This past August 2023 my son Michael embarked on an amazing backcountry adventure into the Quetico Wilderness . This trip would be a fly-in, paddle-out trip over the falls chain route.
We hope you enjoy our journal entries, video and photos!
Quetico Trip Journal: Day 1 & 2
This trip was originally planned as my 50th birthday celebration a couple of years ago. Covid decided that it was not going to happen so we waited and decided this was the year – especially since we were celebrating Michael’s high school graduation and the start of his studies at St. Clair College. It was time we crossed off another item on the bucket list!
Michael and I were up early on Sunday and glad that we pre-loaded the car yesterday in anticipation of our 1,477 km drive to Atikokan, ON. We were out the door at 6am which makes for a nice drive-thru US border. The freeways belonged to us alone as we made our way up I75 North towards the Big Mac Bridge. After a quick stop for a Cracker Barrel Breakfast we experienced a bit of a slowdown at the Mackinaw Bridge toll booth (the person in front of us decided to pay in pennies, the toll booth lady was NOT impressed!). Another easy border crossing back into Canada at Sault St. Marie and we hit the Trans Canada Hwy 17 towards our destination for the night, Terrace Bay.
After a quick dinner at Biloxy’s Restaurant in Marathon, we cruised into the Red Dog Inn in Terrace Bay around sunset. The room advertised as “recently renovated” (in what year i’m not sure) was relatively clean and comfortable. We awoke the next morning early and walked over to Drifters Restaurant for a wonderful breakfast. The smell of the pulp mill in Terrace Bay reminds me of growing up visiting my relatives in the Trois Rivieres / Cap-de-la-Madeleine area of Quebec. We stopped in at the beautiful Terrace Bay beach where I was delightfully surprised to see a new Parks Canada Beach Pavilion which was not there in 2019 when Leslie and I stopped in on our Lake Superior Circle Tour. Very nicely done!
As we made our way out of town we also stopped in at the Aguasabon Falls and Gorge. Nice walkway and views. We were ready to hit the road for the rest of our journey to Atikokan, ON where we will spend the night at the outfitter. Just past Nipigon we stopped in at Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park, Leslie and I stumbled upon this place during our Lake Superior Trip, it was recommended in a random encounter with a cook at a restaurant who also rode adventure bikes. Michael and I took a break from driving and walked along the well built walkway and groomed trails to the two viewing spots of our little mini-grand canyon. Hardly anyone around and free. My kind of stop!
As we approached Thunder Bay we saw the sign for the Terry Fox Monument and Statue. Leslie and I missed this on the last trip so we pulled in to check it out. What a hero! in 1980 this man, with one leg having been an amputee caused by cancer, embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for Cancer Research. After running 5,373 Kilometres the cancer forced the end of his trip and cost him his life. Ending in Thunder Bay, this memorial was a fitting tribute to someone who worked so hard to make a difference. This makes any challenges and problems we have today seem like small potatoes.
We decided to drive through Thunder Bay along the water and check out the city since I’ve never stopped in before. The waterfront was not very attractive as it was mostly industry and as we made the right turn and headed back up toward the highway the area began to include more boarded up businesses and a tent city of homeless. Sad to see but so many Canadians suffering which will likely continue and even increase as cost of living continues to escalate in Canada.
With a brief stop for the obligatory Quetico Provincial Park sign selfie and tour of the small (compared to Algonquin) Visitors Centre, we pulled in to Atikokan around 4pm and made a pit stop at the Souris River Canoe Company. This is where our trusty Quetico 17 kevlar canoe was made. We had to see it for ourselves. Just as we were pulling in the owner was just packing up the car to leave for the day. He was very accommodating and took us for a tour of the operation. Really cool to see how our boat was made especially how they hung them like sausages in the warehouse when they were finished. These lightweight canoes are a joy to portage (did I just say Joy and Portage in the same sentence?) yet are incredibly tough. We do not baby our boat. The scratches and gouges are evidence of that, yet it stays dry and keeps us going. Many thanks to Souris River for the tour and the well built canoe!
It was time to head to the outfitter but first a quick stop for a couple of things from the Foodland grocery store. Well, we got what we needed but oh my gosh prices are expensive in small northern towns! Most memorable was a small box of Raisin Bran cereal for $12.95. Ouch! And don’t get me started on fuel. On our journey here we saw prices approaching $2.00 per litre! We left home at $1.65.
