Got back Sat. night from a Louse River loop. Went to Wine out of Sawbill last Sunday. Still a big chunk of ice on the south shore of Wine.....big as 3 cars. Up on the hill in the shade. Tues we did the whole Louse River....Wine to Malberg.....10 hours. Those portages are nasty and the beavers have some really messed up and confusing. Saw mama moose with twins on Frond. 2 nights on Malberg.....only caught a couple fish. Stayed at the high site on the narrows. Had a young bear chasing beavers in the water across from camp. Headed for Phoebe on Thur. Another mama moose/ twins sighting on south end of Koma. Not on easy trip up the Phoebe river either. First portage from Polly to river is gorgeous.....they get tougher as you get closer to Phoebe. Had another mama moose and calf swim right in front of us on Phoebe. Stayed at island campsite and caught some walleyes. Fri we went to Ella (skipped the 280)....the Ella portage is an uphill rock garden. Grace and Beth are pretty. Saw more people waiting at the Alton portage than we had seen all week. 43 mile trip.....8.5 miles of portaging. Black flies voracious at the start.....skeets bad at the end. The Louse was a bucket list trip......doubt I'll go back. Rugged beauty and a challenge.

thanks for the mini-trip report "teaser". looking forward to the whole story with photos and everthing! Glad you were finally able to do this route. good time with the kids

trying to visualize the chunk of ice... what kind of car for comparison? :)

Thanks for the quickie! You saw a lot of critters; lucky you!! Did you happen to fish Hazel? Some of my best walleye fishing was on that lake about 15 years ago.

Glad you had a good trip, and it was nice meeting you at Temperance waterfalls.

Glad it was a good trip. Looking forward to pics

Did not fish Hazel but caught some walleyes on Phoebe....wish I could have spent a few days there. Great to meet housty by the Temperance river and also good to meet Bnd at World's Best Donuts.

Sounds exciting!

Thanks for the quick report. We're heading up to do the Lady Chain in 2-1/2 weeks. Never paddled between Polly and Alton so we're excited to see some new territory but also curious about how tough the River stretches might be - lots of beaver activity?

quote Twins87: "Thanks for the quick report. We're heading up to do the Lady Chain in 2-1/2 weeks. Never paddled between Polly and Alton so we're excited to see some new territory but also curious about how tough the River stretches might be - lots of beaver activity? "

Watch out for that portage between Beth and Grace. Last time I was there, the water was up to my calves and we were not prepared to wet foot it. Long portage and quite a few wet spots if there has been any rain. Alton to Beth wasn't a fun one either because of the up and down, but half as long. Grace and Phoebe were worth it though. Beautiful lakes and that river between them is great too.

quote A1t2o: "

quote Twins87: "Thanks for the quick report. We're heading up to do the Lady Chain in 2-1/2 weeks. Never paddled between Polly and Alton so we're excited to see some new territory but also curious about how tough the River stretches might be - lots of beaver activity? "

Watch out for that portage between Beth and Grace. Last time I was there, the water was up to my calves and we were not prepared to wet foot it. Long portage and quite a few wet spots if there has been any rain. Alton to Beth wasn't a fun one either because of the up and down, but half as long. Grace and Phoebe were worth it though. Beautiful lakes and that river between them is great too."

Good info.. thanks! It's our goal to spend most of our time in the interior lakes since either end is easy to get to for a shorter trip. We've built in several layover day options and the plan is to make it a lazy lady chain trip with layovers likely on both Phoebe and Grace.

It's not an easy route. The river portages have some tough landings and there is some beaver activity. We did not do the 280 but opted for the 2 portage route through Ella. The 151 from Grace to Ella is a rock garden landing and is a rocky gradual uphill all the way up the hill to Ella.....I mean rocky ALL the way. Ella to Beth is actually slightly down hill then. The 97 from Polly to the Phoebe river was a gorgeous portage. Nice trail, mostly flat and still covered with pine needles from no traffic. I thought Phoebe was one of the prettiest lakes I've been on up there. I have some nice sunrise pics in the fog that I need to load. The 88 rodder between Phoebe and Grace is decent.....watch for the faint side trails when you hear the waterfalls. There are some pretty little falls to go view.

will be looking for this on the trip reports!

