Hello everybody! I am planning a 10-day paddle on the eastside this coming June. I would appreciate suggestions on a favorite loop or trip in the area. I am looking to do about 65 miles max, eight days at eight miles with two layover days. We will be single portaging.

I would prefer a variety of lakes, streams, rivers and ponds. Fishing and solitude are high on the list. We don't mind working hard the first day or two to get away from the busier areas.

Are there many pictographs in the area? Lake trout is on my bucket list as well. Storms and moonshine thwarted my attempts on the last trip. Any great fishing lakes will be used for zero days if the weather doesn't claim them first.

What do most people use for wind forecast? Are there any sights, views or waterfalls that should not be missed in this area?

Thanks everybody for being so supportive and helpful.

Figboot

I am not a fisherman, so I can't say much on that, but for the variety of environments you desire here is one suggestion. Park your car at Trails End, or if you wish secure parking, at Way of the Wilderness or Seagull Outfitters. Probably 5 bucks a day for peace of mind. Get the outfitter to shuttle you to Cross River Access and go in through Cross Bay Lake entry point. Head down to Frost River for river desire and then to Little Saganaga and north through Ogishkemuncie to south arm of Knife Lake. If you haven't already caught all your desired fish species, you can finish up on Knife. Head out through Saganaga or Seagull Lakes. You have a variety of exit routes.

Here is a trip report for another ten day that you could do from Cross Bay, Missing Link, the entry off Poplar, Brule or Sawbill. It is a basic interior loop that can be enter and exited from any of those entry points.

Three headwaters Tour

How hard do you want to work on your travel days?

In terms of pictographs, Fishdance Lake has some nice ones. You could make a nice loop out of Sawbill, through the Lady Chain/Phoebe River, head north into Malberg. From there you can go to Fishdance then take the Kawishiwi River north/northeast, go up through Pan and Makwa to Little Sag. From there you can decide to either cut back south through Mora, Whipped, Hub and back down into Sawbill. Or you can take the Frost River and then head back down to Sawbill via Cherokee.

I also do not fish so others will need to speak to those details. But there are some magical spots along that route and some of it will have limited people in comparison. Some of my favorite spots: Little Sag in general, portage from Little Sag to Mora, Makwa Lake, the Kawishiwi river between Bow Lake and Kivaniva. If you decide to do the Frost, read some trip reports, it can be a slog if you aren't mentally prepared for it. I have done all of the route I outlined, but never all together...just as parts of other routes. But I would go back to all those places in a heartbeat.

Have a great trip.

This route is almost exactly 65 miles. But we usually do it in 7 days.

Day 1 - Sawbill to Wine Lake - 12.7 miles - Lake Trout can be found here.
Day 2 - Wine to Trail Lake - 9.4 miles - Find the waterfall on Mug Lake. The Louse River is high quality wilderness.
Day 3 - Trail to Malberg Lake - 7.9 miles - Lots of beaver dams today. Ask about the route from Frond to Boze Lake.
Day 4 - Day trip to the Pictographs on Fishdance.
Day 5 - Malberg to Little Sag - 10.9 miles - Spend an extra day here. This is one of my favorite lakes and it is not easy to get to from anywhere.
Day 6 - Little Sag to Mesaba Lake - 11.1 miles - More high quality wilderness. Very seldom travelled route. The portage from Little Sag to Mora Lakes follows a scenic rapids. The Fente-Hub portage will get your heart pounding.
Day 7 - Mesaba to Sawbill Lake - 13.2 miles.

I don't think you can fix the mileage on the first 3 days. On day 1, there is a campsite on Frederick Lake, but not not as good as the ones on Wine Lake and no lake trout. After you get to Malberg you could stop on Elton, Mora, and Mesaba to even out the travel distances.

Another Option in the same area:
Get a shuttle from Sawbill to Kawishiwi Lake Entry
Day 1 - Kawishiwi to Polly - 9 miles - You will pass through the Pagami Creek fire area today. Very nice river paddle and a great fishing lake to stop on.
(It is 11.7 miles to Koma or about 13 miles to Malberg. Pushing harder the first day would give you the chance to day trip to the Fishdance Lake Pictographs).
Day 2 - Polly Lake to Pan Lake - 9.5 miles - Fish Malberg on the way through. Pan is an overlooked fishing lake.
Day 3 - Pan to Little Sag - 7.3 - Lots of different types of fish here. Have fun.
Day 4 - Little Sag to Tuscarora - 8.7 miles - You will find your lake trout here.
Day 5 - Tuscarora to Snipe Lake - 6.7miles - Go through Howl, Hubbub, & Copper Lakes for a very little visited area of the BW.
Day 6 - Snipe to Cherokee Lake - 9.1 miles Cherokee also has the Lake trout you are looking for.
Day 7 - Cherokee to Sawbill Lake - 13.1. (If you want to break up the last day, head to the north end of Sawbill for your last night. But be prepared to paddle in if you don't find a campsite. Sawbill can be very busy.)

Total distance is about 63.5 miles. You will see a lot of different territory. If you can spend one of your layover days on Malberg Lake and day trip to Fishdance for the Pictographs, I would recommend it. Breaking up the trip route from Snipe to Cherokee by spending a night on Frost Lake (west of Gordon) gives you a better than average chance to see moose. Or take a day trip to Frost to walk the golden sand beaches. You will see more people on this route, but it is easier to stay closer to your daily mileage goal. The portages on this route may be a little more frequent, but they are not as long or grueling as the first route's portages can be.

If you want a chance to see a neat waterfall, take a day trip north out of Little Sag. Head through Rattle, Gabimichigami (beware the wind here), and Agamok. Between Agamok and Mueller you will cross the Kekakabic Trail. Walk east about .25 mi. and you will encounter a campsite and a bridge across the waterway. Below you on the bridge is Mueller Falls.

It is good to see people planning traveling trips again! Hope you have a great trip.

For solitude, a mix of lakes-rivers-streams, and lake trout on the east side, I’ll also recommend entering at Cross Bay and heading down the Frost River. I don’t know of any picto’s in the area, and not sure about water falls. I did a loop from Cross Bay-Frost-Bologna-Mora- Gillis and out through Brant to Round a couple years ago and it was a favorite trip. I did 10 days but only paddled 6, with weather claiming two and fishing the other two. Lake trout in Frost were pretty willing, and Gillis was even better (at least for numbers, but not size). Heading through Little Sag seems like a great idea too, with more lake trout lakes on that route. Here’s my Trip report. It’s also a pretty moosey area.

For weather forecasts in June I usually bring my Wx radio and check twice a day. On my last trip I ditched the Wx radio (no coverage I that area) and used the basic forecasts on my Garmin. Both pretty accurate, but Wx seems a bit over-stated some times. Wx is best at alerting to severe weather though.

Shamefully I have not been on the north side of the Gunflint, but I know there are water falls and Lakers up there - hope someone recommends a route up there.

A big heartfelt thank you to everyone that posted their routes and options. Now I have a lot of studying to do when I get back to my laptop.

Thanks again, Figboot

Another option start at Magnetic Lake up the Granite River across Big Sag to Knife Lake through Ogish to Seagull for the takeout. If you’re ahead of schedule you can take the Seagull River and take out on Big Sag.

Start at sag and work your way down the border and back out through seagull.

Tons of route options, can be completed in as few as 4 travel days, or stretched to many more.

Awesome scenery and fishing for all species in this area.