Trying to decide between two potential trips. Considering entry point #50 and either base camping on Cross Bay Lake or Snipe, OR enter at #80 Larch Creek and base camp on Larch Lake or Clove. Thanks in advance for any suggestions or sharing experiences! Three kids: 14, 11, & 8. Only two family trips under our belts: one base camping on Seagull and one base camping on Horseshoe. This will be our first trip with 2 canoes.

I have not been to Larch/Clove so I can not compare for you. I did do a trip entering at Cross Bay w/ little duckling when she was 5 and I also did a daytrip with my wife from Round Lake entering at Missing Link and exiting at Cross Bay. It is a very nice area and it would be a great family trip. I thought Snipe was a very cool lake.

Thank you, Ducks! We are going for Cross Bay/Snipe. Not sure if we'll do the entire loop back to Tuscarora, but we are excited to explore a new area and give our kids some time to practice canoeing in calmer, smaller waters. Hoping to try the Granite River route next summer!

I went in on Gunflint last year with 3 newbies - my 12yo, a friend of mine, and his 15yo. Our first two nights were on Clove and it was a very nice lake. We continued through the rest of the Granite River to Sag over the rest of the week. If you go late July into the first two weeks of August you're bound to encounter raspberries & blueberries on the portages, and blueberries practically everywhere the fire burned ~10 years ago.

Awesome! Great trip report. That's the initial route we considered, but weren't sure about our kids managing the canoes for the entire Granite River route. We're hoping to go that way next summer. Sounds like a beautiful area - love all the berries you were able to enjoy! Thank you for sharing your experience.