Planning a 6-7 day trip with a group of friends around July 6th. Have a permit for snowbank lake and was gonna loop around Thomas, Fraser, Adams, Alice, to Lake One. With the fire situation, can't get from Fraser back around to Alice so one option we have is to just keep the same route but cut it from Thomas straight into Alice.

Another totally different option is switching permits, starting from Gunflint into South Lake, and then maybe trying to come out of Clearwater Lake (haven't planned this option as much).

Having never been to the east bwca, option 2 would be new and seems to have cool areas with the stairways and waterfalls. I've been to the western bwca many times, am bringing friends who have never been but we're all young and in good shape. We're not fishing at all, and we don't mind portaging.

Any advice on picking between the two routes? Will either be less buggy, more scenic, or more crowded? any thoughts on good 6-7 day routes from south lake? Any and all thoughts greatly appreciated.

youngin: "Planning a 6-7 day trip with a group of friends around July 6th. Have a permit for snowbank lake and was gonna loop around Thomas, Fraser, Adams, Alice, to Lake One. With the fire situation, can't get from Fraser back around to Alice so one option we have is to just keep the same route but cut it from Thomas straight into Alice.

Another totally different option is switching permits, starting from Gunflint into South Lake, and then maybe trying to come out of Clearwater Lake (haven't planned this option as much).

Having never been to the east bwca, option 2 would be new and seems to have cool areas with the stairways and waterfalls. I've been to the western bwca many times, am bringing friends who have never been but we're all young and in good shape. We're not fishing at all, and we don't mind portaging.

Any advice on picking between the two routes? Will either be less buggy, more scenic, or more crowded? any thoughts on good 6-7 day routes from south lake? Any and all thoughts greatly appreciated.

"

I can advocate for not substantially changing your plans.

I did a route out of Snowbank through Thomas to Alice, up to Boulder and back through Fraser to Snowbank from June 5 to 12. Obviously, the Boulder to Fraser section is cut off for now but we really enjoyed the entire route and we never really had to deal with crowds at any point. Ima had a few other groups the two nights we camped there, first night and night six, and we weren't alone on Alice, night two, or Disappointment, night seven, but there were empty sites on both lakes. On nights three, Fishdance, four and five, Adams, we were alone on the lakes. In fact, we didn't see another human for more than two days after leaving River Lake and only re-entered society on Shepo.

The bugs, on the other hand, were omnipresent. Portages were often almost unbearable even with full clothing coverage and head nets. We were lucky to have breezy camps every night but even a few steps into the woods brought mosquitoes and they were happy to follow us out onto the lakes despite some solid winds, though they would eventually be blown off.

Given the length of your trip you could still make it to Adams by night three and have a day to explore the area before heading back towards the numbers on day five. Even camping on Beaver and exploring Adams, and maybe Boulder, from there would be a nice experience. If anything, not taking the Boulder-Cap-Roe portages will save you a lot of muck and a thousand mosquito bites. The east end of Roe was almost impassable due to low water on the 10th and lack of rain won't help that situation unless waist high mud completely dries out.