Wherever turns your crank. That's basically the order by which I heard these places exist and I forget where Algonquin ... Adirondacks ... may fit in but why do YOU choose one over the other and/or someplace else?

For me, I went to Quetico twice for college credit and continued going for over a decade before I even knew the BWCA existed and I only wish I lived a bit closer because it's become like visiting an old friend for me. Martin, for example, seems on a mission in WCPP and I understand that but I wonder what put him on that path?

What about you? Where have you been? Where do you go? What put you on that path?

A ski club had some openings on a BWCA trip and I joined in.  I liked it but wanted more remote area and so the next trip was a group of 4 and into Quetico.  I was hooked.  I have been to WCPP and Wavakimi but prefer Quetico.  That is not to say I would not go back to either of the other two Canadian parks.  If the Canadians decide they don’t want me I would go to BWCA.

My initial exposure to canoeing was via my backpacking buddy (and now paddling companion).  He invited me to make a trip to Quetico.  After several years of invitations (mostly during time windows when I could not go), he made a solo trip and fell in love.  A couple of years later, schedules finally meshed and I made my first Quetico trip.  I've only missed 1 year of making a north country canoe trip since then, and it was the year following my introduction.

For me, I guess it probably more an issue of scenery and exploring new places that keep me going back.  Of course, I've covered some of the same water on more than one trip, but there is always some new water to paddle thrown into the route.

In 2009, Jimbo, Kingfisher, Magicpaddler and Quentin were scheduled to go explore WCPP for the first time.  I casually asked Jimbo if he would mind giving me a recon report when he returned.  One thing led to another and he extended an invitation to go along.  While it was going to be a quick turn-around (just a little over a week after I would finish a 2-weeker in Quetico), I took the plunge.  Since then, I've only missed one year going back to WCPP ... and I'll return this year.  WCPP is yet another place to explore.  It doesn't top Quetico for scenery, but it does give you more of a "wilderness" impression.  (There is nothing like finding a campsite with several years of growth in the fire ring.)

So, the adventure continues ... new places, new experiences!

dd

I cut my teeth canoeing in Algonquin - it's only a four hour drive from Toronto, where I lived at the time, and pretty much a "standard" destination. I have no idea how I got started canoeing - invited by a buddy probably?

Canoeing took a back seat to backpacking when I moved out west, but Quetico was "on the way" for road trips to visit family in T.O., and one year I decided to rent a canoe and  take a couple of days break from driving. Now it's a destination rather than a stopover, and most years I've been able to fit a Q trip in.

Other recent trips have included WCPP, Nopiming (Manitoba), and Bowron Lakes (BC). This year I hope to make it to Atikaki (MB) and McLellan lakes (northern Saskatchewan). Plus Quetico of course - that's still #1 for me.

Why do I choose one place over another?

Well first I have to find out about them. Quetico got a writeup in Outside mag one year ("world's best canoeing destination"), WCPP I learned about on QJ, Bowron was a third-hand recommendation, McLellan is used by U of Calgary for one of their annual trips, and CCR is always a good source of ideas and trip reports.

Beyond that, anyplace that's wilderness (the less-used the better), new to me (new route if not new park), and closer than Quetico is enough of an excuse to put on the list.

I waited way too long to dedicate time for a real vacation thinking I would get rich first then vacation to the end. Oh well, plan B. At 45 a lifelong buddy and I decided to fulfill plans we talked about back in the day. We did the outfitters loop from Mudro-Crooked-Friday Bay-Mudro. At Big Current a sow and cub ate all of our food, we were hooked. Did a fly-in to LLC the next year thinking we would leave the crowds behind, ha. Just kept staring over the invisible border, man it looked wild over there. I have gone to Quetico 13 years in a row and plan on at least that many more. I would love to go to those other places if plan A pans out soon. With only 2 weeks I don't want to drive any farther or go through the learning process. Quetico has everything I yearn for and I will never see it all. Turns my crank nicely.   

nowadays, its so easy to find new places, but before the internet became such a useful tool, it was only by reading about a place, that I would want to go there

seems like I've always canoed - more than 45 years.  but for the first 15 or so years, just did local rivers and lakes, never a wilderness camping trip or even an overnighter, even though the canoes were parked on what would become the start of the NFCT. 

Saw a full page add in Playboy, for Camel Cigarettes (no, I don't smoke) which had a picture of a canoe flying thru the whitewater of Chase Rapids on the Allagash, adn described the adventur to be had there; I think they were promoting trips ther with an outfitter - that pretty much mcuh gave me the bug to do that trip, though it would be several years later (I still have that page, torn out, and in the photo album ffrom the Allagash trip).

lived in the BIG D for a few years, then decided to move to Colorado, and took time off then to do the Allagash with my Dad, in 82 when the timing was right. 

Somewhere in there, I read an article in Outdoor Life or Field and Stream about a wilderness canoe fishing trip in Ontario - Quetico, and it became a goal to get up there someday - so did the first Quetico trip in 84.

the first half dozen or so trips began at Moose Lake in BWCA, but I never could find a BWCA route that really appealded to me, on top of the campsite issue and more people.  But the B-dub is still on the "someday" list.

Why Quetico and not WCPP or Algonquin, or Bowron Lakes for that matter, is more a matter of logistics - all of those destinations would eat up at least two more days of vacation, or "cost" me two days of paddling, at least - so "someday".  I guess a big part of the deal is that I love Quetico, probably because it fits my style/type of trip I want to do, and until I get tired of it or it becomes a money issue, I'll keep going there.

"someday" is getting closer all the time, and in a couple/few years, I'll likely do a trip in the Adirondaks, and maybe Algonquin - for sure Bowron Lakes and the Yukon R are planned, maybe in '14 or '15 and maybe do the Allagash again - but I don't see myself "abandoning" Quetico for just another pretty face.  In the meantime, there are the local river trips, several overnighters a year in Colorado and Utah that are a lot of fun - wild, but nor real wilderness.

