Excited, and a little bit nervous! Tomorrow morning my husband and I will drop off our toddlers with Grandma and Grandpa, and head up to Rockwood Outfitters to stay the night in their bunkhouse before putting in at EP 47 for a three night tripto celebrate our fifth anniversary. Thank you to every one who helped me pick an entry point and figure out a route - I learned so much from your posts and just from lurking around the boards in general. I'm so excited to finally get to see the Boundary Waters after wanting to go my entire life!

We plan on base camping on Gaskin and taking everything slow since it will be our first time there, but if you have suggestions for any great day trips or sites to see in the area, I'm all ears!

Take a side trip down toward Vista lake portage - you may be fortunate to see some moose there. Gaskin is a great place to basecamp. If the wind isn't too bad, a paddle west on Winchell is worth the trip. Enjoy!

The southern campsite on Vista is a 5 star site, the lake is beautiful and the fishing can be very good. If you are not committed to Gaskin you could consider this option. Trouble is if the southern site is not open there is only one more viable option on the lake. The site on the western shore is actually pretty nice but has a horrible landing. Once up on top it is nice and has a great view. Kind of a crapshoot, if you were to get the southern Vista site you would love it. Could be extra work for nothing and retrace to Gaskin or Horseshoe.

Have a great trip.

Enjoy your trip! Just try to see as many of the surrounding lakes as you can squeeze in.

Have a great time! I've entered on Lizz many times, and it's a great area for your purposes. I second going to Vista!

Mike

Have fun! I've been to that area several times and love it. Rockwood is a great place to stay the night before.... wake up, have a quick breakfast, walk down to their beach, and paddle away at first light!!!

My wife and I did our second trip together to Gaskin. For daytrips... Winchell has big cliffs and a waterfall. I really like the skinny stretch of lakes north of Gaskin from Omega, Henson, Pillsbury, Allen, and Jump because like skinny lakes and they are a lot quieter than the other lakes in the area.

I hope you have a good trip!

Climb to the top of the cliff on Winchell. Nice views. Search on here for more info.

Great area for a first visit!

Horseshoe is a really nice lake too, and not a bad base camp area as well if you find yourself ready to stop one lake sooner then planned.

Arrived back at Rockwood around 4 pm this afternoon. It was an incredible adventure - better than I even began to imagine. I can't wait to go back very, very soon! I will be posting a trip report in the next few days!

Glad to hear it! I'll look for the trip report.

I smiled when I read your reaction to the trip. A few years ago, I did my first trip and was overwhelmed with how it was much more work than I imagined, and so much better than I imagined it would be! Welcome to the fraternity (or sorority) of those who have been blessed by the area!

Great news! Looking forward to the trip report.

Awesome, sounds like you got the bug now :)