Hey everyone. I've done a good bit of reading trip reports and threads, but I figured I'd fire up my own, because why not! I'm planning on finally tackling the Frost River in May and I'm wondering what everyone's typical travel times are, on this route.

I'm entering at Cross Bay Lake, double carrying, and it seems like as long as I don't have any issues with water levels at landings or extreme winds, I should be able to get to Frost Lake in 7-8 hours depending on paddling speed... but I've seen enough reports where people did it much quicker than that, so that's why I'm asking - how fast have YOU done it?

Then as far as traveling from Frost to Afton, assuming water is fairly high and I can skip some of the smaller beaver dams, how much time do you think that'd take? I was thinking maybe 6 hours? What if I pushed to Little Sag assuming favorable conditions - maybe another 3-4 hours from Afton to the southeast coast of Little Sag?

I'm curious how quick other people have been able to do this route (and the various legs of it), and what I should expect for myself, given mid-May water levels and overall average travel speeds.

How much time do you have? Are you in a hurry?

When we did the Frost loop out of Cross Bay it was August and very high water levels. We were able to float over many beaver dams and we lined at least two rock gardens that would be impossible with lower water levels. Even at that it took us a good 6- 7 hours (double portaging) to go from Frost to Afton.

We pulled up short on Long Island the first night. Took a short day to Frost Lake the second day. Got up early the 3rd morning to traverse the Frost River. We made it to the portage to Bologna Lake well before noon - 10:30ish I would say. We were to Afton Lake by about 2:30-3:00 and that was all we could take. The meandering lower section of the river is not that far as the crow flies, but all the cornering and back and forth adds up. You don't get much head of steam. It is slow and tedious and is hard on the upper body strength to always be going around corners, mud bars, over beaver dams, etc. You want to take in the scenery too.

I have heard of people going on to Little Sag, but mostly those were single portage groups.

By the way, I have read stories and seen pics of groups going all the way to Little Sag on the Frost River. Stay left on Whipped Lake and head through Time Lake. (Cliff Jacobson maybe?). I think you are bushwhacking past Whipped Lake. Perhaps someone can point you to the trip reports.

I have had several trips of a lifetime in the BW and that was one of them. Worth a repeat if we get the chance and the right conditions. We had to switch a permit to do it that year. We had another trip all planned. Then there was a very wet August and we switched plans to do this.

Hope you get a chance to go there.

I'm planning on doing 8, maybe 9 days, so I can go slower if I want. Day 1 usually involves lots of excitement from the anticipation of the trip so I like to harness my energy.

I also want some time to fish and explore Little Sag, but maybe not _too_ much time. I've found on my last 2 solos that I don't enjoy sitting around camp alone - last spring with mosquipocalypse and rain/wind was not very fun alone.

So, even though breaking down camp almost every morning doesn't sound that fun either, the idea of moving slower to enjoy the travel days more (I still enjoy them plenty!) sounds nice. I just want to leave some flex time in case I really love the vibe of a particular campsite or lake and want an extra day there. Longer travel days that I'm accustomed to are a safe bet in terms of leaving extra time for later in the trip... as long as they're not _too_ long.

6-7 hours from Frost to Afton is about what I expected, though hopefully it'd be on the shorter side if I intended to push to Little Sag. It'd be weather dependent but I'd hope to at least stay on Whipped/Mora if I was tired.

Sidenote, I have read about the bushwhack into Time Lake, and the most recent sentiment I read was that it took longer than going through Mora. If I wasn't solo and we were taking it slow, I'd probably be down to try it, but as a solo I'd rather have the sure thing - at least for my current trip goals.

I appreciate the thoughts! I've been dying to do the Frost and haven't been able to nail it down given all the other awesome routes I've ended up doing with friends, so I said this is the year. Just hoping weather holds up.

We took our time on the Frost River, though we were single portaging. We entered at Cross Bay Lake the afternoon of the 1st day. Took us 3.5 hours to the southern end of Long Island Lake for the 1st night. (1:00-4:30pm)

Day 2 we went went to Bologna (about 5 hours).

We were there late summer so water was fairly low. This meant Day 3 had a lot of beaver dams to contend with. Camped on Afton, but it took us 5 hours to go 5.3 miles and we were decently tired. Felt bad for the couple that popped out of the Frost shortly after. They were exhausted and had come from Frost Lake. The quote was "we bit off more than we planned" and they were struggling which way to go next since the Afton site was occupied by us.

Took us 3 hours to go from Afton to the east end of Little Sag. Highly recommend entering Little Sag via the portage from Mora...such a pretty portage, no one should skip it.

Trip Report: Frost River and Beyond with Bear, Mountain Goat, and Hobbit

Agreed on the Mora to Little Sag portage. I did this route in early June 2022 and single portaged, but from what I could see out the side of the canoe, it made me turn back and walk/ view the portage with no gear.

That year had some flooding which had washed out many of the beaver dams along the frost. I didn't have to do a single pullover the whole river so I was making good time. I'd guess between 4 and 5 hours from frost to Afton, but it was an exceptional year. Though I am not an early riser, I still had enough time to fight a big headwind on little sag, set up camp, and head out to catch my PB Laker that evening.

It was a great trip and I hope you have a fantastic time!

In may its hard to go slow on the frost. we went from Frost lake to central Lil Sag in about 7 hours trying to take our time.