Late Trip Report: Quetico 2019 - 7 Parts

[WonderMonkey]

Players
Me: Me
Mikey: My main outdoors buddy
BIL: Brother-in-law. Good guy.
Nephew: The main fisherman of the group. He prefers to catch and release. He's 27 at the trip's start and has a birthday along the way.

JS: A long-time friend of BIL and is extremely hard to communicate with. He can't stay on topic and, when posed with questions, answers with slightly related things. He has made a few Quetico trips in the past, so I would at one point defer to his experience, but this went away after a while. JS has made those trips with a group of people who own three canoes and stored them locally in Ely, MN. It has been about five years since his last journey.

JS's Son: A sophomore in HS. He is very lazy, and JS allows it.

Group: Overall, the group has some physical issues. Two have shoulders that should have surgery, which makes portaging and paddling painful, and one is a diabetic with an open wound on the pad of his foot. All this comes into play later.

Leave Day - Friday (8/30/2019) Six people were going on this trip. Two were in my Jeep (plus canoe), and four others were in another vehicle (truck). We were both able to get on the road and drive to Ely, MN, by 4 pm. We drove through the night, switching back and forth as drivers while the other vehicle stopped somewhere along the route and got a hotel. We arrived in Ely, MN, by 7:30 am on Saturday and felt reasonably rested due to the luck of timing and each being able to take some turns sleeping.

My BIL calls as we drive and reminds me that the canoe they are using is one from JS's group. OK, that sounds good. What I didn't know was that this group is currently on a trip and won't be able to return to Williams & Hall until Saturday. JS is using his canoe, and my BIL and nephew are using another of the groups.

Day 0 - Saturday (9/31, 2019): We arrived in Ely around 7:30 a.m., reasonably rested. We drove through the town and found Piragis, an outfitter and well-stocked outdoor store. Mikey and I went into the store to see what's up, and I picked up a pair of zip-off pants that I'm pleased to have purchased. I left my normal pair of adventure pants in the Jeep during the trip. We got a suggestion for breakfast, and we went to have it.
Since we have some time until the other group shows up, we drive to Williams & Hall to check it out. We do that and check in, and all is set up nicely. We confirm times for everything, and we also see if there is an earlier pick-up time for our tow back from Prairie Portage. There is, as of now, so I made a note to speak to the group about it. Mikey and I mess about and drive down some side roads to see lake access points.

I got a call from my BIL (driver of the other vehicle), who said that JS received a text from the group that was still on the water and that there was a problem with the yokes. This was the only text, and no more were received. I'm not sure how the text was sent from inside Quetico, but it was, and I'm sure it was by luck.

Since I was already in Ely, I returned to Piragis to see if they had yokes and equipment to cut them to length and drill the holes. They had blanks and installers, but no appointment could be set without knowing when the group would arrive or when the canoes could get to them. Piragis was more than accommodating and ready to do what was necessary.

The other group arrived, and I took them to Piragis to see what I had found. Since we didn't know the actual issue, all that could be done was theorize and put things in motion. While at Piragis, the on-the-water group returned to the outfitters and called JS. A yoke had cracked a bit. I assumed it was due to dry rot, but I had no idea at that time. They shored it up on the water with paracord. JS decided to go with their "repairs" and to use the boat as-is. This would prove to be a mistake. We ate lunch at a very nifty BBQ food truck in front of a grocery store, and we all headed to Williams & Hall to settle in, re-pack if necessary, and generally start to enjoy the trip.

At this point in the story, some were already stressed a bit. The drive, trying to get information from JS, the unknown of the canoe, etc., led to some being a bit cranky. The two of us who have more outdoor experience were fine, but I think the vastness of the adventure and the unknown caused a bit of apprehension. I understood.

 

[WonderMonkey]

Day 1 - Sunday (9/1/2019) The group woke up around 5:45 am to get all our stuff down to the dock and be at breakfast by 7:00 am. We were more than ready by 6:45 am. and luckily breakfast was starting to be so we finished up eating by 7:15 am. We got our tow (two boats) to Prairie Portage. The trip has begun!
We landed on the South side of Prairie Portage and did the group (as a group) very first portage. On the other side of the portage, I went into the Ranger station and let them know this was my first time and that I hoped I had done everything well. The two Rangers (male and female) were very helpful, and I had everything I needed, and I remembered a credit card for payment. One of the Rangers went to landing and gave the group an overview. I could tell that the Ranger was not a fan of hammocks and urged us to use buffer sticks between the straps and the trees.

Though I have my compass in the thwart bag, I prefer to use it as a backup and like to navigate by matching the terrain to my map. I'm unfamiliar with navigating on the water, so I wanted to practice. I thought I had figured out where we needed to go at our first decision point, but JS said something different. We paddled over to look at his map, but he said he didn't have one and was going by memory. Stunned, I deferred to what I was reading on the map, and we headed in the right direction.

