We are looking at a mid-September north-south trip through the park starting at Quetico Lake and exiting at Mudro in the BW, via Jean, Burntside, Sturgeon, Russell, Chatterton, Keats, Shelly, Kahsh Creek, Cairn, Sark, Keefer, Kahshahpiwi, "Irene," Sara, Tuck, Robinson, Crooked, LBF, Horse River and BW lakes to Mudro. We know the southern half of the route well, but have never been on the northern half (if you don't count my teenage trips in the 70s).

So my main question is, how many days do you think it would take us to get from the Quetico Lake EP to Kahshahpiwi? If you have a view on that, I'd also be interested in how many days you think it would take to get from Kahshahpiwi to Mudro (or LBF), since I have a good sense of how long it would take us to do that southern part, so then I could use it to compare to your time estimate for the northern section depending on whether we are slower, faster, or the same.

Also, any tips about campsites, portages, things not to miss, or possible route alterations would be greatly appreciated. I think our basic route plan through the northern part of the park sticks to fairly major routes, which is intentional, since we have not been up that way before. We'll go back in coming seasons and do some loops that go to more out-of-the-way lakes. But if you think there is a better through-route for us on this trip, let us know. (If you prefer to email with info like good campsites, feel free.)

Thanks in advance for your wisdom. Ho Ho

Bill, you're going to love that trip. MNGreene and I took our sons and paddled from Beaverhouse and Quetico across the park through Kawnipi and the Falls Chain to Saganagons, then down the Man Chain and out at the Moose Lake landing. We did it in eight days with two layover days and single-portaging every portage.

If you have a favorable tailwind down Quetico and as you generally head east and south, you'll make some nice time. You and David won't have any trouble making distance if you want. I'd plan four days to get to Kahshahpiwi but with the knowledge that you may very well make it in three.

Do you have your ride to the Beaverhouse landing arranged?

I would say about 4 days to Kahsh and 2 days from there. That's without pushing real hard.

Quetico is LONG. Jean's a nice clear water lake, though my favorite up there was Burntside. I'm partial to old growth pines, and somehow the loggers up that way must have missed Burntside. There is also a really nice island campsite on Burntside.

I'd like to know how long your exit through the BW takes. I've been looking at that as an option since you can now get Latourelles to pick up your permit and could enter the Q there.

I was just through there in July (paddled from PP to Cirrus and back). Three days from Beaverhouse/Quetico to Kahshapiwi, unless you encounter strong headwinds.

Thanks, guys. That's faster than I thought, but that's good, because we can have a couple extra days for bad whether or exploring. Views from more people are always appreciated!

Jackfish, you ask about whether we have a ride to Beaverhouse arranged. We have been debating whether we want to leave our car there. The ranger station at Beaverhouse is already closed for the season, so it could get lonely. I'm in the process to looking into staying at Indianota the night before the trip, and possibly getting a shuttle with them and leaving the car there. I'd be interested in views on that.

Marsonite, to exit at Mudro, you go from Lower Basswood Falls up the Horse River, through Horse, Tin Can Mike, Sandpit to Mudro. It can be done in one day from Robinson (exiting Robinson via the Tuck River to Crooked). You could do it in reverse to enter and get to Robinson the first day, which I think would be permissible with a Quetico Basswood River permit.

What a nice trip. We're going in on the 8th on French

Sounds like a great trip. Remember that you have 12 hour days that time of year,, not the 17 hour days seen in June - July. Have fun.

Bill,

I did the northern part of this trip a few years ago with Mooseplums.

We got a ride to the Beaverhouse EP and exited at Cache Bay.

Essentially, we started the trip about noon in the Beaverhouse parking lot and camped on site "4L" just east of Eden Island. Nice site, but lots of great sites in that area. You'll want to check on the pictos north of Eden Island for sure. The next morning we checked out those pictos and then made it to Jean Lake camping on the point site "D4". This was another nice site with some sandy beaches. More good sites east of there at the pinch point between Upper and Lower Jean. Burntside as a really cool campsite that we passed by.."FA" I think it was. Cool fire pit against a large rock face.

We made it all the way to Sturgeon Narrows that day, but Sturgeon was glassy calm and we just kept going. The S point site "KP" is fantastic and HUGE! We took a break there and ended up making camp around 6pm at the island in the narrows "WY". That was a nice cozy site.

The 4th day we went through the poets to Shelley Lake and camped on "1G8". Another good site as well. From there we when through Kawnipi to Cache Bay.

If I were to do that route again, I would SLOW down from our pace and camp on Burntside, Sturgeon and Russell. Russell has several great camps that I can tell you about if ya like. Chatterton has a couple as well, but I think Russell is the best campsite-wise of the poets. From Russell you could camp on Baird or Cairn. Cairn has some nice sites and you know about the site on Baird. Then from Baird or Cairn one could make Kahshapiwi.

So, I say do the route as such. Camp on Quetico, Burntside, Sturgeon, Russell, Cairn and then Kahsh. Take six days and enjoy that part of the route. There is tons of to see. Big Lakes so plan on wind. We were lucky and didn't have much wind to deal with and did that part of the route in 4 days. Too fast!

Enjoy!

Thanks for the detailed info, Dan! Might as well tell me the sites you thought looked good on Russell too :)

Bill

All I know is I am very envious. Would love to head out on this trip. Love the site on Burntside/Budside. Some other great sites along your route. Book a few extra days so you don't have to rush and of course with a tip of the hat to the traditional fall windy weather.

quote Ho Ho: "
Thanks for the detailed info, Dan! Might as well tell me the sites you thought looked good on Russell too :)


Bill


"

No problem Bill. You've helped me enough before! :)

On Russell there are two campsites right next to Chatterton Falls on the south side of outflow. 15X is the nicer of the 2 in my opinion.

Another nice one is 152 which is across the lake from the falls with good views of them. We stayed on site 13C which was wonderful. Huge sloped rock beach, big fire pit and tons of tent pads. This site is in the north part of the lake near the Chute to Strugeon Narrows.

A couple notes on Russell Lake. Being Fall you should be to paddle upstream from Sturgeon Narrows into Russell without too much trouble. I did this in May once and it was pretty challenging.

Some maps show a portage trail along the north side of Chatterton Falls. I've walked most of this way along the falls and there is no portage. The real portage is in the bay south of the falls.

Thanks! We are planning to paddle up the narrows, figuring that in fall we should be able to do it (despite the continued raininess of our so-called "summer" this year).