I am sad to say I didn't even know Quetico existed until my 34th year.  I re-tell the story of how I discovered Quetico in the QJ Stories section (see:   (You need to Login or Register , especially beginning p. 2).  Before that it was the Allagash Waterway in Maine and many different rivers in Virginia & the Carolinas. Since discovering Quetico in 1988 I've done close to 30 trips there; a couple of those were done via the BWCA... a park which I really do not know well. 

A few years back, Kingfisher, dentondoc, Magicpaddler, Quentin, a few others, and I tackled Woodland Caribou Park for the first time (see:   (You need to Login or Register ).  KF & I went back to WCPP to attempt something a bit more audacious the following year (see:   (You need to Login or Register ).  I guess we were seeking some variety and, perhaps even more solitude.  DD's comment re: saplings & even full-sized trees growing right through the center of fire rings is right on the money.  Up there you have a danged good chance of putting your boots where very few have ever tread before.  My thanks to Marten for his stories re: that special place.  His stories & prouboy's got me started there and I do hope to return.

I get a kick out of "new" water & almost always try to work some in during a trip. 

It'll be a couple Q trips for me this year but I am seriously considering an Opasquia trip for 2014, mostly in search of new stuff, I guess.  It should take solitude to a whole new level.  I think the visitor ratio of these parks is something like this: Quetico: WCPP: Opasquia = 600,000: 600: 6.

Maybe someday I'll make like Jim J. Solo & head for Arctic watersheds (at least before my back finally gives out for good; alas, I fear that time rapidly approaches!).  My interests seems to be drifting in that direction.

I don't really favor one park over another.  Any of these parks can be a wonderful place for me with the right companions.

Jimbo   8-)

I was always drawn to the fisher maps my dad had in his workshop from the fifties. He never took me paddling, but gave me plenty of other outdoor xperiances... mostly hunting. In my early twenties I got a bug up my butt and in my usuall go all out way, I bought canoes, tents,packs and "all the stuff I'd need" to outfit groups of eight. I think back then you could bring in ten people. So I spent the better part of the next three years doing five to eight day trips bringing in mostly church groups... I had an in with a camp director. Then I got bored bringing in groups so I started going up to what is now Atikaki in Manitoba... Just me and my dog. I still outfitted groups until I met the gal I eventually married and felt I had to get a rea job. I still took groups up for years... Smaller groups. Until my divorce and I then spent almost twenty years working the soft water months building fireplaces and chimneys. Then I got reintroduced back to the B Dub and I was hooked again. Soon after my son told me about Woodland Caribou... I researched it and read Marten's, Jimbo's and others accounts and I was going. My son and I had an awesome magical time and I've been there twice since... The latest was a twenty six day trip. I've been doing plenty of the B Dub too and did a forty day trip there this fall. I'm going to work a lot this year but plan to go back up to WCPP this fall. The funny thing is I've never spent any time in Quetico... I think I'll give er a shot next year. One of my favorite things besides my solo's is the group solo's with the awesome people I've met along the way.

Got my first look at the BWCA/Quetico area back in 1979. My father in law let me join his group of buddies from Crawfordsville, IN for their annual week long trip in June to Don Beland's on Moose Lake.

We stayed in a lake side cabin. We rented a boat and fished for walleye, pike and smallies on Moose and Basswood lakes.  Had a super time. Couldn't wait to eat a walleye shorelunch.

I was raised near the shoreline in Connecticut. I spent a lot of my youth fishing for bluefish, shark, striped bass, and flounder. I loved pulling up lobsters from my brothers lobster pots and digging for clams .. .and camping out on the surrounding island beaches.

Well, I really took to freshwater fishing in the Northwoods. Sure the fish were smaller but with light action rods, I was hooked. The scenery was unbelievable and I couldn't get enough of it.

I just had to get away from the crowds so I started to rent a canoe and fish on the Canadian side of Basswood. Then I had to get away even farther into Quetico and eventually began to basecamp in the Kawnipi area.  I now frequent the Brent/Comnee area. Whew, nothing better than fishing and camping for 10 days in the Q.

34 years later I still go up to Quetico. I have only missed 2 trips due to family weddings. It is certainly a "piece of heaven."

Have come into the Q via PP, Saganagons, LLC and fly-ins from Clay Lake. This year a QJ'er has steered me over to come in from the north with a BeaverHouse entry. Planning for my 1st fall trip into Badwater/Bentpine area. Can't wait.

Hopefully when I retire in 7 years I will have more time to spend canoeing and fishing. I would like to take 3 to 4 week trips into the Q instead of my normal 10 days. I would also like to try WCPP and perhaps a Arctic river trip. Also on my bucket list is an Alaskan coast kayak trip and if my knees are not gone ... hiking the entire 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail.

I appreciate all the QJ'ers who regularly contribute their thoughts and recommendations in this forum. The info I have gathered on this site has made me a better fisherman, canoeist and camper.

I got my start when I was 16. My Sunday School teacher invited me and some other boys my age to go with him to a place I had never heard of, Quetico. We had several planning meetings where he attempted to get us 'up to speed' on what we needed to bring and how to prepare. One of the meetings was to work out menu. He asked us to write down what we liked to eat & drink, and we discussed it. This was back before the advent of lightweight gear and sugar-free drinks. We had canvas tents, heavy sleeping bags, etc. We brought it all. The funniest part, was he completely ignored our menu choices, including the kool-aid. Beverages were coffee or water. That is where I learned to drink coffee. The coffee was cajun coffee. I think the stir stick stood upright.

