After spending both this summer's trips herding newbies, I'm looking for something more adventurous for next year. 60 has me realizing that the window to do that is narrowing!

So....nice river trip or loop? Quetico? Turtle River PP? Or is there someplace in the BWCA that would fit the bill? Only real requirements are no super big water.....I'm not strong enough anymore to fight the wind on big lakes like Sag. Hoping to not have portages over 150 rods, but that wouldn't be a deal breaker.

Thinking mostly travel, but at least one layover day.

Lake 1 to Insula to Alice to Fishdance then the river all the way to east side of Malberg and then down to Kawishiwi Lake. That would kind of fit what you are looking for in a way. It'd be easy, only one portage over 150 (its 159), no real big water, and a lot of it is on a river.

You could even extend the distance before hitting the end take an East at Lake Polly and head towards Sawbill Lake.

I personally think going Lake One to Sawbill Lake would be an amazing trip and with 10 days it should be fairly easy.

Go big or go home :-)

The Lonely Land

Is this a solo (i.e. Potentially more fatiguing than a tandem with experienced partner?) Here's what I've come to realize. The issue in bwca during peak season will be the "heading back to the EP" aspect. As long as you are far enough out from ep, and this means pretty far during peak season, you will usually find an open site. The issue would be that as you come closer to ep, the sites will potentially be taken. This means that "paddle out" day is going to be a long day. No issue if it's a bluebird day. What if it's not? What's the fall-back plan? So if you're solo'ing in big water or getting fatigued or fighting weather concerns, you are going to have to keep going if sites are all taken. This will be, for me, the driving factor in structuring my 7-10 day solo next summer. And for this reason, I am looking farther north. Because of my job, I can't go to bwca for extended periods in shoulder seasons. To rely on camping close to an ep with no fall-back plan other than "keep pushing on" is, strictly speaking for myself, neither safe nor relaxing. If paddling with an experienced person to help with camp chores and portage load, that's a different story. But to be there by myself and rely on a fall back plan of "just keep going" will not work well or even end well for me. Fatigue makes me careless and more prone to becoming emotional. Carelessness causes mistakes. And mistakes can lead to either hassle or danger. So that's my current line of planning - less crowded is paramount. Kind of ironic that the greatest stress of planning a backcountry solo trip is the stress of finding an open site.

Look at Isabella River - Hog Creek to Little Gabbro or Kawishiwi or even to Lake One. Bald Eagle can get snotty but not half a day so wait it out. Lots of wildlife. Lots of side trip opportunities. Not an inexpensive shuttle, but could look for someone here willing to do opposite direction.

Is this a solo trip? How much wilderness are you looking for? How about the Kopka? That is just south of Wabakimi provincial park, and the logistics are pretty easy and inexpensive. There aren't any big lakes to go across either. Another thought is the Bloodvein, though you'd have to use a float plane most likely.

marsonite: "Is this a solo trip? How much wilderness are you looking for? How about the Kopka? That is just south of Wabakimi provincial park, and the logistics are pretty easy and inexpensive. There aren't any big lakes to go across either. Another thought is the Bloodvein, though you'd have to use a float plane most likely. "

Probably not a solo, my son wants to come along. We are both looking for solid wilderness...tell me about the Kopka!

dogwoodgirl: "

marsonite: "Is this a solo trip? How much wilderness are you looking for? How about the Kopka? That is just south of Wabakimi provincial park, and the logistics are pretty easy and inexpensive. There aren't any big lakes to go across either. Another thought is the Bloodvein, though you'd have to use a float plane most likely. "

Probably not a solo, my son wants to come along. We are both looking for solid wilderness...tell me about the Kopka!"

It's easy logistics because you can park your car at an outfitters (or Clem Quenville) and they can spot it for you at the end. Then you can take the train to your starting point. There are several options for both getting to the river and taking out, including paddling up the Collins River back to Wabakimi PP and out (there's a person on Facebook, the Passionate Paddler, who just did that and it looked cool), taking out at the campground on Bukemiga Lake, or paddling down to Nipigon (not sure of the take out options there, but it would be cool to see Nipigon). In any case, you wouldn't want to miss the Seven sisters section of the Kopka.

Here's a very detailed trip report from someone who paddled upstream from Allanwater bridge to the headwaters of the Kopka, then down the Kopka to Bukemiga. trip report

dogwoodgirl: "
Probably not a solo, my son wants to come along. We are both looking for solid wilderness...tell me about the Kopka!"

We briefly checked on a Kopka River trip this year while planning a Wabakimi route. Our outfitter suggested a fly-in, paddle out, and a roadside pickup.

Be aware that if you use the train for any leg of your trip, delays can be very long... we waited 14 hours for our exit train.

Using Clem gives you the option of putting in on Tamarack Lake which is in southern Wabakimi. Then you could avoid the train altogether. Clem is allowed to use the road because he is a First Nation band member. That was what he told us in 2015.

I had a trip planned last year to put in at Wallace Lake Manitoba, paddle north on the Ontario-Manitoba border (WCPP) to the Bloodvein, paddle down the Bloodvein to the Gammon River, then paddle up the Gammon back to our car. Had to cancel because they closed the Bloodvein because of forest fires. I'm not sure how long that would take you. Over two weeks, but I'm not sure....but it sure wouldn't cost much.

The Kopka River is absolutely my favorite place to go EVER. Love it. But I last did it 30+ years ago so I am not a good source.

Wabakimi has many river options. I also did the kopka but upstream from lake nipigon. So many options here it is overwhelming. A trip downstream on the ogoki or the Albany should be on everybody’s to do list. My trip on the bloodvein the only people we met were Europeans. We did have to charter an airlift however. And for Far less money Wisconsin has some great rivers. The flambeau, south fork, is my favorite.

The Falls Chain in Quetico is really beautiful. You could do a loop from either Prairie Portage or the end of the Gunflint. There's a real nice fairly remote stretch you could do from Agnes to Louisa (Louisa Falls) then east through a series of small lakes to the McEwen River into McEwen to the Falls chain.

The campsite on Bald Rock Falls is a favorite.