What follows is where I got to before I shelved the project!

In an introductory section, I planned to consider the evidence as presented in

• First Nations accounts,
• government sources, and
• academic studies

Then I would move on to examine individual First Nations, those in the

• Chapleau area
• Missanabie area
• Michipicoten area.

A conclusion would wrap it all up!

What you will see are the few maps I worked on as I researched the patchwork of reserves. You’ll also see a lot of copy and paste of Wikipedia articles and material from various F.N. websites and other sources that I was compiling to draw from and incorporate into a finished post!

But ah, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry…!

What I did put together may encourage someone keen on untangling the various threads of what is a multi-layered story of how an expanding Ontario dealt with the Indigenous people eking out a living in northcentral Ontario being buffeted by dramatic changes from the mid-1800s.

The Building of Railroads, the lure of pulp and paper, and mineral resources, as well as marginal farmland, would change forever the relationship to the land that the  4000 or 5000 Treaty No 5 and Treaty No 9 Cree and Ojibwe had known.

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Missinaibi-Area First Nations

 &

Their Recent History

Intro

start with a summary of the article on

The Dispossession of the Northern Ojibwe and Cree: The Case of the Chapleau Game Preserve by David Calverley

Deal with

• who was being dispossessed

• how many were affected

• where they ended up

attempt to sort out the various reserve designations and backstory of how the Cree and Ojibwe living on them got there.

First Section

Consider the situation from different perspectives –

A. the various First Nation accounts of their story. F.N. web sites

B. Government sources – census, treaty text, reserve profiles

•  a 1992 Ontario government-produced booklet Akwesasne to Wunnumin Lake: Profiles of Aboriginal Communities in Ontario.

C. other sources – historians, archeologists, academics,

• Ernest Voorhis. Historic Forts and Trading Posts of the French Regime and of the English Fur Trading Companies.  Department of the Interior Ottawa.1930.

————-

Main Section on Individual Bands –

• Brunswick House First Nation

• Chapleau Ojibway First Nation (I.R.74A)

• Chapleau Cree (Fox Lake) First Nation

• Missanabie Cree First Nation

• Michipicoten First Nation (GROS CAP I.R. No. 49) +

  • Gros Cap 49A

  • Chapleau 61

  • Missanabie 62

  ——————

Chapleau Area First Nation Reserves:

Map of Chapleau area with the various F.N. land indicated –

from the town of Chapleau’s website, a page on its three First Nations communities –

Not mentioned is Chapleau 61, a reserve which belongs to Michipicoten F.N., an Ojibwe band whose main reserve (Gros Cap 49) is on the north side of Michipicoten Bay. Not clear is if anyone lives on Chapleau 61.

————–

Brunswick House First Nation:

1. Facebook Page – BHFN – Wapiscagamybout Brunswick House First Nation – Wapiscagamy

1. From the BHFN website –

Brunswick House FN was established through Treaty #9 which was signed by government representatives and First Nation leaders in 1905 and 1906. In late July 1906, treaty commissioners met with the First Nation people who lived in the area of the Hudson’s Bay Company post called New Brunswick House on the north end of Missinaibi Lake.

In 1925, the Chapleau Game Preserve was established as a 7,000 square kilometer area for the protection of wildlife. The new game preserve surrounded Missinaibi Lake, including the land that New Brunswick House had been allocated. When the preserve was created, hunters and trappers including First Nation people who followed a traditional lifestyle were no longer allowed to pursue their subsistence activities in the area. As a result, the people of New Brunswick House had to relocate to a new land base outside the game preserve.

For the 22 years following the relocation, the band had no consistent land base. In fact, the community’s lands were changed three times. The first was to near Kapuskasking to about 50 acres of land. This attempt at establishing a community was thwarted when a local pulp mill operation declared it had the superseding rights to the area.

The community was relocated a second time to an area known as Loon Lake (now called Borden Lake), near the town of Chapleau. This relocation was contested and the community was forced to move elsewhere.

In 1947, a 36 square mile land base was finally allocated to Brunswick House First Nation in the township of Mountbatten. Mostly swamp land, it was the traditional trapping ground of then leader of Brunswick House First Nation, Chief Joe Davis.