On the trip, we flew in to Cabin 16, (on Basswood) to clear customs, and then on to LLC to the old ranger station north of Warrior Hill. We paddled to Black Robe, and then to Minn. It rained every day, and nothing, including our sleeping bags stayed dry. But we caught fish. Some huge northerns, bass, and waldos. Our raingear was cheap plastic ponchos. We did not have a cooking tarp, or any stove, so all of our cooking was over open fire. My job for dinner, was to stand over the fire with my poncho extended to try to keep the rain off the fire. One evening, one of my buds had finished peeling the spuds, and without warning, dumped the wet peelings in our fire, immediately extinguishing it. I had a sudden urge to kill...but resisted.

Why do I come back? Did I mention the fishing? I figured if I could survive that trip, I could survive any trip. Did I mention the fishing? ;)

DentonDoc wrote on Feb 28^th, 2013 at 12:33am:

There is nothing like finding a campsite with several years of growth in the fire ring

Fireweed in the fire ring - seems appropriate!
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Interesting thread (hat tip db)........

I had always been a backpacker.......always hiking to some hard to get to fishing spot. Rewards were good but the price of admission pretty steep. At Isle Royale, for example, there are no places to shore fish, very rugged, so in the water you go. At Glacier you had better have waders or you'll freeze your hiney off......etc.

Growing up we fished out of a Grumman square stern 16' with a 4hp mercury. Later I snagged a plastic coleman canoe off a gal at a state park in Maryland when I offered to buy it from her right off the lake. Tough boat to handle in the wind while solo.

Can't quite remember how it came to pass that an interest in BWCA came into being. Suffice to say I convinced a good friend that he needed to purchase a Bell kev 18' Northwoods so we could go canoe camping. Some obscure rationale was in play but it worked. Away we went. Our first trip was disaster, sort of. We went in August and picked a route that involved lots of little lakes and a pile of fishing equipment. Trouble was by the time all the portages were completed there was precious little time to fish. I developed some dandy blisters which cut things short.......good learning experience. We went twice more to BWCA and did a little better each time.......the last time however, we waited at portage landings for the crowds to clear and I knew this wasn't for me.

Enter the Quetico......I did my research and when my pal couldn't go that year I went out and picked up a Bell solo (Merlin). Over the previous winter I kept researching a route from the Quetico book. Slowly but surely I kept being drawn to the Hunters Island route. The author said "it has it all". Little by little I rationalized that I could accomplish it. The boat sat all summer while I stayed busy working. The next thing I knew it was time to depart. Crazytown I know.......First time in the boat and the first time in the Q.........That was my best trip to date.

My pal with the Northwoods picked up the identical bell solo and so did our new partners after a couple of trips in the Northwoods. So if you see 4 merlin solos stop and say hi  ;)

(long winded I know)........then the interest in WCPP which was mostly KF's fault. A single line pushed my button and off I went hoping to recreate the magic that was the long solo several years back. After my helicopter/floatplane ride I developed an interest in tripping in the glades  ;). A single post on another site solved my boat problem.......a decked craft on the open ocean is a must................. But to busy so far even though I am already packed.

So, in summary........BWCA to crowded, Quetico fine and dandy, WCPP is the new girl........   

I was lucky to get invited on a Quetico trip in 1992, my first time in Canoe Country (it's a shame I didn't start until I was 32  :-/). We went out through Prairie Portage (back when they had a Canadian customs office there, before the days of the RABC and whatever it is now). Our trip took us up through Agnes, with a layover on Kawnipi. I had no idea what I was getting into, although I had a general interest in outdoor activities. Needless to say I was hooked and hooked hard  :).

I've been tripping with the same core group of guys since then. We exclusively went to Quetico for many years (back when we could get from PP to Conmee in 2 days, etc.  :o), but have been choosing the BWCA for the last several trips. Changes in regulations, and our advancing ages (I'm the youngest of the bunch at 53...), just make the BWCA an easier destination, and our trips are still outstanding.

I would like to get back to Quetico again some day, but I have been very happy with the BWCA trips we make now. WCPP seems like it's a lot farther to go, so I suspect I'd need more time to give that a try. I would like to see it though.

Excellent topic, db  :thumbup

One of my earliest memories(8 years old) is almost going over Minnehaha Falls in the brand new 1969 Alumacraft my Father had just purchased. Everything in the boat went over except my dad and my brother and I. The only reason the canoe did not go over is some folks on shore helped grab it. The next few years we paddled most of the canoeable rivers in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Then in August 74 we went to Duncan lake in the BWCA and had great fishing. In 1976 I went on a 3 week trip with a church group, traveling from International falls to Grand Marais along the border the whole way except on the big lake at the end. After that all I wanted to do was go back any chance I got. By 1980 I was intrigued by the Quetico and in 1981 we went to Mackenzie bay of Kawnipi via Cullen, Mack and the Wawiag river. I was now fanatical about the Quetico and took as many as 4 trips a year in the 1980's including a 23 day honeymoon trip. But by 1992 with 3 young children, a Victorian house to restore and a growing business, I just quit going. By 2009 I had become a physical fitness fanatic and decided I might be able to go back to Quetico. My now college age daughters were very interested and in 2011 we did an epic trip from Beaverhouse to Saganga via Veron and Delahey and now I am planning all my vacations to the Quetico again.
Jon

Around 1979 or '80 I read an article in Fishing Facts magazine by I believe Spence Petros. He was smallmouth fishing in Quetico and specifically mentioned Burt Lake as having football shaped world class smallie fishing.

That was my introduction to the BW. In 1983 my girlfriend gave me a Grumman Eagle for my birthday and we went to the BW that spring. I did a couple more BW trips in the 80's before going to Quetico on a solo in 1988.

I took my 16 year old brother to Kawnipi in '92 and the fishing was unbelievable. I had married my girlfriend and we had a son that year so I didn't go again till 2000. I've gone 7 out of the last 8 years and hope to take my dog for the first time in Sept.  I'm not bothering with the BW crowds anymore. If I only go once a year I want to make it count and that's in Quetico. I'm open to Wabakimi and WCCP too. Someday.

