Scarecrow-Sturgeon River- LakeTemagami

Day 1
Start bright and early from Kanata 5am. After a quick stop in North Bay for Camera batteriest, we reached Lakeland Air at 10:30. Checked in for our noon flight and went to file route plan with OPP (office just a skip down the road)After a 3 hour delay for wind we had a wonderful but slow fight to Scarecrow, headwinds made it a 50 min trip. The folks at Lakeland Air are terrific. The girls giggled and laughed at every little bump but the pree-flight bannana snack I could have done without. Our pilot told us the forcast was for thunderstorms that evening so we decided to skip the hike to the ridge. Swift out of Scarecrow is easy and there is a rope for going against the current already in place. At the End of Woods Lake take the central bay, there will be a cashed boat and a hook to the right will get you to the portage marked with a plastic yellow "P" Swifts into Hambone are very shallow so take it slow, a few overhangs but no sweepers or liftovers. Camped at the far end of Hamlow on the portage. Caught a nice pike in the shoot where the old bridge was. Fishermen were on Hamlow. Not sure how they accessed the lake. I didn't hear a plane pick them up so perhaps the old road here is passable?

Day 2
Stull Creek
Not my favorite part of the trip. Girls were troopers but it was a long haul with two kids and gear. Probably not a problem for (don't shoot me Cheryl) two men but I found the portage around the rocks (pg 124 map #5 Hap) to be difficult and admit to Stew carring most of the gear hear, I'm just not a good rock hopper. The Creek took us 3.5 hours with a snack break. Very happy to see the nice snady banks of the Sturgeon. Water was high so swifts and rapids quite easy. There was a log blocking the enterance to Goul Lake that has to be liftedportage. Camped night 2 on Goul lkae. Site is quite big. Several possible tent sites if you investigat the woods. Grates for the fire ar located behind a big rock to the right near the shore. Don't know the condition as we didn't use them. Site has a fish filteting table.

Day 3
Lots of trails so keep an eye when you portage to the falls. The water level was up so the C11 wasn't much, there are a few rocks in some of the C1's but lots of clearance. Portage into Kettle falls is a climb up with one rock that has to be climbed up (creavass) Again, this portage is marked with a "P" most are but not all.Follow the survey tape and rock cairns and you will have no problem, decent on the falls side is steep, very pretty. Camped here on the rock bluff across from the falls. Very glad to have the bug tarp as the cool weather was warming up and the new hatch of flies were hungry.

Day 4
Kettle Falls-Pilgrim Creek
Basicly followed Haps directions, ran the C11 water high. Rapids are pretty much straight lines, one does hook around a corner and has a couple rocks to avoid, can be lined as Kevin Callan metions or run, not a problem if you take it slow. Did make on mistake at the last rapid before portage into pligrim, ther is a rock in the right hand side channel at the end of the rapid, ain't skid plates great! Camped at the end of the portage into Pligrim creek. Very well used campsite and the road looks used so perhaps you can access here?

Day 5
Pigrim to campsite on Obabika River. The portage is easy and the campsite is nice but VERY buggy.

Day 6
Obabika River to Obabika Inlet
River is a steady current that you have to have a steady stroke rate to make progress. There is one liftover and several log jams. The log jam at the bridge has a portage on the right and at the bridge there is a very small not well used campsite.Saw our first people here since Hamlow. Very buggy. Wawiagama river is just past a log jam on the right, keep an eye on your topo. It's not very difficult to find. This river has a couple of liftovers and low lying trees that have to be pushed out of the way. Portage from lake to Obabika Lake is easy, one large tree down at the beginning that you have to slide the canoe under, well, if you are 6' tall at least. Had lunch on a beautiful site about 60% of the way down Obabika Lake, nice peninsula with a couple of tent sites. Portage to Inlet is easy. Portage is located on the right hand side just past the cabin which is on the left. The campsite here is ok. We camped on a site half way down the inlet, right next to a houseboat.

Day 7
Up bright and early and headed out. Made good time down to the NE arm. Had a big cooked lunch on the site here, luxury is a thunderbox! While the site is very nice, the constant buzz of motorboats reminded us that our solitude was over. Wind was picking up so we decide to try and get as far down the arm with the tail wind as we could. About 5 o'clock we had to get off the lake as the waves were now getting bigger than we were comfortable with. Rain and stronger wind followed shortly after our tuna melt and soup supper.

Day 8
Rain and the wind was starting to pick up again so we decided to make a dash to the truck at Lakeland. With the tailwind we were less than an hour away.
Gail Rich