We headed over to Canoe Canada Outfitters where we would spend the night in their bunkhouse and receive our maps and plan our route for the following morning. Shane was super helpful with the planning and providing maps. We re-packed to try and save some weight, leaving out some luxury items like my hammock. The “Bunkhouse” area was pretty cool and was only $15/night per person. We had a private bunk room where we would sleep and a communal seating area plus washrooms and showers available. We were the only ones there, so it was all ours. The decor was quite simple – hundreds of autographed paddles on the walls and ceiling. Pretty cool! We headed over to the Outdoorsman Restaurant for dinner and then tried to adjust to the 1 hr time difference and get some sleep, which is always impossible when you have an exciting day planned ahead.
Tomorrow we head to Cache Bay in the float plane and enter Quetico Provincial Park for our 7 day, 6 night wilderness journey!
Quetico Canoe Trip Journal: Day 3
Oh my gosh it’s so hard to sleep when you’ve got an exciting day ahead of you! Up at 4:30am (well me anyway, Michael could sleep through a nuclear holocaust). The one hour time difference doesn’t help either. The bunkhouse was super quiet during the night. After coffee and more coffee I woke up Michael and we had a bagel breakfast and then prepared our gear for the outfitter’s shuttle over to Atikokan Waterdome seaplane base.
Under beautiful blue skies, the Outfitter shuttled us to the seaplane base in their old weathered Chevy Suburban. The roads are ROUGH in this area, even the paved roads. When we arrived the float plane was ready to go and the crew was ready to transfer our canoe and gear and weigh everything including us. I had a lighter breakfast to make sure we could fit everything on the plane. There was a bit of wind kicking up but it would be no problem today. The crew had us board the plane before strapping our canoe to the float so that we would not have to climb over it to get inside. Once everything was loaded and strapped down our pilot, a great guy from Australia (pronounced Austrail-ure) climbed in and went through his first flight of the day systems check.
We cleared for take-off and taxi’d out into the lake for a thrilling take-off. There was some minor turbulence due to wind on the way up but once we were up to our cruising altitude it smoothed right out. Early on we flew over a large logging operation but after that, we were treated to an amazing view of nothing but beautiful wilderness for as far as the eye could see! Northern Ontario is absolutely stunning! Our flight lasted about 25 mins and we were sad that it would come to an end so soon. It was such a great experience! We landed smoothly in Cache Bay right at the US/Canada Border. Canada basically shares a wilderness park with the USA. On the Canadian side we have Quetico Provincial Park and on the US side they have Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) in Minnesota. Americans and Canadians paddle together throughout this vast wilderness area. Due to the wind, rather than dropping us off in the lake, the pilot used the shelter of the Quetico Ranger station on a small island in Cache Bay for a wind block which was much easier for us as they also have a floating dock.
Once unloaded our pilot pushed off and flew off into the distance. We were now deep in the Quetico Wilderness and anxious to get started, but first we checked in with the Park Ranger who went over current conditions and our routes (and also sold Michael a T-shirt – we came, we saw, we got the T-shirt). It’s quite interesting as the Rangers here live at this location for the season. At the end of our trip we ended up meeting a couple in the parking lot where the husband grew up living at the ranger station island with his ranger parents many years ago. Kind of like a lighthouse keepers family. I feel like while this seems like everyone’s dream job, it may end up feeling like a beautiful prison! While we were there a few canoes full of Americans stopped in who were exploring the area. They were very friendly, and after a quick chat were on their way. This would be the most people we would see in a while.
We said good-bye to the Park Ranger, loaded our gear into the canoe and made our way out of the protected calmer water and tacked through some windier open areas to our first portage – Silver Falls. one word … Rugged. Let’s just get this out of the way, Algonquin has backcountry, but it’s well used with many conveniences such as reasonably groomed portage trails, thunder boxes, signed campsites and signed portage trails. Not here, this is a wilderness park with none of those things. Silver Falls was absolutely beautiful and would be our gateway to the “Falls Chain” route we would be following. Again, unlike Algonquin there is no indication that there are falls up ahead. Just the roaring sound, “smoke” coming off the water and a dead stop at the horizon.
