Trip Plan – Day 1: paddle east through Clearwater into Mountain then into Moose. Stay on Moose through Day 2. Day 3: paddle east through Moose to North/South Fowl, back west through John and East Pike, then South into Pine. Alternate route was to continue west into West Pike. Stay on Pine or West Pike for Days 3 and 4. Day 5: Paddle out through Pine/Caribou or West Pike and then west through Clearwater.
Day 1: Wednesday, August 20th, 2025 – Stayed in Clearwater bunkhouse #2 the previous night to make sure we could get an early start today. Woke up around 0630 to start the day, reorganized gear, dressed, and headed to breakfast by 0730. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, OJ for breakfast. Missed the Pilsbury scone by a couple days. After breakfast we went to the outfitter lodge to finalize canoe rental and get our permit. Headed down to the launch with all our gear, loaded the canoes and pushed off around 0915, heading east through Clearwater. Paddle to portage #325 took about 80 minutes. Portage into Mountain took another 20 minutes. We stashed our gear at the north end of this portage and doubled back to check out the Mountain Lake Lookout, just off the Border Route Trail. The view was worth the roughly half-mile hike, one-way. Headed back to the north end of the portage and continued the trip. Paddle from the west end of Mountain to site #721 took around 80 minutes. Landed at site #721 around 1400 and, after scoping out the site, decided to settle in rather than continuing into Moose Lake. Spent the afternoon setting up camp, choring, fishing, swimming, and cooking dinner, including several fish we caught earlier. Clear night was great for stargazing. Overnight was eerily silent throughout. Barely any sound from wind, water, or even crickets or frogs. Actually made it somewhat difficult to fall asleep.
Weather throughout the day was partly cloudy, warm, dry, with a slight breeze from the west.
Day 2: Thursday, August 21st, 2025 – Woke up around 0800 to calm weather, clear skies. Perfect morning to start our first full day in the park. Relaxed throughout the morning and just enjoyed the wilderness. Plan was to use this entire day to fish, swim, relax, and chore. Small cove to the east of camp was great for smallmouth. Caught plenty of fish for dinner.
After dinner, we started plotting out our Day 3 plan. After looking at our original route, we decided to call an audible. Instead of continuing east into Moose and south toward Pine, we decided to head back west, toward portage #325, take that back into Clearwater, and the head southeast toward West Pike, with the goal of landing the island site on West Pike. We all slept on that idea and said we would make the official call in the morning.
Weather throughout the day was clear, warm, slight breeze, and dry. Perfect day in the park.
Day 3: Friday, August 22nd, 2025 – Woke up around 0800 to cloudier weather, but still dry and pleasant. Relaxed around camp for a bit with the plan to break camp at 10am. We officially decided to head back west and go for West Pike. Breaking down camp took a little longer than anticipated, but we pushed off around 1030, heading west back toward portage #325. Paddle took about 60 minutes as we paddled into a slight headwind. Landed at portage #325 around 1130, made the portage in about 20 minutes, and headed southeast through Clearwater towards portage #780 into West Pike. Short paddle, about 30 minutes to the west end of this portage. Portage #780 was about 210 rods, but we also could tell from the map that it was relatively level. There were a few small incline/declines, but thankfully the minimal elevation changes helped with the length of the portage. This portage took about 30 minutes after unloading/loading. Our goal leaving this portage was to land site #2017. We left the portage around 1230 and a quick breather. Paddle to site #2107 took about 40 minutes. As we approached, we saw another canoe approaching the site. We were worried that they were also targeting the island. Thankfully, they were just fishing around the island and we were able to land a short while later. However, site #2017 wasn’t in great condition. It had a nice open space near the kitchen, but the rest of the island was littered with fallen trees and weeds. It could be a nice site in a few years once all the fallen trees are processed and burned and some of the weeds are cleared out with foot traffic.
The group split up at this point to scout another site, just north of site #2017. Half the group scouted site #727 on the north shore of West Pike. They radioed back that the site was great and we regrouped at site #727 for the remainder of our trip. We all landed at #727 around 1400 after a couple breaks throughout the day. Once we were settled, we had a group swim off the outcropping just off the east point of camp. The water was deep and refreshing.
After drying off and settling in, we used the rest of the day to setup camp, chore, and fish. Fishing wasn’t great this day and we didn’t have any fish for dinner. We did get a few sprinkles of rain around 2100 that continued on/off throughout the night. The rain actually drove us into our tents a little earlier than anticipated. Weather overnight was breezy with scattered light rain. No severe weather.
Day 4: Saturday, August 23rd, 2025 – Our final full day in the park started around 0800. Got up, made breakfast, and chatted about a plan for the day. After a slow morning, we decided to make a day trip back west through West Pike and target portage #917 into Gogebic Lake.
We launched around 1300, headed west into a pretty strong headwind. The paddle west through West Pike was tough, with a few harrowing moment when gusts were pretty strong. Thankfully, the group made it intact. However, as we neared the west end of West Pike, we were all looking for portage # 917 on the south shoreline. It was not clearly marked or obvious, so we decided to head to portage #780 and connect with the BRT which also led to Gogebic. This is where we lost a man. Short version: as the group headed west through portage #780, there was some confusion about where the turn for the BRT was located. This resulted in one man missing it and heading west all the way back to Clearwater Lake, unknown to the others. As the other 4 of us eventually made our way to Gogebic, we realized we were one man short. A search and rescue mission was launched. Thankfully, the lost man realized he was alone and did the smart thing and stayed on the portage. After about 90 minutes, we were all reunited and spent a couple hours fishing and hiking around Gogebic. Fishing was a bust, but the BRT around the lake offered some good views and a short interaction with the local otter family. We started the trip back to camp around 1700 and landed back at site #727 around 1745. We took it a bit slower, using the wind at our back to our advantage. We also stopped at the island to pillage some firewood for the night.
The rest of the night was spent choring, relaxing, fishing, and cooking dinner, including more smallmouth. Clouds rolled in around 2200, which limited the night sky. It was also the coldest night, but it stayed dry.
Day 5: Sunday, August 24th, 2025 – Last day in the park. Morning was a bit slower with some early morning drizzle slowing down the process. Wind was a bit heavier as well, which was a little demotivating as we looked out at the water and realized we had to paddle directly into it for the rest of the day. The plan was to break camp around 10am, with an estimated 4 hours trip back to Clearwater Outfitters on the west of Clearwater Lake. We pushed off about 30 minutes late, around 1030. Thankfully, as we headed west out of West Pike, the wind was more cooperative than we anticipated. Even though we had to paddle directly into a constant, gentle breeze, the trip to portage #780 only took about 40 minutes. The portage took about 30 minutes after unloading/loading on either end. Then we launched for our last paddle, from the east end to the west end, of Clearwater Lake. We estimated this paddle to be about 2 hours, directly into the wind. This paddle was brutal. The wind was constant and just strong enough that anytime we tried to stop to rest, we would get blown back or turned sideways, parallel to the waves, which is exactly what we did not want. The only option was to keep paddling. 20-30mph gusts would pop up here and there and pause our progress for a minute. It was also cold and wet, with a constant mist from the cloud cover. After 2 straight hours of paddling, and countless times of hoping (and failing) to see the outfitter around the next point, we finally landed at Clearwater Outfitters at 1350, ten minutes earlier than our anticipated arrival, even with our late departure. The total trip took 3 hours and 20 minutes.
Once we landed, we packed up the gear, showered up, and headed to Poplar Haus for a burger and a beer.
