It’s been a long time since I’ve put together a trip report. My last full report was for the Nettogami River, one of the little James Bay Rivers easily accessible from Cochrane, paddling straight to Moosonee. We had originally planned on paddling many of the little James Bay Rivers such as the Wak, North French, Partridge etc, but after seeing the landscape and the difficult to make campsites on the Nettogami, we abandoned the area and set out in search of new paddling opportunities with firmer ground!
Our next big trip came about from hearing of the demise of the Rupert River, and a desire to see Lac Mistassini in Northern Quebec. I wanted to spend some time on the untouched portion of the Rupert upstream of the diversion dams. Originally we had planned a shuttle trip that would start off the Route du Nord on the Des Maures River, paddle into the lower branch of the Rupert (Natastan) then south through the Marten River to our shuttled car nearly 200km down the Route du Nord.
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Rupert River’s Oatmeal Rapids before diversion
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Rupert River’s Oatmeal Rapids after diversion
It was a good plan until our 4th had to back out. Still wanting to explore the area, I was determined to make a loop trip that the 3 of us could do while still paddling north to spend at least one day on the lower branch of the Rupert. Days of scouring the topos led me to the realization that there is so much water in the area, that a virtually inexhaustible number of routes could be created by bushwhacking from lake to lake where they are closest; which is generally less than 500M between them.
So off we went nearly 10 years ago on that first trip to this area, and it instantly became my favorite canoeing destination. The land is gorgeous, true boreal forest, but with lots of beautiful topography, and the ability to hack a campsite out of the bush almost anywhere. There are also numerous eskers, and huge sand beaches that make for excellent camping and swimming. It didn’t hurt that the lakes have good fishing, blueberries grow by the millions, and there are very few bugs late in the season. There is almost no evidence of people anywhere during the open water season. The Cree still access the area in the winter for hunting, but their camps are very spread out. We’ve found evidence of ancient portages between some lakes that are pounded down into the earth in a trail 6 inches wide by 6 inches deep, that may have been created when the Cree were still semi nomadic travelling through the area over the seasons. Some of the youth groups still travel through the area very intermittently as well to help keep those trails open.
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Lac Canoticaine, Miskittenau Mountain
So all of that preamble to say that this paddlers Eden convinced me to be greedy and not invite others into the area by posting trip reports. Factors other than my greed play in as well, the area was a bit difficult to access, as it used to be part of the Sepaq wilderness reserves; which are not well suited to canoeists, but cater to drive-to fishing lakes. To further complicate it some of the area crossed into Cree territory, necessitating a second set of permissions to access. Last year the Cree have gained full control of the entire area under the new Nibiischii Corporation which is actively encouraging canoe tripping as part of their mandate. I’ve been providing them with known and possible routes so booking a trip in the future may be easier. The map below shows routes we’ve done in yellow, ones yet to explore in green. The stars are the access points, red are easily accessed by car, black require 4 wheel drive and a sense of adventure!
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Natastan River
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Confluence of Lac Canoticaine and Natastan River
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Lac Canoticaine
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Lac Boisfort
Finally onto this year’s trip report! I usually get antsy around February each year, so start planning the next year’s trip. Each year in the area we’ve mapped out a different portion, and this year I wanted to explore the westernmost section on the very edge of the reserves. My email blast only yielded 1 confirmed accomplice for this trip, although a third joined in the summer. With 3 of us it meant I would solo paddle, and we could squeeze into 1 car to save gas. I wanted to start at Lac Courseron, just off the Route du Nord around the 200km mark, and paddle up to the Rupert, and loop back through a series of lakes. We agreed on leaving the morning of Saturday August 24th returning around Labor Day.
We met up at my workplace in Renfrew an hour west of Ottawa at 9AM and proceeded to squeeze all of our gear into the Prius; while somehow leaving room for 3 adults.
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Shortly after we hit the road, destined to hit Chapais that evening, roughly 800km north. The drive was relatively uneventful, except for one time frantically searching for a gas station; the mileage computer struggled to adjust to the reduction two 17 foot canoes cause the Prius! We arrived at Chapais around 7PM, checked into the Motel Clossi for the night, then proceeded to hunt down some Quebec Poutine and Beer for dinner.