Through the years I always remembered Burt Lake. Well I finally got there in 2011 and caught a 19 inch football shaped smallmouth.  I admired it and thought about being 19 and reading that article before letting it go.

What an awesome thread!! 
Grew up in St. Louis fishing sw missouri ozark streams when the opportunity presented itself.  But my mom grew up on a dairy farm located on a 10 mile long lake in NW MN.  As a family we spent a week or so up there every summer and sometimes winters visiting my grandparents and I learned to fish the northern species.  I fell in love with north country lakes.  Fast forward 20 years. The farm is sold, and I miss the area tremendously.  At age 25, living in Chicago, I randomly link up with a coworker and we both quickly learn that we share a love for fishing.  He invites me to join him and a few others on a trip to the BWCA.  Man I was hooked!  My then coworker and I gave the BWCA one more chance and after that made the switch to the Q.  I missed only one year due to a wedding...my own.   Ever since that trip 8 years ago I think about the upcoming year's trip at least once a day, everyday.  My close friends, most of whom don't share my love for the outdoors, roll their eyes when I mention the topic because I talk about it so much. 

This year I plan to expand to 2 trips, one in June (guys trip) and one in September (to introduce sisters and dad).  I'd like a few more Q trips under my belt and then I'd like to give WCPP a try.  To say that I'm thankful for discovering BWCA/Q is a huge understatement! This site has provided loads of information and enjoyment.  Much appreciated!

I’ll take the last question first: my dear old Dad set me on the path I’ve been traveling.  Beginning in the early 60's with squirrel hunting in SW Wisconsin, then deer-hunting in Wisconsin’s sand counties and then fishing/camping north of Eagle River, he instilled in me a lifelong passion for wild country that is as strong today as ever. At 60, my chest still gets "tight" with excitement when I look over maps and begin plotting the next trip.

I found “canoe country” over 25 years ago, shortly after moving to Minnesota after living and working in the western US.  At that time, canoe country brought back memories of the northern Wisconsin of my youth in the 50’s.  Now I keep going further north to experience wilderness: for its sublime beauty and solitude.  First, it was the BWCA, then the QP, now it’s Woodland Caribou and Wabikimi.  It’s a predictable and maybe even a common path.  Next -- who knows!

prouboy

First I need to agree with Calvin and Hobbs- any time you are awake and outside is great. At a young age I enjoyed spending nights at an old slough on the farm. Fishing was not the draw and still isn't.

In the 90's I criss-crossed BWCA numerous times and did a few trips in the Q. I loved every minute but then I went to WCPP. I am drawn back to WCPP every year because it fits me so well. When I had covered most of the mapped routes I started heading where there were no portages on the map. This stirred my blood so much that I asked Claire if she knew of any areas that might be of special interest. She suggested I look into finding a way to access Irvine Lake, adding that the park was interested in the area and would really appreciate a report on what I found. Well, I found that I really had a passion for exploring like that. Knowing that others would take advantage of my reports added to the desire. I was ready to move on to other waters but this new dimension has kept me enthralled with the solitude and quietness of WCPP.

I have been fortunate and have seen places across the oceans but my heart yearns for the northwoods.

I grew up in Duluth and my father took us fishing Basswood and Knife in Canoe Country (pre-BWCA) when I was young.  In scouts we canoed rivers and had many campouts, but ironically never went canoeing in the BWCA.  I came back to canoe with a church group out the numbered lakes when I was 16. 

In college, I went canoeing with friends and finally after graduation canoed 300 miles on the Churchill River in Northern Manitoba. After that I try to go canoeing annually and select a different route in the Quetico or BWCA.

May be one day I'll try Wabakimi, WCPP, Woodland Caribou...

starwatcher

Marten,

I love Calvin and Hobbs....easily my favorite cartoon.  His depictions of snowmen crack me up even today.  I met you a couple years ago at Canoecopia at the QJ dinner.  I remember returning home to Ohio and telling my wife about it.  Your desire to explore new territory was truly inspiring....and still is.  I hope to one day be as fortunate as you and experience some of the areas in WCPP you blazed....

A few of you have mentioned Wabakimi.

It's currently in the planning process, the thing all these parks go through every few years, and they're currently soliciting public input.

Full details are here:
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Spartan1 was a counselor and riflery instructor at Camp Easton for Boys on Little Long Lake at Ely in the mid-60's.  After camp in 1967 he and a group of other counselors did a 6-day canoe trip on the Namakan River loop out of LLC.  When he came back to me that summer he proposed marriage, and he also proposed taking me to the canoe country.  I was much more amenable to the former than the latter.

It took him four years to get me up north in a canoe, and in 1971, I did the Namakan River loop with him.  Ever since then, we have been canoe-tripping together, almost yearly for the past 42 years.  We have been to the Quetico (twice), to Algonquin (twice), to Temagami (once), and all of the rest of our trips have been in the BWCA.

We love the BWCA.  We don't apologize for that.  We don't go in July and August, and we don't find the locations that we choose to be crowded.  To the contrary, we often go for 2-3 days seeing no one else, or at least no one else near enough to converse with.  We don't mind having a fire grate and a biffy, and the BWCA is "wilderness" enough for us, at least now at our advanced age.

If we were a few decades younger we might be planning a trip to WCPP or Wabikimi, since we used to really enjoy exploring new territory.  I regret that we never did a fly-in trip in Quetico when we were younger and more fit.  But, realistically, I am the one holding us back now, as (at 67), I have degenerative arthritis and a level of pain that is making more than the easiest trip just a tiny bit this side of impossible.  We are looking now at options for June, and they are quite limited.

We make other concessions in order to have fun. We have taken our granddaughter to Minnesota the past six summers for a "cabin week" and this year we will do it with our grandson, age seven.  We enjoy canoeing and swimming and exploring, and take wonderful day trips.  I suspect that will be our future when I am no longer able to handle the rigors of canoe-tripping.

