Woodland Challenge crosses Temagami (Part V)

Day 8: August 12

Today and tomorrow are ones to go down in the history books for Woodland Challenge. They truly made the trip what it was and sum up the essence of challenge.

The day began with a leisurely paddle through the remaining section of Dougherty Lake, a truly magnificent place to which I must return. The upcoming portage began on an old logging road and promptly turned into a steep uphill climb on a path riddled with trees, most of which we cleaned up on our way back. The paddle through Button Lake was uneventful although I recall Anelynda making some ridiculous claim about something and us agreeing to Google it when we got back. The exit from Button into Adelaide involved a miniature portage/liftover onto a nice flow coming over a beaver dam. I may or may not have helped the flow out a bit to make it easier to push the canoes up. We pushed into Adelaide avoiding a portage and felt good as the sun shone down.

Adelaide was really small and we quickly reached the end and stopped for a snack while I scouted the portage trail (along with every deer fly in the forest). It turned out to be a labyrinth of trails and took me quite a while to find the right path. Explaining to everyone where to go proved more difficult than I thought and Nick and Jordan went the wrong way, albeit not very far. The end entering Sawhorse lake was home to an army of mosquitoes and no one really cared where the stuff went and just chucked it in the boats and pushed off. Once again Addie forgot her shoes... Why they weren't on her feet is still a mystery. Shortly thereafter we got into a standoff with Natalie regarding sunscreen... no one went anywhere until she had put it on. Her tan had seriously not suffered on this trip despite her constant assurances of liberal application.

The short liftover out of sawhorse and into Chiniguchi marked the final leg of the trip which was new for me. I had done the rest of the trip previously and thus felt a bit more confident as far as campsite location and general directions went. We pushed onto McConnell Bay. The water was beautiful and clear as we passed the shallows into the bay. However, upon turning the corner into the bay we saw the three campsites on the beach were occupied... truly devastating. It was already 3pm and we hadn't had lunch and were counting on this site. Anelynda paddled up to make sure they were actually staying the night and not just hanging out for the day as there were a few motor boats pulled up. They were. We chowed down on massive amounts of cheese and jam on our pitas while I contemplated the options. I presented the kids with three options:

1. Go and stay at a campsite that I know is there but is small and crappy
2. Go look for a decent campsite around Lake Chiniguchi which may or may not exist
3. Push on to Wolf Lake, tomorrow's destination, and have a rest day tomorrow

They chose option 3 which meant over 10km more paddling, not to mention an 800 and 200m portage before reaching the site. Off we went at full speed.

The weather was great and we were moving but not very fast by this point. People were drained, the long days were showing (especially in my boat.... Natalie....). We jumped off some rocks along the way to wake us up. Upon passing an island on the southern end of the lake we passed a couple heading north to the Sturgeon. I told them to be prepared for extremely dark water and that it was kind of gross. They seemed worried after that report. The kids laughed.

The 800m into Dewdney went fairly smoothly after a long gorp break yet took a long time. People wanted to camp at the end of the portage trail at a small campsite... Murdoch and I weren't convinced. We pushed on. The paddle across Dewdney was long and the sun was getting lower. However, Anelynda still had her sunglasses on and upon removing her shirt she knocked them off her head and into the water. I was right beside their boat and watched them sink. I would've gone in but she had just finished a sermon on how she only spent two dollars on them. They're at the bottom if anyone is interested. You could see the McConnell tower on the east side of the lake. I had Kim in my boat by this time and it was agreed that we would push ahead at the next portage and would quickly bring all of our stuff over and try to get a site on Wolf while we could still see.

Upon arrival in Wolf I noticed a group camping right across from the portage which is not a campsite. This didn't bode well for campsite availability on the lake. However, the first site on the far side of the lake which is massive turned out to be empty and also appeared (from the fires seen later) to be the only vacant spot on the lake. PHEW!!!

Wolf Lake the next day

It was now getting dark and Murdoch and Anelynda were spearheading the final portage into Wolf at dusk. It seemed to take them a long time as I built a fire and set the wannigan near the cliff for them to spot. We signaled them over and we made dinner in the dark, quickly set up camp and settled in for a well deserved night's rest.

Canoe partner: Kim, Nick, Natalie
Distance Travelled: ~ 20km
Put in time: 9:30
Take out time: ~8:00pm
Dinner: ?
Dessert: ?
Weather: Gorgeous

Woodland Challenge crosses Temagami (Part IV)

Day 7: August 11

Today I woke up to a wet, misty morning. Gross. My tent wasn't too wet (on the inside) but Murdoch's left much to be desired. Apparently he fell asleep on his back laying on his thermarest holding his sleeping bag on his chest because he didn't want to get it wet (his tent was less fortunate than mine). haha. It had been a rough night sleeping on Canadian shield yet again.

We packed up our stuff and paddled over to the rest of the group for breakfast. The campsite was a complete disaster zone and we did our best to clean up the firewood pieces that were scattered about the jagged rocks, moss patches and jack pine. Everyone was eager to leave and leave Kettle Falls behind us, yet you wouldn't be able to tell in the speed in which they moved.

We only had to paddle across the river to the next portage. It was wet, narrow and rocky. I threw my boat in before the rapids ended so I could at least have the current push me for a minute or two.

