In the last few years I've taken greater advantage of the camp site rules in the Quetico, mostly when experiencing poor weather or anticipating poor weather.  It really adds to the experience when you happen upon a site that has all the elements of a 5 star but without the human impact.  I really like that about the Quetico.  Not sure how that would work out in the BWCA given the volume of traffic.

There is a camp (or there was) on the island in Bart. Stayed there on an early spring trip when ice on the north side of Crooked prevented a journey to Elk and then Ted.

Jerry’s guide, back in the day, was Harry Lambrith. Not sure about spelling. Harry and Mary were local legends around Ely. I seem to remember them catching and releasing lots of 20”+ bass on Bart. They got waldos by their camp on Crooked for dinner.

My solo time is very limited, but two of us had to bushwhack a camp once due to wind and water. We were headed out of the park at Nym and got to the South end of Batchewaung after 3 days of heavy rain. We only planned to stop for a cold lunch, but the wind rolled in and we had to spend the night.  Every established tent pad was under 2 to 3 inches of water, so we put up a single tent back in the brush on some higher ground. Dinner that night was what Bourbon we had left.  This was in the early days before we had learned the value of a separate rain tarp.

MB

The only reason I like the Q over BWCA is the fact that you CAN bushwack a campsite when you want/need to.  I use a bushwack site most nights when in the Q and like ST, am prepared for it.  As a solo, all you need is a flat spot for the tent and an open spot for a safe fire.  There is generally lots of dry, downed firewood and no toilet paper bombs to deal with.   

goblu79 wrote on Jun 12^th, 2019 at 3:08am:


I've done it 2-3 times when bad weather hit or I over-estimated how far I could go and a tough portage adjusted my attitude. Maybe 2x just because the area looked so good.

The ability to camp ANYWHERE in the Q is a big plus in my view. After all, at one time EVERY campsite started as a bush-whack. 

I have the right gear to set-up anywhere which is key if you need or want to bushwack a camp.

I'm sure we've all passed thru small lakes that we thought would be great to stay on and explore/fish but moved on because there was no established campsite. I like having the option of staying IF I want too.

A tandem crew could do it easily too IF they were both "hangers". Just need a spot to land and a little open ground and some trees.

I've never done it in 9 - week or longer solos.

solotripper wrote on Jun 11^th, 2019 at 9:55pm:

Out of curiosity, how often do you guys find yourselves needing to bushwack a campsite when you are solo?

Jerry McKinnis, now there's a name from my past.  I used to love his TV show.  He seemed like such a down home guy.

Years ago, Jerry McKinnis used to go into Crooked and camp on the tip of a peninsula in the bay leading to the portage to Bart. They had great bass action on their daily day trips. I think he mentioned that there were no camps on Bart. I visited with him about this and his other Q experiences many years ago at the Mpls sportshow. Quite the guy!