Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Planning Forum :: Poplar to Caribou trip in 1st week of August
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Cricket67 |
-We started our trip on Thursday the 16th with the goal of reaching the bottom part of Horseshoe and hopefully grabbing one of the three spots towards the middle of the lake. They were all full so we headed west towards the portage to Gaskin. The campsite there was still available and we took it. Pretty nice site and most importantly it had enough space for our group. That afternoon we caught a couple of Walleyes right around the campsite with a decent size northern thrown in so we everyone could enjoy fish dinner. -The next day we moved to Gaskin, hoping to get to the Island Campsite on the western part of the lake. It was taken but we found the one closest to the Winchell Portage to be more than satisfactory. We stayed 2 nights at this site, doing a day trip to the waterfall on Winchell. We caught a handful of smallies between Gaskin and Winchell but nothing to write home about. Highlight of the trip was getting to watch a feeding Moose on Gaskin when we came back from Winchell. -Leaving Gaskin we adjusted our route due to high winds. Instead of going west and North to Meeds we opted to take the shorter route up through Jump and Allen and back to Horseshoe and Caribou. We stayed at the Campsite to the East of the Caribou/Horseshoe portage. |
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cowdoc |
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giddyup |
Can anyone tell me how the portages are into Lizz from Poplar, out of Lizz into Caribou and out of Caribou into Horseshoe Lake? I love to portage and carry packs but haven’t portaged the canoe before. I would be doing that this time so wondering how rough the portages are. They all look short but are they rugged, hilly, rocky, rooty, muddy, slippery, etc? Thanks |
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inspector13 |
giddyup: "Can any one tell me if this area is starting to be less busy mid-week the first week in September, with better site availability? Or is it still pretty busy? Because of easy access, I think that area will still be busy the first week in September. Those portages were easy, so they never made a lasting impression on me. The muddiness/slipperiness of them will depend on the weather the proceeding days. The only thing that did make an impression were the landings at the portages. They were rockier than average. If you want to make sure the canoe doesn’t get scratched, someone will have to get their feet wet when landing and putting the canoe in the water. Ha! No one pays attention to post dates. |
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cowdoc |
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OMGitsKa |
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aruthenb |
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lindylair |
Horseshoe is a great lake, as folks have said. Unique and good chance of seeing moose but it is also a decent fishing lake for walleye. If you end up on Caribou one of the western sites might at least keep you out of the main traffic flow. There are some nice sites on Caribou and a few canoes passing by in the distance have never bothered me. Typically you will enjoy peace and solitude at the key times of the day, early morning and early evening and that is enough for me. Sometimes anyways. Another idea would be to head west from Caribou to Meeds Lake, over a couple short portages and through a narrow river like waterway which is kind of neat. There are 3 sites on Meeds and the first two island sites are both nice. The 3rd one is also reportedly pretty good although I have never seen it. The fishing on Meeds is excellent for smallmouth and decent for walleye as well. You really can't go wrong as long as you find a decent site somewhere in this area - as said getting an early start gives you more options. Have a great trip. |
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newguy |
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nofish |
newguy: "Ducks, I will look for you! Everyone, thanks for the tips and trip reports. Anybody think it's worth pushing down to Vista or Gaskin instead of stopping on Horseshoe? Specifically thinking of MNLindsey's report about Horseshoe's crowds." From my experience Gaskin is also a very popular lake and I've had times when I was not able to find an open site on that lake. Given you're on a popular route get an early start the first day and then be flexible. If you come across a campsite that you like then take it regardless of what lake its on. If it ends up being earlier in the day than you planned then you'll just have more time for fishing, swimming, and day trips. If needed you can make it all the way down to Gaskin if you don't find any sites open before that. When traveling in a popular area during a busy time of year its best to have a rough plan in mind but remain flexible and open to change. If you encounter anyone going the opposite direction at a portage they can be a good source of info on campsite availability that can help you decide if you should push on or take whats available. |
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LetsGoFishing |
We didn't fish as much as we wanted on Horseshoe, but caught some nice walleye in the bays just southwest of camp. Better fishing was in the channel to the Brule River in the southeast arm of the lake and below the falls at the portage into Vista. We did not fish Vista, but we had a picnic at the top of the island just NE of the southernmost campsite. Easy climb to the top and great views of the lake. Misquah was my favorite lake in the area. We trolled around for a couple hours, and my wife hooked into 2 good fish, but they both unbuttoned before we could identify them. If you want solitude and good views of the tall hills to the east, this is a good place to venture. The portage in is up hill, rocky, full of roots and mosquitoes, so most people avoid it. |
