For those of you who have been to Slim, Rice, Hook &/or Keneu...would appreciate your thoughts about that loop. I am thinking of taking a short (first) solo this summer (couple days) before hooking up with my friends and think that might be the ticket. Portages are not an issue and the lakes are smaller, so for a first time solo it might be what I am looking for. Thoughts?

Also, it looks like North Arm Rd drops you off at EP 6. so no need to paddle Burntside.

This could be a good area for a first time solo, but you are limited to where you can go and camp. I think there are four sites on Slim, and 1 each on Rice, Hook, and Keneau. 4 star site on Hook. There isn't really a loop you can do here either-but it can be done. I've portaged out of Slim and used the North Arm trail system to get to Keneau. A portion of it is a winter ski trail-that section was definitely a bushwhack.
If portaging isn't an issue, I'd travel to Big Rice or LaPond. This area you will most likely not see anyone else.

egknuti, I assumed that about the "loop" but was not sure. Thank you for confirming. I might not have the time to get to Big Rice/LaPond so mentally am hoping for the site on Hook. With only 2 permits a day, my guess is that there would be limited traffic and likely a spot to camp...but I guess you never know....

JimmyJustice: "egknuti, I assumed that about the "loop" but was not sure. Thank you for confirming. I might not have the time to get to Big Rice/LaPond so mentally am hoping for the site on Hook. With only 2 permits a day, my guess is that there would be limited traffic and likely a spot to camp...but I guess you never know...."

Interestingly I too was looking at this area for my 2nd solo.. Last year soloed to Big Moose Lake via EP8, stayed at the far North Eastern site (181) which was awesome..
My thought is to head to the site on Keneu and work my way back..
Hope it works out for you! Please keep us in da loop on your trip

RW

Agree with what Egknuti has said.

If you haven't seen it already? Here's a trip report where we exited through Slim & camped on Keneu. Should give you an idea what the area has to offer.

TB

I did see your trip report along with other postpictures with comments about the portages and campsites, which is what got me interested in this area. Thank you for making it available...helpful indeed.

JJ

2021 BWCA Solo

Here is a link to a YouTube video of my very first solo. Entered into Slim and spent 2 nights on Hook. This is a great stress free area for your first solo. I had a great time. Hope your solo trip is a success.

Stayed on Slim Lake a couple years ago in September. Nice lake, pretty, quiet and decent fishing. Good campsites. We portaged to Rice Lake but that is as far as we got. I think moving on to Hook an Keneu would be a nice relatively easy adventure and provide great solitude. The problem, obviously, is if you paddle down there and the sites are taken. No way of knowing for sure. There aren't a lot of permits for that entry so maybe you can gauge the chances by that, and how full Slim is.

I have read and seen photos that represent the sites on Hook as a very nice site and the site on Keneu doesn't look bad either. Distance isn't far, I guess worse case scenario if you get down there and both sites are full is you retrace your steps to Slim which, time wise, shouldn't be a problem.

I really enjoyed the Slim Lake entry and the lake itself. Would love to go back and check out hook and Keneu myself. Hope it works out for you and you get to enjoy beauty, peace and quiet on either Hook or Keneu...or both.

I echo what Lindy said.

I did a spur of the moment solo trip to Slim last Halloween weekend. It’s a beautiful lake. I ended up just taking the site closest to the EP because it was only a 10 minute paddle and I wanted to be back to the car as early as possible so I could stop in Ely and still get home early enough to put everything away and be ready for Halloween with the kids. Because it was the end of October I still only saw 2 other canoes over 3 days.

I’d love to go back sometime to camp on Hook or Keanu. I did a day trip to Hook and back my 2nd day. I was not a fan of the site on Rice.

I also really liked having access to the North Atm Trail from my campsite. I went for a 2 hour hike after setting up camp.

I' ll be going that route in August. I may hike that trail if I get to Keanu but not portage it. First I have to get the site on Keanu.

Bearpath9: "I' ll be going that route in August. I may hike that trail if I get to Keanu but not portage it. First I have to get the site on Keanu. "

Maybe you already know this but, you can see the Keneu campsite from the portage landing so, being that the portage in is relatively short, you can scout it out before hauling all your gear across.

TuscaroraBorealis: "

Bearpath9: "I' ll be going that route in August. I may hike that trail if I get to Keanu but not portage it. First I have to get the site on Keanu. "

Maybe you already know this but, you can see the Keneu campsite from the portage landing so, being that the portage in is relatively short, you can scout it out before hauling all your gear across. "

Yup, already checked that out on the sat. map. Lol, I was planning this one last year before I went on last years trip. Thanks for the trip report, also.

So I am ready to go (figuratively) for my entry on Wednesday. A lot of edits to the trip in the past few weeks, which include my daughter coming with me...which is great...but no solo.

Today's question is about fishing. From what I have seen and read it appears that Hook and Kenu are not the best of fishing lakes and that Slim is more of a northern lake. What have your experiences been? In a prior post on this thread Lindy indicated the fishing was good...just curious.

JJ

You should have no problem catching eater-size northerns in Hook and Keneu. Slim has northerns and walleyes, and apparently smallmouth bass now. I've caught walleyes on Slim and some nice northerns, but fishing can be challenging as the lake is very clear.

I honestly didn't fish that much at all while there but judging by the amount of action I had I think it could be pretty good. Lots of smallie action and some decent fish. I did get a walleye too and a couple small northerns. I primarily fished the area around the channel leading to the EP, particularly the shoreline north of there and was kept pretty busy with the smallies. Definitely fun.

I took my boys to Slim years ago and our plan was to hit Keneu.

After seeing the number of cars in the EP6 lot, we did the math based on the number of sites on Slim and the other lakes, then started counting how many groups we saw on Slim and determined there had to be a group beyond Slim.

We took the the first open site, 1981, and day tripped from there.

This site is really nice and affords a great view of the lake and is somewhat protected by the small island.

There was a group on Hook we saw a couple days later on their way out. We ventured back that way and never really found the portage to Keneu. It wasn't readily apparent where it was - it might not get a lot of travel. I ended up climbing up the creek area to take a look at Keneu - we never took the canoe up there.

Fishing on Slim was active, but it was mostly little bass. Not even a northern to my surprise.

Enjoy the trip. Hope this helps.

Thanks to all for your comments/suggestions. Although, through a series of entertaining events, I did not get to solo, I did spend several days with a couple buddies from Illinois and their sons. June trip...saw nobody once we camped...few bugs...fire ban...decent fishing...some exploration. Excellent trip. Trip report to follow.