New Trip Report posted by rick00001967

Trip Name: Baptism Lake

Entry Point: 71

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Thanks for the trip report. A friend and I paddled this route into Trousers Lake on June 18th and then back again on the 19th. Not sure how we missed you out there! We did our orientation with a solo paddler that was coincidentally starting this route on the same day, but he was embarking on a month long trip. We encountered him on Baptism Lake on the 19th while he waited out a storm. He had made the all-too-common error of going up the French River as well but paddled for -I think he said- 5kms before realizing. So then he had to camp on the portage trail for the night as he had lost too much time. Strange to have so many of us doing this route at that same time as it is my understanding that very few take this route. This was my second time doing it. First time was solo.

And yes, the portages are evidently not well-travelled. We were surprised to see that big trees had apparently been recently cleared by the portage crew though. That portage with the beaver dam is tricky. We tandem carried the canoe on the way in along the length of the dam, but we were wiser on the way back and lined it across the pond from the dam.
I camped on Baptism Lake on my first solo trip and I agree, it doesn't seem like there are any other sites on the lake and the site that is there is adequate but not great. I find Trousers Lake to be a more scenic lake than Baptism. I have only ever caught pike in both lakes. Like you experienced, the area is really good for encountering wildlife. I saw a cow moose and calf in the bay near the portage to Trousers in my first trip and we saw a bear and two cubs on the island near the same bay on this latest trip.

It is a different flavour of trip than most Quetico trips: river travel with numerous portages; underwhelming fishing; very few red and white pines. But I would recommend it to people looking to avoid the big water of the north side lakes and who want to pack some isolation and adventure into an easily accessible, short-duration trip.

funny you mention avoiding the big lakes. that is exactly why i wanted to try this route. i figured if pickerel was blowing up, and west travel was impossible, i could go up the river into baptism to aviod the winds.

btw.....i made a mistake with the dates and put june 16. it was actually july 16 when i went in.