7/13/26 – We are expecting an order from the Forest Service today announcing a closure to the entire Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, effective Tuesday July 14th through Friday July 17th. If you had an overnight paddle permit for entry on any day 7/13 (today) through Friday, July 17th, the Forest Service has cancelled it and refunded your money.

So what does this mean for Sawbill? We are open, and the Sawbill Lake campground remains open. There are no fires in our area and we are not under any imminent threat. The southern portion of Sawbill Lake is outside of the Wilderness boundary and is open for swimming, paddling and fishing.

We will be contacting anyone who has an outfitting reservation with us this week as quickly as we can to discuss alternate arrangements or cancellations.

Once the Forest Service issues the signed order we will share that information here. As a general policy, Sawbill typically doesn’t share information until there is a signed order in place in an effort to share only accurate information. In this case, the situation is dynamic and we are focused on helping people understand the impacts to their plans.

If you’d like to still salvage a camping vacation this week, there are some options available to you. The Sawbill Lake, Crescent Lake, and Temperance River campgrounds that we manage are still open. Crescent is not within the BWCA, so it is entirely open for paddling (it’s also a great walleye lake). The southern portion of Sawbill, outside of the Wilderness, is open for paddling.

There are a few other options for remote camping and paddling in our vicinity in the Superior National Forest, including the Timber Frear loop, Cascade Lake, and Lichen Lake. If you’d like to talk about any of these options we are happy to help you make still have a camping trip up here in the Boundary Waters region. Areas outside of the Wilderness are not going to be closed, and there are many options.

In the event you would like to cancel your reservation for canoes or equipment with us, please give us a call or an email and we will process it as soon as we are able.

Thank you for your flexibility, your well wishes, and for hanging in there with us. Stay tuned here and on social media, we’ll update as we know more.

Clare