Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Planning Forum :: Plannin 4-5 day solo (my first) Any suggestions? a
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Mocha |
1. start at gunflint lake and paddle to little gun, little north, north, south lake 58 (actual entry to bwca), rat, rose, stairway portage to duncan, exit west bearskin. more paddling than portaging, although i am guessing you will be double portaging. you could get your permit for your second day of travel allowing you to camp on the east end of gunflint or north lake your first night, then enter the bwca the next day crossing the portage (height of land ((although no real height to speak of)) into south lake. the only portage with real elevation change is the stairway portage which is about 105 steps going uphill and downhill on your way back :). this route is known for smallies. it is a border route so you would need to fish and camp only on american side. you could rent a solo from gunflint outfitters on gunflint lake and arrange to call for a pickup from west bearskin lake at the end of your trip. 2. start by getting a ride to entry for larch creek 80, maneuver through the creek which eventually widens into larch lake. there are a few beaver dams on the creek you'll need to carry over, probably need to unload the canoe. there are some sites on larch lake. portage into clove lake and there are a few sites on this lake. you could continue on and do the entire granite river route with more portages but then you'll need to tackle Saganaga lake at the end (and best to do it EARLY morning) where you could call for a pickup. OR from clove lake you could make your way back to gunflint lake using a few portages, the longest is 105 rd, you will also portage around little rock falls (on the canadian side) and then one more short rocky portage into magnetic lake and you have nothing but paddling for about 3 miles back to the beach at gunflint lake. if you use gunflint outfitters then you can park there, get a ride for a fee and then end your trip there. 3.. if you are looking for a relaxing basecamp type trip you could use a 66 crocodile river permit. you would launch at the east bearskin lake landing and paddle about a mile or two to the portage, somewhat uphill but a decent portage, to crocodile. there are 4 sites on the lake, the nicest being more toward the east end of the lake. it's a quiet lake, only one permit per day. you could try to make your way through the river to the vegetable lakes. i've caught nice bass in that lake plus there are walleyes and northerns, too. these are just suggestions. if you could share how much you plan to paddle or basecamp that would be helpful. |
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jdevries |
Tip #2 - don't count on living on smallies, bring some sort of backup food with you, even if it's the dehydrated stuff Tip #3 - plan for extra time to set up camp than your normal trips with others along, then double it Tip #4 - gets dark pretty early in September, bring something along to entertain yourself from sunset to bed time JD |
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sedges |
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Cricket67 |
I'm intrigued by this area as there are lots of options to easily lengthen or shorten a planned loop and we had decent fishing, catching a couple of Walleyes on Horseshoe and then enough smallies on Gaskin to provide a couple of meals without trying too hard. |