10 Suggestions for Routes (Read 6514 times)
Liberator_44
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Suggestions for Routes
Dec 28th, 2009 at 6:20pm
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Hi all,
I hope this is the right area (and am allowed) to ask; I have spent the last few weeks reading all I could on this board and it is great!  I am planning for a summer 2010 BWCA trip and I am a huge "researcher" (my wife would say that I am an anal worry-wort!)  I am the "lead contact" person for this trip, which means I get to call the shots  Wink.  So at the moment, I am looking at possible routes.

--We will have 6 people on this trip, 4 adults and 2 early teens. 
--We are looking at 5-7 days.
--I am the only one with a decent amount of canoe experience (the others do have some, but I would still classify them as advanced beginners). 
--Everyone does have lots of camping/backpacking experience (~20-30 weekends a year, including the teens).
--We would probably prefer to leave out of Ely, but could do others.  I have a cabin near Grand Rapids that we will be staying at pre and post trip, so proximity is really the only reason we are looking at Ely.
--We are looking at either early June or early August (leaning towards June).  We are all college instructors, so August is getting close to return week for us, and I think we would all enjoy the experience more if we dont have a rushed feeling the entire time!
--I have not chosen an outfitter yet (I plan to communicate with a few right after New Years, and I am sure they can also suggest things, but I like to have a firm grasp of things ahead of time.)  They will have a lot of input, but I figure members of this board may have some ideas I may also want to consider.
--All groups will be renting canoes, EXCEPT for 1.  They have 14 ft Wenonah Fisherman (Royalex) that they love (and need to use for financial reasons).  What this means is, if possible, to avoid any long-haul upstream paddles.
--While all the group enjoys fishing, 2 of us (myself included) will pretty much be doing nothing BUT fishing.  Order of preference for fish would be northern, smallmouth, walleye (dont care about lakers).
--Small, secluded, private, great fishing lakes would be the best (isnt that what most people want!) Smiley  But small fishing lakes would be fine for us (so small lakes and fishing go above the secluded private part). 

That pretty much about covers it!  We arent too worried about the portages, as everyone in the group does a lot of backpacking in the mountains, with some fairly substantial packs at times.  While that could just be me, a couple 150-200 rod portages spread thru-out the week wont kill us, just make us all sleep a bit better!  I have done a 2.5 miler before in my search for that wilderness lake fishing experience, but would like to avoid that  Wink

Are there any routes you could suggest?  Even if an outfitter will pretty much give us their choices, I would still like to see the options (as I have about 6 months to kill before the trip  Sad  Thanks for any suggestions you can give!
  
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db
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Re: Suggestions for Routes
Reply #1 - Dec 29th, 2009 at 6:27am
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Hello Liberator,

I'd recommend picking up one or both books by Robert Beymer,
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Eastern Region
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Western Region

They contain a ton of routes that are all described in a consistent manner so it's easy to compare options and you may get more help here after narrowing things down a bit.

Don't forget the (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links).

Oh, and one more post would provide you with access to the trip reports forum. Might be something useful in there.
  
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Spartan2
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Re: Suggestions for Routes
Reply #2 - Dec 29th, 2009 at 12:01pm
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Hi Liberator.

db's advice above is all right on.  (of course it is, he is in charge here!   Wink  )

You may not get a lot of BWCA advice on this forum, since most of the regulars are Quetico people.  And I won't be of a lot of help when it comes to fishing, as we have many BW trips but we don't fish!  Also, for the past couple of decades we have really preferred the Gunflint side of the park.

As to your time of year, if you can tolerate a few bugs I think June is a great time for a group of teacher-types to get away (a retired teacher here) for a variety of reasons, and you will find the park less crowded and less trampled by far in June than in August.  The down side is that if you want to swim, the water is colder, obviously.

The Beymer books are a great resource.  They describe the portages in limited detail, give paddling mileage, and outline many different possibilities of loops and routes.  While we have probably never done a route from one of the books exactly as shown, they are a great research tool for planning.

The very popular Lake One, Hudson, Insula, Alice route is popular for a reason.  The lakes are beautiful, the portages are short, and there are options to head off to other wonderful spots (Boulder, Adams,) or even up to Gabi.  Moose Lake entry and heading up to Knife is another popular possibility.

