Saturday, November 29, 2008

Winter's here, let the planning begin...

So, I'm faced witht the likelihood of having another 2 weeks worth of canoeing and fishing so.......

How about another boreal trip??

So far I've narrowed it down to either the Kattawagami R. to Hannah/JamesBay, the Wakwayowkastic R. to the Moose R., the Kopka R. at Wabakimi PP, or maybe taking an alternate route to the Missinaibi R. via the Mattawishkwia River through Hearst, On.

The Kattawagami looks amazing, but the shuttle from Hannah Bay to Moose Factory is pricey. If I'm pressed for time, it looks like the Wak. to the Moose R. may be the next one. If time allows, I'd love to do the Kopka, especially after seeing Kevin Callan's detailed report on the CBC website. Then again the Missinaibi is a classic I could do again, and maybe with throwing an unexplored piece of river in the Mattawishkwia, this might be the way to go.

At least I've got some research to do while the snow flies!

Cheers,

Scott

Friday, July 11, 2008

Kesagami/Partridge River Trip Report

Upper Kesagami – Partridge River Report June 13th-23rd 2008 & How Ellen Degeneres Saved My Life


Day 1 – June 13th – The Long Drive

Left KW at about 4pm and managed to catch rush hour from KW almost to Orillia before traffic really started thinning. Took me 2 hours just to get to Alliston! I was in North Bay by 9pm, and decided to to stop at a rest area just south of New Liskeard for the night. I put the seat back and slept.


Day 2 – June 14th – The Short Drive & “Put-In Confusion”

Woke up pretty early at about 4:30am, was on the road by 5am. At 6:30am I stopped for a damned expensive bacon & eggs breakfast at a diner on hiway 11 just by the cut off to Iroquois Falls. I was in Cochrane by 8am and arrived at Lillabelle Lake Lodge to meet my shuttle by 8:15am. Checked my gear one last time, met my shuttle driver(Terry O’Neill) and were headed for the put-in on the Detour Mine Rd by 9am.
Shortly after we passed the put-in for the Little Abitibi R, Terry began voicing some concern about some missing roadsigns. He mentioned that Polar Bear Outfitter’s and others had made signs indicating put-ins & turn-offs for the Abitibi, Wak, North French, etc. As I was the first guy this season to put-in north of the Abitibi, Terry mentioned that someone had torn down the signs indicating these put-ins. Anyway, we made it to what we thought was the put-in by 10am by a lake immediately off of the Detour Mine Rd, that was connected to Upper Kesagami L. by a short creek. I checked my gear again, thanked Terry & headed out, only to find the “creek” was a blowdown & alder encrusted mess. I headed back to the road, and walked a short distance to George Lake and found a few anglers there that immediately offered me a lift to the correct put-in. I thanked them for their time & was about to set off, just as I noticed some ominous looking thunderheads start looming on the horizon. I decided to quickly put up the tarp and the clouds slowly blew over without dumping much rain. A lot of wind and lightning though, and unfortunately a cloudy & cooler cold front came in behind them.(this was to be a recurring theme for the balance of the trip). I decided to have some lunch at the put-in, and was paddling across Upper Kesagami L. by 1:30pm. Found the outlet to the Kesagami R. and lucky for me that water levels were actually still high for this time of year, as this section has several shallow areas and lots of blow downs. I arrived at the unnamed lake to the north of Upper Kesagami L. by 4pm and decided to make camp at a nice site at the north end. After only about 5 hours of sleep the night before the idea of an early night seemed pretty appealing. The weather had also cooled to about 15C, down considerably from the 25C of earlier in the afternoon, however this didn’t stop the bugs, nor would it, for the rest of the trip.

Day 3 – June 15th – Big Momma Moose and Where The Hell’s The Hydro Line?

The next morning came in cool, but bright and sunny and I was up at about 5:30am. I made some coffee & oatmeal for breakfast, packed up, pumped some water for the day, and was on the river by 8am. I was hoping to put in at least 30km as I had barely covered 15km the day before due to my late start. Despite the fact that the very upper sections of the Kesagami R offer a paddler many opportunities to drag a boat over several blowdowns, and bushwack a 30’ portage through an alder thicket to avoid an unstable log jam, I still managed to put in 35km before the days end. I was also rewarded for my effort by sighting a moose calf on river right snacking on some grasses by the river’s edge. I managed to snap off a shaky pic, just as HUGE Mom came steaming through 5’ alders like they were nothing, huffing for her baby to get away from the stinky human.

One thing I was concerned about was the fact that my maps showed a hydro line through this section and I was hoping to use it a benchmark for my distances. I never did notice it and I think I would have noticed something like this. As it was this section offers very little in the way of variety as the meanders & alders are all that you can really notice. All in all a pretty boring section really. I finally called it a day at about 6:30pm, bushwacked a site on r. left, and hastily made a dinner of ramen & beef jerky due to the hordes of bugs that came out as soon as I hit the bank. I was in my hammock by 8pm, and probably asleep by 9pm at the latest.

