Hello all. For my 2022 trip, my 5th trip to Quetico, I have about 20-21 days of canoeing possible, in the last 3 weeks of August. I’ve never been to the southern part of Quetico, except for Shade Lake and Kahshahpiwi.

I’ll be entering from French Lake, heading south through Sturgeon, down the Maligne River to Tanner Lake, then into the Darkwater (aka Darky) River. From here, I’d like to get east to Kahshahpiwi, but there are so many route options in this section. Travelling solo, in good health, and average to above average shape, male, 57 years old. Fishing only occasionally, so that’s not a factor/attraction.

I realize it’s a huge area, but…Are there some lakes in this area that are so pleasant that I must not miss them? Cliffs? Pictographs? Just lovely spots? Any highlights? If you had 5-6 days to traverse the area, what would you recommend?

Current thinking: Wicksteed-Darkwater-Brent-McIntyre-Paulene-Marj-Joyce-Kahshahpiwi….but the small lakes between Argo and McIntyre are calling my name, too.

---

Here are a couple of my trip reports that cover some of the same areas you want to visit. Maybe they can give you some ideas?  If you don't have a Chrismar Adventure map for Quetico Park, get one.
If choice between McKenzie/Fisher maps and Chrismar for portage locations/distance, Go with the Chrismar  ;)

  (You need to Login or Register

  (You need to Login or Register

  (You need to Login or Register

Thank you, solotripper. Yes, I have the Chrismar map. That’s the one in the photo. It has never let me down…well, it has only let me down once, due to the scale.

I’m currently looking at the burn intensity map from 2021 to help me plan.   (You need to Login or Register

And I’m going to brew up a nice cup of tea and start reading your reports. Thanks again.

---

They update their Adventure maps on a regular basis for those who use the Chrismar map.

My current one is from 2014. The one I linked to is from 2021. I'll be ordering that.

Thank you for the reports. I’ve changed my itinerary based on the burn map, location of pictographs, topography, and solotripper’s comments such as, ‘this is a lake I’d like to base camp on.’

My new route will be Minn-McAree-Black Robe portage to lac La Croix to see pictographs and climb Warrior Hill-
Then Bottle Lake- Iron Lk stop at Rebecca Falls- Curtain Falls-Crooked- Argo Lake either via single 950m portage, or through the Roland Lakes-
Cone-Elk-Hurn-Ted (more pictos)-
Fishhook/Earl -McIntyre-
Sarah-Side-Kahshahpiwi

I’m assuming if I stray into American waters or cross Bottle Rapids stream to get a better photo I won’t be tackled by Homeland Security agents hiding behind trees, right?  :-?

Quote:

I’m assuming if I stray into American waters or cross Bottle Rapids stream to get a better photo I won’t be tackled by Homeland Security agents hiding behind trees, right?  Huh

No problem. Just tell the HS agents that you IDENTIFY as an American and they'll let you slide.  ;) ;D ;D

I think you'd enjoy going thru the Roland Lakes vs that long slog into Argo?

Free navigation along the border.

Enjoy your trip. Should be a great route. Love the lakes from Argo to McIntyre, though the fire may make some of the portages and campsites problematic

As Solotripper notes route through the Rolands is quite pretty. The eastern most portage between Argo and Crooked has recently been a short portage into a pond choked with standing timber followed by a mid-length carry into Argo. Easy the last time I took it. Terrible the time before that (18" of fresh snow).

One suggestion is to consider the route out of the north end of Sarah into Kahshahpiwi. Very pretty and relatively untraveled. Irene has a really nice camp (figures prominently in Solotrippers trek of woe) in the middle of the route. Also features the tallest trees I've seen in the park on the portages between Irene and unnamed and unnamed to Kahshahpiwi.

Thank you for the suggestions.

