Hi all,

Planning a trip for First week of September. Entering through McAree and exiting at Prairie portage. The route i have outlined so far takes us from McAree up to Minn and through the Darkwater River into Darky, then over to William, Conmee, Suzanette, Burt, McIntyre, Sarah, then out from Sarah to Prairie portage via Basswood...

Never been to any of this area before, so looking for advice on if there is a better way to do about this (have 8 days). Our group is all in good shape so physically we can handle whatever but we want to have as many enjoyable fishing days as possible, but want to save them for the best areas possible. Myself and 3 others have tripped 5 times, and been to Quetico 1 time before, Up to Kawnipi through Agnes. We have 8 total and the other 4 are not very experienced, but again no physical limitations. All of our group save myself are from the south, where i am originally from, want to show these Okies and Texans a great time!

Thank you advance for any information, especially fishing spots i know its hard to share such knowledge and experience!

Sounds like a good plan to me.

Sounds like a great trip. Hard to go wrong, and you can always adjust your plans when you are out there.

If it was me, I'd skip William-Conmee in favor of dropping south out of Darky to catch the pictos on Darky and the easy portage to Argo. Argo is a dandy! Then go to Brent via Cone. I'd also take McIntyre creek to Robinson, then hit Tuck, then Sarah. That's a really scenic area IMO. And it would be a shame to miss Khashawapiwi.......
But these are just my opinions. I've been to most of those lakes. Hard to go wrong. If I had just one canoe trip left to take in my life, it would be to the southwest Quetico.
Enjoy!

Good area. Khashawapiwi is a great lake. Reason to return. You don't say your route from Sarah to PP but I recommend the route through Isabella and North Bay rather than Nest. The Isabella River is my favorite paddle.

I want to do a trip like this but the Quetico entry points have always deterred me and we keep doing BW because its so easy for us. When you enter at McAree, how do you get there? Paddle there, get towed there, float plane, or a different way? Is it possible to drive to any Quetico EPs?

I don't mean to change the subject but I want to do a trip like this!

Getting a tow from Crane Lake via an outfitter, they take you to the Ranger station and then to the entry point!

Awesome, this is exactly what im looking for, experienced advice! Thank you, ill check out those options as well. Thanks again.

You can drive to the northern entry point just like the BWCA.

We did the one-way McAree (Bottle Portage) to Prairie Portage trip last September, although we took the border route via Crooked, with stop-overs in Darky and Argo. I think we did this in seven days. As Marsonite suggested, these two lakes are beautiful and worth the time to visit. Fishing was good as well.
I would caution you on putting too many miles and portages on newbies (getting to Conmee for instance), but sometimes those are the very things that make for memorable trips. YMMV.
Have fun, be safe and keep paddling...

AdamX

This report covers the general route you're proposing. Our focus is usually distance, pictographs, named portages, etc, but you'll find some great fishing along the way, as well. Have a fantastic trip--that side of Quetico is beautiful!

TZ