Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Quetico Forum :: Quetico North to South
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deerfoot |
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DouglasA |
Thanks. Doug |
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KCMOcat |
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bobbernumber3 |
trip map This map used to have some interactive pictures and descriptions... no longer work, but you can see our route and camp locations. We had a blast, wonderful weather and created great memories. We even had t-shirts make up for the Trans-Quetico Trip with starboard and port on the correct sleeves. We stopped at the Trail Center following the trip for a lunch and the female bartender told us that she did the same route in 3 days with a case of whiskey. She was believable! Oh yeah... we had another tripper for 3 days and he returned from Olifaunt and moved a vehicle to Grand Marais for us. Seagull Outfitters sent a kid (off time) and brought our vehicle up the Trail. The tripper who shuttled our vehicle was detained at the border with a felon hitchhiker, in a car he didn't own, with six extra passports stashed by the spare tire, etc! That story did not come out for many years... |
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ogarza |
It would have been much easier and faster going through Agnes, Kawnipi, etc. So 10 to 12 days should be plenty of time. We didn't kill ourselves, but it wasn't a walk in the park either, some days we did 9 portages, others we did 3. If we would have done more days, we would have traveled the same and just spent extra layover days, we only did 2 this time. |
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TomF |
We've done Beaverhouse to Death March/Conmee to Moose/Ely. Outstanding. Last trip 2015 did Nym through Russell, to Shelley to Kashipiwi, to Moose/Ely. Very nice route. Both require a half day shuttle (we used Piragis/Ely). The half day drive is a bit of a hassle, but we loved the feeling of point to point. In retrospect, would actually prefer S to N (less people as you go) except the shuttle would be at the end, would not be fun. |
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thinblueline |
quote TomF: "Did not read through all the posts. Sorry if below were covered, and if this is too late. What did piragis charge you to shuttle you to the north side? |
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Pinetree |
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DancesWithTrees |
I've done all those sections in parts, but never in one shot, because the shuttle between north side of QPP and the American side in Ely is either painfully long and logistically difficult, or really expensive if you fly. Would be a great adventure though. |
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carmike |
My dad's retired, so we drove two vehicles to the Fall Lake parking lot and then he dropped me off at Nym. I don't have much to add, other than to remember that the distance isn't *that* great. If you can swing the shuttle, a week from Nym to Moose/Fall is very doable, assuming you don't get five days of big south winds. There are so many excellent side trips and fishing spots and pictos and just general goodness that I'd take as long as you can muster, but even a week would be enough and, depending on how you portage, not that demanding. Just my .02, and good luck with the planning! |
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McOdie |
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Pinetree |
quote McOdie: "We heard an awful scream that sounded like a house cat. It went off twice and then stopped after we yelled at it. Any ideas what that might have been?" Maybe an owl |
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Mocha |
i have a map in my photo gallery beaverhouse to gunflint 2010. |
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Kiporby |
We had our outfitter drive us from Gunflint Trail to Beaverhouse. Took about 6 hours. |
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Brsed |
Thanks again. Brian |
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QueticoMike |
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Brsed |
Thanks. Brian |
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sedges |
If you are taking 10-12 days and you are pretty seasoned travelers you could do Cache Bay to Pickerel Lake round trip in that time. That could probably allow some variation in the return route so you are not just turning around a covering the same ground on the return. You would have extra days without the shuttle. By the way, the record Ely to Atikokan time is under 29 hours. |
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billconner |
With the time available, I'd think about looping back to car. Lots of big loops. Maybe down through Kashapiwi and back through Man and Falls Chains maybe. |
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Ho Ho |
