If you single carry the first option is very doable. You'll have a couple long days, some long portages, and not much time to relax on the trip, but still doable.

I see so many YouTube videos of people who blatantly camp off permit because they planned a route they couldn't keep up with, so if you're not sure about your capabilities, or if you want a bit more time to relax, you can always choose option #2 to be safe.

Or maybe a compromise between both options. Still head up to Burntroot but then come back down through La Muir to Hogan instead of looping through the Pet. It will shave a couple hours and a ton of portaging off the day, still letting you camp on Burntroot and Hogan on consecutive days.

breed85 wrote:

Hi All,
...
Trying to also decide on where to camp on each day.

....

With Big Trout, Burntroot, Hogan, and La Muir there are lots of good camping options.  Can't go wrong with any of them.

I  wasn't a fan of the portages from Sunfish to Hogan but with a practiced crew your first route should be very doable.  Odds are the winds will be in your favour except maybe crossing Big Trout (but I'd guess you'd be doing  most that  in the morning).

 

I second the destination of Burntroot or at least Red Pine Bay then coming back through either Hogan or the option of Deer Yard/Hemlock which are pretty lakes.  Although a stop at Big Crow would be a nice ending.  Burntroot is a good option if the weather is favorable, Red Pine would offer some easier access if the weather is crappy.

We did an early water taxi and made it to Burntroot in one day - it's a long day but none of the portages are that difficult and with the three-man setup you have they should go fast.

Don't know if you are fishing, but a trip down the Crow River to fish would likely be productive.  

Last edited by PaPaddler (4/08/2022 6:55 am)

breed85 wrote:

After further review, we've decided to do the 1st route.
Night 1 - Burntroot
Night 2 - Calumet
Night 3 - Big Crow (check to see if the ranger cabin is available).

Thanks for all of the great insight/helpful comments, much appreciated!

Well the ranger cabin was available for our last night so, that'll be a new first for all of us (staying in a ranger cabin).
Now, just need to wait 3 months!

 yes,, the cabin is a dirty mouse shit hole,,  i would not even bother,, 
    walk to the very large pine tree and look for da trail.  i would go twice the distance as mentioned above, look for cement blocks?  the spring needs a tune up.. the lid is gone and the box is rotted away,, good water, and good luck.
      sounds like a make work program for the mighty "friends of algonquin " crews  l.o.l.

Last edited by swedish pimple (4/12/2022 5:25 pm)

I think that the cabin is good if you are travelling in the shoulder seasons.  It would be nice to have a wood burning stove during the cold sub zero nights in early spring or late fall.  I stayed in the cabin during a trip in mid July and was very happy to cross the lake and stay at the campsite at the mouth of the Crow River for my second night on Big Crow and sleep in my hammock.

Did the trip this past weekend.
Wind on Big Trout on Friday caused us to not make it all the way up to Burntroot, but instead, Red Pine.
Due to a friend's rolled ankle, we ended up going to Hogan on Night 2 and continued on to Big Crow cabin for night 3.
The route would have worked in a perfect world, but the wind and the injury caused us to change plans. It wasn't very busy on any of the lakes, so didn't feel too bad about camping on different lakes (we never put anyone out of a campsite that's for sure).
We likely won't be planning out such long days again in the future in an effort to avoid having to change our route on the go.

Big Crow cabin was not near as bad as what I thought it was going to be based on posts above. The deck was recently done (within the last year, maybe 2). The Maine common room inside and the cabinets and table were all painted this year. Aside from a sweep it was pretty tidy. My two friends slept in the one room I slept in the other they said they heard a mouse I heard nothing. There was a mouse trap left in the cabin but we didn't set it up, we saw no evidence of mouse scat.
As it was a cloudy/rainy day it was perfect. We took the table and chairs out to the deck to play cards and dice when the weather was nice and we were able to get up quickly and packed to be on the water for 6am and made it back to Proulx portage just before 830am and ended up catching the taxi back an hour earlier than our scheduled pickup as they were dropping off another group.

Aside from wind it was a pretty great trip!

We saw the MOE float plane land and drop off a canoe (and maybe some gear) to a site on Happy Isle.
I then got a GREAT video of the plane taking off again as the pilot saw I was taking a video and gave us a nice low and close "fly-by"!