New Trip Report posted by timatkn

Trip Name: Adventure in Quetico.

Entry Point: Quetico

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very nice report! thanks for posting.

boy, the weather Gods sure did smile down on you guys...as did the fishing Gods. nice pike.

Thanks----Yeah we did luck into some nice weather---the best I can remember---it seemed even when the wind blew it would be at our backs. I have to admit I did everything I could to lose that nice Pike---sometimes it is better to be lucky than good :)

Tim

Thanks for sharing. Very nice. Did you climb the watch tower? Looks a little nerve racking to attempt, eh?

Great report Tim. You are lucky to have a spouse that enjoys rugged tripping with you. That pike looked scary to land, you got some brass balls my friend!

"Thanks for sharing. Very nice. Did you climb the watch tower? Looks a little nerve racking to attempt, eh?"

I wanted too climb up the tower to take a pitcure of the view, but my wife--who probably has more common sense :) told me she did not want me to.



The ladder doesn't extend all the way down---if you look closely at the top of the picture you can see the beginning of the ladder. So to get up to it I'd have to shimmy up the side--Sara didn't like the idea of me doing that and thought it was too risky. SUpposedly there is another ladder hidden in the woods to reach the tower, but I never saw it. I don't think it would be a big deal unless you are afraid of heights and I would bet it is illeagal so I am not advocating others doing it.. :)

Tim

Spectacular...really enjoyed your report.

Great trip - I know the route well!

Thanks for sharing - your wife is a trooper!

Thanks for the great report! This is an area on my "To Do List".

Really enjoyed your great report.

That picture of the portage near Yum Yum brought back old memories of years ago when I was on that one.. almost walked off that cliff with a canoe because I wasn't paying attention to where I was going..

Thanks..

Nice report Tim.

Thanks for the great report. We covered some of the same ground only days apart, so it was particularly fun following along. On Kahshahpiwi, I stayed on the main island campsite (to the north) where those Trant Lake portages lead out. I'm glad I didn't know about the bear (though it sounds like it was maybe on the island campsite across the bay off the south point).

Also, great job keeping your cool with that group next to Louisa Falls. I know the spot you're referring to. That whole place was a zoo when I passed through a few days later.

Nice report, Tim! I had to laugh when you started over the Grey-Unnamed Portage twice because we did that too back in 2003. At the time it was not so funny because it was pouring rain really hard all day and the bog was totally flooded (we call this "Boggy Portage"). After Yum Yum and in the pouring rain it was a hard day. We've been over Boggy Portage twice since then (including last week) and it's much nicer when you only do it once and the bog is not flooded.

Too bad about The Moron. There's no way to keep jerks out.

What kind of map case is that in one of the last pictures? I need a new one.

Bill

HoHO,

Now that you mention it, your unintentional extra portage story sounds familiar---too bad I didn't remember it or I could have saved myself some extra work :) Nice to know I am not the only one to make a mistake.

The map case is made by some comapy called Superior Packs or something like that--I have not seen any of their products for years unfortunately, becuase the map case is awesome. If I see any I'll let ya know.

Tim

Timatkn - I liked your report very much. I did almost the same trip in June except we cut over from Agnes by the pictographs through Silence and a few unnamed lakes into Traut and then Kashahpiwi. Luckily we didn't see 'anyone' on that trip and we even stayed at the little island site on the north end of Kash. Was this where you saw a bear?

We looked for the petroglyphs on Agnes but couldn't find them - where are they?
BTW, Agnes was like glass for us to.

BigZig,

The petroglyphs are north of the portage into Silence. There is a tiny little island North of the portage, the petroglyphs are just north of the island on that western shore. If you go another 50 yards or so---there is another set of pictographs a with 2 snowshoe hares.

I lunched at your Kash island camp. The bear was at a smaller island east of the one you stayed.

Also HoHo I looked at my map case again. The company's name was Grade VI out of Urbana, IL. The map attaches onto your pack, you can flip it over--viewable on either side, has an attachment at the top so you can fold it up on the portages so it won't flop around, and finally there is a zipper/extra pocket at the top where I put my ID, RABC, permit into for easy access. I was unable to find the company on line though. I bought mine at Midwest Mountaineering on clearance probably 5-6 years ago.

Tim

please educate me folks. whats the difference between pictographs and petroglyphs?

I think petroglyphs are carved into rock as opposed to pictographs which are painted on the rocks. But I may be wrong.

Mr. Barely is correct. The Petroglyphs on Agnes appear white from being carved out of the rock, while the pictographs are red from the paint used. I have heard the only known petroglyphs in Quetico or the BWCAW are on Agnes. I am sure they are more rare because it was a heck of a lot more work to make a petroglyph.

Thanks for the extra info about the map case, Tim. I'm wondering, does it zip-lock closed? I saw a Granite Gear map case that looked kind of like yours (from what I can see of yours) the other day at Piragis, it's even advertised to fit Fisher or McKenzie maps folded in quarters - but it seemed like it did not zip-seal closed. The reason I need a new map case is mine is leaky. The maps survive being wet, but I'd kind of like them to be dry. If yours doesn't seal I'd be interested in your experience with it. Thanks Bill

mine actually is a zipper closure. Never had any problems with moisture. There is a flap over the zipper so it helps keep the water out.

timatkin,
Very enjoyable report, it read like a travelogue to promote canoe tripping, nicely done. It is such a pleasure when the intangibles like weather and fishing come together. Thanks for sharing the report and great pictures.
Boppa

Hey - we must have seen them after all. I just thought they used a different color for the pictographs. We found them behind the little island that timatkn described. This is a picture of my buddy and his son looking at them.

I was told there were petroglyphs somewhere on the southern end of Agnes but never found them.