For small lakes, we have enjoyed the Gunflint entry points of Poplar/Lizz, East Bearskin, Clearwater which give access to loops with beautiful small lakes.  Also, Cross River and heading down to Gordon and Cherokee (my personal favorite spot.)  And, while we haven't done the Little Indian Sioux personally, we have friends who say that is their favorite route, and the small lakes in the vicinity of Ge-be-on-e-quet, just south of Lac la Croix are also very beautiful and can be quite secluded in June.

If you do a second post here, you will have access, as db said, to trip reports.  Also, if you go to bwca.com there are many trip reports posted for trips into the bwca and those may give you some good ideas.  Lots of fishermen there, too.

Have fun with your planning!  Best wishes for a great trip in 2010!

  
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Liberator_44
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Re: Suggestions for Routes
Reply #3 - Dec 29th, 2009 at 5:24pm
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Thanks Guys!  I just found the bwca board yesterday, so spent a good 4 hours or so reading many of the trip reports.  I will definitely look at those books.  I have known all about the lottery, but sometimes it is hard to get my other members of the group on top of things *grumble, grumble*  I think at this point, I am ready to just make the arrangements and whoever wants to go, can!  I love June in MN; we used to visit our cabin in August every year, but it could be hot, the lake was a lot weedier, and fishing was tougher (at least for me out in the rowboat!)  I lived in Minneapolis a few years and started to come up all thru the summer and decided late May/early June was my favorite time.  Thanks again for the info!
  
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Ancient_Angler
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Re: Suggestions for Routes
Reply #4 - Dec 30th, 2009 at 8:17pm
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Liberator:

I'm gonna hate myself for this. Here I give away a secret.

From Shade Lake (just west of Agnes) take two portages into Yum Yum Lake. Good fishing for smallmouth and pike at Yum Yum, and some monster lakers if you want a prime time fish bake. Lay over at Yum Yum and them come back out. Should meet the length of your desired stay. And if you want a couple of rugged portages, take Yum Yum Portage into Kashashapiwi, then the portage out of Kashashawipi to the south and back to Prairie Portage. 

If you want more detail, send me a PM.

Tim

P.S. No longer a university faculty type. I retired. Best job I ever had, though you never get a day off.
  
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DentonDoc
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Re: Suggestions for Routes
Reply #5 - Dec 30th, 2009 at 10:05pm
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L-44

The suggestion above is for Quetico rather than BWCA (but I would concur with the provided description).

dd

p.s. Hoping to "graduate" soon!
  
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Ancient_Angler
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Re: Suggestions for Routes
Reply #6 - Dec 31st, 2009 at 2:18am
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Denton Doc is right. And I did not read the question carefully before I answered. When students did that ^%&*$^! Made me so angry!

Tim
  
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Liberator_44
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Re: Suggestions for Routes
Reply #7 - Dec 31st, 2009 at 4:08am
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HAHA!  Sometimes it is amazing when I hear fellow teachers complain about students, only to turn around and do the same thing!  Thanks, Tim, for making me laugh as I was writing syllabi for Spring.

Even though I wont be making a Q trip with this group, I hope to do so very soon with some others.  So I will stow that info for then! 

As I keep researching, I find their is always just one more entry point to look up and consider; it will probably be worse when I am out there and it is "One more lake!  Just a short portage away!  Come on guys, keep up!"  lol
  
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db
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Re: Suggestions for Routes
Reply #8 - Dec 31st, 2009 at 7:56am
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Wait a minute, I always thought that besides the politics that would be a real cushy job we were all students! If not, stick a fork in me.  Kiss

I like August a lot lately. The liven is easy and all you guys are back at work. No?
  
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Liberator_44
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Re: Suggestions for Routes
Reply #9 - Dec 31st, 2009 at 5:24pm
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Ah yes db, we ARE all students on this winding road of learning that we call life.  Its just as doctors can make the worst patients, teachers can make the worst students!  And dont even start on educational politics!

So to keep on subject and improve my learnin', is there a good map overlay that shows burn areas?  I was looking at an area last night, only to learn that it was toast from the Ham Lake fire.
  
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