New Trip Report posted by EasyFisher

Trip Name: 40th Birthday 1st PMA Stuart River - Sterling - Iron - Stuart Lollipop Loop Mid Aug.

Entry Point: 19

Click Here to View Trip Report

Very nice PMA route. I've been to the island on Sterling coming up from Beartrap Lake. It was neat hearing and seeing the other pieces of the route. Thanks for sharing.

Great report! Heading that way next year so your intel is extremely useful, especially the part about not taking the river at the end of the stuart portage. I actually had in my notes from previous research that it was doable and may save some time but its good to know that it would have wasted valuable time for us. Thanks for sharing!

Really enjoyed this report. Thank you for sharing.

Ah, we call that campsite on Iron “Turtle Island”. Stay there in June and the turtles will be laying eggs everywhere! Love that site. Sounds like you guys had a great trip, thanks for sharing. Regarding the leeches, I think anyone who fishes the BWCA has at least one story of losing the leeches in a very similar way to yours. I’ve had otters pop the lid off mine, I’ve had the screw top lid on my Leech King mysteriously come loose and I’ve had snapping turtles try to steal my leeches. Like you said in the report, “it happens”. No sense in feeling bad about it, it just means it’s time to get creative and you guys certainly did that! I went up the Beartrap to Iron last fall and the water levels once I got to Iron were insanely low…lower than I’ve ever seen them and I’ve been to Iron 8 times. I had to pole, standing up, a big chunk of the way through Peterson Bay to the turtle island campsite. It took forever. I estimated water levels to be about 5 feet below normal last fall. So, it seems like this wet summer had helped the lake recover nicely. Cheers to a great trip, way to go on the PMA exploration!

Tony

Great trip report. I wish I would have seen this before I left on 9/7. All the reports I found were quite old and here you are doing the stretch a couple weeks before me! I came in from Beartrap Lake, Stayed on Sunday Lake and then on into Sterling Creek and into sterling lake. I think coming in from Stuart is the much smarter choice for this route. Finding Sterling creek from the Beartrap River was difficult and then finding that portage beginning from Nibin to Stuart was a real Fiasco! I thought I was screwed for a bit. I just ended up bushwacking and cris crossing with my GPS and finally found the trail. Found an awesome moose shed in the process as well. Anyway. Once I got through the first 1/4 mile or so and onto height of land it was pretty straight forward. Definitely more obvious coming from Stuart as you know. Way to go for it and happy birthday! @soloschmitty