Boundary Waters Canoe Trip Permit time 2025

It’s that time of the year again. In spite of the frozen lakes and snow covered campsites summer will be here before we know it. We would love to see you at Voyageur Canoe Outfitters and be a part of your wilderness canoe trip. We welcome you to give us a call or send us an email to discuss your route ideas. You can always check out our trip route planner on our website to get ideas of where to enter the wilderness. We can reserve your BWCAW permit for you or you can reserve your own online. If you reserve your own permit and you’re outfitting with us make sure you make us the issuing station when reserving your permit.

Boundary Waters permits for the upcoming season can be reserved beginning at 9:00am CST on Wednesday, January 29th. Be sure to register on the permit site prior to reservation day so you don’t have to waste precious time when the system opens up. Remember you don’t need to know exactly where you want to paddle and camp, you just need to know where you want to enter the wilderness and the day you wish to enter. Since permits are not transferable you should include all the alternate leader names you can in case you can’t make it on the trip. You should also have 2-3 different entry points or entry dates just in case your first choice isn’t available.

According to the USFS over 11,000 permits were cancelled last year and “no shows” for reserved permits are on the rise. They encourage users to be considerate by only reserving one permit per day and by canceling any permits you will not use as soon as possible. Additional information about permits for the Boundary Waters can be found on the USFS website.

We hope to see you in 2025!