In 1970, one square mile of the land base was traded for an equal portion 10 kilometers east of the town of Chapleau on Highway 101, off of Borden Lake. The final move to the community’s present location was made due to health reasons and to gain improved access for members to essential health and education services.

Band No. 228 Traditional Name: Wapiscogamy House. Alternate Names: New Brunswick House Band of Ojibway

Read more at: https://www.first-nations.info/brunswick-house-first-nation-2.html.

Time Line –

1906   Treaty No.9 commissioners meet at the “new” (since 1790!) Brunswick House HBC post at the north end of Missinabi Lake.

1925    Chapleau Crown Game Preserve was established; BHB lost its hunting area since it was no longer permitted. How many people were in the band at that time?

1926-1947      failed relocations to  50 acres reserve in Kapuskasing area and then to Borden Lake area east of Chapleau

1947   36 sq. mile reserve in Mountbatten Township allocated. 76A on map Note in Wilson to the effect that they did not have timber rights!

1970   one sq. mile of Mountbatten reserve exchanged for 1 sq. mile of Chapleau/Borden Lake land – I.R.76B [Ontario Govt booklet has 1973.]

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Government info

Historical Notes

After the arrival of the Europeans in the 17th century, the Ojibway economy, which had been based on hunting, fishing and gathering, expanded to include trapping for trade as well as for subsistence purposes. During the fur trade era, trading posts became part of the cycle of movements for Indian people, and some groups or Bands became associated with particular trading posts. The Ojibway people who traded primarily at the New Brunswick House posts at Brunswick Lake and Missinaibi Lake became known as the New Brunswick House Band (ancestors of Brunswick House First Nation people).

The lames Bav Treat of 1905 – Treaty No. 9 was signed with the New Brunswick House Band on luly 25, 1906. An Ontario Order-in-Council, dated February 13, 1907, confirmed a selection of Indian reserves, including New Brunswick House No. 76, which was set aside for the Band and surveved at 17 280 acres.

On June 1, 1925 the Ontario government established the Chapleau Game Preserve which surrounded (and did not explicitly exclude) the New Brunswick House reserve and was closed to all hunting and trapping. The Ontario government subsequently purchased reserve land from the federal government in 1928. In 1947, the federal government purchased a tract of land in Mountbatten Township from the Ontario government and established the Mountbatten I.R. No. 76A. The Band moved to its present reserve after 642 acres of the Mountbatten reserve were exchanged in 1973  for an equivalent area of land closer to Chapleau.

The account begins with a discussion of trading post communities, which were different than the traditional pre-Contact band communities whose families would meet annually at a certain spot for the May to September season. Trading post locations were set up with a different objective than traditional summertime band gathering points.

This account does not mention any details about the years between 1928 and 1947. The First Nation’s account mentions Kapuskasing and the Borden Lake site east of Chapleau.

Neither account provides information on the number of people in the band in 1906 or 1928 or more recently.

population

2021   About 763 members with approximately   121 living on-reserve and 642 off-reserve.

from First nations Info.

An amazing jump from 85 in 2016 to 2021. Why?

2016    85

2006   80.

Other Sources:

The H.B.C. trading post on Missinaibi Lake …from Voorhis

Note from Hap Wilson’s Missinaibi guidebook –

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Chapleau Ojibway First Nation (I.R.74A)

74A – main reserve (799.3 ha); also Chapleau 61A (67ha) and Chapleau 74 (64.7 ha)

Wikipedia article

First Nation Web page

Population

2007  37 (total registered population (30 on  reserve)

2000  24

1991   25

 

from first Nation web page….

Currently the community, whose land base is outside Chapleau, has several buildings and homes near highway 101/129. Elder Therese Memegos recalled that Chapleau Ojibwe FN was moved three times before it was permanently established at its present location. 

Originally the community was based on the shores of the Chapleau River. This first community had a large population, with several homes and buildings including an Anglican and Catholic Church. “There was a fairly large community on the shores of the Chapleau River. It had more people with several family names such as Cheese and Quakegesic, as well as Memegos. Just before I arrived to this area the community had declined. The younger people moved to other communities and only a few older people lived along the river. In time these elders passed away until there was only about nine members in the community,” said Elder Memegos.

