Voyagaire National Park, Minnesota

[+stibnitetwins]

Hello all,

 

Who else to ask about GPS advice than the people that are addicted to the little gadgets. I have a trip planned to the Boundary waters and was wondering if anyone knows where the best place to find navigation routes for Kabetogama, Namakan, and Crane Lakes. I have a Garmin E-trex Vista C, which has the basic lake shapes, but I'm more looking or the navigation routes, house boat sites, points of interest, etc. I've not done marine navigation before, so I'm not really sure what to be asking for. If you have any advice, tips, hints, or solutions it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance for all your help,

M of the Stibnitetwins

Edited July 14, 2008 by stibnitetwins

[geode hunter]

You might try Delorme Trail Exchange for your route. I Have found several on the site that were very helpful in my trips.

 

Sounds like fun. My wife and I canoed the BWCA several years ago and the memories are still with us. Some day we hope to go back.

[+stibnitetwins]

I didn't find anything at Delorme, but I did find a PDF with waypoint listings at: http://www.nps.gov/voya/upload/VOYA%20GPS%20waypoints.pdf. I'll start entering in this data unless someone already has it digital.

[+NeoAddict]

You're houseboating? Or just Canoeing?

 

I've never taken my GPSr up to the BWCA before, I just use conventional maps. Good luck finding the marine waypoints you need.

BWCA is a beautiful place.

 

There are various softwares out there for Garmin GPSrs that have marine navigation exclusively. Though I don't know if the E-trex can handle Bluecharts.

[+Pear Head]

I didn't find anything at Delorme, but I did find a PDF with waypoint listings at: http://www.nps.gov/voya/upload/VOYA%20GPS%20waypoints.pdf. I'll start entering in this data unless someone already has it digital.

 

I have seen the BWCAW campsites and portage entrance points recently in a digital format, yes. I loaded them into my GPS with no problem. I believe I got them from the USFS website, although I could certainly be wrong.

 

If the data would still be of use to you, contact me through my profile and I'll find out just where the data was.

[+StarDoc]

I've been up there half a dozen times, but only once with a GPS. I found that the marine maps you can buy at any of the ranger stations at the park entrances (at least at Crane Lake and Ash River where I've gone in) are invaluable for navigating the water hazards and main navigation routes. Actually, I've found them at the local Gander Mountain and Cabelas stores also. I had the Mapsource Topo installed, and used the GPS is conjunction with the paper maps to navigate the many islands, watching the islands go by on the GPS and keeping an eye on the map for buoys and signs.

 

The pdf posted earlier looks really cool. It would be great in electronic form. You'll still want to get an updated campsite map from the rangers when you get there since they are constantly opening and closing sites for various reasons.

 

I haven't been there for a couple of years, but my dad and I used to go up there once a year, jetting around in his 16 foot Lund. Might have to get back there next year. Glacier NP is on this year's list.

 

I know of lots of cool places to visit in the park, and I might even have several waypoints in a gpx file somewhere from my last visit. Email me in my profile for advice. Enjoy your trip.

 

In other news, I'm coming up to your neck of the woods on Friday (7/25) to knock off some more of the GF caches...

Edited July 24, 2008 by StarDoc

[+Pear Head]

http://w3.cs.jmu.edu/arch/hobbies/camp/maps/bwca/