The food
Four meals happen on base — dinner the night you arrive, breakfast before you launch, dinner
when you come off the water, and breakfast the morning you leave. Everything in between is trail food, and it's
genuinely good.
Your Interpreter packs your crew's food the morning before you arrive, then walks through every item with you so
you can double-check it together. You pick it up the morning you hit the water. Don't forget your fresh meals
and the toilet paper.
3 meals a day
A commissary stocked to an expertly crafted menu — balanced meals
for the whole trek.
Spice kit & condiments
A wide variety of spices and seasonings. Trail cooking gets
competitive fast.
Baking supplies
Bannock, fish fry, sugar and popcorn. Yes, you can bake in the
wilderness — there's a Bakepacker in the kit.
New for 2026 — lightweight meal option. Crews who want to carry less and move faster can request it.
There's a special fee; details from Northern Tier.
Uniforms: field or activity uniform encouraged for dinner on arrival night and evening programs.
Wear your trail clothes to breakfast on launch morning so you can leave fast.
Sleeping, showers & laundry
- You sleep on base the night you arrive and the night before you head home. Each crew gets a rustic Northwoods
cabin with 8 beds and/or cots.
- There's a shower building with toilets. Crews are asked to wait and shower the afternoon they come off
the water — it saves water, and as Northern Tier points out, “nothing attracts mosquitoes better
than a freshly bathed person.”
- Ely has a sauna. It is a rite of passage after a week on the water.
- There is no laundry. Bring clean clothes to change into for the trip home.
Where your stuff goes while you're paddling
If your crew drove, personal gear stays locked in the vehicle. If you were dropped off, the crew gets one
locker — 22" wide × 24" deep × 45" high — and you bring your own lock (or buy one at the
Trading Post). Pack in duffels or frameless packs so they collapse into the locker. There's also a lock box
for keys, wallets and valuables.
Gear Northern Tier provides
Over $5,000 of trail equipment is issued to your crew. Don't duplicate any of this in your
personal pack.
Camp & travel
- Portage packs with liner bags (1 per 3 people)
- Food boxes and packs with liners
- 1 crew equipment box and pack
- Tents (2-person or 4-person)
- Dining fly with ridge line and stakes, parachute cord
- Shovel, folding saw, fire grate
- 2 bear ropes and a pulley/ring
- 5-gallon collapsible water bucket
- 2 stoves, fuel bottles, funnel and fuel
Boats, safety & kitchen
- Canoes — 1 per 3 people, lightweight Kevlar (aluminum on request)
- 1 paddle and 1 life jacket per person, plus a seat cushion for the middle paddler
- Emergency radio or satellite phone in a waterproof box
- Cook pots (8, 4 and 1 quart), percolator, griddle available
- Bakepacker and baking liner pans, measuring cup, cutting board
- Utensil kit: slotted spoon, spoon, metal and nylon spatulas, spreader knife, whisk, hot pot pliers
- Soap kit, dish soap, sanitizer tablets, scrubbies, hand sanitizer
- Strike-anywhere matches, stove oil, toilet tissue
- Water purification (1 per canoe)
- Fishing equipment — Ely only, first come first served
What your fees include
Included
- All that group gear
- All food on the trail plus two nights of meals on base
- Lodging the night you arrive and the night before you leave
- Canoes, paddles and life jackets
- A trained Interpreter for your entire trip
- Emergency communication device
- Special participant emblem
- Camper's accident insurance
Extra costs to budget for
- Maps — about $8 each, 2–4 per canoe. Map cases about $17 each.
- Trading Post — about $150 per person on average.
- Fishing licenses — buy online in advance; NT can't sell them.
- Crew photos — taken on arrival, order at photos.ntier.org.
- Special diet fee — $75 per person if requested.
- Lost or damaged gear — charged to the crew.
Fishing licenses
- Minnesota (BWCAW): required at age 16+. Under 16 can fish under a single adult's license, but the
catch counts against that adult's limit. 1-888-665-4236 or dnr.state.mn.us.
- Regulations differ from what you're used to at home — read them when you buy.
Short version: you don't, and that's the point.
- Crews are strongly encouraged to leave connections to the urban world on base. Cell phones are
discouraged on the trail.
- There's limited, unguaranteed cell coverage on base and very limited internet reserved for operations.
- Northern Tier does not maintain regular contact with crews on the water.
- Family emergency at home? Call Northern Tier at 218.365.4811. They'll get the message to you as
soon as they can — realistically, after you're off the water.
If something happens on the trail
Every crew carries an emergency radio or satellite phone, depending on the route. Your Interpreter is trained
on the device, will train your crew, and — unless incapacitated — is solely responsible for
communication with base. If an emergency occurs, the Interpreter contacts base immediately and the management team
works with the crew to determine the best solution.
Evacuations take time. The primary method is by canoe, so an evacuation can take several hours —
potentially multiple days. Float plane evacuation is considered high risk and is reserved for exceptional
emergencies, and
even then weather and daylight can delay them for hours. This is exactly why every crew must have an advisor
certified in Wilderness First Aid, CPR, Hazardous Weather, Safety Afloat and Safe Swim Defense, and a
well-stocked first aid kit.
Parent notification: the adult crew advisors are responsible for notifying parents of illness or injury.
When they can't, the base General Manager (or their designee) contacts the emergency contact listed on the
participant's medical form, logs the time, date and person spoken to on the incident report, notifies the home
Council, and — if the person is transported by air — delivers a copy of the medical form to the hospital
or EMS. Information is shared only as needed to protect participant confidentiality.
Medical care nearby
- Ely: the community hospital is well versed in the injuries and illnesses common to canoe country.
Trading Post
Gear, souvenirs and snacks. Participants spend about $150 on average. Online: store.ntier.org.
