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MyWaterzMyWoodz	07/31/2025 09:59PM   Larry, That's a big loop with some demanding portages. Looks easier on paper than actual. If I were you I would trim the trip 25% or add an additional 3 days for rest and the unexpected especially if you have never traveled those areas. If fishing is on your agenda you won't have much time to enjoy it. Or maybe divide your route in half and do the eastern half on a trip and the western half on another trip another time.
LarryNC	08/01/2025 05:24PM   MyWaterzMyWoodz: "Larry, That's a big loop with some demanding portages. Looks easier on paper than actual. If I were you I would trim the trip 25% or add an additional 3 days for rest and the unexpected especially if you have never traveled those areas. If fishing is on your agenda you won't have much time to enjoy it. Or maybe divide your route in half and do the eastern half on a trip and the western half on another trip another time. " Thanks MWMW. We have been debating this since by its nature a big loop does not leave much Plan B once you get to the top. It is about the same length as the 13 day trip we did last year, which had some *fun* portages. We are mapping out some other options but were really hoping to get up to the Poets chain and north of the burned area (Sturgeon, etc) this year. I do fish but mostly to catch something for dinner, which usually does not take long in Quetico.
LarryNC	07/23/2025 03:19PM   Thanks for the good info everyone, sorry for the slow response as I have been away from email (which has been great!).
arctic	07/24/2025 09:43AM   I would do that entire route counterclockwise, especially after recent rains and how they might impact travel on the Maligne.
LarryNC	07/24/2025 03:30PM   Many thanks for that suggestion arctic. Not sure how we can play that out since we have a Sarah entry, but maybe we can still switch to a different entry. Have the rains been significant?
LarryNC	07/25/2025 01:03PM   I wonder if the Cache river might be high enough to try. We have been wanting to do it, but since we trip in August the water level is never high enough. Thoughts?
cburton103	07/09/2025 06:05PM   LarryNC: "We have 13 nights this year and are planning a big clockwise loop starting from Sarah entry, August 13-26. Something like this: Prairie portage, Sarah, Tuck, Robinson, Bart, Gardner Bay, Argo, Darkwater, Darkwater river, Tanner, Maligne river, Sturgeon, Russell, Chatterton, Keats, Baird, Kefer, Kashipiwi, back to PP. If ahead of schedule we would consider going north of Sturgeon through Bentpine, Burntside, Jean, Lonely back to the east end of Sturgeon. Looking for suggestions or concerns from folks who have been through some of these areas since the fires. We are trying to skirt the burned areas. We have never been on the Maligne river and realize this is against the flow direction but maybe with lower water in August this would be OK. We could also consider doing the loop counter-clockwise to be moving downstream on the Maligne from Sturgeon to Tanner -- is this worth considering? Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice, -- Larry " 13 nights sounds awesome. Lots of good water in there. We've done bits and pieces of your route since the fire. Firsthand: Argo, Darkwater, Sturgeon, Keefer and Kahshapiwi are minimally impacted. We had a walleye dinner on the Darkwater Hilton site about a month ago. It was lightly burned but is still very usable. Around the site there is quite a bit of new growth coming up, but the kitchen area and some tent pads still were in great shape. I don't recall any amount of trees that were burned enough to not want to camp around on that site, but we were just stopping by to fry some walleye on our way to McAree (late night!). Sturgeon was fairly minimally impacted except a stretch of fire that burned up through some islands towards the portage into Lonely. Secondhand: A good portion of the stretch of Shelley through Cairn/Sark has some pretty significant burn. I'd probably plan to camp outside of this stretch personally, but I have no firsthand knowledge to base that on. I'd be surprised if you have much of an issue paddling up the Maligne that time of year short of having some really significant rains in the days leading up to your trip.
LarryNC	06/29/2025 07:25PM   Sorry folks, my list of lakes was misleading -- those were not planned campsites, but rather just a list of lakes we are planning to pass through. Freeleo, thanks for the detailed info. -- will be very helpful if we go that route. I will check out your trip report, thanks. sns, we too will be single portaging wherever possible, but 20 miles is more than we have done in a day. Canoeing from Moose through PP we will make it up to some intermediate point between there and Sarah on the first day.
