Good evening all.
Looking for ideas for a 3 night trip in July or August. Paddling partner does not have a lot of paddling expierence and looking for smaller lakes and no long difficult portages Ideally would be max of 3 hours to paddle/portage to destination camp. Would be nice to have some day trip options, waterfalls, rapids or beaches would be a plus. Entry can be either side or in the middle ;)

Thank you in advance for your recommendations/ideas.

Gabbro, Little Gabbro, Bald Eagle. Enter Little Gabbro, South Kawishiwi, or even Snake River. A couple hours to camp. Nice day trip options.

Gabbro is a good idea. A Homer entry to Vern Lake and exploring the Vern River would be another great and easy trip.

Homer to Vern


A third option would be Baker Lake north to Kelly or Jack.


Baker entry

Besides the good options you've already been given, some more:

Depending on how you feel about camping in the recovering burn area from the 2011 Pagami Creek Wildfire, another entry just east of Snake River that you might like is Little Isabella River with a basecamp on Quadga Lake. Quadga has access to the Pow Wow Trail and a short portage puts you on the Isabella River where you could go east or west on a day trip. You could also enter farther east at Island River, but I'd enter at Little Isabella as you won't be in the recovering burn area for a while. Little Isabella is an entry with a remote feel and very nice intimate paddle to the Isabella River.

East Bearskin, if you don't mind the paddle across that lake, takes you to a very short, easy portage to Alder. A short portage from Alder leads to Pierz, a dead end lake. Another short Portage from Alder leads to Canoe Lake. From Canoe you can hike the long portage to Pine, then to Johnson Falls on a day trip. A short portage from Canoe also goes to Crystal Lake, another dead end lake.

A couple of others for you to look at - Cross Bay entry to Snipe and Bower Trout entry.

I like the Baker Lake Entry. It’s a beautiful paddle up the Temperance River. Portages are as easy as they come and there is a chance to see moose. There is an abandoned mine to the west of the Jack Lake end if the Kelly/Jack Portage.

Another idea is Lizz Lake (Entry 47). Head to Horseshoe for one night. Horseshoe is moose central. Second night or daytrip to Winchell. Climb the paths to the top of the cliffs. Pick another day trip to Vista or Kiskadinna. Head out when you are done. Portages are short to medium. Great area to visit.

Have a great trip!

Little Isabella River

Kawishiwi triangle

Baker Lake

Larch Creek

Thank you...lots of options given. I will have to go over these routes and trip reports with my tripping partner and make a decision.

Go in at E.P. 64 East Bearskin Lake. Portage into Alder and if possible Canoe Lake. Base camp and explore Johnson Falls. I did this trip a couple of years ago with newbies, we saw a moose and her calf at the portage trail to Alder. The falls are beautiful, make sure to hike to the top as there are two separate sets of falls. The fishing in this area is very good. We caught plenty of walleyes from shore to have a fish fry every day we were there. Enjoy!