The portage from Baylee Bay into Burke Lake was very easy. There was a sandy beach landing and a mostly flat and sandy trail.

The portage out of Burke Lake into some no-name lake wasn't challenging.

The portage from the no-name lake into North Bay was rocky and up and down, but other than the danger of slipping and falling, it wasn't too bad. If it had been wet, it would have been more difficult.

By the end of the portage into North Bay, some in the group were starting to show stress. Nobody was complaining, but though we did not have a "leader," I organized the trip and took it upon myself to pay attention to things and to speak up when I thought I needed to. A campsite on the upper part of North Bay was our minimum target. If it were reasonable to do so, I would have liked to get to Isabella to make the next day's trip much more relaxed. I could tell the group was not going to make it to Isabella, so I suggested that we decide to stay at a site in North Bay. All agreed. We headed off toward campsites 134 and 135, and Mikey and I checked out a few islands along the way.

Campsite 135 would have worked, but we were thinking of going over near Lost Bay to get further along our intended path. We headed out from the protected area of campsite 135 and started across the bay. The wind had picked up, and the waves were beginning to build, so I decided we would NOT cross the bay. We could have hugged the shoreline, but the sites we were at were "good enough." We decided to check campsite 588 and thought it would be best. While looking about, Mikey took a trail and found campsite 13A, which I liked better.

On campsite 13A, we set things up and then ate. That night, we sat on a large rock and watched the sky. There were minimal clouds that evening, and the sky really popped. We don't get that in our area of Ohio. While waiting for it to get dark, my nephew caught a few fish, which was the main reason he came on the trip.

While sitting on the rock, being quiet, and watching the sky, Mikey and I enjoyed three Nalgenes of beer we had picked up from a brewery near where I lived. We had sunk them in the lake when we arrived to cool them down a bit. We WERE going to save them and have one per night, but we got a bit of momentum and had them all. I'm not sure if the heat would have killed them anyway, so why not be safer than sorry? Safer, of course, so we had them all. The only downside is that now we had three empty Nalgenes, but two of them had an ongoing purpose, so I had just one that I had to carry around for no reason. We strategized on this a bit during the trip.

At the end of the night, I journaled in my hammock. It was an excellent way to end the day.

 

[WonderMonkey]

Day 2 & 3 - Monday, Tuesday (9/2 - 9/3/2019) I had mentioned to the group that getting on the water at first light would be good and suggested a time. As I said, as the organizer, I don't want to dictate things. All the group except for JS and son were ready at a reasonable time. They had started a fire and were messing around. When they were ready to go, they were going to leave the fire smoldering away. What? That's not something I could let go of, so I mentioned we don't do that and set about carrying several loads of water to the fireplace, dousing it, and mixing it all up with a stick. My nephew pitched in, and between us, we were satisfied and were now able to leave.

We paddled across North Bay, past the channel into Lost Bay, and came across the reeds guarding the creek/area toward portage 5584. We had to pick a path through the weeds, but most of them appeared to go to the same area. We pulled the canoe over an old beaver dam and then had to do a bit more work to get the canoe over a maintained dam. While the water was relatively shallow and a bit mucky, my paddle buddy and I thought it was all very cool. Right after that, we went through an area that was backed up by the dams. Luckily, Mikey and I had worked on trimming out our boat, enabling us to drag very little.

At the end of portage 5584, there is a tiny pond created by a three-foot (out-of-the-water) beaver dam. You could either put your stuff in the canoe and float over to the dam and then cross it or continue to portage around it and finish on the other side. All but JS decided just to portage all the way around it. JS and his son re-packed their canoe and paddled over to the base of the beaver dam. JS then had his son lift the bow of the canoe to the top of the beaver dam. THEN HE STARTED TO CLIMB FROM THE STERN TO THE BOW. The middle of the canoe had NO SUPPORT and was suspended in the air. Just as he approached the center and climbed over the yoke, and as I started to say, "STOP YOU DUMB-arse!" I heard CRACK! The yoke exploded, and the canoe bent to a 45-degree angle. Yep, that happened. The canoe bent until the water supported the back half, and the front half was at the same angle as the beaver dam. The canoe slammed into the water, and I turned and watched everybody mouth (silently), "WTF..." The yoke had come entirely off the canoe, and I picked it up. It was very dry and brittle. If it had been better maintained, maybe it would have held, and he would have gotten away with his idiotic feat. Maybe not. Either way, he now had a custom-shaped canoe. Remarkably, the canoe was intact with no leakage. There was a crease, sure, but no leaking. I don't know if I would have continued or not, but on they went. We just shook our heads and went onward. FYI, they had to double up on carrying the canoe on portages, one in the front and one in the back. Also, when they were in the water, the bow was up out of the water due to the crease in the middle, and if it weren't so dang sad, it would have been funny.

