Heading in in a week or so. We've always gone out of Ely so first trip to Gunflint side. Hoping to basecamp. Any and all advice appreciated.

Thanks,
TJJT

Please share your entry point and how far you want to go.

Entry point 62, Clearwater Lake. No more than 10 miles. Will Basecamp.

Caribou is a nice basecamp lake with good fishing. A couple of really good day trip options from there are to go see Johnson Falls (off the portage between Pine and Canoe and hooking up with the Border Route Trail which crosses the portage between Clearwater and Mountain. There are some very nice overlooks along there.

We were just there last week. We stayed on the east side of Caribou which worked out nicely for day trips to Johnson Falls and the Mountain Lake overlook. If you are at the overlook if you can also canoe over to the Watap portage where there is a border marker. If you get on the water early enough I'd also recommend the hike up to the Clearwater Palisades, that added about two hours to our morning.

Clearwater Palisades:


Johnson Falls:


Mountain Lake Overloook:


There are two Mountain Lake overlooks along the Border Route Trail, one to the west of the Clearwater/Mountain portage and one to the east. The west one has a better view of the length of the lake and the east one (pictured above) is on the edges of the cliffs which is far more dramatic IMO.

Plmn has it right. Couple of good day trips and decent fishing. Beware though, Caribou can be busy. There aren't many campsites if I remember right. 4-5 ?? (Without looking at my maps)

pswith5: "Plmn has it right. Couple of good day trips and decent fishing. Beware though, Caribou can be busy. There aren't many campsites if I remember right. 4-5 ?? (Without looking at my maps)"

I read Caribou can be busy but it wasn't at all during our stay. There are six campsites, three including us were taken on Wednesday. I think we were the only ones on the lake Saturday and there were only a few canoes that passed by over four days. The Little Caribou site was open too when we went to the falls. The east side of Clearwater was full when we went up to Mountain Lake.