16 July, Day 8: We awoke around sunrise to the sound of thunder as a storm moved in from the west. Before long a torrential downpour was occurring, along with lots of lightning and thunder. Wilson crawled in between us, shaking. Sometime later the storm passed, and I went out to check out the lake and found a strong SE wind whipping up the water into a sea of whitecaps. I was concerned that we would be wind-bound and unable to head over the Memory Lane Portages, but the wind gradually tapered off and patches of blue appeared to the SW. We broke camp.
I don’t think we got onto the water until 10:00a, but before long we were at the beginning of the first of the three Memory Lane Portages. The portage was not hard to find, but it was clear that it’s lightly used. Everett headed out with his pack and our paddles, while I donned pack, canoe, and rod case. The trail was brushy and dripping wet, and after a mucky stretch climbed about as steeply as any Quetico portage for a good 50 to 75 feet. Apart from keeping the bow of the canoe off the ground, I was concerned that my feet might slip, causing me to land on my face.
Continuing on, the trail meanders through brush, trees, and wet areas until ending at an unnamed lakelet after 970m. Having worked up a good sweat, we quickly loaded the canoe and headed out onto the lily pad covered water before the insects were able to feast. The lake deepened to the NE, and some stands of ancient white pines tower over its shores. The Chrismar map of the park identifies the location of these portages accurately, and we quickly found the start of the second portage. Depending on the Fisher maps would lead to a lot of fruitless searching.
Portage number two is not overly difficult, but is a mile long (1670m) and brushy in places. The trail is actually scenic over much of its length, as it passes along a ridge wooded by semi-open, jack pine forest, with an open bog to the north. The temperature was by now probably topping 80 degrees, and the sweat was dripping off of my face, but I liked the feeling of getting a good workout while carrying a heavy, but well-balanced load over a long portage. The portage ended at another dark-water lakelet on a shoreline of floating bog. Pretty cool. Fortunately, a good breeze was blowing off the water to cool us down and keep the insects under control.
Back on the water, we passed a campsite located on a bedrock point on the NW shore of the lakelet. This wouldn’t be a bad place to camp if a group found itself here in fading light, a storm, or with an injured paddler.
The third and last of the Memory Lane Portages is 1220m long and is the wettest of them. However, it was not nearly as wet as I expected, and due to the amount of logs placed over muskeg, we never sank deeply into muck. I kept waiting to become mired in bottomless muskeg like I experienced on the Cache Lake Portages years ago, but happily, it never happened. With each wet area we crossed we were closer to the end of the portage, and sooner than expected we found ourselves at Conmee Lake, about two-and-a-half hours after leaving our Poohbah campsite.
In summary, while the individual portages of the Memory Lane Portages are tough, none is grueling. Of course, your experience may vary due to blowdowns, physical conditioning, or how you travel. What makes this route notorious is the fact that you have three tough portages in quick succession. No doubt, this keeps a lot of paddlers out of Poohbah Lake, and most folks enter and exit via Poohbah Creek or (unfortunately) via aircraft with the Lac La Croix First Nation.
Once on Conmee we noticed a cloud of smoke emanating from an island across from the portage entry. At first we thought someone had a crazy-big campfire and was burning wet wood, but we soon saw that a tree was on fire from a lightning strike a few hours earlier. The entire top half of an old white pine was blasted off, a wide strip of bark was removed along the length of the trunk, and the base of the tree was on fire. That was one helluva lightning strike and a good reminder of the danger of lightning.
After paddling through Conmee we portaged 200m to Suzanette Lake and ate lunch on a nice site midway down the lake. Then, we carried over two short portages (200m and 120m, respectively) on the Darky River. Along one of these we saw a group of girls from one of the YMCA camps near the BWCA, the first people we had seen since Poohbah Creek. Not long after, we were setting up camp at a favorite site on Burt Lake, late in the afternoon.
