Hi,
I'm looking for a good route on mostly rivers and smallish lakes for 2-3 people. We want to paddle for about 5-6 hours from camp to camp with 2+ hour trip options from camp for fishing and sight seeing. We are ok with portages but want to limit if possible because who likes portages.
I did a trip from ep#16 to lake Agnes in September for my first trip last year and it was fun but I'm looking for more options for day trips. A new site every night is fine but we are hoping to do 3 sites with a solid day of exploring/fishing on the day we stay at the same site. A loop or different entry and exit points are what we are looking for. We will be kayaking so I think we will make a little better time then I did on the last trip. It took us roughly 5hrs of paddling to make it from ep16 to the north end of Agnes maybe a little less. The way back we made slightly better time because a pair in the group finally found their rhythym
We don't care if it's out of Ely or Grand Marais. Any suggestions? Early June is the timeframe.

Thanks.

On the Grand Marais side, you can enter at Seagull, and do a loop (either direction) through Saganaga, Red Rock, Alpine, and back to Seagull. This is a mix of both bigger and smaller lakes, all have good fishing. No killer portages.

If you do 2 nights on Alpine you can also venture out on a day trip to Jasper, Kingfisher and Ogish,,,Ogish also a good fishing Lake.

I did two nights each on Red Rock and Alpine last year and have no regrets.

First - In most places in the BW smaller lakes and river routes are going to mean more portages. You can avoid more portages by risking the larger lakes (Like Seagull mentioned above.) . Here are some of my favorite "smaller lakes" routes.

Entry 37 - Kawishiwi Lake - (Get a Shuttle from Sawbill to Kawishiwi)Travel to Malberg Lake - Daytrips from Malberg include: Southwest to Fishdance to see the PIctographs, northwest to Boulder Adams, northeast to Makwa (cliffs), east along the Louse River to Boze or Frond Lakes. After the daytrip, head back south to Polly Lake and then turn east along the "Lady Lakes" chain (Polly, Hazel, Phoebe, Grace, Beth) to Sawbill Lake. This route features the Kawishiwi River, Phoebe River, and plenty of smaller lakes. You will have to cross the larger Alton Lake to get back to Sawbill through.

Entry 38 - Sawbill Lake - Cherokee Loop with a visit to Frost Lake. - Day One travel east to Burnt Lake. Day two continue east to Kelly Lake then turn north. Spend a night on Jack Lake or make it a long day and head to South Temperance. Turn west from the Temperance Lakes and head to Cherokee Lake. Spend an extra day here and head north to Frost Lake (Golden sand beaches and better than average chance to see a moose.). Then head back south to Sawbill. This route features the Temperance River, Cherokee Creek and Ada Creek. Cherokee Lake can act like a larger lake if the wind is from the right direction. You will have to paddle the entire length of Sawbill Lake to return to the landing.

Entry 47 - Lizz Lake -You start on Poplar Lake for this entry. Head to Gaskin Lake for your first night. You can spend your extra day here visiting Winchell Lake or Vista Lake. Then continue west to Long Island Lake. You can take your extra day here and visit Frost Lake. Head north east out of Long Island to Banadad Lake. You can head out east through Skipper back to the Poplar Lake put in. This route features your best opportunity to see moose, Muskeg Creek and plenty of smaller lakes. Those long narrow lakes can act much larger with the wind out of the right direction though.

You can do a shorter loop here by stopping the first night on Horseshoe, head to Winchell the second night (Spend an extra day here climbing to the top of the cliffs and finding the small waterfall on the south side of the lake.) . Head north to Omega Lake and then east to Pillsbury Lake. Head north to Meeds Lake. Then out through Caribou to Lizz and Poplar. You will cover a lot less distance each move, but you will have fewer portages.

Hope you have a great trip!

quote Michwall2: "
Entry 47 - Lizz Lake -You start on Poplar Lake for this entry. Head to Gaskin Lake for your first night. You can spend your extra day here visiting Winchell Lake or Vista Lake. Then continue west to Long Island Lake. You can take your extra day here and visit Frost Lake. Head north east out of Long Island to Banadad Lake. You can head out east through Skipper back to the Poplar Lake put in. This route features your best opportunity to see moose, Muskeg Creek and plenty of smaller lakes. Those long narrow lakes can act much larger with the wind out of the right direction though.