I was just joking about the border. I know my history haha:

"It being understood that all the water-communications, and all the usual portages along the line from Lake Superior to the Lake of the Woods; and also Grand Portage, from the shore of Lake Superior to the Pigeon river, as now actually used, shall be free and open to the use of the citizens and subjects of both countries."

I guess my decision on which of the three ways of accessing Argo from Crooked will depend on the state of the burn. The Roland areas  was within the burn zone, but looks only mildly affected, so I’ll probably try that. The topography looks spectacular through there.

I had thought to check out Ted lake, to see some pictographs, but it looks moderately to severely affected, as is Fishhook/Earl, so I’ll either skirt this whole area by heading south via Cone-Elk-to Gardner Bay-Bart-Craig-Robinson-Tuck-Sarah or get advice closer to my travel date from park staff. They’ll likely know by then the state of portages through the burn zone.

I’ll definitely check out Irene lake. The lone campsite on the lake looks to be on the unburned side of the lake. And Google earth is showing some lovely cliffs en route to Kahshahpiwi.

Thanks again

Being flexible and having a few different routes planned is the key.

You have 20-21 days that should give you time to maybe a few camp days on lakes you love and spend other days just getting thru ones that are less than you want to spend time in.

Hopefully the weather won't be so hot that it becomes a problem and worrying about staying hydrated is becomes a focus and not just a part of the routine.

I've seen the recent Q burn map and began thinking about times in the past when I'd make it a point to visit certain burn areas I heard about - some were recent - some were older - some were stumbled upon. I don't know of any easy comparisons I can point to on a map but I've seen places with unusual beauty that became basically impenetrable after a few years.

Part of me says wait until you hear more but the other part thinks - be this kid.

  (You need to Login or Register

While the analogy is far from perfect, I hope you understand the spirit I'm trying to convey. Ya never know.

Yup, I've seen burn areas that after a winter/spring the wildflowers were blooming and the green a greening.

That kid is enjoying the moment and making the best of what there is. I try to channel that every trip but as you get older it's so much harder to do.

BEWARE!!!!!

You need to do a lot of research into the 2021 Fires in Quetico.

The whole middle of the park has been burned.  The "death march" is dead.   Kashapiwi Creek at the Kawnipi outlet is toast; Cutty creek at Eag and Cub is toast - I assume everything south of there is also blackened.  Call the Atikokan office and discuss your proposed route as to its feasibility - they do have a fire map that they showed me.  Imagine a map of Quetico spread out flat and then a can of ink is dumped onto the center of the map and spreads out to cover the middle "half" of the pack and you get the idea.  Maybe you can find a link to the map online ?    I changed my route a couple of times - had planned on going Cutty creek to Cutty/Sark/Trant/AgnesMurdoch - blew that off after I hit Eag.  The ground has been burned so that there is not much holding up the trees, especially those shallow rooted ones on rock - better sharpen your saw too.  And the burned ground is treacherous with holes where roots have burned out and a consistency like grease where its wet.  The Northern half of the park was untouched - better to route thru there.  Not sure about the border lakes.

On the tropic of fire, there is a small island in western Beaverhouse which was burned in 2013.  Approximately, one half of the island was burned.  My wife and I have visited the island over the years since the fire.  In the first year or two the under brush and flowers were coming back.  Some of the larger pines trees appeared damaged, but looked as if they were going to survive.  Last year was a severe drought.  When we saw the island this year, the larger trees which I thought were going to make it had died.  The combination of a fire followed by a drought were too much for the trees.  The island this year looked worse than it did 2 years after the fire.