Before the decline, the people of Chapleau Ojibwe led a traditional lifestyle. They visited the community only in the summers and lived with their families on traditional trap lines and hunting grounds in the winter. Through her Father-in-Law, Elder Memegos had learned that the Cheese family was a prominent family in the community. She indicated that Simon Cheese was known as the first Chief of the First Nation, but she is not certain if the government at the time recognized him as a community leader. At that time, traditional community leadership was passed down through family ties.

In 1990, Chapleau Ojibwe became one of the founding First Nations of the newly created Wabun Tribal Council. The community accomplished this through the efforts of past leaders including Chief Joanne Nakogee and Chief William Memegos.

————–

From Akwesasne to Wunnumin Lake Booklet

Historical Notes

After visiting Chapleau in 1906, the Treaty No. 9Commissioners reported that it would not be necessary to negotiate a treaty with the Indian people of Chapleau, as they belonged to Bands residing at Moose Factory, English River and other places already under treaty. Since large reserves had already been established in other parts of the province for the Bands from which the people at Chapleau had immigrated, the Commissioners recommended that small areas be set aside for the Chapleau Cree and Ojibway so that they could build small houses and cultivate garden plots.

‘The Chapleau Ojibway reserve was contiguous to the land purchased by the Robinson Treaty Indians, and within the boundaries of the territory described by the James Bay Treaty of 1905 – Treaty No. 9. The reserve was officially established in 1950.

———————-

Chapleau Cree (Fox Lake) First Nation

Population

• 2019  57

• 2011   79

• 2006 92

website

Wikipedia entry

Chapleau Cree First Nation (Cree: ᔕᑊᓗ ᐃᓂᓂᐗᐠ, šaplo ininiwak) is a Mushkegowuk CreeFirst Nationlocated by Chapleau Township, Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada. The First Nation have reserved for themselves the 108.1 hectares (267 acres) Chapleau 75 Indian Reserve and the 1,016.8 hectares (2,513 acres) Chapleau Cree Fox Lake Indian Reserve. As of 2019, their on-reserve population was 57^[1] compared to 2011 with 79 and 2006 with 92.^[2]

The flag of the tribe bears the text in Cree: “ᔓᑊᓗ ᐠᕆ ᒪᑫᔑᐤ ᓴᑲᐃᑲᐣ” (“šaplo kri makishiw sakahikan”), which refers to its main reserve, Chapleau Cree Fox Lake.

Census Info

 

———————-

Missanabie Cree First Nation:

Population 

2018    476

• band office in downtown Sault Sainte Marie
• 96 members lived at Missanabie in 1906 (treaty No. 9) but they were not considered a separate band, but rather included in the Moose Cree of James Bay.
• population of 476 in 2018,  few of whom live full-time in the Missanabie area where it has a fishing camp – Island View Camp.  see sat images below for location

 

from the Missanabie Cree F.N. website:

In 1906, under the terms of Treaty 9, the Crown promised to set apart reserves for each band based on one square mile of reserve land per family of five, or 128 acres per person. From 1906 to 2018, there never have been any lands set apart for the use and benefit of the Missanabie Cree people, and as a result, the First Nation suffered and continues to suffer significant damages. With no land base for over 100 years, and their traditional livelihood of hunting and fishing undermined with the creation of the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve, people began to leave the Missanabie area in search of economic opportunities to support their families. Areas of settlement were spread across Canada and the Missanabie Cree people have been living without their own land base in rural areas such as Sault Ste. Marie, Wawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Sudbury, and London, Ontario. Many went as far as the East and West Coast making Missanabie Cree First Nation a unique Band.

The Missanabie Cree First Nation filed a claim with Canada on the basis that they have an outstanding entitlement to land under the terms of Treaty Nine, and that both Ontario and Canada, who were signatories to the Treaty, have breached their treaty obligations by failing to set aside land for the Missanabie Cree. Canada accepted the TLE claim for negotiation under the Specific Claims policy.

While discussions remain ongoing with the Ontario government, in 2011, Missanabie Cree First Nation successfully concluded an agreement with the Government of Ontario for a land transfer of 15 square miles of Crown land in the Missanabie area and has successfully had this land designated as a reserve in 2018 under the Additions to Reserve Policy. 

