We landed on Olive in NE WCPP and were soon ice bound but the ice moved before the next morning and we were able to head toward Bigshell. Passed through Thicketwood and down Larus and Murdock. We took a shorcut through Poodle to East Royd Creek and headed to Royd for the second crew changout of the trip. With this third group I headed east on the Minjim route through Lightning. Had some fishermen in the group so we dined on Joey Lake Walleye for a few days. At Indian House we headed SE through Crystal and Page and exited at the Johnson access.

Video to come later but if anyone needs current news on the route conditions they can be supplied. All of the route I traveled is open. The middle portage between Indian House and Crystal is a mucky mess but the others run the normal various conditions seen on portages.

Hi Marten,

We are actually headed to Olive in just about 3 weeks for a 8 day trip and exiting at Lund or somewhere off Douglas. We heard from Harlan that you had been up there clearing the portages. Just wanted to say thank you! :) We are looking forward to your video. We have more questions after we see your videos! Keep us posted...

Thanks for the update Martin and as always the clearing. Joe and I will be in contact for your report and what you experienced. We will be on the majority of your route later this year.

Here is video of our first day in WCPP. I do not think we could have started any earlier.
Ice out in WCPP's Olive Lake May 17,2014

quote Marten: "Here is video of our first day in WCPP. I do not think we could have started any earlier.
Ice out in WCPP's Olive Lake May 17,2014 "

Incredibly cool video Marten. Thanks!

Good One Martin, Thanks for Melting all that Ice for me :)

SunCatcher

That was cool... Thanks Marten.

Bigshell Lake and Sabourin River to Thicketwood

Nice paddle along the shoreline on Big Shell. Keep the videos coming.

Thank you for the glimpse into the trip....just makes me want to paddle! Arggggg

SunCatcher

The third and final segment is finished and can be seen here on youtube at the TheNorthwoodsman1 channel. Minjim route in WCPP

Thank you and nice pictures

SunCatcher

Thanks Marten... I'm missing Joey Lake!

Thanks Marten...good stuff as always.

Scot

Hey Marten, We just finished the route Bigshell and out at Douglas. Thanks for all of the portage clearing. We did come across a belt on a portage on the Sabourin....any chance it is yours or from your crew? We packed it out but thought we'd check. :)

Thanks but I do not think it is ours. Glad to hear you were able enjoy the open route. Looking forward to a few more details when you have the time.

Always great to see the videos. They help us understand what we are in for, thanks!
I am very surprised that some of the lakes have low water. I assume that these lakes have water levels controlled by beaver activity(?) I can't otherwise imagine why it would be so low.
Thanks again. I know that it is not handy taking the videos.

Portagekeeper, are you referring to the low water levels on Joey? Most of the waters were on the high side but a big beaver dam that had kept Joey at higher levels let go at least three years ago. It did not seem to bother the Walleyes.

quote Marten: "Portagekeeper, are you referring to the low water levels on Joey? Most of the waters were on the high side but a big beaver dam that had kept Joey at higher levels let go at least three years ago. It did not seem to bother the Walleyes."

I saw plenty of high water in general, but also saw some low water. That must have been all Joey that I was seeing.

quote Marten: "Thanks but I do not think it is ours. Glad to hear you were able enjoy the open route. Looking forward to a few more details when you have the time."

Guess we'll be donating the belt to Goodwill. :) We will definitely be putting a trip report together when we have some free time next weekend. We have a couple GoPro videos and some awesome pictures of the several moose we saw. We did run into a lot of log jams on the Sabourin River unfortunately and with the deep water we had to bushwhack to get around them, but we just call that character building. Part of the adventure in WCPP!

We were able to paddle over all the logs. There was nothing we could do about them anyway. If we were able to paddle and skim by them how much do you think the water had dropped since we went through. How many jams do you think you encountered?

quote Marten: "We were able to paddle over all the logs. There was nothing we could do about them anyway. If we were able to paddle and skim by them how much do you think the water had dropped since we went through. How many jams do you think you encountered?"

Marten-We bushwhacked two times for quite a ways on the shore past multiple log jams. We also pulled over some that were difficult to get over. We were able to skim over some luckily. With the warmer days coming and the water likely dropping, they definitely won't be paddling over these. The water had probably dropped a foot since you were through. You did a great job clearing those trails, we could tell you put in a lot of work. There were a few trees that had fallen since you cleared some of the portages after Knox. They had nice fresh leaves on them, but we were able to squeeze past with some fancy footwork. :) Thanks for all of your hard work!!!