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 Boundary Waters Quetico Forum Quetico Forum Absolutely trashed campsite Reply
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| Previous Messages: | |
| Author | Message Text |
| TrailZen |
09/20/2025 08:41AMtumblehome: "Don’t laugh at me but… I spread pine needles over the rock ring and around it creating the appearance that nobody has camped at the site all year. I’m sure campers arriving at a site in August to find they are the first ones for the year to use the site brings them feelings of joy and solitude. How can I laugh at that? I think it's a fantastic idea, and may copy it next year. TZ |
| tumblehome |
09/20/2025 05:35AM I does make me sad to hear about this sort of stuff. For me, I was in Quetico two times this year. Every campsite I was on was impeccably clean. Zero trash, poop or otherwise anywhere. I feel lucky and fortunate too and I felt like those that camped before me went out of their way to leave no trace. In return I did the same as I always do. Don’t laugh at me but… I spread pine needles over the rock ring and around it creating the appearance that nobody has camped at the site all year. I’m sure campers arriving at a site in August to find they are the first ones for the year to use the site brings them feelings of joy and solitude. Tom |
| eagleriverwalleye |
09/19/2025 09:39AM We, too, entered from the north at French Lake (July 20) and looped down to Russell via the B-chain/Olifaunt/Sturgeon and reversed out though the Deux. It was busier than I had experienced in Quetico before (but nothing like the BWCA covid years) and Russell was especially crowded. Our campsite there was sadly full of garbage, but we didn't encounter anything similar elsewhere, and generally campsite availability wasn't a problem on the other lakes. My suspicion is that the RABC suspension was at least part of the reason for the popularity of northern entry this year. |
| flaxman |
09/18/2025 07:31PM The vandalism that you describe sounds exactly like that several of us encountered this year from a specific outfitting group. They are flagrantly violating the group size limits and leaving campsites trashed. Scroll down a few threads and youll find a discussion about them from a couple months ago. |
| EmmaMorgan |
09/17/2025 06:38AMSunburn: "I did a 50 mile traverse from Beaverhouse to Nym the first week of September and saw almost zero trash at any of my campsites, with the exception of some old aluminum in the fire pit at my last campsite on Batchewaung (well used site near the Batch/Nym entry point). I should have added to my other post that other than the site on Sturgeon, my campsites were clean, with just occasional bits of the microtrash that sometimes gets away from people by accident (piece of wrapper, twist tie, etc.) And all of my sites on last year's trip were similar. |
| EmmaMorgan |
09/17/2025 06:16AMTrailZen: "We entered through Prairie Portage August 25 and routed through Carp, Falls Chain, Kawnipi, Agnes, the S Chain and out via Burke/Bailey Bay September 3. Our first 8 days in the Park we saw seven other people. A few campsites had seem visitors, but were generally in good shape... Did the north side catch most of this year's traffic because of the RABC suspension? That was my sense. I entered Batchewaung via Nym on July 17 and went through Pickerel narrows to the B-chain, to Olifaunt, Pickerel River to Sturgeon, then Burntside to Oriana, then back west the whole length of Quetico Lake, then back east via Cirrus and McAlpine and exited back through Nym. It was more crowded than most of my BWCA trips, and much more crowded than my southern entry trip last summer (Carp-Man Chain-Falls Chain-Kawnipi-Montomery-Shelley-Keats-day trip to Chatterton Falls-Kawnipi-Agnes-Basswood). All established sites were occupied on Fern and Oriana the nights I was there, and it was difficult to find a site on the western side of Quetico Lake. I counted about 8-10 other groups either camped or out paddling/fishing during the one day I paddled the length of Quetico Lake and camped on a seldom-used small site (fire ring with plants in it) on a beach on the west side that night. Sites on Batchewaung were also hard to come by on my last night, and the parking lot at Nym was nearly full. (But I exited on the Saturday of August Long Weekend; probably half the cars in the lot had Ontario plates.) |
| Sunburn |
09/16/2025 10:18PM I did a 50 mile traverse from Beaverhouse to Nym the first week of September and saw almost zero trash at any of my campsites, with the exception of some old aluminum in the fire pit at my last campsite on Batchewaung (well used site near the Batch/Nym entry point). I am glad I didn't have to deal with any major campsite clean-up. |
| TrailZen |
09/16/2025 08:28PM We entered through Prairie Portage August 25 and routed through Carp, Falls Chain, Kawnipi, Agnes, the S Chain and out via Burke/Bailey Bay September 3. Our first 8 days in the Park we saw seven other people. A few campsites had seem visitors, but were generally in good shape... Did the north side catch most of this year's traffic because of the RABC suspension? TZ |
| EmmaMorgan |
09/16/2025 07:52PM I ran across a similarly trashed campsite on the southwest end of Sturgeon this past July. There was leftover food dumped on the edge of camp and in the water on shore, pasta sauce and ziti noodles spilled all over the rocks near the fire pit. Breakfast bar wrappers appeared to have just been dropped wherever the people were eating them and powdered drink mix was poured out in different areas of the campsite. They left half-eaten Jolly Ranchers on the ground. They also left behind a wet paperback book, a hat, straps from a pack, a roll of duct tape, about 30 zip ties, a roll of toilet paper and other random trash and gear parts. I picked up everything I could pick up, burned what I could and packed out the rest. Very disappointing to say the least. |
| tanvat |
09/16/2025 07:18PM Forgot to mention - that said, I was overall impressed with the lack of litter I saw and I can't wait for Q trip #2 next June. |
| tanvat |
09/16/2025 07:10PM That's just inexcusable. I did my very first Quetico trip early this past June and only saw a few people in a week. But, when I stayed at the nice camp in Pine Portage Bay on Pickeral on my way out, I found some TP bombs back in the woods a bit, just laying there. WTF. I just don't see how that is possible. Bury it at least 6 inches under the surface. Or, better yet - and I can already hear the howls of disgust from some - carefully gather it up and burn it if there is no fire ban. I know I'm preaching to a choir here, but just in case anyone reads this and doesn't totally clean up after themselves - start doing the right thing. |
| Paddleharder |
09/16/2025 11:49AM Hi All, I just returned from a lovely 8 day trip with some friends. Amazing weather & good fishing. What could be better?! However on our last camping day we stopped at campsite #584 on Pickerel and were dismayed to find the site completely trashed. There was significant plastic, paper and food waste in the fire pit, excrement and TP unburied about 100ft from the tent sites, and a significant amount of food dumped in various places around the camp. It looked like a large pot of Mac and cheese just straight dumped on the ground, another large pot of some rice mixture adjacent, as well as a variety of popcorn and snacks scattered about. It was extremely disturbing, and I can only imagine what the rodent situation at sites like this will be in the future. We made some birch bark scoops and gave the waste a burial at sea (so to speak) for lack of a better options. Have others encountered this level of site disrespect? Can anyone provide insight into who would take the effort to make it all the way to Quetico and then downright trash it? I'm thoroughly puzzled and somewhat disturbed. |
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