The Missanabie Cree were also successful in negotiating with the Government of Canada for loss of use compensation under their Treaty Land Entitlement claim which was recorded the largest per capita settlement in the history of Canada. The Government of Canada has also included 5 additional square miles, where its location has yet to be determined.

Missanabie is part of the James Bay Treaty (Treaty #9), is a member of the Mushkegowuk Council and a political-territorial affiliate of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation.

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Wikipedia Entry

Missanabie Cree First Nation (Cree: masinâpôy ininiwak, ᒪᓯᓈᐴᔾ ᐃᓂᓂᐗᐠ) is a “Treaty 9” Nation. The nation is named after Missinaibi River and Lake, around which the traditional territory of the nation is located. The name “Missanabie” means “Pictured Water”, referring to pictographs found on rock faces along Missinaibi River.

The tribe’s mother tongue is Swampy Cree language, also referred to as the “n-dialect” of Cree language.

Historical Timeline

Evidence and records suggest that by as early as the 1570s, members of the Missanabie Cree had settled in the areas surrounding present day Missinaibi Lake, Dog Lake and Wabatongushi Lake. According to Elders’ testimony and anthropological evidence, the Missanabie Cree had utilized these lands from time immemorial to hunt, fish and trap for food, for ceremonial purposes and to provide for the cultural, spiritual and economic well-being of their people.

In the 1660s Father Allouez confirmed that the Cree people regularly traveled between Lake Superior and James Bay.^[2]

In the 1730s Cree speaking people with summer encampments at Bawating (Sault Ste. Marie) gathered to fish, trade and do ceremonies.^[3]

In 1904 the Indian Affairs Department recognized Missanabie Cree as an Indian band to be ‘treated with’ by Treaty Commissioners for the purpose of adhesions to Treaty 9 scheduled for 1905.

In 1905 Canada and Ontario enter into Treaty 9 with various Cree and Ojibwa groups to obtain surrender of 130,000 square miles (340,000 km²) of land.

In 1906 the Crown did not sign formal adhesions to Treaty 9 with the Missanabie Cree First Nation. The Crown did not set apart any reserve for 98 members of the First Nation living at Missanabie.

In 1915 Missanabie Cree’s request for land was turned down by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND).

In 1925 the Chapleau Crown Preserve was created which abrogated Missanabie Cree’s treaty rights to hunt and fish for subsistence living.

In 1929 Missanabie Cree’s request for land was turned down by DIAND.

In 1951 Missanabie Cree were formally recognized by DIAND as an Indian band.

In 1992, under the Indian Act, the first Chief and Council are elected by the Missanabie Cree First Nation.

In 1993 Missanabie Cree First Nation submitted specific claim for outstanding Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE).

In 1996 Missanabie Cree First Nation received a letter from Canada accepting the claim, with the condition that Ontario, also a signatory to Treaty 9, be at the table. Ontario began a legal review of the claim.

In 1998 Missanabie Cree and Canada begin preliminary meetings in April.

In 1999 jointly funded studies began. These included genealogical, traditional use, site selections, and loss of use. Legal review by Ontario was completed in June. A letter from Canada stated that negotiations could begin, if Ontario came to the table.

In 2000 the Ontario Native Affairs Secretariat sent a letter indicating Ontario would be presenting its position.

In 2001 preliminary discussions of the negotiation process began between First Nation and both levels of government. The development of a work plan and negotiation framework continued.

In 2006 Ontario agreed to a land transfer of 15 square miles (39 km²) with conditions attached. The transferred land was to be credited towards the eventual settlement of the land claim (to be determined through legal action). Land area was selected. Discussions with Canada continued over additions to Reserve process and loss of use compensation.

In 2008 Missanabie turned down an offer of $15 million from Canada.

In 2011, on August 17, The Missanabie Cree First Nation and the Government of Ontario signed an agreement to provide the Nation with 15 square miles (39 km²) of land as an initial allotment of a total 70 square miles (180 km²) to which they are entitled under Treaty 9.^[4]

—————-

Not everyone was happy with the Land Transfer to Missanabie F.N. -​

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Michipicoten First Nation (GROS CAP I.R. NO. 49)

This F.N. includes the following reserves –

• Gros Cap 49
• Gros Cap 49A
• Chapleau 61
• Missanabie 62

xxx

 

Historical Notes

The Ojibway people living on the north shore of Lake Superior (ancestors of Michipicoten First Nation people) subsisted by hunting, fishing and gathering.

