Hello all! I'm so excited to plan my first BWCA trip for this summer! I know I'm starting a bit late in the planning process, so I understand that flexibility will be important in terms of permits that are available. We are planning on either the weekend of June 21 or the last weekend in July. I have no idea where to start planning a route. We are planning on doing a 3 day Friday-Sunday trip. Sunday we will have to drive home to Minneapolis. I'm hoping we will be up at least in the Ely area on Friday morning and ready to leave right away in the morning. My friend that I'm going with has been to the BWCA once. We are both pretty experienced hikers, campers, and have done some backpacking as well. I have canoe camped once but it was on a river, which I know is a pretty different ballgame. I kayak frequently in the summer and have canoed many times before as well. We are both fit but not necessarily super experienced or extremely strong canoers.

We would like this trip to be relaxing and aren't necessarily looking to really to push ourselves majorly. I would say an easy to moderate difficulty route is preferred. We are mostly just looking for beautiful scenery, and peace and quiet. Wildlife sightings and great photographer opportunities would be a bonus. Where do I start the planning process and how do I pick a route that will give us this?

Thank you!