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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Trip Reports :: Trip Report - EP 4 3 day trip
 
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farmerz05
05/29/2012 08:50PM
 
New Trip Report posted by farmerz05

Trip Name: EP 4 3 day trip.

Entry Point: 4

Click Here to View Trip Report
 
bbrown6057
05/29/2012 11:10PM
 
Nice report! When's the next trip? :)
 
Beemer01
05/30/2012 01:20PM
 
Nicely written with great pictures!
 
missmolly
05/29/2012 09:59PM
 
Nice lookin' folks and a nice report!
 
SunCatcher
06/11/2012 03:04AM
 
Looks like fun was had by all. I noticed I think a fly rod in one of those pictures???? did someone catch a fish on a fly rod?? just asking. Great pictures, and sounds like a real learning experience about the boundary waters. The group picture is priceless.


SunCatcher
 
farmerz05
06/11/2012 05:51AM
 
About the fly rod. Yes, Kyle caught a couple small mouth on Cummings with it. Both came fishing from shore at our campsite. Both were fairly small. One found its way onto the dinner menu.


Alex
 
Itchy Menace
06/05/2012 07:37PM
 
How was the scenery on the smaller lakes? I'm doing that trip in a week and trying to decide if I want to go through the smaller lakes South of Crab or head up to Cummings which is supposed to be lovely. I like solitude and smaller lakes but don't want to miss any amazing scenery either.


Enjoyed your report.
 
farmerz05
06/06/2012 07:20AM
 
Itchy,


Some of them were better than others. Battle, where we set camp on the first day, was nice. Clark, where we were for lunch on the second day was good as well. The campsite on Clark is on steep rising section of shore, so you are up off the water a good bit. Tent pads are on the spine of the ridge with the fire grate/seating area a few steps below. The other small lakes, while secluded and very quiet, were not destination lakes.


For me, I think it would depend on the length of your trip. For a short trip like ours, I think doing it again we could have spent the whole time on Cummings and been just as happy. It is beautiful, and despite being there on a holiday weekend I don't recall seeing anyone else on that lake. Its big obviously (we say 10-20% of it), so there's plenty of opportunity to find yourself alone, particularly if you ventured to the western lobes.



 
Ho Ho
06/05/2012 09:38PM
 
Itchy, I did a pictorial trip report of a trip through that area in 2006, including the smaller lakes and Cummings. The report is on the CCBB, it's before I started posting them on this site too. Here is the link to the last installment of the report, it has links at the top to all the days. My personal opinion is that the little lakes are not especially scenic by boundary waters standards, though a couple of them are very nice, and a couple of them are kind of stinky (at least in September). On the other hand, I loved them, because of the solitude and variety.



 
Itchy Menace
06/07/2012 10:03PM
 
Thanks for the info and the link Ho Ho and your $.02 Farmerz. Still not sure which route I will take but you've given me much to consider. Leaning towards Cummings I think as I'll only have three nights.
 
Ho Ho
06/01/2012 10:03PM
 
I really enjoyed your report Alex. We did that route (with a few extra detours like Glimmer Lake) with my sister back in 2006 - in 7 days! We were moving very slow that trip, but I'd still say you were moving fast. You are right that the small lakes south of Crab are seldom visited, which makes them a great place to find solitude, and also get workout portaging. We didn't go down Crab Creek on the trip with my sister, but we did on a later trip, and I think it's a great way to end a Crab Lake trip. You definitely should come back up here for another, longer trip. It can become an addiction. :-)


BTW, do you run marathons?



 
Kendra
06/01/2012 10:21PM
 
You will always remember your first trip no matter how many you take in your future. When I look back at my first trip, I can't believe we survived! Hubby and I went in blind! No site like this available to help prep and learn, in fact NO Internet at all back then!


Nice report.
 
farmerz05
06/01/2012 04:48PM
 
Thanks all for the kind words on the report.


The trip was great, if exhausting. I think the driving straight through both ways is what sapped me more than anything at this point.


This trip is likely the last time the group as assembled will be together for such an outing. A couple members moving to distant big cities and/or getting married. That said I've already been asked when I'm going up again by some others, so will be in the north woods once again some day. I will say the next trip will definitely be longer in duration, and from a different entry point. The eastern stretches of the BW look really intriguing to me.


Thanks again,


Alex
 
boonie
05/30/2012 07:25AM
 
Really nice trip report. Glad you enjoyed it. My brother and I entered Crab on his first trip, but did not get down to the small lakes to the southwest. I regret that now.
 
farmerz05
06/02/2012 09:04PM
 
quote Ho Ho: "


BTW, do you run marathons?



"



No, have been fairly successful on a local/regional level at shorter distances ranging up to 10 miles. I'd like to dip my toe into marathons over the next couple years, but its something I want to do for more than just saying I did it. A handful of people I train with either have been to or have aspirations to qualify for the olympic marathon trials in the next cycle. That's a thought in the back of my mind, but 4 years off; a long way down the road in a couple aspects.


Sorry to be off topic folks.
 
Ho Ho
06/02/2012 09:30PM
 
Olympic trials - now that's an aspiration! I took up marathons in my 40s, qualified for Boston several times, it's a lot of fun. But now that I'm in my 50s I'm not sure I'll do it again. The training interferes too much with canoe trips. :-)



 
AndySG
06/03/2012 11:21AM
 
Nice report on a seldom visited area. Your group was really humping through there. Thanks for the portage clearing work too.