It looks like I'll miss three canoe trips this year. So, maybe next year will be the time to do a 3 or 4 week trip in Quetico. If I can pull it off, I'll probably have to resupply my food stores at some point. What would be a good way to do this?

One option would be paddle up to an outfitter and buy food from them (arranged in advance). I checked with the people at Voyager Wilderness Program on Nym Lake and it looks promising. That of course would require planning a trip that goes by their base on Nym Lake after a week and a half to two weeks into the trip. For an additional fee, they would probably agree to meet me at another entry point at a specific time.

Are there any other outfitters that I could paddle to their place and do something similar?

Ontario Parks has five ranger cabins on the edge of the park accessible from the water (Beaver House, Dawson Trail, Cache Bay, Prarie Portage, Lac la Croix). It would be possible to drive to Dawson Trail or Lac la Croix and leave a food cache with the ranger to be picked up later. Would they do this? Getting food to the others would be more difficult.

Any ideas on how to pull this off would be appreciated.

I have thought about a Q perimeter trip. Start at Dawson Trail and and leave a food pack at a Moose Lake outfitter. Could day paddle down Moose (grab a blank permit when you drop food) or arrange for it to get on a tow - sat phone or satellite communicator. OR start at say PP, and hitch a ride from Dawson Trail into Atikokan to shop and back. Q permits do not become invalid if you leave the park. (Atikokan has a taxi or so says the internet.)

Or find a friend who will simply paddle in somewhere and meet you.

Larry,

The Nym Lake entry point is only a short drive from Atikokan and I think the Nym Lake entry would be an easy spot to meet someone with a food cache.

I don't think you could use Prairie portage since the mere transfer of goods to you from the American side without it passing through customs would be a legal hurdle. That said, Prairie Portage would be an easy spot to meet someone from the US for a food swap if you were to do it on the down low.
Tom

If he had an RABC he could carry it over. Outfitters carry gear and foid across all the time. And if he did paddle Moose, he'd need an RABC anyways.

I go each year for at least three weeks and this year 23 days. I have never found the need to resupply. I choose my route to do less work in the first week and and much more in the second and third weeks. I am not a big man and I am over 70 so resupplying is just one option.

I've used Michelle at VWP twice and she's great. I bet you wouldn't need to paddle to Nym and she'd meet you on Batch.

Troutbum77: "I've used Michelle at VWP twice and she's great. I bet you wouldn't need to paddle to Nym and she'd meet you on Batch. "

I talked to her on the phone. She seemed most helpful. I've paddled past her island a number of times and have wanted to see what their operation was like. So, I wouldn't mind paddling to the island on Nym.

My experience there has been uniformity positive. It's a great place to start and end a trip. Highly recommended.

Troutbum77: "My experience there has been uniformity positive. It's a great place to start and end a trip. Highly recommended."

I've started and ended a trip at Nym, and ended two other trips there [from LeRome (Sue falls) and another from Seagull (Cache Bay)]. So, I know the lake a bit. It sounds like you may have used their outfitting services. I am interested in their food since that is what I would need. If they ever packed food for you, I'd be interested in what you thought. As far as cooking goes, I am a pretty low skill guy. I have, however, mastered boiling water. In this time of freeze dried meals, I can do okay and can easily have North American, Mexican and Asian entrees with only the ability to boil water. So, I spend the extra money for freeze dried entrees for suppers and sometimes supplement them with a pouch of tuna or salmon or freezed dried miso soup. Breakfasts are mostly oatmeal, sometimes pancakes, cocoa and maybe some dried fruit or a protein bar. Lunches are dried fruit, jerky, nuts and crackers. So, having spilled the beans (they were in one of the freeze dried entrees) on my canoe trip eating habits, how do you think VWP would do on feeding me? They seem to have a selection of freeze dried entrees. Do you know what brand or brands of freeze dried food they carry?

If I can pull it off, I'll probably have to resupply my food stores at some point. 

Have you exhausted your planning efforts... seems like resupply wouldn't be neccessary with a good food plan. Your load might be bigger at the beginning, but I like the idea of being solo and independent for the duration.

I have a long way to go on planning this trip. I had envisioned it as a two person trip. That is why I was asking about a food cache. However, that would mean finding someone able to take a month off work to go canoeing. Doing it solo is interesting. It also makes planning a route much easier. However, I only own a tandem canoe, so that adds another layer of complication. For right now, I am trying to figure out the food cache. Assuming that the pandemic is over, the plan is to do this in the fall of 2021, so I have time to explore various options

I have not used their food.

If I were in your shoes, I would ask Michelle if you can send her a box of re-supplies and then have her paddle it to you on Batch. I've used horse packers in Wyoming for re-supply on backpacking trips and they're always excited to do it. It's an easy way for them to make a relatively quick buck and my guess is that people in Atikokan would feel the same way. Good luck, and please keep us updated.

I'm one of those who would try to carry it all and do it without resupply. I've carried (double portage) 17 days. One reason is that I'd want to avoid the complication and necessity of being at a specific point at specific time. You would lessen that by going and picking it up yourself at their place, which wouldn't require such specific timing.

boonie: "I'm one of those who would try to carry it all and do it without resupply. I've carried (double portage) 17 days. One reason is that I'd want to avoid the complication and necessity of being at a specific point at specific time. You would lessen that by going and picking it up yourself at their place, which wouldn't require such specific timing. "

I think I would carry all the food if it was 3 weeks. At 4 weeks I think I'd like the break of coming out for a night (or not) and regrouping. A possibility is entering Beaverhouse with a box of resupply delivered to the Dawson Trail Campground at French Lake.

So take two weeks to get to the resupply and spend a night in the campground or a cabin. It would be nice to have time to take a shower, repack, get a good meal, talk with people etc. before heading back to Beaverhouse. The route could take you through the heart of the park or do a loop on the north and south ends.

Two permits would most likely be required but I'm not sure about that. Anyway, I've been dreaming of a trip like this for myself for a long time. Finding that free month is the difficult part for me.

I have been told by former and current Q superintendent that you are allowed to exit and renter the park on same permit. You have to pay for all nights.

Just an aside to the discussion, and my memory of the details is a little hazy but whenever we were at LaTourell's we would try to get Jeep to sit down with us and "talk story". McIntyre Lake was one of our favorites and also his and he told us how, when he was young, he and his dad would paddle and portage in crates of beans and potatoes and stash them in a cave there for use when they guided folks up later in the season.