My crew is looking at doing Ram Lake the Round Lake May 11-15.

How would you break up this trip? Where would you camp and why?

They are young and very adventurous and like to fish.

Day one you might be wise to only plan on making it to Little Trout and camping there as the portage out/north is a beast and the site on Misquah isn’t even near average and the lakes beyond (Vista, Horseshoe etc) are quite popular and traditionally attract a capacity of campers. Point being, getting there late in the day after doing those difficult portages is likely stacking the odds against having a happy end to your 1st day.
Having said that, you will likely want to camp in the Horseshoe/Gaskin area for best fishing success. I dont know you, your crew, tolerance for long hard day etc.

In general, for best fishing, I would focus/stay on lakes between Vista & Long Island Lake. Long Island is a beautiful lake, since the lakes between there & Round aren't tradionally good fishing lakes, perhaps that could be where you spend your last night before making your final push out to Round Lake. Or, if you're intrigued by the lure of catching a brook trout, you could shoot for Missing Link Lake and camp n fish there or hop over to Mavis Lake fora chance at some brook trout too.

Personally, I'd savor the chance to spend some time on any/all of those little narrow lakes between Horseshoe & Long Island. Snipe is a very scenic lake too but, ive never had much luck fishing there. Hope this helps.

First, May 11-15 will likely be very cold water. I would not "wet foot" at that time of year. And PFD's are a forgone conclusion as water temps will only afford a couple minutes of coherent thought and coordinated movement should one find themselves immersed in the water somehow.

I have been warned off the Misquah Hills portages enough times to believe that they are not for the faint of heart. I would take TB's thoughts on this to heart.

Vista is a sought after fishing lake. The southern most campsite is the best on the lake and will likely be occupied.

The portage from Vista to Horseshoe is down the middle of the waterway. If, as is likely, the water is high, you will be walking in the stream most of the way. (We were while there in June several years ago.).

Horseshoe is a busy place. We arrived one Sunday morning and found it full. We paddled on to Vista hoping to find the southern campsite empty. It was not and by the time we got back, Horseshoe was empty and we had our pick of sites.

Not sure why you chose the northern route to Ogema Lake, but, I would take the time to read the portage descriptions found on this website. In this area of thin, long lakes, most portages involves going "up" and over. So be prepared. We have stayed on Gaskin twice and Winchell several times. Can't help you with Pilsbury, Henson or Ogema campsites. Kiskadinna is another long pencil lake. There are a couple of exposed campsites on the north shore.

The portage from Kiskadinna to Muskeg includes "The Wall". You will be going downhill under load.

The portage from Muskeg Creek to Long Island Lake starts at the top of a large beaver dam. The "trail" is the stream bed for quite a ways. The portage is a rock garden all the way to the lake.

The two eastern most campsites on Long Island are very nice spots. There is another great campsite on the island in the western most bay. If you go to the western most bay, take the portage to Karl Lake. It is easier than paddling all the way back around.

Cross bay Lake is a more favored fishing lake than Snipe. I like the older feeling of Snipe Lake, but there are more water fowl on Cross Bay. We saw several swans the time we camped there.

Depending on water levels, it may be easier to exit via Cross Bay to Ham Lake than to take the portages to Round Lake. The portages to Round are not what I would call hard, but they have a couple of tricky spots. If the Cross River is rocking and rolling, I would choose Round Lake though.

Hope this helps. Good Luck on an adventuresome route!

The only input I can give is that if you have time on your last day, spend some time fishing on Round Lake. When we were there a couple years ago we took a couple hours to work our way down the north shore on the way to the landing, and caught nice small mouth from under every sunken tree and log. We were there in mid-June.