Fires NOT near us as of July 18th, 2026
Howdy,
As you’ve heard there are many fires burning in and around the BWCAW – but nowhere near us. Yesterday we got some much needed rain and cooler temps. We saw blue sky for a brief period and didn’t need to wear masks for some of the day. It was a nice repreive.
The nearest fire is about 6 miles off the end of the Gunflint Trail, is pretty big, but will burn into an area that burned a few years ago. It should slow down but the weather will have a lot to say about that. AGAIN – there are no fires in our immediate vicinity at this time.
The USFS closed all BWCAW entry points through Monday July 20th as of yesterday afternoon. We’ve had to make some hard phone calls to people to tell them their permit is cancelled. All of our parites are out of the wilderness as of Thursday afternoon and our cabins are empty. Camping outside the wilderness while legal, may be a less than fun experience with the heavy smoke from all the fires in the region and all over Canada.
The USFS has said they will be deciding about continuing entry point closures on a rolling four day basis. That is to say – they will cancel permits four days out but not longer than that. It is understandable as the situation is changing every day. Thay also do not want to cancel permits for an extended period and then have the weather change in a positive way and have to undo the undoing. My gut says they will not be opening the BWCAW for a while till there is some major shift in weather and fire behavior.
We are working on fire preparedness around camp and helping neighbors do the same.
There is good relatively current fire information on WTIP radio website and the Superior National forest Website.
Some of you have asked if there is a way to help us financially through this fire season. We appreciate the generosity but don’t have a high tech way to do that – yet. We’re working on it. If you feel moved you can always mail us a check to help ease the burden of not being open during what is normally our busiest time of year. An online store and shipping just seem impossible right now.
That said – we’ll be fine. Not our first rodeo. This kind of thing happens every few years and we are in it for the long haul.
We will stay safe. Our property is well protected with fire suppression sprinklers and we have done a lot of fire mitigation around camp over the years. We feel pretty safe here.
The forests around us willbe fine too. But understanding and patience may be required. The only thing that stays the same is change.
We will try to post updates here as we have time, but we don’t have a lot of time.
D