A member of Congress from New Mexico said late last month in the nation’s capital that she wasn’t able to take a family vacation to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness last summer because it was too busy.

“I’ve spent a lot of time looking at those Boundary Waters and imagining what it would be like to take a family vacation there.” said U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-New Mexico). “In fact, we wanted to go there as a family vacation this last summer, but it is packed. Like, you cannot get a reservation. That is how amazing this place is.”

Leger Fernández made her comments about the BWCA Wilderness during a House Rules Committee hearing Jan. 20 in Washington D.C. The congresswoman, representing a large swath of northern New Mexico including Santa Fe and Taos, made the comments during an exchange with Rep. Pete Stauber from Minnesota. Stauber represents the Boundary Waters region in the U.S. House of Representatives. Some of Leger Fernández’s comments about Stauber’s push for a foreign mining company to open a copper-nickel mine near the BWCA have been popular in recent weeks on social media.

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández during Congressional meeting Jan. 20.

In that social media fever, Leger Fernández’s statement about not being able to visit the Boundary Waters last summer because it is “packed” with people was largely overlooked. With the recent Go Live Day for 2026 permits having come and gone (opening day for permits was last Wednesday, Jan. 28), Paddle & Portage media wanted to analyze how many permits are available for the 2026 season one week later. We’ll also be sharing analysis on permit cancellations, and what it means for potential paddlers like Leger Fernández who want to visit the BWCA, but feel it’s inaccessible due to a lack of options for where and when to visit the BWCA, which is in fact the most visited wilderness area in the nation.

Let’s start by looking at how many permits are available as of Feb. 3 for the BWCA Wilderness for the upcoming quota season, which runs May 1 to Sept. 30. As there are about 70 different entry points to the wilderness, we’ll narrow that scope to five: Sawbill, Duncan, Seagull, Mudro, and Little Indian Sioux (North). We will be discussing daily availability of permits for these specific entry points.

Sawbill Lake has 11 overnight paddle permits available each day during the quota season. During the fishing opener weekend (Minnesota fishing opener is Saturday, May 9 this year) there are two of the 11 permits available May 8 and 11 of 11 available May 9.

For the July 4 holiday weekend, there are no permits available at Sawbill Friday, July 3 and nine of 11 available Saturday, July 4.

After that, things get busy at Sawbill and across much of the BWCA Wilderness. From July 6 until Sept. 22, a stretch of 78 days, there is not a single permit available at Sawbill.

For Duncan Lake, which has two permits available each day during the quota season, the numbers are much easier to break down. The Monday after fishing opener weekend, May 11, has one permit available. After that, there is not a single permit available for the Duncan Lake entry point for the remainder of the quota season.

At the end of the Gunflint Trail, Seagull Lake has eight overnight paddle permits available each day during the quota season. On fishing opener weekend, there are two of the eight permits available both May 8 and 9.

For the July 4 holiday weekend, there are four of eight permits available at Seagull Friday, July 3 and five of eight are available July 4.

Following that, Seagull has scattered permits available, with nearly all of the permits booked for August, with the exception being the final few days of the month.

Sawbill and Seagull BWCA entry points have limited availability following go live day. Data courtesy of Recreation.gov

Over on the Ely side, Mudro Lake (restricted and non-restricted) has a total of seven overnight paddle permits available each day. The restricted Mudro permit simply means paddlers can’t camp on Horse Lake during their trip.

The Mudro permits are easy to analyze: There aren’t any available from May 8 through the rest of the quota season, which ends Sept. 30.

For Little Indian Sioux North there are four overnight paddle permits available during the quota season. On Sunday, May 10 there are two of the four permits available. May 11 has three of the four permits available. Following that, there isn’t a single permit available for this entry point until the final days of September.

Little Indian Sioux permit availability following go live day 2026. Data courtesy of Recreation.gov

With this type of data, it’s reasonable to understand why a member of Congress, albeit one from New Mexico, would say she can’t get a BWCA permit because the place is too “packed.” However, that sentiment, and the above data fail to calculate the near certainty that some of these booked permits will be canceled and entered back into the pool of available permits at some point in the coming months.

In 2024, cancellations of BWCA Wilderness permits reached an all-time high of 11,244, the Forest Service announced in a report it published last year, which includes data from the past five years of BWCA Wilderness visitation. In 2024, 57% of cancellations and 59% of no-shows were from reservations made on the first day permits were available, commonly known as ‘go live day,’ suggesting visitors continue to reserve more permits than they can use, according to the Forest Service.

The Forest Service says cancellations have more than doubled in five years, suggesting that BWCA Wilderness visitors continue to reserve more permits than they can use, according to the federal agency.

As we’ve previously reported, some outfitters and paddlers say the process the Forest Service uses for people to book permits is to blame, at least in part, for the high number of cancellations.

Permits are required for overnight trips only during the quota permit season. Day-use permits do not need to be booked in advance. The Forest Service reports that “most permit holders reserve their own permits online well in advance.” Permit reservations made on the last Wednesday in January have more than doubled in five years, the report states.

The Forest Service is currently reviewing its Forest Management Plan for the BWCA Wilderness, something it hasn’t done in about 30 years, according to Tom Hall, the forest supervisor for Superior National Forest. We recently spoke with Hall about this topic in the first public interview he’s done with any media outlet in nearly a year. During our conversation we asked Hall about visitation numbers to the wilderness, and the number of permits available for various entry points from the Gunflint to Ely sides of the BWCA.

Looking ahead, outfitters are available to help people like Congresswoman Leger Fernández find entry points suitable for a family trip to the BWCA Wilderness. Assuming there are no permits available for the Boundary Waters simply because they aren’t available the week after go live day is probably unnecessary. Of the five entry points discussed above, many of them are likely to have permits available at some point this season. People can sign up to get notifications from our pal Ben at Paddle Planner to get a heads up when certain permits reenter the quota pool. Otherwise, outfitters from the Tofte area to the Gunflint to Ely can help people find other available entry points to the BWCA that have available permits, or additional camping spots across Superior National Forest.

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