In my first life I was a backpacker. I have only recently started tripping. My first trip ended rather abruptly due to wet feet and blister inducing "water shoes". Besides, it was august and the fishing was pretty marginal. I bought a bell solo and decided to "go for it" by doing the Hunters Island Loop the following year. Some 100 miles or so through the quetico interior. After a 2 day drive I loaded up and launched in the choppy waters of moose lake. Unfortunately I hadn't had time to even give the boat a test run. The seat came from the factory hiked to the rails and consequently the center of gravity a wee bit high. I hadn't gotten 10 ft. before I knew I was going over. I barely made it back without mishap and installed the seat drops the dealer had included with my purchase. Off I went and it was a trip of a lifetime. It took 13 days. I probably paddled twice as far as need be as I pretty much hugged the shorelines. There is just so much more to see both in the water and the land. Plus your navigation is simplified. The hunters Island loop is splendid if you have a few weeks. Big lakes, small lakes and the falls chain. It is also historic as the old fur traders used this route.

My fav...the one in my head yet to do....up into McKenzie bay...lay around and fish 2 days....over to Sark...lay around 3 days....and out.

Of the few solos I've actually completed...my fav was my Redhorse Creek/Thompson lake bushwhack this last spring in the CrownLands just N of Lac la Croix.
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Hi. Guys.  I haven't been on this site that long, but find it very informative, sometimes serious and very amusing a lot of the time.

DB, I have to say I laughed out loud when I saw you first line...very good!

I've been reading the threads from many of you who have made canoe tripping an art in the Quetico and beyond and my hat is off to you.  I've been canoing for 30 odd years, taken my boys when they were barely out of diapers, surfed 3 footers solo down Basswood, been windbound on Snow Bay for 3 days with 4 teenage boys (that was a frickin treat!), stuck in muck trying to get from the numbered lakes to Clearwater, watched the Ham Lake fires while on Saganaga and fought monster pike on Poobah and trout in Shan Walsh.   But I think I'd probably die trying to keep up with you many of you.

I like soloing mainly cause I can do what I want when I want and don't have to worry about anyone else (a little selfish...oh well, at my age I think I've earned it a little).  Next year I'll take my boys on the Falls Chain and Kawnipi and then I hope to drop them back in Duluth and then solo up through Shan Walsh and up to Sark and Keefer.  Then I'll decide whether to push on to Camel and bushwack into Hoare or head over to Joyce and visit Suzanette and McIntryre on the way back to North Bay.  I'm not one to paddle for days on end; I usually paddle for a couple days, then layover a couple days.  Then move again.  Just love being in the northwoods and fishing when the weather cooperates...

Again, thx to all of you for this site and for letting me be part of it.

pine_knot wrote on Jan 2^nd, 2010 at 3:23pm:
But, it wouldn't be a solo then would it?  

I have absolutely no favorites. I honestly think that one route is just as good as any other and solo or group doesn't really enter into the equation. More goes into it than simply where. Time of year, expected weather, even moon phase and mood usually determine my routes. A wet spring with unusually high water demands aiming at an area heavy with falls and rapids. A big lake is just as impressive anytime so that's always a highlight for me. Fish are everywhere.

You can go a lot farther solo. It's just easier to set a course and go when you're by yourself, although I personally try to avoid the swampy, portage puddles with no bottoms when I'm alone. Too deep to walk and too thick to canoe? Hey, they scare me even when I'm with people I trust.

Last year's solo trip:
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) (the first album - 09) was a good length for me last August and could easily be done in half the time for half the fun. I mostly mess around and like to get to know things better. My aim last year was mainly due to a bulls-eye I got from somewhere.      One day I moved camp maybe a mile after like 6 hours of paddling. As long as I stay within the circles and ovals on the itinerary I leave behind. It's all good.

One of the reasons I started going solo at first was I invariably found that at some early point in group trips, someone would always say: "Ya' knooooww, why don't we just stay here?"  I never found a good reason that would convince them to push on besides: "Arrrgh- because this was the trip we all agreed on...."

Crossing Sturgeon is, to me,  the essence of why we Solo...I highly recommend a route that includes the big lake...take your time and be careful.

The Beaver

Rich -

Since your trip will take you as far as Camel, here are some options for your return to PP (assuming you are doing the Metacryst, Baird, Cub, Eag route to Camel):

1) (longer) push from Camel to north to Fred, loop thru Heron Bay to Sturgeon and back east to Russell  or ...
2) back track to Eag and take the portage north to McDougall (its a bit sloppy on the McDougall end) or ...
3) back track to Baird and take the portage north to Keats (this portage is "entertaining", especially toward the Keats end)

Continue east down the poets chain to Kawnipi and then south to Keewatin.  Turn west and do the Williams, Payne, Hurlburt lakes to Trant.  From Trant

1) exit back toward Kash and return to PP the way you came
2) turn east and head thru a series of smaller (no-name) lakes to Silence

At Silence:

1) turn south and run the S-chain back to North Bay or
2) push thru to Agnes and turn south to do the Meadows portages

The Poet's Chain will give you a few waterfalls (more if you do the longer loop Russel/Chatterton/Keats).

The route from Keewatin to Trant has picto's on Keewatin, Payne, and Trant.  If you push east thru Silence to Agnes, you can paddle a few yards north and see another picto and a petroglyph and then snag the southern two on Agnes as you head toward Meadows.  (If you have time to kill on Agnes, you could also check out the 2 on the eastern arm of Agnes or even head north to the picto panel on the northern section of the lake.

I've done almost all of this padding solo at one time or another. 

dd

I'm sure you'll get some varied feedback on this question
Some will have a favorite route and others like myself will say the NEXT solo trip is/will be the best

There are many in the trip reports forum. I would say for ME this trip had all the qualities you mentioned.


(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Pics are here in Inukshuk Gallery: (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe New Year's.  I'm sitting here on a cold Ohio morning waiting for our break from the high school to end.  It's been relaxing, but boredom is here so I think about this summer's trip plans, where to go, how long, etc etc.   Started reminiscing last year's trips with my sons and my favorites solo trips to North Agnes and the small lakes north of Silence and my BWCA solo around LLC.  This summer, I'm looking at a solo up Kahshahapiwi to Camel and back to Prairie Portage. 

Got me thinking if any of you would like to share your favorite Quetico solo route -- where to, how long, how difficult, quality of fishing and solitude, and any memorable highlights.  Will undoubtedly break up the monotony and generate new ideas and thoughts for this summer or next. 

Rich.