McIntosh

Irrelevant useless fact: Did you know Trangia is 2 syllables, pronounced Trang-ya, not Tran-jee-ya?

Not so much currents as winds. Might be a good idea to do it clockwise: Opeongo-Happy Isle-Merchant-Big Trout- La Muir -Hogan-Big Crow-Proulx-Opeongo. Your prevailing wind is from the west. go against the wind on smaller lakes. Get a tailwind on long La Muir. And the longest portage is Hogan to Big Crow late in your travels when the pack is lighter. What do you think?

I recommend the Thermarest Neo-Air All-Season. Cushy, good for side-sleeping, rugged so far (almost 5 years).

No, it’s not “self-inflating”—even those require some breaths—but it has a high 4.9 R-value and is extremely light. 820 grams for the wide one.

I have the Prolite Plus Large selfinflating pad, too, but it is 880 grams and 3.4 R value, and not as comfy. I much prefer the comfort of the Neo-air all-season.

I splurged and bought the tiny electric pump for $38 (just checked, it’s now $50–wow) I know, crazy, but wow that super light thing works like a charm and saves me a lot of hyperventilation.

The slough between Willow and Bartlett?

Hawkeye Lake?

Not nearly as much tripping experience here, but my limited experience says to do the ambitious trips in the latter half of June, not May, for four reasons:

1) The longest days of the year mean you can paddle long days and cover great distances under daylight;

2) you’ve already warmed up your muscles and technique and optimized your gear thanks to your spring trips;

3) the black flies mean that life in camp is not that enjoyable anyway (absent a screen house tent); and finally,

4) portages have been cleared by then.

Possible fifth reason is that there is still plenty of water in June to float your boat.

Short distances, pleasant camp life, smaller lakes—-those sound like ingredients for a pleasant spring trip to me.

These fact sheets from the same organization are the “general audience” ones and are a bit more readable than the technical ones...

Permethrin http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/PermGen.html
Deet  http://npic.orst.edu/ingred/deet.html
Picaridin aka icaridin  http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/PicaridinGen.html

@EGB. Lots of people soak their clothes in Permethrin. It’s the best way to make it last longer. There are lots of threads on outdoor forums about how to do this.

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That said, I agree, From what I’ve read, once the permethrin has bound to the fibres and dried, it is not going to wash out easily at all into a lake or river. And once it has dried, it is much less toxic to human skin. I’ve used the spray with good results in super ticky areas (south of Thunder Bay in the spring is a tick nightmare).

Marks WorkWearhouse now sells NoFlyZone pants treated with Permethrin. In Canada, they have a lining to prevent direct contact with skin. In the States, they do not. The lining makes them too warm, in my opinion, for June tripping. I still spray my regular outdoor pants each spring with permethrin.

As for picaridin/icaridin, I used it on a buggy June trip in Algonquin a few years ago. I found that it was about as effective than deet, but lasted a shorter time. Unfortunately, the spray I had (Sawyer) warned against reapplying more than twice a day. So I stopped using it.

I’m keen to try the pi active spray this year to see if it is better than the Sawyer brand.

Hope that info is useful.