would be unavailable. I don't know if that many people are interested or if it was s bot grabbing permits? Maybe outfitters? Didn't get my desired spring permit but got an acceptable fall permit. I will watch for something to become available

thegildedgopher: "

geotramper: "Had some major issues that I've never experienced before.



Managed to get a Little Gabbro permit in my cart, only for there to be an issue with my account that prevented me from booking the permit. In fact, I can't book ANY permit. Never had an issue before. I've booked dozens of permits.



Needless to say I'm not pleased. If anyone got a July 4 Little Gabbro permit I'll pay good money for it."

That stinks! Can you shed any light on what the “issue” was with your account?"

When I went to fill in the permit details I noticed my address auto-filled except for the postal code. So I put in my postal code and moved to the payment page, but the system told me there was an error that I needed to go back and fix. I returned do the details page and the postal code was blank again. Cycle repeats.

So I tried updating my account profile. My address was all there except for the postal code. I tried to add the postal code but the system would tell me there was an error and my account couldn't be updated at this time.

The most frustrating part was that I booked a campsite 2 days ago and had no issues. I don't know what changed between then and today.

I tried creating a new account using a different email to book the permit. I removed the permit from my cart and immediately tried to book it with my new account. In that time someone had already claimed it.

If anyone else runs into this issue, don't remove the permit from your cart. Start a chat with the help folks and they can get your account sorted out and fix the permit in your cart. Unfortunately I only figured this out after the permit was already taken.

Got our #1 choice for my 5 yo son’s first ever BWCA trip!

Some nice guy I know reserved our group permit while I was stuck in meetings (thanks Airmorse!) and I snagged a John Lake permit for September for a solo a few hours later. Found out this afternoon I may need to hunt up a third permit on short notice when my son gets some time off from the army this summer, which would be amazing to add to this list!

I got my "critical" one, while also having some missing address, update, refresh issues. So I consumed 14:55 of the 15 min time. Good thing Moose has so many daily permits that the risk was minimal.

As to it being "critical", I've had the FT. Charlotte permit for a month.

Now I'm itching to go (worse than before).

Other trips will be based on what's available when I have time, or in October.

I got the permit I wanted. I'm planning 2 more trips this summer, but I don't have specific dates so I'm hoping I'll have some good options once I have the dates.

My buddy scored us a permit for Little Gabbro, nicely played dude!

Three trips planned this year. Two needed permits. Lucky to have gotten them both. The third just needed a confirmed room reservation at put in, and thankfully that’s on the calendar too. I hope everyone else is just as lucky. Or if not, then making do.

Zero trips planned (on the grid through the resv system ). But have 3-5 planned that will take place in time. . So much more fun doing it this way. The obscure planning of some - to me- goes agst the whole deal. You get what you get. Roll with the punches is what it's like anyways with campsites.

WW, glad you have the flexibility to do it that way, that would be nice. But many of us are tied to a specific timeframe and have specific entry dates/goals for our trip. I think it would be fun to drive up to a Forest Service office and ask what's available and go do it. Doesn't work for most folks.

WhiteWolf: "Zero trips planned (on the grid through the resv system ). But have 3-5 planned that will take place in time. . So much more fun doing it this way. The obscure planning of some - to me- goes agst the whole deal. You get what you get. Roll with the punches is what it's like anyways with campsites. "

I watch the permit availability quite a bit over the course of a summer. It's interesting what sometimes comes up last minute. Some very desirable entry points do get canceled once in a while.

When people are going into Quetico, do they still have to snag an entry permit, or do you just get a day use? Seems like you wouldn't be able to get your day use for the way out though.

JimmyJustice: "Went back to my old ways this year. Will wait until a week or so before I want to go and see what is available and then go there. Hopefully it will force me to see parts of the BWCA that I have not seen before. The Good, Bad and Never Ugly."

Love it !!

why did you need a confirmed room reservation? Do outfitters like Clearwater Lake have early access to them? I tried to get a Clearwater Lake permit right away but they were gone...

why did you need a confirmed room reservation? Do outfitters like Clearwater Lake have early access to them? I tried to get a Clearwater Lake permit right away but they were gone...

So glad I was able to juggle and get on at 9:00. Got my first choice of
South Kawishiwi River on my first date of choice in August. My 5 year old is doing his first trip and wanted to see Bruin Lake because his name is Bruin. LOL.

When I was done I went back at like 9:05 and all of Little Gabbro was gone for August. At 9:30 all 13 of my possible dates for South Kawishiwi were gone so I would have already had to move on to my 3rd choice of EP. Before last year the earliest I booked a permit was March 2 times and there were plenty of choices for those August Lizz and Little Gabbro trips they were all gone by 9:05 yesterday

So glad I figured out a way to be on there on time. At 10:40 which would have been my first chance to get on yesterday I would have had to choose between EP choice number 3 with date choice number 10 or EP choice number 4 with date choice number 4.

My solo will be in April or October so no permit needed. Also hoping to do a short 3 day trip when my brother comes home from Costa Rica. For that I’m not picky where we go.

I used to be able to book my permit a couple of weeks before going even in the middle of the summer and have lots of good choices of EP. I’ve done the drive up to the ranger station and say what do you got available today which was fun. One of my favorite things about my October solo is making my final decision while driving up.

analyzer: "When people are going into Quetico, do they still have to snag an entry permit, or do you just get a day use? Seems like you wouldn't be able to get your day use for the way out though."

