BWCA Good 4-5 day loops for a newbie new to portaging? Boundary Waters Trip Planning Forum
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NEIowapaddler
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01/17/2023 05:29PM  
Hi all. I did my first BW trip last year. Solo base camped at Perent Lake for 6 days, since I wanted a fairly easy trip for my maiden voyage in the BW. It was a nice trip, but camping by myself in the same spot for that length of time did start to get tedious.

So this year I want to both increase the difficulty a bit and also see more country, so I want to do a small to medium sized loop of some sort. I'll probably be able to spend 4-6 days. I'd like to do some portaging, but I don't want anything so brutal it might discourage me from doing it again in future lol.

I searched through the site here and it looks like Baker and Homer lakes are often mentioned as being good starting points for smallish loops. Beside those, are there any others I should consider?

I'll be going either the week before Memorial Day, or the week after Labor Day, if that makes a difference. Oh, and it would be nice if the route had some decent fishing opportunities, since I like to fish.

Thanks in advance!
 
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billconner
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01/17/2023 05:56PM  
Ton of options at west end of Basswood Lake, like Pipestone Bay and environs. Just one portage if you go through Prairie Portage. Often thought about this as a no portage trip, possibly combine with a Quetico portion and circumnavigate Basswood. Take extra gear - no big deal.
Michwall2
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01/17/2023 06:04PM  
Options:

1. Entry 37 Kawishiwi Lake -
a. Lady Lakes - Get a Shuttle from Sawbill Outfitters to Kawishiwi Lake and work your way back to Sawbill through "The Lady Lakes". One longer portage, the 280 from Grace to Beth. This also has some ups and downs in it.
b. Go from Kawishiwi Lake to Malberg Lake - Lots of day-trip options from Malberg: North to Makwa for the cliffs, southwest to Fishdance for the Pictographs, northwest to Boulder/Adams for the fishing, east to Boze/Frond along the Louse River for solitude.

2. Cherokee Lake Loop - start at either Sawbill (entry 38) or Baker Lake. The Sitka to Cherokee Lake portage is the toughest on this route. A couple longer portages here also - Burnt to Kelly, Cherokee Creek to Skoop, Pond to South Temperance Lake.

3. Entry 47 - Lizz Lake - Make a nice loop out to Kiskadinna and back to Lizz. Some of these portages are not long but have some elevation gain as they go up and down the ridges between lakes.
01/17/2023 06:19PM  
Might want to invest in Beymer’s books. Contain routes from every EP and plenty to digest for planning over the winter months.
01/17/2023 06:32PM  
I know you are looking for alternatives but here is a recommendation for the Homer entry. Paddle into Vern and setup camp for a couple days. Explore the Vern River on a daytrip with nice scenery and good fishing. If the weather cooperates you will have a very nice day. Both sites on Vern are pretty good and for a solo they are more than you need. We have found the fishing on Vern to be very good with many fish caught right from camp.

From there you can go to Pipe Lake for a couple days, or over to Juno Lake for a couple days, or both:) There is a loop from Homer to Vern through Juno through Brule and as long as you get an early start on this big and very wind prone lake you should be fine, you don't have far to go to the exit. Juno looks really neat and has a good fishing reputation too. From the exit on Brule you would have a mile or so walk back to the car - stash the gear in the woods and take the 20 minute hike and come back and retrieve the gear.

Pipe is a quiet lake with a few campsites way on the western end...just about guaranteed solitude. But the whole route is less busy than most and your odds of a quiet peaceful time are good.

Baker and Lizz Lake entries are also both good options although you will see many more people in those areas. Not enough to ruin a trip by any means but definitely busier than the Homer area.

What I gathered from your OP is that you want a small step up in difficulty from your first trip, dabble your feet in this portaging thing and to be able to enjoy a scenic area with good fishing and some degree of solitude. Homer checks all of those boxes.

Trip report from one of our Homer trips if you are interested:



Homer Lake area
NEIowapaddler
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01/17/2023 07:39PM  
scat: "Might want to invest in Beymer’s books. Contain routes from every EP and plenty to digest for planning over the winter months."


