I'm looking to plan a fairly easy/short solo trip for this spring. I figured we have tons of talent and experience here on BWCA.com and so I thought I'd ask you guys, the experts, for suggestions. My only preference being that I prefer to stick to smaller lakes on my solos. Thanks!

Here are a couple of options -
Off the Echo Trail - entry #14-Little Indian Sioux river North, Upper/ Lower Pauness, Shell, Heritage, and Lynx.
A simple but busy option - Ely - entry#30 Lake One over to Insula, Thomas and Fraser
Off the Gun Flint - entry #49 Lizz (enter at Poplar Lake) Caribou, Horseshoe, Gaskin, Meeds.

Thanks Grandma L! I went on a trip once where we put in Little Indian Sioux. The wind on our way out was horrendous! I think I may take your suggestion and boast the wind to bad luck and give it a shot. I remember this campsite on Oyster that was heavenly. Thank you for the ideas!

Don't forget the solo tripping forum, campNgirl.

Are you looking for an entry, a route? Basecamp or travel? How many days/nights? How far do you want to travel? What about portages - how many, how long, how tough? What lakes are too big? Any particular places/areas you want to avoid? Etc.

There are a lot of options obviously and I never know where to begin without a little more information, especially since most of what I plan and do tends to be longer and not necessarily so easy.

Would something like the Sawbill loop in this

female solo trip report work?

Thank you!
I agree, I plan different trips depending on my group. Myself I try to take it somewhat easy, just in case I die. When I take a novice or young group I try not to pack on too many miles, I want them yearning for more. If I've got myself a hard-packed crew of at least one person I pack on the miles. And you know what? I LOVE each type of these trips. :)

Big lakes? I really don't want to go any bigger than Horse, even Horse can get some good wind going. On my solo's I like to keep to smaller lakes as I have a canoe that is not intended for solo use so rides a little high.

Portages? I dig them, nothing is too long or tough. I've portaged myself over a mile before, no speed records were set but what evs. lol Just another mode of travel.

Time? I most likely will only have a long weekend. Putting in on Thursday morning and heading home Sunday.

I've done most of my trips out of Ely, only reason being is I LOVE Ely but I have nothing against the Gunflint or Sawbill. I don't mind traveling or base camping, both are good. Thanks!

Gunflint....Brant entry. Gotter, Flying, Bingshick, Fay, Fern, Gillis (a bigger lake but you can follow north shore), Bat, Green......nice little loop.....all small lakes.

Do you have solo canoe experience? It might be a good idea to paddle one to get the hang of it. :)

One idea if you haven't been there before...Mudro entry to Fourtown, west to Boot and camp on Fairy - a really cool little lake with a mystical quality about it and an awesome campsite on the eastern shore. Up through Gun which is a gorgeous lake to Moosecamp for day two, choice of a few good sites. Down the Moosecamp River which is reportedly a very scenic couple hour paddle with a couple beaver dam pullovers possible. Stay your last night on Fourtown which is a beautiful but busy lake, lots of campsites. This is the biggest lake of the trip. Should be an easy out on your last day.

As an alternate to fourtown you could go to Gull for an amazing peninsula campsite or on to Thunder or the 5 star site on Beartrap and have a lake to yourself. This would leave the choice of going back the way you came(looks different on the way back) or spending night 3 on Moosecamp for a long last day or taking the Moosecamp River at the end of day 3 to a Fourtown campsite, just a little more travel.

This is perhaps my favorite area of the BWCA and although Mudro is a busy entry, I believe that a majority of the traffic goes to Horse Lake or up the Horse River to the Lower Basswood Falls area, or stays on Fourtown itself.

How about #37 Kawishiwi Lake to Lake Polly and back? A few long flat portages and smaller lakes. You could likely do the Lady Lake Chain from that same EP if you wanted (begin at #37 and end at #38 Sawbill Lake) but it would be a stretch. A few of the lakes may be windy, especially Alton, along that route.

I was going to suggest Brant Lake although I haven't been there, but cowdoc beat me to it. It is one of the contenders for my fall trip.

There are a variety of short trips that you could do out of the entries from Poplar Lake - Lizz, Meeds, Skipper.

quote boonie: "I was going to suggest Brant Lake although I haven't been there, but cowdoc beat me to it. It is one of the contenders for my fall trip.


There are a variety of short trips that you could do out of the entries from Poplar Lake - Lizz, Meeds, Skipper.


