Explore Nature in Gunflint, Minnesota

If you love the outdoors and want to fish, bike, or hike with your family, then we've found the perfect, rustic, four seasons lodge for you in the Minnesota wilderness. If you love the outdoors and want to fish, bike, or hike with your family, then we've found the perfect, rustic, four seasons lodge for you in the Minnesota wilderness.

Does paddling along at sea level sound like your family's idea of a cruise? If so, consider the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota and the adjacent Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario, together comprising one of the largest areas of protected wilderness in North America. More than 1,000 lakes interlace the forests and meadows where moose, beaver, otter, mink, and loons are regular visitors. Here's the perfect resort for you…

Minnesota's noted Gunflint Outfitters, owned and operated by the Kerfoot Family for four generations, have been offering guided and unguided canoe trips throughout this watery wilderness for the past 70 years.

If you're a canoeing novice, like me, opt for one of their easy four- to seven-day trips for any age beginner that includes shorter paddle distances and easier portages. All kinds of other trips are available May to October, from 10-day adventure trips across large lakes, past waterfalls, and through rapids and rocky portages, to "rustic-plush" trips that combine several days of wilderness canoeing with equal days at the Gunflint Lodge, plus all meals and activities. These adventures come in a variety of skill levels and price ranges.

Camping is in designated first-come, first-served campsites that have firegrates and wilderness latrines. Since canoe camping requires specialized gear, let Gunflint outfit your family with everything — canoes (typically seating two adults and one child), life jackets, paddles, tents, packs, cooking gear, sleeping bags, Therma-rest pads, food and even fishing poles.

Gunflint Lodge has a myriad accommodations for canoers to stay in before and after their trip. To keep costs down, stay in the Rustic Canoer Cabin, using your own bedding and a shared bathhouse. But if you're not pinching pennies, a stay at the lodge's attractive cabins is a treat for parents.

Children's activities are offered throughout the summer, such as fishing lessons, wilderness living skills, and special hikes. Other activities for the entire family include horseback riding, swimming, and mountain hikes.

And I can't say from firsthand experience, but families rave about this place in winter! Of course there is very deep snow, and the lodge takes advantage of it to offer sledding and sleigh riding, dog sledding and walking the sled dogs who are trained and housed here, Nordic or cross-country skiing lessons for all levels and abilities and even skijoring.