My troupe is heading to WCPP in less than a month and I was wondering if we can make Mexican Hat in one day? Hopefully be on the water by 9am, probably double portaging, packing sort of heavy, lots of good food, and lots of fishing gear. Thanks FRED

It can be done in a day but with you packing heavy and not hitting the water until 9 it will be a hard day ending late.

That series of portages going into Mexican Hat at the end of the day will be brutal. If you head SW and come up to Mexican Hat through Burnt Rock to avoid the portages it might make for too long a day.

When you hit Lunch and/or Jake I would take a look at the time and the group energy and make a call. Mexican Hat is one lake that all campsites can actually be full and with you saying you have a troups-and not knowing how many that is, I would worry about getting to Mexican hat too late.

My personal recommendation is not to kill yourself. Take your time, stop when you are ready and don't make Mexican Hat the goal for the day-if you get there great but Lunch and Jake are great lakes and going via Burnt Rock is definitely a nice area to visit. Stay a night on Lunch and get to Mex Hat day two going via Burnt Rock.

I'll ditto Bog's observations and add that most portage landings in WCPP are single-canoe. This means a bit of a queue will develop if you have a party with multiple canoes. This will also slow up your progress just a bit unless you choose to stagger your start and give each canoe a few minutes separation from the next canoe. So portage entry/exit logistics can be a key to quick crossings.

dd

I've done that in a day, but don't recommend trying with a larger group. We (two canoes/three people) made it in twelve hours (6:00-6:00) by pushing fairly hard. The falls site was open luckily. If you get there late and that site is taken, like 9:00 p.m., it's going to suck to possibly have to paddle to the top of the hat for a site large enough for your group. I also highly recommend that you stop and camp along the way.

are they giving out free ice cream cones at the Hat on the day you are putting in?

seriously, you will be missing some nice campsites and places

what's the rush?