Day 4 – June 16th – Dreaming of Cuban Sun

I woke up at 6:30am to gun-metal grey skies, and a cool and stiff breeze from the northwest. I hastily made another coffee & oatmeal breakfast, packed up & was on the river by 8:00am. I’d be willing to bet that shortly after I was on the river, the temps had actually dropped a couple more degrees to around 12 or 13C, and a light but wind-driven drizzle from the northwest started as well. Luckily I soon discovered that I had made good time the day before, and arrived at “Fossil Lake”( the second last, large unnamed lake before Kesagami Lake) by about 9:30am. I managed to cross the length of it in relatively good time despite the headwind, and was on the river again by 11am. The river widens noticeably at this point, and the blow downs and liftovers are pretty well over for the rest of the way to Kesagami L. I also came across a couple of minor C1/swifts in this area, hoping for more to come. I canoed through lunch in rather dismal weather, and at about 3pm I was on the last lake before Kesagami L. and I noticed a hunt camp on the right side. I had pretty well canoed right through lunch and decided to stop here & use the outhouse. While here I took the opportunity to survey the camp and found the washhouse open. By now I wasn't really cold, but I was feeling damp, and a little discouraged from the weather. I checked my maps and discovered I had done almost 25km that day so I decided to get myself out of the wind and rain, and bunk in the camp’s washhouse for the night. I did manage to get in a little fishing on the lake, and must say the fishing was excellent here. I managed 3 pike within the 3 to 5lb range, and 1-4lb pickerel...all within an hour.

Day 5 – June 17th – The Kesagami Develops Some “Chutzpah”

I awoke by 5:30am, and was greeted by the same grey skies, northwest wind, intermittent rain & drizzle, with the temps only being marginally improved at around 15C. I packed my gear and made my standard breakfast of oatmeal & coffee and was on the river by 7:45am . The Kesagami R. becomes a noticeably different river after leaving this lake, and doesn’t take long for a paddler to encounter several C1 & 2 sections. Nothing at all unrunnable here, in fact most WW here were straight chutes & ledges, very clean runs. After 1 last C2 chute & ledge combo I briefly cast another line into the pool just below the ledge and pulled out a nice 2lb brookie after just a few casts. Great fishing thus far. Soon after this ledge the river flattens out and develops the slack current characteristic of river entering a delta or a mouth. After about an hour of this, and one VERY huge & po’d mother osprey, I arrived at Newnham Bay on Kesagami L. For anyone that hasn’t seen Newnham Bay before, it’s about 1km wide, and about 20km long and running almost perfectly north/south. It’s not a small bay. Kesagami L. is surprisingly BIG after the smaller lakes I encountered. It runs about 22km north/south at it’s longest, and is about 10km wide. I stopped briefly for lunch at the mouth of the Kesagami R. and continued north on Newnham Bay, unfortunately into the relentless northwest wind & drizzle, but I managed to push my way to the tip of the peninsula separating Newnham Bay from Kesagami L. I found a great campsite next to a boat cache from the Lodge there, just on the tip of the peninsula, and decided to make camp. It was 5:30pm and I had done almost 40km!! I made really good time today, and I was pretty well back on schedule.

Day 6 – June 18th – Crappy Weather, Crappy Fishing, But Kesagami!

I was awake by 6am and immediately noticed the wind and rain had increased significantly from the day before. I crawled out of my hammock and carefully repacked my hammock & sleeping bag, and hastily made breakfast as I wanted to try to and see what the water conditions were like on the main body of Kesagami Lake. I was on the water by 7:45am. As soon as I had come out of the “narrows”(the narrowest portion of Newnham Bay before it opens up into the lake) I immediately encountered a wicked 40km headwind, cold rain, and 2’-3’ waves. Kesagami Lake Lodge is located just about 1-1/2 km from the north end of Newnham Bay, on the east side of the lake, so I decided I’d pay them a visit for a coffee and a look-see and maybe wait the weather out as it was very crappy. Let me tell you that paddling due north into the teeth of a wicked 40km headwind(gusting to 50km), with rain & spray from the waves, and an average temp of what had to be about 12C, that 1-1/2 km seemed awfully long. Fortunately I managed to make it there in one piece, and the dockhands there immediately helped pull my boat up. A few of the guys remarked that paddling even a short distance that day probably wasn’t a great idea, as they had already radioed Cochrane earlier to let their flights know that it was going to be another “no-fly” day(no flights in or out). As it turns out they remarked that in all of last season they had a total of 8 no-fly days…and as of June 18th, they were already on their 7th no-fly day. A pretty stormy start to their season. To add insult to injury, my plans to spend the day here fishing were pretty well ruined, as all the guides said that even though they could take a freighter canoe out into Newnham Bay, that the cold front had pretty well shut the fishing down. NOTHING was biting. Anyway, it also turns out that they were reporting 4’ & 5’ whitecaps on the main body of the lake beyond Big Island, and by noon the weather was showing no signs of improving. Charlie Macdonald, the manager of Kesagami Lake Lodge, very graciously offered me a room there at a reduced rate and after the weather of the last few days, the thought of a hot shower and home-made meal was too much to pass up. Kesagami Lake Lodge really is a top-notch fly-in resort. The rooms are very clean and comfortable and the food & service is fantastic. They also seemed very paddler friendly as well. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them. I met some great folks there(Stuart, Kyle, Melissa, and other staff) as well as some guests that seemed intrigued by the fact I was on a quest to see James Bay. I’ll take this opportunity to say hi to the guys from Fishing Canada, as well as the “Dallas” family.

