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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Winter Camping and Activities :: Duncan-Partridge portage? Anybody
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| nicek |
Weather was more than kind. Below zero first night and than a warm SSW wind brought comfortable 20F days and nights. Near full moon on Friday gave us indescribable hours of mid night light. Sleeping under the moon was comfortable and magical. The group gave a honest effort to catch the elusive Lake Trout with no success. We declared Daniels lake to have no fish interested to be caught.For two nights we had Daniels to ourselves. Seen wolf tracks but no sounds. Dog sleds were busy on Bearskin Lake. BWCAW never disappointing. |
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| DanCooke |
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| Pinetree |
quote DanCooke: "Yes we did the portage trail. I took a day ski from Partridge to south lake -ski/ crashing down the big slope to south lake then on to Rat / Rose and Duncan and back. A great day ski. Watch for thin ice by stairway portage all Wow that was a great loop trip Dan,with a lot of great scenery and it looked like to me some challenging twists and turns from Partrige toward the South-Rose overlook(Border route) lake trail. That was a good calorie burning day. What time of year did you do it? For a ski person there is a lot of good ski loops. Last year we ran into a individual while on Clearwater was doing the Daniels-Mountain too Clearwater loop. He was up for a week and did a diffrent loop everyday. There is so many options and just to go skiing and would think more people would take advantage of it. |
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| nicek |
Thank you for sharing your experiences. Will see what my group decides to do. Make sure you get on the open water this spring. all the best. |
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| nicek |
Has anyone taken this crossing in the winter? Partridge has a look of an awesome winter camp lake. two years ago weather prohibited us to reach that lake. Serious cold and wind kept us on Duncan in the comfort of a quinzee. My group is heading up again on 21st of January. Just wondering if there is any knowledge out there about the portage. Thanks. |
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| nicek |
Did you follow the portage on the Western end of Duncan? |
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| nicek |
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| DanCooke |
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| Pinetree |
'We camped way down on the north end campsite,it is a nice winter campsite. Campsite is right where the hiking trail comes in. North end may not the be best fishing end,but much more secluded. Problem with the whole setup there were like a dozen people came in from the south on snowmobiles up to the BWCA boundary line than walked in a short distance. There were people everywhere. That was late March when the season use to close Mid March on the outside of the BWCA |
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| nicek |
We will be there for 3 days. |
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| DanCooke |
The route went from Partridge lake to the south lake trail border route intersection. Then skied off trail down hill crossing back and forth so as not to get to out of control, down to South lake. Then followed the lakes and portages to stairway portage and returned by way of Duncan. Fairly easy day trip, just had to be careful crashing down to south Lake. There are lots of day trips to be had, if you get creative and are willing to slog along at times. We often did the West Bearskin Staiway portage Rose Daniels back to west Bearskin loop. Another loop From what now is the Banadad trail Swamp, Caribou, Horseshoe, Vista, Carl, Morgan and the grade back to Banadad. My longest- when I was 23 and much lighter was from West bearskin-Duncan -Rose- Long Portage-Daniels- Clearwater-Deer- Moon-eastbearskin ski trails cross the Gunflint and Back To Adventurous Christians camp where I lived back then. I was dog tired! If all goes well I plan on heading into the BWCA on the 29th. Never got to the BWCAW this past open water season. |
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| Pinetree |
Your a better skier than I am,I would of took my skiis offed and walked down the South lake hill otherwise I would of been out of control. Those palisades or rock cliffs had to be awesome looking on Rose in the winter. Sometimes winter fishing gets in the way of winter skiing. Love both of them. |