After the Silver Falls portage (approx. 700m) we paddled into Saganagons Lake and would take the “Deadman’s Portage” (sounds super appealing) to shortcut the lake. The shorter 290m portage was also rugged but not as tough as Silver Falls. We enjoyed the first day luxury of tortillas with ham and mustard with chips for lunch. The wildlife is definitely not as skittish as in Algonquin. Loons will stay very close to us which was a pleasure to see and even at camp the chipmunks (Chip and Dale) didn’t constantly try and steal our food, we saw them occasionally but they seemed to care less about my culinary masterpieces.
We eventually found a nice island campsite on Saganagons Lake to spend our first night in the park. Finding unmarked sites can be a bit of a challenge, and later in the trip even a bit frustrating. We set up our tent and then while Michael lit a great fire, I cooked up some sausages, rice and vegetables (Atikokan vegetables worth more than my car) for dinner. Michael enjoyed some S’Mores for dessert, a dram of whiskey to toast the wilderness and it was soon time to hang the food barrel and climb into our warm sleeping bags. The temperature was very comfortable, not nearly as cold as I suspected it would be this far North. It had been a pretty exciting day, we were exhausted but excited for the coming days!
Tomorrow we have a number of portages and many waterfalls to enjoy!
Quetico Canoe Trip Journal: Day 4
What a great night’s sleep. I always sleep better in a tent, generally in the sleeping bag by around 10pm and up around 6:30am. Way more sleep than at home. Such a beautiful morning – comfortable temperature with partly sunny skies. Before we left home we purchased a new Nemo Quasar inflatable sleeping pad which is much thicker than the MEC Reactor ones we already had. Michael was the tester last night and the extra thickness is nice – worth the $200+ price tag? Probably. I can live with the MEC one’s for now but when they eventually fail, I think we’ll go Nemo for both.
Breakfast was bagels with peanut butter, cream cheese and instant oatmeal with coffee/hot chocolate. Before we packed up and paddle away for the day there is a serious subject to tackle. Poop. In Algonquin we have the luxurious Thunder Box (Privy) but in the Quetico wilderness you bring a shovel. We have a small gardening shovel which we use to dig about a 6” wide x 6” deep hole in the ground about 150 feet away from water sources, campsites or portage trails. Do your business then bury it and pack out your paper in a zip lock bag. Rule – The shovel does NOT touch the poop. It’s times like these when you consider the Algonquin Thunder Box a complete luxury!
After dealing with the #2 order of business for the day we packed up camp and paddled off to continue down the Falls Chain. We were looking forward to seeing so many waterfalls today (but the portages not as much). We will see Four Falls, Bald Rock Falls, Little Falls, Koko Falls, Canyon Falls and Kennebas Falls. We hit the water and enjoyed a nice relaxing paddle. The portages were relatively short but were still rugged at times. Most are just to get around the waterfalls/rapids and some actually have a bit of a shortcut at the end if you are willing to put in while the water is still moving fast. We are definitely willing.
We had lunch at the Bald Head Falls portage which was really a lift over a large rounded smooth rock to get around the falls. What a beautiful spot for a break! We took some extra time here after eating our usual tortillas with peanut butter and nutella with chips, filtered some water and even had a short nap lying on the warm rocks with the waterfall cascading right next to us. Water filtration is such an important part of canoeing the wilderness areas. You will consume a ton of water for drinking, cooking, cleaning – it’s just too heavy to carry (a litre of water weighs 2.2 pounds and we need a lot of it!). So filtration is key. We have 2 filters. We absolutely love our Platypus Gravity Works filter when at camp which filters 6 litres in one shot. Just fill the “dirty bag” with water from the lake, hang it on a tree and it filters into a “clean” bag on the ground. Super quick and if it gets a bit clogged just hold the clean bag higher than the dirty for a moment to clear the filter. We also have a Sawyer Mini Filtration System which is like a Lifestraw kind of idea. We scoop the water up in a smaller bag, attach it to the filter directly and clean water comes out the other end where you can fill your water bottle etc. We use this while paddling/portaging and run out of water in our bottles. Who wants to portage heavy water?