Day 7 – June 19th – Bug Out!(literally)

I was up by 6am and after a leisurely breakfast of fruit, pancakes, and sausage…and another hot shower, I was on the water by 8:30am. When I first took a good look at Kesagami Lake I almost didn’t recognize it compared with the day before. It was almost as smooth as glass, and while still a little cool and overcast, there was barely a trace of breeze coming out of the west. I made good time crossing the lake, and after a few minutes of scanning the shoreline I located it next to a boat cache from another outfitter… It was about 10:30am and it was here that I decided to stop and consider two options;

#1-should I camp here at the portage & fish for a day or two as I had originally planned. The fishing on this lake was legendary and I had barely wet a line the entire trip The beach the portage is located on actually had a pretty decent site just a few metres north of the trail which would have been fine for a couple of days.

#2-Push on. The weather thus far on the trip has been less than ideal, the bugs relentless, and due to high water levels I was concerned about the shape of ports & upcoming WW sections on the Partridge. I had also been forced to consider another scenario if I decided to fish, and that was: - What the hell do I do if I hook into a 42" pike...while canoeing solo....with no net??? Visions of me being towed all over Kesagami Lake by a lunker pike were not all that unrealistic, and I had no urge to play one of those big fish to the point of death, just for the sake of a picture. Some shore fishing would have been doable in a few spots, but the vast majority of the shoreline had the banks too heavily forested to make a cast.

I looked up at the sky, and actually saw some patches of blue on the horizon, however after squashing my 1,063rd mosquito of the trip(did I mention the bugs were brutal?), I reluctantly decided to take advantage of the break in the weather and push ahead. I'm sure the fishing would be fine on the Partridge as well.(the fishing was great on the Partridge, as it was everywhere up there) I took a quick look at the portage and other than being pretty mucky in a few spots the portage was in good shape, and recently maintained. I tripled it in about an hour and a half, even though it’s only about a half mile in length as I don’t like to rush portages. I was back on the water shortly after noon and quickly located the outlet from Partridge Lake & the beginnings of the Partridge River. The river really isn’t much to comment on here. It’s basically a creek with the accompanying occasional dragging & blowdowns to dealt with. It was also back to the meanders as well. I made it into Niska L, and repeated some dragging & liftovers as well before coming into Richards Lake. Luckily with higher water, I think I had much less dragging than previous trips I had read about. Richards Lake is a pretty little lake, and a couple of guides from the lodge said that some decent size caribou had been sighted there just the week before. By the time I crossed Richards Lake it was about 4:30pm and I decided to call it a day as I noticed a good looking spot on a beach on a narrow spit, near the north end to set up camp. I was just about to beach there and heard some splashing on the other side of the spit, I paddled around and a damn good size bull moose was just wading out of some shallows and making his way back into the bush. Incredible! I made a good dinner of pasta & rehydrated beef and was in bed by 8pm. I was about to drift off to sleep at about 9:30pm, when I heard the faint strains of some wolves howling somewhere from the east. Very cool way to go to sleep.

Day 8 – June 20thRollercoaster!

I was up by my usual 6am and had my standard oatmeal & coffee for breakfast. I broke camp and was on the river by 8am. While again the weather was still cold & damp, I noticed soon after I left Richards L. that the river had a noticeable increase in volume. I encountered only a handful of blowdowns and just one or two spots where a brief drag was necessary in the sections before the top maps give the river “double line” status. As mentioned before, I was blessed with higher water which made these sections easy-going. I could see that certain sections here would not be very much fun in lower water. I was glad of this as, I wanted to push a little today and maybe even have a chance to scout the Kanatotick Rapids before the end of the day.

Now the upper sections of the Partridge R. north of Richards L have been commented on before…. but I’ll comment again……A LOT of fun! I stopped counting how many C1 & 2’s I had run before lunch. However after 1 short C2 chute in particular, I was surprised to see one of the choir members from the night before make an appearance. I noticed that what I 1st thought was a large beaver swimming across the end of the pool in front of me....was much too big to be a beaver and was actually a good-sized wolf! It clambered up the opposite bank, shook itself off, turned and looked straight at me and gave me a low "Woof." before loping off into the scrub. Amazing.

