I recommend you arrange for a tow to Prairie Portage from a Moose Lake outfitter. It cost us $15 each last year. May just be a personal thing, but with all the outfitters, motor boats, etc. on Moose Lake, it certainly doesn't begin to feel like a wilderness experience until after you have gotten beyond PP, and the cost is not that great.

Let me give you my general impressions now, and once I get a map in front of me, I will give you more details this weekend, if you're interested. I believe this is a route that is recommended to many "first trippers", and as such, we ran into several groups that looked like scouts (like us), church groups, etc. That being said, it really did not detract from the experience. We saw most of these groups on the portages. When we did see others on the lakes, they were generally across the lake, or far enough away to where it didn't seem intrusive. We had a couple of days where we would only see one other party all day, but that was up around Kawnipi, well away from the border. As was said in an earlier post, the wind can be very tough on the big lakes like Agnes and Kawnipi. When we were there it was generally calm in the mornings until around 12:00 or 1:00 pm when the winds would kick in. It pays to break camp early on travel days to make as much headway as possible during this calm period. It was incredibly beautiful, the waters were very clear, and we had some excellent campsites the whole way. We had a group of 4 adults and 4 15 year old boys, so we didn't see as much wildlife as I would have liked (too much noise...paddles banging on canoes, talking, etc.), but we did see an eagle, an otter (which was "taunting" us as we paddled by), some grouse, and various other birds.

To sum it up, it was the best 6 nights I've ever spent on an outdoor trip, and my son and I can't wait to do a more remote, challenging trip next year (enough so to travel 1100 miles to do it), so I guess that says it all. It was an excellent introduction to Quetico. But...everyone is different. Out of the other six people on the trip, 5 said they had no interest in coming back...too much physical work. That's OK too. It just leaves this wonderful place more available to the rest of us who do appreciate it.

If you want more detail on the actual route we took, let me know and I'll get out a map and piece it together for you. Unfortunately, I didn't take notes.

Posted by Bill on January 07, 2000 at 18:42