"

The Gotten portage is a little bit of a bugger if your not in shape. And another on that trip has a pretty steep stairway but not real long. Otherwise a great trip.

LIS is a nice trip. If your going thru heritage over to loon, when you get to the. North end of the Devils cascade portage you have a pretty good climb. But it's pretty worth the effort. Both upper and lower pauness (I know I didn't spell it right haha) can be pretty full on weekends, so just know your gambling on your last night if you go there on Saturday to have an easier paddle out. I think it was 2010 I was coming out on Friday of memorial weekend, it seemed I met more groups coming in than they give permits for. And those campsites were already full.

Thank you for your concern. Yes, I have 8 solo trips under my belt and approximately 40-50 trips I've planned. I'm looking for ideas that I may not have thought of yet. I find myself returning to places I like vs exploring new places.

I have and this is a favorite area of mine. First trip I ever planned was to Horse so it has become a favorite place to include in my outings. The ideas you suggested are great ones, Fourtown has some great places. Thanks for 5 star heads up on campsites, always great.

quote campNgirl: "Thank you for your concern. Yes, I have 8 solo trips under my belt and approximately 40-50 trips I've planned. I'm looking for ideas that I may not have thought of yet. I find myself returning to places I like vs exploring new places."

If you're looking for new places to explore, where have you not been? That might be a shorter list than the places you've been on 40-50 trips ;) The number of days you have for this trip, will make it difficult to get too deep, but there are some other short trips you could do since you're not limited on portages - Ram entry, Morgan entry, East Bearskin, Angleworm, Stuart for instance.

Might I make a suggestion my friend and I did in November of this year on a whim, since the weather was so nice. We wanted a nice short easy in, Base camp, and out route on a Fri-Sun. We looked at Ram and Bower Trout, but did not fit all of our criteria. We settled on EP40, Homer Lake. I see very little talk about the lakes through this area, but I absolutely loved this area. I have been to Brule on a few occasions, and have a lot of Experience on the "East Side".
Homer is absolutely beautiful lake with many small islands and inlets to explore on your entry. We stayed on Vern at Campsite 961. For a solo it would work nicely. We took day trips into Juno, and also over to Pipe Lake. We almost moved over to Pipe and stayed at campsite 965, but opted to just stay on Vern. These are narrow lakes(except Pipe) with beautiful Bluffs , a few you can pull over and hike up. Since they are narrow, the wind was not much of a factor. The fishing was pretty good also, if that is also a criteria. I was surprised at these little lakes and how nice the area is. We saw Moose tracks on the portages, and had a chorus of wolves while fishing in the evening on the North End of Vern, and on Saturday morning I had a grouse wander into camp during breakfast. It doesn't look like the sites get a lot of use. That might be because of the proximity to Brule. This is an easy paddle with short simple portages. I was going to solo on the west side this year, but I may opt to explore this area more.

The Granite River to Sag is a great first solo route. You get river, lake, swamp, waterfalls, rapids and lots of places to explore and fish.

Mike

Entry 39- Baker Lake to South or North Temperance and back. Beautiful route along the Temperance River watershed. River like paddling on a north south route gets you protected from the wind. Only one long portage that is mostly flat. South Temperance is a Island studded jewel. I like the campsite in the northwest corner. North Temperance has some great views to the northwest looking at the southeast side of the hills toward Cherokee Lake. Stop between Kelly and Jack to explore for the abandoned mine. If the winds are calm, hop out onto Brule and find the huge rock fall in the northwest corner.

Ep 16 head up to oyster on first day. If the water is up you can take the oyster river and avoid the 160 rd portage stay on the north side and day trip up to gebe. Smaller lakes and easy to avoid the wind. It's a nice paddle and not a lot of traffic past oyster lake.

I like Ely too. Maybe different: EP84 Snake River - go east on Isabella River - maybe to Quadaga or to Isabella. Small water, wolves, moose seen. I find solos are quieter and easier to get closer to wildlife. This is reportedly better earlier in year with higher water levels.

I went through Sawbill to Burnt a few years ago and had a good time. It was my only solo and I wouldn't say it was difficult. Probably would add more on the next one but it was good to just feel out the process. It's a lot more work everyday just getting the chores done.

quote fishinfool71: "Might I make a suggestion my friend and I did in November of this year on a whim, since the weather was so nice. We wanted a nice short easy in, Base camp, and out route on a Fri-Sun. We looked at Ram and Bower Trout, but did not fit all of our criteria. We settled on EP40, Homer Lake. "

I second this! I did a solo in at Homer a few years ago, and I think it's a great EP. I love it for the great outside of the BW camp sites for the first night, you can drive up and even if you have to put in in the dark get to those sites and be fine. It's an easy walk back if you want to exit through Brule.

