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PostPosted: October 24th, 2012, 10:38 am 
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Joined: October 23rd, 2012, 9:05 pm
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Location: Ohio
Hey all, first post on the forum. I come to you with an information request, as myself and some friends are taking a canoe trip for our "guys' vacation" this coming year, and are looking in the Hawk Junction region.

My father and my uncle used to do week-long trips in Canada when they were younger, and have both recommended the Hawk Junction area as a good place to start. We are coming from Southern Ohio, and had anticipated beginning in Hawk Junction area, and ending in Sault St. Marie. A few details about the trip we anticipate:

Length: 5-7 days

Experience: first overnight canoe trip for any of us, but we are all sufficiently proficient in camping, canoeing, etc. to get by assuming nothing crazy. Would like to avoid lots of portages if possible, but this is not necessarily a deal breaker.

Supplies: we each have/will have our own set of supplies for the trip, and will only require being outfitted with two canoes. Any outfiters you all would recommend?

Dates: My father hasadvised an August timeframe, as apparently otherwise you're dealing with issues (weather, black flies, etc.)- any opinions on this?

Trip: Had anticipated driving to Sault St. Marie, and meeting with our outfitter (suggestions?). once outfitted with boats, catch a train (this is what dad and uncle did, is this still possible?) to Hawk Junction or somewhere nearby, and begin the trip southward.

Maps: We have no maps or any idea frankly of which ones would be good, etc.- Is this something the outfitter could/would supply? Don't want to get lost int e lake/river labyrinth up there!


This is all I could think of for now, but would appreciate any feedback. I've been perusing trip logs and the site for a few days, and will keep doing so. Would welcome any and all input the community can offer. Thanks.

Joe


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PostPosted: October 24th, 2012, 1:39 pm 
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August may be a little tough with river water levels.
You should contact
http://www.lakesuperioradventures.ca/
They are in Wawa and closest to Hawk Junction and if you are renting boats from them they should be able to help you out that way.
If you go to the Algoma Central rail site you will be able to figure yoru costs for taking the train to various lakes near the tracks.
I don't know about the outfitters in the Sault but the train price will increase for a round trip ticket to and from, If you are just doing short sections it is much cheaper.
But there are many crown lakes that can be acessed from the Sault or Hawk Junction, but you can be tied by the train schedual, only 3 days going north and 3 days going south.
So you would have to work that into your trip plan. But going by train will give you a great expierience.
Jeff

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Choosing to save a river is more often an act of passion than of careful calculation. You make the choice because the river has touched your life in an intimate and irreversible way, because you are unwilling to accept its loss. — (David Bolling, Ho


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PostPosted: October 24th, 2012, 1:49 pm 
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oops forgot the link to ACR
http://www.agawacanyontourtrain.com/con ... e_map.html

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PostPosted: October 24th, 2012, 2:15 pm 
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Location: Ohio
jedi jeffi wrote:
August may be a little tough with river water levels.
You should contact
http://www.lakesuperioradventures.ca/
They are in Wawa and closest to Hawk Junction and if you are renting boats from them they should be able to help you out that way.
If you go to the Algoma Central rail site you will be able to figure yoru costs for taking the train to various lakes near the tracks.
I don't know about the outfitters in the Sault but the train price will increase for a round trip ticket to and from, If you are just doing short sections it is much cheaper.
But there are many crown lakes that can be acessed from the Sault or Hawk Junction, but you can be tied by the train schedual, only 3 days going north and 3 days going south.
So you would have to work that into your trip plan. But going by train will give you a great expierience.
Jeff


Thank you for the info, will definitely check that out. As far as water levels, bad enough not to be able to canoe? Honestly would rather have lower water than the high spring waters! Plan is to take the train from Sault up to Wawa/Hawk, then ride the river back down and end in Sault/nearby. Definitely plan to take the train, as you said seems it would be a great experience. Only need a one-way though, as we anticipate making our way back by water :)