You only need an overnight BWCA permit if you’re going to spend a night in the BWCA. If all your nights are in Canada you only need a day use. I think you can fill out your day use for the day you paddle out either before your trip or when you get back to the EP at the end.

I got a Moose overnight paddle permit for my Quetico trip this summer because I’m going to spend a couple nights in the BWCA before and after my time in Quetico.

analyzer: "When people are going into Quetico, do they still have to snag an entry permit, or do you just get a day use? Seems like you wouldn't be able to get your day use for the way out though."

I carry a blank day-use permit in my map case for the exit.

geotramper: "

thegildedgopher: "

geotramper: "Had some major issues that I've never experienced before.



Managed to get a Little Gabbro permit in my cart, only for there to be an issue with my account that prevented me from booking the permit. In fact, I can't book ANY permit. Never had an issue before. I've booked dozens of permits.



Needless to say I'm not pleased. If anyone got a July 4 Little Gabbro permit I'll pay good money for it."

That stinks! Can you shed any light on what the “issue” was with your account?"

When I went to fill in the permit details I noticed my address auto-filled except for the postal code. So I put in my postal code and moved to the payment page, but the system told me there was an error that I needed to go back and fix. I returned do the details page and the postal code was blank again. Cycle repeats.


So I tried updating my account profile. My address was all there except for the postal code. I tried to add the postal code but the system would tell me there was an error and my account couldn't be updated at this time.


The most frustrating part was that I booked a campsite 2 days ago and had no issues. I don't know what changed between then and today.


I tried creating a new account using a different email to book the permit. I removed the permit from my cart and immediately tried to book it with my new account. In that time someone had already claimed it.


If anyone else runs into this issue, don't remove the permit from your cart. Start a chat with the help folks and they can get your account sorted out and fix the permit in your cart. Unfortunately I only figured this out after the permit was already taken. "

Interesting. I moved last summer so when I went to get my permits for this year I noticed my old address. I quickly changed my address (after selecting my ep and date) worked just fine.

I also should mention that I rarely use my PC. Almost everything I do is done from my smart phone. Including securing permits.

I hope things worked out and you were able to get your permits.

I got the permit I wanted but not without difficulty. I got to the checkout phase and it kept returning me to fix an error. It only said I had incomplete order details, but didn't highlight what the issue was. After burning up 10 of my 15 minutes and looking over every text box did I realize that my alternate person's (my wife) email address could not be the same as mine. I changed the address and was good to go.

I was supposed to pick up another permit, but my buddy had finished his 3 permits and offered to get the one I had planned on getting as my second. He got it without trouble for our trip in September.

I also agree with many here that the EP number should be included in the permit.

Barnabee: "I got the permit I wanted but not without difficulty. I got to the checkout phase and it kept returning me to fix an error. It only said I had incomplete order details, but didn't highlight what the issue was. After burning up 10 of my 15 minutes and looking over every text box did I realize that my alternate person's (my wife) email address could not be the same as mine. I changed the address and was good to go.


I was supposed to pick up another permit, but my buddy had finished his 3 permits and offered to get the one I had planned on getting as my second. He got it without trouble for our trip in September.


I also agree with many here that the EP number should be included in the permit."

Interesting, my son is the alternate leader on our permits. I couldn’t remember his email address so I entered mine. It is the same email I use for rec.gov. It accepted the same email with no issues.

Stumpy: "

JimmyJustice: "Went back to my old ways this year. Will wait until a week or so before I want to go and see what is available and then go there. Hopefully it will force me to see parts of the BWCA that I have not seen before. The Good, Bad and Never Ugly."

Love it !!"

I'm doing the same thing this year, mostly because that's just the way my schedule is working out. I'll get a couple of trips in to the BWCA this year, but they probably won't be the ones I'm contemplating right now :)....plus there's the Q, Atikaki and some sort of border route thing (the latter coming up in early Sept) so that will keep things lively.

I lucked out on mine and got the only one we had on the books so far for some BWCA 1st timers who asked us to bring them out. Doing Duncan entry to Rose/South in early August to find a site looking at Canada and hopefully complete that section of the BRT, since we had to skip it this last year due to an injury to someone in our crew. My wife likes hiking, I love the paddling, so we have been planning some paddle in, hike around, paddle out trips.

I'm banking my PTO this year in hopes of an elk hunt in CO, so we'll see what's what after the elk tag lottery. I'll likely pull the "whatever's available" card when I can find some time to do a solo. I always plan for new areas when I'm solo but tend to hit the one's I've visited when I'm bringing others in.

I'm sorry to hear that some folks had issues. I wish there was a better way. What year was the lottery system abandoned?

airmorse: "Interesting. I moved last summer so when I went to get my permits for this year I noticed my old address. I quickly changed my address (after selecting my ep and date) worked just fine. "

My address wasn't in there at all. I added it and didn't have any problem. Looking back it is kind of odd it wasn't there because I've had the account for several years.

Got the date and EP we wanted so it’s all good. Now to wait for 7 months until we actually head in?

analyzer: "

WhiteWolf: "Zero trips planned (on the grid through the resv system ). But have 3-5 planned that will take place in time. . So much more fun doing it this way. The obscure planning of some - to me- goes agst the whole deal. You get what you get. Roll with the punches is what it's like anyways with campsites. "

I watch the permit availability quite a bit over the course of a summer. It's interesting what sometimes comes up last minute. Some very desirable entry points do get canceled once in a while. "

the permit alert system on this site is a godsend for those (like me) that wait and see what the summer schedule unfolds.

I was able to grab a Mudro and a Wood.

.