Click to View the Full Thread

Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Reports :: Trip Report - Lake 1, 2, 3
 
Author Message Text
Mocha
03/12/2022 07:40PM
 
Good notes from your trip.


In terms of the food for 4: you only had to pay for 3 so that’s a plus!


In terms of the canoe: from your group photo it sure seems that a 3 seat canoe would work, but perhaps adding in the packs just made it feel cramped and unstable. Which canoe was it? Some canoes have wiggly initial stability but once you get paddling (hopefully your 3 paddles could get into a rhythm) the stability increases. It’s important to get the gear situated as low as possible. A 4 seat canoe would have worked, too.
If someone on your crew was familiar with solo that would have worked. You mentioned bad weather in terms of canoe choice, did you have bad weather?


We’re you given a choice of canoe at the outfitter?


You should certainly share your thoughts with the outfitter about food and canoe. VNO is top notch so I’m sure they’d want to know.


Glad to hear it was a short but good trip. The other guys missed out.



 
Dakotah
03/12/2022 12:59PM
 
New Trip Report posted by Dakotah

Trip Name: Lake 1, 2, 3.

Entry Point: 30

Click Here to View Trip Report
 
Dakotah
03/13/2022 01:15PM
 
Thanks for the comments.


We had an upgraded canoe (kevlar) and we packed all of our gear as low in the boat as possible. I initially wanted to get a second, smaller canoe for a solo paddler. I was going to go in this boat with a two-bladed kayak paddle since I have some experience doing this. The outfitter was okay with this option but ended up recommending that we stick to a single canoe. In hind sight, the second canoe would have been a better solution than putting three men (all over 225 lbs) in a single canoe. With all of the gear we only had about 2" of freeboard above the waterline. This was a serious concern given the wind and waves we encountered. We were fortunate not to have swamped the boat or tipped over. We ran into several groups who were not as fortunate as us out on the lakes. They all had other boats in the group to help with in-water rescues wheras we were all by ourselves. If we had flipped in the middle of the lake it would have been a mess at best and potentially dangerous.


I would definatley recommend VNO. They did a good job for us and ultimately it was our decison to go with one canoe. We got our food, gear, and pre-trip lodging from them and it was outstanding!