Boundary Waters, Message Board, Forum, BWCA, BWCAW, Quetico Park

Chat Rooms (0 Chatting) | Search | Login/Join

* For the benefit of the community, commercial posting is not allowed.

Boundary Waters Quetico Forum

Trip Planning Forum

Lake of the Clouds day trip plan

Author:

Date/Time:

Date/Time: 04/30/2024 04:38AM

Subject:

Lake of the Clouds day trip plan

Enter Lake Name:

* Help stop spam. Please enter the lake name you see over the flying moose.

Previous Messages:
Author	Message Text
JD	09/05/2022 11:11AM Good advice here. To echo some of it: * Cherry-Hanson is a bear of a portage. Easy to follow, but very steep. Truly heart-pounding-out-of-chest territory. Steep up with a relatively small plateau, then steep down. You'll really love this one if you ever have to double carry it. Also, the landing on the Cherry side sucks. * The better route to Cherry is via Amoeber and Topaz, for sure. Those portages are easy and beautiful and while those lakes are overshadowed by the beauty of Cherry, they're not too bad to look at! I particularly like the portage from Little Knife to Amoeber. * Cherry-Lunar is a heck of an adventure! I carried a 3p Seneca on it found it relatively manageable, with the exception of the beaver pond, and the boulder field leading out of the pond, which required a very high step up. We all waded through the pond, sticking hard left going from Cherry to Lunar, and somehow I did it without getting a shoe stuck or dropping the canoe. The water that year (June 2020) was up to the crotch though. I think I would still wade it instead of loading up gear and paddling it. Maybe I'm crazy but I kind of liked this portage. Maybe it was just the satisfaction of tackling it. I'd rather do this one again than Cherry-Hanson. * I thought Lunar was super cool. It is one wild lake! We got super calm conditions on the day we went through and it was a rocky, twisted mirror. To be honest, this lake may have left more of an impression on me than LOTC. * Lake of the Clouds is beautiful, a worthy destination for sure. There is a nice lunch spot on a sloped rockface on the south end, a bit short of the shallow bay. We fished for lakers in the deep hole in the north-center of the lake, but didn't get any bites. We also didn't try to climb any of the rock features but I bet you could get a sweet view if you got up there. Either way you get there, you'll have to work for it, but it's worth it!
cyclones30	09/04/2022 03:53PM There is a giant pine tree next to the Cherry to Lunar landing. And yes, I agree w/ it being the easier way in. The Cherry to Lunar portage in thirds....first third is up a nice trail, middle third is flat but swamp/beaver pond/bushwhack, and the last third is up a boulder field w/ the creek running under it you can hear. Pretty cool area
straighthairedcurly	08/29/2022 07:56PM cowdoc: "straighthairedcurly: "I have not been to Lake of the Clouds, but we did travel from Knife-->Amoeber-->Topaz-->Cherry-->Hanson The only one of those portages that stood out as difficult was the Cherry to Hanson portage...extremely steep up, then steep down...thought my heart was going to bust out of my chest! And I definitely would not like doing that portage in the rain. But being it is just a day trip so you aren't carrying much, I would do it." I did do it...Hanson to Cherry...in the tail end of a big thunderstorm. Water was pouring down the portage like a small creek rapids. Camped at the narrows on Cherry that night and got another big storm. Tree came down and took the bear bag rope and landed about 20 yards behind one of our tents. It was quite the day." I can imagine! Crazy. We did the last drop into Paulson Lake (coming across the big portage from Seagull and it started pouring right at the end. It was like traversing a waterfall to get the gear down the last hill.
redbeardcanoeworks	08/29/2022 07:20AM We have done this area twice, I think it is one of the top scenic areas in the entire BWCA. I'd really recommend doing the entire route from Cherry to Ottertrack (or in reverse) because Lake of the Clouds is near the halfway point. Cherry is a great lake, maybe more scenic than LOC even though not as intimate. Both campsites are great, the one at the narrows has great dusk walleye fishing right from camp. Be sure to check out the island, the one that looks like you can't even get on it because of the cliffs circling the entire thing. There is one way up it. Great views from the top, super beautiful. The only killer portage is the one out of Cherry into Lunar. As stated, it goes straight up, no place to unload canoe and get started. The beaver pond is nearly empty, the trip around the beaver pond is brutal because of the brush. I think you could possibly try to paddle through the pond, i sure wished i had tried it after the work to get around it. The cleft is literally that, a broken section of rock that houses a stream when its wet straight up a long hill. LOC is worth it, looks like a mountain lake, be sure to take some time to find a place to bushwhack up to the top of one of the ridges, (we did the SE corner). Great views. We fished LOC for lakers for a couple of hours with no luck, none of these lakes are really known for great fishing but we did catch a few fish on Cherry and G. The rest of the portages up into G and then to Ottertrack is not so bad, regular small intimate portages. G is nice but not super. The campsites on the east end of Knife lake right where the waterfalls come in from Ottertrack looked really good.
