I have wanted to explore this area but al my canoe partners have moved away. I am considering a solo trip (my wife is concerned), but I will be fine. I have over 20 trips and taught camping skills to many Scouts as Scoutmaster. The downside now is age - 69, and recovering from triple bypass last August. I can paddle for hours, but struggle on portages.

The question is which entry point would have the fewest and shortest portages. I am leaning to Lake One. I will go in August so that will give me several months to get back in shape.

Thanks for your thoughts.

While these three are all similar, Lake One to Boulder has the least portaging distance. Kawishiwi Lake would be the shortest over travel time, and Snowbank would be in the middle. Brant would be next by the numbers, but the portages, while not long, are beastly tough. Missing Link would actually be my 4th choice instead, and then I might even "rank" Seagull ahead of Brant still.

Seagull sounds good, but I forgot to mention that I live an hour from Ely. I traveled through the small lakes north of Boulder once, fairly rough going or I would consider Snowbank, plus lots of portages.

Might have to go with what you can get a permit for, but Lake One would meet your criteria pretty well. Last time I was there, I put in at Gunflint, but I had 40 days to play with. The site on the island on Boulder was one of my favorites.

I would say Lake One for sure. I think coming from the south is far easier than from the north and there isn’t a tough portage from Lake One to Boulder. I think the portage into Insula is the longest and it’s an easy trail.

2 years ago I had a hard time with the portage into Polly so never went any farther.