| Author |
Message |
absolute_route
Member
Post Number: 1
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - 9:19 pm: | 
|
Howdy. I'm looking at two possible routes for a group of six this August. I've decided on the north west section of Temagami in an effort to achieve a bit more solitude even though it is an extra two hours to drop down from the north. We should have six or seven days on the water. Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated.
Route 1.
Start Montreal River
smoothwater
apex
whitemud
South lady evelyn R
Florence (side trip)
Duff
North lady evelyn R
Gamble on up to Beauty
I know South lady evelyn will be a problem. My question is is it passable? I don't mind a day where there is dragging and liftovers that work up a sweat but on the other hand I don't want to be wadding through three feet of mud or doing one long 10km portage through hell. Will the boats float?
Also I'm considering taking out somewhere south of Beauty as I read some where that the chain leading up there is more annoying than inspiring. thoughts on where this might be done?
Any other thought s on this route? One advantage is that the shuttle appears relatively short ( after a long driving day) or at least shorter than route 2..........
Route 2
start Beauty lake (Or somewhere south as noted above)
Down through gamble
North lady evelyn river
lady evelyn r
Grays river
Graymud
grays lake
Banks lake
Makobe river
take out elk lake
I think the shuttle on this will be longer, not really sure how long it is from Elk lake to Beauty L. My main question on this is the difficulty of the Makobe River. We have 1 person who is a fairly experienced whitewater paddler. Everyone else are competent flatwater folks. Would this be an issue?
Any other thoughts on the relative length/difficulty of the routes, scenic comparisons or the comapritive solitude of each route would be welcome.
Thanks
Rob |
otter_mel
Member
Post Number: 35
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, May 4, 2006 - 12:51 pm: |
|
I say your route No. 1 is better in spite of possible water levels problem. Side trip to Ishapatina could be done as well.
Option No. 2 is a no brainer. Greymud is going to be very low and Makobe is not really a whitewater run in August, more like drag and push. |
amy
Member
Post Number: 11
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Friday, May 19, 2006 - 4:06 pm: |
|
hi rob,
i can comment a bit on route 1. i had planned that as the start of a longer trip (keep going down the lady evelyn) for august of last year. i heard from people on this site who had been in the area, see my previous thread: http://www.ottertooth.com/discus/messages/3/2824.h tml?1122782420
so i planned to go for it, but when we arrived in temagami for the permits, we heard about some people who got back from that area the day before. they said it was like the 10k portage you don't want. very gorgeous, but just no water left. that said, it was an incredibly dry summer, so i suggest just keeping an eye on water levels.
we switched our route. we started from the montreal, to smoothwater, then portaged via sunnywater into gamble lake. that's a 5k portage through some serious overgrowth and a flooded bit. it was totally manageable though, and sunnywater is one of the most beautiful lakes i've ever been on.
at least you could plan for route 1 and know this is a viable alternative. it's a little shorter, but you need a good rest with that portage. i guess you could also go through sunnywater to avoid any kind of shuttle.
amy |
|
Temagami canoe routes & backcountry travel