The current in the sections immediately following Richards Lake really do pick up quite a bit, even in the spots with meanders to be dealt with. Previous reports indicate that there was an ongoing hazard of the swift current taking a canoeist straight into a blowdown in these sections, however I had virtually none and I believe the answer was easy to see by looking at the trees that lined the banks in these sections. Many trees here showed a high water mark of well over 5’ or 6’ above my water levels, with sections of their bark scoured off. This would not be a river to be messed with in spring flood! No doubt that any blowdowns that occurred over the winter were “flushed” out in spring run-off. After about 30km, I decided to call it an early day at around 4pm, and made camp soon after a nice C2 ledge. I found a nice site just up from a gravel bar. Made a nice supper of alfredo noodles and rehydrated onions, cabbage & beef, had a hot toddy, and went to bed.

Day 9 – June 21st – Burned Out, The Rapids, and the Penobscot Omen!

Within about 20 minutes of leaving my campsite I entered a pretty expansive former burn area, It went on for at least 7 or 8 km before abruptly ending. I’m guessing that the re-growth was only about 6-8 years old, judging from the size. Perhaps others can provide some insight on that. The river at this point had definitely achieved “river” status, with many more C1-2 sections to be run, particularly in the sections previous to the Kanatotick Rapids, I would say that this was pretty accurate. Another observation I have, that others should be aware of, is that the NRCAN top maps show only a short section here with one stroke indicating rapids, before the actual Kanatotick rapids. I would say that this section is at least 3 or 4 km long with almost non-stop C1-2 water. Just FYI. Shortly before the Kanatotick Rapids, the clouds actually dissipated pretty quickly, the sun started shining, and I hit a short, quiet section! Perfect timing as the rapids were almost literally “around” the corner. The rapids themselves are, like previous reports, a great ride. The banks are quite high here, with mostly C2 water, and a couple of C1 & straightforward C3 sections thrown in for variety. It’s all very runnable, with the upper sections being a little rockier than the lower sections. The lower sections were a little “ledgier”, but with cleaner runs. The water levels for these rapids were perfect, in my opinion, as lower water would have been a PITA in some sections, and higher water would have had me portaging at least one ledge. All in all this is a great section. Not long after leaving the rapids, I came around a bend in the water & immediately noticed a totaled OT Penobscot on r. left and about a good 4’-5’ up the bank. Had someone tried to run this river in spring flood? I certainly hope not as it’s easy to see the logical outcome of trying to navigate this river in that that much water. Crazy! I know I’ve mentioned it before but even with my water levels I’ve found certain sections challenging. God knows I’m no pro in the WW, but I’m no stranger to it either. I also came across a landslide, again on river left, where it was obvious that it must have been pretty recent due to the greenery still on the trees that straddled the river. Very high banks in this section. The river went down a couple more light C1 sections before reaching an unrunnable set of falls. I went river right and found a faint portage trail, and unloaded the boat. Almost immediately after landing on the right bank, I noticed some ugly-looking thunderheads approaching fast from…..guess now…..the northwest! Whoda thunkit?!! I quickly got the port done and wasn’t on the water for 2 minutes before BOOM! I immediately headed for shore on a gravel bar just below the falls, and hastily made camp. I had just finished setting up my tarp & hammock before the rain really came down. I had been told about the intensity of some of the thunderstorms up here but WOW! At times I thought tarp & all would blow away. Luckily everything held up just fine(Kudos to the HHammock Co. here), even though the rain didn’t really slacken off much for the rest of the night. I was setting up camp by 4:30pm, and in bed by 8pm, and it was still raining pretty heavily by the time I fell asleep at 9pm.

Day 10 – June 22nd, and How Ellen Degeneres(vicariously) & the Big Guy Saved My Life

Awake by 6am and Hooray! The rain had stopped. Although still overcast & cool. I got out of my hammock and then took a look at the river and WOW! The river had noticeably risen, and become even more stained that it was previously. No problem, I said, the heaviest water is behind me….or so I thought. The sections immediately below the falls I portaged(the 1st portage I had after the Kesagami/Partridge portage), and immediately before the river splits around Bear Island, had more C1-2 sections that were easily run, even with higher water than normal. Soon I came to the split around Bear Island, and decided to take river left, as it had seemed more documented than the section river right. Let me say that in this section although there are no marks indicating rapids, I should tell any tripper that I found it considerably more challenging than anything I had seen up until this point. The left river, although higher, still presented a lot of pretty straightforward ledges, chutes etc. that I ran with no problems. There are a few unrunnable chutes, but portages really are generally short and done fairly easily on the rocks on almost either side of the river. The sun had come out at this point, I had eaten a good lunch, and my spirits were high from my successes of running everything in the days before. However this was not to be, and it was in the 2nd last set of rapids around the island that I got into trouble.

