I am planning a July 6th start, thirteen days in the park this summer. Six people, 29-62 years old. Fly-in to Clay, Wawiag to Kawnipi.

I'm a little concerned about the distance needed to cover from Clay to the south end of Kawa Bay. We are going to camp on Clay the first night, then get an early start on this leg. Trying to fill in the east-to-west routing with an exit at Beaverhouse Lake.

Are there any "must-see" areas recommended I can route through? Are there any epic fishing lakes along the way? We are planning on a lot of fishing. Multiple species preferred.

Are there any places to avoid like ridiculous hard portages or crowds?

We are experienced paddlers and campers, third Quetico trip, Florida fishing experience, which is way different.

Thanks for any input!!

You are going to have a fun trip. The first day is going to be a long one and you can make to the East End of Kawa bay but remember you can't camp there. The fishing for you is going to be excellent and most of the route if planned well will be pretty secluded. PM me and I will give you more info.

Thanks toothmeister, can you coach me on sending a PM?

Flcracker.... look under toothmeister's name to the left of his post. See the little envelope? That's the access to his email address so you can PM him. Click on it and it should open a window to your email so you can send him one.

If you just hover your cursor over the little envelope (without clicking), the email address will show up in the lower left part of your screen (assuming you're on a computer and not on your phone).

The little envelope does not show to the left of your posts because you did not make your email available. If you want it available, go into your profile and "un-click" the box that says "Hide my email address...". (Don't forget to click "Save" when you're done.) Then your email address will be available to those who want to email you.

Thanks Jackfish! We are in contact!

One thing you'll want to determine is how many planes are being dedicated to your group. I flew into Lac La Croix over twenty years ago. We were a group of four and a single plane so it was two trips. The first group waited on an island for an hour or two for the second group to arrive. I'm sure you can call your outfitter and gather that info. If it's one plane, it'll take a while for you to collect your entire group and head off paddling.

Regardless, it sounds like an excellent trip. The fishing will be outstanding the entire way. One of the busier lakes will probably be Russell. Apart from that, Quetico is not "crowded". An East to West route means you'll be heading into the prevailing winds so be repared. If you have an inReach, they provided reliable weather updates for wind speed and direction (not so much for precipitation). You can try to avoid the big water like Sturgeon if a big headwind is forecast and you have flexibility.

Thanks Argo - excellent info, especially the prevailing winds! There are six of us so three flights in. We are considering a Cache Bay entry instead. Toothmiester told me Greenwood Creek may have substantial logjams which could derail an already long stretch to reach S. Kawa Bay. If we go in through the Cache entry point, we can camp near Silver Falls and push to Kawnipi on day two, much more reasonable and I don’t kill my group on day one.

Thanks for the valuable input on this forum!!

I agree with Argo on all of his comments Jere.