Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

We have done wilderness canoeing and though I have not used them for outfitting I have been a customer for years http://www.piragis.com

Any place that rents out aluminum canoes other than for torpedo the bank rank armature paddlers...

Like most anything to a certain extent you get what you pay for. Nancy and I can paddle all day and be comfortable and part of that is our 18' 4" Mad River canoe.

Hopefully in about 2 weeks we'll be in the middle of this!!



Jeff

Been there Jeff and it is beautiful... wish I had know, we could have talked some at CRA.

Pat and I had this trip planned a couple of years ago and then she went back to work for a year. It's still in our sights, so please let us know how it goes for you and Anna.

Mark and Pat

sid wrote:Been there Jeff and it is beautiful... wish I had know, we could have talked some at CRA.

Pat and I had this trip planned a couple of years ago and then she went back to work for a year. It's still in our sights, so please let us know how it goes for you and Anna.

Mark and Pat

Pat, the CRA was so busy, unless somebody had brought it up, it was the last thing on my mind. We were going to go through an outfitter but decided to take our own canoe and save some coin. I'll take a bunch of pictures and share with everybody here when we get home and settled.

Jeff

You will have fun! It's a beautiful area!

Hey Warpony,

Don;t know if you will see this, but I'm going to be up that way at the end of the month. We have the Mudro lake entry point. Entry on August 30th. Outfitting through Echo Lake outfitters. I think this will be my 16th trip or so. Can't wait.

I spent a summer guiding out of the BSA High Adventure base. http://www.ntier.org/Sommers.html Got to go all over the BWCAW, Quetico Park and White Otter Park. Spent a lot of time in Ely between trips.

My thoughts:

Eat the blueberries. They are everywhere.

I strongly suggest you pack your gear so you can get it across a portage in ONE TRIP. If it takes two trips to get everything across then it takes 3X as long. Thatsa no good.

Poop in the pit toilets. Don't pee near the water. Don't get soap in the water.

Follow the outfitters instructions on hanging/protecting food, especially on the US side where they are more of a nuisance. (On US side they relocate problem bears, on canadian side they just shoot em.)

I think the best souvenier is a nice wooden paddle. Beavertail, bent shaft, whatever. They are a joy to use and a work of art you will treasure. Piragis seems to always have a nice selection, but it can vary. I'm not talking the clunker wooden paddle you can get down here at Bass Pro, but a nice working paddle meant for travel. You probably won;t find them until you get to ely.

Also get the outfitter to show you on the maps all the indian paintings that are scattered around the park. Some spots are shown on maps. Many are not. And they are harder than hell to find unless you know what you are looking for.

In Ely I always hit the Brandenburg gallery. Stunning work. I also recommend stopping by Piragis outfitter. Check out Steger Mukluks for moosehide moccasins. These things wear like iron and comfortable as hell. Check out WinterGreen Northern Wear for beautiful handmade coats and winter gear,all made by folks there in Ely. Also check out Henry's Shoe Repair, just down the hill from Piragis. This guy is the local wiseass curmudgeon. Makes knives, belts, gloves, leatherwork. Uses a lot of moose hide. Henry is a trip. Buy a knife or belt from Henry. All this stuff is within 2-3 blocks so it;s easy to do in a couple of hours.

You can see them all here: http://www.ely.org/category/places-to-shop.html

I guess that is it for now. Enjoy yourself. It's God's country up there. Feel free to send me specific Qs.

All I can say is WOW!! What an adventure we had this past week. We spent 4 days at the Upper Basswod Falls and had a blast. Oh yeah, a 150-pound Black Bear came into our camp 1 hour after we got there......... the only bear that Topeka Boy had ever seen was in a zoo so after my colon released I picked up a rock and threw it at it. Never saw him/her again but it sure kept me on my toes the rest of the trip.

Beautiful weather, great scenery and a great adventure. It was truly the hardest canoe trip I've ever done, not being used to portaging and coming back to the launch ramp in 30+ MPH headwinds with 2 foot rollers coming over the front of the canoe. Took us 9 hours to go 10 or 12 miles ........ I'll post some pics when I get time to shrink them down.

Jeff

Hey Jeff, sounds like a good time. Can't wait to see the pix........

Here ya' go, folks.....











Jeff

Wow! I guess a cover for bad weather is needed. I read about this all the time and still wish I could go! Thanks for sharing with us! btw how was the fishing?

Awesome Jeff. Thanks for the photos.

WarPony wrote:All I can say is WOW!!

Hey Jeff..... It pretty much takes your breath away... glad you and Anna enjoyed it. Thanks for the pictures and the memories!

Mark and Pat

Miriam C. wrote:...btw how was the fishing?

Well, it didn't go as I planned. I caught two Smallmouth and a 2-foot long Pike................... the problem is, is that they released themselves before I got my thumb in their mouths .....

Good thing I didn't land that Pike, huh? I was really disappointed in my fishing outing but the people I asked (there was a bunch), either cleaned up or got skunked.

I don't have alot of experience with the fish up there. I'm a Bass/Crappie/catfish guy. I still had fun trying

Jeff

P.S. Oh, thank you all for the recomendations and tips you provided. We plan on going again in a few years.