Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Planning Forum :: 2-night quick trip. 9-year-old wants to
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VoyageurNorth |
quote nojobro: "Where would you go? Probably full but if you went in at Mudro, camped at Horse or Fourtown, you can take a day trip to the border and see waterfalls, pictographs and one of the portages would be walking across Canadian land but perfectly legal. Quicker to day trip to if you can get a #23 Mudro permit as #22 is a restricted and you can camp anywhere except for Horse Lake. You didn't say when you want to go (or did I miss that?) |
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billconner |
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goatroti |
Sunrise at the mouth of the Albany River, September 30, 2016. |
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carmike |
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mjmkjun |
quote DeanL: "I'll also throw in a vote for the Duncan, Rose, Rose Falls, Stairway Portage, Border Route Trail area." Me too. It was 3rd week of June when I stayed at Hungry Jack Lake Campground (#5 or #6) in a travel trailer and did a day trip to Rose Falls/Stairway Portage. Easy peasy. Kid friendly campground--a small 'kids' sand beach behind the lodge with lawn chairs & shallow waters for cooling off tots too. Campground was near full but the portages and paddling was not crowded. Sparse, actually. I was able to look down onto Rose lake and spot some tiny canoes & paddlers making their way eastward. Across the lake-->Canada! |
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PointMe2Polaris |
1. EP 14. It's an easy day to get through Lower Pauness, then Upper Pauness and into Loon (a boarder lake). The distance to the Canadian boarder is short from this entry point. You encounter 3 portages, but the longest is only 60 rods. You can base camp two nights on Loon and head out on your 3rd day. 2. EP 25. Like the last one, It's a short distance from the EP to the Boarder. I've never done this trip, but it looks like you'd have two options here. You can take four lakes (Moose, Newfound, Sucker and Birch right into Canada). The only portage is a 7 rod into Birch. Looks like you should be able to do this easily in a day. Or if you want to incorporate some portages (albeit long), the tougher option would be to portage from Moose to Wind lake and then portage again into Wind Bay. The distance may be a bit shorter to the boarder, but the portages are both over 150 rods, which will definitely slow up a 9 year old. PointMe2Polaris |
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TominMpls |
quote PointMe2Polaris: "I would recommend 2 trips that are less strenuous for a 9 year old. I'll second this suggestion. My daughter's first BWCA trip was when she was 9, and we did EP 14, just a short two-night trip for us as well. This is a good route, as the Lower Pauness is calm and you're likely to spot a lot of wildlife. My daughter loved seeing beaver, all sorts of different birds, deer, etc., and also some really great flora. You can focus on that sort of thing, and not make the days long and challenging. |
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bposteve |
Enter at John lake (EP 70). Camp on that lake, trip down the Royal River to South Fowl lake. You can see Canada there, also if you make your way to the dam you can see the start of the grand portage, and your 9 year old can even throw a rock at Canada. Enter at Clearwater Lake (EP 62) you can walk the portage to Mountain lake and see Canada, on the way back to Clearwater hop on the Border Route trail and hike a 1/4 mile to the overlook for an even better view of Canada. |
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ozarkpaddler |
And if you're pressed for time, you don't have to go all the way to Thunder Bay on Hwy 61. The Middle Falls PP is just across the border. Nice place! |
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Oneofmanyblessings |
nice short easy portgage to water. then you drop right into a nice area. lots of islands, head west a bit to the narrows and then a nice paddle back on the last day. most likely will have wind at your back. you will not have to worry about getting a campsite either |
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ericb309 |
quote PointMe2Polaris: "I would recommend 2 trips that are less strenuous for a 9 year old. EP 25 can be pretty busy. I took my wife and two young girls for their first time on this one - camping was so full we found no campsite until reaching Knife and by then my family was exhausted and my wife was questioning my vacation planning skills. as it turns out, the girls had so much fun and liked the hard work they have been back with me every year since. My wife however enjoys her week home alone now. EP14 would be my choice. We liked it enough we are going back this summer, but spending 8 nights. Loon can have motors, so keep that in mind. |
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walllee |
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martoonie |
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Blatz |
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nojobro |
Remember, it's a quick two night trip. :) |
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brux |
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Grandma L |
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schweady |
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SaganagaJoe |
Back when Grandpa took groups of school kids up there they had a little ritual for "initiation" at that spot. As best as I can remember, the ritual is that you walked around the marker a couple times, leaned over on it, and got spanked once with a paddle. No idea why, just comes to mind thinking about that spot. If you think you can paddle Saganaga (and you can, with an early morning departure) than this is what I would do: D1: 81 Landing to SW of American Point. First site SW of the cluster around American Point and the only other campsite before 1st Bay. It's a great site. D2: Day trip from that campsite: go over and walk Monument Portage, see Ottertrack, maybe paddle a little ways in to see the scenery D3: Back to 81 Landing A tow boat to American Point would make this even easier, hypothetically, if that's your bag. In that case you could actually walk Monument on day 1 and take 2 days coming back. And don't worry about getting lost. Easiest no-stress way to navigate Saganaga, in short, is once you get out of the channel, follow the south shoreline toward Red Rock Bay but then to and cross over to touch on the south ends of Long, Gold, and Englishman Islands, then follow the west shore up to American Point. |
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pswith5 |
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billconner |
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johndku |
Maybe get a tow back to an outfitters from Sag Falls, then you'll avoid any big water for the entire trip, which I might suggest with a lesser bow paddler, I've been there, done that. |
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nojobro |
quote johndku: "Granite River from Gunflint Lake up to Sag Falls...virtually the whole trip Canada is on your right, and the US is on your left. Easily doable with 2 nights/3 days. Portages aren't too bad, fishing is decent. This will be two adults and a kid in the middle! |
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A1t2o |
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yogi59weedr |
Moose lake up to prairie portage.or... Up to sag. Canoe down seagulls river then the islands out to that big open beautiful body of saganaga. Maybe stop at ranger island and say eh! |
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Blatz |
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Mocha |
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butthead |
quote Mocha: "Nola, if you only have 2 nights you could just drive on up to Thunder Bay. your daughter can get first hand experience going through customs, there are nice hikes and other fun stuff to do in Thunder Bay, or just hike and then head back to Grand Marais and the shore. this 2 nights doesn't include your drive time from Madison, i hope?!" If you do go this way remember to check out Fort William Historical Park . A fantastic experience for kids and adults! butthead |
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DeanL |
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maxxbhp |
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