We just wrapped up our summer trip yesterday (round lake to little sag, little sag to tuscarora and out), did 7 days with the family. Now we want to squeeze in one more early fall trip before we get busy with end of year activities. We want to do a single portage, simple 4 day trip basecamping some where that has good day trips. We like to put in off the gunflint. Any ideas?

Seagull Lake to Alpine. Easy to start right from dock at Seagull Canoe Outfitters. Bunkhouse, outfitting and parking is available.

Bearskin Lake to Duncan. Limited parking at entry point. Pretty lakes and campsites.

Duncan Lake

Brule would give a ton of day trips and 0 portages

Duncan is my vote also. Add wonderful views of Rose Lake and hiking trails abound as well. The high hills are a delight to sit and watch too. A portage to Partridge Lake for a different day trip is good as well. The stair step portage into rose is worth walking as well. Around 90 steps, I think.

Take the hiking trail to the left toward the end of the Rose portage and walk uphill for a time for a great view of Rose Lake. The water fall side trip from the portage will take a minute or so and the view after you cross the bridge is great at the end of a popular lunch clearing. Walk down to the end and look for a somewhat narrow opening to the right which takes you several feet to a wonderful place to take in Rose Lake. Also, a very old tree blew over recently as in less than 10 years ago and bared a rocky surface. How this tree got as big as it did is a mystery to me. We have based camped on Duncan 3 times and plan to do it again in Sept. as well.

Book as quickly as you can as permits are getting scarce.

Would love to here more about the family trip! What were the highlights? I have been through Tuscarora and Little Sag once on a one way trip but we were traveling through at a pretty good clip so did not get to spend a ton of time in the area.

Off the Gunflint I have done short trips to the already mentioned Alpine Lake and Duncan Lake. Between the two I might lean towards Duncan because of the falls and the proximity to the hiking trail BWCAdan mentioned.

I'd add one more choice but it would be two (IMHO very easy) portages off of EP47 Lizz Lake. This would get you to Caribou Lake. Good fishing lakes all around and possibly the Banadad Trail for hiking (anyone know much about this trail? noticed it for the first time on a trip this summer and am curious).

Technically EP48 Meeds has a single portage to get to...but at 290 rods I think Caribou would be the much easier option.

Cricket67: "Would love to here more about the family trip! What were the highlights? I have been through Tuscarora and Little Sag once on a one way trip but we were traveling through at a pretty good clip so did not get to spend a ton of time in the area. "

we had a fantastic trip up there. It was the first time we were able to single portage since the kids are now old enough to carry their own bags. Made things WAY smoother for me. We had them each carry a backpack with their sleeping bag, pad and clothes bag, plus a few extra things. I carried the food barrel, and my wife carried our tent/bags/pads.

We opted to go through brant lake first so we didn't start our trip off with a long portage into tuscarora. We had heard the portages were a little tough, and fully loaded, they proved to be a bit tricky, the rocks and boulders made for some large steps. we did the 8 portages and made it to gillis for the night, totally beat. Passed out and got up bright and early to get over to little sag. Since we had heard that it has been busy up in the BW, we made it a point to be on the water by 6am every travel day, and off the water no later than noon in hopes that we could snag a campsite faster that way. It proved to not be an issue on little sag as we were one of two campers on the lake the first two nights, the third night more people showed up. From there we (again, got up and on the water by 6am) moved to Tuscarora. We were a little worried about this lake since it seemed to be a more popular lake since the outfitter would push people in that direction it seemed. We were right about that, and in this moment our 6am tactic proved beneficial as we got the last open site on the lake (first on on the right after entering tuscarora from the mile portage). After setting up camp we ended up watching about 14 groups look for campsites. felt pretty bad for them.
I was a bit bummed about our site. someone left a plank of wood on a rock as a table, I am sure they thought they were being helpful, but they put it on a perfectly flat rock to begin with, so it wasn't even needed. And then leaving it behind wasn't amazing either. I tried to pack it out but between the kids and wife pretty much maxed out, there wasn't any space for it. So that being said if anyone is going out there, feel free to grab it! There were also signs of standing trees cut down (seemed pretty old though).

All in all, a great trip, and can't wait to get out next month!

What about Seagull to Ogish. Single portaging, you can make it to Ogish pretty easily, especially if you get a tow on Seagull. I love the south end of Ogish, and it offers several day trip options such as going to SAK and Eddy Falls, a trip south to Kek, or east to see the Muller Falls.

I haven't been that way in over 15 years, but my wife, her sister and I made it to Ogish by lunch in a 3 person aluminum canoe, double portaging, no tow.

easye515: "All in all, a great trip, and can't wait to get out next month!"

Thanks for sharing! Pretty awesome to enjoy the B-Bub with the family! You are making some great memories for your kiddos!

I've been thinking about that exact loop for awhile. The trip I did was about 20 years ago and was a one-way trip starting at Round, going through Tuscarora, Little Sag, Ogish, and then out Seagull. If I remember it correctly it was a 4 night trip. Mostly I remember the night on Little Sag as it was just a perfect BWCA evening. No bugs, light wind, perfect temp. We were on a pretty open campsite and stayed up late playing cards and doing some stargazing.

Whatever you decide to do I hope you have a great trip!