fellow paddlers,

we would appreciate hearing from any of you fine folks that have tripped from La Croix down the Namakan River to Namakan Lake -- we are planning to wander around the far western canoe woods this year and are curious if the Namakan is reasonable. Thank you all.

wes and deann

it's a very nice trip. high falls has a super campsite with outstanding fishing. you will need a crown land permit which you can pick up at sand point lake. we started at crane lake, up the loon river to llc. the loon river is a nasty way to start a trip. there was a troll working the beatty portage, i'm not sure how we pissed him off. there are some sets of rapids that would be great canoing but we had a kevlar wenonah, there are a few powerful rapids that i would recommend portaging, and the falls. lake namakan was interesting canoing, this is a beautiful lake, but it is huge, if the winds were up this could have been bad. coming down the narrows to crane lake the lake was jammed with houseboats, most of these guys had no idea what they were doing, you've been warned.

the voyageurs originally used the namakan river there main travel route. after a dozen or so years they started using the loon river instead. it was longer but the voyageurs insisted on the change because they felt the namakan was too dangerous.

high falls just escaped being dammed. thanks go out to all those who worked to stop this would have been nightmare. it could have destroyed valuable sturgeon habitat.

this river is similar to wild canadian rivers far to the north. no real protection except from the queen, the first nation community on LLC use this river, or did when we were there a dozen years ago. expect to find interesting things in the woods.

this trip took us a leisurely four nights. i would recommend a royalex boat for two reasons. you could run some of the rapids that we portaged or lined. some jensen canoes are dificult to control on big waves that might be encountered on lake namakan.

My husband has taken this route three times. It was his first canoe trip in 1967.

It was my first canoe trip ever! Unfortunately that was 1971, so I am sure a few things have changed since then, but if you would like to read about that trip, click on the "trip report" icon under my name and read the one entitled "How it all began". It was a great trip, and I am still canoe tripping 42 years later, so it certainly worked for me!

We repeated this loop later on. . .I believe it was 1980, but I may be confused on the date. My husband isn't home this evening so I can't ask him. On our second visit, there was a bridge over Lady Rapids, I do remember that. The first time there wasn't. Running Lady Rapids remains one of my most exciting experiences in the canoe country! We shouldn't have done it, but it sure was fun!

Incidentally, we have canoed the Loon River several times, have both walked and used the Beatty Portage, and have never run into the "troll". :-)

The large lakes of Rainy, LaCroix and Namakan have a lot of wind and boat traffic potential. We used to go up to Sandy Pointe every summer, but to fish in motorized boats like most of the other traffic. You just have to see what your agenda is, as it could be a chore if the winds and traffic are up. There is a reason that you often see so many fly-ins heading from Crane Lake up to Quetico or areas north.

Dear Mr. Wartman,

Thank you for your quick reply and your knowledge of the Namakan. My wife DeAnn and I are planning to make the Namakan trip in Mid-July.

Like you, we carry a wood and canvas canoe. I was a scout base guide in the days when the scout guides carried Seliga's and I have never broken the habit.

Are any of the portages exceptionally hard to spot or difficult to carry? I am a reasonably fit 65-year-old but the joys of killer portages are in my past now.

Thanks again for your time and attention.

wes and deann birdsong

Spartan2,

Thank you for your reply and your trip report. I enjoyed both. My wife DeAnn ad I are planning to float the Namakan in mid-July. Like you I was on the La Croix end of the Namakan (we went down from La Croix as far as the creek to Beaverhouse) but that was long ago. We'll let you know what has changed.

Thanks again for your time and attention.

wes and deann birdsong

dagger2000,

thanks for your quick reply to our message board post and for your cautions about wind and houseboats on the Namakan -- we paddled from Black Bay of Rainy back to Moose Lake NE of Ely via Kabetogama -- we were extremely lucky -- no bad wind and enough overcast that we didn't get cooked -- life is good

thanks again

wes and deann

i don't recall any tough portages. at the time the portages were well marked and used. i was incorrect on the canoe we used, we had an allagash 17' fiberglass canoe. i was really impressed at how this canoe performed. it was my brothers and he didn't want to risk it in rapids.

I would echo what others have said about the wind and boat traffic. Two years ago, I toured around Namakan for a few days in a Lund 16-foot deep-V boat with a 25 horse motor and with the waves from wind and boat traffic (we were one of the smallest boats I saw on Namaken)there were occasions that our ride was pretty "bouncy". I saw a few canoes out there and they were struggling a bit. As much as I like being out in my canoe on scenic lakes like that, the canoeing did not look like a lot of fun to me.

Wes and Deann,

If you are in Sand Point Lake and would like a very special little lake for a layover day, be sure to check out Mukooda Lake S12 on your National Geographic Voyagers Map. It is on the western American side of the lake just north of the King Williams Narrows. It is quite shallow, reed filled with large pines on the shore. Many good childhood camp-outs there, so I remember it fondly. :)

dagger2000

thanks

wes

So if going from Lake of the Woods to Grand Portage, is the Namakan River route into LLC better than the border?

Bill,

Namakan downsides: will require clearing Canada Customs and getting the Crown Land Use permit mentioned earlier in this thread

Loon River/ Loon Lake upsides: we paddled this route last year and enjoyed it, the river is a little uncharacteristic of much of the BWCA/Quetico with more ash hardwood trees along its shores, the railway portages are very curious spots to visit

enjoy

wes birdsong

I liked the LLC to ep14 leg of that. Haven't sussed out campsite options west of Crane but thinking CA side might have more options anyway.

