Monday, June 2 2025 – Oriana Lake to Quetico Lake (24km, 2 portages)

Monday morning dawned extremely smoky. We could not only see the greyish yellow haze, we could taste it. We were up early – 05:30 in order to beat forecast SW winds which was unfortunately our exact direction of travel. There wasn’t any wind as we snuck through shallow water out of Oriana and embarked on two quick and easy portages into a glass smooth Quetico Lake.

We knew we were way too early to stop at the east end of the lake, so we resolved to slow things down a bit and enjoy some fishing and exploring towards the SW end before making camp.

I caught and released 4 medium sized Lake Trout on my trust deep diving Rapalas but fishing wasn’t exactly epic. It took time and effort to nab anything. Quetico is a beautiful lake and someone could easily spend the better part of a week just canoeing and exploring its expansive waterways, islands, bays and campsites.

We took lunch at our planned campsite, “8T” – a large well used site with many tent areas and multiple fire pits. It was only around noon so we decided that we should push on another 8kms to the west, freeing up almost a whole extra day of paddling already on day 3. This is why we get along so well as a canoeing couple. We are both flexible enough to take advantage of good conditions to get ourselves some extra time for the inevitable nasty ones.

Speaking of “nasty”, the wind picked up considerably as we paddled to an island site across open waters. The rollers continued to grow under our keel as we slowly inched our way towards the distant point of land hosting another great side, “611”.

We were definitely ready for a break by the time we finally docked the boat and checked out our new home. Funny enough – it was still only around noon since we’d gotten started so early today! We spend the rest of the afternoon resting, trying (unsuccessfully) to catch fish offshore and enjoying the solitude.

At 16:00 the wind died into nothing within 10 minutes. Thunder was peeling in the distance through the thick smoky haze and we battened down camp to prepare for an incoming storm.

It felt wrong to be huddled under a tarp with no fire, but we ate supper and waited for rain. It took awhile, but finally just before 20:00 a violent wind storm with rain and isolated thunder rolled over our little camp. I went to sleep, worrying about the potential of wildfires with all the wind and lightning and hoping the rain would lessen some of the risks.

Tuesday, June 3 2025 – Quetico Lake to Badwater Lake (10.5km, 1 portage)

We slept in until 08:00 after a long night of wind and intermittent rain. Unfortunately there was probably less than 5mm total rain – much less than the land was asking for but better than nothing.

We slowly packed up camp under reluctantly clearing skies, making the decision to tackle the infamous Badwater Portage today. We were already ahead of schedule so there was no rush to do much more than that, providing we found a decent site on Badwater Lake.

Doing a 1.5 km portage is always going to be a bit of a challenge but the Badwater Portage was about as easy and pleasant as they come. Cool, cloudy conditions were perfect for the long carry and the trail was maintained and relatively easy underfoot. Some boulders at either end and slick corduroy logs along the way were the main challenges.

The best site in Badwater Lake was unoccupied (we hadn’t seen anyone since leaving the truck) and we promptly claimed it. Site “3N” was a decent site but I only rated it 3-stars due to a lack of good cover and a tent site a long way from the landing and kitchen areas. Views from the elevated rock over the lake were very nice.

Fishing picked up a little today. Hanneke caught something massive on our way to the site from the portage. It was pulling the boat around before it got off. I caught a nice fat walleye after supper (lucky fish – they got released).

As I surveyed the lake before turning in for the night, I contemplated how amazing this park was turning out to be. I couldn’t help comparing it to my many previous canoe trips into a burned landscape in Woodland Caribou Park.

Wednesday, June 4 2025 – Badwater Lake to Jean Lake (24.5km, 7 portages)

Thanks to all the bloody tent time, I woke up at 03:00 just as the birds started their daily pre-breakfast chorus. I dozed off and on until 05:00 and then couldn’t take anymore of the sleeping bag. As I had a morning coffee I was entertained by 3 Trumpeter Swans.

Swans generally mate for life and the hapless couple nearby had the unfortunate “luck” of ending up with a 3rd wheel. There were a lot of fly-bys and yelling going on between the couple and the 3rd wheel. I felt sorry for the single one who knows what happened to their mate? They would very likely remain monogamous for the rest of their life. Hanneke blissfully slept through all the racket.

By 07:00 we were packing up the boat, heading for Boulder Lake as our destination. My updated forecast showed storms starting up around 13:00 so we hoped to make it that far at least. We trolled and drifted our way through Fair and Your Lake, passing over several shortish portages along the way.

