Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Planning Forum :: Granite River Current conditions
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Cricket67 |
Granite river was more challenging that I expected. Portages are tough to spot and very technical with some pretty significant challenges. About 1/3 of the campsites were full and we pushed to Devil's Elbow on day one. Sag falls was crawling with people...probably 30-40 were scattered on the rocks and in the water. Was an 80° and sunny day. By far the biggest crowd I have ever seen within the B-dub. Night 2 and 3 on the western most campsite on Horseshoe Island. Wasn't planning a layover day but it was a great site and it rained all day on day 3, so we decided to stay put. Fish were biting in the Rain, just trolling around the Island with Rapalas and twister tails...fish tacos for lunch and added fish in our dinners. With the lost day, we choose to travel through Red Rock to Alpine instead of the longer route over to Ester/Hanson. Alpine was packed. 10 campsites we checked were full. Passed up one very poor site and ended up in the bay going to Rog Lake. Stayed there 2 nights with a day trip to Ogish. Note - Ogish was also packed...we did not see a single open side on the East half of the lake. Decided to travel through Rog into Seagull due to strong South winds. Had one tough stretch to get to the South short before traveling with the wind up to 3 Mile Island. Found a good campsite in a little bay on the NW side of the island. Strong SSW winds all night and in the morning, made for a very quick and easy exit on our exit day. |
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Cricket67 |
Two dads each with teenagers (15yo and 18yo) will be starting our trip at Magnetic and paddling down the Granite River to Saganaga and points beyond. I have been on plenty of trips but this will be my first foray on the Granite. I have done a number of trips from Sag through Redrock, Alpine and Seagull also the Sag to SAK to Ogish to Seagull loop. No one else in the group has ever been to this area at all. This will be a 6 night trip and at the end we will be paddling back to Voyageur Canoe Outfitter one way or another (tentatively plan to travel across Sag and down Red Rock to Alpine and out through Seagull). We are bunking at VCO the night before and using them to give us a ride to Magnetic to start the trip. Obviously we will be getting plenty of information from them also, but hoping to hear from anyone who may have done this route recently. Mostly wandering about campsite options and availability, "interesting" portage situations, etc. We will likely do one night at Clove and the second at Maraboeuf...possibly staying at Marabouf 2 nights. And since I am here - open to any opinions on these options for itineraries for the 6 nights we will be there. We do want to do a little fishing but not really a priority. Fairly experience group with stronger than average paddlers. Note we don't want more than a couple hours of paddling on our exit day. 1. Clove, Maraboeuf, Sag(probably horseshoe island), Alpine(2 nights with a day trip to Ogish), Seagull. 2. Clove, Maraboeuf(2 nights), Sag(Conners island), Sag(Campers island for 2 nights). 3. Clove, Maraboeuf, Sag (Munker Island), Ester, Ogish, Seagull. (or get to Gneiss on first night and stay two nights on Ester or Ogish). 4. Some version of any of the above |
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Tony |
One group came by my site at 7:18 with only about 45 minutes left of light on their way to clove and I knew that it was packed. The next morning I went into clove lake the fish and they had their chairs and canoe set up on the end of the portage and we're making breakfast Tony |
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cowdoc |
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Cricket67 |
We enter a week from Monday on the 22nd. Thought we would be too late for blueberries but have my fingers crossed. Cowdoc, very excited to hear that the area was not too crowded. Hopefully that holds true. Will look forward to a report from Red Rock and Alpine. |
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mirth |
Your paddle plans are fairly solid; we stayed at the north site on Clove, followed by just past the Elbow, and then an unnamed island on Sag near the corridor (we were exiting Sag). There are a couple places on the Granite where the river diverges into some rocky pools. You may have to poke about to find the right path. Ditto, a couple portages may have granite slopes at the water line which can be slick when wet. If memory serves, there's two riffles which you can easily run and a waterfall or two you should most definitely portage around. Your outfitter should be able to point out all these on your maps. |
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Tony |
Tony |
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cowdoc |
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Cricket67 |
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Maureen |
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Cricket67 |
I believe our goal will be to make it to the Gneiss Lake/Devil's Elbow area on day one. Seems to be more campsites up there and then onto Saganaga the next day. Maureen, you have me very curious now about staying on Saganaga. We do plan on a layover day sometime during this trip and we discussed doing this on Saganaga, I was leery of motor noise and more people, but maybe my fears are unwarranted. Appreciate the heads up on the Bear situation Tony. More incentive to get further downriver that first day! Cowdoc, appreciate the report on Red Rock. We are leaning toward doing a more ambitious loop along the border and down through Ester and Hanson to SAK before returning through Ogish and Alpine to Seagull, but good to know if we do the shorter route we should have no issues with campsite availability. 5 days and counting..... |
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Laker_Taker |
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