Wilson remembered the site from last year and seemed happy to be there. He quickly engaged himself with chasing a red squirrel. Everett and I went swimming and enjoyed the clear underwater views with mask and snorkel. Then, I set up the tent and rain fly as a thundershower was building to the west. After hanging out with Wilson under the fly while the shower passed through, I set up the tent; we would be staying here for two nights.
Everett caught a few bass from camp while I cooked supper. Amazingly, two groups from down south came through, looking for campsites. In the several times I have been to this lake I have never seen anyone else, much less two groups. Later, I put the tired dog in the tent, and soon after we joined him for the night.
17 July, Day 9: A clear morning with light winds from the northeast greeted us after sunrise. We would spend the day exploring, fishing, and swimming. The two groups that had arrived the previous evening left this morning. One group was from Nashville, TN. After breakfast I hung the food, and then we paddled up to the north end of the big island that dominates the lake, and swung back south down the west side. Lots of deep water, with depths to 232 feet observed. My guess is that Burt Lake is one of the five deepest lakes in Quetico. Over one reef we caught several nice walleyes of around 20 inches.
We fished a deep reef we had found last year, but only managed to hook and lose one lake trout. Over deep water closer to camp I did catch and release one laker. With so much deep water, as in Poohbah, the fish seemed to be very scattered.
After retrieving some lunch items from camp, we headed up the lake to a cool campsite with some jumping cliffs. Lunch consisted of bagels, cheese, peanut butter and jelly, along with a handful of peanuts and M&Ms. Soon afterward, we were snorkeled over a nearby reef where the clear water offered a great underwater view. Then we jumped off of the nearby15-foot cliffs into deep water. Getting out of the lake required a bit of swimming toward the end of the point. On the way back to our campsite we drifted over deep water, and caught and released a few lake trout in the three to five pound range.
After supper we decided to fish a couple of reefs for walleyes, knowing that the walleyes would move shallower with the fading light. We had a blast catching and releasing numerous walleyes of 18 to 22 inches on a 3/8 oz jig/twister-tail combo until darkness forced us back to camp.
18 July, Day 10: Up to sunny skies and an easterly breeze. I took down the rain-fly and heated water over the fire while Everett slept in a bit. Soon after he emerged from the tent, we ate breakfast and broke camp. Before long we were paddling across deep water toward the Marj Lake portage. We quickly carried 175m to Marj Lake, but upon arrival Everett realized that he had left his pfd at the other end, so he went back to retrieve it while I pulled out the depthfinder. Marj Lake is even clearer than Burt Lake, and it was cool watching the bottom pass by a good 15 feet down as we paddled out onto the lake. I scoped depths to 87 feet in the northeast bay, and 125 feet in the NW. This was a pretty limited survey though.
We portaged 150m to a pond west of Marj, and then portaged another 200m to an arrowhead- shaped bay that might be considered part of Burt Lake. Then we portaged 200m to Paulene Lake, a fairly small lake where we were surprised to find at least four campsites. Then, we portaged 390m to McIntyre Lake. As is often the case, the portage location and length were inaccurate on the Fisher map.
After paddling through a good chunk of McIntyre Lake, a destination lake where we expected to see other people, but didn’t, we portaged about 150m to Sarah Lake on a trail that drops pretty steeply toward the Sarah end. The northern end of Sarah is very scenic, with some high ridges around it. We climbed a good 200 feet or more to the ridge-top on the east side and got some good photos, and then paddled to an island campsite where we ate lunch.
Our destination for the day was an unnamed lake, sometimes referred to as “Irene Lake”. We headed up the creek-like, Tuck River, immediately portaging 100m along the west side of rapids that empties into Sarah. We encountered a group of Boy Scouts here, heading in the opposite direction. After crossing a small lakelet, we portaged 50m to another linear lakelet about twice as long as the first one. An ancient beaver dam at the outlet had failed recently, dropping the water level.
