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Trip Report - First time in the BWCA- 71 mile solo trip - Frost River, Little Sag, Kawishiwi, Alice, Kek, and more

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Date/Time: 04/27/2024 12:00PM

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Trip Report - First time in the BWCA- 71 mile solo trip - Frost River, Little Sag, Kawishiwi, Alice, Kek, and more

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Author	Message Text
Exo	03/16/2015 11:12PM Great report, nice photos. The next week was some terrible weather. First hand experience kind of thing. Glad you had such great weather for your first solo. Thanks for the report.
nlong	02/26/2015 02:56PM quote callofthewild: "A very nice trip report. Thank you for sharing. It was an interesting read on a cold February day. It gets one thinking of open waters. Happy paddling!!!" You're welcome. I can't wait to get back there. I might get a couple trips in this year.
callofthewild	02/26/2015 02:41PM A very nice trip report. Thank you for sharing. It was an interesting read on a cold February day. It gets one thinking of open waters. Happy paddling!!!
alpine525	01/16/2015 01:05PM I really enjoyed your trip report and beautiful photos. I've been to many of the areas you traveled through - but never in one long trip. Congratulations on this solo - what an accomplishment! You'll have great stories to tell for a long time.
nlong	01/16/2015 07:53AM quote boonie: "I'd have to heat water for 2 cups of coffee each day and boil water to rehydrate dinner and the occasional hot cereal for breakfast. I usually have cold cereal (muesli) for breakfast and just a ProBar/nuts for lunch. Did you use it to "cook" supper or just boil water to rehydrate in a cozy? Mine doesn't have a stand - the pot just sits on the stove. That's not the most stable, although the grates in the BW would greatly simplify that. It does have a windscreen. Did you use a windscreen? I have usually just put my fuel in a water/pop bottle too. I think something like one of the caldera cone systems by Trail designs would be nice. But I can do a whole 7-day trip on one small (110 gram) canister with my JetBoil, so I'll have to do some experimenting with the alcohol stove to see how much fuel I'd need for the same." I put the dehydrated supper in the pot with water and got it to boiling, then put the pot in a pot cozy. My windscreen was some thicker aluminum foil cut from one of those disposable baking pans. I could fold it up flat for more compact storage. My pot stand looked like the one in this photo. A windscreen like this would be nice as it comes apart in 3 pieces and packs flat.
boonie	01/16/2015 07:36AM I'd have to heat water for 2 cups of coffee each day and boil water to rehydrate dinner and the occasional hot cereal for breakfast. I usually have cold cereal (muesli) for breakfast and just a ProBar/nuts for lunch. Did you use it to "cook" supper or just boil water to rehydrate in a cozy? Mine doesn't have a stand - the pot just sits on the stove. That's not the most stable, although the grates in the BW would greatly simplify that. It does have a windscreen. Did you use a windscreen? I have usually just put my fuel in a water/pop bottle too. I think something like one of the caldera cone systems by Trail designs would be nice. But I can do a whole 7-day trip on one small (110 gram) canister with my JetBoil, so I'll have to do some experimenting with the alcohol stove to see how much fuel I'd need for the same.
nlong	01/16/2015 07:01AM I had about 5 separate dry bags, all packed in the front and rear hatches, and my day pack I strapped to the deck behind me. Camera gear, flashlights and batteries were in a small dry bag. 1 dry bag for food, 1 for clothing, 1 for tent, tarp, cot, pillow and sleeping bag, and 1 for cooking stuff, knives, rope, and other misc stuff. I'd pull out the food bag, clothing bag, and cooking/misc stuff bags and put them in the large mesh bag along with my day pack at the portage. I'd carry these and my paddles to the end of the portage, then come back and portage the kayak with the remaining couple drybags inside. The system worked well.
SaganagaJoe	01/16/2015 02:03AM OK so a Canon....That's why.... How did you get all that stuff in a kayak?
nlong	01/15/2015 12:46PM On the other hand, I like the fact there's nothing to go wrong with an alcohol stove - other than spilling all the fuel ;) - and that they are also light and compact. Yeah, I liked the fact that the alcohol stove is so simple and compact. I just put the denatured alcohol in a water bottle. I may build a new alcohol stove with a different design that will support the pot so I don't need a separate stand. My stand was just a bent up coat hanger into a makeshift three point triangular platform. Didn't have time to refine it before the trip, but it did the trick. I only used the alcohol stove to make supper. My breakfast was normally instant oatmeal that I just added cold water to and didn't bother heating and some dried fruit. Lunch items were things that didn't need heating as I wanted to keep it simple as I planned on traveling during the day till supper time.
