My buddy and I are heading up next Sunday with the intention of doing the Cherokee Loop clockwise from Sawbill. We were planning on taking all week to do it, moving every day with one layover day and coming out Friday morning..

Unfortunately, we’ve both been hobbled with minor but annoying injuries that will probably make it unwise to stick to our original plan of moving everyday and dealing with some tough portages. If we’re still hurting a week from now, we’ll probably just basecamp in the fire lakes area for the week. We were planning on fishing a lot anyway and this will give us more time to do it. The portages in the area look short enough that we could relocate once or twice if we wanted a change of scenery.

Does this sound reasonable? The only other options for basecamping I see are north Sawbill and Alton but we’d be on one lake the whole week if we did that. Any other recommendations?

Your plans sound good either way.

Another option you could do instead of the loop or basecamping the fire lakes is to base camp Cherokee. Take a day or two to get there and then just day trip around the area. Could even check out the famous Frost Lake.

This is exactly what I did last September. I was recovering from some health issues and not sure what I could handle. I went into the fire lakes thru Sawbill and hung out for 4 days, changing camps twice. Didn't fish, but just took daytrips and had a great time.

That’s encouraging to hear you still had a good time. It will be nice to not have to undertake a grueling odyssey at any point during our trip.

Consider going in at Baker instead...easier and shorter portages, an old gold mine to explore, good fishing and an area known for moose sightings. Camp on Kelly or perhaps Jack. Long river like stretches of paddling on both of these lakes, very pretty.