I am planning a trip starting in sawbill and looping up to frost river/lake and then back down. a few questions:

Direction of frost river? Will there be enough river to go down in august? or would louse river loop be a better choice that time of year.

I realize this will be dependent on rain fall 1-2 weeks prior to our tip. but we planned a little later to hopefully be in the smack middle of blueberry season. plus it has been about 15 years since I have been through sawbill.

If it is dry, what are talking about the day we do the river 7-8 hours? I have a relatively new guy with me (last trip last year) but we are both young and can push quite hard if we need to. and it will only be us 2 rather than our pack of 4 guys we go with.

The Frost River flows in a west and north westerly direction, from Frost Lake to Little Saganaga Lake. I think it would have to be severe drought conditions for it to go dry, and some of that route is a series of connected lakes.

I'm planning on doing this route in May and from what I've gathered so far, the frost river is beaver dam central. I'm planning on a very long day from Frost to Hub.

quote hooky: "I'm planning on doing this route in May and from what I've gathered so far, the frost river is beaver dam central. I'm planning on a very long day from Frost to Hub."

Frost to Hub will be a very long day. Doable as long as you're single portaging.

I was not a fan of Hub. If you make it that far at a reasonable hour. I would just continue on to Mesaba.

We did the Frost River route in August from Frost Lake going west in 2012. We call that section of the BWCA, the BWPA for Boundary Waters Portaging Area. Low water, beaver dams and dragging the canoe in many areas. Bonus leeches as well. That being said, I'd do it again. Come to think of it, that's the last time my oldest son has paddled with me.

We have done both the Louse and the Frost in August.

We did the Frost last year. It was, I believe, a very wet year. We had plenty of water and it still took us 7-8 hours. We double portaged, but we had enough water that we were able to bypass a couple portages by floating/pulling over beaver dams and lining canoes through rock gardens.

We did the Louse in an average to dry year and we had enough water. There may have been a couple places we had to pull through or beaver dams that were somewhat problematic, but that was the exception. We started at Sawbill and went to Wine the first night, Trail the second night and we finished at Malberg the third day.

If it was a average to dry year, I would opt for the Louse. In a wetter year, we loved the Frost. IMHO, the Louse is every bit as remote, has some great scenery, has more route finding challenges, and is as much or more physically challenging than the Frost.

Both are well worth the effort to see.

That is a beautiful loop to travel. I think you are good with your 7-8 hour estimate.

Enjoy the challenge.

paddlinjoe

Thanks for the time estimate on the Frost River. that was one question that im sure I wouldn't have thought to ask until much closer to the trip. That might be a break down early, quick breakfast, and then on to get through much of it before the days heats up. I am really hoping that all the "work" as some call it kind of cull the heard. I, as stupid as it sounds, love the portages, and enjoy the physicality of it as my job is more of a mental strain.

anyone have an idea of the map collection for the frost river loop route, im looking at the major brands and it looks like either 3-5 maps for the trip... seems like a lot but I don't have a store who sells bwca maps around me.

Time comparison for the Louse.....(we just did it 2 weeks ago) We went from Wine to Malberg.....took us almost 11 hours, and we single portaged a lot of the portages.....they are rugged. I was willing to camp on Trail, but my kids opted to move on. I was also willing to camp on Boze but that site was not very good, so we pushed on to Malberg. Tough portages on the Louse with rocky landings (mostly on the head ends), plus the beavers have "disrupted" some portages and you have to search for the trail continuation. We missed the portage out of Bug......again, the beavers have the start a little messed up. We hopped down the river aways before bushwacking south towards where the portage should be and found it. Should have walked back to start to see where it actually did begin, but we didn't. It's must be way further left (south) than marked on the maps. First time in a long time I had to sit with compass and maps and do some thinking and searching when it came to finding portages.

quote kbm: "anyone have an idea of the map collection for the frost river loop route, im looking at the major brands and it looks like either 3-5 maps for the trip... seems like a lot but I don't have a store who sells bwca maps around me."

If you start at Sawbill, you can get your whole route on one map if you use Voyageur Maps..... Map 8 .....depending on how you loop back....

How big of a day is it from Sawbill to Frost (single portaging)? We have done Mudro to Crooked on our first day several times in the past so we are capable, just wondering average travel time.