Due to last minute planning and time available, Ive chosen Angleworm as my choice for a 3 day solo adventure. Definitely not ideal but everything else is booked solid for a Friday entry of 8/12. This will be my first solo adventure. Wont be easy I know but I'm capable of traveling light and most importantly motivated for need of "wilderness therapy."

Im looking for recent info on water levels of Stuart River, Sterling Creek and Beartrap. My plan is to make a loop finishing through Stuart.

Thanks for any and all help! Really love this site!

river levels should be fine. i'd be more concerned about blowdowns from the recent storms. those portages aren't maintained and they are bad on a good day. this will be a very tough first solo trip. enjoy.

Better judgement dictates that I nix this idea. Appears tough enough with 2 people much less going solo! Not into a sufferfest for this trip.

Will look into potential options outside the BWCA like lakes around Fenske or the Island River. I would imagine there's enough options around for 3 days to keep me occupied? Thanks

i checked for you, curious i guess. saganaga, seagull, skipper and big lake are open. any of these are fine and beat camping outside of the wilderness area. round lake to brant is also open. i'd jump on that one.

quote jwartman59: "i checked for you, curious i guess. saganaga, seagull, skipper and big lake are open. any of these are fine and beat camping outside of the wilderness area. round lake to brant is also open. i'd jump on that one."

Skipper would also make a great short solo. Small lakes and not many people around. My wife and I did a Skipper entry w/ basecamp on Banadad several years ago and loved it. It was mid August and we had nice solitude even though we weren't very far into the bwca. We saw on Day 1 one canoe. Day 2 nobody. Day 3 two canoes passing through Banadad, Day 4 we saw the same people we had seen the day before on Rush while we were paddling out of the bwca.

quote jwartman59: "i checked for you, curious i guess. saganaga, seagull, skipper and big lake are open. any of these are fine and beat camping outside of the wilderness area. round lake to brant is also open. i'd jump on that one."

Jwartman, thanks for the info. I looked into EP52. It adds almost 2 hours of drive time vs the Fenske Loop I have been reasearching today which is why I was hoping to get into the western BWCA somewhere. Im leaving at 5pm from south metro on thursday night and planning on spending the night in my car in whatever EP parking lot either way. 6 hour drive is doable but not ideal, obviously.

Im very unfamiliar with that region. Still, will look into possible travel loop from there as well as potential fishing to rationalize the extra drive time.

Suggesting through Brant, tuscarora and missing link in a 3 day solo?

Thanks again!

quote ducks: "

quote jwartman59: "i checked for you, curious i guess. saganaga, seagull, skipper and big lake are open. any of these are fine and beat camping outside of the wilderness area. round lake to brant is also open. i'd jump on that one."

Skipper would also make a great short solo. Small lakes and not many people around. My wife and I did a Skipper entry w/ basecamp on Banadad several years ago and loved it. It was mid August and we had nice solitude even though we weren't very far into the bwca. We saw on Day 1 one canoe. Day 2 nobody. Day 3 two canoes passing through Banadad, Day 4 we saw the same people we had seen the day before on Rush while we were paddling out of the bwca."

Rethought my quest for solitude and this sounds like a winner for what I am after despite a lengthy drive to get there! Im guessing the mile long portage keeps most out.

Any particular campsites you would reccomend? Thanks!

We stayed at the western most island campsite on Banadad and really liked it. Not the best canoe landing but a nice open rock ledge with the firepit area up on top of a hill. We put our tent close to the water but the nicer tent pads are up by the firepit. We caught smallies from shore in the evening one night and another night we caught a bunch paddling around our island. There's another island site on the eastern end that's smaller but would work well solo. The nicest site on Rush is the one on the northern shore and eastern end of the lake. There is only one site on Skipper and it looked decent from the water.

Important portage info....... Skipper to Little Rush portage is actually a small stream that you need to walk through in low water. There were big boulders just below the surface. Don't waste time looking for a portage.





Little Rush to Rush portage make sure you take the one to the right/north. It goes up over dry land and the forest service cleared it the year we did our trip. The old portage to the left/south is flooded by beavers. The 2 landings on Little Rush are only about 20 yards apart from each other.

The Skipper portage isn't too bad other than the length. My wife and I were able to single portage it.

The Banadad Ski Trail crosses the Rush to Banadad portage giving a nice hiking option.

I have a Skipper trip album in my photo album on here if you want to see more pics of the area.

The Fenske loop got hit hard with the blowdown last week. Sletten to Tee was totally impassable and a healthy USFS crew was working their tail off. I am sure it is clear by now as they already got through Fensky to Little Sletten and Little to Sletten.

A few trees down in sites on Twin Lake, but all of them were usable to my standards.

While I like the Fenske loop, if you want solitude, the additional drive as outlined to Skipper is likely the way to go. Plus, you drive past a few breweries each way. Bonus!


John

quote ducks: "We stayed at the western most island campsite on Banadad and really liked it. Not the best canoe landing but a nice open rock ledge with the firepit area up on top of a hill. We put our tent close to the water but the nicer tent pads are up by the firepit. We caught smallies from shore in the evening one night and another night we caught a bunch paddling around our island. There's another island site on the eastern end that's smaller but would work well solo. The nicest site on Rush is the one on the northern shore and eastern end of the lake. There is only one site on Skipper and it looked decent from the water.


Important portage info....... Skipper to Little Rush portage is actually a small stream that you need to walk through in low water. There were big boulders just below the surface. Don't waste time looking for a portage.








Little Rush to Rush portage make sure you take the one to the right/north. It goes up over dry land and the forest service cleared it the year we did our trip. The old portage to the left/south is flooded by beavers. The 2 landings on Little Rush are only about 20 yards apart from each other.


The Skipper portage isn't too bad other than the length. My wife and I were able to single portage it.


The Banadad Ski Trail crosses the Rush to Banadad portage giving a nice hiking option.


I have a Skipper trip album in my photo album on here if you want to see more pics of the area."

Ill check it out. Thanks for all the help! Sounds like parking myself on Banadad for a couple nights would be exactly what the doctor ordered!

Thanks all for the suggestions. This site has proven time and time again to be invaluable!