BWCA Trip Report - Chuck & Tia's 2018 Quetico Adventure Boundary Waters Trip Reports
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09/12/2018 09:03PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
New Trip Report posted by TrailZen

Trip Name: Chuck & Tia's 2018 Quetico Adventure.

Entry Point: Quetico

Click Here to View Trip Report
 
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Driftless
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09/13/2018 08:59AM  
Awesome report! That moose picture is a good one! Happy Anniversary and congrats on the "new" boat!
09/13/2018 12:38PM  
Nice trip report, I know portions of your trip from my trip this year (we exited the day you went in) but would like to get way into the interior like you did. Thanks for including the maps, it made it much easier for me to track. I think I'm going to add your route to my future trip-planning suggestions.
09/13/2018 03:29PM  
Nice trip, nice report. I was in the park during much of the time you were so shared a great deal of your weather. I'm fairly certain the scat in your photo is wolf not bear. The beaver pond you portaged into from Sarah is in my opinion the easier route into Side- two short portages and a third really short portage or pull through depending on the level of Side Lake.
pswith5
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09/13/2018 04:55PM  
Very nice report. Must admit I am envious. My wife's idea of an anniversary trip doesn't involve portaging in the mud. Great pics of the two of you on your actual anniversary. You look so happy. Thanks for sharing.
09/14/2018 12:09PM  
very cool! you found a message jar. how far back did the messages date, do you remember? love all the photos, esp the pitcher plants.
09/16/2018 02:50PM  
Driftless: "Awesome report! That moose picture is a good one! Happy Anniversary and congrats on the "new" boat!"


Thanks! When North Carolina's Florence rains (we're well out of the flood and wind zones) stop, we'll be hitting a couple of our favorite local lakes.

TZ
09/16/2018 02:52PM  
TominMpls: "Nice trip report, I know portions of your trip from my trip this year (we exited the day you went in) but would like to get way into the interior like you did. Thanks for including the maps, it made it much easier for me to track. I think I'm going to add your route to my future trip-planning suggestions."


Glad you found the map segments useful--I often find myself pulling out a map or two when reading other reports, so included these. We'd do most of the route again, but had hoped to get a bit further north than the fires would allow.

TZ
09/16/2018 02:55PM  
Banksiana: "Nice trip, nice report. I was in the park during much of the time you were so shared a great deal of your weather. I'm fairly certain the scat in your photo is wolf not bear. The beaver pond you portaged into from Sarah is in my opinion the easier route into Side- two short portages and a third really short portage or pull through depending on the level of Side Lake."


Thanks!

The size (1-1/4"+ diameter), shape, and content (seeds, berry skins, no hair) of the scat is consistent with black bear. Canid scat is ropy, tapered, and uneven diameter.

I agree that the portage we took is much easier (no steep climbs) than its alternate--we'll certainly do it again, but the pull through was a surprise.

TZ
09/16/2018 03:06PM  
pswith5: "Very nice report. Must admit I am envious. My wife's idea of an anniversary trip doesn't involve portaging in the mud. Great pics of the two of you on your actual anniversary. You look so happy. Thanks for sharing. "


Thanks! Tia is always up for an adventure, and she introduced me to canoeing and backpacking, so this is just the sort of anniversary event she enjoys most.

TZ
09/16/2018 03:08PM  
Mocha: "very cool! you found a message jar. how far back did the messages date, do you remember? love all the photos, esp the pitcher plants."


Delahey Lake's Olive Jar Island is the oldest message cache we know of--we've found a few others, but as reported, we had found the jar on a 1988 visit. The oldest notes we found this trip were in a bag marked "1980-1989", but the jar was packed and we just didn't have the time to empty the jar--we were only about a third of the way into it when we decided to pack it back up and crawl into the tent.

Glad you enjoyed the pitcher plant photos(sarracenia purpurea)--gotta love anything that eats bugs! The sundews (drosera rotundifolia) also eat small bugs...

TZ
09/16/2018 08:56PM  
I really enjoyed the report and the pics are fantastic! You two are amazing to cover that kind of ground. It's hard to believe you took no layovers. You seem to really have a good system. As for food containers you don't need to hang you might look into Ursacks. The maps you posted were excellent. Great job!

09/16/2018 10:47PM  
Thanks for the report, you guys covered some ground too!

Nice job!

T
09/17/2018 08:30AM  
TomT: "I really enjoyed the report and the pics are fantastic! You two are amazing to cover that kind of ground. It's hard to believe you took no layovers. You seem to really have a good system. As for food containers you don't need to hang you might look into Ursacks. The maps you posted were excellent. Great job!"


Glad you enjoyed the report, maps, and photos. our proposed route would have been longer, but fire-related restrictions kept us south of Russell Lake. Last year's visit was 115 miles, but only 50 portages. Most of our visits have included a weather-related layover day, but this year we didn't need one. Our system (pack like we're backpacking, single-walk all portages, don't fish) works well for us, but would drive lots of paddlers crazy!

I thought I had my bear bag system improved for this visit, but even the best bag system fails when the 'right' trees aren't available, so we'll probably be using a canister or barrel next year. The Ursack is interesting, but I keep reading mixed reviews on the various iterations of the product. Several of our local backpacking venues have started requiring canisters, so we'll probably move in that direction.
09/21/2018 09:32AM  
Great report and I can't believe your note was still there after 30 years! Happy Anniversary as well, my wife and I spent a week in the BWCAW for our 10 yr anniversary this past June.