The next portage, to a small pond, was 280m long. On the planimetric map (no elevation contours) it looked to be a breeze, but in reality it climbs 175 feet, passing through a large amount of Canada yew along the way. The portage ends on some floating bog. I liked its variety and character.[paragraph break] The final portage into “Irene” was a scenic, 320m long and passed through middle-aged red pine forest. Irene greeted us with clear water and two campsites, as well as an attractive, hilly eastern shoreline. I pulled out the depthfinder, and as we paddled a wide arc across the middle of the lake, I scoped depths to 95 feet. The eastern bay drops to 79 feet.
We set up camp on the north shore of the lake and then went for a swim in the clear waters before setting up the tent. We then went out fishing and caught maybe ten small lakers in the pound-and-a- half to two-pound range. My guess is that lake trout are the only game fish in the lake, and that the food base consists of mainly invertebrates and minnows, limiting how big these fish can get. Reminds me of Explorer Lake in the BWCA. Despite being mid-summer many of these fish were suspended only 20 to 25 feet down over deeper water, although some were much deeper. We saw several fish race to the surface to feed before retuning to the depths. Very odd for summer lakers. We kept one fish to eat with supper.
We took a break from the fishing to check out the old portage leading to an unnamed lake to the NE. From all appearances, this portage has not been maintained or used in many years, and the farther we got from “Irene” Lake, the more it became essentially a bushwhack due to brush and deadfalls. As I was only wearing a swimsuit and t-shirt we turned back when we could see the unnamed lake in the distance.
19 July, Day 11: The previous evening had high clouds moving in from the west, and with an easterly wind we thought some rain might move in during the night. But the morning dawned clear and gorgeous. I heated water and took down the rain fly before Everett got up, and then we enjoyed breakfast on the bedrock shore. Then we packed up and hit the water.
The first portage leading east from “Irene” Lake climbs at least 75 feet and is about 400m long, and ends in a dark-water pond that is perched at the head of the valley extending east from “Irene”. From there we portaged a short 10m on a trail carpeted with poison ivy to another pond. Both ponds are lined with bedrock. From that second pond we portaged 380m to Kahshapiwi Lake, dropping maybe 50 feet along the way.
Heading north on Kahshapiwi, we searched for the old ranger cabin along the west shore, but the only thing on the location marked on the Fisher map was a campsite. We looked around, but no cabin. Perhaps it has been removed?
We paddled to the portage to McNiece Lake. While most of the east shoreline to the north burned over several years ago, a more recent fire, either from last year or this spring, burned between Kahshapiwi and McNiece—including the portage. This fire was less intense, often burning only on the ground. By the time we completed the 1120m portage we had worked up a good sweat.[paragraph break] Some of the best stands of old-growth white pines in Quetico are located on McNiece and Shan Walshe Lakes. A wildfire burned though the area several years ago, destroying some of the old trees, and opening up the understory. The new growth is dominated by aspen and birch.
We portaged about 200m to Shan Walshe Lake and then checked out the island campsite. The site is pretty mediocre, and while it wouldn’t be a bad site very early or late in the season, it’s a poor site for swimming, and has minimal shoreline rock. Several moose bones were piled on the site when we were there, and it was buggy.
After setting up fishing gear and depthfinder we set out to catch a trout or two. I found depths to 113 feet, but the deepwater habitat is too limited to support a huge number of trout. We scoped very few fish, but I did manage to catch a nice laker of about nine or ten pounds, and while I was unhooking it, a quick thrash resulted in one of its teeth slicing me pretty good under my thumbnail. The wound bled and hurt for a long time. From what I’ve seen and read, Shan Walshe Lake seems to be one of those lakes where catch and release should be the norm, as trout numbers are probably not high, but the average size is.
We portaged 100m to Yum Yum Lake and headed SW through the narrows in search of a campsite. The lake is moderately stained. We stopped and ate lunch at a small site on the NW shore about a half- mile from the Yum Yum Portage, but decided not to camp there. Instead, we camped on an elevated site at the mouth of the bay leading to Grey Lake, where there was a good view and decent swimming nearby.