My son and I did that loop 8 years ago, the other direction. We called it the Baton death march.

quote cowdoc: "It's not an easy route. The river portages have some tough landings and there is some beaver activity. We did not do the 280 but opted for the 2 portage route through Ella. The 151 from Grace to Ella is a rock garden landing and is a rocky gradual uphill all the way up the hill to Ella.....I mean rocky ALL the way. Ella to Beth is actually slightly down hill then. The 97 from Polly to the Phoebe river was a gorgeous portage. Nice trail, mostly flat and still covered with pine needles from no traffic. I thought Phoebe was one of the prettiest lakes I've been on up there. I have some nice sunrise pics in the fog that I need to load. The 88 rodder between Phoebe and Grace is decent.....watch for the faint side trails when you hear the waterfalls. There are some pretty little falls to go view."

It looks like you took 7 days to do this route. Could someone do it in less time? I've done Phoebe to Sawbill in a day before, in and out. It gets a little rough doing the 2 portages on either side of Beth back to back especially with taking the 280 route, but it wasn't that hard. I was thinking that it might be possible to do that route in 4 days plus 1 layover day, making 5 total. My buddy and I are still under 30 so it might be doable. What do you think?

Sawbill lists it as a 4 day trip.

Lady Chain Route



We've got 7 days set aside for it but we want to linger on the interior lakes and are planning layover days.

quote cowdoc: "It's not an easy route. The river portages have some tough landings and there is some beaver activity. We did not do the 280 but opted for the 2 portage route through Ella. The 151 from Grace to Ella is a rock garden landing and is a rocky gradual uphill all the way up the hill to Ella.....I mean rocky ALL the way. Ella to Beth is actually slightly down hill then. The 97 from Polly to the Phoebe river was a gorgeous portage. Nice trail, mostly flat and still covered with pine needles from no traffic. I thought Phoebe was one of the prettiest lakes I've been on up there. I have some nice sunrise pics in the fog that I need to load. The 88 rodder between Phoebe and Grace is decent.....watch for the faint side trails when you hear the waterfalls. There are some pretty little falls to go view."

Thanks for the info. We'll look for the waterfalls. We are planning to take the 280 between Grace and Beth, we've heard a lot of stories about the boulder field between Grace and Ella and don't feel the need to experience it!

quote A1t2o: "

quote cowdoc: "It's not an easy route. The river portages have some tough landings and there is some beaver activity. We did not do the 280 but opted for the 2 portage route through Ella. The 151 from Grace to Ella is a rock garden landing and is a rocky gradual uphill all the way up the hill to Ella.....I mean rocky ALL the way. Ella to Beth is actually slightly down hill then. The 97 from Polly to the Phoebe river was a gorgeous portage. Nice trail, mostly flat and still covered with pine needles from no traffic. I thought Phoebe was one of the prettiest lakes I've been on up there. I have some nice sunrise pics in the fog that I need to load. The 88 rodder between Phoebe and Grace is decent.....watch for the faint side trails when you hear the waterfalls. There are some pretty little falls to go view."

It looks like you took 7 days to do this route. Could someone do it in less time? I've done Phoebe to Sawbill in a day before, in and out. It gets a little rough doing the 2 portages on either side of Beth back to back especially with taking the 280 route, but it wasn't that hard. I was thinking that it might be possible to do that route in 4 days plus 1 layover day, making 5 total. My buddy and I are still under 30 so it might be doable. What do you think?"

we took 6 days.....Launched at Sawbill sunday morning and went to Wine. Spent 2 nights there. On Tues we went from Wine.....did the entire Louse River.....to Malberg. Took 10 hours and we were beat. Spent 2 nights on Malberg. Thur we went Malberg, Koma, Polly and then up the Phoebe River route to Phoebe. That was a fairly long rugged day also. On friday we left Phoebe at 8:30 ish and pulled into Sawbill a little after 1:00.

Reasonable for us to plan on 5-1/2 hours to get from Polly to Phoebe?

We double portage and are fairly efficient on both the water and on land. There's just two of us and we've tripped together quite a bit so we work well together.

You should......it's only about 5.5 miles but there are some tough parts. Somewhere along the river stretch there was a rock garden that we waded and pulled the canoes through. Big slippery rocks......it was very annoying and mildly dangerous for ankles. Didn't appear to be a portage around it.

ok....checked Bing maps and found it. The stretch between Hazel and Knight is the tough part. Rock garden is near the Hazel end.....Bing maps shows a channel on north side that we did not see....it would have helped. I'm guessing the water level was just high enough to make it all look somewhat passable anywhere, but there were rocks everywhere just below surface. Next there is a VERY narrow, faster current section that is passable, but you have to paddle hard (upstream for us) and hit every chute just perfect to avoid rocks. It was tricky, but we did it. Lastly, right before Knight, there is a rock chute plus a new beaver dam. We had to get out of canoes to line through the chute safely, only to find a drop off about 8 feet from the beaver dam. I shoved the canoe for a chute in the dam and hopped on the back deck quick to cross the drop off. My bow paddler pulled us across the dam and when I got footing on the dam I got back in canoe. It may have been a good clip for "Funniest Videos".