As the fur trade moved into the Lake Superior area, they expanded their economic activities to include hunting and trapping for trade purposes. By the early 19th century, Ojibway hunting ranges had evolved into well-defined trapping territories.

Fort Michipicoten was at one time the site of a French post, said to have been established around 1700. The old post was taken over by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1821 and became for many years the principal trading post on the north shore of Lake Superior. Representatives of Michipicoten signed the Robinson-Superior Treaty in 1850, and a reserve was set aside for the Band out of the land ceded. The Gros Cap reserve was first surveyed in 1853. On April 10, 1855 Michipicoten entered into a treaty with the government to cede a one square mile portion of its

Voorhis Note On Michipicoten Post (pp.184-185)

Table of Contents:

The Chiniguchi River System – Significance

The Matagamasi Lake Pictograph Site

• The Most Well-Known Images
• Selwyn Dewdney’s Account
• The Cross Shape To The West of the Site
• More Pictographs To The East
• Back To The Main (West) Panel and More

The Pictograph Site On Chiniguchi Lake

• A Site Undocumented Until 2008
• My Attempt To Draw The Images From The Rock
• Creating Narratives To Fit The Images

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The Chiniguchi River System – Significance

The Chiniguchi River system is sandwiched between Wanapitei Lake and the Sturgeon River. Before the 1900s, the Anishinaabe, especially those Ojibwe registered with the Wanapitei Reserve (now called Wahnapitae First Nation), would have known the area as the hunting grounds of individual families and accessed various points along its length to travel north to the Montreal River system or east to Lake Temagami.

A highlight of a mid-September 2022 canoe trip up the Chiniguchi River and down the Sturgeon River was the time we spent taking in the rock images painted by Anishinaabe shamans or vision questers on vertical rock surfaces found on Matagamasi Lake and Chiniguchi Lake.

Anishinaabe Rock Images

What follows is mostly what is found in our canoe trip report –

NE Ontario’s Chiniguchi/Sturgeon Canoe Route

 describing what we saw and, more importantly, the pictograph images we came away with.  While the “paint” (a mix of iron oxide powder and perhaps a sturgeon-based glue) is fading and some images are all but gone, they are an entry point to traditional pre-Contact Anishinaabe culture and beliefs.

—————-

The Matagamasi Lake Pictograph Site:

The Most Well-Known Images

An hour or so after leaving the put-in spot at the south end of Matagamasi Lake, we were paddling along the vertical rock face looking for the images “painted” by some Anishinaabe shaman or vision quester some two or three hundred years ago. On display were:

• a human figure with outstretched arms,
• an animal figure (“wolf-like”?), and
• a smudge – perhaps an otter or beaver skin image? – a few inches higher and to the left.

We had as our guide a drawing and comments by Selwyn Dewdney from his visit in 1965.

See here for a similar image from Cliff Lake above Lake Nipigon.

———

Selwyn Dewdney’s Account

The first edition of Selwyn Dewdney’s Indian Rock Paintings of the Great Lakes was published in 1962. (Click on the title to access an online copy.) Five years later, a second edition appeared in which Dewdney presented details on another 160 pictograph sites. It included this passage on pictograph sites in the Gogama area in general and Matagamasi in particular –

[Click here to access a pdf file of the additional 2nd. Ed. material.]

———

The Cross Shape To The West

We noted a cross-like shape just to the west of the panel with the three images. It is perhaps a simple drawing of Animikii (The Thunderbird) or of the symbol the strange newcomers to the land, especially the men in black robes, seemed to attach much power to.

The image below is from the west end of the Anishinaabe world – a pictograph on the Bloodvein River in Manitoba with similar cross or thunderbird paintings.

———

More Pictographs To The East

We then paddled over to a campsite on a point on the other side of the lake; I was under the impression that this was the total number of images to be seen!

On our way to Wolf Lake the next morning, we luckily passed by the rock face again for another look at the small collection of images and smudges we mistakenly thought made up the site. Well, we found more!