You can do a shorter loop here by stopping the first night on Horseshoe, head to Winchell the second night (Spend an extra day here climbing to the top of the cliffs and finding the small waterfall on the south side of the lake.) . Head north to Omega Lake and then east to Pillsbury Lake. Head north to Meeds Lake. Then out through Caribou to Lizz and Poplar. You will cover a lot less distance each move, but you will have fewer portages.
"

This is a good route You could base camp on Gaskin, Vista, Horseshoe or Winchell and explore the area. From the landing on Poplar to Gaskin is 4:45 double portaging and taking your time. Rockwood has a bunkhouse and their service can't be beat.

Another option would be from Cross Bay Lake EP down to Long Island Lake or Cherokee Lake. Very beautiful area.

Here's a few ideas.
The Granite River route might fit your plan. It is kind of short and there might be more portages then you want. Lots of rapids & water falls, fishing is decent, and you would have time to relax each day.
Take a tow to Indian Portage and then paddle to Knife Lake. Short trip not very many portages and decent fishing.
The numbers chain might work, never been there and it sounds like it is pretty crowded. But the route fits your itinerary.
Of course crowded in the bdub is nothing like a crowded at a state park in Iowa.

I just noticed that you will be kayaking. Any chance you and the group would switch to canoes? From information that I have read on this site, most people would never use a kayak a second time. Portaging is the main reason - very hard to portage, and very hard to load/unload at portages. Capacity is also very limited. Whatever time you gain paddling will likely be lost portaging. If you like the freedom of having your own boat, rent solos. Super lightweight and easy to portage. Easy and fun to paddle. Or switch it up an get a tandem and a solo. If you really want to make some time both paddling and portaging get a 3 person like a Wenonah MN3.

quote Northwoodsman: "I just noticed that you will be kayaking. Any chance you and the group would switch to canoes? From information that I have read on this site, most people would never use a kayak a second time. Portaging is the main reason - very hard to portage, and very hard to load/unload at portages. Capacity is also very limited. Whatever time you gain paddling will likely be lost portaging. If you like the freedom of having your own boat, rent solos. Super lightweight and easy to portage. Easy and fun to paddle. Or switch it up an get a tandem and a solo.

Yeah, I agree with you that any time gained will be lost on portages. That is why I'm hoping g find a route with fewer. Canoes would be much easier but I think kayaks will be fun. Especially once we make camp and head back out for a few hours of paddling. I think I have an idea to modify my kayak that will speed up loading and unloading though. Hopefully it works the way I think it will. Im going to do multiple mock runs to find the most efficient way to load my gear. Thanks

Portaging Kayaks up to Malberg would be pretty brutal. I love this area, but I'd never take a yak on that trip.

Just my personal thoughts - not telling you what to do.

I'm Don't Panic's brother and I'm planning to be on this trip. We came up with a route and would appreciate any input. Put in either EP 22 or 23.

Day One: Mudro to Fourtown to Boot to Gun to Gull. Stay at either Thunder or Beartrap.

Day Two: Beartrap River to Sunday to Petersen Bay and Iron Lake. Stay on Iron Lake.

Day Three: Day trip East from Iron Lake camp.

Day Four: Through the Bottle to Lac La Croix and find camp in Tiger Bay.

Day Five: Day trip Northwest on Lac La Croix.

Day Six: Through Agnes to Moose River to Nina Moose and out EP 16.

We figure Day 1 , 2, and 6 to be hard days and Day 3, 4, and 5 relaxed days. We are taking kayaks and we might regret the portages, but we think on the easy days on Iron Lake and Lac La Croix they'll be nice to have without the gear.

quote theBull42: "
Day One: Mudro to Fourtown to Boot to Gun to Gull. Stay at either Thunder or Beartrap.
"

Just getting to Fourtown on day one will make you wish you hadn't brought kayaks.

