Group of four of us are flying into Cache Bay and will be making our way through Kawnipi, Russell and ending in Pickerel.

We’ve done the Kawnipi out and back portion from the south 12+ times and know it well.

The question for the group is, how many nights do we need to comfortably enjoy the whole trip from south to north? We want plenty of time to fish, and have 2 layover nights ideally (so stay 2 nights at two different spots).

Seven nights? Eight? We don’t want to be rushed. No super long travel days. And we don’t know exactly how long the Kawnipi to Pickerel portion will take via the northern falls chain

Thanks in advance!

Our group of six went north to south, French Lake to Cache Bay in two weeks. We still talk about it as our best trip... three dads and three sons. We had multiple layovers, wonderful weather.

I recommend saving big bucks and get yourself and crew a tow to Hook Island. Use Seagull Outfitters and skip the plane.

bobbernumber3: "Our group of six went north to south, French Lake to Cache Bay in two weeks. We still talk about it as our best trip... three dads and three sons. We had multiple layovers, wonderful weather.


I recommend saving big bucks and get yourself and crew a tow to Hook Island. Use Seagull Outfitters and skip the plane."

Sorry my post wasn’t clear- we’ve gotten the Hook tow via Seagull 12+ times! We head into kawnipi and base camp and come back out.

This year we wanted to see the northern park with a few nights in Kawnipi on the way.

All depends on what you really mean when you say "plenty of time to fish" and "no super long travel days"...

A reference point might be: How long do you take to get to Kawnipi from CB, since you've done that 12 times?

If it takes you two comfortable travel days to get from CB to the middle of Kawnipi, I would think three similarly taxing days to get from the middle of Kawnipi to Stanton Bay or French Lake.

sns: "All depends on what you really mean when you say "plenty of time to fish" and "no super long travel days"...


A reference point might be: How long do you take to get to Kawnipi from CB, since you've done that 12 times?


If it takes you two comfortable travel days to get from CB to the middle of Kawnipi, I would think three similarly taxing days to get from the middle of Kawnipi to Stanton Bay or French Lake."

Good reference point. From cache bay to middle of Kawnipi it takes us 1.5 days. We’ve made it to Atkins Bay in a day but that was miserable and wouldn’t do it again.

So 4-5 hours of travel on travel days is a good estimate of what we are looking for.

And as long as we are fishing for 4-5 hours most days (we can fish in midst of travel days too) including 2 days where we fish all day and don’t travel we are good

I agree, three very long days from the middle of Kawnipi to French Lake. The wind can be a real factor and the fishing from the northern end of Kawnipi through the Poet's Chain is very distracting. If you don't want to rush, can you extend your trip to a minimum of 10 days? Also the northern end of Kawnipi through to Keats burned hard in 2021 so the campsites in that area are thin. Have a great trip.

Based on the conversation and your info, it sounds like 8 nights would be right. Use 'em if you got 'em!

wyopaddler: "I agree, three very long days from the middle of Kawnipi to French Lake. The wind can be a real factor and the fishing from the northern end of Kawnipi through the Poet's Chain is very distracting. If you don't want to rush, can you extend your trip to a minimum of 10 days? Also the northern end of Kawnipi through to Keats burned hard in 2021 so the campsites in that area are thin. Have a great trip. "

I wish we could do 10 days.
Our group has 8 little kids combined we will be leaving the wives with so 8 nights is our max :-(.

bobbernumber3: "Based on the conversation and your info, it sounds like 8 nights would be right. Use 'em if you got 'em!"

I think we will do 8.

Something like this:

Night 1 Falls chain..

McKinsey Bay for 2 nights

Northern Kawnipi for a night or poets chain

Somewhere in Poets for a night or straight to Russell

Russell for a night (or 2)

Sturgeon narrows night

Pickerel last night

(Outfitter picking us up in Stanton Bay late morning last day)

So 8 nights and technically 9 days.

We can make some of these decisions during trip based on weather and fishing.

Thank you everyone for the input!

bobbernumber3: "Our group of six went north to south, French Lake to Cache Bay in two weeks. We still talk about it as our best trip... three dads and three sons. We had multiple layovers, wonderful weather.


I recommend saving big bucks and get yourself and crew a tow to Hook Island. Use Seagull Outfitters and skip the plane."

My group did this trip, Cache Bay to French Lk, in six days traveling everyday with no real long days. Would have nice to layover but someone's work schedule precluded any layovers.

When doing a north to south (or vice versa), what do people do to get back to your vehicle at the starting point?

walter: "When doing a north to south (or vice versa), what do people do to get back to your vehicle at the starting point?"

On my trip we had 2 vans - one went to the end of the Gunflint Trail (north bound group) and the other to French Lk/Quetico (southbound group). The 2 groups met in about the middle of Quetico and traded van keys. At the conclusion of the trip both groups headed home independently.

walter: "When doing a north to south (or vice versa), what do people do to get back to your vehicle at the starting point?"

We had a solo canoe partner who headed back to our starting point and served as our shuttle. Then the outfitter went to Grand Marais to bring our vehicle out on the Gunflint.