I'm planning my first ever trip into the BWCA/Quetico and am looking at doing the Ottertrack/Emerald/Man Chain Route from Cache Bay EP. But I'm a little concerned about the traffic on Ottertrack. Is it significantly busier because its a border lake?

Yes, but don't worry about it. It is not bad enough to cause you problems.

You don't mention when in the year but my experience is yes, in peak season, you'll see a few other groups, but not a lot and not constantly in view. Hard to quantify without some basis.

You will likely be through Ottertrack on your first day, so traffic is not an issue. There are limited campsites on the Canadian side so also not a lot of day traffic.

The large bay that extends north from the border into Canada (on the way to Jasper) is beautiful and not heavily traveled. There are a couple of nice sites on the northern portion of the bay. The Canadian shoreline along the border has tremendous cliffs to paddle beside- the area of the lake along the border is not that lengthy though it is well traveled.

altcanoeist: "I'm planning my first ever trip into the BWCA/Quetico and am looking at doing the Ottertrack/Emerald/Man Chain Route from Cache Bay EP. But I'm a little concerned about the traffic on Ottertrack. Is it significantly busier because its a border lake? "

When are you going? I just got back from a 7-night trip, doing the same loop but starting at Prairie Portage through the Man Chain then back down through Ottertrack and Emerald. You'll likely see some paddlers on Ottertrack in addition to Carp. Just so you know, portages when I went last week were not cleared. Perhaps by the time you go, they'll be in better shape. It'll take chainsaws to clear the Plough to Emerald portage....here's what it looked like last week...