screen shot of that stretch

Thanks for sharing!

quote cowdoc: "ok....checked Bing maps and found it. The stretch between Hazel and Knight is the tough part. Rock garden is near the Hazel end.....Bing maps shows a channel on north side that we did not see....it would have helped. I'm guessing the water level was just high enough to make it all look somewhat passable anywhere, but there were rocks everywhere just below surface. Next there is a VERY narrow, faster current section that is passable, but you have to paddle hard (upstream for us) and hit every chute just perfect to avoid rocks. It was tricky, but we did it. Lastly, right before Knight, there is a rock chute plus a new beaver dam. We had to get out of canoes to line through the chute safely, only to find a drop off about 8 feet from the beaver dam. I shoved the canoe for a chute in the dam and hopped on the back deck quick to cross the drop off. My bow paddler pulled us across the dam and when I got footing on the dam I got back in canoe. It may have been a good clip for "Funniest Videos".


screen shot of that stretch "

Thank you!!! It helps to know where that stretch is. Bill Hansen from Sawbill told me about this but I hadn't marked it on a map yet, he didn't say which stretch of the river it was on so we were planning to ask when we arrived for our shuttle. What he did tell us is that the CCC dug a channel through the area, which must be what you see on the map. He said the best way to find it is when you hit the boulder field, back up slightly. Stand up in the canoe and look out over the river and you'll see the channel. They dug it through the path of least resistance, not the the path that you'd be likely to take through that stretch of the river so unless you know it's there, you don't look for it. Sounds like it is a bit hard to find even in lower water.

Thanks for the info on the fast current and dropoff by the beaver dam. We will be paddling upstream as well. Maybe I want the water levels to drop off before then ;-) but we only have 17 days until we put in so I'll prepare for the higher water. At least it will mean less portaging through the Kawishiwi on the way to Polly.

Looking forward to your longer trip report and photos when you have time to post.

quote A1t2o: "

quote cowdoc: "It's not an easy route. The river portages have some tough landings and there is some beaver activity. We did not do the 280 but opted for the 2 portage route through Ella. The 151 from Grace to Ella is a rock garden landing and is a rocky gradual uphill all the way up the hill to Ella.....I mean rocky ALL the way. Ella to Beth is actually slightly down hill then. The 97 from Polly to the Phoebe river was a gorgeous portage. Nice trail, mostly flat and still covered with pine needles from no traffic. I thought Phoebe was one of the prettiest lakes I've been on up there. I have some nice sunrise pics in the fog that I need to load. The 88 rodder between Phoebe and Grace is decent.....watch for the faint side trails when you hear the waterfalls. There are some pretty little falls to go view."

It looks like you took 7 days to do this route. Could someone do it in less time? I've done Phoebe to Sawbill in a day before, in and out. It gets a little rough doing the 2 portages on either side of Beth back to back especially with taking the 280 route, but it wasn't that hard. I was thinking that it might be possible to do that route in 4 days plus 1 layover day, making 5 total. My buddy and I are still under 30 so it might be doable. What do you think?"

My Son, his friend and I just completed that same route in 4 days.
Day 1 - Sawbill to Wine
Day 2 - Wine to Trail
Day 3 - Trail to Lake Polly
Day 4 - Lake Polly to Sawbill.
We had pretty good weather so no need to layover. Day 4 was a long one, about 13 hours.

quote cowdoc: "Got back Sat. night from a Louse River loop. Went to Wine out of Sawbill last Sunday. Still a big chunk of ice on the south shore of Wine.....big as 3 cars. Up on the hill in the shade. Tues we did the whole Louse River....Wine to Malberg.....10 hours. Those portages are nasty and the beavers have some really messed up and confusing. Saw mama moose with twins on Frond. 2 nights on Malberg.....only caught a couple fish. Stayed at the high site on the narrows. Had a young bear chasing beavers in the water across from camp. Headed for Phoebe on Thur. Another mama moose/ twins sighting on south end of Koma. Not on easy trip up the Phoebe river either. First portage from Polly to river is gorgeous.....they get tougher as you get closer to Phoebe. Had another mama moose and calf swim right in front of us on Phoebe. Stayed at island campsite and caught some walleyes. Fri we went to Ella (skipped the 280)....the Ella portage is an uphill rock garden. Grace and Beth are pretty. Saw more people waiting at the Alton portage than we had seen all week. 43 mile trip.....8.5 miles of portaging. Black flies voracious at the start.....skeets bad at the end. The Louse was a bucket list trip......doubt I'll go back. Rugged beauty and a challenge."

