true_north wrote:
1. Get off at Allanwater Bridge, go down to Wabakimi Lake, and paddle back to Collins via the Boiling Sand River.
2. Get off at Flindt Landing and create any one of dozens of trip options that take you back to the CN tracks.
3. Get off at Mud River VIA stop, paddle down the Pikitigushi River to Lake Nipigon, and island-hop the NW corner of the lake – best in a kayak.
4. Get off at Allanwater Bridge VIA stop and paddle up the Brightsand and Kashishabog Rivers to the headwaters of the Kopka and then go down the Kopka to either a shuttle pickup at Bukemiga Lake back to Armstrong VIA Station or paddle along Windigo Bay and up the Pikitigushi to Mud River VIA stop.
Arranging a shuttle from an Armstrong-area outfitter will provide more flexibility without adding that much extra cost. A shuttle to or from Little Caribou Lake from the VIA stop at Armstrong is one possibility.
At the end of July, early August, we took the train from Sudbury Junction to Schultz's Trail, and put in on Onamakawash Lake in Wabakimi, paddled down the Lookout, Berg, Ogoki Rivers to Whitewater Lake and back to Armstrong Station through Smoothrock and Little Caribou lakes. 10-day trip for us. We used Wabakimi Clem to shuttle us from the Little Caribou take-out back to Armstrong where we caught the Canadian back to Sudbury. I talk about the train experience on my blog of trip reports, posted earlier this year. I recommend Clem if you arrange a shuttle, he was very reliable.
wabakimiclemq@outlook.comAs cool as it is to portage through Union Station, if getting a canoe into downtown TO and doing that is out of your way or troublesome, you can grab The Canadian in Washago, just south of Gravenhurst, as well.