Many of you know that we have already encountered a few challenges in our decades of canoe-tripping.  Spartan1 had kidney disease, renal failure, did peritoneal dialysis, and then four years ago he had a kidney transplant.  He has been an insulin-dependent diabetic since 1975, and he has vision problems as well.  Taking into consideration the kidney diet, a retinal bleed, some severe insulin reactions, learning to cope with different delivery systems of insulin over 30-some years (now he is on a pump), etc., canoe-tripping has not been a piece of cake. 

But it's our life.  It's who we are.  I often wish we had done more.  More trips to the Q.  More miles, more lakes, more rivers, more places.  But then I think about what we have done and I am thankful to God for each and every experience. We have run Lady Rapids on the Namakan in a Grumman canoe--not once but twice.  We have seen hundreds of misty mornings and glorious sunsets on the lakes of the canoe country.  We have paddled until we were exhausted, or portaged until we thought we couldn't take another step, and then we have rested by a campfire and thought "this is the best place in the world".  We have seen moose and otter and beavers and loons with little chicks on their backs.  We haven't bushwacked up to the standards of many of you QJ guys, but we have forged a trail or two where one didn't really exist.   ;) 

Now that we are retired, we travel more.  We go to other places besides the Canoe Country, but we still go north every year.  I suspect we will continue to do so long after we are unable to go out on extended trips, and we will be thankful for cabins that get us as close as we can be. 

But out hearts are still back in the days of the harder pushing, the longer portages, the challenges and the adventures.  Do it while you can.  Wherever your heart calls you.  It's all good.

Spartan 2 (forgive my absent mind.....we have met and I should remember your name but it escapes me at present),

Thank you for sharing your heart, your life.

MT

Quote:

Do it while you can.  Wherever your heart calls you.  It's all good

Wise words SP2 :thumbup

That's OK, MT.  I am trying to remember if your name is Al.

My name is Lynda.  But Spartan2 is just fine.   :)

Spartan2 wrote on Mar 5^th, 2013 at 3:02pm:

That's OK, MT.  I am trying to remember if your name is Al. My name is Lynda.  But Spartan2 is just fine.   :)

Bingo! Now it is all coming back to me lynda.........and you are correct, Uncle Al the kiddies pal  8-)

Spartan2/Lynda,
Thank You so much for sharing.
Tim

I guess anytime or anywhere I'm paddling I'm happy.

But the paddling and camping is really special. I'll say paddling cause I'm doing some kayaking now too.

I first went to Q in '99, tried BW in 2000. Soloed Q in 2001. Then tried some river whitewater trips, extra excitement.
Skipped ahead of the usual northern progression and did some arctic river trips.

I dropped out of the group I originally started with because of some unethical things they did. But I really wanted to do river trips and decided I didn't have the connections to make it happen DIY. So I hooked up with guided whitewater trips which happened to also be whitewater instruction courses on the fly. I ended up very happy with that. Since then I've convinced other trip leaders that were having trouble getting their group farther north to try joining guided trips too. They're happy too, and going again.

So Jimbo, If you really want to do it. Don't wait for the perfect group of friends. The years are going by too fast. Just go. The Soper River trip on Baffin Island you could take your wife on too. I may try that one with Martha too.

I did some fly-in fishing near WCPP and the ground cover is cool, woods more open. But not much red/white pines.

No matter where I went I always did a trip to Q each year. I've really enjoyed going in Oct lately.

Tripping doesn't seem to have the same pull it had when I was working. I'm enjoying my canoe racing more.

Solitude??? There's evidence of man in all the places I've gone. I want solitude while I'm tripping, but I enjoy exploring artifacts of man's past in those areas too.

Spartan2, your post hit close to home for me.  My 16-year old son has Type 1 diabetes.  He was diagnosed when he was only 20 months old.  He is also on an insulin pump.  I took him and several of his friends to Quetico in 2011 (through the Scout program out of Ely) and we are going again this June.  We covered 125 miles in a 9-day trek, and of course I was very worried about how he would do.  We had done lots of camping and some short backpacking trips, but it is different when you are several days into the wilderness.  I went on a Quetico trip without him in 2007 (he was still too young), so I knew what to expect.  We carried lots of extra diabetes care stuff (extra meters, test strips, anti-nausea pills, estra pump, etc.), but he did great.  The only bad low that he had was during the long portage at Basswood Falls.  It was day two of our trip.  I carried a canoe through quickly and came back looking for him.  He was with a friend and was carrying a very heavy pack (he was only 14 at the time) and was only about 2/3 of the way through the mile-long portage.  I could tell he was low, but he refused to give me his pack.  I gave him some glucose tabs and he rested a bit, but he finished the portage with his pack, and he frequently says that it was one of the hardest things that he has ever done, but he is glad he did it.  When he was diagnosed as a toddler, the doctor told me that he could have a full, normal life, but that I was going to have to work very hard to make that possible.  I am very happy that I have taught him to enjoy the wilderness despite his diabetes, and I am so happy for you and your husband also.  There have been amazing advances in diabetes care.  Tell Spartan 1 thanks for blazing the way for my son.  And, as a caregiver who loves someone with diabetes, I understand what you have been through, and I want to thank you for setting a good example for me. 

Jim, your message touched me very deeply.  Only a few people understand, and you do.  Thank you. 

Every word that you said is true, especially about the "amazing advances".  I hope your son continues to live a normal, active live and that future advances make it even easier for him.  God bless you for sharing, and may God bless him (and you, too) in future travels.

Lynda

PS:  Watch out for day two--it is usually the worst!

I told Andrew about you, and he said that only someone who has lived it can truly understand.  Andrew really does appreciate what people like you and your husband have done to show him that he can live a full life without limits.  I hope that you enjoy many more trips to the north, as I know that he and I will.  God has truly blessed us.  We are excitedly planning our June trip.  We are going up Kahshapiwi, across the poets, Death March Portage, down to Brent, then a loop west and down through Darky, Argo, etc.  Some new challenges and some familiar ones, including the Basswood Falls portage. 