The portages were notably mankier than what we’d experienced so far in the trip, but still obvious to find and follow. The exit from Your Lake towards Boulder was an interesting scene of dead trees rising like ghostly sentinels out of the calm waters as we paddled past. Fair and Your were both exceptionally high thanks to eager beavers doing their thing with a set of dams at either end of the water system.

I knew from my Chrismar Quetico Adventure Map that there were no longer two portages along the creek between Your and Boulder Lake (as indicated on PaddlePlanner) but rather a new 660 meter one.

As we followed this new trail through the bush alongside quagmire in the creek to the east, we were exceptionally glad for the rework! The old route must have been a nightmare of swamp muck, mosquitoes and bog while the new one was basically a simple stroll through the forest. Yet another reason to love this park – active maintenance and rework where needed.

As we paddled up Boulder Lake we realized a few things. First, the skies were no longer threatening at all. Forecast storms for early afternoon were no longer part of the mix when I checked BoltWX; they were all pushed into the evening with low probability. Since it was still so early in the day and fishing was slow, we decided to paddle to Jean Lake. Why not? Indeed.

The three portages from Boulder to Jean are all quite a bit shorter than indicated on Paddle Planner. They were a little muddy but easy to find and follow for the most part. Because Quetico is so often travelled, I didn’t notice a single ribbon marking a portage the entire trip. I don’t recall any blazes either. The portages were mostly where you’d expect them to be and thanks to unburned forests, it was almost always obvious where they were cut from the water. Swampy starts were more challenging to find without ribbons, but the lack of plastic was nice.

By the time we found ourselves on Jean Lake the wind had picked up considerably. The good news was that we’d be mostly with it. The bad news was that it was strong and Jean Lake is huge.

After thinking on things for a bit while we hydrated and got ready for a long paddle, I noticed that if we hugged the lefthand (NW) side of the lake we would have periodic islands blocking huge rollers coming in from the strong SE winds. We donned life jackets and set off with determined strokes for a rumored 5-star site about 5.5 kms up the lake.

In a strange twist, like slowly being boiled, the waves grew as we went and by the time we noticed how big they were getting it was too late to do much else then keep going. I knew things were going to get dicey as we approached our planned site, simply because it was exposed to a lot of lake.

As we paddled out from our last bit of protection the winds slammed into us and the rollers became scary. Thankfully we were paddling in a canoe that was literally built for this country – a Souris River Quetico boat made in Atikokan. These boats are perfect flat water machines, riding rollers like they are a child’s ride at a local fair rather than a scary ordeal. The only scary moment came on landing.

As we approached the site I noticed shallow rocks just under the surface. This was an issue because the waves were so big that the troughs threatened to beach us on one of the boulders below. Had this happened, the next wave would have swamped us immediately. Some huge efforts and bent paddles got us through that mess and finally onto a shallow rock ledge and our home for the night.

Site “35M” on Jean Lake was a pretty special place. Now that we’re done with the trip, I wish we’d stayed an extra night here rather than Russel Lake. Of course this has to do partly with weather and conditions as much as anything else, but this early on in a trip we tended to push on whenever we could. Despite some reviews mentioning “mice” and “overuse”, we had nothing but good things to say about 35M. Sure! It’s certainly been used over the years – presumably by some pretty large groups.

As much as I wish the park would be perfectly maintained with barely anyone using it except myself, this is obviously silly. Large groups have to stay somewhere and this is one of the few sites we saw that could easily accommodate at least 5 or even 6 tents. Another bonus? Jean Lake has incredible fishing.

After setting up camp I cast out a jig in the huge waves offshore and WAM! A nice fat walleye for supper. Costco hashbrowns and fresh caught walleye make a pretty darn good meal after a hard day's paddle, I assure you. Fishing from shore continued to produce Bass, Pike and more Walleye. After a few days of relatively slow fishing, Jean was turning things around quickly.

As we puttered around the massive site, settling in for the evening we mused how nice a campfire would be. The first few nights we hadn’t really thought about a fire. It was so extremely dry we didn’t even want to start one. We’ve experienced this before, in 2021 on the Churchill River system in northern Saskatchewan.

At that time there was no fire ban and we had some small fires but were always paranoid about them. Now that we’d had some rain and the weather was cool and moody, we really wished for a small cheery blaze. Going to bed at 21:00 was getting a little boring. There is nothing like sitting under a canopy of stars next to a little fire enjoying a cigar as the night time boreal awakes around you. Alas, my texts from home indicated the ban was still firmly in place.