In about 2 weeks, my adult son and I are doing a loop starting at Round Lake. ,I've never been to this area and was wondering if anyone had any comments or suggestions about our route. ,We've both done three prior trips, will single portage and should be able to cover 8-10 miles a day without too much trouble.

We are starting at Round Lake, heading up to Sea Gull, through Jasper, Ogish, Gabi, Little Sag, Tuscarora and back through Missing Link. I've planned on four full days with just a few hours needed on the last day when we come out by staying on Tuscarora the last night.

By my calculations, its about 33 miles total, land and water. If the weather is good, we wouldn't mind extending our route a bit. Maybe heading over to South Arm Knife Lake then to Ogish. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

Are you planning on taking the Paulson to Seagull portage on day 1?

On our nine-day trip from EP49 to EP23 by way of Quetico, we found the stretch from Round Lake to Paulson Lake to be probably the hardest stretch of the whole trip. For nine days in a row we averaged 15.4 miles per day in just over 7 hours per day (138 miles total in 64 hours total), but on that day we covered just 13.2 miles in 10.5 hours. Mind, we did start that day on Snipe, so we went a bit further than you'd be going to get from Round to Sea Gull, but that first bit of our day was also the easiest. There were some extremely difficult portages on that day.

Note the giant portage from Paulson to Sea Gull has a difficult first quarter mile, but after that it's a gorgeous portage and is more like a backpacking trail than a portage. I actually really enjoyed that portage, which allowed us to end our day on a high note. The route from Round to Sea Gull contains several of the hardest portages I've done, but the long one isn't one of them.

Our choice - made at the last minute, against our route plan - to go up to Bingshick instead of Fay as a way of getting from Flying Lake to Glee Lake was a terrible decision. The portages from Flying to Bingshick, and also from Bingshick to Glee are absolute demon portages. I don't know if the ones into and out of Fay are good or bad, but they can't possibly be as bad as the Bingshick portages.

For your perusal, here's the GPS track of our day: Aug 18 BWCA/Quetico Day 2

That's the plan. I thought we would spend the first night on Sea Gull.

We covered much of that area a few years back on This trip .

Just my opinion here but, getting to Sea Gull from Round in one day may be a little ambitious. The portages starting at Brandt are all fairly challenging (by BWCA standards) and I consider the Paulson - Sea Gull portage amoung the most difficult maintained trails. Although, it is beautiful country.

Not that I'm saying it's impossible but, just be aware that's about as tough of a day one the BW can dish up.

TominMpls: "Our choice - made at the last minute, against our route plan - to go up to Bingshick instead of Fay as a way of getting from Flying Lake to Glee Lake was a terrible decision. The portages from Flying to Bingshick, and also from Bingshick to Glee are absolute demon portages. I don't know if the ones into and out of Fay are good or bad, but they can't possibly be as bad as the Bingshick portages."

Thanks for the info. I figured on doing the Flying to Fay portage anyway. I would rather do one longer portage then two smaller ones. As far as this being a long day, I figure we can spend the night on Paulson if we want and do the Paulson to Seagull portgage the next day.

Also note, the portage from Gotter to Flying Lake is the one that ends with the crazy staircase down to the water on Flying. On a series of portages like this, that staircase isn't nearly the weirdest thing you'll encounter, but it is pretty unusual.

TominMpls: "Also note, the portage from Gotter to Flying Lake is the one that ends with the crazy staircase down to the water on Flying. On a series of portages like this, that staircase isn't nearly the weirdest thing you'll encounter, but it is pretty unusual."

I was aware of the staircase. Not sure if I'll like that or not. But it does make it interesting.

TuscaroraBorealis: "We covered much of that area a few years back on This trip .


Just my opinion here but, getting to Sea Gull from Round in one day may be a little ambitious. The portages starting at Brandt are all fairly challenging (by BWCA standards) and I consider the Paulson - Sea Gull portage amoung the most difficult maintained trails. Although, it is beautiful country.


Not that I'm saying it's impossible but, just be aware that's about as tough of a day one the BW can dish up."

Thanks for the heads up. I figure we can stay on Paulson the first night if we need to. As far as a difficult day, on our last trip we went from Wine to Trail in late May with a swarm of mosquitoes and black flies. That was a difficult day.

I count at least 28 portages on your route. Thats a lot of portages for a 4 day day trip, at least for me. May be your cup of tea, however. Traveling light and single portaging certainly makes it doable in your four days. I would enjoy that trip more as a seven day run.