Is it worth paying the extra $$ for the most recent editions, or are the older ones still accurate enough?
NEIowapaddler
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01/17/2023 07:40PM  
lindylair: "I know you are looking for alternatives but here is a recommendation for the Homer entry. Paddle into Vern and setup camp for a couple days. Explore the Vern River on a daytrip with nice scenery and good fishing. If the weather cooperates you will have a very nice day. Both sites on Vern are pretty good and for a solo they are more than you need. We have found the fishing on Vern to be very good with many fish caught right from camp.


From there you can go to Pipe Lake for a couple days, or over to Juno Lake for a couple days, or both:) There is a loop from Homer to Vern through Juno through Brule and as long as you get an early start on this big and very wind prone lake you should be fine, you don't have far to go to the exit. Juno looks really neat and has a good fishing reputation too. From the exit on Brule you would have a mile or so walk back to the car - stash the gear in the woods and take the 20 minute hike and come back and retrieve the gear.


Pipe is a quiet lake with a few campsites way on the western end...just about guaranteed solitude. But the whole route is less busy than most and your odds of a quiet peaceful time are good.


Baker and Lizz Lake entries are also both good options although you will see many more people in those areas. Not enough to ruin a trip by any means but definitely busier than the Homer area.


What I gathered from your OP is that you want a small step up in difficulty from your first trip, dabble your feet in this portaging thing and to be able to enjoy a scenic area with good fishing and some degree of solitude. Homer checks all of those boxes.


Trip report from one of our Homer trips if you are interested:



Homer Lake area "


That kind of info is exactly what I'm looking for. I was a bit hesitant about the Baker route because I saw quite a few reports that it could be very busy. I'd rather avoid people as much as possible without going deep into the interior - that's definitely a goal someday, but not yet. Perent was way busier than I expected last year, and while it didn't ruin the experience by any means, I'd definitely prefer not to see/hear people virtually all the time, like I did on that trip.
01/18/2023 10:58AM  
I did a longer loop route out of Homer than you are probably looking for (up and back to Cherokee and exiting off Brule), and have a trip report you can check out for the portions that apply.

Similar experience to what Lindylair has already discussed. Cutting it off at Brule (via Juno) or going down into Pipe would most certainly make for an easy and enjoyable trip and a step up from your last trip.

Looping the Laurentian Divide
01/18/2023 01:53PM  
My favorite trip was to Little Saganaga. We went in on Round Lake through the Brant EP and came out throught the Missing Link EP. This is not an easy route, but there are things you can do to make it a bit easier. First off, you can skip Brant. Round to Tuscarora is a lot of portaging, but its only 2 of them and everything else is easier after that. There are 4 destination lakes on this route; Tuscarora, Gillis, Crooked and Little Sag. All 4 are great lakes where you can catch fish and spend a day or two exploring.

If I were to do this trip again, I'd probably head straight to Crooked on day 1 (5 portages, 616 rods) and set up camp there. Day 2 would be a daytrip to Gillis (1 portage, 87 rods) and exploring Crooked. Day 3, head to Little Sag (3 portages, 101 rods) and get a good campsite. Day 4 would be to explore Little Sag and rest. Day 5 would be a return to Tuscarora (5 portages, 218 rods). Day 6 is the exit day (2 portages, 499 rods).

You can pretty easily add or remove a day with this route depending on how long you want to be gone, but I am very tempted to do this again as I listed above instead of my original route that took me from Round to Gillis though Brant (8 portages, 370 rods). That was a very bad day.
RoundRiver
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01/18/2023 10:51PM  
First, good for you. Get out and enjoy.

Mitchwall2 listed 3 I thought of, although there are numerous loop options out of Lizz EP. The Kiwishiwi Lake to Sawbill Lake route has good variety and decent fishing. And getting a boat tow across Saganaga Lake to American Point provides several options through beautiful lakes back to Seagull. And if you go in May this route has good lake trout fishing. Seagull Outfitters and Tuscarora Outfitters both have good bunkhouses, boat tows on Sag, and excellent service. Daniels Lake to Rose Lake to Duncan Lake (in and out of Bearskin Lake) is a great shorter loop for 4-6 days. It is absolutely beautiful, good campsites, plenty to do and explore (Rose Falls and look outs/vistas along the Border Route Trail, etc), and good fishing. Do not let the long portage between Daniels and Rose dissuade you - it takes some time but is not difficult. I did it double portaging solo in about 1.5 hours.

