I went to the boundary waters a couple of years ago and had a great time. We ended up pushing pretty hard and covered a lot of distance. I'm planning another trip for this August and wanted to find a little route that didn't require us to grind out long days on the canoe. We'd like to spend a lot more time fishing and hanging around the campsites. I've been looking at options for Sawbill, Little Gabbro, South Kawishiwi and Little Indian Sioux.

We'd travel 8 or 9 miles a day at the absolute most, and would like to be more in the 4-7 mile range. We're planning on spending 4 nights in the waters. Any small routes that we can embark upon? I'd love to hear any and all suggestions! Thanks a ton!

Mudro toward Beartrap is easy, pretty, and fishing can be good. I've only been in September when it wasn't too crowded though. Busy-ness in August would be my only concern.

A shorter more leisurely trip in peak months will mean you'll see more people and need to look for campsites harder. Without a longer first and last day I think that is unavoidable in BWCA. So, consider Quetico if feasible. After that, I really enjoy the South Kawishiwi area, and you could extend that to Bald Eagle and the lakes around there, like Gull-Clearwater-Turtle - a loop I have day tripped while staying on Bald Eagle but would like to camp on.

I'm sure I'm biased by having solitude as a high if not highest priority.

Snowbank or wood lake ep come to mind. Snowbank to jordan is really beautiful and can be accomplished easily. Fishing might be better on other routes but there are fish if you know where to look.

quote Greeny10: "I went to the boundary waters a couple of years ago and had a great time. We ended up pushing pretty hard and covered a lot of distance. I'm planning another trip for this August and wanted to find a little route that didn't require us to grind out long days on the canoe. We'd like to spend a lot more time fishing and hanging around the campsites. I've been looking at options for Sawbill, Little Gabbro, South Kawishiwi and Little Indian Sioux.

We'd travel 8 or 9 miles a day at the absolute most, and would like to be more in the 4-7 mile range. We're planning on spending 4 nights in the waters. Any small routes that we can embark upon? I'd love to hear any and all suggestions! Thanks a ton! "

Four days in the Sawbill area:

Option 1 - Lady Lake Chain -
Have Sawbill Outfitters shuttle you to Kawishiwi Lake (Entry 37). Day 1 Kawishiwi to Lake Polley, Day 2 Polley to Grace, Day 3 layover to fish Grace and/or Phoebe, Day 4 out to Sawbill

You will see the east end of the Pagami Creek Fire area. This is a beautiful little route with change of pace river and lake paddling. The portages are frequent but not hard. Polly, Grace and Phoebe are known for their fishing.

Option 2 - Cherokee Loop.

Day 1 - Sawbill to Burnt Lake, Day 2 - Burnt to North Temperance, Day 3 North Temperance to Cherokee, Day 4 - Cherokee to Sawbill.

This is one of my favorite short routes. Smoke and Burnt offer good fishing. The long narrow lakes (Kelly, Jack, and Weird) are beautiful paddles. North Temperance is a quintessential BW lake with beautiful islands and good fishing. We like the campsite in the northwest corner. Cherokee is another beautiful BW Lake. The fishing is for lake trout and northern pike. Cherokee Creek on your way out is a lovely river paddle.

Option 3 - Frost Lake out and back

Day 1 - Sawbill to Cherokee (Sawbill Lake, Ada Creek, Ada Lake and Skoop Lake), Day 2 Cherokee to Frost, Day 3- Frost to Cherokee or north end of Sawbill. Day 4 Out.

I love Frost lake because of the golden sand beaches. You also have better than average chances of seeing moose here. The fishing is for lake trout and northern pike.

Anything that includes Rose Lake will be the most scenic. Happy paddling.

quote canoe212: "Anything that includes Rose Lake will be the most scenic. Happy paddling."

Good suggestion canoe212, One of our favorites - enter Duncan, down the stairs and hang a right to Rose and set up on the first site on the right. - travel along the border or base camp. We did the long (600+) portage on the border a couple of times - Back in my youth (1988) - we just thought of it as our hiking day (with canoes). In those days there was a portage rest about every 40 rods which made it a lot easier. That long portage keeps a fair amount of people out.

A base camp with good day trip options works well for your desires. For instance, Cherokee Lake is a moderate travel 1st day with five portages. Cherokee is a gorgeous lake with good fishing. Two very nice day trips could take you as far as Long Island Lake or to North Temperance. Making those day trips with only canoe and fishing gear is easy, fun travel.

You get to travel to a bunch of lakes without having to pack up and set up camp every day.