Later, we headed out in search of lakers and fished an area where I had caught them in the past. No luck. We scoped water as deep as 103 feet, but found the fish to be widely scattered and not overly active. I lost one fish, and Everett caught and released one, before we rode the SW breeze back to camp.
Everett cooked supper on the stove and built a fire while I rigged up his fishing rod. I need do make a conscious effort to make sure he does more of the camp chores to better round out his skills. Afterward, he caught a few small bass from camp while I set up the tent and hung the food. The weather seemed as it would stay mostly cloud-free and dry overnight, so I kept the rain fly off to keep as cool as possible. It’s been a warm summer in the North Country.
20 July, Day 12: I awoke at first light to the sound of thunder to the SW, so went out and put the fly on the tent. In an instant I had a good 50 mosquitoes on my body, and many more ready to move in. After the fly was on I entered the tent and spent some time killing all the skeeters that entered with me.
The thunderstorm passed to the south, and soon after, we got up and started breaking camp and preparing breakfast. Before long, we were on the water and headed to the portage to Grey Lake. We quickly passed over the well-used, but brushy, 580m carry, and then paddled past an overhanging rock face that appeared as a bison head in the morning light. Then, we portaged 720m to a small, clear, unnamed lake--passing over about 100m of open muskeg along the way. The portage seemed shorter than the 720m shown on the map.
After another portage of 400m on a well-used trail, we arrived at Shade Lake and bucked a SW breeze to the small outlet bay, where we saw a group of scouts entering from the south. The water was high enough that we could float through a narrow channel into a cliff-lined pond, bypassing a short portage.
We then portaged maybe 100m to West Lake, and then did a short, 60m carry to South Lake. The next portage, about 70m, led us to a long, lily pad filled stream channel leading to North Bay of Basswood Lake. An ancient beaver dam that stood here for decades—one of the longest I have ever seen—has disintegrated to the point that we could paddle over it without any dragging. The elevated water levels also helped.
The wind was blowing steady on North Bay, but not strong enough to raise whitecaps or slow us down much. This was a good thing, as North Bay can produce some big waves. After maybe half an hour we reached the portage to Burke Creek where we carried 150m. After a short paddle we portaged another 80m to Burke Lake and headed for the island site we have stayed at on our two previous Quetico trips. Unfortunately, a group of girls (late teens) from a canoe camp were camped there, so we camped on another island site.
After lunch we jumped off of shoreline rocks and swam in the lightly stained waters. We also dried out some topographic maps that Everett found on the first portage from North Bay. As it was early in the afternoon, we had plenty of time to just hang out, eat hard candy, and chat about nothing. Three other groups came by, looking to camp.
Later in the afternoon we headed out to jig for trout, but were soon turned back to camp by thunderstorms building to the west. We set up our tent and 8’X10’rain fly, and hung out underneath until the storm passed. Not much rain fell, but there was a fair amount of lightning, so we sat on our pfds to help insulate us from ground current should lightning strike nearby. The site was elevated and exposed enough to make this a good idea. After a late supper we retired to the tent for the night.
21 July, Day 13: Clear skies and a light north to northwest breeze greeted us when we awoke. I fired up the stove to heat water for breakfast, and we both took down the tent and rain fly. We were on the water and headed to the portage to Bayley Bay, Basswood Lake, while our neighbors were starting their day and another group near the portage was still asleep.
After portaging the flat, easy 450m carry to Bayley Bay we headed out from a sand beach and enjoyed the long vistas of this big lake. We were surprised to pass several groups camped on Bayley and Inlet Bays. At Prairie Portage I bought a Quetico shirt for Philip, my youngest son, and chatted with the ranger for a bit. Then, we portaged to Sucker Lake and paddled to the landing at Moose Lake, passing countless canoes and motorboats along the way. I don’t enjoy the Moose Chain.[paragraph break] After changing the flat tire on the car, we loaded up and headed into Ely to check in with US Customs, and eat lunch at Subway. Wilson was glad to be in the car and slept like a rock. Before long, we were on our way home to near Two Harbors, ending another great canoe trip.