Hi, folks. Also posted this in the Quetico Forum, but thought some of you'd also be interested. Here's a brief summary of my recent 17-day solo. Will have more detailed trip report and more pics a bit later. This was my longest solo, both in numbers of days and distance traveled. Counted 51 portages plus a few more during side trips. Looped from Prairie Portage to Shan Walshe, Kahshahpiwi via Yum Yum and up that chain to Baird, Cutty Creek to Camel, then turned south through Delahey, Suzanette, Burt, and McIntyre, and then back down to Basswood. Traveled almost daily into Delahey, then more relaxed pace after that. The Olive Jar on Delahey was the highlight of the trip. The jar is packed full, and I mean full. Recent years is mostly notes from the guided boys and girls groups. As a high school teacher, it pained me reading most of the kids' notes, although some were very well done. There are several packets from the 80s and early-to-mid 90s that are quite interesting and special to read, including notes from Shan Walshe and Julie Copperman (sp?). I recall a note from Snow-Dog in there as well.

Campsites: Shan Walsh (2), Kahshahpiwi, Baird, Camel, Delahey (2), Suzanette (2), Burt (2), McIntyre (2), Basswood (3). Favorites were Suzanette, Burt, McIntyre and my little castaway island near Little Merriam Bay that nobody in their right mind would stay at.

Weather: Mostly warm days, cool nights, with light to moderate winds first week, then increased wind the last portion of the trip. Strange hazy days with high cirrostratus on Delahey, Suzanette and Burt. Wondered if fires were happening somewhere. Didn’t smell smoke, but air had “sweet” smell. Very strange. Atypical wind patterns too—it never seemed to blow the same direction for more than 24 hours. Paddled into some sort of wind every damn travel day until Day 17. Why not. Battled brisk SE wind from Camel to Delahey; huge west wind from Burt to McIntyre via Paulene. Blew fairly hard from the west/northwest the last full day on Little Merriam Bay. Rained maybe three evenings; quite hard the first night on Burt. The hottest day was of course the day of the Death March out of Delahey (90 degrees, humid, sunny, no wind). Almost killed me.

Bugs: Horseflies/deerflies were quite bad from Burke; really bad on Cutty Creek. Counted 14 while moving from Eag back into the creek. Seemed to taper off the last half of the trip. Mosquitos were minimal. Ankle-biting flies came out the second night on Burt pretty bad. Only found one tick (Baird I recall), but I had treated everything with permethrin prior to departure.

Portages: Most difficult completed in order of difficulty: Death March, Yum Yum, Boggy Portage (unnamed to Grey), Camel to Veron, Point to Nest, steep uphill (Side to Unnamed). Conditions were relatively dry, but several uncleared blowdowns on 1.5-mile portion of Death March made that one quite difficult.

Water Levels: Higher than last year, but probably about normal. McIntyre was at least a few inches higher than last year as I was able to pass through the southern narrows near the campsite without incident (couldn’t do that last year). Cutty Creek was no problem, and neither were the creeks from Burke into North Bay and the creek from North Bay into South Lake.

Wildlife: Got nice photos of black bear on Suzanette (from about 30 feet away), bald eagle taking flight, a squadron of 22 merganser chicks with 2 adults, loon with baby on back, one deer, and a red squirrel munching on breakfast cereal.










Solitude: Saw several groups heading from North Bay to Shade, a few paddlers on Kahs and one canoe on Cutty Creek and one on Camel. When I left Camel the morning of Day 6, I would not see another paddler until leaving McIntyre on Day 14.

Fishing: Seemed slower than the past few years. Smallies did not seem to be hitting on the surface near the shorelines. Caught good numbers on most lakes I fished for them, with a dozen or so at 18 inches. Lots were 15-17 inches. Caught lakers in Kahs, Burt, and McIntyre. Largest was 22 inches. Baked trout on the grill cannot be beat. Caught several northern in the mid-=30s. Accidentally caught several walleye, including a nice 28-incher in Basswood. Landed about 25 largemouth from Paulene, but all were less than 14 inches. Caught several better largemouth in an unnamed lake that also held smallmouth up to 18 inches. Trolling was definitely not as effective as the past few years. The strange wind patterns seemed to put the fish off.

New Gear Summary: 9-foot carbon shaft yak paddle from Spring Creek worked great. Absolutely loved the Montbell UL Super Spiral 5 down bag--about half the size and weight of my Slumberjack synthetic bag. Used a propane/butane Primus stove for the first time and loved it. Could get 5 full days per canister. Brought a 6’X10’X5’ screen tent that worked wonderfully unless the wind was really blowing. Nice place to sit and relax without the flies and other bugs. Steripen was great until the batteries ran out on Day 13. Purified a liter of water in about 75 seconds, averaged about 6 liters per day. Good thing I brought along a bottle of iodine tabs as backup.

Thanks for the teaser report. Can’t wait to read it all.

Wow, sounds like a great adventure!!

How very cool, I watched the spots of your trip. Glad your back and had a good time. Nice pics.


JB

Sounds like a great route and adventure. Looking forward to the details when you have time!

Excellent! Thanks.

I'll be waitin' for the official trip report. Nice pics!

SUPER!!..except for Camel i have been at all those places over the years and have a good idea of what you not only enjoyed but were up against.that was a very long time to be out and you get the hand shake and pat on the back for your efforts.

That sounds like a great adventure. I'll look forward to the full report and photographs. I have never been to quetico, so I can't fully relate but im definitely still interested.

Wow!

Thanks for the trip report and gear info. Great trip.

Great report. I prefer the summary to the day-by-day details.

Sounds like an Epic adventure