See the photos below? It doesn't quite capture how bent the canoe is when people are in it and on the water. You can also see that there was a previous repair at this same spot.




The small unnamed lake we were now on looked like a great fishing spot. However, in buggy weather, it looked like you would be eaten alive.

Using the advice of bwca.com and our outfitter, we decided not to try to use the creek going into Isabella. We had difficulty finding portage 5577 as it's off a bit on the maps. I climbed out of the canoe and slogged through the reeds to try and find the portage, and eventually, JS hollered over that he had located it. It's really close to Isabella Creek, so I dropped a waypoint on my GPS device to update my records. This portage was basically up and down with some rocks but not terribly challenging.

Though these portages were not overwhelming, I noticed the group started showing signs of wear. It's evident that we were not ready for our adventure, as a group. My main concern was that we were not even at our final destination. We were headed towards McIntyre Lake! If we were to continue until the end, the group would have been in pain. And ... once we arrived late in the day, we would be there for a few nights then would have to continue. The group was NOT having fun and was struggling. I quickly thought about the rest of the trip and then suggested we get to Isabella Lake to find the first campsite we liked and stop. There was some grumbling as nobody wanted to impact the trip I had laid out for us, but I insisted it wasn't essential to get an arbitrary spot. The group agreed.

The last portage out of no-name into Lake Isabella was what finished the group off. It was strewn with large rocks and a few tricky areas heading uphill. After finishing that, we had to do a mix of going through some mud and climbing up the bank to get to a trail. This area would have been underwater if the water level was higher. Mikey and I liked all this as we knew we were getting further along the trail, and things like this kept groups from going onward. It's probably exponential for the groups that drop out or don't attempt to go further. Each lake and portage eliminates a certain amount and type of person.

It eliminated our group.

When we were done, and the group knew we were stopping, the mood lifted. This site (and emails) had let me know that campsite XP was our best bet, so we headed there. XP was adequate, so we set up camp. I started to consider how to change our trip to better suit the group.




My nephew caught a beautiful mess of smallmouth bass, and we had fish so fresh I felt like passing out. It was that good.

Just as the evening was winding down, it started to rain. It rained pretty steadily through the night and until about noon the next day. While this was a bit boring, it gave some of the group an excellent rest.

After we all got out of our hammocks, most of us set about doing camp chores. It became more evident that JS's son was simply not going to do much unless told to. The group started to make comments, and JS worked extra to make up for his son, but only minimally made his son do things. The odd thing is, if I asked his son to do something, he did it. I know he's a high school kid, and we are all adults, and he may be a bit intimidated, but I could tell he was going out of his way only minimally to do what was asked of him.

As the day went on, I felt the effects of not being a group that did this together. We didn't have "jobs" that we naturally (or otherwise) fell into. We were loosely organized. I was not able to sit in my chair and relax for more than a few minutes at a time because the group needed something. I wasn't the only one doing this, of course, but it was still a bit taxing. This all improved as the week progressed.

Later in the evening, I brought my maps to the group to confirm the following day's plans and to suggest that we hit the water at 7 am, as I knew we would have enough daylight to deal with the muddy and rocky portage we would be doing first. JS consistently cut into the conversation about something barely relevant, so I started to ignore him. If he began to talk, I could just keep going, and then I said, "Well, that's what I'm doing. Who's in?" My BIL agreed, and all was well.

JS is my BIL's friend. They have been around each other so long that what JS does isn't an issue. However, my BIL knew that JS's way of interacting was beginning to wear on the group. We spoke about it a few times. I attempted to modify how I brought information to the group so JS could stay on track, but I was mostly unsuccessful the entire trip. From this point on, I was more direct when he was around, and we had to make a decision. BIL was also more direct in what he wanted to minimize JS. I appreciated BIL for that.

 

[WonderMonkey]

Day 4 - Wednesday (9/4/2019) We pushed off 1/2 hour late. Again, JS and son just could not get it going. We backtracked our route and did the toughest portage first. The groups were well-rested, and you could tell the spirits were high. I think the time in the hammock and day's rest, combined with the knowledge we were not going to be going further, helped things out. At the end of the first portage, the one that almost some, there was plenty of energy left.
The last portage, now nicknamed "Broke-Back Canoe" (canoe was screwed) due to the earlier canoe-breaking incident. Not really original, but it was the best I could come up with at the moment.

It didn't take long to go through the four portages and arrive near the channel leading into Lost Bay. We looked at a few sites and settled on ZS. This site allowed us to spread out a bit and give my nephew some distance away from all the snoring some of us did. I'm guilty of that.

The camp was set up, water and wood collected, and relaxing began. The mood of the group was upbeat. That night, we heard an alpha wolf howling in the distance. A few others chimed in occasionally, which was awesome to hear.

