Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Quetico Forum :: Quetico
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arctic |
The northern part of the park can be very busy because pretty much every Canadian group starts there, and there are a small number of "main arteries" heading deeper into the park that concentrate people. The routes through the big lakes of NW Quetico are also very easy and attract a lot of people. |
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TomT |
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Oneofmanyblessings |
Stay in the BW. I hear the fishing is better there, as well. :) |
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carmike |
My wife and I just had our first daughter, so I can't get away for 7-14 days like I used to. This one was only 3 nights, so we couldn't get far into the Q. We stayed at Shade Lake our first night, just north of North Bay. It was packed...and loud. First time in many Q trips that I thought a BWCA trip would've been just as good. After that, on Sunday and Monday night, it was much better. I do know Shade is a busy lake, as I've been through there more than once and have always seen people, but I wasn't prepared for multiple people paddling by our site, hearing multiple people talking around the lake, having multiple canoes fishing the lake, etc. It was still good. :) |
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fishonfishoff |
Long story short...... We all had a great time, fishing was fantastic, and weather couldn't have been any better! Love the entire area, just wish it was many hours closer. "Maybe the long drive and time between trips lets me appreciate it that much more." FISHONFISHOFF |
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AmarilloJim |
TomT: "I think you'd experience what you're looking for in Sept. or Oct. July and August are the peak. Look at it this way - if there weren't a ;ot of people showing up in the peak season we could possibly lose Quetico to developers. " +1 |
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Banksiana |
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WilderWes |
While Algonquin Provincial Park is a much closer alternative paddling destination to Temagami, it is a very busy and popular park which requires you to camp only on the lake you specified for each night when you booked your reservation and has signs on campsites and portages, and so I think the types of paddlers that enjoy Temagami would find more in common with Quetico. Of course, if most of the people the OP was encountering were from the USA, then this explanation has no merit at all. |
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Banksiana |
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mapsguy1955 |
TomT: "I think you'd experience what you're looking for in Sept. or Oct. July and August are the peak. Look at it this way - if there weren't a lot of people showing up in the peak season we could possibly lose Quetico to developers. " +1 AMEN to TOM |
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jdddl8 |
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user0317 |
For obvious reasons I wanted to put some distance between us, but the guy I was paddling with prefers to travel a little slower than I do. As luck would have it, we were leap-frogging this group at the portages. I have never canoed around so many people, and I was astonished by the noise and chaos of having so many people on the portage trail at once. I was afraid of our gear getting mixed in with theirs, and simply getting down the trail was really difficult. What impressed me however, was how efficient these kids were, and how quickly they were able to get across the portage trails. At the risk of sounding un-patriotic I can't imagine a group of high-schoolers that large from America having it together that well, with only 3 adults supervising. For all the worrying I did about being stuck behind this group, I can't fairly say that they slowed me down too much. Even though every-other-word we heard from them was a curse-word, they were all really polite when we talked to them. At Jesse Lake, they must have headed to Oriana, as we continued south to Lonely, and we spent the rest of our trip not seeing another group, until we hit Batch on the way back. For the rest of the trip their language was a running joke between my partner and I 'Tom, can you get me the f$ck!ng pan, so I can make some f$ck!ng pancakes!'. Obviously it would have been disappointing if we ended up camping anywhere near a group that large, but once we put some distance between us, it was just an amusing memory. |
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TomT |
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OldGreyGoose |
--Goose |
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OldGreyGoose |
--Goose |
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marsonite |
We were on a 2 week trip. Once we got past Lonely, it was great. We saw one party on Sturgeon, one party on Tanner, both in the distance. Then we went two days without seeing a soul. One party on Kahsh. Came back through Russell (via Kahsh) and started running into people again. Saw 11 groups between Russell and Twin Lakes where we camped, and the next day saw over 15 groups between there and Batch. It's my second trip out of the north and I've had similar experiences both times. I went that way because I didn't have time to get an RABC, but I don't think I'll go in from the north again. Might as well save a buck and go to the BW unless you have the time to get into the interior. |
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marsonite |
QueticoMike: "How were the water levels?" There was enough water to get up Deaux rivere but I think they’re falling fast. Seemed to get dryer as we went north |
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Thwarted |
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fishonfishoff |
We set up camp one day on a small island on Jesse. Before the day was over, we had four other campsites within 100 yards of ours plus at least one other within 500 yards! There were quite a few others that wanted to crowd in, but paddled on. Every day we paddled by numerous occupied sites, plus other canoes. Talking to a nice elderly couple on Batch, the gentleman called Jesse "The KOA of Quetico". Enough of my rant... The weather was great, the fishing was fantastic, food was superb, no one got hurt and everyone had a great time. FISHONFISHOFF |
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Jackfish |
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timatkn |
It is really luck of the draw. One year we barely saw anyone then camped on Burt and almost every camp was taken...I feel your pain. T |
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QueticoMike |
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Thwarted |
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Eyedocron |
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fishonfishoff |
marsonite: "QueticoMike: "How were the water levels?" Marsonite was right. Water levels made the river passable but if it drops much, it could cause a few headaches. FISHONFISHOFF |
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fishonfishoff |
Thwarted: "BTW...was Sturgeon busy past the narrows and how the trip overall?" The entire trip went great except for the amount of people. We only cruised through the upper part of Sturgeon and never stayed there. We did see 2 young couples at one of the portages on Sturgeon. Would love to do another trip in Quetico if I knew we would have more solitude. It took us an extra 5 hours each way to get there instead of an Ely trip, and don't feel it was worth the extra cost and time. FISHONFISHOFF |