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CedricB
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01/17/2017 09:44AM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Last year my son and I made our first trip to BWCA. We went out of Ely and I think we are hooked!! We are now trying to plan a trip for mid-June this year and check out the east side. Looking to do base camping off the Gunflint. We want to spend 5 - 6 days, lots of fishing, sight seeing and exploring...

Thanks in advance!!
 
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Grandma L
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01/17/2017 10:57AM  
You might look at going in on East Bearskin, heading over to Little Caribou for a base and day tripping to Johnson Falls. It is about 9 miles and not too bad of portages. Or, the south fork of East Bearskin into Alder and Canoe (about 6 miles and only 2 "shortish" portages)
01/19/2017 12:13PM  
I'm planning a mid-May trip out of Poplar into the Winchell-Omega area this year. The overlook and waterfall on Winchell along with this area being great for wildlife (smallies and moose) are my main draws. What are you and your son looking to accomplish? Good fishing? Seeing something or doing something in particular?
CedricB
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01/19/2017 04:48PM  
quote Grandma L: "You might look at going in on East Bearskin, heading over to Little Caribou for a base and day tripping to Johnson Falls. It is about 9 miles and not too bad of portages. Or, the south fork of East Bearskin into Alder and Canoe (about 6 miles and only 2 "shortish" portages)"

Thanks, Grandma L. Do you know of any cheap over night lodging or camping close by for the night before and maybe the night we take out?
CedricB
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01/19/2017 04:52PM  
quote canoe212: "I'm planning a mid-May trip out of Poplar into the Winchell-Omega area this year. The overlook and waterfall on Winchell along with this area being great for wildlife (smallies and moose) are my main draws. What are you and your son looking to accomplish? Good fishing? Seeing something or doing something in particular? "



Thanks, canoe212
We are looking for good fishing, wildlife, waterfalls,hiking and pretty much anything Outdoors
01/19/2017 06:35PM  
quote CedricB: "
quote Grandma L: "You might look at going in on East Bearskin, heading over to Little Caribou for a base and day tripping to Johnson Falls. It is about 9 miles and not too bad of portages. Or, the south fork of East Bearskin into Alder and Canoe (about 6 miles and only 2 "shortish" portages)"

Thanks, Grandma L. Do you know of any cheap over night lodging or camping close by for the night before and maybe the night we take out? "


I camped the night before my September trip last year at Flour Lake. Nice campground. Only about a 10 minute drive to Trail Center for a great burger. Maybe 15 minutes from the entry point at the far west end of Poplar. The whole area south of Poplar is very nice. I didn't fish much, but I've heard it is decent.

Tomster
TuscaroraBorealis
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01/19/2017 06:39PM  
quote CedricB: "
quote Grandma L: "You might look at going in on East Bearskin, heading over to Little Caribou for a base and day tripping to Johnson Falls. It is about 9 miles and not too bad of portages. Or, the south fork of East Bearskin into Alder and Canoe (about 6 miles and only 2 "shortish" portages)"

Thanks, Grandma L. Do you know of any cheap over night lodging or camping close by for the night before and maybe the night we take out? "


Check out my reply in This thread

I also highly back Grandma 's EP #64 recommendation.
scramble4a5
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01/19/2017 07:14PM  
quote CedricB: "
quote Grandma L: "You might look at going in on East Bearskin, heading over to Little Caribou for a base and day tripping to Johnson Falls. It is about 9 miles and not too bad of portages. Or, the south fork of East Bearskin into Alder and Canoe (about 6 miles and only 2 "shortish" portages)"

Thanks, Grandma L. Do you know of any cheap over night lodging or camping close by for the night before and maybe the night we take out? "U


Clearwater Lake Lodge has bunkhouses. About $22 per person. There is a showerhouse but it's not fancy. Their lodge is a nice place to hang out the night before you shove off. They put on a nice breakfast for about $12.
CedricB
distinguished member (171)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
01/19/2017 07:42PM  
quote quark2222: "
quote CedricB: "
quote Grandma L: "You might look at going in on East Bearskin, heading over to Little Caribou for a base and day tripping to Johnson Falls. It is about 9 miles and not too bad of portages. Or, the south fork of East Bearskin into Alder and Canoe (about 6 miles and only 2 "shortish" portages)"

Thanks, Grandma L. Do you know of any cheap over night lodging or camping close by for the night before and maybe the night we take out? "



I camped the night before my September trip last year at Flour Lake. Nice campground. Only about a 10 minute drive to Trail Center for a great burger. Maybe 15 minutes from the entry point at the far west end of Poplar. The whole area south of Poplar is very nice. I didn't fish much, but I've heard it is decent.


Tomster"



Thanks ,Tomster
I'll look into this one!
CedricB
distinguished member (171)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
01/19/2017 07:45PM  
quote scramble4a5: "
quote CedricB: "
quote Grandma L: "You might look at going in on East Bearskin, heading over to Little Caribou for a base and day tripping to Johnson Falls. It is about 9 miles and not too bad of portages. Or, the south fork of East Bearskin into Alder and Canoe (about 6 miles and only 2 "shortish" portages)"

Thanks, Grandma L. Do you know of any cheap over night lodging or camping close by for the night before and maybe the night we take out? "U



Clearwater Lake Lodge has bunkhouses. About $22 per person. There is a showerhouse but it's not fancy. Their lodge is a nice place to hang out the night before you shove off. They put on a nice breakfast for about $12."


Thanks, scramble4a5
I'll have to check this out. We don't need anything fancy mainly a place to shower. Thanks again
01/19/2017 08:04PM  
We did most of this route a few years ago. We entered at Clearwater Lodge, renting a canoe from them. The breakfast is as good as advertised, and great folks. We stayed on Caribou and daytripped to Johnson Falls, highly recommend it. There are two sets of falls there just so you know. Wouldn't guess it by looking at the lower falls. Then we headed down to Alder and spend a couple nights.

We stayed at the flour Lake campground the night before our entry, it is a campground with lots of large and secluded sites. We also paddled to Flour Lake from Alder the last day to stay another night there after our trip. Since our cars were parked at Clearwater we hiked the forest road there to retrieve them, a pretty easy 1.5 or so mile hike which was kind of fun.

Trip report:


Clearwater entry
CedricB
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01/19/2017 08:27PM  
quote lindylair: "We did most of this route a few years ago. We entered at Clearwater Lodge, renting a canoe from them. The breakfast is as good as advertised, and great folks. We stayed on Caribou and daytripped to Johnson Falls, highly recommend it. There are two sets of falls there just so you know. Wouldn't guess it by looking at the lower falls. Then we headed down to Alder and spend a couple nights.


We stayed at the flour Lake campground the night before our entry, it is a campground with lots of large and secluded sites. We also paddled to Flour Lake from Alder the last day to stay another night there after our trip. Since our cars were parked at Clearwater we hiked the forest road there to retrieve them, a pretty easy 1.5 or so mile hike which was kind of fun.


Trip report:



Clearwater entry "

Thanks, Lindylair for the great trip report and pictures. My son and I are getting excited trying to get this year's trip planned this was a great help.
 
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