Dominique Berube wrote: > We are planning a three week trip to Quetico P.P. in northwestern >Ontario at the end of september with our two sea kayaks (Fiberglass >Sealutions). I have to agree with Chuck H. on most of what he says. Canoes in that country are definitely easier than kayaks, and carry way more gear. We take lawn chairs and folding tables with us when we go. To me it's a vacation, not a lesson in deprivation. You CAN do the trip however, in sea kayaks. I've been to Quetico at least 8 times, most of them entering somewhere near Atikokan, Ontario, a few out of Ely, Minnesota. Take some of what I say with a grain of salt as my last trip there was about 1977 or so. The area is mostly strings of lakes, some with mostly unrunnable, or marginally runnable rivers between them. Few Quetico paddlers run much whitewater, so there are portage trails around most if not all rapids of any significance. The Quetico Park Map is sufficient for navigation, but didn't used to be waterproof, might be by now. You might want to pick some of the larger scale ones up that are on waterproof paper. The ones I used were printed by WA Fisher Company, there must be competing publishers by now. You might want to pick a route that has few portages, that is possible, though our trips were aimed at getting away from people, and the easy way to do that is make a few portages. People are lazy, but I find that the portages break up the monotony of paddling somewhat. Well as long as you don't have the kitchen sink along with you. Hmmmm...hafta figure out.... Unlike the Boundry Waters, Quetico has no marked trails. They're usually easy to find, though. The BWCA used to have little sign posts that told you how long the portage was to the next lake, I don't know if they still do. The only sign I ever remember seeing in Quetico was a portage sign for a rapids somewhere, not even sure where it was (Split Rock Falls up north somewhere?). Might be more signs by now, but I'd bet not very many. Finding portages is still pretty easy, usually just head for the low spots in the trees and look for the brown spots on shore where many feet have killed the vegetation. Seldom will you find rivers to run, though there are exceptions here and there. My info and experience there is old, but I'll try and answer questions privately if you want. Have fun and let me know how the trip went after you get back. Hank Hays Lightning Paddles, Inc. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Jul 14 1998 - 19:51:54 PDT
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