Planning a solo trip to see Curtain Falls mid Sept. Is there a preferred route from
Agnes to Boulder Bay, I see that there are two ways you could possibly go. Also do you take the two portages into Iron or can one paddle around the peninsula? Probably be base camping in Boulder or Tiger Bay. No particular time limits, easy relaxing trip.
Thanks for any tips and help.

You will want to do the bottle portage into Iron. As for Agnes, I think the 115 rod is quicker than doing the other two.

One of very favorite areas in the BWCA.
Agnes to Boulder Bay - either works. We usually take the longer 113 rod straight up to Boulder Bay and then northwest around the peninsula into Tiger Bay and LLC.

The island camp sites in Tiger Bay and a little north into LLC are all are pretty good. The one on the northern point of the smaller, more westerly, island is a favorite ( #177).

Don't take the 2 portage route to Iron. Take the 80 rod Bottle Portage just north of there. It's in Canada but is a shared portage. Just don't fish, lunch or spend excess time in Canada. Then go through Bottle Lake and take the rocky channel into Iron. I would take the 115 from Agnes to Boulder Bay, then.....depending on time of day.....paddle up around to left if you need to find a campsite (Boulder bay sites, or Tiger Bay sites). If early and you want to push on to Iron, take the 70 rod out of Boulder Bay to LLC and then 2 miles to north to Bottle Portage.

Excellent, thanks for the info. Just what I wanted to know and I knew that I would get it here.

One more thing, can you park the canoe on the Iron Lake side and portage (walk) to the falls from there. I read something about possibly a beaver pond somewhere along the portage. Thanks again.

You can hike the portage around Curtain Falls to see Curtain falls. There is a tricky cross current that must be navigated to access the portage. I've seen more than one canoe dump here...

quote old_salt: "You can hike the portage around Curtain Falls to see Curtain falls. There is a tricky cross current that must be navigated to access the portage. I've seen more than one canoe dump here..."

Very true - the water level can change thus making it more or less difficult - there is a small portage to avoid the current if it is running too fast.

Yep, we were camped at the site closest to the falls on Iron and fished that area below the portage. I could easily see how someone could get wet trying to get up to that portage landing below the falls.

If you're just planning on hiking to the falls and coming back down, 100 times out of 100 I'd take the alternate portage landing in the small bay south of the main river. (where the campsite closest to the falls is) Beach your canoe there and walk up, you'll go right past the real landing and see the sketchy current downstream from there. It's also great fishing all along that trail up to the base of the falls.

Here's a screenshot from a voyageur map. Green circle is easy route. Orange X is the mapped portage landing. Even if you were doing the actual portage w/ gear I'd still do this just to avoid the current if going upstream.

Thanks C30, a pic is worth a 1000 words and thanks again to all for the info.

I wrote a trip report for our June trip to this area.

Agnes - LLC

quote cyclones30: "

Agreed. I have this in my Garmin at N48.23694° W91.91528°. No sense tempting fate.

I've been through there a many times. I usually take the safer portage too.
While you're in the area you should definitely go see Rebecca falls! It flows from Iron lake into Mcaree. It's in technically in Canada, but as long as you're not fishing, there shouldn't be a problem just sight seeing.
It take very little effort to get there from Curtain.

quote krick: "I've been through there a many times. I usually take the safer portage too.
While you're in the area you should definitely go see Rebecca falls! It flows from Iron lake into Mcaree. It's in technically in Canada, but as long as you're not fishing, there shouldn't be a problem just sight seeing.
It take very little effort to get there from Curtain."

These days Canada frowns on you visiting land sites like Warrior Hill and Rebecca Falls. You are not allowed to set foot on Canadian soil unless it is a shared portage. If you are caught you will be fined or worse.

I miss the good old days.

Here's one more look at the sketchy mapped portage landing below the falls. Just "above" my hat is the narrows w/ some swift current and whirlpools at times. The camera is facing west and water is flowing that way into Iron.



Side note, this healthy fish went back after the picture.

What a lame excuse for showing off your nice bass. ;-)

quote mr.barley: "

quote krick: "I've been through there a many times. I usually take the safer portage too.
While you're in the area you should definitely go see Rebecca falls! It flows from Iron lake into Mcaree. It's in technically in Canada, but as long as you're not fishing, there shouldn't be a problem just sight seeing.
It take very little effort to get there from Curtain."

These days Canada frowns on you visiting land sites like Warrior Hill and Rebecca Falls. You are not allowed to set foot on Canadian soil unless it is a shared portage. If you are caught you will be fined or worse.


I miss the good old days."

Good advice, there have been some actual arrests for this recently from what I've been told.

quote old_salt: "What a lame excuse for showing off your nice bass. ;-)"

Also true. Very near a personal best for me last year.

And the narrows behind me were probably also the most nervous 10 seconds of paddling I've ever had. No gear besides our fishing stuff one evening and our tandem made it up just fine ahead of us and fished basically where I was standing. Our 3 person w/ 2 people paddling and middle person couldn't quite make it up the fast current, turned sideways, and luckily made it through the chop, swirls, etc to the end without incident.

quote krick: "I've been through there a many times. I usually take the safer portage too.
While you're in the area you should definitely go see Rebecca falls! It flows from Iron lake into Mcaree. It's in technically in Canada, but as long as you're not fishing, there shouldn't be a problem just sight seeing.
It take very little effort to get there from Curtain."

I don't know of any arrests but have heard of some fines, not sure if it is accurate or not. Be aware you don't need to step on Canadian soil to be out of compliance, or violating Canadian law. So if you leave the border between Three and Four Island and head to Rebecca you will be in violation even without hitting the shore.
I was there last week on a BW permit and was, well, very cautious as we approached those very falls!

To each their own.....
Been there many times and talked to people who've been to Rebecca. Most people get out, walk around take a few pics and get on their way. I've personally had a super rare encounter with a Canadian officer at Rebecca. We had a nice conversation. Didn't even ask me for any paperwork. (of course, I wasn't fishing either).

Be as cautious as you want, but in my opinion, you'd be fine to do a little sight seeing on the Canadian side.