Given the note on the Ottertooth map (The Middle Tracks) describing the site as the second largest in the Temagami area, this certainly made sense!

We came to the site further east and found a few pictographs we hadn’t even looked for the previous afternoon.

The East Panel:

As we approached, drawings of animals – a moose?- and a canoe with paddlers and other difficult-to-say markings popped out of the rock.

A bit further down, we came across what looked like a set of four vertical lines. They are often described as tally marks, and the guess is that something is being counted.

• Could it be the number of days the vision quester has been out?
• Or perhaps it is nothing more than exposed bits of the underlying iron oxide rock stain?

We paddled back to the panel of images/shapes we had seen the afternoon before.

————–

Back To The Main (West) Panel and More

As we continued west, we spotted the marking pictured below. It is about 15 cm. long and is either a faded “painted” image or a natural rock stain. The absence of more natural rock stains nearby makes the former more likely.

—————-

The Pictograph Site On Chiniguchi Lake

Once on Chiniguchi Lake, we followed the shoreline as it bends gradually to the northeast. A moderate wind from the northwest meant we had to put more oomph into our strokes as we approached the next point of interest on our Chiniguchi tour.

The rock face pictured below hosts a humble collection of almost-gone pictographs. Among them, we were able to discern a couple of canoes, some geometric forms, and perhaps a very simple rendition of a Thunderbird image.

———–

A Site Undocumented Until 2008

The Ottertooth map (The Middle Tracks) includes this note about the site – (Rediscovered 2008).

You have to wonder how the site could have been forgotten, given its location next to a popular campsite on a frequently visited lake!

Then again, Selwyn Dewdney was not aware of the site in the mid-1960s, despite his many contacts and the interviews he conducted with local people, both Indigenous and non-.

———–

An Attempt To Draw The Images From The Rock

Accentuating the red hue in Adobe Lightroom – an attempt at an app pictograph researchers use called DStretch – resulted in this view:

The Horned Snake (Michi-ginebig) played a significant role in Ojibwe mythology.  If it is indeed a Michi-ginebig image, it looks like the painter started off strong with lots of paint and then ran out near the end! Then again, it could be two images – a U-shape and,  let’s say, a flat-bottomed canoe with two paddlers! The human impulse is to create meaning, even when there is none.

The cross with a horizontal line on the top pointing to the left could be a crude representation of Animikii, the Thunderbird, next to Gitchi-Manitou, the most powerful spirit. From the beak pointing to the left to the horizontal line in the middle representing the wings…

———–

Creating Narratives To Fit The Images

To the left of the images discussed above are two vertical slash marks joined at the bottom and forming a V-shape.

A little bit further on are more marks that I did not get a good overview photo of – two zig-zag lines and what may be a human figure.  If you see the zig zags as serpents, creating a story connecting them in their role as messengers of the manitous as they bring medicine and wisdom to the petitioning shaman, would be easy enough!

A more detailed account of our canoe trip from which these map and pictograph images were taken can be found here –

NE Ontario’s Chiniguchi/Sturgeon Canoe Route

 

Table of Contents:

Introduction –  Off To The Chiniguchi

• Some Historical Background
• Trip Highlights
• Logistics;
• Maps: NRC Topos; David Crawshay’s iOS Topo Canada app; ATLOGIS Canada Topo Maps for Android OS; Toporama, Ottertooth; Hap Wilson; Chrismar Adventure Map; Jeff’s Temagami Map
• Parks and Backcountry Camping Fees

Day-By-Day Reports – Maps, Images, portage and campsite info, etc.

• Day 1: Matagamasi Put-In to Northeast Arm
• Day 2: Northeast Arm To Wolf Lake
• Day 3: Wolf Lake to the Top of Chiniguchi Lake
• Day 4: Chiniguchi Lake to Sturgeon River
• Day 5: Sturgeon River To Below Lower Goose Falls
• Day 6: From Below Lower Goose Falls To Kelly Lake
• Day 7: Kelly Lake To Carafel Lake
• Day 8: Carafel Lake To Kukagami Lake (Sportsman’s Inn)

—————

Introduction: Off To The Chiniguchi

The Temagami area has provided my brother and me with some terrific canoe trip routes over the past few years.  2022 was going to have us experience yet another sample of this easily accessed yet rugged part of the Canadian Shield – we planned a mid-June trip down the Lady Evelyn’s North Branch from a Beauty Lake put-in to Macpherson Lake, followed by a paddle up the Greys River to Makobe Lake and then down the Makobe River to Elk Lake and our vehicle.  It didn’t happen and, worried about late-season water levels, we looked for a nearby mid-September alternative.