LarryNC	06/30/2025 07:21PM   goblu, thanks for all the info., super detail, will help us a lot as we find our way through there.
goblu79	06/30/2025 09:44AM   LarryNC, An easier route out of Isabella to Sarah involves going up a fairly shallow beaver stream and crossing 2 beaver dams out of the unnamed pond after Isabella. There are two routes out of the unnamed pond...one over a huge granite cliff and is quite taxing. The other up the shallow stream over the two dams, and to this one is far easier. You have two portages after you exit the stream. The first into a small pond that you can paddle through into another small, unnamed lake. The second goes into Side from the south end. This trail intersects with another about 50m before you get to Side, so don't take the turn to the right..keep straight on to Side. Out of Side, you have two choices. The dry "over the top" route or through another small stream/pond. The "over the top" route is mostly down hill to Sarah and starts on a small granite shelf. The elevation change is pretty significant. The other starts in the stream about 200m north of the shelf. Sometimes the stream/pond is navigable..some times you have to portage around the west side. So, it ends up either a short paddle, to a short portage to the next stream, or one longer portage. Then you have a steam to paddle to a short portage into Sarah. I don't recall any beaver dams in this stream. At the end, you have portages on both sides that lead into Sarah. I have used all these routes multiple times, and in general find the streams route to be the easiest, even if its the longest.
sns	06/30/2025 12:36PM   goblu79: "Out of Side, you have two choices. The dry "over the top" route or through another small stream/pond. The "over the top" route is mostly down hill to Sarah and starts on a small granite shelf. The elevation change is pretty significant. The other starts in the stream about 200m north of the shelf. " Question on the long Side>Sarah portage - so heading west from Side, the start is actually significantly South of the mouth of the creek? And on the Sarah end - is that also a different landing from the one for the Creek route?
LarryNC	06/30/2025 12:47PM   goblu, thanks for the great detail. I think I see what you are talking about. The first portage out of Isabella is into the no-name lake to the north near the bottom of Isabella, correct? That is, before the portage to Point. It looks like an alternative for PP to Sarah would be to avoid Isabella and go through Nest and Point. Is there a reason not to go that way? Of course from Point your descriptions would still apply.
goblu79	06/30/2025 02:53PM   Larry NC. Yes that is the portage I use. Then go into the west end of the noname lake and paddle into the stream about 300m over 2 beaver dams (2023 knowledge). You exit on a rocky area that intersects the stream on the left side. The entrance to the stream is often full of lily pads and kinda shallow. Might be hard to identify. Once in the main channel, it's usually deep enough to paddle all the way. I have never used Point/Nest. I've heard the long portage from Nest to Point is a mucky affair, but I've not real knowledge of it. The two portages that take you from noname into Side are longish, but very flat. Can be a little boggy if its been very wet. The first of these portages empties into a little pond filled with lily pads, but it is paddleable. You exit between two boulders on the ponds west end. Neat little area.
goblu79	06/30/2025 02:37PM   Not really all that far from the "over the top" portage to the creek/pond route. Creek/pond might be 200m from the granite ledge. The two do dump into Sarah in different spots. Creek/pond into the bay on the east end of Sarah. "Over the top" comes out on the gravely beach on the south side of that bay.
Finnboy	07/08/2025 05:52AM   The Point and Nest route is definitely longer than the Isabella route. It is a nice paddle though. The portage out of the pond closest to Isabella is a boot sucker at first but then dries up and isn’t bad.
Banksiana	07/07/2025 09:52AM   Last year the stream route (my preferred route) between Side and Sarah was mostly portage. Paddled the little pond after a pull over from Side but after the portage from the pond to the stream the stream is no longer navigable as the beaver dam has been neglected. Portaging along the stream was not particularly difficult though. The elevation difference between Side and Sarah is not that significant, probably about 20 meters. The portage from Side goes up quite a lot before beginning its slightly longer descent into Sarah.
sns	07/07/2025 12:43PM   Banksiana: "Last year the stream route (my preferred route) between Side and Sarah was mostly portage. Paddled the little pond after a pull over from Side but after the portage from the pond to the stream the stream is no longer navigable as the beaver dam has been neglected. Portaging along the stream was not particularly difficult though." In '23 you could paddle most of that middle section. This May it did not look passable & I carried it.
LarryNC	07/07/2025 01:47PM   Thanks for the info sns and banksiana.
LarryNC	07/25/2025 12:17PM   We are thinking about changing direction/entry based on the current higher water levels (thanks arctic). Considering either Kahshipiwi or Agnes entry. Has anyone been up through either to the Poets chain recently?
sns	07/28/2025 03:56PM   Banksiana: "You could keep the same permit and travel from the north end of Sarah into Kahshahpiwi. Its a beautiful route with the tallest pines I've seen in the park along a couple of the portages." Agreed. The tuck river route is really cool. Only negative is we actually fished some of those un-named lakes and came up empty (other than Irene/Matt lake). Anyone ever catch anything there?
goblu79	06/30/2025 07:55PM   I love the area. You guys have a great trip!
