What "subroutes" would you take for each of A, B? Opinions on scenery, time, difficulty, warnings (i.e. "do not go through ******!".

A. From Batch to Sturgeon Narrows; (Looking for the most efficient route to the Sturgeon Narrows unless one of the alternatives is much more scenic than another).

1. East through Pickeral Narrows; south to Dori,Twin; to upper Sturgeon
2. Maria, Jesse, Elizabeth east to upper Sturgeon
3. Maria, Jesse, Elizabeth continue south Walter, Lonely to Sturgeon

B. Then from Sturgeon Narrows; (never been to Chatterton Falls area, vs. I am guessing way fewer people through Fred to Harenshaw).
1. Russell, Chatterton, Keats, Shelley to Kawnipi
2. Russell, Chatterton, Keats, Shelley, Baird, Harenshaw to Cairn, Sark
3. Fred, Camel, Eag, Cub, Baird, Harenshaw (we have already done Fred to Conmee).

We have done the lakes south of the above.

Thanks !!

TomF,

I was with a group two summers ago that did "A3" to Sturgeon Narrows but then I split off as a solo and went out "A1" for no particular reason except that it looked like the quickest way back to Batch.

The hazard with that return route is that if the wind is out of the west, you could be fighting it all the way up the Pick narrows. Might be a good entry way however going back up through Walter to Maria to Batch has some longer portages on it. Nothing too difficult but it can take something out of you. Fishing on Jesse was great though. :)

Hope it helps. Great route!

I did a trip this summer that is similiar to what you are planning on doing. Our group started at Nym and went down thru Maria, Jesse, Elizabeth and Walter and Lonely. then Sturgeon, and Russell. Came back via Twin and Dore and Pickeral. This wa my first trip there and I didn't think it was that difficult. Yes some of the portages are muddy and wet in areas. Otherwise they were not that long and not too difficult for hills. Very beautiful areas. We went over to Split Rock Falls for a day trip from Russell. Had some great campistes on Lonely, Russell and Dore.

I have done A3/B3 to King Point on Basswood Lake and then flew back to Atikokan. You could also continue out to Moose, if you had a shuttle. Cutty Creek and those lakes are "the heart of the park." See trip report . . . --Goose

In August of 2012, I did a solo canoe trip through many of the lakes you're considering. My route originated from the Nym Lake EP, and I then traveled via option "A3", (i.e., Maria, Jesse, Elizabeth, Walter, Lonely, and to Sturgeon Lake.)

I then turned southeast through "B3", (Fred, Nan, Camel, Eag, Cub, etc.). Next, I proceeded up through Kawnipi Lake to Montgomery Lake to check out the "controversial" pictograph Kevin Callan mentioned in his "Quetico and Beyond" Guide Book.

I then traveled west through Keats, Chatterton, and Russell. I completed my route by returning to the Nym Lake EP by traveling through Russell Lake, Sturgeon Lake, Twin Lakes, Dore' Lake, Pickerel Lake, and then Batchewaung Lake to Nym Lake.

As Goose mentioned, Cutty Creek and the other lakes in that region are "the heart of Quetico Provincial Park". I loved the route I traveled, because of the great diversity, (i.e. big lakes, small intimate lakes, small creeks and streams, waterfalls, and a considerable amount of solitude.)

Even though it was Mid-August, I saw very few other travelers. Even when I was camped on the north side of Sturgeon Lake, only a few miles from the Lonely Lake portage, I only saw two other canoes pass in the distance. Nowhere along the route did I ever feel crowded, even on the perimeter lakes at the beginning and end of my trip.

Once I headed southeast through Fred Lake, I saw no one else until I reached the portage' from Cutty Creek to Eag Lake. At that portage, I met a couple that were on a month long Quetico trip. After chatting with them for awhile, I encountered a group of thirty-something guys offering me a large Zip-Loc bag of Walleye fillets at the other end of that portage'.

I didn't see another person until I paddled through Keats Lake on my way to Chatterton Lake, where there was a small group already camped. I had the Chatterton Falls area all to myself and didn't see another paddler until just before traveling up Dieux Reveries on Sturgeon Lake as well as a family base-camped o Twin Lakes.