The 2014 trip started at Beaverhouse and ended at Mudro. Since we live in Ely and have two vehicles, we parked one at Mudro, drove the other to BH, and a couple days after the trip drove back to get the one at BH (a day-long endeavor from Ely). The 2016 trip started at Prairie Portage (car parked at Moose Lake, with tow all the way to Lincoln Island) and ended at Beaverhouse. For this trip we coordinated with friends who did a north-to-south at the same time so that we could drive the car they left at Beaverhouse back at the end of out trip, while they could use the car we left at the EP on the south side. If you don't have those options, I think the cost of getting an outfitter to drive the entire distance between Ely or the Gunflint and the north side to drop you off could be quite expensive. It's a long trip around, especially because the outfitter would have to do it round trip. In fact, at that point it might almost be as cheap to fly up there - just a thought. It might be worth calling some outfitters now just to scope it out. If there's any way you can manage the cars yourself, you'd definitely save some money. Of course, it might well be worth the money to you to save the hassle. Anyway, if you can work the shuttle out, 10 days is sufficient, 12 days allows even more leeway, so get out the maps and start the dreaming/planning. If you decide you're interested in a route between Beaverhouse and the Ely area I'd be glad to share ours with you. |
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dentondoc |
While not a true north-south trip, I also did a trip in 2009 which started at Cache Bay and went up the Falls Chain thru Kawnipi to McIntyre. On our exit, we made a turn at Kenney and did the route from McEwen to Louisa and then out via Agnes/Sunday to PP. We drove to our jump-off point on the Gunflint and arranged for a friend to drive our vehicle back to one of the Ely-area outfitters. My friend was taking a trip that started on Moose Lake, ran the border route to Sag. She was looking for transport back to Ely. So we arranged our trips so that we would arrive for our trip's departure on the day she ended her trip. That arrangement worked out to the benefit of both of us. So bottom line, there are a number of ways to work the logistics to do an "end-to-end" kind of trip. dd |
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Ho Ho |
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Banksiana |
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Jackfish |
We put in at Beaverhouse, then on to Quetico, Jean, Little Jean, Yeh, Lonely, Sturgeon, Russell, Poets Chain, Kawnipi, Falls Chain, Saganagons, Man Chain, Carp, Birch, Moose Chain (BW) and took out at the Moose Lake boat landing next to Latourell's. Our trip was eight days with two layover days, one on Kawnipi and one on a small lake between Saganagons and the Man Chain. We weren't trying to be speedy, but we single-portaged everything so we were able to make some pretty good distance per day. If I were to do the same (or similar) route again, I'd add another layover day, not because we were tired - just to add a little more enjoyment of being in Q. The key for us was the shuttle. I have a business friend in International Falls whose sister and brother-in-law are both retired. We picked up the sister and BIL in I-Falls and they rode with us to the Beaverhouse landing. After we were off, they drove back home. The next day, they drove my van and their own car to the Moose Lake landing and locked the van keys inside, then drove back to I-Falls. I had the spare set of keys with me. Worked perfectly. We agreed on $300 for their efforts which we were happy to pay. Let me know if you'd like more info. |
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kscorps |
Day 1: Batchewaung to Pickerel Narrows Day 2: Pickerel Narrows to Upper Sturgeon via Twin Lakes Day 3: Upper Sturgeon to Lower Sturgeon (just north of the entrance to the Maligne) Day 4: Lower Sturgeon to Minn via the Maligne River Day 5: Minn to Iron via Lac la Croix(Camped at Rebecca Falls!!!) Day 6: Iron to Argo Day 7: Argo to McIntyre via Brent Day 8: McIntyre to Sarah Day 9: Sarah to Burke Day 10: Burke to Moose This route literally had it all: Curtain Falls, Rebecca Falls, Argo (!!!), the Lac la Croix pictographs, the Darkwater pictographs, the Maligne River, Black Robe Portage, the underrated Curtain Falls portage, the Rebecca Falls campsite.... I could go on forever. This route is taxing but it's so, so worth it. You see absolutely everything the park has to offer! I'll end up writing a trip report about this sooner or later. |
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MagicPaddler |
I have used Dougs services before and he has always done an excellent job |
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Jackfish |
quote kscorps: "I went on probably my favorite route this past summer: We began at Batchewaung and finished on Moose. I'll just lay out the days here: " I just added a new trip to my to-do list. |
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Lailoken |
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