Westwood wrote on Jun 11^th, 2009 at 3:33am:


Yup, thanks for the catch

ST
I think you meant east end of BH for camp sites.
Westwood

reyn,

Brought up a good point, I think ALL paddlers should have a map/copy of the route. Besides having another set of eye(s) looking for portages/picto/campsites isn't a bad idea. It also gets Newbies involved.
I don't like riding in a car in a area I don't know when I have no reference in my head of where I'm at.
I've mentioned it before, but I always have my permits before I hit Beaverhouse. I leave my route with Park HQ in Atikokan, and if I can, I check in at BH ranger station.
You can usually work your way up the north shoreline to Q, and IF you get wind bound, there are some nice sites close to portage on west end of BH. You can also spend time fishing the spill out from the Q river while waiting for the wind to die down.
 Last trip BH ranger told me when checking back in before take-out, that she had too rescue 4 people who dumped trying to make it across.
 BH from the north end of Turtle Island to the ranger station, is much shallower than you may think. The wind out of west or east puts a big chop on this shallow section, more than a few paddlers have found out the hard way

Paddler:

I think all the advice you have been given is right on, especially the idea of getting him involved with the planning.  My first trip to the Q was in 1996 with three other men who had all been there before.  I knew absolutely nothing about the park, what to expect, etc.  They were purely fisherman so we entered at Stanton Bay early in the morning and paddled all the way down to Russell in one day if I remember correctly.  I had no map, no idea if we had 1 mile to go or 100 to get to our basecamp.  We were in whitecaps part of that first day, and to that point the only canoeing I had done had been floating down a river.  I was so ignorant.  Obviously the trip didn't ruin me on Quetico, and I ended up loving it, but that first day was not very enjoyable for me.  I think if i had had a marked map it would have helped me considerably to be able to keep track of our progress.  BTW my wife and I travel the park together now, and our ideal trip is almost no fishing and moving each day, but we would have never had the chance to find our own rhythm if not for that first trip.

As to your route, I love it.  Get an early start.  I have entered at Beaverhouse twice and had wind issues both times.  We were able to paddle through some rolling water the first time, but were windbound last year with nine strangers on one campsite not too far from the entrypoint.  They couldn't even make it to the ranger station to pick up their permit, but almost overturned trying to do it.  They ended up paddling back to our campsite.  

Have a great trip!

Great! When you get to the dishonor part, Wally, is it just a stare when your holding the home defender? Thanks for the man card link, how in the heck did you ever find that one? So are your daughters shooters too? Dang that man card is a whoot! Thanx for the laugh and the pict. in my nogin of the Mantalk....love it.

I bet YOU wearing your special bib overalls while giving the man-talk, scares the hell out of them!
The banjo music in the background is a nice touch too

My Dad taught me that if you want too impress a girl and win over her Dad, you insist on meeting him, even when the daughter is afraid of what he will say and do
I'd walk up, introduce myself, shake his hand and look him in the eye.
When he asked what time I was bringing his daughter home, I say " What time do you want her home?" I'd also admit that there might be beer at the function, and that we might have a few. Then I'd say " I don't drive under the influence, can I call you IF we need a ride?
  Never failed me, I stayed friends with some of the Fathers long after I quit dating their daughters

I usually size 'em up...by taking them out on the deck, and then say we shoot some rounds.  Starts of with the 9mm, then on the the .45 ACP...then the big bad Mossberg home defender.  Small talk over lifes plans, his parents, and what I'd dream of doing to anyone who might dishonor my daughter.


More often than not....this is the result.  Turn in your card at the door son.....and don't come back 'round these parts again!

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Hey Wally, I am wondering if ya could ablige me and give me a quick run through of your standard operating procedure for a Man-card revocation? Is the garage talk part of the process or does a bakers dozen of 380's do it?

When in July....how's the S-I-L with heat and bugs?  Has he had his "man-card" issued yet?

My daughter has been bringing home "boys".  I revoke all their "cards".  Hope this dude works out for ya.

The trip you mentioned is cake, pleasant, and indeed good fishing.

There's one to many PJ's around here.