My trip report will be brief, so I'll adopt the handy format used by Bastard2.

First, I'm surprised to hear about all the water he/they encountered. My first observation at the Beaverhouse lake launch (after noting with chagrin that there are no wheelbarrows there this year, so it was a true portage unassisted by the invention of the wheel), was how low the water was there compared to last year. It was shallow, warm, and muddy, and I think someone had cleaned a bunch of fish there without disposing well of the guts -- it kinda stank.

Solitude this year at this time was better than I've ever had. No other parties at the launch; no parties at the portage over to Quetico lake; and very very few parties, and small, seen on the lake. In contrast to the big 9-head, 3-dog parties I remember seeing in BWCA, I noticed 2-man canoes and a set of 3 very skilled-looking folks paddling their own boats solo with kayak paddles. Only at the very end did I see a 6-head party of guys with noticeably overloaded canoes. Did not envy them, as it was a windy old day.

That's another thing: either my first two trips to the Q were blessed with really nice calm wind conditions, or my last two, this year and 2022, were especially windy. Lots of breeze! I crossed Quetico lake back West in whitecaps from healthy NW wind that lasted most of 3 days, feeling oh so grateful to not want to be going the other direction. These tailwind conditions are when I troll deep for lakers, and it worked well :)

I decided not to do the portage over to Jean, and didn't regret it. There's plenty of explorable water just on Quetico, and no shortage of good fishing for all four species. One note: the camp marked on Fischer maps right at the entrance to "West Bay" is quite disused and overgrown with weeds, and is also quite a climb/haul from the water. I was irritated by that until I started taking in the view.

Raised in similar piney woods back in Maine, I love the Quetico woods and lakes very very much. Gonna be back next year and as long as the old body allows.

I am surprised by your wind comment. I was in Q from 5/31 to 6/11 and 8 of the 12 days were dead calm with temperatures close to or over 30 degrees Celsius. I have never seen the wind so calm. There were only two days which were extremely windy. One night my tent nearly blew away and the fly was ripped. I was also able to swim everyday which was another first for me in June. I wore a t-shirt and my bug shirt for all the trip until the second last day when I had to put on a shirt. I had seven days in a row where I got the big four fishing which was another first. The bugs were really bad and one of the calm days it took me three km to get rid of a herd of mosquitoes from a portage. All in all it was a different June trip with better wind, swimming and fishing and worst heat and bugs. I have already booked my three week August trip. Can’t wait.