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PostPosted: October 24th, 2012, 2:56 pm 
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The only trouble with paddling from Hawk Junction down to the Sault is that there is no river that flows that way.
There are several different ones but they all flow towards Superior and then you would have a pretty serious Lake crossing to get to the Sault.
And on any of the rivers if we had conditions like the drought this year I would not be fun.
See if you can get your Dad and Uncle to come up with some river names, that would make helping you easier. Closest to the Sault would be the Batchawana and Goulais rivers.
I have read reports from others doing trips Around Hawk Junction but can not recall the specific water sheds.
Jeff

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PostPosted: October 24th, 2012, 4:00 pm 
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jedi jeffi wrote:
The only trouble with paddling from Hawk Junction down to the Sault is that there is no river that flows that way.
There are several different ones but they all flow towards Superior and then you would have a pretty serious Lake crossing to get to the Sault.
And on any of the rivers if we had conditions like the drought this year I would not be fun.
See if you can get your Dad and Uncle to come up with some river names, that would make helping you easier. Closest to the Sault would be the Batchawana and Goulais rivers.
I have read reports from others doing trips Around Hawk Junction but can not recall the specific water sheds.
Jeff


Thanks Jeff. i have sent my dad an email to see if he can remember anything specific (it's been a while, as you might have guessed haha) that could help. I'm guessing they probably took some of the rivers you mentioned, as well as some small lakes (I remember him specifically saying they took some lakes and things along the way, though not Superior), and I would assume there's countless creeks available to use between...I've been searching with little luck for any water maps of Ontario that could help in mapping a (rough) course...are you aware of a good resource for those?


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PostPosted: October 24th, 2012, 5:58 pm 
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Location: Milton
Well here is the free stuff
http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/topo/map
I find it a little slow.
Acme mapper
no topo maps but Sat and terrain main is good
http://mapper.acme.com/
Same with google earth.

If you are lucky you will find a map in feet,
Many Canadian maps are now metric and it does not show how rough the terrain can actually be.
On the maps around Hawk Junction there is a ton of river and Lake chains.
Jeff

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Choosing to save a river is more often an act of passion than of careful calculation. You make the choice because the river has touched your life in an intimate and irreversible way, because you are unwilling to accept its loss. — (David Bolling, Ho


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PostPosted: October 24th, 2012, 6:06 pm 
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Have been looking at some options, and it seems the Goulais could be a solid option. Figured we might start at Searchmont and ride the river until...well, not sure haha. Issue there would be finding a way back to the Sault, as we would end up moving further and further away from the railroad. Only issue with the Goulais is it doesnt seem like it will be very "wilderness", which is what we'd be looking for. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks Jeff for the map resources!

Edit: dad says they did a LOT of portaging to make it down from Hawk to Sault...seems about right.


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PostPosted: October 24th, 2012, 7:30 pm 
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Goulais From SEarchmount to the lake, not very far.
Find some old pics, if there is a Giant Goose they were in Wawa.
The local outfitter there could map out a route if you where using his boats.
I could not even speculate what route one would take from Hawk J. to the Soo, but I know distance wise you would have no time for "fishing" along the way.
Unless of course they used the train to lake and river hop along the way.
But that would be costly.
So until you can come up with some lake and river names, I would not plan much more than the dates. Then contact the outfitter they also run shuttle services.

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Choosing to save a river is more often an act of passion than of careful calculation. You make the choice because the river has touched your life in an intimate and irreversible way, because you are unwilling to accept its loss. — (David Bolling, Ho


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PostPosted: October 24th, 2012, 7:54 pm 
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Goulais above Searchmont is nice, but below you wont find much in the way of anything exciting. If you head towards the Algoma Headwaters PP you'll find numerous put in's. Watch the levels, this year was a low flow year and parts were pretty dry by August, You'd need to arrange a shuttle, but It'd be a good trip, some scenic waterfalls, variety of scenery etc

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PostPosted: October 24th, 2012, 8:31 pm 
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Well, I know they weren't using the train aside from getting to their put in point, and I don't believe they have any pics. This was honestly something they did on a whim several times it seems. the story pretty much consists of the same M.O. every time..."drove up to Sault, caught the train with our canoe and got off at hawk junction (or somewhere in that area, though my dad remembers HJ by name so I suspect that was likely it)", then literally canoed their way back to Sault somehow. I suppose the toughest part is finding a way to get to your starting point and then back to where your car is in the end. Seems the train is a good way to get THERE, but how to get back to Sault from wherever the trip ends remains the key.

