I have read the many posts about toughest portages, and was wondering about toughest loops folks have done.

I have completed the ram to bower loop which involves the misquah hills and the dreaded misquah to little trout portage. Thinking of trying to fit in frost and louse loop into one.. but might be biting off more than I can chew.

For me the toughest loop I have done is starting at Sawbill. Go through the Lady Chain to Polly, head north through Malberg and a series of small lakes all the way up to Little Sag. At little Sag you turn south and go through Mora, Hub, Mesaba, and eventually back thru the long Lujenida portage back to Alton. Camp on Alton the last night for an early out. I think it's over 9 miles of portages and I don't know how many lakes but it's about a 6-7 day loop. When we started that trip we had no set plans except to head toward Beth lake but we just kept going and going until we completed the loop.

After watching BeaV, Jimmy Justice and White Wolf do the Voyageur Challenge last fall, thought it is not a loop, seems to me they surely had a challenge. 210 miles and 7 days.

quote kbm: " Thinking of trying to fit in frost and louse loop into one.. but might be biting off more than I can chew."

i've done the frost and louse in one trip. 10 days.
started at ep50.
nite 1 on frost, nite 2 on bologna, nite 3 on mesaba, nite 4 on trail, nite 5/6 on kawishiswi, nite 7/8 on boulder, nite 9 on little sag, exited through tuscarora & missing link to round lake.

had a nice layover day trip from our site on kawishiwi to fishdance and the pictographs, fishing, relaxing; layover day on boulder was supposed to be for more fishing but the wind was so horrendous we just slept and read our books and tried to deplete the snack bag.

we did not feel rushed at any time.

I second the Bower Trout to Ram loop. We added Brule to the mix. The Misquah portage is brutal. My wife still talks about it 13 years later.

Mike

Nearly 40 years ago we entered at Ram lake with the idea of heading up to explore Vista and Horseshoe Lakes and heading out the same way we came in. We camped the fist night on Little Trout Lake. After taking the Little Trout lake to Misquah portage we made our way to Vista Lake and absolutely loved it. But we absolutely refused to go back the same way we came in and take that Misquah portage again. Now keep in mind that this was a group of 4 experienced BWCA campers in the prime physical condition of their lives.

We explored the South Brule River as an option out but quickly realized that was not going to work. We ended up heading east through Carl and Lux lakes. We camped a night on Lux Lake. I remember clearly catching frogs at the shoreline and putting them on the hook, throwing them out at dusk and waiting for the inevitable splash of a northern hitting them.

Eventually took the Morgan Lake portage out and felt it was way better than the Misquah portage. At 280 - 300 rods it was a long one but not even close to the difficulty of the Misquah portage. I ended up taking that portage to enter the BWCA and return to Vista many times in the coming years.

From the end of that portage we had a 7 mile hike/jog back to the truck which took about 1.5 hours as our buddies waited with our gear. I was never so glad to see a vehicle as I was that truck after a hurried 7 mile jaunt. But by taking that 7 mile hike I guess technically we completed the "loop".

If that Little Trout to Misquah portage isn't among the worst portages in the BWCA I'll eat my hat. Of course conditions might have been worse that year. I remember meeting up with some rangers at that portage and they were fairly surprised that we were taking it, said it was the worst portage in the eastern half of the BWCA. I believe it.

Years ago I was at Tom & Woods Moose Lake Outfitters when two marines just released from duty came in the outfittering shop.

They said, "We've got 12 days. We want the most difficult route you've got."

I don't know where they ended up going but I remember as he pulled some maps out of the drawer, Woods Davis muttering with a sinister grin, "Son, I've been waiting for you all my life!"

That's funny. My first portaging trip was the Bower Trout to Ram route. I never knew it was considered one of the toughest. The Misquah portage was the roughest portage I ever did. I actually went back on a solo and camped on Ram and day tripped to Little Trout to try it again, twice, with just fishing gear and the canoe, and it didn't seem half as bad. Caught trout the first trip, got skunked on the day trip. Gotta pay your dues sometimes I guess.

