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.

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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.

Ahhh, fond memories. That's what happens when you're young, dumb and invincible. We were fishing all day too. When it began to get dark, we began looking for a site as we fished until it started to rain and got black to the point we were paddling by flashlight.

Our hastily set up makeshift accommodations served us very well though. It looks miserable but I'll still say it was one of the most comfortable night's sleep I've ever had anywhere. Breakfast was a pain though. We never brought a stove back then. We were manly men but the only suitable place for a fire was on a small shoreline rock.

All we did there was sleep and eat so there was not much evidence of our passing. Even 'firerock' was left as we found it, which surprised the heck out of me.

We basically paddled the entire shoreline and were within a hundred yards of a rapids and knew the portage was on the other side so we were simply out of options. What we didn't know was there was a campsite on our side of the rapids. DOH!

I was just on that lake a few weeks ago. I've gone out of my way to paddle by in the past just for chuckles (it's pretty thick there) but I had forgotten all about it. Thanks for the blast from the past PJ.

I should add that the $9.99, (circa 1980) 6 x 9 K-Mart tarp in out of fashion international orange made our lives much more comfortable on a number of occasions for a lot of years. I don't know why we so considered it cheating back then. The one burner stove I bought a couple years later generated a lot of distain as well until a long day that ended in nasty wind and rain made it's space and weight appreciated.

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Reminds me of my first/last/only solo trip I ever did.  BWCA, 1991 I think.  It started raining too.  I pulled my canoe up onto the floating bog on Koma Lake, extracted a tarp, sleeping pad and sleeping bag, pushed the pack up to bow, laid the pad on the bottom of the canoe, crawled in the bag and pulled the tarp over me and the canoe.  I think my face is still a little swollen from the mosquito feast.

Only stories I have heard is rangers giving fines, not showing sympathy.