With the season coming to a close, I felt the need to escape into the wilderness for two weeks of quiet, slow paced adventure. What better than the Quetico Wilderness of Canada, and what better time of the year than October. Bordering to the north of the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, the Quetico lakes region is a massive 1,1800,000 acre wilderness that has its fair share of visitors in the summer. However we decided to enter the park just before the snow flies, the water cold and the bugs non-existant- what we found was 2 weeks of complete isolation and the beauty of the changing seasons.
Chelsea and I drove north to Atikokan, Ontario where instead of renting a kevlar canoe, we decided to purchase the used one. And yes, we still have an 18 1/2 foot canoe (we named her Betsy) that is currently residing in our friend Chicago's backyard in Salt Lake City, after spending 4 days strapped to the roof of a toyota matrix. The three of us, Chelsea's dog Seamus and our shop mascot came along, entered the Park at the northern most region and continued on a circuitous route of 12 days without seeing a single other person.
Our entire route consisted of 125 miles, 32 Lakes, 7 Rivers and 43 super fun portages. The fishing was spectacular and I will admit that the only walleye caught was a monster that Chelsea landed with her first cast of a fishing line since she was a child. Only 2 days of rain and an hour of hail spiced up what was otherwise beautiful tshirt and shorts weather. We were told in Atikokan that it's much too late in the year to enter the Park as the weather is unpredictable and the lack of other parties made the risk factor go up a few notches. But that was exactly what we were looking for and I'd say we were more than rewarded for our efforts.
I won't say everything went smoothly though. We had quite a few beaver dams to surmount in the rivers, Chelsea got a fairly nasty cut on her toe and Seamus decided it was a good idea to swim after me in the canoe with his dog pack on leaving him eating soggy dog food for the next 3 days. But without a doubt the trip was an overwhelming success and one of the most beautiful adventures I've been on. After spending the summer playing in the mountains and glaciers of Seward, it was stark difference in terrain to be paddling through a landscape that was deglaciated only 12,000 years prior. With so many places to explore I don't know if I'll make it back to the Quetico anytime soon, but I can't imagine not returning to laying back in the canoe and staring up at a huge blue sky floating on a quiet, super remote lake with 2 weeks of nothing to do but camp, paddle, fish, and relax.