Been a few years since I've been up. Thinking of lake one to gabbro. Is this one day down and one fay back. Thinking we would like to settle in at base camp for a couple days . Is this feasible and any other suggestions for this area for base camping . Great site to start planning again .

Yes, pretty easy one day trip. Have done several times. 13 miles/6 hours perhaps. Pleasant trip and no big water to speak of. Busy area is only downside.

Bill has good advice - Some good site for base camping on Gabro. Have a good trip

Would going west to conchu lake be less busier or its all about the same. Thanks again for info. I know wherever we go it will all be good.

That general area is busy. Can't speak about Conchu.

Jhsail, Basecamping on Gabbro could be a lot of fun. Beautiful lake, great campsites and very good fishing. Curious why you would not consider entering at Little Gabbro which involves one fairly long portage but it is an easy one for its length. Would cut the time getting to Gabbro Lake by a couple hours...maybe that's the point?

Easy one day trip down to Gabbro. Gabbro is busy. You will paddle past some really good campsites on the Kawishiwi River, you might grab one of them then day trip over to Gabbro and Bald Eagle. I prefer the settings/views of the campsites on the Kiwishiwi River versus Gabbro, just seems like on Gabbro you always can see other canoes, even if they are not that close. I also agree that the Little Gabbro would be a good place to enter, easy but long portage and a 5 minute paddle and you are in Gabbro.

I really like this area. I visited this area several times when the kids were younger due to the ease of access.

This was one a route suggested by outfitter we are using. The portage is good idea but I think we were about the trip more than destination. The suggestion about the river site is a good one. We are looking for privacy, I guess we want our cake and eat it too. Thanks for input from everyone it helps start the planning stage.Great site.

Conchu is a dead end destination and was once a trout-only lake but I believe they have stopped stocking it and largemouth bass have found there way in there. There is only one campsite so you probably wouldn't see anyone else, but the one campsite is pretty poor, there isn't a level piece of ground anywhere. The campsite on the North Kawishiwi side of the portage, though, is top notch, but you would see traffic.

JD

I made a loop thru this area starting at the South kawishiwi river. We went to Gabro, Bald Eagle, Gull, Pietro, Clearwater, One island, Lake 2, Lake 1, then back to the river to the entry point at the South Kawishiswi campground. I think my favorite part was paddling on the Kawishiwi. We even saw some moose close up on an island in the middle of the river.