Upon entering Renfrew Lake we could see something bright at the other end and I called it if it was a canoe. Low and behold it was, but not in any sort of paddling condition. Apparently it had gone down the upcoming Ragged Chute. I was able to paddle the top of this rapid which had some tricky turns before the waterfall with Nick (he did great!). We didn't really realize that we then stopped at the beginning of the next portage just at the top of the waterfall so I had to paddle back with the now empty boat. I then ran the upper rapids with Anelynda and Murdoch? and then ran one solo where I came really close to bailing huge and would've had to watch the boat get eaten by the chute. All the stuff slowly made it's way over to the spot where Nick and I had originally stopped. It was a small, slippery take out just above a watefall and the current was moving pretty fast. Needless to say, tensions were high. There were more canoe carcasses at the bottom of the portage where we picked up a padded thwart with the intension of pulling the blue foam off and using it on one of our yokes. In actuality we just carried it around for the next 3 days never using it. This put in was slippery and dropped off quickly in the water. Jordan and I got pretty wet in the dark spooky water.

Finally after getting into the boats I realized it really late already. We stopped for a gorp break as it began to drizzle.... just great.... I tried fishing, didn't catch anything.

We paddled through Perkins Lake (I'm pretty sure there were 2 campsites on it) to the 260m portage which we subsequently killed and came out the other side in what seemed like mere minutes. Hazel Lake had nothing special on it and the few rapids that we hit on our way out were small and uneventful. Passing Dougherty Creek showed signs of hope as the water flowing from Chiniguchi was cold and CLEAR! I was temped to just go up the creek but not having read anything on it we continued down the river to a tricky section of rapid which Nick and I scouted from a rock at the top of the set in the middle. I really wanted to run it just to avoid the portage but thanks to Nick's suggestion we didn't. It would've been really hard and there was a massive strainer. Good call.

After the portage Nick and I sat at the bottom of the rapids and caught a few Walleye, my first ever.

First Walleye

The group carried on to the 860m portage that would lead us off the Sturgeon! Upon arrival everyone was hungry and grumpy as it started to drizzle. A fitting end to a miserable journey on the Sturgeon. We were going to eat lunch until the rain started... Murdoch picked up a canoe and led the charge into a portage that looked like it was leading us to the heart of darkness. On this portage Natalie soloed a boat for a good chunk at the end and Anelynda tackled the barrel/wannigan combo. It sounded like she was literally dying back there as she talked to herself about how it didn't hurt and she could do it.

Upon arrival at the end of the portage it was exhilarating to see the clarity of the water as well to see the boats loaded and floating away with people in them. Anelynda and I got in the last boat and we paddled over to the group to FINALLY eat lunch. She and I in a boat together was a bad idea and quickly resulted in some shuffling so that we were separated.

Clear water!!!

I was pretty excited about making it to northern Chiniguchi from Ishpatina and we carried on south through Stouffer Lake looking for these alleged campsites....

The scenery was breathtaking as the skies opened and sun dried us out. The dark grey rocks of the Sturgeon were replaced by beautiful quartzites and scraggly jack pine with towering white and red pines.

Stouffer ended with a 190m into Federick Lake but thanks to high water levels and a willingness to do almost anything to avoid a portage at this point we were able to pull our loaded boats up a creek. The clear water made it cinch.

Frederick was supposed to have a bunch of sites but alas, they didn't exist anymore so we carried on as Murdoch and I yelled Johnsonville Brats, testing the echo. We came to an old logging bridge at the south end of Frederick which was really cool. It must've gone down 30 or so feet and you could see the structure all the way to the bottom. The 'almost limitless' campsite here now had 15ft trees on it... bummer. At this point we stopped for some juice and gorp. Anelynda was having a hissy fit about water and refused to use the gravity filter for some reason and pumped the only liter of water on the entire trip here. I just drank directly out of the lake. It seemed clean enough. It was getting later than I had hoped and so we continued to the next portage which on the map doesn't show up but it's there and no, we couldn't just pull up the beautiful stream this time.... unfortunately.

Into Dougherty lake! by this time it was late and we FLEW to the campsite. I told everyone it was on an island and then Addie and I motored to find it. Kim and Emma stopped to get firewood from an old beaver lodge (thanks beaver). We stopped at the first campsite we could find on a small island and it was totally gorgeous. The entire lake was ours.

Hauling it across Dougherty (6km/h)

This campsite was totally awesome. The tent sites were good for the big tents, Murdoch and I set up on bedrock yet again. The fire pit was set against a flat slice in the rolling rock that made up our island. Tons of blueberries! (clearly no one had been here in a while) Trips had to be made to the mainland if you had to use the facilities to do the deed. I never had to make the trip but upon watching others do it the shore was quite a bit further than it looked and I think a few people barely made it. haha!

Our island campsite (paradise)

It was great to get to the site and relax, if only for about 45 minutes before the sun went down. Kraft dinner was a welcome meal and the lobster sized crayfish that cleaned up the scraps on the rock near the water agreed. Dessert was Rice Krispies I think and somehow Jordan agreed to clean that up by himself. Murdoch and I slept without flies and fell asleep watching an amazing display of stars...

Canoe partner: Nick & Addie
Distance Travelled: ~17km
Put in time: 9:30
Take out time: 7 - 7:30
Dinner: Kraft Dinner
Dessert: Rice Krispies
Weather: started out disgusting with drizzle and cloud but opened up into clear sunny skies by late afternoon