Things are quickly coming together for this Summer's solo excursion to Wabakimi and knowing me I will have a series of questions over the next few months so instead of a series of different threads I figured I should start one general one and bring it back to life as needed.
General inquiry emails have been exchanged with Phil Cotton and the needed map books have been ordered. Been in touch with Wabakimi air and received a quote for shuttle from the train, overnight accommodation and a flight into Kenoji Lake in one of their Beavers.
Figure it will be easier to purchase the train tickets in person and since I will be in Toronto towards the end of April, figure i may as well pick them up then.

So here is the working idea.
Depart Washago by train 00:40 Sunday morning (Read 12:30 Saturday night) and hopefully arrive in Armstrong Station around 9:30 that night.
Up bright and early Monday July 13 and fly into Kenoji lake.

July 14 Oliver Lake
July 15 Whitewater Lake
July 16 Rest Day
July 17 Whitewater Lake
July 18 Whitewater Lake/Best Island
July 19 Rest Day
July 20 Smoothrock Lake North End
July 21 Rest day
July 22 Smoothwater Lake
July 23 Lookout River
July 24 Rest
July 25 Onamakawash Lake
July 26 Rest
July 27 Tempest Lake
July 31 Depart by Train KM Marker 29.3, hopefully making it in time for breakfast.

Working from the Wabakimi Planning Map this works out to an average of 15KM travel days with a few days left over for bad weather, good fishing or I just feel lazy.
Anyone have any insights they would like to share, links to trip reports covering this area, G.P.S. files you would like to share?
Normally I carry a small am/fm/weather radio with me but I am guessing this would be better left at home or does C.B.C. Radio cover the area.
this also brings up another related question. Anyone still use a short wave radio and if so, is it worth it?
Still left to do is figure out an 18 day meal plan and get it dehydrated.

Cheers
Rob

_________________
Cheers
Rob

Quite doable.. you have a lot of rest days.. so there is wiggle room. The day between Whitewater and Smoothrock can be very long.. I stopped in the middle when I did that route to camp.

Ya I was wondering about that leg. I have allotted 0KM travel distance to the first day on Kenoji so I might just head straight to Oliver for my first night and pick up another spare day.

_________________
Cheers
Rob

The reason its long is there are several short portages and all were clutttered with cached boats. Also every single one of them was a bloody ankle turner..full of rocks.

So a couple of days of big water followed by a couple of days of ankle eating portaging. Yup, still looking forward to it.
Anything else you can share would be greatly appreciated.

_________________
Cheers
Rob

The correct spelling is "Kenoji" [ken-OH-gee].

Most paddlers who visit the Wabakimi Area carry at least one of three communication devices:
(a) SPOT
(b) In-Reach EXPLORER
(c) satellite telephone

The latter can be rented from Mattice Lake Outfitters (Wabakimi Air Ltd.). Of the three, the In-Reach EXPLORER provides the most versatility in terms of reporting progress as well as transmitting emergency messages.

Thanks Voyageur
I normally carry a SPOT with me and will be also carrying a satellite phone with me this trip just in case something goes wrong and probably a call home one evening to let Bev know that I am OK.
Oh I corrected my spelling mistake and a few other blatant typos . Thanks

_________________
Cheers
Rob

Rob, you've got a nice and pretty leisurely canoe trip ahead of you given the five rest days built into the schedule.

My bro and I have done the stretch from Kenoji Lake down to Smoothrock Lake a couple of times in the past five years, once with a take-out at the south end of Little Caribou Lake and the other time at Collins via the Boiling Sand River. Your Onamakawash Lake take-out is yet another of the many options. You'll be waiting for a VIA train that can be anything from a bit early to very late!



There is a nice campsite on the south side of Oliver Lake which is marked in the Wabakimi Project map. On our way to Whitewater we stayed to the left and went down the left channel. It was early September so the water level was a bit low. There was one set of rapids that we lined and ran to get to the lake.

When you get to Whitewater Lake there are two things you want to check out - the Ogoki Lodge complex and the Beckwith Cabins. See this post of mine for some background on both of these interesting Wabakimi stories -

http://wp.me/p25mXk-bK

We ended up camping on the south end of Best island on a beautiful beach that ended up being the buggiest campsite ever - sandfly central! There is a camping area by the Beckwith cabins that might make a better option.

Getting from McKinley Bay into Smoothrock Lake's Lonebreast Bay will involve a few portages but I don't really recall them being all that bad - except for the very first one which we had trouble finding at the end of McKinley Bay.



As you go down Lonebreast there are not a lot of good campsites until you get to an island named Bussey. I think the name comes from a plaque that friends of whoever Bussey was left in his memory on the island.

After Bussey it is a nice paddle down to Smoothrock central. We picked a nice island campsite there before we headed down the west arm of Smoothrock the next day. You will notice some fishing boat traffic on Smoothrock. If you're looking to do some socializing you might instead head down the main stretch of the lake to the fishing outpost.

See this link for some info on the fishing camp - http://www.thunderhook.com/smoothrock-camp/

While you're paddling in Wabakimi Country we'll be paddling in your back yard down the Steel. We're looking forward to it - your maps certainly made planning the trip a whole lot easier!

_________________
http://albinger.me/canoe-tripping/

There are actually two out of McKinley bay.. one not so well used. Ask Uncle Phil.
Bussey Island when I went to scout it was a trash heap.. The water full of dead fish skins.. The island trashed with tp and propane ( 10 lb ) bottles. I went on. There is another campsite on the south shore about 2 km west of Bussey. Best for soloist.

Laurent Lake has a very nice campsite with two landings to accommodate any wind. Last time though we had to saw blowdowns to make it usable.

The western route Peter has indicated ex McKinley Bay can be difficult in low water. The approach to the portage is in very shallow water with a muddy bottom. I suspect this route is used by locals in the winter as a snowmobile trail.

The alternate portage that Kim mentioned is found at the extreme eastern end of McKinley Bay.

True North, different Rob H but Rob's maps and descriptions of the Steel have it on my short list as well. Looking forward to your reports.
This people on the ground type of thing is what I was hoping for.
Voyager I am assuming the portage Kim mentioned would be the preferred one?

_________________
Cheers
Rob

Rob H.: This is the same route depicted by Peter (aka, true_north) on the maps he provided in this thread.

The question of preference is dictated by water levels. In low water, the northern approach to this portage in McKinley Bay is shallow and muddy and it's all but impossible to reach the landing in a fully-loaded canoe. The measured length of this portage is 510m. There's evidence this trail is used by snowmobilers in the winter.

The alternate route involves three portages measuring 210m, 286m & 60m. The first 2 can be combined by tracking a short distance through the shoreline grass around the east side of the small pond that separates them. Extant Ontario Geological Survey maps produced in the 1920's and earlier indicate this was the original route.

Both of these routes are detailed on the Smoothrock Lake to Whitewater Lake via McKinley Lake map in Volume Three (Ogoki River & Northern Tributaries) of the Wabakimi Canoe Route Maps series of booklets originally published by The Wabakimi Project and now available from Friends of Wabakimi. More information is available at: http://www.wabakimi.org/maps/volumeone.html.