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Themagicone
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04/22/2019 05:59PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Hi,

I am planning a 2 week solo trip for August or September. I don't have a specific route but thinking of starting at Lake One. Work my way east to Frost Lake and up the Frost river chain. From there possibly the border route back. Anything that would be neat or interesting to see around those areas? My goal is to see some of the more remote areas and do some fishing. Thanks
 
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TuscaroraBorealis
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04/22/2019 09:38PM  
Poke around in the Cool spots in canoe country forum. It should provide a few ideas.
04/22/2019 11:06PM  
If it were me doing a 2 week solo covering that much ground and fishing, I would go in August when you have more daylight. That is a very ambitious route to me. Are you single portaging? Your profile says you have zero trips to the BW is that accurate? Are you planning down days to fish, sight see, or bad weather? I don't mean to discourage your route I'm just in awe of it if I'm understanding it correctly.
04/23/2019 06:38AM  
From Insula I would go into Adams and Boulder Lakes. That's pretty remote.
landoftheskytintedwater
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04/23/2019 08:37AM  
If you want more remote, could go numbered lakes to Insula, up the Kawishiwi to Adams/Boulder then through the remote lakes to Makwa, then east to Tuscarora, east and south to Frost, then west down the Frost River, then south to the Louse River and back west, then loop back up with the route you took in along the Kawishiwi. After Insula, the whole route would be pretty remote aside from some of the travel between Tuscarora and Frost.

Frost could be tough that time of year depending on water levels.
Themagicone
member (11)member
  
04/23/2019 08:46AM  
I've been in bwca about 10 times now, longest trip being 12 days. I'm really interested in the frost river chain as that is supposed to be one the more remote and less traveled areas. Last year I did Lake one to three with my daughter, the amount of people was just crazy. I could always just start at sawbill lake or off the gunflint. Still pondering what I want to do. I love fishing but fishing solo does prove to be difficult sometimes.
flynn
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04/24/2019 09:01AM  
Here is a route I plotted out a few months ago. Would love to do it someday. You start at Cross Bay Lake, traverse the Frost River, then down through the Louse River, paddle Malberg up to Boulder for some isolation, then over to Little Saganaga, back through Tuscarora, and end on Round Lake. Could be done in 9 days, 8 nights. A proper 14-15 day trip would be awesome for something like this, though carrying 2 weeks of food across that many portages would probably be my least favorite part. Still think I'd do it. Total of ~84 miles, with ~49mi of paddling and ~35mi of portaging (double carrying). A nice thing about this route is that you can stay with Tuscarora Outfitters in their bunkhouse, and not have to shuttle anywhere, and take a shower after you get back!



I also have my dream route plotted, which I have dubbed "The Bunny Rabbit Route" based on its shape. This can also be done in 9 days but I would want 14-15 days for it because there is so much beauty and fishing potential along the way. It comes out to ~98 miles, with ~73mi of paddling and ~26mi of portaging (so 14mi longer than the previous route but almost 10mi less of portaging!). This route starts with a tow to Birch Lake, where you push all the way to Ottertrack, then Cherry, down the SAK to Kekekabic (specifically backtracking because of the beauty of Kek), east to Ogishkemuncie, down to Little Saganaga, even further down to Malberg, then up to Boulder, west to Ima, and out through Splash. With this route, you get to see a wide variety of terrain, with lots of variation in elevation, tree species, and water color/clarity. Fishing should be excellent for almost the entire route, from what I can tell (and from experience for some of it). There is a good chance for isolation in the more remote parts like Cherry, Little Sag, and Boulder. This route represents basically the entire central BWCA and should show you everything it has to offer. I hope to do it in a couple of years. It would be the trip of a lifetime. You also get to stay with an outfitter on Moose Lake and take a shower when you get back, without any shuttling. Wake up right on the lake and get going. Just the way I like it.

MikeinMpls
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04/24/2019 12:24PM  
The water level on the Frost River may be prohibitively low in August or September. I've done it... you don't want to attempt the Frost River in low water.

Here's what I do on solos: paddle in to a predetermined lake, then decide what I'm going to do and where I'm going to go. On a solo, and especially a two-week solo, you have to build in time for unexpected things. You're sore or don't feel well or mildly injured, washing some shirts, an extended period of rain...Maybe you never get sick, wear the same clothes for two weeks, and take down your camp and paddle in the rain...

Or maybe you find the holy grail of campsites and decide to stay there for a week. Flexibility is what I like about solos.

Mike
04/24/2019 10:39PM  
A lot of good thoughts and suggestions in this thread for you, but it really depends on how much you want to travel - days, miles, hours - and whether you single or double portage?Fewer people in Sept., but days are getting shorter, weather more variable the later you go.

Other questions - enter and exit at same place? Or is a shuttle a possibility?

Why Lake One entry if you thought it was crazy? If you want to enter at Lake One and can travel that far, landoftheskytintedwater lays out a pretty nice route.

You could do basically the same thing out of Kawishiwi Lake and avoid Lake One and that craziness.

A shorter version of a similar route is the one Flynn laid out - almost identical to a plan I have. A variation which applies to landoftheskytintedwater's route is to go from Tuscarora to Snipe via the "Howl Swamp" to Hubbub and Copper. Don't let the name scare you, you'll enjoy it. From Snipe you can either just go back out Cross Bay the way you came or exit to Round Lake via Missing Link. It's a short walk from Round to Cross Bay; I've done it twice.

Somewhere up around Boulder is said to be about as far away from the nearest entry point as you can get. Obviously all these suggested routes have variations and options to shorten or lengthen. If you just plan to travel 10 miles a day for 10 of the 14 days, that's 100 miles. So many possibilities with 2 weeks.

bwcasolo
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04/25/2019 06:38AM  
i'd stay clear of lake one in summer. way too crowded.
 
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