Every year on or around the last Wednesday of January the US Forest service opens the first come – first served online permit registrations for the upcoming BWCAW season which runs from May 1st to September 30th. The long and short of it is that the BWCAW has designated entry points where paddlers can enter the wilderness at a specific location and on a specific day, hence the “permit”. I won’t get into the nuances of how this is managed, but the purpose is to control the number of groups entering the wilderness on any given day at a specific location to provide paddlers a more enjoyable remote experience and hopefully minimize negative impacts on the wilderness.
A National Holiday…
For many, permit opening day is a national holiday where groups who do annual trips together get online and hopefully acquire a permit for the entry point and date they wanted when discussing their plans the prior year. This is a fun day but can be equally frustrating when someone else beats them to the prize. When going online for opening day to secure a permit(s) it is best to have a plan A, B, C, D, E…etc., especially when you have a limited travel/vacation window to work with. If you can be flexible with your plans, I would almost recommend taking your shot at the opening bell, and if you don’t get your intended, sit back and come in the next day when the dust settles and make your plans based on what is still out there – much easier on the blood pressure…
It is Best to have a Plan…
There is a common misconception that outfitters have an allocation of permits set aside for them that they can issue to guests at their whim and discretion. This is utterly false. Outfitters must wait just like everyone else for the online registration to begin and must reserve permits in the same online method and under the same regulations as a guest. Many outfitters will take your “order” prior to opening of permit season and attempt to get you the entry point and date that you have requested on opening day. At Clearwater, we choose not to do this prior to opening day and this is why. To us, it’s the equivalent to asking your good buddy Dave to go online for you to buy tickets to a limited and popular concert event, even though you could go online and do the same thing. Dave is happy to try and get that done for you, so you sit back and wait to find out what he was able to get you. What you perhaps don’t realize is that Dave was also trying to do the same thing for 20 other friends as well and he can only buy one ticket at a time. Long story short – Dave was able to get some primo tickets for half of his friends, but you weren’t one of them. You are in the nosebleeds behind the stage because by the time Dave got to you the choice seats were sold out. It’s not Dave’s fault; he tried very hard and even had his wife Jan help him on another computer. The problem was time – the transactions took too long. If each of his friends had gone online at the same time as he did to buy their own tickets, they would all have had a much better chance of getting the seats they wanted.
The Wilderness is Yours
With all that said, this is where any experienced outfitter can help. Reach out prior to opening day – as in at least a couple weeks out to receive trip and route guidance from someone who is more familiar with the area you are trying to enter. They can give you ideas and options to try for on permit day that you may be unaware of that can get you into the same wilderness, or they may even offer to try and get one for you. Once you go in through your designated entry point the wilderness is yours and you can go wherever you want if you stay within the wilderness boundary for the duration of your trip.
The same applies after permit day. An experienced outfitter can help you shape the kind of trip you are looking for and provide options that may not seem as obvious to others. Keep in mind that often permits that are booked on opening day are canceled at a later date and open again. We ‘re not fans of this, but some individuals and/or groups will just get as many permits as they can on opening day because the cost of reservation/cancelation is so low. They will then decide which permit they will actually use and cancel the rest later. We monitor this and encourage our guests to do the same. A great resource for all things BWCA is appropriately found at www.bwca.com. They have a great resource tool that will send you alerts when permits open again that you are interested in.
If you didn’t get the permit you were looking for on opening day or you are just getting started after opening day don’t fret, we encourage you to reach out to us. We can assist you in finding an open permit, date and route that will get you the experience you are looking for and then we’ll help you to secure it. We don’t charge for this. We have found that when we take the time to genuinely help potential guests with their questions and planning, the rest usually takes care of itself in the form of repeat business and new friends. At the end of the day, we love this place and equally love sharing it and helping others enjoy it as much as we do.
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