The Joy of Adversarial Weather and a Bushwhacking Fever Dream
by asaboy
Trip Type:
Paddling Canoe
Entry Date:
09/03/2025
Entry & Exit Point:
Kawishiwi Lake (EP 37)
Number of Days:
6
Group Size:
3
Discuss Trip:
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Day 2 of 6
Thursday, September 04, 2025
Kivania to Makwa
~Kivaniva Lake, Anit Lake, Pan Lake, Panhandle Lake, Makwa Lake
We woke early and broke camp around 8:30AM, the weather had turned for the better, though the wind cointinued to gust. The trip from Kivania to Makwa was rather unremarkable aside from some trouble locating the portage from Pan to Panhandle. We hit Makwa by 10AM and had the lake to ourselves, and in fact we would see no other humans for the next 4 days. We initially wanted to stay at the southern campsite (#985), as it's higher up on a rock promontory, but we quickly realized the entire site was far too exposed, even if the weather were not currently so volatile. We settled into the middle campsite (#983), which is fairly small and tucked into a very well-treed area just before the waist and northern, shawllower portion of the lake. It only has a couple of viable tent pads and doesn't have incredible views from the firegrate, but was much cozier and within easy striking distance of the potential trout in the main lake basin.
For a lake that I have never heard described as a desitnation, Makwa is remarkable, with a towering, starkly black cliff face on the northwest shore, a smattering of small islands, and an apparently heathly population of lake trout in its deep waters. If the campsites were a little better I think it would rank highly among many people's favorite lakes, myself included. At this juncture we realized that one of our group was developing a nasty cough, so we took it easy for the rest of the day, just setting up the basecamp, exploring the lake and fishing a little, collecting firewood, and trying to conserve energy to bushwhack into the Humpback PMA the next day.
Kivania to Makwa
~Kivaniva Lake, Anit Lake, Pan Lake, Panhandle Lake, Makwa Lake
We woke early and broke camp around 8:30AM, the weather had turned for the better, though the wind cointinued to gust. The trip from Kivania to Makwa was rather unremarkable aside from some trouble locating the portage from Pan to Panhandle. We hit Makwa by 10AM and had the lake to ourselves, and in fact we would see no other humans for the next 4 days. We initially wanted to stay at the southern campsite (#985), as it's higher up on a rock promontory, but we quickly realized the entire site was far too exposed, even if the weather were not currently so volatile. We settled into the middle campsite (#983), which is fairly small and tucked into a very well-treed area just before the waist and northern, shawllower portion of the lake. It only has a couple of viable tent pads and doesn't have incredible views from the firegrate, but was much cozier and within easy striking distance of the potential trout in the main lake basin.
For a lake that I have never heard described as a desitnation, Makwa is remarkable, with a towering, starkly black cliff face on the northwest shore, a smattering of small islands, and an apparently heathly population of lake trout in its deep waters. If the campsites were a little better I think it would rank highly among many people's favorite lakes, myself included. At this juncture we realized that one of our group was developing a nasty cough, so we took it easy for the rest of the day, just setting up the basecamp, exploring the lake and fishing a little, collecting firewood, and trying to conserve energy to bushwhack into the Humpback PMA the next day.
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