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Date/Time: 03/28/2024 03:33PM
Quetico Campsites

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Previous Messages:
Author Message Text
Banksiana 02/27/2023 03:15PM
That Armin to YumYum portage can hard to locate. Tucked way back in an arm with really shitty parking and little evidence that a trail exists beyond the lousy parking.
TomT 02/26/2023 09:08PM
I got fooled on this portage in 2011 on a solo. Then I couldn’t find my way out of Armin and backtracked through yum yum and finally arrived at mcNiece late in the day exhausted. Lost a few hours that day coming from Shade.
Gaidin53 02/26/2023 07:42PM
The video Lost Lakes did on YouTube they made the same mistake but only once in 2021 I think. He said he just couldn’t understand how it had happened since it felt right and crossing the swamp felt wrong. You should watch that video for some visual references if you are going that way.


I had planned on taking that route. I changed the route to go into Kahsahpiwi from Trant starting from Silence. Made the change due to Portage maintenance. Don’t think I made it any easier but Trant was a cool lake to see. Wish we could have camped in the nice campsite on Trant but pushed through to Kahsahpiwi.


Ryan
Gaidin53 02/26/2023 07:42PM
Double post. I was on a Delta flights wifi so I’m blaming it on that
GraniteCliffs 02/26/2023 06:16PM
I went through once about 25 years ago in one of the worst driving rains I have experienced. Also cold and windy. Two canoes with three dads and three daughters that were barely teenagers.
I knew the portage was hinky even then re two options. I warned the lead canoe of the potential issue but one of the other dads assured me this thing in his hand, a gizmo called GPS would keep him on track.
It was like a commercial on TV. His canoe, gear and people blindly soldiered on. We were no more than five minutes behind. We finished the portage and you guessed it. No canoe, gear or people on the other side. I knew immediately what had taken place.
We waited a bit freezing to death. I finally headed back. Just in time to see them coming from the east along the south side of the swamp and heading back down the trail to the same lake we began on. They had actually done the portage back and forth that way twice.
Needless to say, I still don't use GPS om the trail.
Banksiana 02/26/2023 12:53PM
Best corduroy I have ever crossed in the Quetico. The water in the swamp was fairly high when I crossed and it was by far the easiest Grey Lake Swamp Crossing I have ever experienced (I think I've been through here way too many times). Unfortunately I began the portage on the east and had to fight through loads of blow down before reaching the swamp and realizing that the eastern portage had fallen out of favor.
GraniteCliffs 02/26/2023 12:02PM
Banksiana: "Last year the portage crew tried to discourage use of the eastern most portage into Grey (well really into the swamp). They blocked it off on the swamp side and did not clear the blow down. The fresh corduroy across the swamp was done exceedingly well."
Does the corduroy give you an easy passage across the swamp? It seems that most of the time when I cross it is in either the spring with high water or during a particularly wet stretch. Almost always a slog. Except once when it was very dry and we pretty much walked across it. Likely headed there at the very end of May.
Banksiana 02/25/2023 06:40PM
Last year the portage crew tried to discourage use of the eastern most portage into Grey (well really into the swamp). They blocked it off on the swamp side and did not clear the blow down. The fresh corduroy across the swamp was done exceedingly well.
portagedog09 02/25/2023 01:57PM
The X going from Unnamed lake into Grey lake is to define an area that confuses people. A lot of people portage from Unnamed lake back into unnamed lake. "


Yup! Coming out of Grey into unnamed once, I had a confused group ask me where they were and then argue with me about it. I finally managed to convince them I knew what I was talking about and got them on the right track. Interestingly, they looked like they just stepped out of a LLBean catalog.


pd
Gaidin53 02/24/2023 09:34PM
The x to the east is for a portage that moved. You can see where we actually portages since the blue and plum colored lines are our tracks from different days.


The X going from Unnamed lake into Grey lake is to define an area that confuses people. A lot of people portage from Unnamed lake back into unnamed lake. You have to cross a meadow pond type area in the middle to get to Grey lake.


The Mountain is a nice jump spot I saw in a video if you are into that kind of thing. The deer head is pictograph sites.


Ryan



Freeleo1 02/24/2023 07:29PM
Why do some portages have x's?
Gaidin53 02/24/2023 03:45PM
We went through South Lake, and shade lake last year. Shade was a very nice Lake some great campsites. South Lake had a really nice campsite which we ate lunch at. I’d have paddled on from the campsite on South lake though.


red if 5* 4*,
Blue is 3*
Yellow is 2* 1* sites


To look up campsite reviews and portage I formation for Quetico you need to Google a different paddle type planning website.


Ryan


Freeleo1 02/20/2023 09:47PM
We have a permit for Sarah. It looks like the northern half was affected by the fire, so any information since then about Sarah or Tuck. Also looking at West or South lake on the way back. Or even trying to get up to Shade or Jeff. Does anyone have preferences for those lakes? I've heard good things about Jeff if it is not too hard to get to.
Jackfish 02/20/2023 08:26PM
sns: "So, Jackfish, any chance the bwca.com maps will ever include campsite & portage info for the Q?"
This is more of a question for Adam, but I wish there was. Maybe Adam will check in and offer some thoughts on the logistics of doing that.
Jackfish 02/20/2023 08:09PM
Leo, unfortunately the campsite reviews are limited to the BWCA. Is there an area of Q that you're looking to go to? I'm sure you could get some direction from the many Quetico paddlers on here.
sns 02/20/2023 11:07AM
Funny, I was thinking about this over the weekend. I believe the answer is no...but this perhaps is best addressed to the site moderators like Jackfish.


So, Jackfish, any chance the bwca.com maps will ever include campsite & portage info for the Q?
Freeleo1 02/20/2023 09:47AM
Is there a way to see Quetico campsite reviews on BWCA.com that is easier than using the search function and reading posts? I know this is BWCA, but since there is a discussion thread for Quetico there is a fair amount of information about it on here also. There are other sites that can be used, but there are a lot of people who post here with knowledge of the area that don't post elsewhere.