BWCA Trip Report - WCPP top to bottom Boundary Waters Trip Reports
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hobbydog
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08/02/2015 03:36PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
New Trip Report posted by hobbydog

Trip Name: WCPP top to bottom.

Entry Point: Other

Click Here to View Trip Report
 
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Ranger.
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08/02/2015 06:24PM  
Great trip report! You just moved WCPP way up on my list.
08/02/2015 09:10PM  
Awesome pictures and great report
08/03/2015 08:56AM  
Thanks for the great report Hobby. Lots of great info on the Park. Looks as if you had some great weather. That many calm days is rare.
08/03/2015 09:03AM  
Great report, hobbydog! Kept me up past my bedtime ;). Lots of nice pictures - got any more to share?

It sounds like a great trip and I'm sure you really enjoyed it. You couldn't really have asked for much better weather for 14 days.
ECpizza
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08/03/2015 09:24AM  
Nice!
hobbydog
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08/03/2015 12:21PM  
quote AndySG: "Thanks for the great report Hobby. Lots of great info on the Park. Looks as if you had some great weather. That many calm days is rare."


I must be charmed. In my two trips to WCPP(21 days combined)I have had 20 days of near perfect weather. Odds are against me on my next trip.
hobbydog
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08/03/2015 12:31PM  
quote boonie: "Great report, hobbydog! Kept me up past my bedtime ;). Lots of nice pictures - got any more to share?
"


I forgot to add a slide show to the report. It has a few more pictures. I have a lot of video as well but need lots more time to go through that. I did a video journal at the end of each day along with some video from the day. I need to edit that but will likely be a winter project. I did post one up where I had just finished doing a video journal for the day. In the journal I said this would be a good place to see a moose tonight. Within a couple minutes of turning off the camera a cow walked out. She was about 40 yards away. cow moose
08/03/2015 07:21PM  
Enjoyed the slideshow and video, hobbydog - thanks.
SaganagaJoe
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08/03/2015 10:50PM  
Fantastic report, good route, and great photos.
08/04/2015 12:40PM  
Nice report Bill. Kind of a dream trip. I was especially jealous when you were camped on Dunstan. Nice moose shots. We had perfect weather too... A perfect storm every day. :)
BnD
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08/13/2015 05:52AM  
Great Report!
mapsguy1955
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08/13/2015 02:19PM  
Amazing... I'm a bit envious!!!
cyclones30
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08/13/2015 09:15PM  
Sounds like an awesome place and great report! Thanks for sharing
leag
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08/24/2015 03:35PM  
Great photos, nice report!
mastertangler
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08/27/2015 01:21PM  
hey Hobby Dog i enjoyed reading your report.

How did you like staying at the Agean Campsite? I was there in August 2014 and there was tremendous amounts of blowdown which the park service had cut and laid around the edges. Basically they punched the site back open after the big snowstorm which had caused so much damage. I spent an afternoon and most of the next day trying to rehabilitate what had been most certainly been a 5 star camp (which, as you well know, is rare in WCPP). The big piles of brush behind the camp was what I cut, dragged and piled. I loved the "sunset porch" and thought the site was in the top 10 campsites that I had ever been to.

I am super interested in getting to Musclow (near Barclay) and base camping for a week and sampling the fishing. Big lake, big fish.
hobbydog
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08/27/2015 08:05PM  
quote mastertangler: "
How did you like staying at the Agean Campsite? I was there in August 2014 and there was tremendous amounts of blowdown which the park service had cut and laid around the edges. Basically they punched the site back open after the big snowstorm which had caused so much damage. I spent an afternoon and most of the next day trying to rehabilitate what had been most certainly been a 5 star camp (which, as you well know, is rare in WCPP). "


It was still piled up there. Some of it was still fairly green. It is a pretty well used campsite by WCPP standards. Probably because it is on a popular loop and it is a big campsite. Nice site but it was not my favorite one though. It was the only site I stayed at that did not have an abundance of easy firewood. Actually all the sites inside the park on this trip with the exception of the impromptu one on Simeon were very nice sites. I prefer the ones that see little or no use. The flat rock island site on Dunstan was really cool, probably not if it was windy and raining though. The site on Jigsaw had a lot of character. The one site on Cyclops had seen little to no use. There was thick moss in the fire ring.
08/27/2015 09:25PM  
Great report and inspiring.
08/27/2015 10:03PM  
Great trip report. I knew there would be great pictures with your report. A pleasure to read.
I agree about the flight in the Beaver, just got back a couple weeks ago from a weeks fishing trip to North Caribou Lake in Northern Ontario. We flew in and out in a Beaver. This was our sixth trip into that lake. Thanks.
mastertangler
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08/28/2015 05:36AM  
hmmm..........sure we are talking about the same place? All of the wood I piled up, easily the size of an F250 pick up truck, was already dry when I started stacking and although I did lots of cutting I cut no live trees. I believe there is enough firewood there for generations to come all nice and aged. I dragged it a little ways behind camp so it wouldn't be an eyesore.

