Looking to do a trip from Beaverhouse to Mudro. Would take any advice. How many days, good fishing lakes, must see spots. Maybe routes you loved. I will be 60 in the fall of 2023 when we go. Thinking 2 weeks and an 18’ canoe. Been in BWCA several times never been north of the border. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

With two weeks, you have a ton of options.

What are you after? Fishing? Solitude? Scenery? How do you feel about long portages?

If it was me, I'd spend as much time as possible in the lakes north of Crooked and Basswood. Argo, Darky, Brent, Sarah, Robinson, Tuck, McIntyre....these are the prettiest lakes in the Quetico IMO.

You're going to go through Sturgeon. You could go downstream to Tanner, hit the Darky River, then head through the aforementioned lakes. No wrong answers here though.

Mudro is going to seem like New York City compared to the interior of the Q.

Thanks marsonite. That is what I’m looking for. Not a fan of long portages but always weigh effort vs reward. Will fish but not the sole purpose. Also looking for some favorite campsites on special lakes. I haven’t seen all of Crooked yet. Would like to see Curtain Falls. I just want a good experience in the Q. Thanks again

We’ve done a Beaverhouse to Mudro trip and also a Basswood to Beaverhouse trip. The possibilities for routes are pretty much endless.

That said, I think if you aren’t a fan of a big long portages you might consider going out via Moose Lake instead of Mudro (at least give it a look) where you would spend more time in the heart of the park including Poet’s Chain, Kawnipi, Agnes. Of course you could do either a Mudro or a Moose Lake exit looping in lakes like Darky and Argo but you would probably be doing some longer portages to get there.

My other advice is that if you are doing a Quetico trip like this you should spend less time on the border likes (like Crooked, which you mentioned). You can visit those lakes on BW trips and in many cases (like Crooked itself) there are better campsites on the BW side. Since the portages serve both parks/countries you have just as much traffic if you are doing a Q trip on the border lakes as on a BW trip, so you are missing out on one of the huge advantages of Quetico, which is way fewer people.

Speaking of which, you might try a short Q trip before you do this longer one just to see if you like it compared to the BW. Or not. It’s not necessary but might be good.

When you say an 18’ canoe, does that mean this is a 2 person trip?

So route suggestions to get you thinking: Beaverhouse, Quetico, Conk, Jean, Rouge, Jean Creek, Sturgeon (or, from Jean, Clair, Bentpine, Bentpine Creek to Sturgeon). From Sturgeon you could go to Moose Lake via the Poets Chain (Russel, Chatterton, Keat, Shelley) to Kawnipi, then down to Agnes via one of the three connections to it from Kawnipi, then out via Meadows, Sunday, Bayley Bay and Inlet Bay to the border and the Moose Chain. Or, instead, from Sturgeon you could head west (downstream) on the Maligne River to Tanner, take the Eat Em Up Portage to Darkwater River and Lake, to Argo, Cone, Elk, Gardner Bay, Robinson, Tuck River to Lower Basswood Falls and up the Horse River to get to Mudro. Obviously there are a ton of variations on these possibilities.

Once you have a tentative route people can advise on campsites etc.

Ho Ho

A 17 footer would be fine for two.

We did a cross-Quetico trip in 2010. Beaverhouse put-in, then southeasterly through the park, through Kawnipi and the Falls Chain to Saganagons, then southwesterly down the Man Chain. We took out at the Moose Lake landing next to Latourell's. We went too fast and were done in eight days (with two layover days).

We single portaged, which helped us keep moving along, but it didn't seem like we went too fast until we got done. In hindsight, I would have slowed down a bit and stretched the trip to at least 10 days. If you're planning fourteen days, that would be awesome.

Jackfish: "We did a cross-Quetico trip in 2010. Beaverhouse put-in, then southeasterly through the park, through Kawnipi and the Falls Chain to Saganagons, then southwesterly down the Man Chain. We took out at the Moose Lake landing next to Latourell's. We went too fast and were done in eight days (with two layover days).

We single portaged, which helped us keep moving along, but it didn't seem like we went too fast until we got done. In hindsight, I would have slowed down a bit and stretched the trip to at least 10 days. If you're planning fourteen days, that would be awesome."

That's what I would do.