Finally, and key to improving any trip but especially solo trips: pack well. Bring a creature comfort or two (chair, book, hammock, etc), but not the kitchen sink. After 36 BWCAW trips (many solo) I continually keep learning to take less lures and jigs than I think I need and have yet to have a problem. Keep all your things in one or two packs (plus a under seat or thwart bag if you like), nothing just laying around in the canoe, fishing gear secured in the canoe, and establish a routine system during travel days. Highly suggest using Bungee Deelee Bobs (made by BWCA.com’s very own all around nice guy Old Scout) to keep things secure in the canoe and on packs.

Hope that helps.
cyclones30
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01/19/2023 06:45PM  
Are you going solo?

I like the suggestions already mentioned. And yes it's kinda hard to avoid people on the Baker entry at least for the first few lakes.

Homer would be good idea
NEIowapaddler
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01/19/2023 07:19PM  
cyclones30: "Are you going solo?


I like the suggestions already mentioned. And yes it's kinda hard to avoid people on the Baker entry at least for the first few lakes.


Homer would be good idea"


Yes, it will most likely be solo. I should have been clearer on that in the OP.
PointMe2Polaris
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01/20/2023 07:02AM  
Note, this trip would be most enjoyable if you have 5-6 days to do it. Myself and a few in my group all agreed that this our favorite trip to date: It offers moderate portaging, a few narrows, a couple rivers, several small to medium sized lakes, some cool waterfalls, pictographs and good fishing:

EP-23 Mudro Lake (enter early): You can travel to Horse Lake and do a little fishing as it should only take a few hours to get to a camp, or you can bypass staying on Horse and paddle up the horse river (very enjoyable river with a some adventure to it due to it's rugged but beautiful river terrain). You will come out near basswood falls which you can take in for a while (worth it). Find a camp site just north of basswood falls. This is a uniquely wide river with beautiful views. (Site Suggestion: 1550) If you have the energy, I'd recommend getting to this point on day one to make a little more time for fishing on the back half of this trip.

Paddle with the current up to Thursday or Friday Bay of Crooked Lake. (Dont forget to check out the pictographs about a mile north of Basswood falls. They are literally right along the river you'd be on. There are many good sites and good fishing on Thursday and Friday Bays. If you wanted to Spend a couple nights, this would be a good area. (Suggestions: sites 1871 and 1873)

Work your way down to Gun or Fairy. Both good lakes that offer a couple top notch camp sites each. Both lakes provide good fishing. (Site Suggestion: 1083, 1087 and 1088)

This trip can be cut up anyway suitable to your needs. If you wanted to basecamp a couple nights and do some fishing somewhere, I'd do it either up on Friday bay or on Horse/Fairy.

Anyway, There are many good options in this post that you probably can't go wrong with, but to date, this has been my favorite for what it's worth.

Darin
seorman1973
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01/27/2023 07:03PM  
I am planning on this route but going the other way. Is the counter clockwise loop easier than the clockwise one?
cyclones30
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01/27/2023 07:14PM  
seorman1973: "I am planning on this route but going the other way. Is the counter clockwise loop easier than the clockwise one?"



Which route?
seorman1973
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01/27/2023 07:18PM  
Sorry, the Mudro Lake loop through Gun and Fairy to Crooked and then past Lower Basswood to Horse. I'm wondering if there are strong reasons to do the Horse to Basswood Falls, then Crooked to Gun and Fairy instead of the other way around.
Lawnchair107
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01/28/2023 05:08AM  
seorman1973: "Sorry, the Mudro Lake loop through Gun and Fairy to Crooked and then past Lower Basswood to Horse. I'm wondering if there are strong reasons to do the Horse to Basswood Falls, then Crooked to Gun and Fairy instead of the other way around."


The current..
Tomcat
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01/28/2023 10:41PM  
seorman1973: "Sorry, the Mudro Lake loop through Gun and Fairy to Crooked and then past Lower Basswood to Horse. I'm wondering if there are strong reasons to do the Horse to Basswood Falls, then Crooked to Gun and Fairy instead of the other way around."


The current flows north and west and the summer prevailing winds are mostly from the west or southwest.

I have paddled this loop both clockwise and counter clockwise and see no strong reason for choosing one direction over the other.
 
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