Re: Route ideas

Keep in mind, we were definitely not experienced canoers, but a collection of 4 middle aged men, and 4 15 year old boys, so I'm sure you will be able to travel faster and farther than we did. We got a very late start on day one, getting to prairie portage at noon. The ranger made us wait until she had lunch before she would process our paperwork, so it was almost 2pm before we headed out toward Bailey Bay. By that time the wind was up, and it was a pretty hairy adventure crossing the big water there! We had planned to make it around the point to the (easier)portage into Burke Lake, but had been warned that if it was whitecapping (which it was) that we should consider going to the east of the point to (the longer and more unpleasant)North Portage into Sunday Lake, which we did. We paddled on to the far (east) end of Sunday and found a great island campsite not far from our first portage the next morning. It was fairly late by then (around 6pm I think}. We were always late getting started (9-10am usually), because the boys always wanted a morning campfire and a fairly elaborate breakfast...something I would not do if traveling there again. Every day the water was glassy until shortly after noon when the big winds would howl out of the west (pays to travel early}. Next morning we made it through the two portages into Agnes. I think the outfitter called these the twin agonies (meadows portages). Neither is really that bad but after portaging 160 rods on the first one, you put into Meadows Lake and paddle about 2 minutes to the next 140 rod portage, which makes it SEEM bad, but that put us into Agnes. A short paddle later, on the east bank is Louisa Falls which was great. We got into the pool at the bottom and let the water beat on our tired shoulders (like a very chilly hot tub {is that an oxymoron?})...felt great! We left there around noon and paddled the entire length of Agnes, getting into camp very late again somewhere near the east branch of the Agnes River. Long day! Next day we went up the river through Anubis. This was the only place where we lost our way for a short while. We failed to head west toward Rose Island, and instead, went a short distance toward McKensie Bay. We began not recognizing landmarks on the map and knew we had missed a turn somewhere. About that time a storm blew up, so we pulled over on an island, put on our raingear and all but me and one of the other dad's fell asleep. He and I walked around part of the shoreline with the map and found landmarks we could identify on the map, figuring out where we had gone wrong(we also came across a BIG blueberry patch on a slope above some cliffs and ate our fill while we were there). When the storm blew over, we rousted everyone and headedsouth again and turned west toward Rose Island, camping on the southern shore of Kawnipi. That night, my son and I and 2 others were sitting on a rock outcropping around 10pm, stargazing when all of a sudden the northern lights started putting on a show...something we will never forget! (the only night we saw them). That may be old hat to Minnesotans, but for a boy like me, growing up in Mobile Alabama and living in Nashville most of my life, it was quite an experience! We only paddled a couple of miles the next day, needing some rest, again camping somewhere on Kawnipi. Next day we headed south past Rose Island through some short portages and a couple unnamed lakes back into Agnes, hugging the western shore to try staying out of the wind. This time we went about half way down the lake and turned west into Silence Lake, camping somewhere around there that night. Next day, we went through Silence to Sultry, Summer, Noon, and Shade Lakes, through another unnamed lake into North Bay, where we camped on our last night. That was probably my favorite day...through the smaller lakes and streams, although we had a hard time finding an unoccupied campsite in North Bay. We did find a very good one on an Island however. Next day we went back through Burke to Bailey Bay and on to Prairie Portage where we got a tow back to the outfitter. An awesome trip, although some in our group were bummed about all the hard work involved. Truthfully, next year I will allow more time for just relaxing and fishing, but I would not take a million dollars in exchange for the experience we had.

Sorry to be so long-winded, but I got a little carried away re-living the experience! Hope this helps you.

Posted by bill on January 08, 2000 at 12:23

In reply to: Re: Route ideas posted by Meg on January 07, 2000 at 19:36
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