Mad_Mat wrote on Jun 20^th, 2022 at 5:59pm:

BEWARE!!!!! You need to do a lot of research into the 2021 Fires in Quetico. The whole middle of the park has been burned.  The "death march" is dead.   Kashapiwi Creek at the Kawnipi outlet is toast; Cutty creek at Eag and Cub is toast - I assume everything south of there is also blackened.  Call the Atikokan office and discuss your proposed route as to its feasibility - they do have a fire map that they showed me.  Imagine a map of Quetico spread out flat and then a can of ink is dumped onto the center of the map and spreads out to cover the middle "half" of the pack and you get the idea.  Maybe you can find a link to the map online ?    I changed my route a couple of times - had planned on going Cutty creek to Cutty/Sark/Trant/AgnesMurdoch - blew that off after I hit Eag.  The ground has been burned so that there is not much holding up the trees, especially those shallow rooted ones on rock - better sharpen your saw too.  And the burned ground is treacherous with holes where roots have burned out and a consistency like grease where its wet.  The Northern half of the park was untouched - better to route thru there.  Not sure about the border lakes.

Yeah, looking at the burn map it looks like that area around Eag and Cub was among the most severely burned areas, along with Alice to Montgomery and Shelley

  (You need to Login or Register

I’ve seen the north of the park and it’s easy for me to access. I won’t have too many opportunities to see the south, so I’m set on it this year.

I’ll skirt most of the burn.  From Sturgeon I’ll go down the Maligne and pass through Tanner, which has all burned. Not too keen on that, but there is just a single very short portage there (de Roche Grenovilleus).

Minn and McAree are burned on their east sides. I’ll likely take Crooked eastward and detour into Argo for a look-see (southwest bay is burned, north shore is slightly burned).

Robinson, Tuck, and Sarah are burned on one side only. And McIntyre looks like it got off lightly. So it looks like a passage through there is possible. From Sarah to Side and Kahshahpiwi, or via Irene if it’s not too badly burned there.

From Kahshahpiwi northward, it looks like there is a swath of unburned land that will allow a passage to Keats. The only problem will be the 170m to Heronshaw and the nearby 160m to Metacryst. After that it looks like the 340m to the lake between Meta and Baird is unburned, the 190m to Baird looks iffy, but the 730 to Keats is unburned.

Of course I’ll check with the park staff first. But I wanna also be that Dutch kid.  8-)

"From Kahshahpiwi northward, it looks like there is a swath of unburned land that will allow a passage to Keats. The only problem will be the 170m to Heronshaw and the nearby 160m to Metacryst. After that it looks like the 340m to the lake between Meta and Baird is unburned, the 190m to Baird looks iffy, but the 730 to Keats is unburned."

that was my route in reverse (after Keats and Sark that is) - it should all be passable now unless there is a big windstorm.  Unnamed to Baird, look for the tunnel I cut in that big windrow.  I cut detours around the blowdowns on the other portages.

Mad_Mat wrote on Jun 24^th, 2022 at 9:29pm:

Unnamed to Baird, look for the tunnel I cut in that big windrow.  I cut detours around the blowdowns on the other portages.

Outstanding! I’ll keep an eye out for the ‘tunnel’.  You’re my portage hero.  Definitely bringing my bigger saw with me this time.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help. I had a busy trip. I was too tired to go to Argo, and benefited from some tailwinds on Sturgeon and calm waters on Crooked, so in total it was 17 days (2 rest days) instead of 20 that I forecast.

French-Pickerel-Dore-Sturgeon-Maligne River-Minn-McAree-Lac La Croix-Iron-Crooked-Robinson-Tuck-Sarah-unnamed-unnamed-unnamed-Irene-unnamed-unnamed-Kahshahpiwi-Keefer-Sark-Cairn-K Creek-Shelley-Keats-Chatterton-Russell-Sturgeon-Dore-Pickerel-French.

What are the chances that I would end up meeting Solus! Had a great chat and learned a lot about the park from this generous soul.

I’ll write up a report when I get back home.

Looking forward to your trip report and some pictures [smiley=cool.gif] [smiley=cool.gif]

Glad you had a good trip! That's a lot of ground covered, maybe one day I'll be able to piece together two weeks. Longest so far was 8 nights. Following to hear more and see some pictures

I've always wanted to get to cutty creek and camel lake which looks to have suffered pretty badly as well