Reluctantly we packed up and moved on from our lunch break oasis and continued down the falls chain. The second last portage before Kenny Lake was extremely rugged. At the end of the portage as we set our gear down we could see a strong thunderstorm coming towards us in the distance. It was moving fast, I thought about pulling our rain gear out of the dry bag but Michael could see the wall of water moving across the lake towards us fast as lightning lit up the sky. We had maybe 30 seconds to act. We flipped the canoe upside down with the stern up on a cliff/log for some height and crawled underneath placing our packs on the windy side to keep the driving rain from soaking us completely. Moments later the skies opened up with some of the hardest rain i’ve ever experienced. I’m sure it sounded worse than it was as it hit the belly of our canoe over our heads but even the GoPro said it rained hard. This storm lasted for much longer than I would have expected but eventually it did subside and we crawled out to load the canoe and paddle on while there was a lull in the action.
When I placed the canoe in the water in a rush I didn’t notice that the lower side of the canoe hull was up against a sharp jagged rock and when plopped the big heavy orange pack into the canoe right at that spot we hear a massive “CRACK”. I was afraid to look. Michael said “oh boy”….. I envisioned this jagged rock sticking through the side of the canoe. I reluctantly took a look and to my amazement … nothing. We could see a gouge in the outside and a bit of a bump on the inside of the canoe but no penetration through the hull. After testing it did not leak. Hats off to you guys at Souris River Canoe co. I’m sure you cringe when you hear about how poorly we have been treating this canoe but it has taken everything we’ve thrown at it. Colour me impressed.
Since the wilderness gods spray all rocks in Quetico with Pam cooking spray so that they are an ice rink when wet, I slipped at the portage head when getting out of the canoe and fell in the water up to my waste with a hard impact on the rock to my right wrist. I was pretty worried because it was quite painful. The last place I want to break my dominant wrist is way out here with so much paddling and portaging ahead of us. After five minutes or so of walking around holding my wrist and whining like a baby the pain subsided considerably and we shouldered the packs and canoe for the portage crossing.
We found a campsite on Kawnipi Lake as soon as we could after the Kenny Lake exit portage as the skies began to threaten another thunderstorm.. We unloaded the canoe quickly and rushed to get the tent up. Once the tent was up and gear unpacked, the ominous skies began to thin out and clear up a bit. Michael got a great fire going, even though all of the wood and kindling we could find was wet. He’s definitely the resident pyrotechnical engineer! We also found a wrecked canoe on the campsite. Definitely don’t take a kevlar canoe though the falls!
Dinner was again sausages with vegetables but with instant mashed potatoes and gravy this time. This will be the last of our fresh food – without refrigeration we will be on to freeze dried camp food going forward! While I like fresh food, it’s heavy and the cleanup in the backcountry is less than fun. Freeze-dried food is much easier. Boil 2 cups of water, pour it in the pouch, seal it up, generally wait 12 mins and voila – gourmet meals with zero cleanup! Ok , maybe not “gourmet” and these do give you gas but easy and lightweight they are. Michael enjoyed some S’mores for dessert and just as we had finished up with the food it started to rain a bit so we quickly packed up and hung the food barrel for the night.
Extremely exhausted we crashed and were asleep before we hit our Nemo inflatable pillows. Time to regenerate some energy for the day tomorrow! Getting older stinks.
Quetico Canoe Trip Journal: Day 5
Had a great night’s sleep (it was my turn to try the thicker NEMO pad and it was glorious!). Unfortunately we woke to a strong North wind – every paddler’s nemesis. We had our usual breakfast of bagels and oatmeal with coffee and hot chocolate and decided to wait out the wind a bit with a second cup. It didn’t improve. But I did take the opportunity to use the wind to help dry some of our gear still wet from yesterday’s rain.
We slowly packed our things hoping that while we dilly dally’d around the campsite the wind would die down but it only intensified. We decided that we would take the morning to relax and make a decision by noon to leave or stay at this campsite until tomorrow. We had lunch, cleaned up and decided that it was borderline too strong but we would make a go of it. We loaded the canoe and paddled off into the waves.
It was a tough go – we used the leeward side of islands and bays in the coastline to borrow as much calmer water as we could to make progress but we saw a large unprotected area of water up ahead and were pretty concerned. As we entered the more open area the waves grew and wind howled. Occasionally the white caps hitting the bow would spray some water into the boat and forward progress become non-existent. Too bad the GoPro footage doesn’t reflect the actual conditions. GoPro video really flattens out things like hills, rocks, waves. Just before the lake opened right up there was a small island that could give us shelter so we paddled around to the leeward side and removed our gear and pulled the canoe onto land.
