Welcome to camp
A virtual visit to the shores of the North Arm
If you are new here, "Widji" refers to YMCA Camp Widjiwagan, a wilderness camp centered on canoeing and backpacking with a robust winter environmental education program and decades of alumni adventure rooted in respect. This site is dedicated to YMCA Camp Widjiwagan located just outside Ely, MN on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The primary purpose here is to collect, archive, and share 70 years worth of routes, photos, and stories from the many post high school adventures, the vast majority which have taken place in the Canadian Arctic and Alaska.
The Trail Building
How many times at camp have you looked over the trip plaques in the TB to remind yourself of when and where your friends and family traveled across the Far North?
The goal here is to make the walls of the TB available to any who may not be able to journey to camp and to share as much info as we can.
By the numbers...
- Total # of trips: 355
- # of Voyageur trips: 237
- # of Mountaineer trips: 113
- # of Voyaneer trips: 1
- # of Hudson Bay trips: 4
- # of Boys trips: 164
- # of Girls trips: 185
- # of All Gender trips: 6
- # of Days on trail: 6400 (approx.)
- # of Miles traveled: 59000 (approx.)
- # of Staff: 384
- # of Campers: 1665 (approx.)
- # of Raisens consumed: 943,736,616 (72 raisens/person/TL)
A Season for Wilderness
** Coming soon ** The chapter "The Widji Way" from Michael Furtman's excellent book "A Season for Wilderness" will be available here to read.
B R R R I D G E!
We need your help.
As you can imagine, this is a large undertaking. If you, or someone you know, could provide routes, pictures, corrections, and/or slideshows for any trip you find here, please reach out to me via the various contact options.
Other developments simmering over the fire
- Historical Highlights (sooo close)
- Routes undertaken by Widji alums over the years
- Fixing a couple of bugs, like enabling touch for mobile on the timelines.