We have a July 5th entry date for Stanton Bay (now French due to the road wash out). There are six of us, 3 father/son teams, the boys are 13/14 years old. I've camped with all of them (scouts) but have only been on a canoe trip with my son.

We hare heading for the B chain (Bisk/Beg/Bud), Fern, Olifaunt, Sturgen, Russell (maybe),  Lonely, Walter, Eliz, Jessee, Maria, Pick, Batch and out at Nym.

If anyone has any 5-star campsites, must see/do, or fishing holes, let me know. If you are in the area, we'll be using CCO canoes, probaly SR 17 ft. If you see us, come and say hello.

Kurt

If you are into photos...the falls all along the b-chain, Fern, Olifaunt are spectacular...and I bet especially this spring.  Perhaps they'd be best described as rapids.

Evening fishing till dark, above the Russell outlet...just where the current BARELY picks up.....this is a "must-not-miss" in my book.  Bring your fav fake leech or minnow.  If you go into Russell...consider a side trip to lower Chatterton falls.

There's an island campsite in Bud, immediately north of the waterfall and portage into Fern.  Stayed there on successive years 4-5 years ago.  Eagles nesting just to the east.  Moose swimming across the lake.  Faint sound of the falls.  Very nice/memorable site.  Made it there in a (long) day from French Lake.  Gotta have a good day to get down Pickeral.

PJ

Wally, Thanks for the fishin tips. I want to see Chatterton Falls but will have to see were we stand in regards to time once we get to the Russell outlet.

PJ, thanks for the heads up on the Campsite on Bud, I would really like to make Fern the first day but as I have a 4 rookies with me and we are starting from French instead of Stanton Bay, I don't know if we'll make it or not so it is good to have a fall back plan should we not make Fern.

I've been prepping them that we are going to push hard the first day so if the weather is good, we should be ok.

Kurt

"PJ, thanks for the heads up on the Campsite on Bud, I would really like to make Fern the first day but as I have a 4 rookies with me and we are starting from French instead of Stanton Bay, I don't know if we'll make it or not so it is good to have a fall back plan should we not make Fern."


what's your ETA at Dawson Creek ?  If you can get there the night before, you can car camp there, and have your canoes loaded and sitting on the beach at the put-in that night - then next morning, you can just go get your paperwork (be there, first in line when the office opens at 8:30) and hit the water by 9.  Of course, it would be better if you could get there early enough the day before to take care of the paperwork then, and if so, you could be on the water by daylight.

Normally, it shouldn't be a problem to get to Fern in one day, unless you get hit with strong westerly winds - an early start helps a lot in that regard, before the wind really picks up.

If you do get to Russell and camp there, there are a couple of nice campsites on the south side of Chatterton Falls - IF it hasn't been raining a lot - your tentsites there are all on moss or grass, shallow over rock, and that can be a sponge if its wet (otherwsie, a nice site on the east end of that big island below the falls).  There is a very nice hike you can take from the closest campsite to the falls, that will take you up an old portage trail, along the series of falls up to Chatterton Lake.  Worth the half hour it takes, especially if you are at the falls to fish or camp anyway.

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also, check out this thread - it may be busy at Dawson Creek on the 5th (if the link wont work, just look bak on pg 6 here)

Mad_Mat,

CCO is dropping us off at French. We are renting canoes from them, overnighting in their bunkhouse and they are taking care of all the paper work. Jim usually likes for us to get an early start, like 7am ish. so it should be a drop and paddle at French.

I am more worried about the weather (rain & wind) and how hard I can push these guys the first day. I can't control the weather but I can have influence over our group. I've been prepping them on paddling hard the first day so we shall see how it works out.

Chatterton falls is on the list but if things are not going as planned, we may have to skip it. I have a route planned but I am leaving it flexible should things not go as planned.

Kurt

If you make it into Bud, it's not much longer to get into Fern.  Pretty easy portage as I recall and not long.

We take pretty leisurely trips, try to set up camp mid-to-late afternoon, catch some fish for dinner.... so getting from French to Bud is about as far as we go in a day :)

Have fun.

PJ

PJ,

I beleive the Bud 2 Fern Portage is about 400yards or so. If it is late in the afternoon and the site on Bud is empty and we are all tired, we might just stop for the day.

I'm with you on taking it easy, except the first day. I want to push them hard the first day to see what the group is capable of, it will help me gauge if we can continue the planned route or if we will need make a route adjustment. After the first day we will then take it easy, setting up camp mid afternoon or so giving us plenty of time for exploring and fishing.

Two years ago, took the wife, daughter (14) & son (12), entered at BeaverHouse, we didn't even make it a third way down Quetico Lake (southern part) before we needed to set up camp, wind, rain and cold kind of zapped everyone's energy. I was thinking, oh crap, what am I gonna do. But they rallied, by the end of the trip we did Jesse (far west side) to Batch (CS at the north side of the narrows, across from the portage) in a day and still had time to spare. Might not have been a big day for some but it was for my family, I was real proud of what we were able to do.

Kurt

We are on the way. Left Atlanta yesterday about 1pm, we are about 40  miles south of Duluth. The rookies are excited and the weather is looking good for next week.

Stopping to stick our feet in Lake Superior and hitting Gander Mtn in Duluth. Will report back on the way home.

Kurt

Hope you have a great trip!

Kurt,

Was it you and your crew we talked with briefly on the 5th at CCO in Atikokan - we were catching a shuttle to Beaverhouse and you were going in through French Lake?

Hope you had a good trip - will post details of ours soon.  It was super!!

PJ

PJ, yep that was us. How was your trip?? The wind kicked our butt that Sunday, we made it out of French in to Pickerel and only made it to the first big island. With the one/two foot waves, white caps, gusting wind my son and I were paddling with everything we had and only doing 1mph and barely keeping the canoe from swamping.

So, we paddled less then two hours and were wind bound the rest of the day. We made up for it the next day doing a 13 hour day from East Pickerel to Olifaunt.

How were things out on Beaver House?

Kurt

Kurt and PJ:
Looking forward to more details on your trips (and pics too?). East end of Pickerel to Olifaunt is a good days "work". East to West on Pickerel into a head wind can be quite an experience. Sounds like both trips wnet well.

J

Kurt, et al,

We had a few wind issues during the week, nothing serious.  The good news was we were going west to east, so the wind was with us for the most part.  A bigger issue was probably the mosquitoes, Tuesday (July 8) on the McAlpine portage were the worst mosquitoes I've ever seen.  That aside, it was a wonderful trip.  Fun to watch my daughter and her husband learn to paddle together.  I think the first three days they probably paddled twice as far as my wife and myself, by the end of the week they were old pros :)


Report to follow next week.