Well, to keep a long story short, was hoping to drive to and enter Quetico on June 1 for a week and then return to Ohio for summer school session.  Now, I have to stick around at the end of May for a couple extra days.  So an early Quetico trip is out.

Anyone have any info on possible 4-5 night trips within an hour or two of Saulte Ste Marie which is only a 1-day drive from home in Ohio.  Looking for paddling something similar to Quetico, albeit probably smaller.

PineKnot --  I have a meeting in the Sault the first week of May.  Several of the guys in the meeting are from the Sault, so I'll cask around for suggestions on a canoe trip.  I've been thinking about the same thing, as long as I'll be there!

prouboy 

Batchawana River Provincial Park.  Straight N.

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Thanks Wally.....  I'll check it out with my Canadian pals.

prouboy

pine_knot wrote on Feb 17^th, 2012 at 12:02am:

Well, to keep a long story short, was hoping to drive to and enter Quetico on June 1 for a week and then return to Ohio for summer school session.  Now, I have to stick around at the end of May for a couple extra days.  So an early Quetico trip is out. Anyone have any info on possible 4-5 night trips within an hour or two of Saulte Ste Marie which is only a 1-day drive from home in Ohio.  Looking for paddling something similar to Quetico, albeit probably smaller.

PK.....
Pick up Kevin Kallans book "Ontario's lost canoe routes".........There was a nifty trip or two near the Sault that got my attention. There was also a few trips in Georgian Bay country that sounded good. I was going to take advantage when I had a smaller and more limited time frame such as you describe..........

I looked into this some years ago after taking the Agawa Canyon tour train from Saulte Ste Marie & seeing the territory.  Most of what I found were river trips, so not exactly like Quetico as I know it.  You can do an Agawa River trip, but I think it's organized & whitewater.
Sand River looked more appealing (start w/train from Frater to Sand Lake) -- still a river trip, but lots of fishing, etc from what I've read about (probably myccr).  I've been interested in the Mississagi River also - upstream from Rocky Island Lake (good info on myccr also & I've got a personal report from some guy in SSM).  You see the Mississagi R valley driving from Thessalon to Chapleau & it's quite beautiful -- the trip is upstream from the road, so quite a bit more remote.
I've wondered if Lake Superior PP has anything like that but haven't investigated.  People canoe some in Kilarney PP & it's beautiful, but pretty small.  How about Algonquin?  More people, marked portages, latrines, longer portages...but about same distance as SSM for you.

Good luck!  -Tom

Ranger Lake I think has Lakers.

Also Chapeau River from Racine Lake to Elsas isn't too severe as far as whitewater, one "must portage" at a waterfall early in the trip. There's an outfitter on Racine Lake near the town of Chapeau and train service from Elsas back to Foleyet. Some even paddle back up the Nemegosenda River to near Chapeau.

Most of the best tripping in this area is rivers or the big lakes. Lake to lake tripping in Killarney or Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater being some exceptions.

It's 147 miles from The Soo to Killarney PP.  Killarney is a gorgeous park but compared to Quetico, very busy.  In fact, if you're thinking of it I'd book well in advance (5 months is the max) availability disappears in a hurry.  Also note that compared to Quetico the average length and difficutly of portage in Killarney is far greater.

I don't know exactly what you are looking for and this may seem crazy, but last weekend I spent a little time on Drummond Island, just South of Saulte Ste Marie.  What a great place.  There a a ton of islands that can be explaored and camped on, which i think could easily make for a fun 3 or 4 day adventure.