The river actually split here again around 2 very small islands, one right after the other, and what looked like some straight C2 ledges & C2+ water, quickly turned out to be some ugly C3+ water that hid some deceptive cross-currents. Anyway, I ran the first ledge on the left side of the 1st island with no problem, and ran the C2 water below it to rejoin the current coming in from the right side of the island, however what I didn’t see when I scouted it, and couldn’t see due to the situation of the islands, were some not-very-well placed rocks that chopped the water up even more into a mess. I hit this section and immediately started getting twisted around, I drew myself straight, and then got hit with a solid wave on my right, I pried myself back up, and got hit with another wave on my right, just as the current gave me another twist….and I went over.

Now, I’ve dumped before, usually with friends standing on the banks & laughing, God knows I’ll probably dump again. However I had dumped in a really bad spot. I went over with my stern rope in my hand and immediately noticed that the channel was deep enough that trying to stand was useless, and that the main current wanted to go r. right around the second island, and the lesser current wanted to go left. Unfortunately I was in the right current and after taking a brief glimpse of what lay ahead of me before I dumped, I desparately wanted to go r. left. On r. right, just past the start of the 2nd island, looked like(and what turned out to be) a narrow & ugly 6’ ledge with pointy rocks on the bottom of it, with another wider 6’ ledge with less pointy rocks about 50’ downstream of that. Needless to say, I was really scared at this point. I’ve heard before that sometimes these situations play out like they’re in slow motion, but this all happened so fast it still baffles me. I had my stern rope in my hand and realized I had to go left, and the boat was dragging me right. “Go” I thought, “…angle left….keep diagonal to the current…kick, kick hard, keep swimming… there’s an eddy… keep swimming…make the eddy”. I knew here that I would either make the eddy, or I’d have to let go of the boat. The thought of my boat & all my gear being washed into God-knows-what really wasn’t appealing considering that I was still a good 75km from Moosonee. However the thought of myself in traction in a hospital, or worse, was much less appealing. I still had my “SPOT” in my life jacket, though, and would hit the panic button if I needed it.

Anyway, something weird, and in retrospect really kind of funny happened. Has anyone seen the movie “Finding Nemo”?? I have, several times as I have 3 kids, and that song Ellen Degeneres sings(or her character, Dory) popped into my head…”Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..”. I can’t really remember the rest of it. Whatever the reasons for my thinking of that song it seemed to work as most of my panic left me, and with a few giant kicks I felt solid riverbed underneath me. I was able to stand up to my waist, however I still had a swamped boat with 100lbs worth of gear in it. With whatever I had left in me I managed to haul the boat over to the left bank, inch by inch, and up through some alders and onto the rocks. I then fell over onto the rocks…stared up at the sky…and thanked Ellen & the Big Guy for saving my stupid ass.

From here I emptied the boat, and took stock of some things. My main pack, day pack, and barrel were lashed into the boat. However I had lost a few items. My wind/rain skirt was folded in a pocket on the side my main pack, and I immediately noticed half of it hanging out, and the other half gone. How could that happen? I had to stuff the sucker in there. Chalk it up to hydraulics. However things got worse. My tripping hat was gone, as was my spare paddle, a $300 MEC Gore-Tex jacket, and my bail bucket. Oh well, things could be worse, a LOT worse. I packed my stuff up, dried out, and headed downstream, very, very carefully.

From here on out there is only 1 more brief straight C2 run, and then a single & easy portage on r. left around a falls. There’s a bit of irony here, as from that port on, pretty well out to James Bay, there’s really nothing more technical than a few easy C1+’s. Who knew.

The river slows at this point below the last falls, flattens out, and the trees close in quite closely, almost creating a tunnel-like effect. It’s really quite pretty, and the river stays like this for a short distance after it eventually joins back up with the channel that went river r.right around Bear Island. I decided not to press my luck at this point, and made camp early on the northern tip of Bear Island, right where the Partridge joins together again. I made a light supper, had a couple of stiff drinks, and swatted my
9, 824th blackfly and/or mosquito, and went to sleep by 9pm.

Day 11 – June 23rd - The Big Push, My Name Is Mud, and How the Moose R. Got It’s Name

I awoke at about 6am, and made a muesli and coffee breakfast, packed up, and was on the river by 7:30am. Shortly after leaving Bear Island, the river widens, and the river opens up much more. The river pretty well stays like this until it breaks up into the delta reaching out to James Bay. I did notice that in spite of the landscape flattening out, there was still a good current in the river. No doubt due to the huge dumping of the night before last. One previous report I had read suggested that the current can be pretty slack in this section, however with the water I had I didn’t experience this.

