Here is a loop I am thinking about doing in June or July (Entry 23). I have 2 concerns that I would like to hear your opinion.

A. Wind and wave condition on Jackfish Bay. I can canoe in rough water, but I might get annoyed if I have to deal with it for 7 miles. Thoughts?

B. Motor boat usage on Jackfish Bay. I don't mind a few, but if it is a zoo out there, I would pick a different route.

Thanks!

Forgot the map:

This is a easy 2 to 3 day trip.
Jackfish bay can be very rough but once you hit the narrows at the N/E end it will settle down. I'm not sure I would call it a zoo but it can have a lot of boat traffic especially in June. I checked the permits for June and there are only 5 days open so you should make your decision soon if that is the time of year you want to enter.

Did that loop a few yrs back, great route for sure. My only thoughts are to be flexible on the direction of the route. I would rather be with the wind on Jackfish then fighting it, so check the wind reports and make that decison at start. Also, if you do the oposite direction, finshing in Jackfish, you could spend your last nite north of the motorboats, and still have an easy last day out. If possible, spend a few days around the falls area.

This is a friend's favorite route. I have also done it several times. He usually started from the Cities so didn't get on the water until 2:30, reached Jackfish and took a campsite. The best ones are a bit north...not the first or 2nd ones. The wind is usually from the W or SW so it is in your favor, and especially if you are there in the morning, it's generally less. Then he'd go down the Basswood River the next day, run the rapids he could, line some of the others, portage a few. He would not take the mile portage...too much beautiful scenery missed. Camp on the river a night or two, often at a campsite the mile portage skipped, go below (north) of Lower Basswood Falls to see the best pictographs in the Boundary Waters, and then up the Horse River (no current to worry about until you actually reach the base of a rapids). If you can camp on Horse, check out the old logging camp in the north end (open area); lots of old stuff there, foundations. From there back to the Mudro parking lot is about 2.5 - 3 hours.

We did this loop at the very end of April and beginning of May in 2006, shortly after ice out. Obviously, it's a very different trip in June - we did not see anyone else (except one motor boat in the distance on Jackfish Bay) the entire trip. We did it in four days, you could do it in less, but I thought four was a nice pace. I posted a report on the trip in the CCBB. Here's a link to the last day of the report. At the top of that installment are links to the previous days if you are interested.

I am also thinking of doing a similar route. bwcarocks, where did you create that map route? Was it a program or one readily available online. It is a very nice clear map.

Thanks

I took a screen shot from a route I mapped out online. It is actually a really good running website. However, it also works for planning a BWCA trip.
Map My Run:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/

quote bwcarocks: "I took a screen shot from a route I mapped out online. It is actually a really good running website. However, it also works for planning a BWCA trip.
Map My Run:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/
"

Great idea, bwcarocks! I use this program for running, but it never occurred to me to use it for preliminary trip planning.

quote J-Stroke: "

quote bwcarocks: "I took a screen shot from a route I mapped out online. It is actually a really good running website. However, it also works for planning a BWCA trip.
Map My Run:
http://www.mapmyrun.com/
"

Great idea, bwcarocks! I use this program for running, but it never occurred to me to use it for preliminary trip planning. "

I'm not a runner, but I've used MapMyRun for the last several years plotting out various routes that look interesting. Love how you can export it to Google Earth.
It takes a few steps but eventually you can get a route from MapMyRun into a GPS along with interesting campsites and other points along the way.