Dwight wrote:

Thank you for another great trip report! Will you be adding your travel to Louisa? Appreciate the details found in your report. Like how you compared the Dividing Lake to Little Raccoon Lake with other portages. 

Does a vehicle require high clearance and/or 4 wheel drive to get to the 14b access point?

I used my 2WD Tiguan to reach 14b back in 2017. I never at all felt I needed anything more on that road but I also remember the last few kilometers being very bumpy with lots of exposed rocks embedded in the road and lots of fist sized+ rocks strewn about. I spent a lot of time in first gear going about 7 km/h. Sounds like with all the recent logging the road is probably in better condition now.

It was nice paddling through Dagger Lake and it's the fastest way in to McGarvey Lake. I wouldn't mind going back that way to hit up North Grace.

When tripping I often experience leg cramps which I know can be helped with by hydration. But I also usually experience tingling and swelling in my fingers and hands, especially when sleeping. If more hydration can help with that then I'll give it a try. I always assumed it was because I was gripping the canoe paddle too tightly for too long.

When I was reading your story about the hike from Basin Depot to Lower Spectacle I noticed Frog Lake on the map and thought 'I bet it would be nice to hike to Frog Lake". Low and behold, that is exactly what you guys did. Great Story!

When leaving Magnetawan access point in August 2023 we encountered a couple ladies fitting the description who said their car wouldn't start and they had been stuck there for several hours. Same ones? Mostly my wife chatted with them and I think some guy was going to get them help in Kearney.

I enjoyed reading your report and I especially liked that you mentioned campsite 35 on Big Trout. I've been thinking for a few years now that if I were ever to head up towards Burntroot from the south then I would aim for that site because it should have a nice view and you have confirm that. Otherwise did you like that campsite? Looks like it would have views both to the north and the south.

Nice trip report. I love hearing about trips that are off the beaten path. I also like that Scott and Jeff were riding in my favorite model of canoe. Maybe one day I'll own one.

trippythings wrote:

Ok now I'm super curious to see what it looked like from the same angle as my photo lol. Were all of those rocks from my photo removed and it was just the bare, large rock? So both sides were completely dismantled and left in a jumble, and then you rebuilt it on the opposite side to how it was when I visited?

When we arrived there was a large jumble of rocks with a small fire pit at the top which was really useless for having any kind of fire but evidence of previous fires was there. This was on the opposite side of the pit in your pic. I dismantled that and piled all the rocks to the side of the big rock.

The pit in your pic didn't exist, it seemed like it was mostly dismantled before we arrived but it looked like some fires had there previously because you could see the rock was blackened.

I never got around to rebuilding walls. We just had a single fire on the second day and it was on the large flat part of the rock. Whoever uses the site next has the option to build up the pit the way they like it. Hopefully they don't use the "auxiliary" pit that was on the east side of the site or the other "auxiliary" pit that was on the west side of the site. With 2 little ones running around and only being there for 2 nights I could only do so much. With more time I would have cleaned all that mess up. Not surprisingly, there was a lack of firewood anywhere close to that site.

I had the chance to bring the two oldest with me for an ice out trip. I took my daughter (now 6 1/2 years old) on a similar trip 2 years ago and now I'm also bringing my 3 1/2 year old son. Just a simple trip to Ragged Lake which I have never been to.

So what happens if you take you get taken out of school/daycare and watch mindless TV for several hours without asking for a single pee break? You get a massive Ice Cream at 11 in the morning! This is daddy's parenting style at it's finest.



My 25 year old backpack had finally died so my new pack is the large MEC Slogg and I love it. No more need for all those little dry bags, just stuff in all the sleeping bags, clothes, and toilet paper, seal it up and go. My daughter had grown so I got her a new bag for her and packed it kind of heavy. My daughter's old pack went to my son who was carrying all the food.



We didn't see another boat all the way down to the portage. We were planning to single carry and things started out good until both son and daughter started struggling on the steep rocky and muddy incline, they were almost falling backward from the weight of their packs so change to Plan B. I put the canoe down and helped them carry their packs over the short portage then went back and got the boat. Still made good time and before we knew it we snagged Campsite 3 on Ragged Lake which was perfect for us. On a point with shore on 3 sides and wide open space inside. On the tip of the point I got an intermittent cell signal that allowed me to text the wife to assure her everyone was fine.



The hammock is the only toy we brought. The kids spent a lot of time hunting "crystals" which to me looked like slightly sparkly rocks.



There was a good climbing tree too.



Thi

As far as I know there should be no issue parking at the 1B unofficial access but the last time I did this was 2021. 1B is also on Crown Land so it should be fine.