Ice in Me
http://www.chesuncooklakehouse.com/component/content/article/3.html
Here’s the webcam from the Chesuncook house. looks like the ice has formed on the lake.
I would go back to the BWCA
– Last Updated: Dec-20-11 4:24 PM EST –
but time it differently. Fall and June would be great. But I have trouble with all the regs and the permit process. They are there for a reason. The pros who frequent BWCA are more adept than I at negotiating those logistical hurdles.
I do prefer closer to me Quetico. But it is more expensive than BWCA.
Like others in the East there is alot of canoe country to drive through enroute to Thunder Bay..(going south around Chitown adds a LOT of time..almost a whole day). Its really hard to go to the BWCA when Woodland Caribou is a similar distance and I have driven by lots of other area that are really wild and I seldom see anyone a day.. Just my personal preference.
As others mentioned flat is relative but I do like the hiking up on small mountains that can be done in Maine. Or larger mountains ( though the Allagash has no big ones...just about 800 feet vertical)
I think what everyone is looking for in a canoe trip is something different from what they see and experience everyday, so its bound that opinions differ. WW loves to hear loons. I have em at home so that is not the attraction for me. We don't have many moose so that is an attraction. And the Allagash has always produced several moose a day everyday and sometimes a bear too. I love seeing bear in the wild. There are no wolves in Maine though as there are in the BWCA.
Also there are much fewer loop canoe routes. Shuttles can get expensive. Whereas in the BWCA you have a lot of loop possibilities..and hence more territory if you are planning a lifetime of exploration. I am amazed though at the number of Mainers who have never paddled outside of Maine..
Relatively nearby(nine hour drive) La Verendrye Reserve is about the size of the Boundary Waters and has similar scenery and no campsite competition. So I would be apt to go there.
The canoe destinations available to us in the East and Midwest really make us blessed.
do you have blackflies at allagash?
If you don’t it might be well worth the drive. June in BWCA might give you bears and moose, but you’re also bound to see some blackflies. OTOH the northern great lakes region is paradise in fall.
Silence is golden
Some nights of our St John River, ME trip in 2000, we heard no human sounds. Often actually, but usually sometime during the day I’d hear a truck in the distance. But that was the part of wilderness tripping I didn’t expect, the lack of human sounds. I’ve done more trips now, and still, I think it takes a few days just to be able to realize the impact. The first few days, my brain manufactures human sounds. Leaves rustle and I turn my head thinking someone is talking or a vehicle is approaching. But I acclimate.
Went back to the St. John in 2002 and regularly heard high flying jets. Not loud, but there. We theorized either flight patterns or military patrols had changed, perhaps due to 9-11. I felt like something had been taken from me–a rare quiet place.
I hear a place on the Olympic Peninsula claims to be quietest. http://www.esquire.com/features/quiteplace1107
~~Chip
One memorable night
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I haven't been to semi-wilderness places as often as many of you, but I remember one fall night camping by myself in northern Wisconsin I was unable to hear any sound at all. No wind, no birds, ... nothing. I think I remember it so well because it seemed like there SHOULD have been sound. After all, it wasn't the dead of winter; the trees even still had their leaves. The absence of ALL sound made me much more aware that there was no human-made sound. Total silence eliminated the subconscious notion that I'd probably hear a car on the highway somewhere if only the wind were to die-down completely.
Legendary
Mainers will tell you some pretty sick black fly stories. I think I have been in Maine in every month except June, and managed to avoid the fierce season. It got hot and they were hatching on the 2002 St. John trip, but only on the last day and only a few.
I’ll also tell you one of my lifetime best mosquito attacks was in Maine, in late summer and mid-day, no less. We were set upon at Penobscot Farm so fiercely that the pests were like a layer of hair. I’d pick up my hand to brush off my arm and there were so many on the back of my hand it made me scream in fear. The other was on Md’s eastern shore, a different story.
Thanks for the clarification, kayamedic.
~~Chip
mosquito hair
you just gave me a goosebumpy flashback of the Green Run campsite on Assateague… we abandoned land and continued south all the way to Chincoteague.
One vs other
I have NOT paddled in the east so cannot comment. I have done BWCAW since 1999 (except for the first time last year) and can say that the BDub is a worthwhile destination, even with the drive.
The number of trips available to you will be unlimited. From just a single entry point in the middle of the park you could probably paddle every day for 2 weeks and wind up at the entry without ever paddling the same water twice.
Portages can be numerous and long, or non-existant. And if you push hard you can make it 15 miles in during a single travel day, basecamp and day trip to your hearts content.
One of our good travel buddies lives within striking distance of the 'Daks, and he still hasn’t presented a successful argument to have us travel there instead of the BDub.
Randy
The Adirondacks are really beautiful
and hold some 200 miles of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. But that is linear and involve crossing some lakes that have cottages and powerboats.
There are rugged loops though. I keep thinking ( and NOT doing the 55 mile long Little Tupper- Lows loop} but its got twenty portages.