I had Dore' Lake all to myself, where I spent my last night in Quetico. I did share "Pine Portage" out of Dore' Lake with the same family that I saw camped on Twin Lakes the day before. (They were returning to their Stanton Lake EP the morning we were both crossing Pine Portage together.) Other than a solo canoeist paddling to a campsite in Pine Portage Bay, I saw no one else until I returned to Nym Lake.

Despite being mid-August, I saw very few other travelers, and I only shared a portage' twice. On several occasions I had several small lakes all to myself. I was the only one camped on Camel Lake, Heronshaw Lake, Dore'Lake, and as far as I could tell, Chatterton Lake. I especially loved being camped alone on Camel Lake.

Weather was about as good as it gets, although I was forced to make camp early on Heronshaw Lake due to a fast approaching electrical storm. I also caught several large Small Mouth Bass by just trolling behind my canoe as I traveled.

I can't say that any of the portage' trails were overly long or difficult, but some were rather muddy. Although I traversed several large lakes, the winds were gentle and I was never wind bound.

Fishing was as good as I needed it to be. Without much effort, or time spent fishing, I caught enough fish everyday to enjoy fish dinners every night if I chose to avoid any of my freeze-dried entree's.

I highly recommend my aforementioned route.

Hans Solo

Pictured below from left to right; Sturgeon Lake, Cutty Creek, Chatterton Falls, and Dieux Reveries

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but it's close to being on point and I can't find another thread with the answer. I'm toying with the idea of doing a trip like this (assuming the border opens at some point); Nym to Moose or something along those lines. One big, but not insurmountable, issue is figuring out a shuttle for a reasonable price. But the question I can't seem to find the answer to deals with obtaining a BWCA permit. Presumably I need Entry Point #71 "from Canada", but how and where would I have this permit issued, since permits are only issued on the day of or day prior to entry?

Porkeater: "Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but it's close to being on point and I can't find another thread with the answer. I'm toying with the idea of doing a trip like this (assuming the border opens at some point); Nym to Moose or something along those lines. One big, but not insurmountable, issue is figuring out a shuttle for a reasonable price. But the question I can't seem to find the answer to deals with obtaining a BWCA permit. Presumably I need Entry Point #71 "from Canada", but how and where would I have this permit issued, since permits are only issued on the day of or day prior to entry? "

If you don't stay over night in the BWCA, I don't think you need to pull an overnight permit. Just have the free day permit.

AmarilloJim: "If you don't stay over night in the BWCA, I don't think you need to pull an overnight permit. Just have the free day permit."

Thanks. That's not a bad idea - to just camp close to the border on the Quetico side on the last night. There are several routes out that would be doable.

I'm still left to wonder what the practical uses of an EP 71 permit are. I can't envision a scenario where someone would be in a position to have it issued that day or the day before.

I did find this thread , which talks about the exact same trip, and the EP71 permit being the way to go if you are planning to camp in the BW. Unfortunately it doesn't answer the question of how to obtain that permit. Is @Tumblehome around, as he is the one who did it successfully?

I did a trip from Nym to Split Rock Falls just after ice out in 2019. We went down basically using your route A1 (Nym, Batch, Pickerel, Dore, Twin, Deux Rivieres, Sturgeon then Russell and Chatterton). We returned doing your A3 route backwards (Chatterton, Russell, Sturgeon, Lonely, Walter, Elizabeth, Jesse, Maria, Pickerel, Batch and Nym). You really can't go wrong either way, both were nice.

Here are some comments.