Freeleo1	07/13/2025 08:14PM   We got lots of bites on Sarah next to a big wall / drop off. But we forgot to rig up an anchor and I kept getting hung up in the brush we tied off to and my husband kept losing tackle. Pretty sure they were walleye. I caught one nice walleye right before we got back to the campsite. The one behind the island with the table. So they are there.
LarryNC	06/28/2025 04:04PM   We have 13 nights this year and are planning a big clockwise loop starting from Sarah entry, August 13-26. Something like this: Prairie portage, Sarah, Tuck, Robinson, Bart, Gardner Bay, Argo, Darkwater, Darkwater river, Tanner, Maligne river, Sturgeon, Russell, Chatterton, Keats, Baird, Kefer, Kashipiwi, back to PP. If ahead of schedule we would consider going north of Sturgeon through Bentpine, Burntside, Jean, Lonely back to the east end of Sturgeon. Looking for suggestions or concerns from folks who have been through some of these areas since the fires. We are trying to skirt the burned areas. We have never been on the Maligne river and realize this is against the flow direction but maybe with lower water in August this would be OK. We could also consider doing the loop counter-clockwise to be moving downstream on the Maligne from Sturgeon to Tanner -- is this worth considering? Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice, -- Larry
Freeleo1	06/29/2025 01:02PM   You are missing a lot of ground between Prairie Portage and Sarah. It took us 2 pretty tough days to get there, double portaging. Research the portages and know what you are in for. If you are navigating with GPS consider preloading some waypoints for where they start to save time searching in places where they are not. We lost a lot of time looking for them in a few places.
LarryNC	06/29/2025 01:14PM   Freeleo, that is interesting. Which way did you go from PP to Sarah? Were the portages hard to find because of damage, or low use, or something else? Thanks.
TrailZen	07/10/2025 12:55PM   Hey, Larry--Note this from a post by mosquitoBitchu in the 'Quetico Storms July 5, 2025' thread: "The 2021 fires made the section from the Poet Lakes to Kawnipi mostly unusable for camping, and I did not know this. We were forced to the south side of Rose Island instead." Don't know how much more of your proposed loop might be similarly impacted... TZ
sns	06/29/2025 01:41PM   Freeleo1: "You are missing a lot of ground between Prairie Portage and Sarah. It took us 2 pretty tough days to get there, double portaging" It is indeed a push. Close to 20 miles? We did that in one day single-carrying, however we were knackered.
Freeleo1	06/29/2025 02:51PM   PP to Sarah through Bailey Bay. We stopped on North Bay campsite a little early due to impending weather. I'm glad we did, because we took the twisty river route to Isabella instead of the 2 portages and had to get across 6 beaver dams on the way up river. It was raining off and on and we decided to stop for the night on Isabella. The portages through there are probably faster and not too bad, but there was one we took on the way out that would have been hard to find from the other direction since it seems to start in a marsh with grass covering the path. This was the season after the covid closure though. The portage out of Isabella was indistinct and high brush, someone said it is river left, not the right side we took. We didn't see it though. There's a no name pond then a portage up a huge granite rock that does not look like it should be a portage from the water since it's hard to see much use on the bare rock. The Side lake portage to Sarah is described as a heart attack hill, but you will be going down it going clockwise. It seems to go downhill forever. We took the river going out which has one small portage on both ends and one in the middle. When we left Sarah we made it all the way out to Lost Bay, but we pulled into camp at 9:30 pm. We didn't get a super early start, but it was a tough day. I'm doing this from memory, hopefully it is close to the right order. I have a trip report on here that might be more accurate.
LarryNC	07/01/2025 03:14PM   Thanks goblu, we can hardly wait. Planning is fun but nothing like being there.
campnfish	07/13/2025 05:53PM   Is the narrows campsite burned out on Sarah? Also, I read a few reports about bad fishing on Sarah, thinking about heading this way in August as well, the week before Larry, curious how the fishing is for Smallies and walleye.
TrailZen	07/14/2025 07:13AM   campnfish: "Is the narrows campsite burned out on Sarah? Also, I read a few reports about bad fishing on Sarah, thinking about heading this way in August as well, the week before Larry, curious how the fishing is for Smallies and walleye." Yes, the narrows site burned. Note that the canopy burn stopped at the narrows, but the understory around the site burned. (Photo from August '23) TZ
Banksiana	07/27/2025 09:21AM   You could keep the same permit and travel from the north end of Sarah into Kahshahpiwi. Its a beautiful route with the tallest pines I've seen in the park along a couple of the portages.
LarryNC	07/27/2025 01:19PM   Thanks Banksiana, we had been thinking about that -- realizing we could go either way from Sarah. We will keep an eye on the weather and if it stays relatively dry it seems like going up the Maligne by the time we go in mid-August should be OK.