Boundary Waters, Routes, Forum, BWCA, BWCAW, Quetico Parkwww.BWCA.com Trip Reports - Messageboard, Forum, BWCA, BWCAW, Quetico Park
Boundary Waters Route Blog
    Trip Reports
      Trip Report - Seagull Winter Trip
 
  Last Visit: 04/16/2024 12:46PM

Entry Point 54 - Seagull Lake

Seagull Lake entry point allows overnight paddle or motor (10 HP (except where paddle only) max). This entry point is supported by Gunflint Ranger Station near the city of Grand Marais, MN. The distance from ranger station to entry point is 50 miles. No motors (use or possession) west of Three Mile Island. Large lake with several campsites. landing at Seagull Lake. This area was affected by blowdown in 1999.

Number of Permits per Day: 8
Elevation: 1205 feet
Latitude: 48.1469
Longitude: -90.8693
Author Message Text
schwartyman
senior membersenior membersenior member
 
02/20/2018 02:49PM
 
New Trip Report posted by schwartyman

Trip Name: Seagull Winter Trip.

Entry Point: 54A

Click Here to View Trip Report
Reply Top Bottom Previous Next
Gadfly
distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
 
02/23/2018 11:29AM
 
Awesome Winter trip! IMO there is nothing better than catching Lake Trout through the ice. We similar success a during a mid march trip to Sea Gull a few years back.
waterdog
distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
 
02/23/2018 04:58PM
 
My enthusiasm for winter adventures left me decades ago, but I really enjoyed reading your report! Thank you for posting! Wishing you many more fun trips!

"That'll do, Pig." Farmer Hoggett
BearRaid
distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
 
02/25/2018 07:13AM
 
That sure looked like a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the report and the great pictures.

Dave G.
Pinetree
distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
 
02/25/2018 11:31AM
 
Thanks for the nice report and always nice to hear about 1st trips.


Just curious-what will or would you change for trip two as far as equipment-clothing?
pswith5
distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
 
02/26/2018 06:40AM
 
Nice report. Made me feel old! You keep taking winter trips and I will live vicariously through you. :)

Without the bad times, the good times wouldn't seem so good.
schwartyman
senior membersenior membersenior member
 
02/26/2018 08:13AM
 
Thanks for the positive comments! Even though we only had two days its crazy how much "harder" it is than a summer trip. I will plan some more neat winter trips with you all in mind :)


As far as gear and clothes i'd switch its really hard to say after just a night.


If i were to do a trip focused on covering more ground I would've not brought my ice shack, it was heavy and a pain in the rear to drag in. However for this trip the objective was to fish and there would be no way id be caught staring over a ice hole with no protection in -20/30 windchill, so it made sense.


We also opted to carry in live minnows- again for this trip it made sense but if we had planned to do even one portage I would've cut those out.


Another thing is we brought full-sized fold-able camping chairs, we actually didn't even use them once. I thought this would be very helpful and we'd thank ourselves for bringing them.. but it didn't end up that way. I really don't know why we didn't use them and I will certainly not be bringing them again. (i'd consider a smaller scale tripod-style chair if planning a fishing orientated trip, or just use the bucket you likely had to carry in if you're like me)


We premade a burrito dish that just needed to be thawed out over a stove which was absolutely delicious and perfect for this trip.


For clothes - My snow pants are fairly cheap ski snow pants that are definitely not waterproof. I knew this going in but being a college student I'm not exactly going to go buy brand new snow pants. But my knees were pretty much in a constant state of damp. It wasn't terrible and I could take them off when in the ice shack.


For clothes we did pretty well. I think its very important to have a thin liner glove that can fit underneath a pair of big mittens, which is what i had and then an extra pair of mittens for back up as well. I did NOT want wet hands - i used them all and my hands were happy. A pair of socks for each day is what i was told my standard should be for winter camping - again this was great.
Besides that i basically packed enough layers for 2 days of clothes - one backup if i get soaked. Also 2 hats - one big mad bomber for day time/being outside, and a backup/lighter thin hat for sleeping at night.


We did end up sweating a bit while snowshoeing but was good about recognizing it and cooling down before it became too much. Lots of people recommended bringing boots w/liners so you can dry them out at night - yes yes yes. I have pretty solid boots with high Insulate ratings and are completely waterproof - doesn't matter if your feet sweat. Being able to dry these out means there's no ice in your boots in the morning - which i cant imagine is fun.






Reply Top Bottom Previous Next
Routes
Trip Reports
a
.
Routes
Trip Reports
Routes
Trip Reports
Routes
Trip Reports
.
Routes
Trip Reports
Routes
Trip Reports
x