The paddlers: Brooke and Jay Creagh
After planning a trip down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River for the entire summer, we were forced to reroute in September after concern about fire closures. A quick change of tickets for a winter ski weekend, researching canoeing destinations, a phone call to a local outfitter, and we were off to Ontario.
I have had Wabakimi Provincial Park on my short list of canoe destinations since a group of Manito-wish Alumni went there last summer. I grabbed a few large scale maps from the map library and started pouring over the possibilities. I was able to scale back my initial itinerary after being reminded that at the end of September the days are much shorter and that Brooke(or I) might not want to paddle from daybreak to sunset.
Wabakimi Provincial Park:The park is located northwest of Armstrong, Ontario. To get there drive to Thunder Bay and then head north-northwest for about 3 hours. It is a young park that was established in the 1980s and expanded to its current size of over 2 million acres of land in the late 90s. It has large lakes, rivers, candadian shield, mostly pine and birch trees. Definately more variety of moss and fungus that trees. Supposedly there are moose and woodland caribou. We saw so proof.
The fishing is supposed to be excellent as there are fly-in fishing camps througout the park, but it was described to us as "sketchy" before we left. We were able to hook a few, actually catch two walleye, have quite a few get away and were given 3 walleye. Brooke is still waiting to catch a trophy northern.
Day 1, September 21: Lookout RiverWe were woken up at 5:30 am to get to the train in time. The train stops in the town of Armstrong.
No train station, just tracks. We got there at about 6:30 and waited until 8:15 until it arrived. The gal who shuttled us to the tracks said that she called at 6:00 and they said it would arrive at 7:00. How does the train get over an hour off track in the same amount of time? I didn't mind the wait as he were able to watch the town wake up and the rain was holding off.
We loaded our packs and boat onto the train and warmed up for 24.5 kms of Canadian rails. We passed the native town of Collins (accesible only by train) where a group of 4 wheelers circled up to greet the family riding the train. A few miles past this, the train came to a stop in the woods at a spot labeled Schultz's Trail and we unloaded our gear. The train went on its way and we portaged to the lake
The rain held off for the first few hours and we were fortunate to have little to no wind. We made our way to the Lookout River and were able to run a few rapids safely and portaged the ones that would've left us swimming in the river.
This night we slept at the end of a portage around a 5 foot ledge. Sound of whitewater, double-wide tarp, rain hitting our tent and wind blowing through the trees. This also marks the night that Brooke caught two undocumented walleyes. We fryed them up as appetizers. At this point, all signs point to a good fishing trip.
Day 2 - September 22 - Smoothrock Lake -Today we got to run some whitewater, portage and paddle into the wind. Not bad. We continued down the Lookout River and got out to scout every set of whitewater. Luckily for us, we were able to avoid some of the portaging and scoot through the waves and whitewater. While we were having a drought in northern Wisconsin, they were having record rainfall. Even in late September, the water was 1-3 feet above normal levels.
After getting to where we planned on camping around lunch time, we decided to push on north up Smoothrock Lake. As luck would have it, the wind picked up and we were able to paddle straight into it for a few hours before arriving at our island site.
We tried out our frybake (similar to a dutch oven) and I was doing something wrong as it took about 2 hours to bake four bisquits. I had a few more chances to redeem my baking skills throughout the trip.
Day 3-September 23 -Smoothrock Lake(northern end)
While Lauren, Meg and Jen ran a half marathon, we did our own 13 mile paddle. I would imagine our half marathon was a little less strenuous than theirs. Fishing was dismal and we decided to push on to a better fishing hole for our rest day.
Day 4 - September 24 - Funger Lake (Honey Hole)
After battling the wind for an hour for one measily crossing, we heading a different direction and the wi
nd wrapped around the point an
d sent us happily on our way to Funger Lake. The was the spot marked on our map as "honey hole." Spirits were high that this would be our mecca of fishing spots. We paddled out and tried our luck for an hour and half. Nothing. Brooke tried all her lures and I got mine stuck every other cast.
Later that night two moose hunters from Wisconsin stopped by and chatted with us. Turns out we were 50 feet off from the hole. If you go to where the birch tree sticks out into the water and head 15 feet off the shore, you catch walleye all day. 10 minutes later, they came back and offered us 3 walleye. We fried them up despite being full.
Day 5 - September 25 - Funger Lake
Our rest day consisted of sleeping in, eating great food, reading, napping and eating more great food. I explained to Brooke that this is a typical rest day at a Manito-wish trip. Next time, we'll bring games, cards, scrabble, something to keep Brooke entertained for a day of not paddling.
Day 6 - September 26 - Caribou Lake
Our mighty march up the Caribou River proved to be no match for this paddling duo. There were clear cut portages around every pool drop set of rapids and falls. If you ever go down this river, I recommend using the portages, or at least scouting as we saw an aluminum canoe ripped to shreds after wrapping around a rock. We sported our blaze orange hunting vests to avoid any trigger happy moose hunters.
Day 7 - September 27 - Little Caribou Lake
This was a section o
f the trip that had u
s a little worried as we didn't
want to get stuck on the island if strong wind and waves prevented us from paddling. Luckily, we had a smooth paddle to Little Caribou Lake and even had some glassy sections. We reached a site by lunch time and were able to enjoy our last afternoon and set up camp before it started raining. This evening it rained the hardest of the whole trip. I had a hard time hearing Brooke over the downpour hitting our tent rainfly.
Day 8 - September 28 - Boulder Junction , WI
We got picked up at 11:30, showered and were on the road by 12:30. We stopped in Grand Marais for pizza, looked over the cliffs to Lake Superior at Palisade Head and made it home by 11:00pm.
Bonus Day - September 29 - Beef-o-rama festival
More on this to come. We met up with my parents at the Beef-o-rama festival and watched the parade of beef. I've never seen anything like it.
We showed up empty handed at 6pm and were quickly labeled the "expectant parents" by the other members of the class. There were puppies everywhere struggling at the ends of their leashes to get at the other dogs. A large German Shepherd and a cat were having a showdown in the corner, somehow the cat was winning. A couple of black labs were going crazy and two huge 5 month old bull mastiffs were quietly drooling near the doorway.
The trainer quickly picked up on the situation and coached the old couple on how to correctly react to their dogs fear. By the end of the class Bayley was responding a little better to the other dogs. I hope our dog will be friendlier, at least she will have a fellow doodle to hang out with.
