Help please. Which areas of the BWCA were least affected by the blowdown, and which least affected lakes and entry points would you recommend for a three-day/two-night trip with 10-13 year old kids?

How many adults with the 2 kids?

There are many places in the BWCA that were not affected by the storm, like; Lake One, Isabella River area, Moose River, Little Indian Sioux and many others.

I took a trip up the Little Indian Sioux with my husband and two granddaughters a couple years ago. If you want to read the story we wrote up about it (and maybe get some ideas) give me an email and I'll send it to you.

I hope it was a typo, but you can't have groups larger than 9. I once came across a group of four adults and 8 children from kentucky that was forced by a ranger to seperate, they did for a day - then got the fine the ranger warned them about when they re-grouped later on. There are many good places to camp with large groups -the BWCA isn't one of them. Call any superior national forest ranger station and they will be happy to help you plan a trip with a large group that doesn't include the BWCA.

There are also several areas that are right near or surrounded by the BWCA where you are not limited to # of people in a party.

The Fenske-Bass Lake loop is one, Island River south is another.

Neither one is in the blowdown area.

Are you sure you will have 10+ people?

My husband, 4 yr old daughter and myself plan to enter Little Indian Sioux on June 26. Tell me what your experience was there. What are the portages like? I hope I didn't pick too difficult of a trip. Thank you.

Here is the story of our trip up Little Indian Sioux and over to Shell Lake with a couple very young girls.

Granddaughters are great on a Canoe Trip!

The end of August is always a good time to go on a canoe trip, especially when you take kids. The weather and water is still warm and there are very few bugs. Last year, Lynn and our daughter Amber, took Samantha (4) and Rachael (3), out on an overnight trip to Nels Lake. I thought that it was time to gravitate to a three-day trip. Of course, we needed to take some special equipment with us that the girls required, like kid's lifejackets, Snoopy fishing rods and Barbie packs!

Lynn & I decided to go up to #14, Little Indian Sioux and then camp on Shell. Con Island was where we planned to set up camp and take a day around the area. We chose the 18.5 Kevlar Souris River Quetico canoe. It has 3 seats and is a big, stable boat. It handled two adults, 2 kids, 1 dog and 3 1/2 packs! We knew that the first couple portages were short and relatively easy. The third one into Shell is about 3/4 of a mile and we were hoping that the girls would be able to handle it. If not, we planned to take the portage in several trips and even carry the youngest one if we had to.

We left the outfitters at 8:30 a.m. and started the drive up the Echo Trail Road. It is about 32 miles to the Little Indian Sioux entry, or about 50 minutes. The parking lot is about 300 feet after where the river crosses under the road.

From the parking lot, there is a 40 rod portage downhill on a granite ridge. You put in right below a set of rapids. The girls put on their "packs" and scampered down. I put on a pack and the canoe and Lynn took one of the packs and the paddles and accompanied the girls. While she was finishing the trail with the girls, I went back for the last pack

After about 1 1/2 miles of paddling down the river, we came up to the next portage. This one is nicknamed the "Elm" portage. It is 60 rods and runs on the left side of the river. It is one of the prettiest portages in the park. As you walk, the portage trail drops 2 to 10 feet down and on the left you can view a small set of rapids coming from Jeannette Creek. The girls thought it was "cool". In the next stretch of the river it is not uncommon to spot moose. Unfortunately, we didn't see any that time. But we did have a lot of fun pointing out beaver lodges, beaver-chewed logs, swimming beavers, blue heron, loons, wood ducks and some turtles. The girls made a great effort to be the first one to spot something new.

Another 1 1/2 mile later and you come upon Upper Pauness Lake. There are four campsites on this lake. We took a short 8-rod portage to the next lake, which was Lower Pauness Lake. This portage is on the southeast side. There is also another 40-rod trail to Lower Pauness, in the center of the eastern shore. The first thing we noticed when we got into Lower Pauness was the high cliffs on the east side of the lake. There are 3 campsites and one is a very nice one on a point in the center of the lake. At the north end of the lake you can find Devil's Cascade, which is a granite gorge, lined with cedar trees, where the Indian Sioux River plummets into Loon Lake in a series of whitewater rapids and small water falls. There is a 160-rod portage around the Cascade and half way across, there is a campsite that overlooks the river.

After having a bit of lunch, we headed back to the portage into Shell Lake. The trail is 216 rods, a good trail. However it did have a spot in the middle where the beavers had dammed it up and created a small 60-foot mud pond. We had to canoe through most of it and walk a bit of it. The girls did great, they actually enjoyed walking in the mud!

Shell Lake is a large, sprawling lake. Two large, wooded islands are on the lake. The northernmost island is called Con Island and has three campsites on it. The other island has one campsite. There are a total of ten sites on the lake. Shell is pretty shallow, only 15 feet deep but it has walleye, smallmouth bass, bluegill and northern pike.

We paddled to the northern end of Con Island but the site there was already occupied so we headed back to the site on the southern end. It is a nice site having plenty of downed wood for fires and was flat with a good grassy area for the tents. Both sunrise and sunset can be easily viewed here.

After setting up the tents and organizing the camp, Samantha and I paddled out to the middle of the lake to get water for dinner. After dinner and doing dishes, we sat around the fire while Lynn took some of the storybooks that the girls had brought in their Barbie packs and read them aloud. The girls began to fade fast and we called it a night.

The next morning we got up late and had a big pancake breakfast. Later we went out and did some day tripping into Heritage and Little Shell Lake. Of course the girls loved walking the portages as usual. Around 1:00 we went back to camp and ate lunch. Lynn & I lay around, lounging in our Thermarest chairs, while the girls played in the tent with their Barbie dolls, coloring books, and crayons. We had been relaxing and listening to the girls play for about an hour, when we thought we heard Sami sort of crying, "I miss my mommy". Lynn had Sami come out of the tent, gave her a couple reassuring, Grandma-style hugs and then I suggested that we go out fishing. We started fishing right from our campsite with some leeches and bobbers. The girls had loads of fun reeling in quite a number of small bluegills and smallmouth bass. Later on we had a dinner of lasagna, fry bread and marshmallow "Smores" for dessert. While Lynn & Sami were still toasting marshmallows, Rachael determined that she needed to use the latrine. I took her up and was surprised when I put this little tiny girl up on the seat and she leaned all the way back and used her elbows to keep herself up! Gave me a start for a minute, that's for sure! Dinner, dishes and latrine trips done, the girls brought some more books out and Lynn read some more stories to the girls. Bedtime came early again that night.

On the third day we woke up early and had our favorite, fast breakfast of oatmeal. Luckily, even little girls like flavored oatmeal! We packed up and made our way back to the 216-rod portage. On this trip Rachael stepped into a mud hole, almost up to the top of her legs. She started to cry but Lynn grabbed her up and out of the mud. She was not happy about the mud, but Lynn told her that the mosquitoes can't bite through mud, so she thought about it for a second, smiled and kept on walking. At the end of the trail, Lynn picked her up and dunked her in the lake just like a teabag, washing all the mud off.

Paddling back on the river, we fought a south wind all the way back. The paddle took a little longer but still went relatively easy. The girls were glad to see the van parked in the lot and going back home. They had a great time but were ready to see Mom & Dad again. Of course, three weeks later they were talking about fishing and how many fish there were going to catch on their next trip with us. Guess we started another family tradition, and that is just fine with me!

We will have 4 people. You missread my posting.

We will have 4 people. You missread my posting.