Long ago we started at Round and did your route backwards and spent time on Kekakabic and Knife exiting at Saganaga(you could do Seagull as well). I had no problem hitchhiking back to my car. Only had to walk the gravel road to the Round Lake put-in. Pretty cheap shuttle could be arranged as well.

sedges: "I count at least 28 portages on your route. Thats a lot of portages for a 4 day day trip, at least for me. May be your cup of tea, however. Traveling light and single portaging certainly makes it doable in your four days. I would enjoy that trip more as a seven day run."

We don't mind spending 6-8 hours a day, or whatever it takes to get to our next destination. So I guess that kind of trip is our "cup of tea".

Last trip we did a loop out of Sawbill. Through the Louse river and then down through the Lady Chain. I counted 32 portages on that trip and we completed it in 4 days. That was with 3 guys, 2 canoes and 3 packs. We double portaged most of those. We like to be on the move. For us, the more territory we cover the better.

so you have a brant entry out of round lake? sounds like it from your description of heading to flying. the portage out of gotter can be tricky to find, too.

movington: "Last trip we did a loop out of Sawbill. Through the Louse river and then down through the Lady Chain. I counted 32 portages on that trip and we completed it in 4 days. That was with 3 guys, 2 canoes and 3 packs. We double portaged most of those. We like to be on the move. For us, the more territory we cover the better. "

While the Lady Chain has a lot of portages, they're easier portages than the ones from Round to Sea Gull. It sounds like you enjoy covering ground and portaging though, so you'll have a great time.

TominMpls: "

movington: "Last trip we did a loop out of Sawbill. Through the Louse river and then down through the Lady Chain. I counted 32 portages on that trip and we completed it in 4 days. That was with 3 guys, 2 canoes and 3 packs. We double portaged most of those. We like to be on the move. For us, the more territory we cover the better. "

While the Lady Chain has a lot of portages, they're easier portages than the ones from Round to Sea Gull. It sounds like you enjoy covering ground and portaging though, so you'll have a great time."

Yes, I agree. The Lady chain had pretty easy portages. The ones from Kelso to Koma were another story..
I think this will be a fun route for us. Can't wait.

Mocha: "so you have a brant entry out of round lake? sounds like it from your description of heading to flying. the portage out of gotter can be tricky to find, too."

Yes, Brant entry #52. I'll keep that in mine, re. gotter. thanks

I was in that entry last Sept, but turned west where you're going north. The Brant-Gotter portage has a pretty good climb on not the best trail. I had plenty of water on Gotter then, but not sure how this year will compare. I was able to paddle all the way west along the north shore to a nice take out at the end. You may have to take out earlier. The high water left me with no landing at the bottom of the steps, which made it pretty awkward solo - at least you'll have someone to hold the canoe. Have fun.

boonie: "I was in that entry last Sept, but turned west where you're going north. The Brant-Gotter portage has a pretty good climb on not the best trail. I had plenty of water on Gotter then, but not sure how this year will compare. I was able to paddle all the way west along the north shore to a nice take out at the end. You may have to take out earlier. The high water left me with no landing at the bottom of the steps, which made it pretty awkward solo - at least you'll have someone to hold the canoe. Have fun. "

I think you posted some pictures of that. Every challenge just makes for a more interesting trip. We'll have a great time. Can't wait.

Yes, actually the water was quite high. The Gotter portage was easy enough to figure out, but the portages out of Flying - I went to Green, but paddled around Flying for a while - were flooded out (beaver dam?) and that portage was hidden well back in the trees. It's an interesting paddle out through Flying - different lakes. I think you'll enjoy it.

Yeah, the north end of Flying is totally redone with beaver works - they've raised the level of the lake a good bit. It's part of what makes the portages up to Bingshick so tricky.

Sounds like, for the way you guys like to trip, its doable to get to Seagull in one day. I've done round to gabi in one day a couple of times and we were there by early-ish afternoon. Agree with tominmpls that the Bingshick portages were forged by lucifer himself.

movington: "

TominMpls: "Also note, the portage from Gotter to Flying Lake is the one that ends with the crazy staircase down to the water on Flying. On a series of portages like this, that staircase isn't nearly the weirdest thing you'll encounter, but it is pretty unusual."

I was aware of the staircase. Not sure if I'll like that or not. But it does make it interesting. "

Ya, that staircase is a little wierd but no big deal. Also the 81 rod portage to Crag no longer exists (but is definitely passable). Bushwacked about 1/2 of it once before turning around.

Flying to Fay is not a bad portage. Does not come out on Fay, but in a stream that leads to Fay.