The river doesn’t change much along the sections before the mouth/delta, it runs fairly north/northwest with the odd bend and C1 here and there, but other than that it’s pretty straight paddling. I did have one unique wildlife experience at Kaskaganagou Island. I decided to take the right channel, and just before the stream that cuts through the middle of the island I heard an incredible racket coming from the tops of some good-sized poplars ahead of me. I looked up and saw what must have been at least 9 or 10 herons screeching and squawking like crazy, and it seemed like two of them were fighting, thinking it may have been some kind of boreal-bird gang-turf war, I continued on.

Thanks to the good current, my ‘yak paddle, and my early start, I was making good time…in spite of the ever-present stiff & cold northwest breeze. I stopped for lunch at about 12:30pm ,shortly before Kinonagau Island, and arrived at Mistikopileo Island shortly after. It was 1:45pm and it was here that I decided I had two options;

1) Make camp. I had paddled quite a bit the last couple of days, and the thought of a short day before the last leg into the Moose R. & civilization seemed appealing.

2) Push on to Moose Factory/Tidewater. I had made really good time so far, I felt good, and the thought of making it to Tidewater also seemed appealing. Besides, the high tide wasn’t until late tomorrow afternoon, which means the better part of a day parked on this island.

I took a quick look at my tide tables, and after killing my 11, 237th blackfly and/or mosquito, I made my mind up at that point to keep going. My tide tables clearly indicated that low tide was around 3:30pm, with high tide at about 7:30pm. If I went for it, I could make the incoming tide.

Almost immediately after the island, the partridge breaks up into channels and forms a small delta leading out to James Bay, I kept to the left channel, and despite a slightly, increasingly sparse tree cover, a slackening current, and an increasingly stiff breeze from the northwest, I was still able to navigate my way through the delta without any trouble. I encountered no thick marsh grasses, dragging, or the like. In fact other than a few more meanders, I had a pretty good channel straight out to……..

James Bay. I came around one last alder covered bank, and there it was before me. “Wow it’s HUGE!” I thought. I had finally made it. I also don’t mind saying that I felt a pretty good dose of self-satisfaction at this point. I took a good look around and took a few pics as well. Despite the sky’s typical grey qualities, and the seeming endless muddy water in front of me, the bay has a definite stark beauty to it that I just never got from any photo or film footage I had seen of it. Certainly the remoteness also added to this. Very cool indeed.

After stopping for some pics, a drink of water, and to savour a very rare bug-free moment(as the wind and exposed mud flats had almost eliminated them), I decided to keep going. I managed to find paddleable water only about 100m off shore, and started heading pretty well due west at this point. There was only one problem. That nagging breeze from the northwest was now a full-blown wind, and I found that almost every other paddle stroke was correcting my boat. I was getting blown back into shore, and was constantly beaching on the mud. Finally, after about half an hour of struggling, I realized that my only option would be to drag the boat if I was going to make it to the Moose R. in time for the incoming tide. So drag I did.

What can I tell you about the south shore of James Bay, if you like mud, this is the place to be in summer. Mud, mud, and more mud. Luckily it’s the sandy type of mud that has firmness to it. You don’t sink much, compared to the sticky clay-type mud, and it washes off easy. However there is lots & lots of it. Regardless, I found that dragging the boat through the mud flats was definitely more productive than struggling against the wind. Finding water that was 12” deep was quite easy, I fond that by generally staying 30’-50’ from the marsh grasses I was in floatable water. Unfortunately James Bay has dozens of small feeder creeks that snake their way to sea level as well. So, here I go dragging the boat along James Bay, and see a channel through the marsh grasses to my left cut by some creek. The water I’m walking in is quite muddy, being stirred up by the wind & surf, and has a visibility of about 8-10” tops. So I walk along, trudging through water that’s 10” deep, 12” deep, 10” deep…. 45” inches deep. Yup, those drop-offs kind of creep up on you. Suddenly you find yourself up to your chest in James Bay. Let me tell you, in case you didn’t think of this, James Bay in June is a little chilly. Fortunately these little channels were usually quite narrow, and I clambered back out of them quickly enough. I had all my poly-pro gear on, so I was also able to warm up very quickly by simply continuing to move. Finally I could begin to make out Shipsands Island quite clearly, and almost before I knew it I had begun to round Long Point. It was 5pm, and with still a good 15km to go I knew I would have to push hard. I finally got back into my canoe and started paddling.

I quickly saw that with the wind now more or less at my back, and with still some incoming tidal current, I was making good time. Thank God for my ‘yak paddle as well. One thing I should also mention to anyone that hasn’t seen the Moose River, it’s a huge river. The only river I have ever paddled that would compare as far as size is concerned, is the Detroit River. Luckily the Moose is much more scenic, and not nearly as greasy. I also noticed another canoe and tent on one of the Horseshoe Islands as well. Before too long I found that keeping to the left bank seemed like a good idea, as Iliked the idea of being close to shore as well as not having to try and head west against the wind. and just about 1km north of Pilgrim Island I notice some movement on the east shore. I look over, and there are 2 good size moose cows emerging from the scrub. I was truly amazed as I was probably only 50’ offshore, and these two ladies barely seemed to notice me. They just went about nibbling on some marsh grasses along the shore. I thought about taking a picture, stopped paddling, and was immediately pushed by the wind directly at them as the wind came continually from the northwest. Just before I could get the camera they decided that 30’ was too close, and trotted back off into the scrub.