There are 2 huge boulders side by side with just enough room for one person to comfortably walk through up to the "sunset porch" which is higher above the water than the rest of camp. The boulders act as a wind block for the larger more open and FLAT portion of the camp and add privacy. A small bay offers easy access to loading and unloading. A big site with some room to walk around is not typical in WCPP. You have access to get clean water by standing on a flat rock with 5 ft of water directly below you. Views are great in 2 different directions...........a more ideal campsite I would have difficulty envisioning. Surely we are thinking of 2 different places.
MagicPaddler
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08/28/2015 07:55AM  
Thanks for taking the time to put the report up so we could enjoy it. Love the pictures.
Zara Sp00k
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08/28/2015 02:25PM  
+1 on:
Smells after a rain
Going thru a burnt area a couple years after a fire to see the regeneration


what did you think of the portage downstream of McGregor on the Bird River?
kinda steep, the old one went right over the small island
is the broken canoe still there?
builditbetter22
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08/28/2015 04:42PM  
Fantastic report. Thanks.
hobbydog
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08/28/2015 09:10PM  
quote mastertangler: "hmmm..........sure we are talking about the same place? All of the wood I piled up, easily the size of an F250 pick up truck, was already dry when I started stacking and although I did lots of cutting I cut no live trees. I believe there is enough firewood there for generations to come all nice and aged. I dragged it a little ways behind camp so it wouldn't be an eyesore.

"


That was the same site. When I got there there were a couple skinny green pines bent over to the ground that I had to cut out. Someone else must have done the same thing and piled them on top of your pile because there was a big pile there. I piled on top of that. There were a few more that will come down with the next snow. So to get to the good stuff I would have had to do some work. :) I was spoiled. Most camp sites you did not need a saw...lots of small very dry sticks for the picking. It is a nice campsite, especially if you need space for several tents and a tarp. The sunset porch was nice too.

hobbydog
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08/28/2015 09:36PM  
quote Zara Sp00k:

what did you think of the portage downstream of McGregor on the Bird River?
kinda steep, the old one went right over the small island
is the broken canoe still there?
"


When I went that way in 2012 I went up the steep bank using the strap( 2nd pic below) they had as a hand rail. On the way out I went across the little rock island. I think it really depends on the water levels. I wasn't sure going out if I was going to run around it or port over it until I got right up to it. It was a last second decision to port over it. The busted canoe is no longer there...someone who decided to run it. :)

Here are the up and downstream shot of the location. It is a very scenic section of river.



05/01/2016 09:07AM  
quote mastertangler: "hmmm..........sure we are talking about the same place? All of the wood I piled up, easily the size of an F250 pick up truck, was already dry when I started stacking and although I did lots of cutting I cut no live trees. I believe there is enough firewood there for generations to come all nice and aged. I dragged it a little ways behind camp so it wouldn't be an eyesore.


There are 2 huge boulders side by side with just enough room for one person to comfortably walk through up to the "sunset porch" which is higher above the water than the rest of camp. The boulders act as a wind block for the larger more open and FLAT portion of the camp and add privacy. A small bay offers easy access to loading and unloading. A big site with some room to walk around is not typical in WCPP. You have access to get clean water by standing on a flat rock with 5 ft of water directly below you. Views are great in 2 different directions...........a more ideal campsite I would have difficulty envisioning. Surely we are thinking of 2 different places. "



I stayed there in 2010. Nice site. I have a picture of my son by those rocks. Hop skip and a jump to the cave from there. I agree with Bill, that was a little more used than I liked. Someone had dug cat holes on the better tent spots. Sad
05/01/2016 10:44AM  
Just read your report for the second time. Enjoyed it as much as the first time. I don't know what your profession is but you are an excellent writer and photographer!! Thanks again
Larry
 
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