Has anyone been through the Cross Bay ep recently? It’s a new area for us, and we’re heading up there next week, taking a couple novices with us. So I’m mainly wondering about water level conditions. Has all the rain this summer kept the water levels up?

Also are the bugs bad enough to take a bug shelter? We’ve never taken one before but this year I’m wondering if we should bring the extra weight so we can cook without being eaten ourselves.

Thanks

I’m taking my 5 yo son on his first bwca trip next week and I am not bringing a bug shelter. I was considering bringing one based on how bad the bugs were earlier this summer when we were up there, but we just got back from a week up the gunflint trail and the mosquitos have mostly disappeared. We were in a cabin at Rockwood, not camping, but non of us used bug spray all week, including when we were out and about at dawn and dusk. When we were up there in June they were thick all hours of the day. The outfitter said they were still bad a couple of weeks ago and then they went away like someone turned off a switch.

I didn’t travel into the bwca from EP 50 but we did drive by that EP and the river levels looked good, especially for this time of year.

Ducks, glad to hear that. One less thing to carry, I will probably leave the thermocells behind then too. Although as I sit here typing in my living room I have a skeeter bothering me. Enjoy your trip next week!

Ducks, glad to hear that. One less thing to carry, I will probably leave the thermocells behind then too. Although as I sit here typing in my living room I have a skeeter bothering me. Enjoy your trip next week!

Thank you. You too!
I really like the Cross Bay area. That’s where I took one of my daughters on her first trip at age 5, and my wife and I did a day trip one time entering at Missing Link and exiting at Cross Bay.

I think I’m still bringing the thermacell just in case. That’s definitely easier to have in the pack than the bug net even if it ends up not getting used. With a 5 year old along I’m carrying more stuff than when I’m solo or with someone older so not taking it is tempting, but an unhappy kid because of bugs could ruin the trip so it’s worth it to bring something that light along just in case.

I just got out of Cross Bay yesterday, entered on Thursday. We stayed on Long Island Lake with a group of 9. Took us 4 hours to get to campsite (526 on East side of lake) but we had many beginners. Only took us 3 hours to get back to EP after a few days of practice.

Water levels are not as high as I would have thought. No real issues with low water, but many areas along river are shallow so need to watch for rocks (my son did not have polarized sun glasses while in front seat, so we went over more rocks than we should have in our Kevlar canoe).

Bugs really seemed to be site and weather dependent. With a good breeze through camp, bugs were not a problem. When breeze stopped and sun went down, they came out in force. Definitely recommend planning for bad bugs and then be happy if conditions improve. The long portage from Gordon to Unload (we did a day trip) was brutal for bugs. My son got the fishing poles tangled in some branches as we went across and the black swarm descended quickly.

When we went in on Thursday, Long Island Lake was as empty as I've ever seen it. Definitely got more people come through over the weekend but still plenty of sites available.

Overall we had a great time! Let me know if there's anything else I can answer.