This was a pretty small island and the wind rifled through it but there was a small, level area that would fit our tent if we needed to hunker down for the night (it looked like a decommissioned campsite). But before giving up for the day and setting up camp we decided to wait it out a bit longer (until dinner time) and make a decision to stay or go then. With the trees bending overhead we used our pack and food barrel as a wind-break, setup our camp chairs and took some time to relax. This was actually quite enjoyable, forced me-time. I enjoyed reading my “into Africa” book by Sam Manicom and Michael did some gaming on his phone. We snacked and cringed every time we heard trees making a loud “crack!” overhead all the while checking and re-checking the water conditions.
At 5pm we decided to make dinner and make a decision afterwards. In my experience winds often die down after dinner and we were hoping this would be the case today because we did not want to lose a full day. After heating up some water for our freeze-dried entree we finished up our meal and noticed that the wind had been slowly calming. Still very windy, but not nearly as bad as we had experienced earlier. The white caps in the lake were now few and far between compared to what we paddled in earlier today. We decided to give it a shot and loaded the boat.
We were prepared for a tough go and while it was difficult it turned out better than I expected it might be. We paddled through Kawnipi Lake looking for campsites … remember how I said it was a bit frustrating finding sites since they were not marked? When you’re tired and it’s nearing sunset and it’s been a struggle – you just want to find a site and relax, but sites, even those marked on our map by the outfitter, were very difficult to find. It’s all rugged rock and overgrowth from the water. Algonquin Park puts out a map showing where all of the campsites are. Not the case here. However there is an online website called Paddle Planner that offers some free tools but for a paid version has an app that shows the Quetico campsites, not only that but describes them (how big to fit X number of people, quality etc). In hindsight not realizing the park map did not mark the campsites, I should have bought the planner membership. However, this is a wilderness adventure, good or bad, adventure we did receive.
Passing by a deep bay area I told Michael “I think that’s a campsite over there, but I think it’s taken, I see people”. “That’s not people!” he said, “it’s a bald eagle!”. This eagle was huge! He had the head the size of a human and was tearing apart a fish on shore. We experienced several eagles flying overhead and they were amazing animals.
Eventually we came across a small but nice island campsite near the Petroglyph areas. At first it seemed a bit cramped but this rocky cliff site had an amazing view overlooking the lake. This turned out to be one of the most beautiful sites on our trip. The wind now had calmed and we were in for a beautiful evening with an incredible view. As the sun was setting Michael got a fire going right on the cliff’s edge and after a shot of whiskey to toast the wilderness gods for safe passage, we relaxed watching shooting stars rocket across the star filled heavens. The silence was wonderful. Just the occasional cry of the Loons echoed across the lake. It started to get a bit cold so we retired to the tent for the evening.
Not long after lying down and instantly falling asleep, I woke to wolves howling. They were SOOOO close! At that moment I was thankful that we were on an island site and wolf packs generally don’t swim long distances to small islands (I think?). At one point I even heard fighting amongst them with growling and whimpering. I tried to wake Michael but he wouldn’t have it. Absolutely amazing experience.
Looking forward to getting some miles under our belts tomorrow to play catch up since we only got in about 3 hours of paddling today!
Quetico Canoe Trip Journal: Day 6
When I awoke the next morning, the wolves were still at it, although they sounded much further away and continued to get further away as the morning went on. I exited the tent and fetched the food barrel to prepare breakfast. We enjoyed e visit from a bald eagle at breakfast and took the time for a second cup of coffee to enjoy this beautiful vista.
We packed up camp and paddled off in search of the petroglyphs (Petroglyphs are carvings that are incised, abraded or ground by means of stone tools upon cliff walls, boulders and flat bedrock surfaces by First Nations people imany years ago). We had a rough idea from the maps where they would be but after paddling around looking for any signs, we could not find them. We did enjoy the chatter of an eagle nearby calling out to us. Over here! Over here!. Unfortunately we were down many hours of paddling due to yesterday’s winds and decided that we didn’t have the time to keep looking, we needed to bang off some miles. Note to self – when embarking on a Quetico Wilderness trip, budget more time for exploring, weather delays, sickness etc. You need to slow down here.
