Wilderness visitor statistics II

The average total number of visitors to the BWCA on reserved permits between May 1 and September 30 ('03-'04) is 135,000 people. Dividing by 120 days, I calculate, on average, 1,124 (unique) visitors per day.

Now, if we ignore the complication that these visitors are staying longer than one day, we can divide the area of the BWCA (about 1.1 million acres) by this number to get the density of visitors if everyone were distributed throughout the wilderness evenly, which is 979 acres (4.0 square km). But we also know the average group size: 3.7 people. So then, distributed evenly, each group of 3.7 people gets 3600 acres (14.6 sq km) to themselves.

Ah, but is the entire Boundary Waters habitable? What if we say swamps, inaccessible woods, etc. take up 4/5 of the BW? Then our area allotment shrinks to 720 acres (2.9 sq km). Again with even spacing, there should be 26.9 acres between you and the next group, which is just over a mile.

If you believe that number, remind yourself of it next summer when you're the third group in line waiting to portage -- there are uncrowded places in BWCA waiting for you.