Now that I have finished my side conversation with Spartan 2, I guess I should get back on thread.  I was raised in rural Alabama, always outdoors, fishing the local cricks, ponds, and rivers, and camping out.  My mother was originally from the UP of Michigan, and we went there to visit relatives when I was 6 years old, in 1964.  After our time in the UP, we continued on into Ontario for some sightseeing.  I vividly remember stopping at a roadside rest area along a river flowing into Georgian Bay that had large granite boulders, ripe raspberries, and a river flowing by that was full of logs.  The air was crisp and cool, the scenery was beautiful, and I have always remembered it as one of the most beautiful places in the world. 

I left home when I was 18 to go to West Point and spent the next 26 years in the Army living in various parts of the country and world.  I fell in love with the Sierra Nevada mountains, especially the alpine lakes there, but I always remembered that spot in Ontario.  In 2002 I retired from the Army and settled in California to be near my wife’s family and my beloved Sierra Nevada mountains.  My son got involved in Cub Scouts, so of course I became a leader.  We did lots of camping and backpacking, and even a little canoeing.  In 2007 I got a call from my older brother, who still lives in Alabama, and who was a leader in his son’s Boy Scout troop.  He called me because they were heading to Quetico and needed another adult to fill out a crew.  So I met them at the airport in Duluth, traveled to Ely with them, and spent the next 10 days falling in love with Quetico.  We entered at PP and did a loop through North Bay, Sarah, McIntyre, Brent, Darky, Argo, Crooked, Robinson, and Basswood.  The fishing was great, but the scenery, wildlife, and remoteness really impressed me.  It matched my memories of the most beautiful spot from when I was 6 years old, but with the added aspect of wilderness. 

In 2011 my son was 14 years old, an active Boy Scout, and strong enough to enjoy a wilderness trek, so I organized a group of boys from his Scout Troop, and since we had room, invited my brother from Alabama to meet us there.  We had perfect weather and retraced much of the route from 2007, but added in Minn, McAree, and Iron Lakes.  My son caught the Quetico bug, and as soon as we got home, he started pestering me to schedule another trip.  So we are going again this June.  This time I have two crews of Scouts.  The younger group will retrace our 2007 route.  I will take the older group, including my son, and we are going on a big loop, entering at Moose Lake, through PP, seeking solitude up Kahshahpiwi, Keefer, Sark, Cairn, Heronshaw, across the poets, through Camel, Veron, Delahey, across the Death March, Conmee, Suzanette, and then if the weather and winds have been good to us we will continue west and do the loop through Brent, Darky, Minn, etc that we did in 2011. 

This summer will probably (hopefully) be my last Scout trip.  I am looking forward to the freedom to go with a smaller group (maybe me, my brother, and our sons) and explore with less of an itinerary.  I am getting older (55 now), but can still paddle all day, and can still portage an aluminum canoe or heavy pack, so I am looking forward to many more trips to Quetico, and someday may even try WCPP.  I often wish I lived closer, but I still love the Sierra Nevadas, and would miss them (and mild winters) if I moved away. 

I am somewhat late coming to this post because my wife and I have just been in an area where there is no Internet - namely, Quetico. We just spent three days "yurting" and snowshoeing at French Lake and reminding ourselves of why we've been coming up here (most years) since 1981 to find peace and solitude.

In 1973, the year after we got married, on the advice of a good friend, we decided to travel west to Winnipeg from Ottawa around the north shore of Lake Superior. En route, we happened to stop at the car camping campground at French Lake, mainly because I had vaguely heard of this park called Quetico. While there, my wife got the idea that maybe someday we might want to try a wilderness canoe trip. She had done some canoeing at her girls' camp when she was much younger. I had never been in a canoe in my life so I said "sure"!!

Well, 8 years passed and finally in 1981 (after a couple of  short "try-out" canoe outings around Ottawa) we decided to go for it and planned a 13-night canoe trip in Quetico. (I had no idea what I was doing). We drove our car literally to the end of the logging road southwest of Northern Light Lake, parked the car at the end of the road and bushwhacked for what seemd like forever to the nearest water (a channel leading from Northern Light Lake to Red Sucker Bay of Saganaga Lake). From there we did a circuit into Saganaga, Knife, the other border lakes, Basswood, Louisa, Glacier, the Falls Chain, Saganagons and back out to Northern Light Lake and our car (which was still there all by itself and still in one piece!)

Although exhausting for two novices like us, the trip was exhilarating and beyond anything we had ever experienced. And we knew this was not to be the last time we'd see Quetico. In fact, a Quetico trip has turned out to be a defining characteristic of our marriage.

We have been to all corners of the park (except the famous portages into and out of Cache Lake) and we hope to continue to do so until our joints, our stamina and our will gives out.

I appreciate this opportunity to talk about a place we both love so much and which means so much to us.

Grew up on the shores Lake Erie, back when swimming in the lake was highly discouraged and catching a walleye was a noteworthy event. I still remember seeing the Cuyahoga River on fire on the news. Vacations every other year were fishing trips into Canada. French River (first trip), Pickerel River (first 40+" NP), Rapid 7 on the Ottawa River in Quebec (first sturgeon caught), Lake Ramsey (first view of the Northern Lights) and Biscotasing (where I saw my first group canoeing the Spanish River watershed). I was certainly hooked on vacations in Canada for the beauty and fishing. My then new wife went along to Rapid 7 but Niagra Falls has been the closest she has, or ever will, come to another outdoors vacation in Canada (not her thing but very understanding of my need/desire to reconnect every other year).

