Good information.  Some of the flight costs are confirmed on their website.  There is a photo of one canoe on their facebook page ... a 16 foot tandem made by SportsPal (its listed weight is 69 lbs and doesn't look to have an integral portage yoke).  I'll be interested to see what other information comes your way via Big Hook camps.

Too bad about East Lake having a shallow section.  That explains why there are no fish cabins on the lake.  I re-inspected my maps and it does look like the topography gets a lot flatter in the area of the glacial moraine and to the west.  Still, that looks to leave about 1/2 of the lake with the potential of having useful depth (if the land topography is echoed beneath the water).

Actually, I'd plotted out the loop you mentioned that started at Central (Big Hook) Lake and goes to the west -- 50 miles is accurate, maybe a mile or two longer.  There is at least one spot in that loop with a pretty substantial waterfall (25-30 foot drop at the north end of West Lake as the track exists toward East Lake) and one more in the 10 foot class (entering South Lake from the north in the area where there looks to be 4 "picky" portages relatively close together).

There is a potential of a secondary loop further west which would add another 65 miles or so if you have more time or looking for more adventure.  This would head further west from Southwest Lake and circle up to Cocos Lake before heading back east to intersect with the other loop (in East Lake).  I have a travel map that was used by a party that did about 95% of that track (I'm guessing) less than a decade ago.  The only small section that I have no navigation information on is as you exit Southwest Lake.  There would be a minimum of 2 portages if the existing waterways are navigable (longest would be about 65 rods ... I thinking bushwhack).

Any feedback on exiting the park for a short time.  There is another possible extension of the 65 mile route by going up to Joint Lake.  If you continue on north and then take a hard left, you work your way out to Island Lake, MB ... this lake is HUGE.  By working your way down the lake a bit, there is a route that re-enters the park by using Hilton Lake and you ultimately rejoin the previously mentioned loop south of Cocos Lake. (There is documentation of this route in Canoe Atlas of the Little North.) However, I think there is a better than even chance that you'd have to do an overnight somewhere along the line outside the park boundaries.

dd