Thanks for all the tips so far guys, it's been a huge help in gathering resopurces. Any further tips or suggestions are welcome, as it seems the actual route itself is totally up in the air.

Any suggestions on good routes that the train could take us to from Sault that might leave us a shuttle option to get us from wherever we finish back to Sault?


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PostPosted: October 25th, 2012, 8:35 am 
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A nice trip might be to drive to Hawk Junction and start there. Paddle up through whitefish lake,dog lake,crooked lake, and Missinabi lake and then follow the Missinabi river to Peter Bell. The train tracks run through Peter Bell. I don't know if the railroad will accommodate you or not you would have to check but you may be able to take the train north to Oba and switch to a south bound train that would take you back to Hawk Junction. Several years ago I started at Hawk Junction and canoed to Mattice and with a short shuttle to Hearst you could come right back to Hawk Junction by rail.


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PostPosted: October 25th, 2012, 9:38 am 
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Daryl Wilson wrote:
A nice trip might be to drive to Hawk Junction and start there. Paddle up through whitefish lake,dog lake,crooked lake, and Missinabi lake and then follow the Missinabi river to Peter Bell. The train tracks run through Peter Bell. I don't know if the railroad will accommodate you or not you would have to check but you may be able to take the train north to Oba and switch to a south bound train that would take you back to Hawk Junction. Several years ago I started at Hawk Junction and canoed to Mattice and with a short shuttle to Hearst you could come right back to Hawk Junction by rail.


great suggestion. I'll look into that routing, and see what i can find out. Sounds like it would be a great "wilderness-y" trip, which is what we'd look for. Is the campsite situation decent along this route? How long was your trip?

edit: What about starting in Missinabie, and canoeing back down to Hawk? Seems like that could be a decent trip, but not sure if it would take that long to do- are you familiar with that route?

Looking at your Hawk to Mattice, isn't that going against the current the whole way? haha!


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PostPosted: October 25th, 2012, 2:38 pm 
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I've done two trips in that area. The first was the Upper Missinaibi from Hawk Junction to Mattice. It's around 13 days. You could take out at Peterbell, that's about 5-6 days according to my memory, along with catching the CN from Peterbell to Sudbury and a bit of a car shuttle from Sudbury back to Hawk Junction. Here's a trip report

http://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=108&t=35630

Here's another option. We did a loop trip via the Budd Car from the village of Missinaibie into Bolkow Lake and down the Little Missinaibi to Missinaibi Lake and back to the village of Missinaibi. I think that was 6 days. You could start from Hawk River and add on the Dog Lake and Manitowik lake segments in the Michipicoten drainage, stop at Missinaibie and catch the train. This adds logistic issues and a couple days or lake paddling. Little Missinaibie is a worthwhile visit to see the pictographs, plus you might get a chance to visit Fairy Point on Missinaibi Lake if the wind is down. Here is that trip report as well.

http://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=108&t=36105

PK


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PostPosted: October 25th, 2012, 3:27 pm 
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If you decide to do a river, the Goulais might interest you. In the upper part it winds around a bit, like all of them seem to. There really is not a high level of challenge, but you often have to watch the current in many places, especially if you do it earlier in the year. There is a waterfall not far from Searchmont that could surprise you. It's quite a drop. That's the only real portage . There are a couple of lift-overs. Campsites are fairly frequent, and they're free. You could take 4-5 days for the trip all the way to Superior from Ranger Lake.

The Sand starts at the railway to the east of Hawk Junction. Ther are 26 portages, and if the wtaer is down , you'll have to walk the bulk of them. I found the Goulais much more enjoyable.


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