I just completed this same route over Memorial Day weekend and I agree with you. Once in enough..LOL.

Just loaded all my pics....Louse River Loop 2017....in my photo album. I'll do a meat and potatoes TR when I get time

Great photos! Thanks for sharing.

I don't think I've seen a sports car at the Trestle Inn before........

yeah.....I was a little shocked too. Camero Convertible, all shiny.......I wondered why take that on miles of gravel roads. There was a bit to the story.....tell you around a campfire someday.

I look forward to meeting you someday............. that story is one of the first things I'll ask about. Maybe you'll make it to the fall wingnight sometime? But, I think you are usually doing a fall bwca trip around that time.

On a side note....... when are you guys bringing Jan to Quetico?

late August

Awesome pictures. Looks like it was a great trip. Beautiful lakes and rivers along the way. Looking forward to your TR when you get to it.

I have two work weeks and one graduation party to get through until our Lady Chain Trip. I haven't quite started counting the days/hours yet but once we get through our grad party this coming weekend, i will be!

THANKS AGAIN!!!! for the info on the Phoebe River between Hazel and Knight. Just got back on Sunday from our trip. It was gorgeous but a bit rugged in the middle stretch of the Lady Chain.

I think the water levels were even higher when we came through. Between Kawishiwi Lake and Sawbill Lake, we only had to portage around one large beaver dam - our first day of travel on the Kawishiwi River. Otherwise we paddled right over them the rest of the week.

The boulder chute up rapids that you hit after the boulder field with channel in it was quite the challenge. We tried to paddle up it. Dan, new owner at Sawbill, did the trip about a week before us. They managed to paddle up it so we tried. Nope. Hubby had to get out and drag canoe up the rapids through the boulders in waist deep water. He hopped back in near the end, right before the big drop off. No need to push off or get out on the beaver dam, we paddled right over it. It was almost entirely submerged. I am not sure I would've seen it at all but we were looking for it as you mentioned it.

The majority of the portage landings between Polly and Phoebe were in the middle of rapids so we had quite a high adventure day. But the solitude - 48 hours of not seeing anyone else - and beauty of the river and Phoebe & Grace were well worth it. Sadly we didn't encounter any moose. We actually wouldn't have seen anyone else on Grace either, but we were meeting someone on that lake.

Looking forward to your trip report when you get to it. I always have grand plans to write one but have never managed to take the time.

My favorite spot of the entire trip... the view from our island campsite on Phoebe.

Very nice! :)

Glad you had a good trip! Sounds like you didn't see many people. I always assumed the Lady Chain was kinda busy, but after crossing those portages, I can see why the middle part can be kinda quiet. Which campsite is your pic of Phoebe taken from?....#1026?

quote cowdoc: "Glad you had a good trip! Sounds like you didn't see many people. I always assumed the Lady Chain was kinda busy, but after crossing those portages, I can see why the middle part can be kinda quiet. Which campsite is your pic of Phoebe taken from?....#1026?"

I always thought it was a busy route too and was surprised at the solitude. We spent two nights each on Polly, Phoebe & Grace. Polly was busy as usual. Phoebe had one other site full when we arrived - 1024 - didn't see the people but heard their dog and saw tent and tarp setup. It was the site we were aiming for originally. They were gone by the early the next morning. Didn't see anyone else until we met up with Luft on Grace two days later. We were the only ones camped on Grace for two nights.

Yes the photo is taken from the "front porch" on site 1026. The trip to get there wore us out - we've decided we're getting old! The portage and rapids were challenging and of course there were white caps on Phoebe when we got there. So we sat and looked at the lake, ate & drank wine and just relaxed the whole next day. Of course if we didn't bring in wine our packs would be lighter on the portages ;-)

Which island site were you on?

We were on 1024. We saw nobody on the lake when we arrived, but early the next morning when I was taking sunrise pics, I saw a lone canoe paddling out from the bay to our NW. I assumed they came from 1026. There was nobody on the east arm of Polly, one couple on the west Hazel site, the lone canoe on Phoebe, 2 groups on Grace, Ella was empty, but Beth had 3-4 groups.