Bonus! We were fortunate and had the wind begin to blow from behind and had the opportunity to open up the sail. We didn’t gain a ton of extra speed from it as the wind was not that strong but it sure was nice to relax and sail across the lake! Unfortunately a large area around the Poet’s chain was burnt due to a recent forest fire. It was amazing how the fire could jump across the water to islands that seemed to be a fair distance from land. It just felt sad to paddle through those areas.
We were happy to find that one of the portages turned out to be a trail to go around a “swift” that we were able to run, not at all a problem so it was nice to avoid unloading for this portage. We were putting down some good miles today and it looked as though we would be nearly on track by end of the day.
With the wind picking up we found an island campsite with the sleeping area and fire pit further into the woods than we had last night. This cut down on the winds off the lake which would make for a nice evening. After all of the portaging and warm temps the last couple of days, it was clear that there was some B.O going on and I had nobody to blame. With no people around I took the opportunity for a quick skinny dip in the lake. Refreshing!!
We set up camp and went over the maps. While Michael lit a campfire and I prepared tonights freeze-dried dinner entree, sweet and sour chicken, Michael noticed we had a guest in the fire pit area. A little camp mouse. We were concerned that we might have an infestation like we had at one Algonquin site years ago but as far as we could tell, this little guy was alone and tried his best to avoid us. He certainly didn’t go after our food. Our food supply was slowly getting used up and based on current consumption we should have just enough food for the rest of the trip. Not really much extra but we should be ok. We’ve had years where we only consumed half of what we carried around the park, so this time were tried to better plan for what we needed without over carrying.
After dinner we relaxed and discussed our route and our expectations for the next day. We decided that we would rather be picked up by the outfitter shuttle at Stanton Lake. Originally when I booked the trip I indicated a pickup at Stanton Lake which is about half to full day’s paddle closer then Nym Lake where we thought we could get to when we arrived at the outfitter. The wind day had cost us a fair bit of time and we decided that rushing through the park was just not what we wanted to do. We would rather be picked up a bit closer and enjoy more of the park and our time at camp. I messaged Shane at the outfitter our wishes using my Garmin inReach GPS and he responded quickly indicating the change in pickup point would not be a problem.
After hanging the food barrel we relaxed by the fire again enjoying a star filled sky and climbing into our tent by about 10pm. It was a fairly warm night and we were very comfortable. It felt good to not have the feeling that we needed to make up time now. We could relax and enjoy ourselves.
Quetico Canoe Trip Journal: Day 7
I woke to a few sprinkles on the tent but that ended quickly and I fetched the food barrel to make breakfast. We had a nice comfortable night’s sleep and were ready for a great day seeing more waterfalls. After a nice relaxed breakfast we packed up and hit the water.
When we arrived at one of the portages we decided to stop for a quick snack before making the carry. While we were relaxing on some rocks by the water we saw some people coming down the trail. “Hello People!!!!” a young woman called out. They were very friendly and happy to see us. These would be the first people we had seen in two days and we were the first they had seen in four days. They were from the USA and tried to book on the US side in the BWCA park back in May but already there were no more permits available on that side so they booked in Quetico instead and came around into Canada to launch. They were on a 16 day loop trip and were having a great time! We chatted for a bit and parted ways after we exchanged tips on the areas we had each came from in different directions.
We made the portage crossing ,which was a bit rugged in some spots, but not too bad overall and paddled towards Chatterton Falls. We passed through Keats Lake which was very interesting … it smelled like the ocean. Nowhere else on our trip smelled quite like this spot. After a nice comfortable paddle we reached the Chatterton Falls portage. The portage was fairly decent and when we arrived at the other side we were super excited to find a beautiful sand beach! Since it was about lunch time we took full advantage of this amazing spot to relax and have lunch. After a quick dip in the water to cool off we put our camp chairs in a nice shady spot overlooking the beach and lake, ate some lunch and relaxed. I could have stayed there the entire day.
I spread the solar panels out in the sun in the canoe to charge up our battery bank which was getting pretty low. Unfortunately even though it was out in the hot sun all afternoon, it was barely charging the bank. I haven’t used it in a while but remember it charging up the battery much quicker in the past. I’ll have to leave it out at home and see how long it takes to charge the battery. We need to be able to count on our equipment out here, so if it’s not going to work properly it’s going to find itself replaced.
