I like spring before the Park opens. There's that wonderful flexibility of no quota plus it's easier to find those little used portages ... to see where you're going to and just generally get around in the forest. I walk around a lot and like the new growth... To me it seems there are also more overcast days and since I hate that pesky, unrelenting sun.... That's when fishing is at it's worst IMO.

Summer - June, July, ya, more fish, people, flowers and bugs but man, the liven gets easier and easier. The place is just so forgiving compared to the shoulder seasons. Three days of solid cold and rain are rare and the weather is more predictable. Things are starting to get overgrown.

I'm hamstrung by my kid's schedule lately so the dog days are darn nice too. It's normally calm except for the afternoon storms. Even timing on clouds gets predictable but vegetation is not as pretty by then. Fishing is better than spring it seems.

For a lot of years I'd do an early May and late Summer or early-mid Sept trip. Wife and friends trips were always summer. Frost is always worth it and even I can get my butt out of the sack for an almost guaranteed foggy morning.

Later Sept, Oct., well, it seems to me that the wind starts picking up again by then. Not something to look forward to when your paddling a tandem solo on bigger lakes and those types of patterns last longer then than they do in spring. Bug report - what's a bug?

I'm a wimp for cold, but can handle ice out 'cause I know the trend will/should be to warm. Never tripped much into October if at all for that reason alone. Dry years you can get good 'fall color' pics way earlier than 'peak'.

The last few years it sounds like the weather has been strange in the upper midwest. It was highs in the 60s and overcast at my home the last few days. That would be perfect IMO. Go figure. Anytime ... expect the worst - hope for the best.

Hmmmm, There's a bar graph of Quetico visitors around, personally, I'd love to see my own trip history on a graph. May would be a wall, late June would probably be a valley with some zeros and early October would be a cliff. I know what the graph for interest in QJ looks like. For a seasonal type thing, people hang around into late November more than normal. Again, go figure.