Nym to Batchewaung:
My official park map and an online map show two sets of portages from Nym to Batchewaung. They are very close together. One actually goes to a very small lake (or pond called Jump Lake) along the way. There is a portage of 314 m (62 rod) to Jump, a 160 m (32 rod) paddle across Jump and finally a 182 m (36 rod) portage to Batch. Just east of that is a 626 m (124 rod) portage directly from Nym to Batch. I would rather do the one longer portage than the two short ones and a very short paddle, so that was the plan. However on the day we started the trip it was windy and we crossed Nym trying to stay behind islands as much as possible. That combined with a little sloppy navigation left us west of the portages. We paddled east along the shore looking for the portage and found one. It turned out to be a portage not shown on the above maps but it was shown on my McKenzie map. It led to an unnamed lake, followed by a stream/swampy area, leading to another unnamed lake and finally a portage to Batchewaung. I recognized where we were on seeing the first unnamed lake but decided to follow that route since it led us closer to where we wanted to go (down the channel to Little Batchewaung Bay. The little stream/swamp was not navigable in many spots. There were some beaver dams that would let you paddle for a few meters, sometimes. There were mud flats along the path that were not comfortable to walk on. This forced us to bushwhack along the stream. It was tough going, lots of dead fall and brush to contend with. After some time portaging, we came to the second unnamed lake. There was a portage to Batch along a stream clearly marked on my McKenzie map at the other end of the lake. However, the stream was there but not the portage. I guess there was a reason that this route was not indicated on the other maps. Rather than do more bushwhacking, we turned back and went over our first choice of portages. Unless you enjoy bushwhacking, avoid this route.

Deux Rivieres:
During much of the year there are lots of water plants along the river. It seems to be good moose habitat. However, right after ice out the aquatic plants hadn't grown yet. That spring there was lots of water in the river.

Sturgeon to Russell:
These lakes are connected by a short stretch of the Maligne River which flows north from Russell to Sturgeon. There is a short portage on this section of river. However, if you are a reasonably strong paddler you can paddle it in either direction. When we were there the flow was smooth and maybe 3 mph. If you paddle hard, you can go upstream from Sturgeon to Russell. Once the river enters Sturgeon it makes its turn to the southwest heading to Lac la Croix.

Maria:
I like this lake, mostly because of the experiences I've had there. The first time I camped there, we arrived just after sunset and after a hard day coming from Hamburg lake. It was a night of a full moon and it was just kind of magical. The second time was on the trip we've been discussing. In the morning, I was in camp when a rabbit (hare) came into camp and was acting very strangely. It completely ignored me. It would move from spot to spot and sniff and look around nervously. Eventually, it ran into the bush in the direction my canoe partner had gone to do something that bears also do in the woods. Shortly there after he reported that the rabbit ran past him almost running over his feet which had his lowered pants restricting his movement. According to him, in hot pursuit was a wolverine that also came within inches of his feet. I don't think it was actually a wolverine. I believe it was a fisher. The rabbit appeared in the campsite again. The fisher seemed to have fallen behind but not for long and they were back into the bush. This went on for some time with the pair appearing and then disappearing into the bush. At one point the rabbit ran out on to a long rock point. I thought if the fisher appears now, you are a goner, rabbit. The rabbit got off the point and hid in a bush before the fisher appeared again. They were off into the bush again. The rabbit came back and again went out on the rock point a second time but this time the fisher arrived while it was on the point. I thought it was all over. However, the rabbit jumped in the water and started swimming towards an island that was about 300 meters off shore. It was about a week after ice out and the water was cold. The fisher did not enter the water but watched intensely from the rock point. When the rabbit was about half way to the island, it turned back and headed down the shore from out campsite. The fisher went off into the woods in the direction the rabbit was heading. We never saw them again. There was no squeal that we heard. Still, I don't know if the fisher went hungry or if the rabbit saved its life.
Not the greatest campsites on Maria, but it had some magic when I was there.

We did the Beaverhouse to Kawnipi to Saganagons to Moose back in 2010. It was the most rewarding trip I've ever done. Great fun. I hope your trip (along with the planning) is everything you hope it to be.

A1 is definitely the easiest. The only worry is whether there is water in the river. This year it was a mud bowl.
A2 is the hardest. The portages from Elizabeth to Sturgeon are unpleasant.
A3 in my view is the best route for fishing and scenery. It is still reasonably challenging but worth the effort.

B1 is the most straight forward with long portages but easily found.
B2 is unknown to me as I have never bothered with the Baird to Shelly portage.
B3 is my favorite way to get to the centre of the park as Cutty never runs out of water, the lakes are small and the portages are short but do have rock footing issues. The fishing in these lakes is really good and there are campsites on all the lakes.