We made our way to Russell Rapids which turned out to be just a swift, we enjoyed the lazy river pushing us along towards Sturgeon Lake. Sturgeon Lake is a long north-south lake (which was a problem for us the other day with strong North winds) so the potential for challenging conditions was high but it turned out to be light winds and an enjoyable paddle. We did its entire length in about 1.5 hours.
Nearing the end of the lake we began looking for campsites and found a wonderful clifftop site with a commanding view of the entire lake. I think this would be my favourite campsite of the entire trip so far. There were several flat rock areas down at the water level to enjoy plus the higher clifftop camp area was nicely laid out and open with great views. This was my first time setting up the tent without a single tent peg. Just big rocks to lash the ropes to as the ground was rock.
We got a fire going, had dinner and enjoyed the sunset relaxing by the fire as long as we could before we began to nod off. The trip was winding down, this would be our second last night in the park. We were trying to drink every last drop of this beautiful landscape. The subject of conversation would often come. back to the same thing … we would love to have nice cabin, right here on this cliff site overlooking the lake. The simple life. No internet, phones or people or drama that comes with it. Just the simple life.
Tomorrow we paddle towards the large Pickerel Lake and sleep close to our pick up point at Stanton Bay.
Quetico Canoe Trip Journal: Day 8
The sleeping pads both did a pretty good job of keeping us comfortable considering we were sleeping on rock. I really didn’t want to leave this site, so a three cup of coffee delay was in order. Once we were packed up we hit the water for our last full day of paddling.
The portages today were easier even though they ranged in length from 550m to about 750m. We stopped at the end of a portage for our only “hot lunch” of the trip. Michael made some freeze-dried Pad Thai while I went back for the canoe. It was nice to relax and get some energy from a hot lunch and the smooth rock we relaxed on was wonderful.
We had already heard that Deux Rivieres may be a challenge in time of low water so we were a bit prepared. Finding the mouth of the river amongst all of the tall grass was our biggest obstacle … at first. Using the Garmin GPS helped us to confirm that we were in fact in “the river” as it snaked it’s way along though mud and grassy areas. Sometimes we really didn’t know if we were in the river or not. We often had to push ourselves along through the deep muck. This is a waste deep kind of mud that you definitely don’t want to get out and pull your canoe along in. After much struggle we did manage to slog our way up to the first beaver dam. Once we lifted over we found the paddling much easier. We made our way along the winding river to the second beaver dam which then got even easier and then by the time we got over the third dam it was normal paddling for us once again. A grassy, muddy maze is the best way to describe this river. If you’ve been to Algonquin on the Big Trout Loop, you’ve gone through “Grassy Bay” which is somewhat similar to this but in a winding river format.
We weren’t expecting a headwind and rough water in the last of the twin lakes. It seemed that no matter what direction we paddled in the wind was always in our faces. We tacked back and forth a bit to avoid being broadsided by waves and made it through with no problem. We saw no people today and the sky was slightly overcast which made for a slightly cooler yet very comfortable day of paddling.
Once of our portage heads was a nice sandy beach that had some sort of old iron mechanical part on the beach in the water. I have no idea what it would be. We carried over the portage and experienced a little bit of rain but nothing big and it ended quickly. We enjoyed watching a couple pairs of swans in Dore Lake, always travelling in two’s. Beautiful animals!
We had a long paddle across much of Pickerel Lake to get to our final campsite of the trip. Since the winds were calmed quite a bit we cut across less worried about a sheltered route and ended up finding a nice campsite on an island at the mouth of Stanton Bay which is where we will be picked up by the outfitter shuttle tomorrow.
We set up camp, made a fire and relaxed with the last of the whiskey to celebrate a wonderful trip. A woodpecker was working hard on the tree behind us while Michael made is some s’mores.
It was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed every bit of our last night at camp. Sad to see it coming to an end so soon. Tomorrow we head home.
Quetico Canoe Trip Journal: Days 9 & 10
I love the sound of raindrops on the tent fly. Our final morning in Quetico would have us wake up to rain. The rain did stop almost long enough for us to make breakfast and pack a few things before starting up again. Rain is how we will finish our time in Quetico. I’m not complaining, we had some beautiful weather and honestly, I don’t mind the light rain in calm waters.
Our shuttle pickup time at the Stanton Bay parking area was for 11am so we finished up breakfast had lots of time to finish a second cup of coffee in the light rain. We had just enough food, only a few packages of oatmeal and some graham cracker pieces with peanut butter in addition to a few granola bars were all that were left at the bottom of the food barrel.
