Jim J Solo wrote on Mar 20^th, 2020 at 6:37pm:


  Your post highlights the importance of having more than ONE current map source.

  My old McKenzie maps don't have that new portage marked. I have 2 Chrismar maps. They usually have the latest portage info. The older one DOESN'T have it.

  The latest one I have shows it. I recommend that people get the latest Chrismar if they don't already have it and check it against the maps you navigate with normally.

  In every instance where my McKenzie disagreed with the Chrismar, the Chrismar was right.

I've gone into Omeme before and after the dam broke. The new portage straight into Omeme across from the Badwater portage landing is the way to go. In and out of Cub and on to Bearpelt is mostly just walking and pulling the boat, with a few lifts now and then, rock and tall weeds, shallow water. But I didn't have to shoulder any packs.

I’m pretty sure that Arnesr is spot on re: that dam breaking up in 2002.   Seems to me now I recall hearing reports about that collapse years before I made my trip in 2008.   In any case, water level was not an issue of any sort during my trip.

FYI

Jimbo 

I don't know when that dam washed out but if it was BEFORE 2006, this might help club or not?

This is a link to a 2006 trip I took starting at 3 mile and going to Wolseley then UP Bearpelt creek to Badwater. It was in late May and the water was shallow in BearPelt creek but I don't know if that was due to snowfall that year or just the way it is?

  Start on May 20 for the BearPelt info.

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I'm familiar with the sluice-way on the Omeme end of the creek to Badwater you speak of. 
I believe Club is referring to the dam that was located on the Bearpelt lake end of the creek that washed out (in 2002?) and caused the lake level to dramatically drop 8-10 feet in the matter of just a few hours.  The beavers had built a dam on top of the old loggers dam and the water level had risen several feet over the years as a result until the dam could not take the pressure during a flash flood that year and washed out.

I have not made it back that way since then myself, but fished Bearpelt lake the week before the dam let loose.  Lots of great memories on that remote lake.   I would love to go back, but it would take much more effort than before. 

club,

  It's been a while since I went from Badwater to  Omeme-Bearpelt OR Omeme to Badwater. Every time I went in/out of Badwater was via the channel then portage mid-way down Badwater lake.
   
IF that dam your talking about is the one just before you get into Omeme, then I don't think it would affect that little stream coming out of Badwater that much either?

   You wouldn't really know that until you got back in there? I checked on Paddle Planner and they show another portage on the North West corner of Badwater that I didn't know existed? Not on the set of McKenzie maps I use.
 
   I checked my 2014 Chrismar map because it has the latest portage info. It shows it as well, about 450 meters.
   That gives you a 2nd option.

club,

I went through there back in 2008.  Don't remember if that was before or after the dam collapsed as we encountered some sizable ones en route.  Our put-in was at Wisa Lake and entry into the park was at Three Mile Lake, so we traveled north on Bearpelt Creek (I'm only "guessing" the dam was located along that creek).  I recall it was a bit of a slug getting through but it wouldn't have exceptionally bad had I not been sick-as-a-dog at the time.  Anyway, travel up that creek was about par.  I seem to recall our biggest trouble down in that region was finding the Bearpelt/Badwater portage from the Bearpelt side.

You're right about wildlife spotting opportunities.  Of course, walleye fishing was pretty good in there, too.  If your objective is to get down to Bearpelt from the north, I wouldn't imagine water level having much of an impact on that travel from that direction.  It would be the creek coming up from Wolseley Lake that I'd be worried about.  Maybe I'm thinking about the wrong dam, though.  It's possible.

For it's worth, I believe we passed by Bearpelt and camped on Omeme Lake, if I'm not mistaken.  We came in from the south because I wanted to tackle the Badwater portage after I had chewed down my food pack some.  As it turned out, even that portage was not as bad as advertised.  Some new corduroy had been laid down and, since it wasn't floating around, footing on it was somewhat reasonable. Another party traveling with us elected to exit Badwater via Bee, Brown, Lynx & Robin.  I think it's fair to say that turned out to be a far worse choice.

I suspect Jim J. Solo and maybe Solotripper have been down in that general area more recently.  If so, maybe one of them will chime in.

Good luck with your trip planning.

Jimbo    

looking for information getting into Bearpelt from Badwater. The trip used to be interesting for wildlife but have not been there since the dam was destroyed and the water level dropped.