View topic - Nine Mile Lake to Wolf

Hi everyone!

Bought my first canoe and am excited to start exploring. The Parry Sound area is close enough to me for a weekend trip so I wanted to check out the nine mile-wolf-upper marsh route.

Went on a scouting trip to check out access to Nine Mile. Found the lot at the beach on south of Nine Mile a good launch point. A few questions for anyone who has done this route:

-How long is the canoe up to the portage to Wolf? 2 novice/int paddlers.
-Is it easy to find the portage into Wolf? Any landmark I should look for?
-If we decide not to portage into Wolf, are there decent areas to camp on nine mile (not too many cottages or motorboats)? We might try a one nighter to just scout the area before doing the longer loop (eventually want to make it into Upper Marsh and Marsh lake)
-Any other routes into Wolf or Upper Marsh that you recommend?

When I drove out to check for road access to a launchsite on Wolf I couldn't pass through a beaver dam. I came across someone who could pass through (4x4) and they said they have a hunt camp on Wolf and generally advised me not to try to get in. Is there camping on Wolf? The atlas says it's crown, but I don't want to get in to find it's private.

Thanks! Hope you're all enjoying the summer weather!

-Natasha

I did a trip in this area almost exactly a year ago. The bugs were fairly bad! You might want to wait till later in the summer, but might be okay with a bug net. The trip report is here: https://www.myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewto ... 08&t=47488 (Although the photos aren't showing up today.)

In response to your questions:

"Nine Mile Lake" is actually about 8 km, so you should be able to paddle it in less than 2 hours even as a novice/int unless the wind is really bad.

Portage is easy to find. It's on a snowmobile trail. If you download the KMZ file in my trip report, you'll get exact co-ordinates, but there's really no need. Portage starts at the north end of the west bay at the top of the lake. I'm pretty sure there was a snowmobile trail sign at the start of the portage. Portage is pretty flat, with a couple areas that skirt the side of a marsh after you pass the hydro lines.

There are at least a couple campsites on a couple islands at the north end of Nine Mile Lake. I wouldn't necessarily count on them being open though. You might check the Ontario Crown Land Use Policy Atlas for the lake and see where you could camp (in a pinch) otherwise. It would probably be not too hard (but not too pleasant) to camp somewhere under the hydro lines along the east side of the lake if you needed to. Most of the cottages are at the south end of Nine Mile Lake.

There's definitely camping on Wolf Lake. There's at least one established site on one of the islands, and you could probably bush camp elsewhere there if necessary. You cannot camp legally on Fox Lake, Round Lake, or Burnt Lake due to the conservation area status.

My loop was up to Spectacle Lake, then eventually back down through Round Lake.

In the southern part of the area you'll likely see other people. It's a pretty well-populated area. I saw some kind of bear baiting going on on Wolf Lake, as well as a lot of activity (camp(s)) at the east end of Marsh Lake. Really, all the lakes had stuff going on (or had recently had stuff going on) when I went through. I didn't see any other actual canoe-trippers though and only saw people on Nine Mile Lake and Marsh Lake.

WaterHunter (a poster here) has a lot of knowledge about the area. If you're considering a longer trip through lakes in that area don't go without reading some of his threads/posts.

'X" marks the spot! We were there o a wimpy trip a few years back. All the sites at the N end seemed to be occupied by folks in motor boats----prob fishing Fairly quiet spot, could see and hear the odd motorboat going upordown the main channel.

_________________

Old canoeists never die---they just smell that way.

Thanks Brad, thank Wotrock! Very helpful! Great trip report and details. I'll be diving in today to read more about this area. I've been seeing some ominous bug posts, so I'll see how my paddling partner feels about it. I have a bug jacket and shelter, but still might not be worth it for a one night scouting trip.