We danned our rain pants and jackets and finished packing all of our gear. One last look around the campsite and we slid the canoe into the water paddling very slowly towards Stanton Bay. The water was very still. We watched the raindrops recoil in the lake and kept an eye out for moose as we passed through the grassy shore of the mouth to Stanton Bay. We didn’t see any moose but definitely more loons, swans and ducks. Since we were early, we passed the portage to the pickup area and continued on down an arm of the bay. There was a rock river area that was now reduced to just a trickle which signalled the end of our paddle in this direction.
We made our way back to the portage trail and unloaded for the apprx 450m carry to the parking area. While emptying our canoe we met a nice couple from Kakabeka who were just heading into the park that had a Souris River Canoe like ours. While portaging we passed another young couple heading into the park along the trail. She carried a red Souris River Canoe exactly like ours minus all the gouges and scratches. Shiny and new (I secretly hoped they may accidentally take the wrong canoe at the end of the trail. Now, now … is that any way to treat the trusty canoe that did not let us down no matter what?).
When we finished the portage to the parking area where the shuttle would pick us up, we were about 45 mins early so we pulled out our camp chairs, lathered on some Ben’s bug spray and relaxed. Soon a family with two small children came up the portage trail with their gear coming out of the park. This was the family where the husband spent time at the ranger station island as a young boy. After some interesting conversation our shuttle arrived. We loaded our canoe and gear into the old suburban and started the long journey along the logging roads back to the highway and eventually back to the outfitter in Atikokan.
Once we arrived, we moved our gear into our vehicle and tied down the canoe securely for the long drive home. Next order of business – a hot shower. Oh my how good that felt. Once clean with some fresh clothes we said goodbye to the Outfitter crew and stopped in at Chips R us for a quick, late takeout lunch. Pulled pork poutine and hotdog and COLD root beer. One thing you miss the most in the backcountry is refrigeration!! Just wait another month or two and mother nature will take care of that for you. The food was good but our eye was on the prize. We always dream of a nice, big, juicy hamburger and cold beer for dinner after a trip so we would aim for Terrace Bay and the Drifter restaurant for that treat.
We set out on the Trans Canada highway toward Terrace Bay and pulled in around 7pm. After securing a room again at the Red Dog Inn we headed over to the Drifter Restaurant and enjoyed a delicious hamburger with fries (and gravy!) and an ice cold beer. Heaven on a plate. We were planning on an early departure the next morning so we hit the hay early (which is what we were used to at camp anyway), not to mention that we had lost an hour in the time difference on the way home.
We left the next morning at 5am, hitting up a Tim Hortons in Marathon for breakfast. So many problems with the order … bagels and oatmeal at camp was much simpler. Again, an easy border crossing in Sault St. Marie for our USA shortcut back to Windsor was much appreciated. We cruised along I75 South towards Windsor and enjoyed a smooth, quick border crossing back into Canada. We made it home in time for dinner! Lots of unpacking to do and cleaning up the gear for storage. But that would be tomorrow. We were exhausted from so much driving and it was time to relax. This amazing trip was over and we were thankful for having had the opportunity to visit such a special place together. I’m so glad that many people followed along with us on our journey and got a feel for what Quetico was like.
Here’s some takeaways from this trip:
- Quetico Provincial Park is al long drive from Windsor Ontario (about 15 hours each way via the USA shortcut, about 20 hours through Canada). If you have the time, add a day or so on each drive and break it with some other interesting places to visit along the way.
- Do you need the float plane? No, you can paddle a loop to incorporate the falls chain and poets chain but you’ll need quite a bit more time. For us the float plane was an amazing part of the journey and we’re glad we did it.
- Take more time than you need. Book a few days or even a week longer than you think you’ll need in the park. Weather delays, fatigue or just time spent exploring and relaxing will use up those days. You can always use a satellite phone or GPS communicator to reach the outfitter and modify your pick up date if you need to. Slow down and enjoy this amazing place!
- A single carry would be nice but honestly at my age with past physical challenges limiting my ability and often over rugged terrain, it’s just too much weight. Maybe consider a double carry since the portages aren’t that long, spreading out weight and making the portages more enjoyable and being able to pack a few more comforts.
- Don’t wait. Do it now. No one is guaranteed tomorrow!