 

[WonderMonkey]

Day 5 & 6 - Thursday, Friday (9/5 - 9/6/2019) The days are windy and intermittently sunny. We chased the sun around with our solar panels, but more out of practice than needing the juice. I like to keep my GPS and phone charged up in the event we have a real issue and would want to use them. For the standard day, they don't do anything. When I leave camp, get to camp, or do anything significant, I use the GPS device to send a text to my wife with my location.
Additionally, she can view the breadcrumb tracks that are sent every 10 minutes. The device is nifty, and if needed, she can text me. The subscription plan I have allows an unlimited amount of texts so one day we slowly figured out what to do about my daughter's car that was acting up. That was an unnecessary convenience (the car texting), but it helped move that situation along.

The days were spent taking day trips to explore what was around us. We looked at a few sites on Lost Bay and a few more towards the open area of North Bay. We made notes about the sites if we felt they would work for specific groups.

Wood was gathered and processed. That was relaxing. We collected a fair amount of wood and left plenty for the next visitors. We did that at all campsites we stayed at.

On Friday, later in the day, I discussed with the group (my BIL) about leaving extra early, getting to Prairie Portage as soon as possible, and calling for an early tow. Our designated time slot was 1 pm, but if we got back earlier, it would allow us to get on the road sooner. All were in favor after ignoring JS's departures from the normal flow of conversation. I didn't even acknowledge him in the conversation. It went much better. Leave time was 6:30 am, and paddles would be moving at that time.

A bit after that conversation, my BIL and I were hanging out together, and he mentioned that JS needed to take the two canoes from his group back to an Ely person's house for storage, along with the third canoe still at the outfitter. BIL also mentioned he couldn't do that in his truck due to the short bed. I asked, "How far?" Four miles was the answer. I have a cargo cage on my Jeep Wrangler, so I knew that I could get them there on some combination of trips. This would possibly negate the time savings from getting to Prairie Portage early, but since I would have had to do the transport anyway, time may have been saved—another late JS bit of information that wasn't surprising.

When we were outbound and first went past this camping area, my outdoors buddy and I noticed feathers floating on the water as if a goose had a rough time. When we came back and were now at camp, we saw a pair of swans hanging out near the grassy area. A bit later, a solo swan swooped in and landed, and the pair went right over and kicked its arse. Later, the pair were noticed with four younger, yet not baby, swans. Aha. The pair was protecting its nesting area. During the entire rest of our stay, we watched the swans protect the area and sometimes take the kids out on trips.



On Friday night we were able to catch a decently clear night, the first since our first evening there. We again found some satellites and a few shooting stars. Great way to end the trip.

Photo credit: Mikey

 

[WonderMonkey]

Day 7 - Saturday (9/7/2019) The night before leaving, we took care of group items (like usual), and I did as much as I could to organize so packing up in the morning would be painless. I made sure I had more than enough water, put a few breakfast bars towards the top of my bear bag, and generally put everything in order.
Paddles hit the water at 6:30 am. Ten minutes later, JS and his son got on the water. I'd been up and been ready and did several sweeps of camp to make sure nothing was forgotten, and things were clean.

We went through all the portages and got to Prairie Portage around the same time as a few other groups of various sizes. We held back as their tow was scheduled earlier, but when they were done, there was a spot on the other side to stack our items, so our group started the process. Meanwhile, I went to Prairie Portage and thanked the Rangers, and bought a shirt and a few stickers. I'll be proud to put my Quetico sticker on my canoe and appreciate Canada allowing us to spend time in their country.



The Rangers at Prairie Portage radioed their base, and they called the outfitter for us. It turns out the timing was right, so just about as soon as we got everything over to the other side and chatted a bit out, two showed up.

When we got back to the outfitter, JS had to charge his phone (it was dead) to get the address of where I would take the canoes. We were able to use many straps to get all three canoes up on my Jeep, and even though they hung over the sides a bit, all seemed secure. The address was punched into my driving app (Waze), and it was 24 minutes away (not sure of miles). Regardless of distance, we were taking them there, so we went off. Meanwhile, back at the outfitters, the rest of the group was packing things up, getting showers, and having a customary beer.

Upon return, I went to get my shower while the others in the group put our stuff in my Jeep. After a wonderful shower, Mikey and I jumped in the Jeep and headed home. Sixteen hours later, we arrived at my house. Mikey got most of his stuff and drove to his house, about 25 minutes away.

 

[WonderMonkey]

Summary: This was an incredible trip. I am already planning a Spring return. Our group figured itself out, and what kinds of trips would work for certain people. Cutting our distance short put a small damper on things for some, but it worked, and that's what is important. I'll be putting several kinds of trips together, and not everyone in our previous group will be suited for each. I hope to go solo on one soon.

Photo Credit: Mikey