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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Listening Point - General Discussion :: Best Day Trip Ever
 
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lindylair
02/14/2020 07:47PM
 
We have only started doing the basecamping thing the last 6-7 years so prior to that there were't many "daytrips". Since then there have been a few memorable ones:


1 Stayed on the unmarked site behind the small island on Caribou Lake in early August with my buddy and his two boys. On a beautiful morning we crossed the rest of Caribou, Little Caribou and the western bay on Pine to the trail to Johnson Falls. It was more spectacular than we expected and the swimming hole at the base of the lower falls was delightful on a warm summer day. Had lunch overlooking the lower falls and made our way to the upper falls which were perhaps even cooler. Best of all, we had the whole place to ourselves for 2-3 hours. Great day.













2 First trip to Crocodile was in late May 2013 - great trip overall with few bugs, decent fishing, solitude and wildlife. One day we headed back to the portage to E Bearskin and took it back down to the lake. Bushwhacked our way up the east shore to Crocodile Falls which was running like gangbusters due to snowmelt and recent spring rains. It was an incredible setting with the beauty of the woods, the falls and the river and the roar of the water was amazing. We spent a couple hours there taking photos and just relaxing in this incredibly relaxing and beautiful place.
We hit it just right, frankly it wouldn't be much to see in low water season but when we were there it was awesome.












3 Crocodile Lake again, we were back in August 2015. We brought a couple newbies with us, a father and son who were enjoying the trip. One day we paddled as far as we could down the Crocodile River to the east, having to go over a couple beaver dams and finally ending at a tangle of brush where a portage landing appeared to be. We took the portage trail up to one of the Veggie Lakes and spent some time over lunch and photos admiring the scenery in a place where probably not a lot of folks have been. The newbies thought the lunch on the remote lake, the beautiful paddle and the challenge of getting up the beaver dams was great adventure and loved it.












4 After camping on the sand beach site in the bay on the western side of Malberg for a couple days we headed over to the southern site on the island on River Lake which is a great site. Headed south for a day exploring River Lake and had lunch on the awesome sand beach site on Amber Lake. Slowly headed back north, fishing as we were going and picked up an occasional fish. But then we hit the point south of the campsite island and proceeded to pulling in about 35 walleyes in 45 minutes or so, incredible fun and kept a few for dinner. Only left because it was getting dark and the mosquitoes were getting aggressive...and I still had to clean the fish and cook dinner. One of the most fun times I have ever had fishing for eyes.












Amber Lake site




5 July 2018 my buddy and I basecamped on Vern lake out of the Homer entry. Had great weather, good fishing and good solitude. Took a daytrip up the Vern River which was really cool. Stopped to fish around the areas where it narrowed down and had great luck with walleyes and smallies. Left a stringer of walleyes tied to a tree at one of them...dang. Caught some dandy smallies and it was just a beautiful and easy trip. We could have gone quite a ways further from the looks of things and from the map and it is on my bucket list to go back. Had a great time and enjoyed complete solitude, good fishing and beautiful scenery.






















Looking forward to more:)
 
x2jmorris
02/14/2020 09:19AM
 
From Malberg to Mackwa. One of the cooler things to see in the BWCA in my opinion and glad I did it.


2nd options would be some of the bushwacking trips to unknown lakes. Saw 6 moose on one of them.... actually thinking back on it this was pretty amazing and takes my number 1 spot.
 
bwcadan
02/14/2020 07:36AM
 
What is the best of your day trips in the BW?

For me, many candidates come to mind, and I will limit myself to three. As a base camper in recent years, there are a lot of memorable day trips. No particular ranking for these.

1: Fishing off a point on Lake One with my daughter and 6 year old grandson. Got into a slew of small mouth bass with strikes/bites for him on most every "cast". I do not care to disclose the location as this may be repeated in future years. After an hour or so, he tired of this and we returned to camp and an impromptu fish fry. Nothing bigger than a pound or so, but he did not care.

2: Five hours on the overlook of Rose Lake enjoying a perfect July day complete with lunch and reading as Bill and I sat in our rocking chairs. the changing angle of the sun gave us an updated look for the entire time. Sitting on the high bluff, we were at tree top level from the trees below and a great view of Rose Lake. Also walked down the steps to Rose and later to left (as you near steps from Duncan) up the hill on the trail to that overlook also. For the 5 hours we were at the first overlook, we had no one come around the corner to access that view. There were several groups that crossed the bridge to see the falls. Other groups beside the ones we saw may have come over the bridge too, but we cannot say that for certain as we were in our chairs. Lunch for some and general milling around in the area. This is located just over the bridge. A trail leads away from the open milling/lunch area. The place we were located for viewing is down toward Rose and take an opening to the right near the bluffs. Easily missed. Not safe for unsupervised children.

3: While base camping on North Bay of Basswood lake, three of us paddled and portaged over to singing brook falls and Louisa Falls. We returned via East Lake after lunch at those falls. The narrow river was a highlight too.

3A: While on that trip, we also took fun trips to see old growth trees and went to see pictographs and table rock down the Basswood River.