I passed through part of the area last summer (Keats-McDougal-Eag-Cub-Baird).

All of the portages were in good shape, and none difficult.  The McDougal-Eag portage was maintained again last July. Keats-McDougal starts fairly steep and has some poison ivy on the Keats end.

The most unusual thing was the lack of any moose sign in the area.  Pretty bizaar.

I too thank all those who contributed to this post - useful info.

JChief: we are going in September 12 or 13, ie just after you've come out, I guess.

Phoenix

Phoenix:
We are planning a trip in September, 2nd - 10th doing a Stanton loop. Plans are to head down into the area you are considering but given that we spend a good bit of our time fishing and the recent posts by Jimbo and A_A, we will certainly skip McDougall Thanks to all who have replied to this post as it will be helpful on our trip as well, especially the portage info. Phoenix, hopefully our paths will cross. While I haven't been in this area yet, I understand the Cutty Creek area is relatively lightly traveled and I would assume even more so in September.

J

A pollyhumper problem, eh???

Jimbo   

Yeah, Jimbo, that's what I heard too.

If you persist and try for smallmouth in McDougall, avoid circling the big island on the west basin.

Ancient_Angler wrote on Mar 28^th, 2011 at 6:49pm:



Hmmm... I seem to remember yet ANOTHER BWJ article - cited, in fact by the guy who wrote that Spring 2006 article mentioned earlier -  re: just how lousy the smallmouth bass fishing was on McDougall!  In fact, I think the lake is now mainly avoided by most sports fishermen due to fire retardant chemicals used in the big blaze that levelled all those great campsites.  Seems the retardant chemicals spurred the abnormal growth of heavy vegetative matter, resulting in the creation of Quetico's largest "carp pond."   I'm told you can nearly walk across the lake on an orange mat during the spring rut. 

So, if you are into "dough balls" and such for bait, have at'em!  There should be some big suckers in there by now.  Gotta let'em sautee for days, however.

Jimbo  

Gotta love the portage from Keats to McDougall and into McDougall from the south. Note, from my experience, there are no smallmouth bass in McDougall. In fact, McDougall is a figment of your imagination and when you get there, there are no suitable campsites.

I can feel my nose growing.

"DentonDoc: looking at my topo map, I figured there might be a pretty boggy portion on the McDougall end of the McDougall-Eag portage (which you confirmed) which is why I want to avoid that"

I took that route in 2006 and 2008 I think the years were.  Portage crew had put in a lot of logs in the McDougal end of the lake, and that pretty much eliminated any bog, as it was easy to walk the "boardwalk"

the second time, the water was high and all the logs were floating - that was actually easier, in that I could just walk in the water and tow the boat the hundred yards or whatever thru the bog to dry land - it was good footing, and just knee deep, and shortened the carrying.


Regarding the Keats to McDougall cliff, you can get out of your boat at the portage landing and see what the cliff looks like - its right there.  If you don't like it, then you can do the normal portage around the falls to Keats, and go on to Chatterton and then into McDougall from there if you want to.

I was planning to go Russell to Chatterton (I've done this portage before), then Chatterton to McDougall (short portage which is new to me), then McDougall to Keats (to avoid the boulder hopping at the Keats end of the Split Rock Falls portage), then Keats to Baird and on along the rest of this chain. (This is the opposite direction of what I mistakenly indicated in my original post).

However, reading Mad_Mat about going "down" that near cliff between McDougall and Keats makes me rethink the direction. Anything that steep I'd rather go up than down (and this is doubly true for my wife).  A few years ago we did the portage from the unnamed lake east of Pond into Pond in the uphill direction (in the Wicksteed to McAree area). That is the steepest start to a portage we've ever encountered in Quetico (I think). If this one is steeper it should be "fun".


DentonDoc: looking at my topo map, I figured there might be a pretty boggy portion on the McDougall end of the McDougall-Eag portage (which you confirmed) which is why I want to avoid that.

Android wrote on Mar 28^th, 2011 at 6:08am:



Somebody who didn't offer much decent information on the condition of the portages, as I recall.  He also wrote about two bushwhack opportunities (one into Stumpy's 1st Bushwhackers Jamboree & another into Hoare Lake from Camel Lake), neither of which he even bothered to attempt.

He described it being really pretty back in there, though, and, as I understand it, will be doing one of those two bushwhacks this summer.  Or, maybe he'll simply sit back with his Scotch, watch the whole thing, and write about the OTHERS who attempt the bushwhack.

That solution actually sounds more enjoyable to me....

Later,

Jimbo