boonie	01/15/2015 12:17PM quote nlong: "I took 16oz. Only used a quarter if that. I estimated poorly on how much to bring. lol" :) Been there, done that. But, hey, you didn't run out ;). And you were planning for possibly several more days. Did you cook breakfast and dinner each day? Make coffee or other hot drink? I love the speed and efficiency of my JetBoil, and it's also fairly lightweight and compact. On the other hand, I like the fact there's nothing to go wrong with an alcohol stove - other than spilling all the fuel ;) - and that they are also light and compact. I'm just trying to figure out if I'll have to carry so much fuel for a longer trip (maybe 12 days) that it'll negate any weight saving. It seems that experiences with fuel usage of alcohol burners varies quite a bit and may also be affected more by temperature and wind. Maybe a combination alcohol/fuel tab/twig burner is the way to go.
nlong	01/15/2015 10:06AM I took 16oz. Only used a quarter if that. I estimated poorly on how much to bring. lol
boonie	01/15/2015 09:49AM How many ounces of fuel did you pack for your alcohol stove and how many did you use on the trip?
nlong	01/15/2015 08:40AM My fiance likes to kayak and camp, but she's only done campground camping and never been in the BWCA. We are going hiking this year in the Porcupine Mountains in the UP this summer. I may go back up to the BWCA at the end of summer with my dad as he'd like to go. I may also do a solo trip this spring again, but haven't decided on any route yet.
nlong	01/15/2015 06:53AM Thanks! Equipment as follows. I tried to include everything from what I remember and from my gear list. QCC 600x kevlar sea kayak, 16 foot 8 inches in lenght, 46lbs carbon mid-wing paddle and also had a greenland paddle as a spare Custom Kayak portage yoke Kelty Grand Mesa 2 man tent with footprint Tarp and stakes Thermarest LuxuryLite cot 30 degree sleeping bag and Thermarest pillow Dry bags for all the gear and food Kayak Academy XL Mesh Rucksack for portaging the drybags. I added gel shoulder pads for extra comfort. Kelty Redtail backpack for a daypack Alcohol stove and fuel camp chair Titanium pots and spork Camp trowel/shovel Collapsable cup bunch of 550 paracord Life straw filter Sawyer mini squeeze filter and extra bags alcohol stove and stand and fuel and wind screen Lighters, matches, and duct tape gloves Camp shower Camp wash cloth, towel, soap, dobie for dish cleaning. first aid kit including emergency blanket Camp wipes and toilet paper Ontario RTAK II knife Leatherman Sidekick pocket chain saw long and short sleeve shirts, Shorts and pants, underwear and socks Waterproof jacket Tilly hat Camera gear: Canon T2i with 70-300mm IS L lens, 50mm prime lens, and 18-55mm IS lens, and 2 extra batteries but didn't even go through one battery. Canon S100 point and shoot with CHDK mod for shooting longer exposure than stock firmware allows and in RAW format. GoPro Hero 2 and 2 extra batteries - Never ended up using it during the trip. 510 lumen zoom-able beam flashlight with extra battery. Nomad 7 watt solar charger and Goal Zero Guide 10 battery pack and Revive Twin Port usb pack USB charger for the Canon S100 battery Pedco UltraPod II Lightweight Camera Tripod Tascam audio recorder Headlamp with spare battery - uses the same 18650 li-ion cells as the flashlight I brought.
TomT	01/14/2015 10:59PM Nice loop for your first trip. The photo quality is spectacular. I'm also interested in the gear you brought along for this. The pic on Jasper Lake taken of the tent with the stars behind it is amazing. Several outstanding close up shots of loons too. I'm curious if your fiancee is into canoe camping? Good luck on future trips. Thanks for the report.
SaganagaJoe	01/14/2015 09:26PM Fantastic! What can you tell me about your photo equipment? The pics are simply incredible!
CrookedPaddler1	01/12/2015 09:39AM excellent trip report! loved the mix of maps, photos, and video's! nicely done
CrookedPaddler1	01/12/2015 09:39AM excellent trip report! loved the mix of maps, photos, and video's! nicely done
nlong	01/11/2015 05:24PM Thanks for the great comments. I added a few videos to the report that I got uploaded to youtube. Enjoy!
builditbetter22	01/11/2015 10:43AM Thanks for the report, sounds like you had a great trip
nlong	01/10/2015 10:54PM quote boonie: "Thanks for the report - heck of a trip. I wondered how it went for you. I've done several parts of it on my last three trips, but there's also parts I've never done. They are on the list though." Thanks Boonie! I meant to get the trip report entered sooner, but had a very busy summer and was hard to find the time. If you have any questions, let me know. I tried to be thorough in the report. I also have a couple more videos to add as well that I just found from my trip, just have to get them uploaded.
boonie	01/10/2015 10:20PM Thanks for the report - heck of a trip. I wondered how it went for you. I've done several parts of it on my last three trips, but there's also parts I've never done. They are on the list though.
ducks	01/10/2015 05:30PM great report and photos! thanks for sharing
OldFingers57	01/10/2015 01:53PM Enjoyed your trip report and the photos were great.
bwcasolo	01/10/2015 01:17PM that was very well done with great photo's.
nlong	01/10/2015 11:58AM New Trip Report posted by nlong Trip Name: First time in the BWCA- 71 mile solo trip - Frost River, Little Sag, Kawishiwi, Alice, Kek, and more. Entry Point: 50 Click Here to View Trip Report