First, a giant thank you to anyone who takes the time to help me out!

I am planning a 10 day solo trip for mid September. This will be my first trip to BWCA. That is not to say I haven't done this. I have plenty of overnight paddling experience. I simply have never been to BWCA. You may spare the "getting wet sucks" and "September might be cold" advice. With the research I have done I feel the following route is feasible. I trust that someone out there knows better than I. I'm throwing out a line hoping you'll bite. Now for the fun part.

Leg 1 (Day 1)
I'd like to start my trip with a short run from EP60 @ Duncan Lake to CS607 on South Lake. Calculators show 6.8 Miles paddled and 246 rods of portage over 4 stops.

Concerns: Is it feasible to get to CS609 from this spot? I would love to play with some brookies up in Sock Pond. Any information on Sock Pond access, fishing, or condition of CS609? If Sock pond access is impractical I may extend this leg into North Lake and take some distance of of the long day coming up.

Leg 2 (Day 2)
Leaving CS 607/609/North Lake I'll trek to CS2004 @ Larch Lake. Calcs show a 16.2 mile paddle with 291 rods of portage over 6 stops.

Concerns: This is going to be a long day. However, none of the portages on this leg seem to be anything to worry about. Did I miss something? Larch Lake seems to be the first real good pike opportunity of the trip. I think I will layover here for a night and spend a day with pike attached to the end of my fly rod. Thoughts?

Leg 3 (Day 4)
Leaving Larch Lake I plan to head to CS421 @ Saganaga Lake. Estimated 9.2 mile paddle with 281 rods of portage over 8 stops.

Everything seems fairly straight forward here. What have I overlooked?

Leg 4 (Day 5)
Leaving CS421 I'll go to CS335 @ Zephyr Lake. Guessing 10.7 miles paddled and a frog hop onto Zephyr.

Concerns: It looks to me like I'm looking at about 2 miles of seriously big water as I cross the heart of Saganaga. Who has done this? Is a straight shot ok? Zephyr looks to me like it's going to be my walleye layover... Ideas?

Leg 5 (Day 7)
Leaving Zephyr I'm trudging on to CS1428 @ Eddy Lake. Looks like 9.2 miles in the boat and 306 rods under it, over 6 stops.

Concerns: This will be the most time spent with weight on my back so far. Again, doesn't seem like anything is going to kill me. Am I wrong? I've heard big pike in Eddy... Who lied?

Leg 6 (Day 8)
My back hurts from the behemoth pike that I thought was going to burn out my Tibor yesterday. (I'll post that pic when i get home!) Short 4.3 mile paddle and 54 rod total portage over to CS1422 @ Kekekabic Lake. 5 little stops.

I'm thinking I take the rest of the day for lakers on Kek. Who's in? Or are you going somewhere else?

Leg 7 (Day 9)
This one could suck... Leaving Kekekabic for CS1243, Vera Lake. 6.3 miles on the water. 449 rods of portage over 7 stops.

Concerns: Am I nuts? This is doable right? Maybe I'll still have some juice left for some walleye tonight.

Leg 8 (Day 10)
Now I could be in trouble. My legs still burn on the way out off of Vera. I'm heading for EP27 @ Snowbank Lake. It's time to push myself through 8.1 miles of paddling and another 464 rods on rubber legs. 3 stops.

Time to hitch a ride out and wonder how the hell I'm going to drive halfway across the country over the next 2 days.

ETA:
I estimate on primary route
Total distance: 90.7 miles
Paddling distance: 71 miles
Total Portage: 2101 rods 40 stops

So what do you think? What would you change? Did I miss something huge? Any tips on an outfitter who will work with me at both EP's? I only need a boat and a ride. I don't feel like bringing mine all the way from Massachusetts.

If you made it this far then thanks a lot. I look forward to your input!

no lectures on cold and wet... just wind.

1. how many trips across the portages are you planning?
2. check out the latest USFS info on south lake campsites... i don't know campsite numbers but i do know that several sites had big wind damage. the site closest to the portage from Rat is probably permanently closed. sad.
3. not sure it's worth your time and effort on this particular trip to make the side trip to Sock.
4. i'm sure you know to paddle early, like crack o'dawn when you have big lakes such as north, gunflint, sag, and others.
5. you know about exiting and reentering the BWCA on the same day? no new permit required.

some recommendations from my perspective:
i'd get to north lake the first day. you have plenty of time, unless facing a NW or N or W wind. i realize by doing this you'll need to get a second permit to reenter the BWCA the next day at ep 57. however, getting to north lake offers you the opportunity for walleye, bass (depending on trip dates, bass might be catch & release only) and northern pike fishing, perhaps lake trout. it also offers you the chance to get up early the next morning and paddle little north and little gunflint at sunrise, possibly seeing moose or other wildlife, and getting down the 7 miles of gunflint. you'll have to stop in at gunflint outfitters to pick up your next permit then paddle straight across the lake (1.5 miles) to magnetic lake and the first portage of the granite river. you still have time to make it to Clove or Larch lake. i'd camp on clove and just paddle over to larch to fish, why lug all your stuff across another portage and then back the next day?

you could lay over here or move up the river to devil's elbow area/gneiss lake or head up to Sag and camp just beyond sag falls. this way you can get an early start across sag the next day.

i'd save your layover day until later in the trip when you'll need some relax time.

kekekabic is a beautiful lake, esp in sept with the colors starting. Kek lake (a small lake off the big lake) has trout, it's not the prettiest lake and has no campsites but the portage in is easy. other neat scenic stuff on the big lake.

what is your route to vera? through the little lakes including missionary...? this could take awhile if water is low, the portage entrances will be mud then rocks. the portages not difficult.

vera has beautiful water! we didn't catch fish but they were there! don't let the hype about the Vera to Ensign portage worry you. it's a lovely hike, scrub oak, probably wolf sign, up and down. how are you getting from Vera to Snowbank? do you have a car at snowbank? you'd have an alternate exit from ensign to moose lake. how are you getting back to the gunflint (if your car is at the ep?)

