For the first time our annual trip to Quetico Provincial Park will be a NO-PORTAGE excursion. Some members have been unable to make our traditional trip, because they are physically unable to make the portages that are normally involved in a Quetico trip. This also allows RMCC members to use their own canoes without the expense of renting a light weight Kevlar boat.
We will put in at French Lake and move, without portage, to Pickerel Lake. Pickerel Lake is HUGE, with lots of islands and bays that provide dozens of beautiful campsites. And if the water level is high enough (like Labor Day last year), we can even get to additional lakes without portaging. We plan to spend two nights at most of our campsites, providing a free day at each one for fishing, swimming, exploring, reading, gourmet cooking, or just being lazy. Plan on late evening campfires, late coffee in the morning, and lots of small-talk—in other words, we are planning this to be a laid-back, gentle experience.
Put-in on August 29, 2018; take out on September 5, 2018. It takes two full days each way to drive. Arrive the afternoon of August 28, to complete registration and get your mandatory Quetico backcountry briefing; you can camp the night before put-in at Dawson Creek Campgrounds or use a motel at Atikokan, Ontario.
Costs, in addition to travel expenses and your camp food and fuel, is a $14/day/person expense for the Quetico backcountry camping fee. (That price tends to increase a bit every so often.)
Winds can be high sometimes, making solo paddling potentially problematic on a huge lake like Pickerel. So we will accept only tandem paddlers. There is a group size limitation set (and enforced) by the Quetico rangers, so our group will have no more than 4 boats with 8 paddlers.
If you are interested, please send an email with your name and the name of your paddling partner to wenker@comcast.net. You should do this before the end of March, as there is a maximum number of groups that are allowed in for any particular day, and so we will be making our reservations early—the first few days of April.