Wabakimi - September 21 -28

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 River
We 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 wind wrapped around the point and 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 of the trip that had us 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.

Keeping it in the family

It has been a long time since our last post as we have been pretty busy in the Northwoods. The lastest news is that Chris Vater started working as an Assistant Counselor at Camp last night. He spent the evening shadowing a Counselor and is probably with a cabin today.

I saw him with a group of kids this morning with a smile on his face.

Chris came up to visit us last Wednesday and was convinced that he should stay and work for the last two week session. It was a perfect fit, college student with nothing going on in Madison and Camp that was in need of another guy. I'll try to get a photo of Chris with his Campers and post it soon.

Maurers Descend with Aunt Lolo

A few weekends ago the Maurers and Lauren came to visit us in the Northwoods. We had quite a fun filled weekend which included meeting Paul Bunyan himself at his restaurant, geo-caching all over the area, playing board games and going for a paddle in the North Canoe. We didn't get much rain in April so we couldn't have a bon fire because Smokey said "no" but that didn't stop me from doing one of my favorite things, roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores. After that visit Aunt Brookie had to take a two-hour nap because she forgot how energetic three kids can be. Her hosting skills were later compared to Grandma Lauerman which is a huge compliment. Thank you Maurers :) "Who needs more food?"

Creaghs in Arizona

It has been one week and our tans are starting to fade into Wisconsin whiteness. Everything lined up and we were able to scoot down to Arizona for the last week of April. We spent quite a while trying to figure out how to get to Chicago by 4 in the morning until Megan suggested we fly out the night before. This was genius since my meeting was done right around noon. We went to the Lakefront Brewery for a tour with Lauren, drove down to Chicago, hopped on a plane, got picked up by the Milanas and went to the Four Peaks Brew Pub in Phoenix for dinner. Quite a day and a lot of delicious beer.


Our friend Molly, who happens to be a city planner for the City of Phoenix, stopped by Megan and Matt's place. We asked her if it was legal to have a goat within the city limits, but she couldn't answer us definatively. Needless to say, even though it is a bit odd, the neighbor's goat wasn't causing any problems and seemed pretty cool. Hmm, maybe we should get a goat instead of a dog...chevre anyone?

After a couple days of hiking, painting and relaxing we headed south to Green Valley. Green Valley has become quite the retirement metropolis. After telling a few of my co-workers about where we were, I found out that quite a few locals from Boulder Junction head down there for the winter.

Green Valley was a chance to relax, play cribbage with Grandma and Aunt Debby, climb a mountain, sit by the pool and eat a few great meals. We went to Madera Canyon for a hike that was supposed to be a leisurely. After we got to the saddle in what seemed to be no time, I decided that we should go for the peak which was another 3 miles up. As it turned out, we didn't have enough water and lacked sunscreen but after we got wind of a group of 14 from the Quail Creek Retirement Village ahead of us, there was no turning back. We made it with only minor dehydrations, minor sunburns and burning thighs.


After a few great days we headed back up to Phoenix, returned to Four Peaks for dinner and made it to the airport by 4:45 am the next morning. By the time the sun set in Boulder Junction, we were unpacking our bags and putting away our groceries. It was a great way to spend a week before our busy summer season.

Don't Put the Skis Away Yet

A few weekends ago we had a BBQ at our place, people were sporting shorts and sandals and the snow was fading into the deep shadows of the forest. I thought that my skiing days were over, but I may have jumped the gun.

Luckily for us the maintenance staff hasn't gotten around to taking down the ski trail maps yet. We have received 2 wet inches of snow so far and the local weatherman is saying that we will get 5-7 inches tonight. If that is true I am going to ski to work one more day.


When I got back from my photography walk I noticed these three guys staring at me through the window. Even though there was a wall and a window between the deer and me, they didn't seem comfortable with that.


I won't post it, but the next picture is just a couple white tails high stepping it as far from me as possible.