Curious, how long would you say it takes to reach upper Pauness from EP 14? Trying to decide if starting really late in the day is a good idea or not.

I would say Upper Pauness would take about 2 hours, 3 hours tops.

I have day tripped to Devil's Cascade at the north end of Lower Pauness with my kids-they were young at the time and not strong paddlers. We made it to the Cascade, had lunch (with the friendly flies-remember that year?? ;-) ) and also made it home by dinner time. Upper Pauness would be pretty easy in less than 3 hours.

Seems like we went from Shell Lake to the entry point in 4 hours, and that is farther than Upper Pauness.

But the problem I could see with the late start is that it's a busy area and not many campsites on Pauness so you could get stuck. If it's a weekend day, I'd say it's especially risky.

quote bumabu: "Curious, how long would you say it takes to reach upper Pauness from EP 14? Trying to decide if starting really late in the day is a good idea or not."

did this in aug of 05 in just over 2 hours starting at 6:00 pm on a tuesday. we got the site on the north end facing south. best on lake. we had our choice of 3 sites.

quote bwcadan stl: "

quote bumabu: "Curious, how long would you say it takes to reach upper Pauness from EP 14? Trying to decide if starting really late in the day is a good idea or not."

did this in aug of 05 in just over 2 hours starting at 6:00 pm on a tuesday. we got the site on the north end facing south. best on lake. we had our choice of 3 sites."

update: solitude may best be achieved by camping in a lake with no portages in or out except the one you entered. also you can camp in a bay out of site of passerby folks and travel to fishing on another lake. Example, camp on horse at north end and fish on fourtown.

good luck.

2 hours is about right..... if the wind is not in your face. That little river can be the pits with wind (more reason to get started early). We were on the water at 6AM and camped on Little Loon 6 hours later.

HighPlainsDrifter - We paddled this river last year for the first time and thought it would be a piece of cake. We were "day tripping" and did not have much gear in the canoe - we were blown around - and it was tough to control the canoe. I had a hard time understanding why such a small (narrow) river would give us such a hard time. We're going back again this year to push further on. Hoping to find a nice calm day!

quote alpine525: "HighPlainsDrifter - We paddled this river last year for the first time and thought it would be a piece of cake. We were "day tripping" and did not have much gear in the canoe - we were blown around - and it was tough to control the canoe. I had a hard time understanding why such a small (narrow) river would give us such a hard time. We're going back again this year to push further on. Hoping to find a nice calm day!"

I entered there for my first Sept solo. I got a mid-morning start and fought the wind for several hours to reach Loon Lake.

As already said 2-3 hrs tops... Like Bog's I have also day tripped with my family, to the Devils Cascade, had a lunch break & paddled back out.

I plan on heading in there for the first this August. Any tips on the fishing.

Jrlatt

Experiences with the wind on LIS north. I had to smile at the wind posts. We only had a slight breeze in our face the AM we entered (maybe from the NW, but it was hard to figure.... the valley channels the wind. By the time we hit Loon, there was no question that we had a stiff NW wind along with respectable rollers. It was good to get into the shelter of East Loon Bay.

The big smile was a stiff NW wind on our return to the entry. With the wind at our back, we hardly dipped the paddle coming up river. The poor folks coming in were sure dipping their paddles..... seemed the wind had them bouncing from one side of the channel to the other. No question that they were paying their dues.

I appreciate the info, thanks all.