BWCA Campsite 1683 on Basswood River

If you are coming from the eastern end of the portage, a trail intersects the portage - to the right (north) is the campsite, to the left (south) is the latrine. The campsite is an open rock point below the falls. Has a nice view of the falls and rapids with decent fishing. Tent pads are good, but may have difficulty with stakes because the soil is shallow. The campsite is screened from the trail, but you may hear people passing by. There is also a very popular daytripping spot next to the campsite (swimming and fishing), so you may not get too much privacy in this location. Admin Note: The number and locations of campsites in and around the Basswood Falls portage were confusing based on the maps that I had and the existing campsite reviews. The reviews implied that there was a campsite missing on Paddle Planner, so I added it. However, when I explored the area, I found out that there was not a missing campsite; instead, all the maps had the campsites in the wrong locations. I have corrected the locations of the campsites, removed the "extra" campsite, and associated the reviews with the correct campsites. There are four campsites along the portage and two on the northern peninsula. One of the northern campsites can be reached from the portage; the other requires paddling.

The site is very nicely situated with a beautiful view of the first waterfall out of Basswood Lake. The site location is unusual in that a portage is required to get into the site, as opposed to paddling to the site. Portaging from Basswood is pretty straight-forward with a few rocks at the start up a little climb, but then smooth sailing on the mostly flat trail the rest of the way. The site can be found where a trail appears to cross the portage trail (after the first social trail to the waterfall itself) when coming from the Basswood Lake side. The site being is on the water side and the toilet on the left branch. The site is somewhat exposed with a lack of trees shading the kitchen. However, the kitchen area was almost mosquito and biting fly free. Maybe the little breeze from the waterfall helped mitigate. Other BWCA locations visited on this trip were buggy as expected. And you could get some excellent views of the stars and possible aurora. The tent situation is a bit unusual in that one of the good-ish tent pads is up the trail from the site toward the portage trail. The 2nd mostly acceptable tent pad is just off the kitchen area past a couple of shrubs. There are also some open areas in the main site area with some slope and rocks, but challenges can be overcome with 2-3 person tents, good tent placement, and a proper air mattress to get ~2 more tents in (our party had 3 tents, no problem). The kitchen is pretty well laid out and flat. with well-placed sitting logs plus lots of places to set your backcountry chairs up. Access to acquire water was excellent. From the site, one could easily place a canoe into the Basswood river just downstream of the site to fish parts of the river between rapids and waterfalls. Or one could fish around the waterfall, take a brief hike back to Basswood to fish there, and other possibilities. Reminder this site right on the border with Canada; know the special water and land rules along border waterways to stay issue free.

This site doesn't show up on every map, but it is the first mid-portage site. It is also my favorite of the mid-portage sites as it sits with a gorgeous view of the first falls out of Basswood. There are a couple tent pads cut out of the brush. The BIFF is on the opposite side of the portage from the campsite. The camp kitchen is really nice though and there are views up and down the river. We had amazing stars here while enjoying a campfire on a tough first night of the trip.