Southwest of our usual north-end Temagami destinations is the Chiniguchi River system, sandwiched between the Sturgeon River, which is considered Temagami’s west-side boundary,  and Wanapitei Lake.

The Geological Survey of Canada map from the 1850s transcribed the lake’s name as Wahnapitaeping.

The name Wanapitei comes from the Ojibwe waanabidebiing, meaning “concave-tooth [shaped] water” to describe the lake’s shape. (source)

The Chiniguchi River headwaters (White Rock, Redpine, and Sawhorse Lakes) are just north and west of the lake with big bays, which is what Chinicoochichi means in the Ojibwe language. As for Matagamasi, in Robert Bell’s 1875 report, it is recorded as Mattawagamishing, with the key Ojibwe word being Mattawa meaning “narrow”.

We had heard about Wolf Lake and the Matagamasi and Chiniguchi pictograph sites. And while we had done the Sturgeon from Stull Creek down to the mouth of the Obabika River, we were keen on paddling some of the middle section of the river.  The overview map below is what we came up with for a short eight-day September canoe trip. We drove up on a Monday morning and headed home the following Tuesday.

Note the contrast in logging road presence between the interior of our loop and the east side of the Sturgeon River!

 

—————

Some Historical Background:

Before the Robinson Treaties of 1850, the waters we paddled were the “home and native land” of an Indigenous people belonging to the Anishinaabe cultural family and known to the French and British newcomers as Ojibwe.  While the Wanapitei/Chiniguchi/Temagami area does not seem to have supported a large number of people – four to five dozen families (200-300 people) seems like a reasonable estimate – there was an Ojibwe band summer gathering spot on the west side of Lake Wanapitei. To access the less-used hunting grounds in this hinterland or perhaps for non-economic reasons, the families had probably moved there from established Ojibwe communities like those at Bawating (Sault Ste. Marie), Manitoulin Island, or Lake Nipissing. 

How long the Ojibwe have been in the Bawating/Lake Huron area is unclear. Answers range from “since time immemorial” to 2000 years to 500 years or less. 

• Their culture may have developed into what we know as Anishinaabe over two or three or five millennia while successive generations continued to live in the same general area. This is the in situ or since time immemorial theory.
• They may have moved into the area more recently from the south or the east because it was empty or by displacing people already there. This is labelled the migration theory.

If there is some historical fact underlying the Ojibwe Migration myth, then the Ojibwe arrived in the upper Great Lakes area about 500 to 1000  years ago. [See William Warren’s History of the Ojibway People, ch. 4, for the best account of the Migration story.]

In the Wanapitei/Chiniguchi/Temagami area, the various families belonging to the band (now the Wahnapiae First Nations community with a current population of about 100) would gather from May to September at a community site on the west side of Wanapitei Lake.  From late September to May, the individual families would move to their hunting grounds for the fall and winter. These hunting grounds stretched north to the height of land and as far east as Lake Temagami, where some families connected with the Wanapitei band had gone.

In Post-Contact times, the development of a fur trade economy would impact Ojibwe and Cree settlement patterns.  Trading post communities developed as families camped near a Hudson Bay Co. post during the May-to-September months.  Interestingly, only one such community developed in the entire region from Lake Wanapitei to Lake Temagami.  It was the one on Temagami Island after the establishment of an H.B.C. sub-post there in 1820.

That post was moved to Bear Island in 1875. A reserve on Bear Island in Lake Temagami was only established in 1971, almost 30 years after the federal government had purchased the island from the province. We know it now as Temagami First Nation; about 200 people live there. [See here for more on the Indigenous community on Lake Temagami.]

In 1850 the Robinson Treaties were signed.  One dealt with the Lake Superior region. The other, the Robinson-Huron Treaty, impacted the area shown in the map below.

