A Trip to Canada

by Ron Nunnelly

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One day my Son Edgar and I decided to go to Canada for a couple weeks and paddle some of the area of Quetico Provincial Park. We didn’t make this decision lightly. We had been there before and know how remote this place is. For those of you who don’t know where Quetico is, look across the border from Boundary Water Canoe Area north of Ely Min.

We started by getting the required Backcountry entry permit from Canada, and then as soon as they opened the Park entry permit we reserved our permit. Before you can get your Park entry permit you have to know where you are going and which lakes and streams you will be paddling. They limit the number in any area so this information is all required to get the permit. With all this information in hand we were then able to figure the number of days (in our case 10 –12 days in) and start planning meals and other items we would need.

With all this information in hand, the meals planned, and ingredients in hand we started to pack. This can be fun as we were going to leave on Thursday night following Labor Day weekend. I paddled the Sabine Labor Day paddle and returned home on Monday afternoon. So the rest of the packing and cleaning of gear had to be done on Tuesday and Wednesday. After work on Thursday, I pick up Edgar and we head north toward Dallas. We fill up with gas and food north of Dallas and my son starts driving. I tell him to drive to ten or eleven then find a motel. I fall asleep only to be awakened by some very bright lights. We have pulled in for gas again and it is now 2 AM. After a cup of coffee, a tank of gas, and a half hour explaining about wooden canoes we are on the road again. Oklahoma and Kansa pass quickly. Soon we are in Kansa City with the early morning traffic, then western Missouri in very heavy fog, slowing us down for a couple of hours. Iowa is next with miles and miles of corn, same for southern Minnesota., St. Paul, then Duluth.

Finally, come Ely and camp. A good meal at the Chocolate Moose and a good night’s sleep Friday night makes things seem really good. Saturday Morning we check all the gear we are taking to Canada then go to Ely to pick up anything we are missing and check out the outfitters for end-of-season sales.

Sunday Morning finds us on a boat headed to Prairie Portage we are heading up Moose Lake, Newfound Lake, and Sucker Lake. These are among the few that allow motorboats. At Prairie Portage we have our first Portage, get our permits, and pay our camping fees.

The following day we finished our trip up Lake Agnes and a short portage across this lake.

As we leave the Permit office, it starts raining. We move quickly through the end of Basswood Lake and a portage to Burke Lake, a short portage to Sunday Lake, then the portage we call “Agony” to Meadows Lake, then a portage we call “Little Agony” to Lake Agnes. We find a nice camping spot near Louisa Falls.

It is still raining. The next morning it is still raining so we head up the lake until we have to pass a large open section where the wind was very strong so we made an early camp for the night.

After another short portage we enter Keewatin Lake; then we found a good spot to camp. It had rained on us all day but was getting lighter. Late in the afternoon the sun broke out and a rainbow appeared. The temperature had been in the forty’s at night and the fifty’s during the day. It cleared off that night and got colder making the sleeping bag feel real good. The next morning dawned bright and sunny the temperature went up into the mid to upper 60's and we had a real nice paddle to the end of this lake then a short portage another small lake then another short portage into a much bigger lake Kawnipi our destination was Rose Island and a camp spot. It was early and we had filled the sun shower and were looking to a warm shower. Area we had picked was already taken (one of the first signs of Humans we had seen since leaving Prairie Portage) so we pushed on through this lake. Near the end of one of the fingers are small falls and a short portage to Kenny Lake.

A very good camping spot appeared just short of this falls so we stopped for the night. Setting up camp and a tarp to break the afternoon wind we both took showers and had a leisurely meal and evening. The next day we portaged around Kennebas Falls into Kenny Lake then the portage around Koho Falls and Little Falls. This put us in Wet Lake where there is another short portage around some impassable water and on down the lake to an area marked dangerous water (a series of small falls). Having worked our way around these, we were in Saganagons Lake.

It was time to find a camping spot and one appeared on a small Island the next morning finds us making a short portage across a peninsula and on down the lake. We are looking for a portage into Slate Lake. This is easier said than done as this portage is hidden. From Slate Lake a short portage around some more bad water. We are in Fran Lake a couple of short portages and an unnamed lake puts us in Bell Lake. Three very short portages and a couple more unnamed lakes puts us in Other Man Lake. This starts the Man Cache but we start to look for a Camp Site and find one on an Island in Other Man Lake. The next morning we are heading down This Man, No Man, and That Man. A short portage and through Sheridan Lake and a very short portage where we meet up with a party going in (the first Humans since the falls) this puts in Carp Lake and a very good camp site.

At this campsite we have beaver and Otter playing around. In fact the beaver was busy putting in a winter supply of bark and worked in the Adler’s all night. A chipmunk that had visited Our camp earlier keep coming back all night and keep trying to get into our tent all night. The next day found us moving down Carp Lake and into Birch Lake (Carp Lake on the U.S. side of the border. Another short portage puts us into Sucker Lake and on our way back to Ely.

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