The Daks offer a multitude of short trips…four or five days… in the St Regis Canoe Area wilderness.
Let me throw another big canoe area into the mix.
Its similar to the BWCA with moose and a healthy wolf population.
Algonquin Provincial Park. Five to nine hours north of Buffalo. Its just a tiny bit smaller than the BWCA and for Easterners a whole lot closer. It too in July and August can be busy. Blackflies do alot to keep tripping down in June in both Maine and Ontario.
Anyway Algonquin has a reservation system too.But you can often just walk in and get a permit. Also you canoe does not need to be registered in Ontario, Maine or NY and it does in MN. Perhaps a minor point but one less thing to hassle with…you can get your MN registration online.
Canadian Shield
country runs generally from western Canada through northern Minnesota, Lake Superior, Lake Huron and on east through Maine. The appearance of the country is similar though certain areas have their distinct natural characteristics and regional population densities. I think WW and Pyker have described the BWCA well.
The permit system is on-line. (http://www.recreation.gov/permitCalendar.do?page=calendar&calarvdate=06/29/2010&contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72600) Certain entry points have a lottery system for initital assignment but after the lottery is run o/a 20Jan12 the remaining permits are available on a first come basis on-line in addition to all non-lottery permits.
I get my permit just shortly before I leave home. You pick them up at an outfitter or ranger station on the day you enter. You can monitor the remaining permits available for each entry point on-line. If there are none available then that area is too crowded for me. 
Times to avoid are fishing opener the second weekend in May and the time between the 4th of July and Labor Day.
A good resource for planning is “Exploring the Boundary Waters” (A Trip Planner and Guide to the BWCAW) by Daniel Pauly. Its a good winter read even if you don’t go. An overview map of BWCA/Quetico is handy too. (http://www.bwcamaps.com/overviewmaps.htm)
Some of the entry points northeast of Ely are within 5 to 10 paddling miles of the south central entry point into the Quetico if you’re headed to that area. I don’t know about the Canadian permit system though.
So as with all things paddling, its all good - just different. So much water so little time. Frank
Touchy
The OP mentioned topography as being one factor in his decision, though distance seemed to be more important.
Nobody insulted the BWCA over this question. It’s just something that might throw off someone who’s used to having defined visual refererence(s) all around. I don’t know if the OP is in this category.
Can happen in non-wilderness areas
A few weeks ago while walking uphill from home–up a dirt road–I noticed that the air had gone completely still. No machine/car noise, no wind noise, not even animal sounds. Usually the house with many goats and llamas puts out some nice baaahs. Even they were silent, as were all the neighborhood dogs.
It felt so strange that I told my husband about it. For one moment a flashback came to me from one of those after-the-disaster movies, in which one person is left all alone.
I’m not complaining about the silence. But it made me acutely aware of how, even in a relatively quiet area, there are almost always background sounds.
BWCA
The BWCA is worth it. If you want elevation plan your trip on the eastern side. While, it’s not like the mountains in Maine, you’ll have plenty to look at.
mountains
in the Adks are even more impressive than Maine – it’s just as much a hiking/climbing/skiing paradise as it is paddling. Looking down on all those lakes from 3000-4000 ft puts an amazing perspective on where you’ve been in your boat.
WW was just providing context
All of the prior answers were from eastcoasters, some of whom haven’t been to BWCA. And he’s right, an impression of “crowded” based on one visit is a bit subjective.
That’s cool
Since I have never been to BWCA, I don’t know if it’s pancake flat or if it just doesn’t have a lot of clues on the horizon. They might also be obscured by dense trees nearby.
I used to laugh when people called Massachusetts the flatlands, because in most parts of it there are definitely hills, or even mountains, to provide directional clues. They don’t have to be jagged high-altitude peaks to do that. But in the absence of all such clues, I get disoriented. And from what I’ve heard, I am not alone in that.
No skiing today!
And I live in Maine and yes its impressive looking down from “hills” around here…ranging from 1100 feet across from my house to on top of Mt Washington looking on Long Lake and Sebago.
Um no mountains today.Its a sheet of ice all around.
In the Adirondacks a nice hike that you can canoe to trailhead is St Regis Mountain. Another is Mt Frederica on Lake Lila. Another is Cat Mountain near Cranberry Lake.
When are we the peanut gallery going to learn the winning destination?
There are more of course. Thats what I can think of offhand that I have done.
Be glad we cannot pick a winner
And I don’t mean just this thread.
Think how crowded the winning place would be if there were only one winner. Or two or three.
Different strokes for different folks, alright. That’s a good thing.
I like kayamedic’s view
We like to go places that are different. Different than where we’ve been or where we live.
The funny thing about that for me is that some of these places still draw me with their familiarity.
absolutely
Besides, I’ve never been to either place (I’ve been to nearby regions), and this thread and the descriptions are generating some great imagery in my mind of these places.