Hi!

Planning a 4-day October trip this fall and looking for some recommendations (most difficult part of the trip is planning for us...) Our group consists of early 20-year-old, experienced paddlers, that are all in good shape. That said, we still dread portages and will be packing heavier in case of cold/inclement weather. I've listed some "preferences," though I have no expectations to meet all of them!

- Few portages (would rather have a fewer longer than more shorter ones)
- same entry point or two that are within a short drive from eachother
- as little backtracking as possible, loops are preferred to cover new ground
- not all lake-trout-only lakes, as the season will be closed (*sigh*) so our fishing efforts will he directed elsewhere.

Possible routes:
Little Indian Sioux--> LLC --> moose river.
Seagull --> --> ottertrack --> sag --> knife --> ogi--> alpine --> seagull.
Mudrow --> horse river --> crooked to Friday bay --> wagosh --> gun --> fourteen.

Too ambitious? Terrible portages?

Any recommendations/mileage suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

If a major goal is fishing, I would shorten the loops some. Mornings are cold and days are shorter.

It's hard to make more specific recommendations without knowing more about your experience, capabilities, entry day, etc. You may already know some of this. Beginning even in early Oct., the weather will be highly variable and days will be short (~12 hours daylight). The weather could impact your travel, especially on the larger lakes, leaving you windbound for long periods. Or you could have very benign weather. Snow is a possibility or days of cold wind-driven rain. The later you go, the greater the probabilityof bad weather.

I don't know your travel capabilities (single/double portage, average travel speed), but the fact you ask if the routes are too long/ambitious suggests you're not real sure either. Generally speaking I'd say they are, especially if you must be out by that certain date. I'd look to avoid the big water, plan a shorter route, or one with options to shorten. Planning you need to have some idea of average travel speed and distance. You can measure distance off the maps. You can look at maps at the Voyageur Maps site and order them here. The squares on the map are 1-mile squares, so you can guesstimate on the Voyageur site or get the maps and measure. If you have GPS capability, you could do that also.

As an example we did a trip years ago entering at Kawishiwi Lake with a plan to exit at Sawbill Lake. Good weather and we took the option to loop through Little Sag, otherwise we'd have done the Lady Chain. So something like that might be a good idea for you.

Is your trip mainly focused on fishing, or exploring/camping. I have done variations of the Seagull to Seagull loop you mentioned many times. I listed out a few of my favorite loops below.

Route 1: End of the Trail campground main parking > Big Sag > Ottertrack > Ester > Hanson > Knife South Arm > Eddy > Jenny > Ogish > Jasper > Alpine > Seagull (back side boat ramp at End of the Trail). You would be looking at around 35 miles round trip with 11 easy portages.

Route 2: End of the Trail campground main parking > Big Sag > Red Rock Bay > Red Rock > Alpine > Seagull (back side boat ramp at End of the Trail). Much shorter at only 18 miles round trip. 3 portages. This is probably too easy for what you are looking for.

Route 3: End of the Trail campground main parking > Big Sag > Ottertrack > Knife > (loop around Thunder Point) Knife South Arm > Eddy > Jenny > Ogish > Jasper > Alpine > Seagull (back side boat ramp at End of the Trail). You would be looking at around 45 miles round trip with 11 portages.

Those are some pretty ambitious loops for 4 days, especially with bad weather a decent chance of seeing on one day and short daylight hours. (and wanting to fish??)

If you dread portages and want to fish....there are FAR better and shorter trips you could do.

Do you want to put on miles like your loops suggest? Or do you want to avoid portages and fish?

Enter LIS and get to Shell or Lynx. Both are good walleye lakes. Next day go to Hustler and fish for northern and bass. Third night stay on Agnes and fish for walleye. You said four days. Does that mean four nights? If so, any one of those days you could stay two nights and day trip and explore other nearby lakers.

The wind on Sag or Seagull could have you stuck on shore and watching the clock run out. Instead of succumbing to the pressure to push it, you might want to have an alternate route in your back pocket to pull out when you see what hand you have been dealt.

October can be glorious or treacherous.

Consider an entry point like Lizz (numerous loop options) or Cross Bay Lake (option to exit via Missing Link). These areas have flexibility for routes and smaller lakes if the wind is bad.

I have to agree about being a little ambitious. But I remember when that young, I did such ambitious things without blinking an eye.
Why not though a loop out of Moose River north taking the Oyster River to Oyster Lake up to Gebe and taking Pocket Creek to Lac La Croix and back down. There would be options to expand or shorten your trip...