Hi everyone,

So my family and I are going to Quetico for the 3rd time July 31- to Aug. 7th. I don't know about you but a week just isnt enough so I was planing on staying another 4 to 5 weeks soloing. The problem is I don't know where I should go.

Were going in at Nym Lake and I will be paddling back so they can be picked up so that would be my starting point. I then would like to do a big loop, I can be picked up either at Nym, Beaver House, or Staton Bay.

Does anyone have some suggestions on a loop? I would like it to be a loop that would allow time to stay at some of the sites for 2 days. I want to cover some distance but not make it a marathon, and finally try to visit less traveled interior areas.

Any suggestions?
Thanks!

Originally Posted by: Ben Strege

I'm a bit jealous  With that kind of time, you can see pretty much everything. On your travel days, how far do you want to go? How about portages - would the "Death March" portages going into Delahey be a problem?

Thanks

What about something like this? - Poet Chain, Namakan River

Or this one - Poet Chain, Sturgeon, Jesse

I figure if you are going to be in the park that long, you have to pass through Delahey, which is the center of the park. The poet chain is also nice (Russell, Chatterton, Keats, Shelley) with some good falls to view along the way.

On the first link, Lac La Croix and the Namakan River aren't in the park per se, but still would probably be worth it. Chris Hoepker wrote a trip report in which they go up the Namakan. Since you leave the park on this loop, you may have to stop at the Lac La Croix ranger station to pick up another permit to reenter, but I'm not really sure how this would all work. You could call the ranger station to find out. The only issue I potentially see is wind on Lac La Croix. The other one goes through Delahey but then swings up to Sturgeon and Jesse to avoid Lac La Croix. On this one, you may have an issue going upstream to Sturgeon (depending on water levels). You could reverse these routes, but then you would have wind issues on Pickerel, Cirrus, etc.

On these routes, I assumed 16 travel days at 4 hours per day at most. So there is a lot of leeway.

Originally Posted by: SmileAlways.net

Is there anything along that route that I should for sure check out?

I've done a lot of that route during different trips, but I haven't been on the whole thing. Knowing that, this is a short list:

• Chatterton Falls on Russell
• Snake Falls on Keats
• Never been there myself, but you could try to find the Montgomery Creek pictographs
• The Olive Jar cache on Delahey
• I hear there are some good pictographs on Cirrus

I've never done a trip that long, but if I had to guess for myself, I could probably carry all of my food in one or two packs. I don't eat much, though.

Resupplying would mean you don't have to carry one month's worth of food with you. You can also be resupplied with fresh (or at least "fresher") food. For example, we always bring bread and cheese, but that only stays good for a little over a week. After a week or two, without resupplying, you basically would be eating MRE-type food for the rest of the month.

On my first trip to the Quetico when I was 12 years old, I met a lady who had been there for 30 days. The longest she had ever been out was 90 days. She grew sprouts for food. From what I remember (it was a long time ago), I think she said she didn't eat much fish. Fish is an option but not a guaranteed meal.

Something to think about if doing the Death March:  Campsites on Delahey are sparse.  There is one great camp on one of the islands that holds the olive jar.  My group pushed a long day into Delahey from the north planning to base there 2 days. Then we were going to go out through the Death March on fresh legs and lighter packs.  The island site was taken by "researchers" that summer.  We made a small site on the eastern shore of Delahey.  It was that or go back a couple lakes.  The Death March is a long walk through a couple beaver ponds and was pretty well maintained.  There are abundant campsites on the Conmee side of the march.  The farther to the interior you go the less established campsites get.  That can be good or bad depending on your preference.

Originally Posted by: BillConner

My food is in the 3+ pounds per day range. I hear of people who get to 1 1/2 pounds - I'm not interested. So the last 16 days is between 24 and 50+ pounds you have to carry the first 16 days. Pretty simple. I go for leisure and enjoyment, and don't have anything to prove to myself or others, and would enjoy the fresh food resupply and not having an extra portage round-trip for 16 days. And a few almost cold beers after 16 days would be nice.

Thanks for the insight,

Josh