I had wanted to paddle Northeastern Ontario's Tatachikapika River ever since I was a kid. I had read about this seemingly distant river in Kevin Callan's A Paddler's Guide to Ontario's Lost Canoe Routes. Maybe it was the name, 'Tatachikapika' that stood out to me, or maybe it was the mystique of a long 'lost' canoe route. Either way, I was determined to one day paddle that river. So when late last summer I found myself moving to Timmins for work, I eagerly started planning a spring run on the river that long escaped me.



The route is lost far beyond Kevin's candid account. A forest fire swept through the region in 2013 and engulfed the majority of the canoe route. Many of the portages no longer existed as the dead standing timber was now succumbing to windthrow and rot, littering the trails and sites in giant ‘toothpicks’. The bare forest and open plains made for an eerie and haunting paddle. I cleared and signed 3 of 14 portages skirting some of the more imposing rapids, but a fully outfitted maintenance crew is desperately needed to keep this route alive. Luckily for me, the river was flushing with the spring melt and I easily could bypass the majority of portages by running the rapids. The Nova Craft Moisie was more than ready for the adventure!



On this trip in May of 2018, I paddled from McChesney Bridge to Highway 144 and self shuttled back via my mountain bike. I also ran the lower stretch from Highway 144 to Timmins in June (no TR) and that was a great stretch as well - 3-4km of continuous CI-II!

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My Backcountry Website: www.explorethebackcountry.com

I really enjoyed your trip report and video. Thanks for posting! Looks like a fun early run!!

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"It's healthy to be dirty" - Lars Monsen

yup.... still definitely clean up Aisle 2 with that slo-mo. hahaha

Thanks for posting. Great video!

Thanks for the TR, pics and video.

Perfectly timed.

Don’t stop exploring.

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Brian
http://www.JohnstonPursuits.ca

 

That was a great video Brad! Would love to try that river once I get more familiar with white water. Thanks for sharing.

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Outbound2Explore

Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit. ~ Edward Abbey

You made out much better than these guys on the Tatachikapika! Hopefully it wasn't a CCR member!!...haha

https://www.timminstoday.com/local-news ... ts-1397886

Yikes!! There's still plenty of ice on the lakes up here and almost a foot of snow in the bush still. The Tatachikapika just let go a few days ago. It's a later winter then last year and I ran it the first weekend in May.... Hope they had the right gear, that would have been a tricky run. The wetlands and slow moving sections would still have ice....

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My Backcountry Website: www.explorethebackcountry.com