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MN_Lindsey |
We basecamped on Horseshoe #672. It was quite nice. We day tripped to Vista, and wished we would have camped at campsite #771. Absolutely gorgeous. The portage landing on Vista from Horseshoe is SUPER rocky, so be prepared to do gymnastics, or just get your feet/legs wet. Have fun! Here's our trip report/blog post from that trip. |
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Northwoodsman |
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lundojam |
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nofish |
tashit: "nofish: " Ah yeah I misread that. With that site in mind then I would agree. Nice site but too close to the portage. |
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tashit |
nofish: " This statement was about the site just north near the portage to Lizz Lake (#645). nofish: " This is the site we stayed at several years ago. You are correct, it wasn't a site for fishing or swimming from shore. My only other complaint was that it was easy to see the site to the east and the group there was a little on the loud side, although they did quiet down at dusk. Otherwise we thought it was a pretty nice site. |
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giddyup |
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nofish |
We were aiming for a basecamp on Horseshoe but opted for the last site on Caribou across from the horseshoe portage. We investigated many of the sites on Horseshoe during the trip and the site we had on Caribou was better than all of them. The only complaint we had about the site on Caribou was that it lacked logs around the fire grate to sit on but there was a nice table top rock to use for cooking over the stove. The site on Caribou has good access for swimming and also had good fishing from shore in the evening (walleye, perch, and smallmouth). Also good fishing close by just east of camp further back in the bay. The portage to Horseshoe is close by but the statement that you can toss a football to people at the portage is a pretty big overstatement. We could see people at the portage but it was maybe 2-3 groups per day not a steady stream. Measuring on google maps the portage is actually a smidgen over a quarter mile away from the campsite on Caribou. At the very closest point in the typical paddle route I doubt anyone came within 200 yards of our camp so it we pretty quiet. From a privacy and noise stand point the site on caribou is better than any site on Horseshoe as every group we saw at that portage would have paddled within 50 yards of most of the campsites on Horseshoe since its such a skinny lake. The best site we saw on Horseshoe was south of the portage from caribou on a point on your right as you paddle south. It had a nice area for tent pad but it was at the base of a hill so if there was a lot of rain you may have water running down hill toward the tent. The water access was ok but it was shallow and weedy so fishing and swimming from camp wouldn't be as easy or pleasant. The next best side looked to be the site on the left as your headed south from the portage but it was full so we didn't get a chance to check it out. The other site further south was back in the trees with only a small access path to the lake. Paddling by was also very buggy with hoards of biting flies so I have no idea how the group staying there tolerated it being back in the trees with no breeze. We paddled Horseshoe a few times during our trip and didn't see any wildlife down that way. We did have a group of baby loons hanging around our camp the entire time we were there. We'd see them off and on all day long swimming right along shore all around camp. We also talked with a group at one of the portages during a day trip and they saw a mom and baby moose swimming on Caribou one afternoon. Initially we hesitated taking the site on Caribou since we wanted to go further before setting up camp but having paddled Horseshoe and checking out several campsites we were happy with our decision to take the site we did. |
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newguy |
1. Would anyone recommend Caribou or Vista instead of a base camp on Horsehoe? 2. Any campsites you might recommend on any of these lakes? 3. I'll ask in the Fishing thread as well, but any fishing recommendations? I usually target walleye for a meal, love an accidental smallmouth, don't particularly like pike in my boat, and I'm sure the kiddo loves catching bluegill but hasn't had a chance for some of these larger fish. Horseshoe seems pretty shallow but fishing day trips are a great chance to see a neighboring lake. 4. Any fun sights or activities? I'm fine if it's "only" the wilderness. 5. Any final advice for a kid's first trip? I think we're pretty well prepared from a previous thread. |
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scramble4a5 |
You could push on to Gaskin. That's a great lake with several nice sites. |
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BigTim |
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fsupp |
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newguy |
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ducks |
I'll have a flying moose hat on and will be there with my wife, daughters, baby boy Bruin, and black lab Echo. Echo likes playing w the resident dogs and the girls love the SUP and kayaks so I'm sure we'll be by the outfitters building here and there. |
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Frenchy19 |
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