I just returned from an 8 day trip in the Quetico. My group had planned to go up the Falls chain, but the route had to be modified due to one of my trip mate's illness. We ended up going to Saganagons, then over to Lilypad and Jasper. It was a wonderful trip!

I've never stayed on Cache Bay before. This trip we stayed at site 1ZZ for two days. It was beautiful.

The campsite on Jasper was great! However, the portage from Jasper to Ottertrack was challenging. The first 20 rods (of a 90 rod portage) were flat and a little muddy. Then, the entire path was flooded and we had to wade, waist deep, for about 60 rods.

I was disappointed by the state of many campsites. (perhaps due to the fact that we were on a heavily traveled route) We packed out so much foil that was left in fire pits. We stayed at a site on Saganagons. The fire pit was loaded with used tp, foil, fishing lures, fishing line, and a scrubby. In the end, we packed out more garbage from sites than the garbage we personally created.

I'm sad to be home and out of the wilderness. Can't wait for my next trip!

Welcome back and glad you had a nice, safe trip. Wading through a portage doesn't sound like fun. And like you, I already miss the Q and the summer is too short...

The first time I traveled through Saganagons a few years ago, I also was not impressed with the campsites. In addition to the garbage left by previous visitors, most of the sites I stopped at were overrated and/or overused...this year on a couple loops from Beaverhouse, I'd say more than half the campsites within 10 miles of the entry point had debris left on the campsite or in the firepit...pretty sad....but at least when I found a "clean" campsite, it felt heavenly...more so when a little stack of split wood was also next to the firepit...

Sorry for you on being back in reality and for not getting through the falls. Good for you for being flexible and accommodating your friend. Not that there was much choice! Keep the falls trip on your list for the future. It's all good.

Thanks for the info. Kiporby is doing the Man Chain west and bringing the border back east right now. He was going to do Jasper/Lilypad just to mix it up. I notified him on his InReach when he checked in this morning about the portage conditions.

I'll second the trash on 'Gons. I was there last spring and found small bottles in the fire pit. I THINK they were either from a diabetic or a junkie. We packed them out and tossed them. Glad you had a good trip!

You guys are good to pack out other's trash. I have come to expect trashed firepits in the Q. Don't know why that is. The worst I ever saw was on William, it had lots of foil, aluminum cigar tubes, and a 1/2gallon empty glass whiskey bottle with all kinds of trash in it.

All we can do it leave the place cleaner than we found it and hope the next site is better.

I did the Falls Chain and Man Chain last fall, it was a great trip.

Heading up to Russel and Sturgeon in a couple weeks!

Joe