Mocha that was exactly what I was looking for.

I'll start with my logistics plan. I've spent more time thinking about this than anything else so far. The best solution I've come up with is to leave my car at an outfitter that services Snowbank. I will use that outfitter to supply the boat. I figure it shouldn't be all that hard to find someone willing to bring me and my rented boat out to Gunflint Trail. (I hope the outfitter doesn't have a problem with this) Ideally I would be able to find someone on here ( not sure if I'd be violating rules by asking) who was willing to make 8 hours of pay at a reasonably negotiated rate (plus fuel) to provide the ride. If not there's always craigslist... This way, even if I get screwed by my ride, I don't end up a 10 day paddle away from my car. This was also part of the reason for the short trip to South lake and my questions about Sock, as I would be getting a late start.

As far as portage trips go I believe I can do many of them via single portage. I hope the ones I can't do in one trip would only be partial backtracks when things got real steep or muddy. The calculator I used to determine duration of legs accounted for double portage. This leaves me with plenty of time to spare should a double be necessary.

The more I think on this trip the more I believe I will change my starting point and make it much more leisurely. Although the prospect of an early morning paddle across Gunflint draws me in like a moth to flame, I think I am going to cut that entire section out completely. I now think if I start at EP80 Larch Creek (I'm not sure how this EP is accessed. I have research to do.) and shave a day and a half of paddling, my trip will be much more rewarding. I may just spend the first half day fishing right on Larch Lake and not start paddling until day 2. This would allow me 2 extra layovers later in my trip. It also takes away any chance that I might have to re-permit.

As far as my route to Vera. Yes, I had planned on coming from the East through the small lakes. I don't know these lakes and this is exactly why I am posting on here. I saw that there were two possible ways to get there and I chose one. You telling me it will be better to approach from Knife is exactly the kind of advice I am looking for.

The route from Vera to Snowbank is planned as Portage 418, Ensign, Portage 464, Boot, Portage 820, Snowbank. Do you think It would be better to use Moose as my exit? I assume the same outfitters service both Snowbank and Moose so I doubt it would add anything to my logistical dilemma. What are your suggestions for my extra 2 days? Do you know anything about accessing EP80 Larch Creek?

Jangers, first of all, Welcome to the boards. You might think of editing your personal information to include an e-mail address. That way you can get info directly.
And, as usual, Mocha has given you some trustworthy, expert and valuable advice. It was her job for years.
If you are interested in a long September trip - you might check out this adventure. Several of our guys ( Beav, White Wolf, Jimmy Justice) have done the MN Voyageur Challenge (250 miles).
Minneasota Voyageurs Challenge 2017 - Crane to Grand Portage

Grandma that sounds like one hell of a time. The one thing I love more than being on the water is being on the water with a bent over fly rod. That trip doesn't sound like it leaves much time to fish. I can't see using my vacation up like that. I do appreciate the info though. Is this an annual event?

i wasn't trying to get you to change your trip plan.
if you want to use ep 80 larch creek then you'd enter right off the gunflint trail near the seagull guard station, if you look at a map you'll see a winding creek that eventually opens up into larch lake (or it might be easier to follow the creek from larch lake back to the GT.)

we've taken the lakes from spoon west to Vera, it was the pagami fire fall timeframe, water was low, it was hot (70's every day), so we bitched a lot about the mud. our trip exited to ensign and then moose and we stayed in ely for 2nights before heading back to the GT. i think those little lakes are very scenic, we saw NO ONE and lots of fresh wolf scat.

you should still plan to cross Sag as early am as possible and use your compass. there are a few ways to get to Eddy stay flexible and pick based on the weather and if you're tired of portaging for awhile! LOL. ottertrack is very pretty, knife kinda boring (imo) but no portages and you can cut down into south arm and get to Eddy that way.

no matter what, your trip sounds like a lot of fun. consider bringing a weather radio and/or some sort of tracking device (spot, plb, inreach), some outfitters rent the spot or inreach.

welcome to the board!

WOULD going west to east be a option to catch more of the prevailing wind?
Sock lake has been rather slow the last few years. The effort you would have to put into it might be spent better in other places.
Rose and South are awesome lakes to enjoy in that area.
I do recommend on calm days and early mornings take advantage of low wind periods.

I agree with Pinetree's thought - West to East could be better, but, the shuttle for this adventure could be costly and time consuming. You might have to find a "north woods friend" to do some driving. Duncan to Snowbank is a long haul by road- about 150 miles and 3 hours - give or take. Drop your vehicle at the "end" and get a lift to the 'start". That way you are on your own time line.

Keep me up dated or send an e-mail as your plans gel. - I am often up that way and might be available to drive if you spring for the gas money or might have family going up from Mpls to Ely. (One of my kids lives up that way) After all, what else does a retired Grandma do? Paddle and drive!