Just booked this EP for an Aug 7th five day trip. It will be just my wife and I. What are some recommendations for this EP. We are going to pick one site for the entire trip and just relax. Maybe do a little fishing but mostly just unwind and disconnect from work. Never been in this area before. Last year was our first trip on the Ely side and we did Mudro with a basecamp on Fairy. Thanks in advance guys.

Mike

Im not a base camper but did layover on Bsld Eagle and day tripped the Gull, Clearwater, Turtle loop. Longish day but you dont have to make camp when you get back to base.

None of the camps on Gabbro are bad, it's pretty popular so I'd get the first one I saw. Don't know what the skeeters will be doing that time of year but the EP 33 trailhead will be as bad as any place in the state. Once you get moving on the portage it won't be that bad. Don't take the portage to Bald Eagle, not the one on the maps. Go to the falls, turn right and watch the left bank. About 150 yards there's a 40 foot drag over, all rock. Be aware of the narrows from Little Gabbro to Gabbro, it's absolutely not dangerous but it will turn you around if you don't pay attention. There's kind of a sandy beach in the middle of Gabbro on the south side, also all along the west side of BE and one on the south end of BE.

Will second a couple points from maxxbhp. The little kinda fast water between Little Gabbro and Gabbro DID turn my son and I around, as close as we ever have been to going over. (Skinny paddle blades didn't help in the current, but I blame me in the back seat.) The mosquitoes at the parking lot and most of the portage trail were ridiculous, on the lake or at the campsite was not any better or worse than any other location.

There seems to be some nice sites on Gabbro, but if you don't get one on the big part of the lake, the far east site getting near the rapids to Bald Eagle is great for a small group. There is good fishing very close with the fast water from Bald Eagle. No other campsites near, but will see people come to fish and move through. I heard good things about Bald Eagle, but had no need to go there.

If disconnecting means no cell phone service, texting, or email, you need to turn the phone off, as it is in range.

Last thought. A couple minutes after leaving the entry point turn around and take a look at it. I never looked back and it took me a while to find it on the way out, never had that problem before or since.

Should be a great trip. I am a little envious, my trip next week doesn't have nearly the fishing of Gabbro.

Last thought. A couple minutes after leaving the entry point turn around and take a look at it. I never looked back and it took me a while to find it on the way out, never had that problem before or since.

That actually makes me quite happy to hear, in the glad I'm not alone sense, because Little Gabbro bedevils me. I've taken 3 winter camping trips through there, and each time I've been mystified as to which little fingers of land on the map were the points of land I was seeing. I thought it was maybe just the flat light of winter, or maybe just a Bermuda Triangle annex. It didn't help that the makers of the Mackenzie map for the area showed the winter passage to Gabbro as going over a rock wall, and not through the swamp it actually runs through. But, hooboy, it's easy to lose your orientation on that little lake.

Thanks for the input guys. Yeah we plan to get a really early start and tackle the portage to get a campsite early in the morning. It looks like a great area. The sandy spots are a bonus too!

Mike

One of the things that doesn't help, different maps show that portage in different places, from 104 to 230 rods. None of them are right. I don't know what that's all about but with some maps you might never find it.

thanks to everyone for the insight on this thread...taking my 10 YO daughter here on 7/8 and it's great to have the advance info.