| Author |
Message |
ratherbecamping
Member
Post Number: 5
Registered: 07-2013
| | Posted on Friday, July 11, 2014 - 3:59 pm: | 
|
We are planning to fly in to Florence Lake the first week of August and travel back to Sandy Inlet over 9 days through the misabi range via blue sucker lake.
It is our honeymoon. We are looking for an exciting challenging trip but at the same time are hoping to find time for some R&R.
Our plan is to camp on the following lakes...Florence, bluesucker, pinetorch, beaver, chapin, Hortense, Wakimika and Diamond.
How are the portages in this area? Are they hard to find? How rugged/challenging are they?
Does anyone know what the water levels in mudchannel lake will be like? Would they be better than in Skooztagan Lake?
We kept the km/day short to hopefully find time for relaxation and enjoy the area. Will all the portaging make the short km days long in hours?
Thanks for your input! |
grncnu
Member
Post Number: 346
Registered: 08-2010
| | Posted on Saturday, July 12, 2014 - 12:03 am: |
|
It's true there is a lot of portaging on that route so the shortness in kms is deceiving. However you still should have loads of time. In our opinion the route via Bluesucker, which takes more time, is much more scenic and therefore preferable since you are not rushed.
Hopefully by August all the portages will be reasonably well cleared of winter blowdowns, etc. Some of them are very rugged and challenging but at least you are doing Chapin-Nasmith in the right direction, i.e. downhill!
Some of the best parts of this route are the portages- again provided you have enough time to enjoy them which you do.
We've done both variations in August with no problems but water levels are variable so it would be good to hear from someone who's been through recently... on the other hand everything we've heard seems to indicate higher than usual levels this year.
Great choice for a honeymoon, with a bit of luck you won't see anyone between Florence and Wakimika. |
ratherbecamping
Member
Post Number: 6
Registered: 07-2013
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - 8:38 am: |
|
Thanks grncnu....I'll post how the water levels were when we get back. |
earle
Member
Post Number: 11
Registered: 06-2009
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - 10:27 am: |
|
We just got back from doing Smoothwater down to Hamlow, across to Bluesucker and then across the Misabi Range out to Wakimika and down to Temagami. Beautiful trip but the bugs are horrendous!
I’ve been going up there for over 15 years and I don’t ever remember them being that bad.
We did not see any people from Reagan over to Wakimika (9 days). Could be because it was the beginning of July.
The water levels are up. It was the first time we had been on the Misabi Range (Yorston Creek over to Wakimika) so I don't know how low the water gets in there especially in August.
The portages are challenging but we were able to find all of them. MOST of them are marked with flag tape or portage sign. We made it across Mudchannel no problem but if the water dropped it could be interesting. We were quite concerned about finding the creek off of Mudchannel to head across but easily found it. Haps note about any boat over 16' getting through this channel is true. We have a 16' canoe and made it about 3/4 of the way pushing and pulling until we finally got stuck and had to portage.
Note: look for a portage on the right side when you get to the rocky section of Pinetorch Creek between Pinetorch Lake and Upper Pinetorch. Much safer than trying to walk up the creek on the slick rocks.
The beavers have flooded the end of the portage at Upper Pinetorch.
The Portage off of Nasmith Creek has an actual yellow portage sign.
We did not encounter much winter blowdown.
|
eriktheviking
Member
Post Number: 11
Registered: 04-2013
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - 8:52 pm: |
|
Thanks for the info earle. We have a 16.5 foot canoe which we had to push and pull while heading into misabi lake last august as the creek got too tight. Any campsites along the route that really stand out as being exceptional? |
earle
Member
Post Number: 13
Registered: 06-2009
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - 9:41 pm: |
|
Going across Misabi Range starting from the bottom of Bluesucker we stayed at the campsite on Lake #2 (according to Hap)(One lake west of Akick). It was O.K. Worked into our plan. Next campsite we stayed on was on Pinetorch Lake. It was very nice. Recommend this one.
Campsite on Beaver is small and not that far from Pinetorch. We decided not to stay there.
We pushed through from Pinetorch to Chapin. Big campsite on Chapin is nice. Recommend this one.
From there we pushed through to Hortense. It was a really nice site as well. Recommend this one.
From Hortense we pushed out to Wakimika. As I mentioned the bugs were pretty intense. We wanted to get out of the thick bush so we put in some long days. Did not check out the campsite on Sylvester.
So recommended campsites: Lake #2, Pinetorch Lake, Chapin Lake and Hortense Lake.
Hope this helps. |
grncnu
Member
Post Number: 347
Registered: 08-2010
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2014 - 7:33 pm: |
|
Also the campsite on the next lake past Hortense (called Sylvester on Ottertooth but unnamed in Hap's guide) is imho one of the nicest ones on the route. Also the one on Dorothy is good, provided it hasn't been recently trashed as happened to us once! |
Temagami canoe routes & backcountry travel