This will be our 5th family trip in BWCA in late July. The Seagull-Sag loop looks appealing and doable for our group, but I'm wondering if it's too ambitious.

Husband and I are in our early 50s, kids are 16, 13, & 10. We are considering a tow from American Point at the end. We are also open to base camping on Ogish and coming back out Seagull. Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

We plan to bunk at Tuscarora since we're driving nine hours to get there. We did the Granite River route last year and, although we enjoyed it, it felt like we spent a lot of time setting up and taking down camp and hurrying up to get to the next spot (we need to work on efficiency all around, from portaging to camping, mainly paring down our gear!) If we do the loop, weather dependent, what would be reasonable travel each day with at least one spot to stay two nights?

Thank you.

If you mean the loop that goes around Thunder Point, it's doable. You could get as far as Ogish your first night but depending on when there could be issues locating a site. I did this route my first time in the BWCA and me & 2 buddies camped on Annie because Ogish was full. You could spend 2 nights on Knife, then paddle up the border back to Sag area for another night or two before your pickup at American Point.

There aren't a lot of campsites between Knife and Sag, just FYI, so once you go you're committing to the possibility of having to get across the monument & swamp lake portages before making camp.

Easily doable. The tow from American Point is a great idea unless you can paddle Sag in the morning and you have calm winds. I have both paddled and towed from there. When I've not booked a tow the lake was glass in the morning and was a great paddle. When I have it's been down right scary and I was glad I had booked a tow. Have a great trip, you are going to a great area.

Considering that we don't move as quickly as others, which lakes would you recommend camping on? We would prefer two nights in a row on two lakes if possible. We are thinking maybe for the first night camp on Alpine or Jasper, then push through to South Arm of Knife for two nights, and then paddle up to near Sag maybe camp on Ottertrack if possible for two nights? Would love to hear how long (average) it takes folks to paddle between these lakes as sometimes the map is deceiving. How far from Jasper to South Arm of Knife? How far from South Arm of Knife to Ottertrack? If we need to get to our tow on American Point, it would be ideal to be 3-4 hours from there. We are aware that weather is a huge factor and that wind can change everything - just want to have a general plan in place and know that we need to be flexible based on the needs of our group.

Sounds like you like trip the same way we do, taking an extra night at a site at least once, maybe twice.

Last year we entered Seagull, went through Alpine, Jasper, Kingfisher and Ogish. Our original plans were to go through to either Kek or SAK, then backtrack back, but weather pinned us down for an extra day on Alpine and again on Ogish, so we only went as far as Ogish. Then headed back the same way, camped last night on Seagull, and had an easy paddle back in on the last day.

We enjoyed it...paddling the lakes always looks different going in the other direction...we didn't feel like we had already "been there, done that", and we weren't as concerned about keeping to our schedule.

Either way, have fun.

Thank you for your feedback! We do like time to explore and often feel like we don't have time to relax, fish, etc. when we are on a timeline. It is a gift to spend time in the BWCA regardless of how far in we go. We don't mind the burn area but it is nice to see the older forest, too.

I double portage so these times are for that. From Seagull Ep to Jasper it's 3.5-4 hrs. Shorten by an hour for Alpine. A windy Seagull and Alpine will add to this of course. From Jasper to the big island in west SAK it's about 4 hours. From there to the NE camps on Ottertrack it's roughly 3.5-5 hours depending on your route there.

Thank you so much! That is super helpful information. We always double portage as well, and with 2 canoes and varying degrees of ability, our paddling speed is average. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Looking forward to a great trip!

Another option for this loop would be to go NE from the Eddy portage (stop to check out the cool waterfall alongside it) on SAK and go through Hansen and Esther. You'd miss Thunder Point which is a great climb and overview. You would get to hike the Monument portage which is also interesting. You'd cut some time to make it easier to stay two nights somewhere along the way.

Thank you! Yes, I believe that is the route suggested by Tuscarora. We would have to backtrack a bit if we end up camping on Ottertrack (looks like most of the sites are in the opposite direction) or we could camp on Sag at the end...need to check out those campsites. Of course all of this is dependent on weather and how our trip progresses...

(from Tuscarora site):
Start this route from the Seagull lake landing

Portage 100 rods into Alpine Lake– 21 campsites
Portage 45 rods into Jasper Lake – 7 campsites
Portage 25 rods into Kingfisher Lake
Portage 38 rods into Ogishkemuncie Lake – 11 campsites
Portage 15 rods into Annie Lake
Portage 15 rods into Jenny Lake– 2 campsites
Portage 15 rods into Eddy Lake – 3 campsites
Portage 25 rods into South Arm Knife Lake – this large lake has numerous campsites and places to explore.
Portage 120 rods into Hanson Lake – 4 campsites
Paddle through into Ester Lake – 5 campsites
Portage 80 rods into Ottertrack Lake – 5 campsites
Portage 80 rods into Swamp Lake – Monument Portage travels along the international border.
Portage 5 rods into Saganaga Lake – Once on Saganaga your group can paddle back to the public landing or Tuscarora can pick your group up in our tow boats which can save up to six hours of paddling.

There are a couple campsites on the West end of Sag that if you didn't know it from looking at the map you'd have no idea you were on the big lake. I had good fishing from the 2nd site on the lake from the West, just across from a little peninsula/island with a massive beaver lodge. Great site for sunsets.

Thank you, Mirth. I will have to check out your trip reports! We appreciate the feedback and suggestions.

hi Maureen , i can help you out with exact time to SAK ,
you mention a tow home from American point , probably a good idea after 6 days , you didnt mention about a tow to the end of 3-mile ? which could kick start your trip , but that distance to me is not huge but i'm not with kids either. a paddle from the seagull landing to the alpine portage is usually 1 hour 50 min. with your family add 30 minutes + but the wind will dictate to the point you may need to camp on seagull day #1 , but hopefully not. a paddle on the north side of 3-mile may give you more shelter from the wind.
if everything goes good through seagull alpine maybe the ticket for camp day #1 if your group is moving , never stayed here but jasper site #801 i heard is very nice.
many nice sites on ogish for day #2 & #3 ? (click on the red dots for campsite feedbacks on the sites map) dont feel the need to push to the SAK on day #2. and you'll want to spend a little time at eddy falls(also jasper falls) and even the portage to eddy lake is cool.
every paddle i've done through ogish is always 1 hour and 10 minutes.
hope this helps in decision making , never been through hanson lake and north/east from there.
E-mail me if you would like my favorite campsite # in this route.
exact time from seagull landing to SAK is 8 hours double portaging with seasoned 4 paddlers ;) but as you saw i like this route because besides seagull lake , everything is fairly short paddles and portages , great with kids ;)