StLouisPaddler	08/28/2022 04:31PM I went through Gijikiki last year. Completely agree that the portages into and out of Gijikiki are awful. I would go into Lake of the Clouds from the Hanson side, notwithstanding the difficulties noted above on the Cherry-Lunar portage.
Ho Ho	08/28/2022 03:58PM Two years ago we went through Lake of the Clouds on a pretty rugged day starting on the South Arm of Knife (campsite right next to the portage into Hanson), to Hanson, Cherry, Lunar, Lake of the Clouds, Rivalry, to Gijikiki, where we camped. It was a scenic route. Frankly I don't remember the Hanson-Cherry portage being hard, though it may have been, because regardless, it was overshadowed by the Cherry-Lunar portage. You go straight up out of Cherry and then at the top the portage trail disappeared in a beaver pond (mentioned by TB above). I tried to follow a faint path above the pond with the canoe, which I eventually managed with help from my partner, and then you go up steep boulder strewn path the rest of the way. If the beaver pond is still there, I'd put the canoe in when you get to it and paddle the short distance to where the portage continues on the left. I think you'll see where it goes up because it's more of a natural cleft. Definitely lends some excitement to the outing. I'd add that Cherry looked like a really cool lake. We only paddled it between the Hanson and Lunar portages, but if I were in the area again I might try to camp on it (with the caveat that we did not check out the campsites so I don't know if they are nice, just the lake is really dramatic).
cowdoc	08/28/2022 03:26PM straighthairedcurly: "I have not been to Lake of the Clouds, but we did travel from Knife-->Amoeber-->Topaz-->Cherry-->Hanson The only one of those portages that stood out as difficult was the Cherry to Hanson portage...extremely steep up, then steep down...thought my heart was going to bust out of my chest! And I definitely would not like doing that portage in the rain. But being it is just a day trip so you aren't carrying much, I would do it." I did do it...Hanson to Cherry...in the tail end of a big thunderstorm. Water was pouring down the portage like a small creek rapids. Camped at the narrows on Cherry that night and got another big storm. Tree came down and took the bear bag rope and landed about 20 yards behind one of our tents. It was quite the day.
TuscaroraBorealis	08/28/2022 12:51PM Barring something like downed trees etc., coming at Lake of the Clouds from Cherry would be the easier route versus coming at it from Gijikiki. I agree with straighthairedcurly about the Hanson ~ Cherry portage but, you can get to Cherry (via Knife - Amoeber - Topaz) without losing too much portaging/sweat equity. Regarding getting to Lake of the Clouds from there: The only concern that comes to mind using this route is the beaver pond (was there 2 years ago) along the Cherry & Lunar Lake portage where you might get temporarily disorientated and it is a climb through a massive boulder field once you get across that but, it isn't that long. The other portage is a bit overgrown but, besides that, rather non-descript. The portage into and out of Gijikiki are both monsters as far as maintained trails in the BWCA go - and would both be uphill traveling in this direction. Also, if you use this route beware of the deep mudhole on the Rivalry end! And, there is a false trail in this area too! The portage from Rivalry into Lake of the Clouds is a much more level path level but will likely be very brushy. There are some cool cliffs that the trail passes under as you near Lake of the Clouds. If you haven't seen it already??? Here is my trip report from a couple of years ago where I did a daytrip through Lake of the Clouds. Hanging out north of the South Arm See day 3.
straighthairedcurly	08/28/2022 08:54AM I have not been to Lake of the Clouds, but we did travel from Knife-->Amoeber-->Topaz-->Cherry-->Hanson The only one of those portages that stood out as difficult was the Cherry to Hanson portage...extremely steep up, then steep down...thought my heart was going to bust out of my chest! And I definitely would not like doing that portage in the rain. But being it is just a day trip so you aren't carrying much, I would do it.
Kendis	08/28/2022 07:36AM Originally this year I was going in at Moose/Portage River north in about two weeks. Had to change plan and enter at Moose Lake instead. Planning Moose -> Ensign -> Ima -> Thomas -> Fraser -> Kekebaic -> SAK. I'd like to visit Lake of the Clouds after that after setting up camp early one day on Hanson/Ester or a longer route through Amoeber/Topaz. Alternatively could go the long way around to camp on Gijikiki. Any advice on which of these choices has the easiest set of portages to get to Lake of the Clouds is appreciated. They all have their challenges so I'm not sure one way is definitevely better than another.