Hey all,

I booked EP 14 entry for early June, this will be my second time going to EP 14. I have a small group this trip, and I think they're all on board with covering some significant territory this trip. I'm mostly trying to figure out if this idea is too much of a stretch with no real rest time.

6 days, 5 nights
Ep 14 entry
->Loon
->LLC
->Takucmich
->LLC
->Iron
->Crooked
->Exit via Nikki, Wagosh, Moosecamp, Fourtown.

Estimated total length of 70 miles, with 60 of those being paddling doing 1.5 portages. 22 hours of paddling, 5 of portaging.

Am I nuts? My gut is telling me this would be a nice 10 day trip, not a 6 day trip.

I tried to find trip reports from others who have maybe tried this large loop, but wasn't finding any.

That's a big loop, but by no means is it out of the question for a 6 day trip. You'd be paddling a lot everyday though. If you wanted to do a lot of fishing or a layover day with some sightseeing, that would be tough to make. If you could make it all the way up to Tach or LLC on the first day, that would help a lot. Loon can be a chore with the motorboats plowing through there shuttling people to LLC. I see no problems unless you ran into some big wind/rough water on the bigger lakes like LLC, Iron, and Crooked. I've never done this loop, but I'd be interested to hear a trip report if you do it because I'd give it a go in the future. Nice route.

Providing that the weather cooperates this is a doable route in that time frame. Lots of big water that can get exiting if the winds are up. Start your days really early. I agree that loon isn’t a great route, I’d go up the west bay of loon and take one of the many great routes south of LLC. It seems every time I am on these lakes the winds are howling. All efforts are engaged in keeping the canoe floating, in those conditions it’s tough too keep track of where you are. I don’t do gps so I will admit that I’ve spent a bit of time trying to figure out where we are. These are my favorite lakes in the bwca.

It all depends. When I was 30 I did the 3 Rivers Route 100 miles in 5 days, 52 portages. I'm 58 now and did a solo loop starting at Mudro, Up to Crooked, down to Fourteen last October. 48 miles in 4 days. That was enough daily paddling and portaging for me at this point.

We did up 16 and out mudro the above way. Should be no problem. We were all 50+ and had one bad weather day.

The biggest worry would be wind/weather delays. Your planned travel speed seems reasonable. You do have a little wiggle room - in round numbers you have to travel about 5 hours a day for 6 days or 6 hours a day for 5 days or 7 1/2 hours a day for 4 days, so you could make up some time. On the other hand, you'd be wise to start early as mentioned and put miles behind you and "make hay while the sun shines" since you never know when it'll change.

budget a wind day (or 2)...I've been on LLC when the wind was howling - NOT FUN.

The trip does sound fun, as long as everyone is experienced, and aligned with the expectations (up and moving at daylight, single portaging, cold lunch, little to no drinking at nite, little to no fishing). Under those conditions, and the wind cooperating, This trip is very doable.

Looks like a fun route.

If everyone is on board with putting in 8 hours a day and starting the day efficiently (on the water by 8am) I think you'll surprise yourself on how far you'll be after 3 days. That time of year, you'll have 3-4 hours of daylight on both sides of your travelling time to relax in camp.

Assuming you can make flexible exit point arrangments, if you haven't reached Iron Lake by the third night you can divert down through Agnes and out Moose Lake EP 16.

Write a trip report when you are done so others can follow in your footsteps. :-)

Write a trip report when you are done so others can follow in your footsteps. :-)"

Yes!!! I would love to read a trip report. This sounds like an awesome route. I’ve heard that stretch through Wagosh, Moosecamp area is awesome. It’s on my future trip list. Hope it goes well, maybe we’ll see you! I’m heading in June 9th for a week and we should be in the Iron/Crooked area the majority of he week.

Thank you all for the feedback. After showing your feedback to my trip partners, it sounds like we'll be exiting at EP 16. HAHA. When they told me they wanted to cover some 'significant territory', my definition must have been a bit different.

Thanks again!

tombo131: "Thank you all for the feedback. After showing your feedback to my trip partners, it sounds like we'll be exiting at EP 16. HAHA. When they told me they wanted to cover some 'significant territory', my definition must have been a bit different.


Thanks again! "

Our last trip was in at 14 and we went to Snow Bay via Beatty Rail portage on day 1. We pushed hard and had good weather and were there by early afternoon. However, if you're not heartbroken about skipping the rail portage and seeing boats, take Loon to Slim and it will be a much more secluded section. I like the idea of coming out at Moose R north.