From the obscure little gems like the Mille Lacs Wildlife Management Area to the famous recreational playgrounds of the Chippewa National Forest, Minnesota is dotted with literally hundreds of great places to pitch a tent. But the best? That's a no-brainer. The Boundary Waters aren't a Minnesota treasure, they're a national one--and one of the few remaining places in the lower 48 where a world-weary soul can actually escape the reminders of our relentlessly expanding civilization. Here, there are no red-blinking cell-phone towers to clutter up the night sky. No rumblings from internal combustion motors to drown out the wail of the loons. No pavement. No commerce. Nothing, really, but wilderness. With more than 1,000 lakes larger than ten acres, some 1,200 miles of canoe routes, and the largest tract of virgin forest in the eastern United States, a person could spend a lifetime in the Boundary Waters without ever fully knowing the place. The glory is in the trying.