Planning a solo trip soon for this area. Wondering what to expect for travel time from Kawishiwi to Polly and Malberg. Still trying to decide on how far to target day 1.

Also headed up the Louse river if anyone has any insight on it they'd be willing to share. Looks like it'll be a rough route, which I like hoping for fewer people.

Thanks!

Kawishiwi to Polly Lake is about a half day. (We double portage.) It starts with a nice river paddle to Square Lake. There may be one beaver dam pullover in there. The last time we were through you could bypass the first portage off Square Lake with a beaver dam pullover. Between Square and Kawasachong Lake is a winding paddle. There are a couple more beaver dam pullovers with a very large beaver dam just before Kawasachong Lake that you have to portage around. Either side will work. Square, Kawasachong, and the portages into Polly Lake travel through the eastern end of the Pagami Creek Fire Zone. Beware the approach to the first portage off Polly. Lots of submerged rocks here. The 3 portages from Polly to Koma get progressively longer. Again, they are not hard, just a lot of walking with very little paddling. Koma is a pretty lake. The campsite on the point is the best on the lake. The portage into Malberg follows the river and has an iconic BWCA erratic in the middle of the stream. First campsite on the right as you enter Malberg is little used. The second on the right is a nice 4 star. Up in the narrows you will find two 5 star sites that are heavily used.

The Louse River is a very lightly traveled route. We encountered only one other person the entire time we were traveling there. I strongly suggest talking to an outfitter who knows the current conditions on this route. The beavers change things all the time. Some portages get longer or shorter depending on the beaver activity along the route.

I would read the trip reports as well to help you with navigation. There are some spots that are tricky to find your way through.

Hope you have a great trip.

AceAceAce: "Planning a solo trip soon for this area. Wondering what to expect for travel time from Kawishiwi to Polly and Malberg. Still trying to decide on how far to target day 1.

Also headed up the Louse river if anyone has any insight on it they'd be willing to share. Looks like it'll be a rough route, which I like hoping for fewer people.

Thanks!"

Last year, we put in at EP37 at about 6:30am and were at site #1054 on Malberg by 1:00pm....2 canoes....3 guys...double portaging.

I've done that several times, most recently last fall. Mike has summed it up pretty well. It usually takes me 4-4 1/2 hours, give or take. I double portage and I'm not on a mission, but not moseying and meandering a lot. It's 8-9 miles double portaging.

I was able to skip all the portages up to Kawasachong with only a slight lift over. I would take the left or west side around the Kawasachong monster beaver dam. I did both last fall, one on the way in, one the way out.

One other consideration is that the sites on Malberg are widely scattered with a lot of paddling if it's busy and you get there later.

I'll agree w/ everything that's been said. There is a Malberg/Louse thread earlier this year if you use the search tool. Lots of details there.

Single portaging we left the landing at dawn in June so.....6am or before. We were eating lunch on Malberg at camp mid-lake by noon. Polly is halfway or so and about half the portaging distance so a good gauge of how you're doing and what's left to Malberg.

Excellent information! Thank you everyone.

I did a solo trip last June from Sawbill to Polly, then to Louse River and looped back to Sawbill. The Louse River day from Trail Lake to Wine Lake was the hardest day of my 20+ year paddling career. Lots of portaging, portages that were difficult to locate and some portages that seemed not to have been cleared. Pure exhaustion by day's end. My notes to self that day have words like "never again," "just plain stupid." Etc etc. Of course the pain is now forgotten and I would definitely do it again! Beautiful, remote, very little traffic.

Louse River info