I rounded Pilgrim Island, and saw Moose Factory in front of me and headed toward it. The time now was 8pm. It seemed now that my progress was slowing. I know I was certainly tiring at this point, but I thought my paddle strokes were still pretty uniform. I stopped for a moment, and then realized that the water was no longer flowing south, it was starting to flow north! Without another thought I grabbed the paddle and went hard to Moose Factory Island. The current really didn’t take long to become noticeably difficult to paddle against, so I headed for the first spot I could find to beach on. Wouldn’t you know, it wound up being the ramp for the refuse barge at the town waste site. Great. No matter, I had made it. I pulled the boat up, and started walking into town. I wasn’t gone long when I found some folks just outside of their home unloading some groceries. I introduced myself, said I had canoed up the Moose, yada, yada, could I find someone to call me a water taxi to take me over to Tidewater, or was there a motel in town I could stay at. Debbie, Nicole, and their family were utterly fantastic, and promptly let me know that the taxis normally don’t come over on this side, as the docks are on the west side of the island, toward Moosonee. However it seemed my luck was holding out, as Debbie’s sister and brother-in-law ran Moose Factory’s only B&B, and would I anf my boat & gear, like a lift over there? At 8:50pm at night, wet, muddy, and hungry, I very, very, happily took this generous offer.

I arrived at Norm & Jean’s B&B at about 9:15pm, and my luck held out…..they had 1 room left. They very graciously took me in, put my gear & boat in the back yard, and made a nice hot cup of tea for me. Beautiful! I must mention here that they have a very nice B&B as well.(check out my pics). As soon as I was settled I called my wife to let her know I was OK(I hadn’t sent my regular “SPOT” message at supper), snacked on some beef jerky and trail mix, added a little brandy and honey to my tea. Brushed my teeth, and then slept very, very well.

Day 12 – June 24th - A Walk Around Moose Factory, Moosonee, and the Little Bear.

I woke up at about 7:30am. I slept in! I could have slept longer but I discovered I had a pretty nasty little muscle pull in my left shoulder, and I was pretty hungry from not having much supper the night before. I had a good breakfast of toast, cereal, coffee, and juice, had a nice hot shower, and got dressed for the day. Jean was nice enough to offer to let me stay there until about 3pm, at which time I would head to the docks and go over to Moosonee, as the Little Bear didn’t arrive until 5pm. After getting cleaned up I decided to walk around a little. Moose Factory is quite likely the one of the oldest settlements in Ontario. It was originally a fur trading outpost that was founded in the late 1600’s. Nothing remains, unfortunately, of any of those buildings. Time and the elements would have taken care of that, however I got the sense that there’s still a very rich sense of history here. I took a walk around the old Anglican & Catholic Churches, stopped by the Moose Cree Cultural Centre, and just kind of sauntered around town for the morning taking pictures. Actually a really nice way to soak in everything. After walking around for the morning, I got back to Norm and Jean’s and had some lunch and began packing everything back up.

Norm arrived back at about 2pm, and again very generously offered me and my gear a lift to the docks. I naturally accepted as my shoulder was still sore, despite the 2 extra-strength Tylenol, and we headed out at about 2:30pm. Once down at the docks, I decided to take a taxi over to Moosonee, it was only $20 from Moose Factory, and given the fact I was still tired and sore from the day before, it was worth every penny. My taxi driver, Stan(?) I think his name was, asked me about the bugs, “Weren’t the bugs bad?” he said. I could only chuckle and heartily agree with him. Like I said earlier, when the locals tell you the bugs are bad, or the water’s high, or whatever, believe them.

I found a taxi/pickup within moments after arriving at the docks in Moosonee, and was quickly taken to the train station by 3pm. Once there I sorted out my tickets, and then waited only about half an hour before the Little Bear arrived. I loaded my boat & gear on the canoe car, and decided to grab a bucket of poutine from the chipstand beside the station as I was looking at about a 4-5hr ride back to Cochrane. I ate the chips, cheese & gravy, went over to the Northern Mall/Store down the road for some water, and by the time I was back they were letting folks on the train. The train pulled out of Moosonee promptly at 5pm, and we pulled into Cochrane at 9:30pm. For those wondering why it took 4 and a half hours to get to Cochrane from Moosonee, the Little Bear is a flagstop train, and lets people on/off along it’s route. Once in Cochrane, my shuttle driver, Terry O’Neill was waiting for me, as arranged earlier in the day. I loaded my canoe on my car, threw my gear in the trunk, and after stopping briefly for a sub(the diner car on the Little Bear is way overpriced)we drove straight to Lillabelle Lodge, where I had a room as well for the night. I was pretty tired, and went straight to bed.


