I have also traveled alone and camped alone when I have done my solos. A couple of my paddling friends have suggested a group solo in addition to our usual trip next year. Several years ago we drove up from the cities together, entered at the same entry point with separate permits and then simply met back at the entry point five days later. It worked well.
However, I know some of you have traveled alone during the day and then camped together every night or at least most nights. Can someone give me some insights as to what you have done in this regard, how it works and what you like or dislike about it? Thanks

This past summer I completed a 14-day solo starting at PP to north Agnes via West/Jeff/East and then looping back through Reid/Woodside/Hurlburt/Payne/William and back to PP. During the Spring/early summer prior to the trip, I had exchanged several emails with TomT and we coordinated to meet for 2-3 nights on Woodside. He was doing a similar 14-day solo from PP to Sarah and over to Trant/Woodside/Agnes via Joyce. From my perspective, it broke up the hard work of a "true" 14-day solo and allowed some time to be with someone mid-trip to share thoughts and experiences. The only unknown was whether we would actually find each other on Woodside, which proved to be unwarranted as TomT showed up about 15 minutes after I landed on the island campsite. Had a truly enjoyable rendezvous and I wouldn't hesitate to repeat the experience in the future with fellow paddlers.

I did my first groupie this September with MacCamper after solos-only in the BW. It was a terrifically enjoyable experience!! I already new Jack from 18 days in AK, so we had much to draw on from that trip. The interplay was perfect. We both went out of our way to help each other, portages were easier with banter and increased safety (a bad fall is a solo nightmare). There were no bad days, the harder we had to work the more we laughed. We both brought our great dog friends and together they added another element of energy and play that topped off our own efforts. All our food and equipment was self-supplied, but I can't deny loving Jack's snack options of which he shared uninhibited. It was a tasty trip!.
For tent pads we just alternated on first choice each day and it was fine. The trip was everything good about being with someone you really found to be wonderfully personable, skilled, and coming from a similar background with similar standards of performance. Can't wait for next year!

Much depends on the experience level of your group. Seasoned and you can just say "hey, lets meet at lake X".

But with less seasoned trippers what I have done in the past is not portage to the next lake until we are together. That way if someone doesn't show up or gets confused you know they are some place on your current lake. This lets people portage at their own speed. My pal was painfully slow and I move along pretty good so I didn't feel like I had to stand around swatting skeets.

It worked like a charm but with one notable miscue. If there is more than one portage out of a lake make sure you are in agreement. We had 2 portages out of Burt in the Quetico and I spent an hour waiting before understanding he was waiting for me at another spot.

If you are new to soloing, a little older or worried about injury it is a great safety net. You can stick together the entire trip, just camp together, leap frog along your route or just cross paths. I prefer to camp together every other night and everyone has their own permit, food and gear. If you like fishing, a group can fine tune patterns much quicker.

Thanks for the thoughts, they are helpful. All three of us are very experienced so no worries there. I typically do my solo in late May or very early June and have always just gone alone, with the one exception where we started out together. I think I like the idea of traveling alone and meeting some nights to camp together. I am very social and these are a couple of my very close friends so would also appreciate spending time with them as well since I don't get to see them nearly as much since I retired and they are still working at the same place I did. I tend to want to travel further than they do so perhaps not camping together some nights would allow me to get some solid days of paddling in as well.

Lots of ways to configure a solo group. One of my favorites was to have separate EP's and travel independently with a planned mid trip multi day layover to meet and swap lies. Did this back in 2006, EP's of Lake One, Sawbill, and Kawishiwi Lake. Planned meeting on Adams, with each traveler bringing ingredient portions for a spaghetti dinner. Mitch paddling up from LakeOne EP, PJ meeting him and Andy from Sawbill, I entered at Kawishiwi and secured the island site. Had visits from Tomster and Lars who wanted to check us out.

butthead

I have made a deal with two of my paddling partners. We will go to the Q in late May this coming year, drive up together, get towed to Prairie together, go our separate ways for a number of days and then meet on our last night on Sunday Lake. Sounds great to me.
Thanks for your ideas and suggestions.

quote GraniteCliffs: "I have made a deal with two of my paddling partners. We will go to the Q in late May this coming year, drive up together, get towed to Prairie together, go our separate ways for a number of days and then meet on our last night on Sunday Lake. Sounds great to me.
Thanks for your ideas and suggestions."

Will you all be getting separate permits? Are there enough permits for non-citizens to assure you will be able to lock in the number that you need? I ask because I am unfamiliar with the possible difficulty of permitting in the Q--the BW does fully subscribe at many EPs.

There are lots of reports for "the four solos". These were trips after Oct 1. Many were with Nibi Mocs, Jim/WI, Bogwalker, and Bannock though there were others as well. Everyone would get separate permits, often traveled together, always camped together, usually ate supper together, took sepate day trips, and watched out for each other. Very fun!

I love the group solo concept since I prefer paddling a solo canoe. I've done strictly group solos and solos with tandems. It doesn't matter to me as long as I get my own canoe. I like being able to just go off by myself to fish and paddle where ever I wish and come back to "the hive" by days end. I'm hermitish.

Only group solo I had any trouble with was a threesome. One person was quick to grab best site, take up excessive real estate under the kitchen fly. And we each had planned one dinner. I brought steak and a good salad and potatoes. We all were upfront with our meals. It wasn't until after the steaks were cooked that he said he didn't eat meat. So he ate a lot of our share of the other stuff. The other person had chicken breasts. Same thing! You can imagine what his spaghetti was like. Since I've taken a number of group solo's. Never a problem! Just people having to deal with my stuff. On my forty day trip I got to run into a number of people I didn't know at all besides some people I know. I like to both socialize and be alone. I feel to be alone for any amount of time is good for the soul as well as time with good people like I've had the pleasure of traveling with. Group solo's are a great way to travel and for everyone to enjoy the best of both worlds.

We will all start at Prairie, go separate ways and only meet up on the last night so no problems with permits. I think I would prefer to camp together at night and travel alone during the day but at this point the other two guys lean toward camping separately.