Fishinfool71 Thanks I've not been to this area and it sounds like fun. I love lakes with all the books and islands and such. Thanks a bunch!

Sounds like a great suggestion, thanks Mike!

Michwall2 this will be a definite trip at some point, always fun to exlore historic pieces. Thanks

Campingirl,
Looked at your profile, beautiful dog, and it looks like the pup enjoys the water.
Sorry, not much help here, but I went in at LIS for a solo once, went into Shell, Gebe, Finger, small water and fairly isolated when you get in a ways.

quote Michwall2: "Entry 39- Baker Lake to South or North Temperance and back. Beautiful route along the Temperance River watershed. River like paddling on a north south route gets you protected from the wind. Only one long portage that is mostly flat. South Temperance is a Island studded jewel. I like the campsite in the northwest corner. North Temperance has some great views to the northwest looking at the southeast side of the hills toward Cherokee Lake. Stop between Kelly and Jack to explore for the abandoned mine. If the winds are calm, hop out onto Brule and find the huge rock fall in the northwest corner.



"

I haven't been to this area, but I was thinking this might fit the bill for you too.

Another idea... Wood up to Indian Lake?

Lastly, we like smaller lakes too, and were interested last year in going in through Homer, Pipe, Whack, Vern, Juno etc.

campNgirl - pardon me not trying to hi-jack your thread but I'm a newbie to this forum. It' been years since I've been to the bwca but have always wanted to return. I was planning a solo trip in the next year or so, but the safety of going solo is a bit unnerving. If you plan a trip and are looking for a participant, keep me in mind. Got all my own gear. Base camping with day trip exploring and a little fishing to lighten the food pack is a nice way to call it a getaway.

Fairly new? Welcome! I've got a spring trip planned, I actually found someone on here. O
I can ask my new found partner what she thinks other than that I would be more than happy to look into another trip. :) I'm glad you spoke up because I'd be glad to help you out. Why don't you pm me. I would have done the same but I haven't figured out that fangled technology stuff. Haha

This is just a test at seeing if a previous post can be deleted or revised.

Kanoekid, if you see a little envelope under a posters name click on that. You may have to turn your device sideways. ( I do on my tablet). Not sure if you noticed but this thread from campngirl started in Jan of 2017. But, as she stated she is doing another this spring. Hope this helps

pswith5, thanks for the assistance - but I don't see any little envelope icon anywhere to pm - unfortunately I'm doing this from a smartphone so not sure what the secret is. Also, I did notice the date on this post as well as campNgirl's more recent posts for a trip this year. If a trip works out, great. If not maybe someone else is game.

Envelope doesn't show on my phone either, but does on tablet and laptop.

BillConnor - thanks for letting this newbie know he wasn't a complete invalid. I turned my phone and distorted my body in every direction I could muster and even ended up peeing a little in the ritual..., and still saw no envelope icon. Tomorrow I will try my laptop.

So I am logged in on phone (nexux 6 i think) tablet (7" andtoid ?) and lapyop (15" windows) and tablet and laptop seem to show same. Misdingbon phone is envelope for emailing (not all posters invlude that) and "view profile" which i find useful sometimes in better understanding some posts.

billconner: "So I am logged in on phone (nexux 6 i think) tablet (7" andtoid ?) and lapyop (15" windows) and tablet and laptop seem to show same. Misdingbon phone is envelope for emailing (not all posters invlude that) and "view profile" which i find useful sometimes in better understanding some posts. "

geez..... lol

nexux..... nexus
andtoid... android
lapyop... laptop
misdingbon.... ????????????
invlude... include

:)


try wood lake ep if you really want small lakes to paddle. Wood, hula, good, and indiana are nice. The beginning portage will get your blood flowing but the rest are short. If there is no fishing on the agenda you might want to loop out onto hoist and wind bay on a day trip. Good lake has a dandy campsite at the narrows perched high on a cliff.

just some ideas

The ptoblem of a little phone and fat fingers. The typos are all adjacent keys. At least I occasionally find the shift key. ;)

misdingbon = missing on - d is next to s and b is right above space bar.