Where in WNC do you live? I am originally from Northern MN but my family and I moved to Fort Mill, SC 7 years ago. We just purchased some property in WNC between Bryson City & Franklin, hope to build there someday.

Thanks for sharing, love the pictures!!
Jackfish
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09/25/2018 02:02PM  
Awesome report. Envious of the area you covered and the time you were able to spend in Q. Fantastic!
09/26/2018 09:56AM  
aruthenb: "Great report and I can't believe your note was still there after 30 years! Happy Anniversary as well, my wife and I spent a week in the BWCAW for our 10 yr anniversary this past June.


Where in WNC do you live? I am originally from Northern MN but my family and I moved to Fort Mill, SC 7 years ago. We just purchased some property in WNC between Bryson City & Franklin, hope to build there someday.


Thanks for sharing, love the pictures!!"


Thanks for the kind words! We're in Pisgah Forest, just outside Brevard. Not as much flat-water canoeing here as white-water, but we get to play on some of the TVA lakes and usually make an annual trip to Okefenokee Swamp on the GA-FL line and paddle among the 'gators! You'll enjoy the Bryson City/Franklin area--lots of hiking opportunities.


09/26/2018 10:08AM  
Jackfish: "Awesome report. Envious of the area you covered and the time you were able to spend in Q. Fantastic!"


Thanks! With a 2500-mile round trip from WNC to Ely, we feel that an 8-10 day trip works best for us. We're already looking at route options for 2019.
11/19/2018 10:30PM  
A nice report and congratulations on 46 years together. My wife and I have been making BWCA trips for the past 10 years or so, but we would like to try something a little more adventurous like Quetico. A couple questions. How much harder is Quetico than BWCA as far as portages and locating the portages. Are they maintained at all, or just from people using them? We are in our late 50's, we are in decent shape and like a challenge, but bushwhacking and/or getting lost is not my idea of fun. BTW we are only at 33 years together.
11/20/2018 09:00AM  
BigBooter: "A nice report and congratulations on 46 years together. My wife and I have been making BWCA trips for the past 10 years or so, but we would like to try something a little more adventurous like Quetico. A couple questions. How much harder is Quetico than BWCA as far as portages and locating the portages. Are they maintained at all, or just from people using them? We are in our late 50's, we are in decent shape and like a challenge, but bushwhacking and/or getting lost is not my idea of fun. BTW we are only at 33 years together. "


Thanks, BigBooter--we don't feel Quetico portages are any tougher to find or negotiate than those of BWCA. Because one of our Quetico objectives is solitude, we often find ourselves on lesser-traveled lakes and portages, which may result in a portage like this (from our 2007 trip):



While paddling, we're both using map & compass to monitor our progress. We carry an old Quetico Foundation map that we mark up with portage and campsite notes, and a more recent small-scale map. Several trips back we tried using McKensie maps, but quickly tired of the frequent refolding of the larger-scale maps. It's our opinion that the biggest difference between BWCA and Quetico trips may be the number of people you encounter. So start planning your 2019 Quetico trip now--we're already listing our options!

Chuck
11/20/2018 07:36PM  
Enjoyed your report, congratulations on the anniversary.
12/10/2018 10:35PM  
Excellent trip report! I very much enjoyed the photos, especially of the moose and calf.

Your writing style seems familiar. Would it mean anything to you if I said Joyce Lake, size 14 hiking boots, and a large 1950's style fuel cannister?
12/11/2018 06:49PM  
johno: "Excellent trip report! I very much enjoyed the photos, especially of the moose and calf.


Your writing style seems familiar. Would it mean anything to you if I said Joyce Lake, size 14 hiking boots, and a large 1950's style fuel cannister?"


Johno, thanks for the kind review. Yes, Joyce Lake, size 14 boots, and an old fuel can would mean a few things to me: First off, it would remind me that Joyce doesn't love me any more, and that I probably won't visit her again. And it would mean that, like many of us, you visit another site where BWCA/Quetico trip reports are posted. And it suggests you have one heck of a memory--I tried to pull up my 2017 trip report (detailing our discoveries during a wet layover day on Joyce) there and it appears to have missed the transfer to the new database.

Thanks for the smile!
12/11/2018 08:58PM  
TrailZen: "Thanks for the smile!"


Hopefully I'll make your smile even bigger: I didn't read your 2017 trip report. Back in June I read the note you left in the plastic bottle at that Joyce Lake campsite. I too very much enjoyed that site and I also added my thoughts to the back of the paper containing your note. The bottle is cracked, but hopefully not much water will seep in when the snow melts :-)
12/11/2018 09:56PM  
johno: "
TrailZen: "Thanks for the smile!"



Hopefully I'll make your smile even bigger: I didn't read your 2017 trip report. Back in June I read the note you left in the plastic bottle at that Joyce Lake campsite. I too very much enjoyed that site and I also added my thoughts to the back of the paper containing your note. The bottle is cracked, but hopefully not much water will seep in when the snow melts :-)"


Holy cow!! Tia and I are both smiling--we tried to clean up the site during our 2017 layover day, but just weren't willing to carry out the kerosene can (3 gallon?), boots, or the huge peanut butter tub (which still had peanut butter in it when found). Now we'll have to go back for updates!

 
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