KarlBAndersen1: "

quote theBull42: "
Day One: Mudro to Fourtown to Boot to Gun to Gull. Stay at either Thunder or Beartrap.
"

Just getting to Fourtown on day one will make you wish you hadn't brought kayaks."

There are only to portages on the map. A 44 rod and 104 rod.... I don’t see the issue. We will not be packing hatches if that changes your opinion. Will we have packs that will be loaded and will double portage. Just curious why it’ll be so terrible.

KarlBAndersen1: "

quote theBull42: "
Day One: Mudro to Fourtown to Boot to Gun to Gull. Stay at either Thunder or Beartrap.
"

Just getting to Fourtown on day one will make you wish you hadn't brought kayaks."

+1

What you described in the original post is almost exactly what I'm looking for with a few exceptions, I'll be in a canoe, I don't mind portages and I'll be solo.
Some great trip ideas here, thanks everyone for the replies. I really like the circle trips with different entry/exit points. The only thing worse than a brutal portage is doing it twice.
Last year I went from #16 to #14 and would recommend it to most but there are some long portages in there. The upside is I didn't see one person for 3 days.

I know a lady that spends weeks on trips in her kayak. She does look kinda funny at first with stuff stuffed everywhere inside and out. She uses a little poke boat so not quite so heavy. She brings a lot of fresh foods. But I've seen her go through stuff guys in canoes wouldn't. So I don't poo poo anyone's ideas like this.
The last post of e14 to e16 was a good thought. Put in lis and go up cutting in Slim up to steep and such. If the portages are too much cut up to lac la croix from gun. Or just go up through beaty portage and do the lac la croix loop. There are places you can stand into smaller lakes and such. One option too is coming from Agnes you could cut into oyster and up to Gebe on up to pocket Creek and back out to lac la croix.
Other end of bw put in at McFarland and put in going up the Royal to the border route. Portage through to Clearwater down to Caribou and back across Pine. With Johnson Falls on the route.
Your idea is a good thought. Adventurous for sure. The goat portage going towards Fourtown is a bugger. But I've done it back in my youthful days with big stuff and didn't bother me a bit. I'm not a kayak fan myself, but that's just me. There are ways to make life easier no matter what options you choose. Just have to be creative sometimes.

On the Ely side, I'd recommend something out of ep 16. My daughter and I did a nice six night loop with just 3-4 hours of paddling each day, but you could lengthen it to make it meet your needs. Basically up the Moose River to Nina Moose to Agnes to LLC up through the Pocket Creek to Ge-be-on-e-quet, down the Oyster River and back to Nina Moose. You have easy options to lengthen it by going to Stuart or Iron on the first or second day, or over to Pocket Lake on the middle day. Could go up around Coleman Island too, but that involves some bigger water on LLC.

So we have decided on Ep 22 (mudro to bear trap to iron to Llc to Nina moose to Ep 16, with a extra day at sites on iron and llc for sure). We are probably doing a full week now to not be rushed. We are not using an outfitter but would like to use a bunkhouse that allows a dog. Any recommendations?

DontPanic: "

KarlBAndersen1: "

quote theBull42: "
Day One: Mudro to Fourtown to Boot to Gun to Gull. Stay at either Thunder or Beartrap.
"

Just getting to Fourtown on day one will make you wish you hadn't brought kayaks."

There are only to portages on the map. A 44 rod and 104 rod.... I don’t see the issue. We will not be packing hatches if that changes your opinion. Will we have packs that will be loaded and will double portage. Just curious why it’ll be so terrible. "

Not the worst I've ever done, but let's just say that our men's group has done that route three times now over the years, and after last year's trip they voted 'never again.' I personally would think it worthy of another time around on our cycle of favorite entries, but the average age of our group is not going down, and there were some who really struggled this time. Rocky, hilly, some awkward put-ins. Again, like I say, nothing that kills, just notable.

And, oh, there are actually three portages on that stretch between Mudro and Fourtown, the northernmost one being a short portage right after the longest one. Comes after a reload and annoyingly short push across a short patch of water.

No, I would never take that route with a kayak, especially if attempting a 2-man carry. We had a father-son team last year who tried team-carrying their canoe and gave it up... this route makes for really challenging footing for a duo.