I did this loop last year and it was amazing and difficult:



Highlights were the portage from Paulson to Seagull and the long Border Portage from rose to the next lake. We also got confused and did the long portage into Tuscarora by accident which changed our route slightly. First time I ever took the wrong portage by accident (lol). We had fun riding the 3 ft rollers on Saganaga. The Border section from the Granite to the east end is 5star paddling for sure.

We also wound up cutting it a little short due to the timing of things. We arrived at Golden Eagle Lodge mid day and decided to shuttle back to Poplar instead of continuing to Hungry Jack, doing the long road walk Portage to Trail Center, and the long front country paddle across Poplar back to the EP. We were very happy with our decision because it gave us time to putz around on the North Shore before heading back to the cities.

I have better maps if you are interested in this particular route. You could easilly make it longer by heading further west in the beginning of the loop.

how long did that loop take? I would love to block off like 12-16 days and move about the BWCA, especially some of those lakes with no known entry, or no campsites that seem to weed out people

My husband and I did the Ram to Bower (or did we do Bower to Ram? I can't remember,) last fall. We went through Brule and then up and over and back? Anyway, that was pretty darn hard. I have had harder moments, like the Tuscarora portage on a rainy day in the 70's with my parents before gear got light, or a really windy paddle across snowbank rushing to meet an outfitter who was driving us back to our car. But I think Bower/Ram is the hardest overall.

If you are looking for a tough loop, obviously you get and have gotten great feedback here. I like to view the Beymer books and chose a "most rugged" trip and modify it.

For instance, 2 seasons ago, we took the Louse River loop from EP 37 (page 51), a 6 day trip and went out of EP 39. This added 16.8 paddle miles, 5 miles on foot in 13 additional portages. We did the trip in 5 days and had a blast. The length of the days became the strain v. the difficulty of the portages though I must say Zenith became a little rough as well as a trip down a game trail. We ran it clockwise and ran into a few route finding issues along the Louse trying to make Wine from Koma resulting in a detour to Dent. Great trip and lots of fun.

I intend to continue to use this method of finding recommended loops and modifying them to meet our needs, we like to move all day. The Ram/Brule/Bower loop looks like a good one.


John

you can make any loop difficult, your imagination is the only limit. some years ago we did a trip that included the following leg, some of these portages were very lightly traveled. the long 500 rod stretches were easier than the nibon-bibbon section.







a loop i did more recently would qualify as difficult. this solo trip included spring creek near angleworm lake. the water was very high so it was navigable. it was really tough day of canoeing but about as remote as i had ever felt in the bwca. this trip also included the 700 rod angleworm portgage.

For me the 3 rivers trip is a tough one. Start and finish at lake One. Headed to Kawishiwi Lake via Insula, Alice and Kawisihiwi river and a bunch of small Lakes. Headed back to Lake One via Perent Lake,Parent River, Isabella Lake, Isabella River to Gabbro and so on. 100 miles 52 potage. We did it in 5 days which is why I remember it being tough. And for some reason I thought using an Oldtown 176 Disco was a good idea. That was my only canoe and nobody was renting Kevlar back then

quote Blatz: "For me the 3 rivers trip is a tough one. Start and finish at lake One. "

That looks like a dozy for 5 days and and a OT 176. Question-did you do this in the shoulder season? IT skirts many an EP and I would think that to be problematic.


John

quote jfinn: "

quote Blatz: "For me the 3 rivers trip is a tough one. Start and finish at lake One. "

That looks like a dozy for 5 days and and a OT 176. Question-did you do this in the shoulder season? IT skirts many an EP and I would think that to be problematic.



John
No it was in June. Actually the entire loop is within the BW except the 3 miles road between Kawishiwi Lake and Hog creek. You can leave the BW during your trip if you re enter the same day. I don't see any issue paddling past EPs other than the one on your permit. I can see this happening a lot on big loops. My response would be to call in to see if my car is in the lot corresponding to my permit EP if questioned by a ranger.


"

Portages get a lot easier after you hike in the mountains, I think.

The Sag to Seagull loop was tough for 5 days with lots of big lakes and wind, and that Hanson to Knife portage was a bear.