I'm just back from a 9-day trip that did not disappoint -- big fish, beautiful camping, and four seasons in every day.

Just three days ago I sat through the worst storm I've ever experienced in Quetico. At a camp on the West end of Quetico Lake, this manifested as a very abrupt, very strong wind out of the West with golfball-sized hail pelting the earth and enough horizontal rainfall to create big puddles, fast. Did anyone else experience that one? I heard that there was actually a tornado down in MN around the same time.

Definitely, next time I'm out on the water fishing in calm, warm conditions and I hear a steady stream of light rolling thunder, without pauses and with very little lightning, I'm going to scoot back to camp a bit quicker. I got slightly caught out but managed to hustle everything including my butt under the tarp before the hail, and feel very very grateful that tarp and hammock held and did not blow away.

Overall, I never left Quetico Lake on this trip (and Beaverhouse of course) so there's no interesting trip report, but after four beautiful camps and plenty of great fishing, I'll be looking forward to the next one. Such an amazing place.

Yikes! We have a friend who was on Quetico Lake at the same time. He's still up there, though. I'll be anxious to hear what he says about the big storm.

We were camping in the central part of Quetico Lake the stormy day of Tuesday, June 18 and were fortunate to miss out on the hail and high winds that day. Was also glad to see there wasn't any apparent hail damage to my truck when we returned to the Beaverhouse parking lot later that week. We were listening to the weather station out of I Falls much of the day and reports of severe thunderstorms and a tornado watch had our attention. Glad just to get the heavy rain at times. Often wonder with threat of severe weather and heavy winds if it is better to be out in the elements facing the wind so trees would fall behind you or to stay in a dry tent on top of an air mattress as a precaution against lightning strikes. I elected for the tent and dry air mattress option. BTW we also had a great trip with good fishing.

Thanks for the reply!

The (extremely) violent part of that storm come on so fast and departed so quickly -- I think it lasted more than five minutes but fewer than ten -- that I figured it might be very localized.

And yup, I had the same kinds of thoughts about the best way to ride out such a storm. I had only been set up in that camp for about an hour, and I wasn't crazy about my tarp/hammock setup because the trees were just a wee bit too close together for me. Probably it would have been easier to have parked the loaded boat on a landing with the spray skirt on and just duck the hailstones! And then set up a camp afterward.

It was on my first kayak trip in BWCA years ago that I decided hammocks would almost always be preferable in the boundary waters, as I watched "tent pads" turn to puddles very quickly in a couple bad thunderstorms. Same thing happened after the hailstorm. Did that affect you at all, or did your tent area stay nice and dry?

Our tent pads were able to stay dry for the most part. Having a relatively flat area with some actual soil beneath to allow for some drainage always helps. On our way in on Friday, June 14 we spoke to a camper from shore when we paddled past a campsite on the western part of Quetico Lake that said he had been in the park 3 days. Would that have been you by chance? We were in a black Northwind.

That might have been me! Was the campsite on an island? :)

That camp may be popular; another party came by that day inquiring whether I was camping there (or maybe that was you; one party only asked about the fishing). Plus, another party (with a serious talker on board) paddled by quite early in the morning and did not stop by.

The next next day I only saw any other party from a very long distance, which was nice. We all like a little backcountry solitude, right?

That island was surrounded by what should have been excellent smallmouth habitat, but the fish were very very cagey compared to what I experienced in other spots (basically, nonstop topwater action). I think some possibly large party had been around recently and tamed them somewhat.

We stopped by with intentions to check out the campsite only for future reference as we had plans to camp on the east end of the lake that day.

I should have invited you up to scope it out. It has a nice firepit/communal area and a few spots where tents could go, but I wouldn't necessarily give it top rating.

After all the wind, I pitched my setup right in the communal area because it seemed like the best-protected spot.

But yeah, I loved the heck out of that camp. It's like a 10x version of a little island on Mt. Desert Island Maine where I grew up, and to be able to spend 3 nights and two lazy rest days there was literally the fulfillment of childhood dreams ("Aw Dad, why can't we just stay here tonight and catch more fish in the morning???").

https://photos.app.goo.gl/n8veoFNmJZ3f4ajdA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qhNDrFFfNLwn1UUV6