Ely, MN Base

The flagship base of Northern Tier, the Charles L. Sommers Canoe Base has hosted Boy Scout canoe expeditions on the shores of Moose Lake since 1941. Located twenty miles outside of the town of Ely, MN, the Sommers Base outfits over 4,000 Scouts each year on wilderness canoe trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in Minnesota and the Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. Trips out of the Sommers base are limited to 8 total participants plus an Interpreter. 

Not everyone can attend Northern Tier with their Troop or Venturing Crew, but Charles L. Sommers Canoe Base is home to several unique individual Scout programs: the Order of the Arrow’s Wilderness Voyage; Forest Corps, a coeducational environmental leadership program; and Lone Voyage, a program that allows for individual Scouts and smaller troops to take out a Northern Tier trip.