Day 13 – June 25th – You CAN Go Home Again!

I was awake again by 7:30am, got packed up, grabbed a quick and good breakfast of sausage and eggs at the lodge, watched two planes take off from Polar Bear Outfiiters for Kesagami Lake, and I was on the road by 9am. The drive home was pretty uneventful, aside from the excellent sunny skies I had upon leaving. Figures. I stopped for lunch in Temagami at about 1pm, and briefly had to resist the urge to do some more paddling as the weather had clearly turned for the better. I was back on the road by 2pm, and found traffic to be very light, and I was pulling into my driveway in Kitchener by 7pm. I walked in the house, kissed my wife and daughter, and was told to promptly go and have a shower…… and shave.


Epilogue – July 10th 2008.

I truly loved this trip. The scenery, remoteness, thrill and challenge of a two week solo trip to James Bay were most definitely worth it. The only things that I feel took away from it were the weather, and the bugs. Of my 10 days on the water, I had 7 days of overcast, mist, drizzle, rain, or cats & dogs. Take your pick. The bugs…..all I can say is I have car camped, canoed, hiked, fished, etc. in places from one coast to the other, and in all 4 seasons, and I have never experienced bugs like this. This is one of the reasons I decided to keep going after reaching Kesagami Lake. I love fishing, and although I had planned to fish there for a couple of days, between the bugs and weather…. I kept going. Too bad as I have no idea when I’ll be back up that way.

- The Gear
My gear held up great. The Supernova is truly a great downriver canoe, and handled very well on the river. It was a handful in windy weather on flatwater sections, but I knew this going into my purchase. My home-made stick stove is a keeper, and any doubts I had about my Woods Whitewater pack are gone. I will say that I have seen it advertised as having a waterproof drybag enclosure. I would say it’s water resistant, but NOT waterproof. Double up with some drybags. I used Outdoor Research bags and had no problems. The Hennessy Hammock….I wish I had found this thing 20 years ago. By far the most comfortable sleep I’ve had.

- The Fishing
The fishing? What can I tell you, the fishing is amazing up there. When I actually went fishing. Due to the bugs and weather, I didn't even get in half the amount of fishing I had originally planned. Besides the one day on Kesagami Lake when that ugly front moved in, the fishing was excellent and I would normally have a fish on after only 6 or 7 casts. I managed about a dozen pickerel ranging in size from 3-6lbs, several brookies in the 0.5-3lb range, and alot of pike from 2-7lbs.

- James Bay
I need to write here that although I paddled/walked/waded/dragged only a short portion of James Bay... this is actually discouraged by some folks, and could actually be very hazardous. Once I was there I could clearly see that if someone got into trouble paddling out there, you would likley be really screwed if;
- the weather took a turn for the worse,
- the tides were misread,
- experienced a significant gear failure, etc.
There are lots of stories of folks losing their lives on James/Hudson's Bay, so I would urge anyone to excersise caution if they decided to paddle it.

- The People
I also want to mention that everybody I met along the way, through Cochrane, Kesagami Lake Lodge, Moose Factory and Moosonee, were nothing but exceptional folks. I’ve heard reports from people that had less than positive experiences along the way, but I would very much like to say that every single person I met was kind, generous, and very helpful, especially in Moose Factory and Moosonee. Actually I don’t know what’s with the people there… but it’s like everyone’s a comedian, cracking jokes, having a laugh, I truly had a great time.

All in all I would highly recommend this route to anyone looking for a great mixed route to James Bay, some outstanding moving water, and gorgeous flatwater sections, and wildlife galore.

Dedication


When I got into Moose Factory and called my wife, I had a lengthy pause on the phone after I asked her how our Giant Schnauzer, Rhona, was doing. Rhona had been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of bone cancer only a few weeks before I was to go away. At first I had considered scratching my plans, and staying home, however I had booked time off work, made arrangements for the shuttle, train reservations, etc. and I decided to go, thinking Rhona would be OK until I got back. Unfortunately, she took a turn for the worse just shortly after I left, and my wife had to make the terribly difficult choice to have Rhona put to sleep just a few days before I got to Moose Factory. From what everyone has told me. This is the only choice she could have made, as prolonging her life would have been cruel. This trip definitely has a bittersweet aspect to it, as I would have liked to have been with her in the final moments. However I know she’s in a better place, and was likely running beside me through the brine on James Bay, watching me drag my canoe.

This is for Rhona.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Next trip...

It's April 13th, and in exactly 2 months I leave on my solo canoe trip to James Bay. I think about it every day...