Discussion: BWCA

I only went there once, on a 10-day (?) canoe/camping trip, but it sure was memorable. I'm sure your kids will love your summer trip, too (even if it's not in Minnesota :-).

I *thought* you might have something to say about canoeing in Minnesota! :-)

If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch. 'Bent and I were engaged and married in Algonquin Park, and our honeymoon was a canoe trip up there. Tip: Arrange for a lightweight canoe and practise your portaging to see if you can do it in a single trip. The best way to leave the crowds behind is to choose a route that involves as little as one significant portage away from the road. ("Significant" starts around 1.5 km, but the crowds really thin out when a portage gets to 3 km.)

Thanks! We're thinking of starting from the Brent put-in, mostly because a friend of mine is starting from there. It looks like potential for a nice combination of lake and river canoeing. Before now I've done these canoe trips in Quetico/BWCA, and it's been mostly lakes, not rivers. We're considering doing Nipissing River - High Falls - Burntroot L - Catfish Lake - Petawawa River - back to Cedar Lake. What do you think?

Sorry for the delay - I wanted to dig out my "Canoe Routes of Algonquin Park" map to check out your proposed route, which overlaps a portion of our honeymoon trip!

That is a nice mix of twisty rivers and larger lakes, giving you the full Algonquin experience. By starting at Brent, you will avoid crowds, since most people start their trips from Hwy 60 or along the western side of the map. We saw moose every day up there in early September. The weather should be perfect in late August, and the mosquitoes shouldn't bother you except in swampy areas or around sunset. A couple of caveats:

1) The Nipissing River is a long haul because it's so twisty (which also makes it fun and good for wildlife viewing). You spend a lot of energy steering instead of pushing yourself forward. You'd be going against the current, but that wouldn't be much of a factor except at the odd beaver dam that you might need to lift over. There are long stretches of river without any campsites, and there is the risk of arriving at an anticipated campsite to find that it is already occupied. With adults, you could push on for another few miles. With kids, it might be harder - although your kids seem to have great attitudes toward life.

2) That route has 20 portages, with a couple around the 2K mark. If you aren't sure that your family can carry everything across in a single trip, this could start to feel more like a hiking trip than a canoe trip! In fact, it still might seem like a lot of portaging, depending on how many days you have for the trip.

You know your kids and what they're OK with. I know some adults who would have trouble with this trip (mental and physical), but I would do it in a heartbeat - and I'd love it!

Yes - I would definitely have planned a less strenuous trip if it weren't for the meeting-up-with-friends thing. And so the first pass plan was to do their route backward. Maybe we should portage out from Nipissing into Catfish, and just hang out in Catfish longer, skipping Burntroot. Burntroot could be the draw for a future trip.

One nice thing about meeting up on the Nipissing, were it to go as planned, would be that our friends would have reserved a second site next to ours, so that if they didn't make it there would be more room for other travelers, and if they did make it we could always double up with them in an emergency. But maybe the second Nipissing night is not necessary.

Thanks for the excellent advice!

Oh. That was me barb posting above and this one.
PDF map.

Most campsites in Algonquin are big enough for a few tents to share, so you could probably just double up with your friends. The maximum per campsite is supposed to be 9 people. You don't reserve a specific site number - usually just by lake or river name, which leaves some uncertainty as to where you will end up.

If you do go down to Catfish, one thing we like to do is to set up a base camp for a couple of nights, then make day trips, e.g. to Burntroot Lake. You move faster and have more time for exploring if you don't have to pack and carry all your stuff each day. You just need a couple of daypacks with lunch, jackets and basic safety gear. I could send you a JPG of the topo map near your base camp and you could do a little rogaine practice with the kids!

Oo, great ideas.

Now, what scale is your topo map? I ordered & received a nice one; 2 miles to the inch, 25m contours.

We just checked out the area in Google Earth. Sweet. I know just what island on Catfish I want to end up on. With enough nights in Catfish we ought to be able to get it for one or two at least.

Any recommendations on outfitters? Will want mostly good (light) canoes and some voyageur packs.

And maybe a stove.

Our standard topo maps in Ontario are 1:50,000, so each kilometer = 2 cm. Contours are usually 10 meters or 50', depending on the age of the map. It sounds like I could get you a bit more detail once you know the area where you will be. I just have the topo map software, so I'd be sending you a JPG or two that you could print as big as you like.

The outfitter at Brent is Algonquin Outfitters: http://www.algonquinoutfitters.com
It's not their main location, but I assume that they have the same lightweight canoes (if you reserve early enough). They offer different levels of outfitting, including stoves and even food, if you'd like to avoid that hassle. (It can be tough to cross the border with food.)

Thanks! I think we will do the Nipissing River - Catfish route, cutting off that section of Nipissing beyond Plumb Creek and making the long portage into Luckless Lake and on to Catfish. What awesome advice - thanks!!!

I'm jealous! Let me know as it gets closer, and I'll e-mail those maps to you.