Jimbo wrote on Sep 1^st, 2020 at 2:18pm:

Just call me "Billy."

dd

pine_knot wrote on Sep 2^nd, 2020 at 3:20am:

There are some "albums" that provided a collection from different time periods, but thanks for the enlightenment (since I have essentially zero experience in the BWCAW).

From the sounds of it, looks like this trip has arrived none too soon.  Hope your stay on the big water brings you some chill.  Bon Voyage!   

Maybe Pk can learn something from this guy who refused to let this Red Squirrel intimidate him. 

Red squirrel raises its paw in defeat rather than risk getting impaled by this feisty Woodpecker.

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

db wrote on Sep 2^nd, 2020 at 7:20pm:


A few years back I was over on Keats on a day trip from my camp on McDougall.  My paddling partner suggested we eyeball that portage as a "shortcut" back to camp.  One glimpse at it was enough for me to "wave the white flag", even though all we had with us was the empty Kevlar canoe & a little fishing gear. 

Maybe I would have tackled it as a "challenge" in my youth.  Maybe.  We did crazy stuff like that back then, pre-double-level back fusion, pre-full hip replacement.  I'm thinking doing the Keats-to-McDougall portage would have brought those surgeries on a few years earlier.  Unnecessarily, too, considering the alternative route back includes the Chatterton-to-McDougall portage, one of the easiest in the entire park (though Three Mile Lake-to-Wolsely is probably even easier).

By my reckoning, Keats-to-McDougall appeared to be one of Quetico's classic "billy goat" trails.  I'd put Poohbah-to-Wink in that category, too, along with half-a-dozen others of that ilk that we tackled in our bygone years. 

Thanks, but I'll pass on those, going forward....

Kudos to DD... but me-thinks HE may have left a few too many pieces of HIS mind out in the park, too.

Jimbo   

Gotta love a challenge!  I've done both of those...back to back once, even.  We did McDougall into Keats coming at it from the tame end with absolutely no prior knowledge of what awaited us at the far side - ignorance is bliss, they say!  I gotta say I didn't realize HOW steep that was until I got to the bottom and looked up. Oh...and no rope.  Glad it wasn't raining too.  Seems I've blocked most of the Baird portage from memory - they say the mind will do that with traumatic events.   

Now...where's my coat with the sleeves that buckle in the back....

pd