Greetings Fellow Paddlers,

I was recently thinking back to my youth and the several trips I made into the Quetico in the late 70's.  I began to Google search for information on Hoare Lake and ran across a post on this site by Jim Carrier titled "Rendezvous in the Bush" and was shocked to see this quote: "We discussed making an impromptu bushwhack over to nearby Hoare Lake. Hoare's reputed olive jar "message cache" and rumor of its lake trout were tantalizing"

It was a group that I was affliated with that started the message cache in 1976.  Our names were placed in a waterproof metal container and placed in a obvious rock pile on the only camp worthy island on the western side of the lake. This group made additional trips in 1978, 1979 and 1980.  When I saw the quote about the "Olive Jar" and knowing we had used a metal container, I now had to assume it has been found and the cache lives on!  

A little about our group:  We were all long haired teenage boys (remember the 70's?) from Sioux Falls, SD who canoed the rivers of South Dakota, Nebraska and Minnesota on dozens of trips in the late 70's.  We were organized as a Boy Scout Explorer Post #54...  primarily for the ability to access free or discounted camping. Quetico however was our favorite destination and challenge. I was personally there in 1978 and 1979 and planned the route for the 1980 trip but entered the Military and was unable to go.

Are you ready for a challenge?  Get to Lake Hoare and write your name in the message cache and record the results of the names currently recorded and post on this thread. (I can validate by knowing who was there on our trips)

Getting into Hoare Lake: There are two access routes and possibly a third. None are easy.  

The first is Via Camel Lake (East of Hoare Lake): At the time there was no marked portage, so we would just brush bust and following a weak game trail north of the the dry creek bed that runs from Camel to the ponds just south of Hoare Lake.  We called this portage "Rasberry" due to the large amount of berries growing there at the time (it had been a burn in the early 70's).  If my memory serves me right this took 1-2 hours. There is one more quick hop portage to the second pond as you prepare to portage into Hoare. On all previous trips this second pond was always loaded with Bass and we regularly took them by the dozens for our annual Hoare Lake Fish Feast to come.  The portage was blazed on the north east corner of the second pond that would take you down the hill into the small eastern inlet bay of Hoare, I remember this to be a very easy downhill but steep walk. Total Time to the island on Hoare from Camel was about 4 hours. Not counting fishing time. You can get to Camel from either the Lake Agnes (1978) or Lake Kahshahpiwi (1979) routes that we took.

The 2nd Route in would be from Allan Lake (West of Hoare Lake): We never entered from Allan, but we did use it as our exits on the 1976 and 1979 trips.  There were several blazes that we placed on the west shore of Hoare - from the island this was directly west and a maybe little southwest of the island.  I will caution you. We brush busted a trail over and left some of gear (some paddles and expensive camera gear) in about 40 mins and we make a quick return back (20 mins) to Hoare to get the canoes and heavy packs. We then spent 4-5 hours in thick brush very lost and and eventually had to back track to Hoare. We had a restless night sleep and reattempted the next day. On the next day we made it over to Allan in 30 mins. Very stressed out we only made to Pooh Bah lake that day and camped on a "spooky island" with two high peaks. I think the compass route/direction on the 1st attempt out of Hoare was off a more than a few degress off and we "missed the lake"  If you are not an expert at Land Navigation, primarily compass reading, this route is not for you. Go back out through Rasberry!

The 3rd route is only a rumor.  I remember our Post Leader telling us that he found out about Hoare Lake by reading an old National Geographic Magizine article and the NAT GEO team took a route that was from Fred Lake following the ponds and creeks towards Allan Lake and portaging south from the last pond north of Hoare Lake. I have no direct knowledge if this is true or even possible.

The lake itself is beautiful and appears to be at a much lower elevation than the surrounding area, almost a sunken Lake. This was our place to lay over for 3 or 4 days and eat fish, wash clothes and recover for the return trip.  The previous mentioned article also discussed the Lake Trout.  I know that we caught several VERY large trout. The island will comfortably fit a party of 9, but wood may be getting a little scarce as a I remember this to be an a little issue at time for us. The island has a nice rock beach and serveral good bath holes.

I would be interested in hearing back from anyone who has either heard the rumours of the message cache or actually been to Hoare Lake.  I would love to someday return to Hoare but I am now 47 years old retired Army Major and living in the Atlanta, GA area, so I may have to keep these trips as nothing more than some of the best memories of my life. I do have several pictures of Hoare and some on Rasberry that I could dig out and scan if anyone is interested.

I would encourage you to also consider taking the Hoare Lake Challenge and place your names into paddler lore and history.