Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Winter Camping and Activities :: Sawbill Trail parking lot
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tonyyarusso |
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Minnesotian |
I concur with what has been said. The lot has always been plowed out when I have been there. They do not plow any of the roads through the Forest Campground though. |
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brulu |
Last March on a one-night trip I camped on Ada Lake. The next day I day-tripped up through Skoop Lake and took the portage up to Cherokee Creek before turning around. I came out at Sawbill later that same day. Travel conditions were good with a hard crust after a thaw the week before. Being solo, I have some trepidation about Cherokee Creek in the winter, and I wasn't willing to try it. It seems to have substantial flow in the summer. Everything else was pretty straight forward with the right route. For example on the way in I wanted to take the last portage into Ada rather than going around on the longer S-curve along the creek. But the portage was a struggle due to side slope and the sled wanting to slide downhill sideways. On the way out I just followed the creek and skipped the portage. It was longer but otherwise much easier. |
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Gadfly |
In total it took us about 8 hours to get there and roughly 4.5 to get back. The snow was a foot or more on the lakes and 2'+ in on the portages. We had a trail to follow about 1/3rd of the way up Kelso but had to break trail from there. For some reason we ran into no slush until we got to Frederick where it was pretty bad and there was also a little on Wine but not terrible. We hot tented and stayed a total of 5 nights. We packed as light as we could although we did bring fishing gear. We plan to go back someday but still have a few other locations on our bucket list. If you have been there in the summer you already know that the portage is full of ups and downs breaking trail though that was tough but on the way back we flew through that portage. Hopefully I've answered your questions. |
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Gadfly |
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Dolpho |
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tonyyarusso |
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Savage Voyageur |
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brulu |
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Bradp |
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Minnesotian |
Gadfly: One to the East on Smoke lake, one north to Wine lake and one staying right on Sawbill. The creek between Frederick and Zenith was a bit of an issue as the ice was thin and we post holed though a couple of times. The other problem was when we got off from the creek the snow was hip high and it took us a good hour to travel about 1000 feet. " Gadfly, I have been wanting to get to Wine someday having been there in the summer. Couple of questions for you regarding your Wine trip if you don't mind. 1. What month did you go? Pretty cold? 2. How many hours roughly did it take for you to get to Wine from Sawbill? 3. Cold camping or hot tenting? 4. How many days did you stay? Mostly, I am curious about how long it took for you to get there. And did you have a lot of slush and deep snow? Thanks much. |
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Gadfly |
Bradp: "What routes do people do out of sawbill? Reason I ask is that many of the routes involve creeks. Is Heading up to Cherokee via Ada and Cherokee Creek feasible? How about kelso-ludjienda-zenith? Or are most people staying on sawbill/Alton or heading west through lady chain or east towards the temperances/ brule. Just curious as sawbill is a wonderful starting point!" I have done three trips through this area. One to the East on Smoke lake, one north to Wine lake and one staying right on Sawbill. The creek between Frederick and Zenith was a bit of an issue as the ice was thin and we post holed though a couple of times. The other problem was when we got off from the creek the snow was hip high and it took us a good hour to travel about 1000 feet. |