Thank!

I'm curious about starting a trip at the LLC ranger station for Quetico and paddling up the Namakan to where the Quetico River joins it. Looks like there is a camp near the junction. Take a day trip to High Falls (or camp at the Falls instead). Now my question is can you paddle back upstream from High Falls to the Quetico River junction? Is there much current or rapids sections there?

I'd continue the trip by heading up the Quetico River to Beaverhouse and make a loop somehow back to the Maligne River in Sturgeon and end back at the LLC ranger station.

i can't recall currents in the river outside of the rapids. when we were there the river was running very high. the first rapids was easily a class five, more of a waterfall with souse holes. lots of garbage in the woods, this is first nations land, i'm not sure what the status of that means for travelers. i would check that when getting the queens permission.

Late last June, my son and I paddled a loop from Beaverhouse-Jean-Sturgeon-Maligne R-LLC-Namakan R-Questico R-Beaverhouse. Namakan R was very scenic. Stayed a night on a small island on the Namakan R about 1/2 mile east of junction with Quetico R, which was a super scenic paddle. As for current near the Nakakan R/Quetico R junction, water levels were above normal I believe, and there was a fairly good current. I would not have enjoyed, but could have made it with lots of cussing, back up to LLC against the current. To sense the swiftness of the current, when we entered the Namakan from LLC, it took us less than 3 hours to make it to the island campsite, and that includes the two portages which we doubled with our gear, and some time to admire the falls...

Re crown permits, when I asked the ranger up in Atikokan if we needed them for camping on eastern LLC or the Namakan R, she essentially said they are rarely checked...so save your money and plead ignorance...

quote PineKnot: "Late last June, my son and I paddled a loop from Beaverhouse-Jean-Sturgeon-Maligne R-LLC-Namakan R-Questico R-Beaverhouse. Namakan R was very scenic. Stayed a night on a small island on the Namakan R about 1/2 mile east of junction with Quetico R, which was a super scenic paddle. As for current near the Nakakan R/Quetico R junction, water levels were above normal I believe, and there was a fairly good current. I would not have enjoyed, but could have made it with lots of cussing, back up to LLC against the current. To sense the swiftness of the current, when we entered the Namakan from LLC, it took us less than 3 hours to make it to the island campsite, and that includes the two portages which we doubled with our gear, and some time to admire the falls...

Re crown permits, when I asked the ranger up in Atikokan if we needed them for camping on eastern LLC or the Namakan R, she essentially said they are rarely checked...so save your money and plead ignorance...
"

Just be careful about pleading ignorance. They can be pretty tough on certain issues. Such as if you have two limits of fish and you volunteer information like you caught most or all of them they don't like that.

I took that route back in the late 70's. It was an enjoyable route. Only we had a boat come out from the " village" and tried pretty hard to swamp us. Met a guy who flew in and was fishing at one of the portages. He was very informative and later sent me a bunch of information of a trip o was planning in Manitoba. That was just a leg of a bigger trip, but was very fun. We lucked out and the big lakes were pretty calm. If your going to Crane and can't quite make it or Crane is rough there is a nice campgrounds on Williams Point. They even have bear boxes you can put your food in. We go through there on our yearly fishing trip to a Canadian lake our dad's took us to for many years.

I just got my new fisher map of the area and it looks like there is a short portage (20 rods) on the north side of the river about 1/2 between the Quetico River junction and High Falls. The rapids are labeled as "Quetico Rapids" and just before "Bill Lake". Looks to be the only portage on the river between Ivy Falls and High Falls.

How was the paddle up river on the Quetico River to Beaverhouse Lake Pineknot?

Kip,

Sorry about the delay getting back to you. The Quetico R up to Beaverhouse was very very nice, scenic, eagles everywhere. About 4 portages, all fairly straightforward. Not much current, although I recall paddling hard up a couple short swifts at pinchpoints after the first portage, lining up at least one set of small rapids (an island in the middle of the river created rapids on both side) at about the halfway point going towards Beaverhouse....

I'm looking to do the Namakan River from Sand Point Lake => Little Vermillion => Loon River => Namakan Riverback to Namakan Lake. Do I need a permit for this? I know there's Canadian customs on Sand Point Lake, you just stop there for a permit? No reservation or paperwork beforehand? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but everything seems easy once you learn how BWCA and Votageurs work, it's not as clear for paddling in Canada. RABC permit entry points stretch across the entire region, so I guess we need that? And passports of course. I figure 3 nights from the border back to Namakan Lake? There's some nice info in this thread on the trip, but I specifically need to know what permitting I need. Thank you.

-CHUCK-

Chuck- you'll need a BWCAW permit to enter at Little Vermillion Lake. You'll then be leaving the BWCA at Lac La Croix as you enter the Namakan River. I don't know anything about land ownership in Canada at that location but in this thread someone mentioned a Crown Land permit. Someone else might be able to confirm this. Then when you make it to Namakan Lake you will be entering the Voyageurs Nat'l Park. You don't need a permit to enter this park but if you plan on camping here, you will need to make campsite reservations ahead of time.

Then there is the border crossing issue- I would get my RABC ahead of time. That way you don't have to stop in at Canadian Customs on Sand Point Lake to start your trip. At some point you'll be reentering the US and will have check in with US Customs.