My brother in law loves to fish and camp and we had talked about doing a fly-in (still on the bucket list) for a chance at some good fishing and solitude. We happened on Jim Clark (CCO) at the sports show in Columbus in January '07 and spent an hour talking to him about a place called Quetico. We had never heard about it or spent anytime in a canoe but decided it sounded exactly like an adventure we were looking for.

There were three of us on our first trip. Late May Stanton loop. Airport lost some of our luggage (don't fly into Int'l Falls) so our trip was shortened a couple of days. I was in a solo (first time in a canoe) and we had a tandem as well. Pickerel was howling but we were too dumb to know better. Lucky we didn't dump in very cold water. Took us almost 7 hours to cross Pickerel into the B chain. Never made it past Fern but we all knew we would be back. Second trip in '09 was Beaverhouse to Nym in September and it was spectacular. Another Stanton loop in September '11 through the Deaux into Sturgeon, Russell, Shelly, Keats, Orianna... Still trying to figure out what '13 will look like.

Love reading about all of your travels to other parks, and maybe someday that will be where we go but there is still so much of the Q that is yet to explore. Getting better at what we are doing but a long way to go. Still take way to much fishing gear but that's a big part of why we go. Honestly, I could paddle a couple of hours from an entry point and enjoy myself fishing, good company, beautiful scenery...

Something about a trip to the Q, and I'm sure the other parks as well, that puts life back into the proper perspective. I have a map of the park hanging on my office wall and can instantly turn a bad day around looking for the next route...

J

Interesting thread! Especially as softwater season approaches and cabin fever is downright oppressive.
Don't know where or when my love for the outdoors started, but my first canoe trip was tagging along with a YMCA group in Algonquin in the mid 70s. Did 3 or 4 trips there with my brother, then young sons, before life got hectic with career and family. Made my share of mistakes & stupid human tricks, but survived and learned. Read an article about BW & Quetico in the local newspaper and talked an old canoeing friend into trying it out. That was in '92. We did a loop from PP up Agnes to Kawnipi and back thru Kahshapiwi. I was hooked, deep and mortal. Since then I've done 9 or 10 other trips with friends and sons with great success, creating treasured memories.  Now at age 60 my sons are laden with family and their availability is always uncertain. They love it too, and they can't wait till their toddlers are a bit older, but for now they're off the list.
Have never considered BW. Just seems like it would be a bit of a letdown. Been subscribing to BW Journal since early 90s and have grown to rely on the photography to get me through the winter, while less impressed with the writing and downright tired of Stu's preaching. Discovered QJ by accident about 10 yrs ago and I read it faithfully while contributing very infrequently. Lots of good info on here, and a few characters I'd like to meet someday.
I am retiring in June after 37 yrs in the classroom, and ironically now that I have time I have also run out of partners. So it looks like this summer will be a solo, probably late July or into August. Easy livin' season.  :)
Don't have a yearning for Wabakimi, WCCP, etc. I have a lot of Q yet to explore, and that's good enough for this ol' man. I've done a couple solo trips. Enjoyable, but in general I prefer a trusted partner or small group of 4. Good for sharing laughs. I figure I have at least 10 more yrs of paddling, 20 if I'm lucky, and I can't afford to waste a single summer.
I paddle either a solo Bell Magic or a tandem burgundy Wenonah Spirit. Hope to see you somewhere in Quetico...
WiF

My family has been taking vacations to northern MN almost ever since I can remember.  We started with fishing trips to a little mosquito-infested lake near Cass Lake, renting a small motorboat.  Then we discovered canoeing and vacationed at the end of the Gunflint, paddling and fishing big Sag.

When I was 11, my college-aged brother, Old_Salt, inspired by his Sunday School trip from years ago, decided to organize his own trip into the BWCA.  He convinced 2 other cousins that were around his age to join him and somehow or another he was able to convince my parents that he should be allowed to take me as the 4th member of the party.  I suspect that he just couldn't find anyone else of his age to go, but he claims that it was his intention to take me all along.  Regardless, my parents relented upon a promise of pain of death for my brother if he failed to bring me back relatively unscathed.

Old_Salt was not a fan of portaging so he eagerly eyed a Meander Lake entry.  Meander Creek flowed out of it with nary a marked portage along it, eventually leading to the Nina Moose and saving us 5 portages.  Brilliant!

After a fruitless day of bushwhacking in an attempt to follow the creek (which of course had no portages marked as it was not even navigable) we slept in the van and entered the park the more traditional way along the Moose River and made it to our destination, Iron Lake.

We really had no idea what we were doing and I was by far the most clueless of the bunch.  Our equipment was the finest that K-Mart had to offer, the food was unappetizing to say the least, and our mistakes were both legendary and plentiful. But we caught fish and the scenery was incredible!

Far from being scarred for life by the ordeal, I was entranced by the possibilities.  I mean, if we could ever hit a week where it didn't rain, the K-Mart equipment would work just fine, right?  More trips followed, we learned mostly by trial-and-error, and we slowly amassed a cache of equipment that could withstand the elements.

Bottom line, I will never forgive forget my introduction to the BWCA/Quetico and I've been hooked ever since.  ;D

SD,

I think youthful exuberance and the idea that "what could happen" that we all have when young is why you got hooked as well as myself/others while still young.

I look back at some of the things I learned the hard way and the K-Mart gear and think that at a later point in my life I probably wouldn't have been willing to take the plunge ;D

After 41years I'm thinking more of finding an isolated spot and base camping for a change.  My wife and I have been coming up here since we got married.  Anybody know much about Blackstone Lake?  It looks like an interesting destination.  Open to other ideas too.

My initiation into the canoe tripping fraternity began in 1959.  I was 8 years-old and at sleep-away camp for the first time.  When the Section Head came to our cabin asking who wanted to go on a canoe trip, I was the only one with his hand in the air.  We went to Algonquin Park.  The trip was a disaster.  On the first day out we tried to run rapids, capsized, trapped the canoe between the current and a giant boulder and spent a long, miserable night, cold and hungry.  I couldn’t wait for the next trip.

