Please take a minute and look at this lake. Which route would you take to try and bushwhack into it and why?

This has been a dream lake destination of mine for some time now and for the next few years is where I will be trying to reach.

fishnfreak,
Any luck yet?
I've dreamed of going to this lake also.

Interesting... What is the nearest entry point.

Looks like there is a stream/water coming or going from the west from Kivandeba lake. I would go in the spring when the water is high and try that route. Seems shortest. With any luck you could paddle some of the way.
Let us know if you try and succeed. A trip report on that would be interesting.

I am fishnfreak, somehow, I managed to kinda delete fishnfreak from the username possibility world.

Anywho, after multiple attempts I have not reached this lake yet. I have tried from two different routes and the Kivandeba route holds the greatest possibility.I beleive that John Elk holds fish, particuly walleye.

Hoping that this May I will finally get there. The creek that speak of is not possible to paddle but it is a good landmark to follow.

By the way, looks like the closest entry is #37. going straight north and then John Elk lake is just east of Pan lake.

"Looks like there is a stream/water coming or going from the west from Kivandeba lake."



1.7 miles and uphill/stream. Kivandeba 1601 ft. to John Elk 1680 ft.

Haven't been there but enjoy playing with maps!

butthead

Amazing how far in the middle of nowhere this lake is. Intrigued. If you make it, please report back, & I'm going to put this lake on my list of "somedays".

I have wanted to try to go to john ek lake for 30 years. my brother and I have paddled a short way up the stream that flows into kivandiba and walked a little bit along the stream but were not prepared to go further.I think you could paddle and bushwack along the creek.maybe. if someone wanted to join us in june maybe we could give it a more serious effort.

You can actually walk (bushwhack) without a huge effort from Pan to Kivandeba lake. You may get stung by hornets on the way like we did. From there it looks like you could paddle/drag your way to John Ek. That's what I would try.

My luck would be that I would make JOhn Elk lake,, but upon arrival find a group there and them saying---"you should've been here yesterday-- unreal fishing,,, but not a bite since"/

I wouldn't mind putting a group together to try and get in from the EP 37 angle again. If interested let me know. Me and another BWCA.com guy have kinda talked about doing this before but other life things got in the way on that one. If interested please note that I plan to spend atleast one night on JOhn Elk, if not two.

Mr. Panic, I'm very interested, but might be short on vacation this summer with all the trips already planned.

Last year was the first without a bushwhack in a while, & I'm itching to get back in the bush. Keep me in mind if you're thinking of setting something up.

I would be interested in mid to late june. my brother and I have a lifetime of bwca experiance but not alot of bushwacking. as I posted earlier we have portaged into kivandeba and checked out the stream that flows in from john ek. I believe that is the lakes name ,named after a trapper from back when the bwca was a preserve and trapping was banned. I think he may have had a cabin on that lake.

Very interesting.

I am somewhat of a bushwhacking connoisseur. I have bushwhacked many times to some very far and out of the way places and have learned a lot about what it takes over the years. The three most important facets of the bushwhack are:

1. a compass, walk a straight line.
2. Perseverance
3. physical conditioning of the bushwhacker

If there is even the hint of a swamp, muskeg, or low land, it will trip you up and should always be avoided.

I've bushwhacked with just a pack on my back as well as doing it with a canoe on my shoulders. I've seen waters few men have seen. I'm intrigued.

Tom

If you look at the top left photo that Butthead provided to us, Peron lake has a interesting feature on the Northwest shore. You can identify this feature by its long shadow. I circled it in red.

Are you sure that's not a small pond? It seems too large to be a shadow.

The first thing I thought of was a large rock sticking up from the rest of ground. I wish I had a better more clear photo.

The reason I thought it might be a shadow was because the shadows from the trees are also going in the same direction and the way the "shadow" grows faint.

In any case it would be fun to explore and find out.

It could also be my over active imagination.

Oh well...

When I read your post and looked at the picture I was on board. Then I said something to my wife about I wonder what that thing could be. She took an air photo interpretation class in college and was more skeptical. I have to agree with her now that she has looked it up using Bing maps and Google maps.

If you look at that "shadow" in google Earth, it looks like it is a pond with a massive beaver dam (maybe even several dams). Pretty cool!

+1 beaver dam, i did a lot of air photo interpretation when i worked as a land surveyor.

Weird question, but isn't is John Ek lake - No "L"? Could be wrong though.

Tomster

quote quark2222: "Weird question, but isn't is John Ek lake - No "L"? Could be wrong though.


Tomster"

I think you are right.
Look at the older maps.

Some thoughts by Stumpy...

- I think there is a large beaver dam, holding back some of that Northern bay on John Ek.
- I think there will be remnants of a campsite (not USFS), at the tip of the long peninsula which ends in the middle of the lake. I'm guessing you will find a rock pit (hearth) there. I've been very good at guessing at these in the past & having it pan out.
- I can spot a few beaver dams on the creek leading into the lake.
- I think the lake will hold Walleyes...It flows into Kivandeba which flows into Kivaniva (very good walleye lake). Not that a walleye is about to swim the whole way up to John Ek, these days. But I think there's a good chance they were locked in there in the past, or even planted.

Further..I would bet that somewhere (most likely on the point) on the lake there will be a very large rock pit. I've found them on many other bushwhack lakes.

Stumpy, I talked to a DNR guy that knew of a fellow who made it into John Elk lake about 50 years ago. That fellow has since died about 15 years ago. He said that the man who used to go int0 there reported catching walleye.

I think there may be an old camp as well. Supposedly the route the old timer used is not one that most have thought of. I tried using this route and it was not doable at this time or maybe I just missed the mark.

Does this route you refer to include a hop, jump, twinkle and pointer from little sag?

Yes, it is! I got part of the way on this route but had to turn back.
The same guy mentioned Kickshaw as a lake to fish as well.

All right, lissen up.
I have spent a lifetime correcting various “corrections” to my surname.

It is Ek.

Not Elk.

Not Eck.

Not Eke.

Not Eek.

Not “Ek.” because some people just can’t countenance a two-character surname and feel compelled to append a period when forced to quit at two.

Just as this guy’s name was JOHN EK. Not “John Elk”. I don’t give a you-know-what how many federal and Nat Geo cartographers think otherwise. Here is the irrefutable proof. Make sure you write it correctly in your trip report - if you make it back.

Excerpt from article for 75th anniversary of Quetico-Superior

Thanks for the post, a very interesting read. some of the names mentioned also have lakes or a river with the same name. ( Dahlgren and Hanson)