The results have been positive for a new telephone reporting system set up by the Canada Border Services Agency for people looking to enter Quetico from the park’s southern entrances.

The telephone reporting option went live June 8 at Quetico’s Cache Bay and Prairie Portage ranger stations. Paddlers looking to enter Quetico via these two remote ranger stations can now do so without a Remote Area Border Crossing permit, which were previously required to enter at these stations. The RABC Program was suspended in fall 2024, causing confusion and a barrage of other emotions for people who utilized RABC permits to cross the border lakes between Minnesota and Ontario. RABC permits were used by paddlers and others from Lake Superior near Grand Portage to Lake of the Woods. The RABC Program will be replaced by telephone reporting sites this year, CBSA officials announced earlier this year.

The telephone reporting sites are only active at the Quetico ranger stations at this point. More sites will be coming before mid-September, CBSA officials continue to tell Paddle & Portage media. Meanwhile, people who travel between Minnesota and Ontario with any degree of frequency can enroll in the NEXUS Program.

In a statement sent May 8 to Paddle & Portage media, CBSA officials said “NEXUS members may call 30 minutes to 4 hours in advance of their arrival.”

NEXUS is designed to speed up border crossings into Canada and the United States for “low-risk, pre-approved travelers,” according to CBSA officials. It is jointly run by the CBSA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. NEXUS memberships are valid for five years. There is a $120 non-refundable application processing fee.

Telephone reporting site at Cache Bay. P&P photo

Using a phone provided by CBSA at the telephone reporting site at Cache Bay. P&P photo

For people who don’t plan to cross the border lakes with any degree of frequency, or only when they want to take a trip to Quetico via the park’s southern entrances, the telephone reporting sites are efficient and extremely easy to use. Someone entering Cache Bay, for example, simply stops at the ranger station, uses a cell phone that is provided on site, and checks in with Canadian customs by providing their passport number, canoe registration number, and basic information about what they plan to do in Canada. For people entering Quetico, paddling, camping, and fishing will be a commonplace and acceptable response, according to people who have utilized the program, as heard on a recent episode of the Paddle and Portage Podcast.

When the Cache Bay and Prairie Portage ranger stations are not open for the season, including in early May, after mid-September, and all of the winter, paddlers will need to use a different telephone reporting site to enter the park. The details on where the additional sites will be located, including on Saganaga Lake or near the Basswood/Sucker lakes area, remain unknown at this time. The answer will likely be provided by CBSA officials in the months ahead, and presumably before mid-September. As referenced previously, people enrolled in NEXUS would have a more streamlined means to enter Canada on the border lakes, including during the shoulder seasons and winter.

The suspension of the RABC Program has severely limited access for people looking to visit Quetico during recent years from the U.S. side. Telephone reporting is extremely easy to use and represents the dawn of new era for people looking to paddle in Quetico, considered by some to be the “BWCA on steroids.” The fishing is better in Quetico than the BWCA, there are fewer people, and generally speaking, Quetico is a better place to take a canoe trip than the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, according to many familiar with both paddling destinations.

To learn more about the telephone reporting system at Quetico, listen to the Paddle & Portage Podcast episode shared below.

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