Only 4 hours north of Toronto, Algonquin was my main tripping destination throughout my teens.  It is a huge, gorgeous park devoted exclusively to canoeing – there are no fishing lodges – and I paddled it into my early 20’s.  Occasionally I tried some other Ontario spots – Killarney, Temagami – but I always came back to Algonquin.  Still, I kept hearing about this other park, spoken of almost reverentially as a “real wilderness park,” and the true test of skill and stamina – Quetico.  But in those days it was just a fantasy – “Maybe one of these days …”

By my early 20’s I had hit the road travelling in the States, mostly living in Arizona and California.  Canoeing wasn’t on the agenda – too many other diversions to catch a young man’s fancy.  By the time I returned to Toronto I was 36 with hips so badly damaged by arthritis that I could barely get my socks on by myself much less take a canoe into the bush.  Around that time I met the woman who soon became my wife.  Interestingly she had a history in her youth of canoeing as well.  But given my arthritic condition canoeing was not something we shared together and never spoke much about it.

In 2005 I had the second of two hip replacement surgeries.  Three months after the surgery my wife and I rented a cabin, which just happened to be 20 minutes from the East Gate of Algonquin Park.  We decided to do a day trip.  We rented a canoe and paddled Lake Opeongo.  We loved it.  The next day we did another day trip and the next and the next.  It was like waking from a deep sleep and remembering something wonderful that had been long forgotten.  And the best part was, my wife and I were doing it together.

For four summers after that we rented a ranger cabin in the interior of Algonquin.  This was a primitive and very basic cabin left over from the 1920’s and the days when the park rangers would patrol the interior for months at a time and use these cabins as layovers.  For four summers we recovered our old paddling and woodcraft skills until we felt ready for the full monty – a 3 week trip into mythic Quetico.

Our Quetico trip was spectacular and an absolute success.   It began with a stop in Thunder Bay where we picked up our shiny new Bell Northstar.   We put in at Nym and did a loop through Jesse, Jean, Sturgeon, Russell, the B chain, Pickerel and out at French.   It is a beautiful park, very much like Algonquin with its mix of conifer and deciduous forest and pristine lakes teeming with Smally, Pike, Walleye and Laker.  But, even though Quetico has far less canoe traffic than Algonquin, we were still looking for something even more secluded. 

The next year we decided to do our 3-week trip in Wabakimi.  One of the great things about Wabakimi is that it is accessible by train.  We discovered the sheer pleasure of taking a berth and riding the Canadian for 24 hours each way, to and from the park.  After riding the train my wife and I were certain that we would never drive to a canoeing destination again (although, admittedly, “never” is a long time.)  Wabakimi is very different from parks to the south like Quetico and Algonquin.  It is part of the Boreal forest ecology and therefore exclusively coniferous (except for some Birch.)  It is also a region that is susceptible to forest fires, which can leave vast stretches of the park denuded of trees and very barren and bleak.  Still, it has a stark beauty all its own that we found strangely alluring.  What we didn’t like was paddling for days and working our way into the park’s interior only to find motorboats from the fishing lodges that are fixtures of the park.  The fishing lodges, and there are a great many scattered all about the park, were there for decades before the park existed and are, therefore, considered a part of the landscape.  That may be, but for us it was the one major turn off in an otherwise outstanding trip. 

I had heard about Woodland Caribou from folks like Wayne (Denton Doc) on this site and was intrigued.  It sounded like it had all the wonder and seclusion of Wabakimi with far less boat and lodge traffic.  According to Harlan (Schwartz) who owns and operates Red Lake Outfitters, there aren’t any lodges to speak of south of the Bloodvein.  So last year we did 22 days in WCPP.  It was the best trip of our lives.  The campsites were wonderful, the lakes small and friendly (I’m getting too old for paddling great windswept expanses) and the fishing out of this world.  We’re heading back for a second 3-week trip this summer that we expect will be even better than the last.

That’s my story.  And to think … I owe it all to my orthopedic surgeon!

My Pop had a rough patch in his career during the early years he might have taken me.  He could never get it done, but my brother, who'd been shown the way took me when I was 15.  We did a trip out of Mudro lake in the BWCA, and he kept saying, it's wilder on the other side.  It's better.  etc.. But, we were on a budget and this side was definitely cheaper, if only by a little, so I did that for a few years.  When I was in my 20s I finally went to Quetico, and that has remained my destination of choice ever since.

For me, it started with a trip in Northern Wisconsin, with the Scouts, in the 1980s.  Then the desire went dormant for a decade, until I completed my Bachelor's.  That following summer I went to work for Northern Tier, and had one of the happiest summers of my life. In subsequent summers, I took trips in the Atikaki Wilderness Park in Manitoba.  I lok forward to each season when I can return to Manitoba for one more trip. 

For me it was in 1968, a trip to the BWCA, as a reward for working at a YMCA camp in Wisconsin for the whole summer.  A few trips here to the BW over the years. Until I moved to northern MN in 2000.  Then I began tripping to the BW 4-5 times each summer.
I began to feel crowded with all the people so, in 2005, I did a solo trip to the Q.  Wow, what a difference, saw only two or three groups in 5 days.  I thought that was great.  Also, a trip to Atikokan is the same distance as Ely for me, so I have a choice.
I began reading about WCPP in about 2009, and did my first trip there in 2010.  I have found I love it up there.  Why?  Probably the solitude, fishing and the remoteness, all strike me as what I'm looking for.  Last year,I didn't get to go, but have two trips in the works for this year.  I will be going solo for one of the trips, and may take a friend to introduce him to the area.  Though I now prefer solo trips.
All the areas have something to offer, but right now, WCPP is my favorite.  I get the true feeling of wilderness up there, and sometimes its difficult to find the portages.  I think its the feeling of being totally alone that intrigues me.