Hello, we are a party of 4 debating on which routes to take. Both choices start at EP50. The trip is a 7 day loop starting from Tuscarora lodge from July 16-23. Father and 3 adult sons with fishing, walleye , sm and northern, bonding and solitude on the agenda. 2 members have bwca experience and another has camping experience. Everyone is fairly fit and looking for both solitude and a challenge.

With the time of year, we wounded if the days will be too long or the water to low on the river.

Route 1- day 1 ep50 to Cherokee. Day 2, Cherokee-north and south temperance - Brule to south cone. Day 3 south cone. Day 4, south cone up to Winchell to Gaskin. Day 5 , Gaskin - Henson- Omega-Kuskeg to Long Island. Day 6, Long Island back up to Snipe. Day 7 paddle out.

Route 2 - Ep50 down to Frost Lake. Day 2 Frost Lake- Frost river- to Mora or lil sag. Day 3 stay on mora or sag. Day 4 mora to French. Day 5 French to Bingshick. Day 6 stay on Bingshick. Day 7 paddle out.

Welcome to the board! First, I would like to encourage you to become a registered member. Lots of good features and expertise here.

Here is my take on your routes.

Route 1 - I think your first day is aggressive. It also leads to leaving behind some great fishing water and putting you in places where you are not likely to find a campsite later. Cherokee is a nice lake trout lake, but in mid July the trout will have gone deep. Better choice will be to pull up on Long Island and spend a little time fishing there. The next day head to North or South Temperance Lakes. Again better fishing stops. Your plan to go from Cherokee to the Cones is risky. First, being on Brule in the afternoon risks a much windier crossing on a very large lake. Second, there are only 2 campsites on the Cones. If they are both full (which is likely), you will either need to retreat to a windy Brule Lake or face a very long day to arrive late in the day on Winchell Lake where a campsite is also less than certain. Instead, try Travel Day 1 to LIL. Travel Day 2 - Temperance Lakes (or the west end of Brule). Travel Day 3 to Winchell.

Route 2 - The Frost is very water level sensitive. Make sure you check with an outfitter before attempting. Again, the first day is aggressive and the second day even more so. Frost Lake is at an odd distance. Very long for one day (from either Sawbill or Cross Bay) and it feels like you are wasting a day if you take a shorter travel day. E.g. Stop on LIL for the first night. Short day to Frost the next. Then do the Frost River the 3rd day. I love Frost Lake and we had a great day on the Frost River. We also had a wet year with great water levels and floated over several beaver dams. Again I would spend one of your extra days before the Frost. You can see how you feel after you get to Afton, but we were all in there. I love Little Sag and encourage your visit there. Great vistas and beautiful islands. We spent 2 nights on Crooked Lake and went out through the Brandt Lake entry from there. You might investigate going out through Tuscarora. The Brandt route had lots of in and out of the canoe and some very muddy portages. You would trade that for one longer portage from Tuscarora to Missing Link. Read some trip reports for either way.

Hope this helps.

I agree on the checking with outfitter on Frost levels the week or few days before you head up there. So stay flexible for now. Late July could be low or decent...depends on the rain leading up to it

Route #2: We did a very similar route the 2nd half of July 2020. We started at EP50 at 1pm and camped on Long Island Lake. The 2nd day we went to Bologna. The 3rd day we traveled to Afton Lake via the Frost River. We had planned to drop down into Hub that 3rd night, but when we reached Afton, we were exhausted. The Frost is a long day with at least a dozen beaver dams. We felt lucky to get the Afton campsite because 3 more groups came through after us all hoping for it and had to continue onward. They all looked exhausted. The 4th and 5th nights we spent on Little Saganaga. Awesome lake and underused from our experience. We eventually ended up passing through Bingshick, but we did it by swinging through Ogish (6th night) to Seagull and then back down through Paulson (7th night). The portages around Bingshick can be hard to locate and aren't as well traveled as other parts of your route, but you will get away from the crowds. We traveled from Paulson to Brant in one day, and then exited the next, but we thought about staying on Bingshick and then exiting in one swoop.

The front end of your plan seems aggressive. The 2nd half seems fine.