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Hi all - I want another spring trip to Three Mile, a tough lake to get to.
Anyone travel from Kiosk to Rat Trap? I am assuming Maple Cr. is not difficult to paddle in that direction? My paddling buddy and I do 2 trips a year for the last 12 years and have done a number of spring trips in that count - I would put our skill at intermediate.
I want to avoid the North Tea and the portage from Manitou to Three Mile - it's a brutal one, which we have done twice.
Any other suggestions would be more than welcome!
Thanks!
Paul
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I did Maple Creek going the opposite direction... I did it in September - water levels were low, and we were pretty slow making our way through. But it was definitely manageable.
I wouldn't recommend camping on Rat Trap, the campsite looked pretty bad as I passed by, and I remember reading some bad reviews about it. I absolutely loved Maple Lake though.
Here's my trip report from '15 describing the loop... it's going the opposite direction, but it might help.
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The Three Mile Lake to Manitou portage was really easy when my wife and I did it last summer. A family group had day hiked over from Manitou and were just about to start hiking back when they saw us coming. They decided to wait and help us across the portage!
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Thanks Trippythings - the trip report was indeed useful!
Yellowcanoe - you and your wife must be incredibly fit! "Really easy" is not how I would describe the 100m incline for the first 1000 m of the portage with a pack and canoe…but that could be my middle age and too many superfluous things in our food pack talking!
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I haven't been to Rat Trap but I've portaged up Maple Creek from Kiosk to Maple, yes. You're upstream, which is irrelevant while on the creek (it's certainly not fast moving water) but a couple of the portages have some pretty significant climbing to them. If I had to choose between working my way up Maple Creek or portaging from Manitou into Three Mile, I'd pick the latter.
Edit: I have a trip report that covers this (including pics):
Last edited by Uppa (1/20/2017 10:39 am)
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pjr2013 wrote:
Yellowcanoe - you and your wife must be incredibly fit! "Really easy" is not how I would describe the 100m incline for the first 1000 m of the portage with a pack and canoe…but that could be my middle age and too many superfluous things in our food pack talking!
Nope, not just your middle age. I was 25 when I first did that portage and also found that incline to be a beast. I was glad my buddy took the canoe for that one.
As for Rattrap, we stayed on it two years ago. Wasn't an awful site but I wouldn't be too eager to stay there again. The whole site is sloped and you could definitely notice it when it came time to lay down and sleep.
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I haven't been to Rat Trap but I've portaged up Maple Creek from Kiosk to Maple, yes. You're upstream, which is irrelevant while on the creek (it's certainly not fast moving water) but a couple of the portages have some pretty significant climbing to them. If I had to choose between working my way up Maple Creek or portaging from Manitou into Three Mile, I'd pick the latter.
Edit: I have a trip report that covers this (including pics):
Trip is booked - Kiosk -> Manitou -> Three Mile (2 nights) -> Maple Creek -> out
Booked for May 8th - Pretty excited!
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I haven't been to Rat Trap but I've portaged up Maple Creek from Kiosk to Maple, yes. You're upstream, which is irrelevant while on the creek (it's certainly not fast moving water) but a couple of the portages have some pretty significant climbing to them. If I had to choose between working my way up Maple Creek or portaging from Manitou into Three Mile, I'd pick the latter.
Edit: I have a trip report that covers this (including pics):Trip is booked - Kiosk -> Manitou -> Three Mile (2 nights) -> Maple Creek -> out
Booked for May 8th - Pretty excited!
I'd personally put a night on Maple instead of 2 nights on Three Mile, but that's just my opinion. Regardless it will be a great trip. I'd recommend giving my trip report (posted above) another read through before you go 
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