🌿 RelaxedLong weekend · from Minneapolis, MN

Ely & the Boundary Waters: Minnesota's Wilderness Edge

Three and a half hours north of Minneapolis, Ely is the last town before the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness — 1.1 million acres of interconnected lakes, rivers, and boreal forest that constitute the most canoed wilderness in North America. The town of 3,300 people sustains an unlikely density of outfitters, galleries, and wildlife centers: the International Wolf Center has maintained a resident ambassador wolf pack since 1993; the North American Bear Center operates a research facility with resident black bears including Lily, one of the most studied wild bears in history. Burntside Lodge, on Burntside Lake three miles outside Ely, has operated as a wilderness resort since 1913 and offers the best base for three days at the edge of the canoe country.

Day 1 — Drive North via Duluth to Ely & Burntside LodgeDay 2 — Wolf Center, Dorothy Molter Museum & Boundary Waters PaddleDay 3 — Kawishiwi Falls, Bear Center & Drive South
Day 1 — Ely

Day 1 — Ely

🚗 3 hr 38 min driving📍 5 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Minneapolis, MN → Duluth, MN
2 hr8:00 AM → 10:00 AM
Northern Waters Smokehaus
Northern Waters Smokehaus
★ 4.7
Lunch break in Duluth's Canal Park on the drive north — smoked Lake Superior fish sandwiches from the best smoker on the Great Lakes. The smoked whitefish spread and the trout sandwich are the things to order. A 30-minute stop in Canal Park also lets you walk the pier and see the Aerial Lift Bridge before the final 90-minute push to Ely.
10:00 AM📍 See location
🍽️
Lunch
🚗
Drive
Duluth → Ely, MN
1 hr 30 min11:00 AM → 12:30 PM
Ely Downtown & Chapman Street
Ely Downtown & Chapman Street
A small northern town that punches above its size in character — the outfitter district on Chapman Street has every canoe outfitter, pack food specialist, and wilderness gear shop you'd need for a BWCA entry, and the galleries and bookstores that surround them reflect the arts culture that developed alongside the wilderness access. Piragis Northwoods is the flagship outfitter and bookstore; their guidebook section on the Boundary Waters is the best reference library on the region.
12:30 PM📍 See location
☀️
Afternoon
🚗
Drive
Ely Downtown → Burntside Lodge
8 min1:30 PM → 1:38 PM
Burntside Lake
Burntside Lake
★ 4.8
A 7,000-acre lake three miles from Ely with 138 islands — the largest lake directly accessible from Ely and one of the clearest lakes in Minnesota. The afternoon is best spent on the water: kayak or canoe around the islands nearest the lodge, where the water is shallow enough to see the sandy bottom at 15 feet. The evening light on the granite outcrops and birch forest lining the shore is the North Woods at its most characteristic.
1:38 PM📍 See location
🌙
Evening
Ely Brewing Company
Ely Brewing Company
★ 4.4
Ely's own craft brewery in the downtown district — the Shagawa Stout and Moose Drool Brown are the North Woods standards on tap; the walleye chowder is the bowl to start with. A short drive from Burntside Lodge and the natural first-night dinner stop in a town where restaurant options are limited but character is not.
5:00 PM📍 See location
Burntside Lodge
Burntside Lodge
★ 4.7
A wilderness resort on Burntside Lake that has operated continuously since 1913 — one of the oldest lakeside resorts in Minnesota. The original log cabins along the lakeshore have been maintained rather than replaced; the dock, the dining room with its stone fireplace, and the boathouse are all original to the early 20th century. Book a lakeshore cabin for the full effect of waking up to the lake through old pine trunks.
6:00 PM📍 See location
Day 2 — Boundary Waters & Wolf Country

Day 2 — Boundary Waters & Wolf Country

📍 5 stops
🌅
Morning
Dorothy Molter Museum
Dorothy Molter Museum
★ 4.7
Two log cabins from Knife Lake, moved to Ely after Dorothy Molter's death in 1986 — the last private resident of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, who lived alone on an island 17 miles from the nearest road for more than 50 years and brewed root beer that she sold to passing canoeists. Her story is one of the great accounts of American wilderness life in the 20th century; the museum preserves her actual cabins, her root beer brewing equipment, and the context of what it meant to be the only permanent resident of a million-acre wilderness.
8:00 AM📍 See location
International Wolf Center
International Wolf Center
★ 4.9
The world's premier wolf education center, opened in 1993 in Ely — home to a resident ambassador wolf pack that lives in a large outdoor habitat visible through floor-to-ceiling glass. The center documents wolf biology, pack behavior, and the recovery of the gray wolf in Minnesota (the state has the largest wolf population in the contiguous US outside Alaska). The pack feeding observations and howling demonstrations are scheduled daily; check the calendar for timing.
9:00 AM📍 See location
🍽️
Lunch
Britton's Café
Britton's Café
★ 4.7
A casual Ely lunch counter serving the outfitter community and canoe paddlers since the mid-20th century — breakfast all day, Finnish pasties, and the kind of high-calorie food that people eat before and after paddling the BWCA. The cinnamon rolls are the thing people mention.
10:00 AM📍 See location
☀️
Afternoon
Shagawa Lake — Guided Canoe
Shagawa Lake — Guided Canoe
★ 5
A day paddle on Shagawa Lake, the large lake immediately adjacent to Ely — this is Boundary Waters canoe country without requiring a permit. Wilderness Outfitters and Piragis Northwoods both offer canoe and kayak rentals with maps; the northeast bay of Shagawa leads to a portage into the BWCA proper for those with advance permits. The afternoon paddle on Shagawa is the taste of what the canoe country is — granite shorelines, white pine, loons, and the specific quality of silence that exists when you're far enough from a road.
12:00 PM📍 See location
🌙
Evening
The Burntside Lodge Dining Room
The Burntside Lodge Dining Room
★ 4.7
The lodge dining room with its original stone fireplace and lake views — walleye, wild rice soup, and the North Country ingredients that have been on this menu in various forms since 1913. Eat early and sit on the dock afterward; loons call on Burntside Lake through the summer evenings and the sky above the BWCA is among the darkest in the continental US.
5:00 PM📍 See location
Day 3 — Kawishiwi Falls & Drive South

Day 3 — Kawishiwi Falls & Drive South

🚗 3 hr 45 min driving📍 2 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Burntside Lodge → Kawishiwi Falls
15 min8:00 AM → 8:15 AM
Kawishiwi Falls
Kawishiwi Falls
★ 4.9
A waterfall on the Kawishiwi River accessible via a 15-minute trail from the Echo Trail — the river drops over a series of granite ledges into a pool surrounded by old-growth white pine and birch. The Kawishiwi River connects directly into the Boundary Waters system; this falls is where canoeists portage on their way into the wilderness. Go early before leaving Ely; the light on the falls in the morning is better than in the afternoon.
8:15 AM📍 See location
🍽️
Lunch
North American Bear Center
North American Bear Center
★ 4.8
A wildlife research center on the edge of Ely with four resident black bears including Ted, the 750-pound male who has been the center's ambassador since 2006. The center was founded by Lynn Rogers, the researcher who radio-collared and habituated Lily the Bear, the first black bear in the world to be followed through hibernation in real time via webcam. The exhibit explains black bear biology and the 50-year longitudinal research program in the forests outside Ely — one of the most comprehensive wildlife studies ever conducted.
9:15 AM📍 See location
☀️
Afternoon
🚗
Drive
Ely, MN → Minneapolis, MN
3 hr 30 min12:00 PM → 3:30 PM
Plan your own escapeExplore more trips →