[quote author=Mk631 link=1278525428/10#14 date=1308230356MP, what's your route plan look like?  -Tom [/quote]

My group of 4 did Beaverhouse to Nym via Quetico, Oriana, Jesse, Maria, Pickerel, Batch in September '09. Let me know if I can help.

J

Mountain_Paddler wrote on Jun 15^th, 2011 at 5:14am:

MP, what's your route plan look like?  -Tom

Aaaah!   You guys are really considerate; give good replies to even my out of whack postings.  Thanks.

Mad_Mat wrote on Jun 15^th, 2011 at 1:41pm:

Ahhh... I do need to do a trip report...  I'd planned to do that over the winter -- I'll shoot for sooner than next winter.

Tom,

I agree with all of the above.
If you don't need to, I'd skip going to BH ranger station, especially if the wind is up. BH going from put-in to Ranger station is much shallower than you might think. A stiff wind coming East/West will put a heavy chop on the lake rather than the big rollers you get in deeper water.
More than a few paddlers have dumped taking the wind sideways from put-in to Ranger station. If you get on water really late in day, you can stay at PCD 24, which is on a point east of the BH put-in, if open.

If you must go to Ranger station, and the wind is up from either direction, I'd cut up the channel between Turtle Island ( PCD IW), and the mainland, then swing back SE to ranger station. Better to quarter into a stiff breeze or run with it, than catch it sideways The ranger station has a spring in the back, you can fill water bottles if your so inclined.

If you skip station and the wind is up, you can hug the north shore and make it to Quetico River easily enough. Be aware of the outflow from Q-River. It's deceptive and more than a few paddlers have dumped there
You'll see it when you paddle up. You can paddle up it, or stay to the right close to shore as possible and either paddle up, or if water is low, get out and walk the canoe up to flat water and choose which take-out you want. I prefer the one closest to outflow.

If you decide to paddle up thru riffle, I'd have everyone kneel, and start your effort well in advance of the riffle. When you hit that gap, you'll know what I'm talking about  If you don't have your speed up and start too late you'll wind up going back-wards and that's when your likely to go over.

There are 4 sites close to West end of Q-Lake that I've stayed at when wind was in my face or late in day. One 38, is on SW tip of Eden Island.
The other is 3P on the SE tip of Eden on a sand beach.
There are two other sites on the island east of Eden, 44 which is a real nice site, and 4C which is on East tip of island. There is also a nice site on the tip of the mainland, east of 3P, 42 which is nice as well.

"Need a report when you're done."

I suspect he was done last August, in 2010

Tom:  Need a report when you're done.  I'm doing much of the same the first full week of September, with my son, son-in-law, and stepson.

Tom,
your logic works for me. I would agree with your assesment of the 3 routes. I have done them all and based on your group, you have probably ranked the routes correctly.
Have fun.
GeneM

Thanks all for your input about check-in and sites -  I have marked sites on my map.

Has anyone done more than one of the 3 route options I mentioned?
Quote:

The only one I've done is the Yeh-Lonely challenge when I was 20 years younger, so I don't want to pick one of the others and find it's harder!

My rationale is this:
Yeh-Lonely = hard because of the killer portage.
Oriana = easy (relatively) because no killer portages & shorter on the water too.
Jean Ck/Sturgeon/Lonely = medium because long but no killer portages.

Is this reasonable or way off base?

Thanks! -Tom

Greetings, Tom.
We have been in that area many, many times.
There are at least 4 camp sites on the east end of Beaverhouse that you can use for backups. 2 of them are west facing beach sites, one is on the large Island east of the ranger and 1 is on the west facing point on the N shore near the Q river. On Q lake, there are quite a few sites in the Eden Island vicinity. Think E and W facing points. Once you get beyond the Eden Island area, there are just a couple of sites in the narrow part of Q lake, until you get towards the East end of the lake.
Another route option would be to go up into Cirrus then Kasakokwog to McAlpine to Pickerel. Sue falls would be a don't miss on this route. There are some good cliffs on Cirrus with deep water under them for jumping off of. I have graphed 300 feet of water in Cirrus Lake. (Deep enough to drown in.)( My kids used to freak out when I told them about really deep water that we were passing over. )
Fishing is great on Cirrus as well as most of the lakes in that area. Lakers in Beaverhouse, Q, Cirrus.
Port between Cirrus and Kasakokwog is fairly long and hard, good size hill. There are some nice sites on Kasakokwog. Traveling W to E, should give you tail winds on the large lakes. The nice thing about Cirrus is that it is off the main travel routes that are heading east. We spent 3 nights on the middle section of Cirrus in July 2008 and saw not one canoe.
All of the various route options that you mentioned, I have done with my wife and kids. Some of them the kids were very young and we did fine. Burntside and Lonely are a couple of our personal favorites. Good fishing, nice camps with views....
Tom, whatever route that you choose, your group will do fine.
Take your time and let the 12 year old set the pace, you will have fun.
Have a great time.
GeneM