As promised, Kathy and I returned to attempt to open the remainder of the circle from Opeepeesway Lake through to Rice Lake via Little Rice lake.
We did this in August 2011.
The route is open and there are a couple of options for travel from Little Rice to Rice ... here's a map.

There's a good campsite at the far eastern end of Opeepeesway with a nice sandy beach. It makes a good jumping off point for travel to either Arbutus Lake to the south or Little Rice Lake to the north.
We'd recommend early morning travel on Opeepeesway before the wind comes up since there's a lot of east-west paddling involved and the orientation of the lake can lead to tough paddling.
Proceeding from Opeepeesway toward Little Rice you'll first encounter a beaver dam.

If you are lucky these guys will still be there



After that there's a short portage (70m) into Little Rice Lake.
If you proceed up Little Rice to the northeastern most bay you'll find a 1000m portage which leads north to an unnamed lake.

You'll find this portage to be wet in spots since it's now a snowmobile trail and has been cut through a low area rather than following the old trappers trail that is evident in places.
A short paddle along the eastern shore will lead to the portage (1000m) to Rice Lake.
This trail ... still a snowmobile route ... will lead up to a spur logging road which will connect to the main logging road.
Turning south for about 50m will bring you to the ATV trail which leads to Rice Lake.
The Rice Lake end of this trail can be a real quagmire so take a light load first to plot your path.

Once on Rice Lake you'll find some possible campsites on the islands as you head north.
The best fishing seems to be about halfway up the lake around the narrows and over toward the east section of the lake.
Here's a couple of 17 inch beauties that I caught on a spinner tipped with a twister tail.

Those other options might best be followed by a party wishing to use a cart.
OPTION 1.
At the southeast arm of Little Rice you'll find a boat pulled up on shore.
From there an ATV trail leads up to a spur road and then to the main road. From there you can travel north to the ATV trail into Rice Lake.
OPTION2.
Paddling north on Little Rice you'll find a rock point.
Directly across to the east there's another spur road.
This can be accessed by bushwacking about 250 meters to the east ... take our advice and go up through the mature forest to reach the top of the ridge and then go south to find the road.
Explore this option before attempting to get your gear up the hill because the cutover area is a real mess.
We flagged all the trails and intersections and took GPS readings so the map presented here is quite accurate.
We also spent considerable time locating the traditional portage and following it for about 300m.
It begins at the northeast side of Little Rice just past a rock point.
It can be difficult to follow since it hasn't been used in at least 30 years. We could find no evidence of a trodden path but we could manage to find some very old and obscure blazes.

As you may remember, we opened the route from Rush Lake to Rice Lake in 2008 and 2009.
In 2010 we opened the route from Opeepeesway Lake to Rae Lake. This allows travel from Opeepeesway Lake through to Rush Lake.
With our latest effort you can now travel the circle route ... please do ... help to keep this area open.
In our 30 years of traveling in this area we've never met another canoe party.
Also please remember that you may not access Rice Lake via any motorized vehicle so don't attempt to find and use the logging road ... it can get expensive!!!Scott