QUETICO PROVINCIAL PARK Ontario’s Quetico borders Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area
to create 9,170-square-kilometres of international paddling paradise. PHOTO:
GARYANDJOANIEMCGUFFIN.COM
Pine Loop
QUETICO’S FOREST is primarily spruce, balsam fir and jack pine. But when you come upon a red or white pine rooted along any of the park’s 600 lakes, you’re in for a treat. Most of the pine stands av- erage around 340 years old, making them some of the oldest trees growing on the Canadian Shield. And one of the best patches of trees to go and see are the ones found on Shan Walshe Lake. The lake was named after a park naturalist that the Thunder Bay Chronicle called “the conscience
of Quetico.” Visiting this lake, and the forests he slowly convinced others to protect, is a perfect way to spend a week in a canoe.
NEED TO KNOW The access point for this five-day loop is Ely, Minnesota, meaning a quarter of the route is in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), one of the United States’ largest chunks of protected wilderness. Drive northeast out of Ely (and while there,
be sure to pronounce it Elee, with an empha- sis on the first syllable, or incur the wrath of otherwise friendly Elyians). Take Highway 169 (Fernberg Road) and then Moose Lake Road. It’s 31 kilometres from Ely to the public launch on Moose Lake. From there you paddle half a day across Moose, Newfound and Sucker Lakes to reach the Canadian border. To legally cross the 140-metre Prairie Portage in either direc- tion, Canadian and U.S. paddlers must have a Remote Area Border Crossing permit. The route then heads clockwise through a chain of lakes linking Basswood, South, West, Shade, Dell, Grey, Armin, Shan Walshe, McNiece, Kahshah-
34 n C ANOE ROOT S summer 2007
piwi, Side and Isabella lakes, which brings you back to Basswood’s North Bay. To obtain a Remote Area Border Crossing
permit download an application at www.
queticopark.com/rabc/. Canadians can also contact the Canada Immigration Centre, (807) 624-2158. The permit costs $30 Cdn and takes four to six weeks to process. Each paddler must have one.
INFO QUETICO PROVINCIAL PARK: (807) 597-2735 (Trip Planning Information Line).
BWCA HOME PAGE:
www.bwca.com
The route is written up in A Paddlers Guide to Quetico and Beyond, by Kevin Callan, (Boston Mills Press/Firefly Books).
MAPS The Friends of Quetico canoe map costs $14.95 and can be ordered from (807) 597-
2735 or purchased at a ranger station.
Canadian topographical maps: 52 B/3, B/4, B/5, B/6. U.S. fisher maps: F-10, F-18, F-25.
OUTFITTERS IN ELY, MINNESOTA CANOE COUNTRY OUTFITTERS: 1-800-752- 2306,
www.canoecountry.com/canoecountry/
RIVER POINT OUTFITTING: 1-800-456-5580,
www.elyoutfitters.com/index.htm#si
CANADIAN WATERS CANOE OUTFITTERS: (218) 365-3202,
www.canoecountry.com/ca- nadianwaters/
PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW The portages leading in and out of Shan Walshe and McNeice lakes aren’t easy. One kilometre-long carry descends into a swampy bog then climbs up a nearly sheer slab of rock. But it’s worth it because it was this rugged ter- rain that kept the loggers from getting there in the first place. The pine were eventually scheduled to be cut in the 1960s but by then there were so many politically active paddlers who knew about them that the cutting was stopped.
NEED TO BRING An eye for the weather and a good rain tarp. Quetico is well known for its sudden rain squalls and frequent lightning storms. —Kevin Callan
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