There is never enough interest in the trails in the BW, even though they are a part of 'all of it'.
My first BW trip was hiking, not canoeing. It was on my first trip that I decided to volunteer clearing trails. I did this for three seasons, on my own and then switched to doing portages. It's way easier getting volunteers for portages than trails, and for good reason. Trail clearing progress is about a half mile per person, per day. Not much to see... hard work... never ending. While clearing the Sioux-Hustler, I figured that if one large group did the entire trail in a week (this never happens), about one hundred more trees would likely fall over the trail by the time they were done. For a number of years, one of the trail clearing groups had someone hike the Sioux-Hustler entirely, in early spring, doing a tree count. One year he counted 2012 trees! It's hard to keep up. The main problem though, is that not enough people hike the trails. It took me a while to see this, but the FS (and trail groups) need to see numbers and feedback for the trails to get more attention. I don't want the trails to get crowded, but some trails have been in danger of being closed down, due to inactivity. I've approached them about re-opening the old Lac La Croix Trail (now the Stuart Lake Trail, but likely to be taken off the maps due to inactivity) and they won't/can't even consider it. Their funding for the BWCA is minimal to begin with, let alone spending time re-blazing the trail to Lac La Croix. My thoughts were, if I could get them to do this, I could later get them to tie it into the Sioux-Hustler. Oh well, we can all dream.
Talusman, I also enjoy route finding (not that one has much choice on some of the trails) and in '07 started re-tracing parts of the Stuart/Lac La Croix Trail. It's very enjoyable, especially in fall, to just take your time and camp wherever you end up. Seeing some lakes, creeks and even a small water fall that others will never see. I may schedule time this fall to go back in there, and if you're interested, it'd be great to have someone else along.
Let me know.
Joe
PortageKeeper

Welcome
I've been reading your posts for a few years. You have a lot of knowledge of the trails, especially the Sioux Hustler. I'm going to hike that over the Labor Day weekend. I'm being joined by one person I've never met. He's part of the Minneapolis/St Paul Backpacking group. Would you care to join us. Probably 3 days Fri thru Sun.

Thanks for the offer. I can't make that weekend, but thanks.
It should be a good trip for you. Hopefully, the rain will back off for a while. I haven't heard anything about the trail conditions lately. Will you hike clockwise or counter clockwise?

Hiking clockwise, will make it to Pageant Lake the 1st night, then Agawato.

Good plan. This is what my daughter and I did when we hiked it. It's a long first day, but do-able. Try not to miss the turn at Devils Cascade. The spur into Agawato is fairly long but I think it's a nice lake otherwise. My favorite is Rangeline. The camp site isn't that great but I love the lake. If you set at the fire you can catch northerns without leaving your seat.
Let me know if the dam at Heritage Creek crossing has been re-built.

Talusman,
What is this Minneapolis/St. Paul Backpacking group? Is it the MN Rovers you speak of?

The Minneapolis/St Paul Backpackers is a meet-up group on Yahoo. There are all kinds of meet-up groups. Minneapolis/St Paul Backpackers The Rovers are a group, I think originally started at U of Mn, who built the Border Route Trail and other trails off the Gunflint Trail. MN Rovers
r> 2 different groups with the same love. There is also the Border Route trail organization which is a group who maintains the Border route trail. Border Route Trail There is also the Friends of the BWCA Trails which maintains the Kekekabic Trail and other BW trails. Friends of the BWCA Trails And the Kekekabic Trail Club Kekekabic Trail Club This is not an all inclusive list.

Sioux Hustler Trail looks like a good challenge.

I will start by dredging up this old thread..

Has anyone been on the Sioux-Hustler in the past year or so? I am looking to do the loop at some point late summer this year, early fall.

Does anyone have advice on time of year, etc?

Sioux Hustler clearing
Go to the group in the link. They are clearing the trail next May. That should put it in pretty good shape unless 100 more trees fall on it.

Thank you, thats great news. I wish I lived closer and had a more open schedule so that I could help with these.

Which map would you recommend for this trail as the most accurate? It looks like most write ups that I have read went with the Fisher F-16 map. Have you used it or any others?

Thanks again!

We plan on hiking to Medas and Moiyaka Lakes in Aug/Sept. Is anyone familiar with this area?

I've been there a few times. Nice hike, Old Pines Loop has some big trees.

check out my kek photo gallery at
http://sites.google.com/site/isawtman/

I some nice photos of Moiyaka Lake, and the Kek trail
getting there. I didn't go over to Medas

regards from me, Todd

Very interesting. Just spent a few hours checking this out. Cool stuff.

YEAH. I, too, just realized this group is here. 4 years and I never tumbled onto this.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to catching up!