wrote on Sep 6^th, 2010 at 2:59pm:

I was reading on the Inukshuk forum (yes, i'm one of those now) about new Quetico restrictions and this question came up.  I decided to ask you guys here what you think... First, I must confess, back in 2003 I was in BWCA and we camped on a non-designated campsite.  This happened the first night out because we left in the morning from the outfitter (no-tow) and did a few portages into Basswood.  Being perfectly dumb and unaware, we didn't even think about finding a campsite till maybe 4-6 pm.  We were fishing while traveling and that ate up time.  Of course you're not suppose to do something like this but we figured there are plenty of campsites but this time they were all taken.  Being tired and worn we kept looking and paddling around the lake, everything was taken.  Finally we saw an island that had a nice enough shoreline to land the canoe and pulled up in... this was gonna be it for the night.  It was already getting dark.   There was evidence that people had camped here before because of the fire ring made of stone.   There was room for tents and there we stayed.   I felt really guilty the whole time, like for sure we are gonna get busted, but we were okay. So what does one do when this happens?  It was bad planning on our part but now we know better.

If you were busted by the authorities I am sure they would let you go after a warning.  They don't want tired canoeists looking for camp sites in the dark.  That could be dangerous.  You might get an earful, but I doubt they would fine you.