The establishment of a treaty had been prompted by Ojibwe concern about what they considered illegal mining activity in the Sault Ste. Marie area. Violence had already flared, and the government had sent troops to deal with the volatile situation.

Shingwaukonse, the Ojibwe leader, pressed for recognition in a treaty of Indigenous land claims and rights by the Province of Canada and its representatives. After a one-sided set of negotiations, The Robinson-Huron Treaty was signed in September 1850. See here for a good introduction to the Treaty and the historical context which led to it.

The text of the Robinson Treaty established the following points:

The Province of Canada got this –

they the said Chiefs and Principal men, on behalf of their respective Tribes or Bands, do hereby fully, freely, and voluntarily surrender, cede, grant, and convey unto Her Majesty, her heirs and successors for ever, all their right, title, and interest to, and in the whole of, the territory above described,

The Anishinaabe living In the Treaty area got this:

Reserves

the reservations set forth in the schedule hereunto annexed; which reservations shall be held and occupied by the said Chiefs and their Tribes in common, for their own use and benefit.

A Perpetual Annuity (annual payment)

the sum of two thousand pounds of good and lawful money of Upper Canada, to them in hand paid, and for the further perpetual annuity of six hundred pounds of like money, the same to be paid and delivered to the said Chiefs and their Tribes at a convenient season of each year,

Hunting And Fishing Rights

the full and free privilege to hunt over the Territory now ceded by them, and to fish in the waters thereof, as they have heretofore been in the habit of doing; saving and excepting such portions of the said Territory as may from time to time be sold or leased to individuals or companies of individuals, and occupied by them with the consent of the Provincial Government.

See here for the full text of the Robinson-Huron Treaty.

Signing the Treaty for the Ojibwe people living in the Wanapitei to Temagami area was Tagawinini, the fifth of the Ojibwe chiefs to be named in the Treaty. In the list of reserves established by the government, we read –

ELEVENTH –Tagawinini and his Band, two miles square at Wanabitibing, a place about forty miles inland, near Lake Nipissing.

The Robinson Treaties (Superior and Huron) of 1850 are almost 175 years old; they are also current history.  The issue of the annuity agreed to by the Province of Canada in 1850, and now the responsibility of the Ontario Government, is in dispute.  A recent CBC article provides this summary:

The annuity hasn’t increased since 1874, when it was capped at $4 per person. In the previous stages of the trial, the Anishinaabe successfully argued this breaks the treaty, a ruling the Ontario government appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

There is a wide gap between what the Ontario government thinks would settle the matter (minus $10 Billion) and what the negotiating team for the Anishinaabe people living in the Treaty lands is asking for. The Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz testified that the true figure is plus $100 Billion+!

Note: Like many paddlers, I know little about the various treaties that impacted the lives of those Indigenous Peoples who live(d) in the Canadian Shield. While I was born and grew up in Quebec’s Abitibi region to the northeast of Chiniguchi,  since moving to southern Ontario fifty years ago, I have experienced Up North mostly as the canoe country I access from Toronto. I have come to realize that Crown Land camping is not free and that when preparing for a canoe trip, my map is not the only thing I should be looking at!

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Some Trip Highlights:

• The Matagamasi pictograph site
• Paradise Lagoon
• Wolf Lake rock face and island campsite
• Chiniguchi Lake pictograph site
• the 2.6 kilometers of logging road portages from Button to the Sturgeon via Parsons Lake
• the easy C1 rapids and shifts below the Pilgrim Triangle
• Upper Goose Falls
• Lower Goose Falls
• the glacial sand deposits of the lower Sturgeon
• Carafel Creek/Lake

The weather was not the best but the worst of the rain seemed to fall overnight, with the daytime mostly overcast.  We stayed dry and used both 3×4.3 m (10’x14′) tarps at every campsite!

Our route was just one of a few Chiniguchi possibilities. Among other choices, there is

• a shorter one looping back from the north end  of Chiniguchi Lake;
• a longer one which enters the Sturgeon from Stouffer Lake
• an even longer one that enters the Sturgeon at Kettle Falls
• a route that takes you down the Sturgeon to the mouth of Murray Creek and then up the creek and the Chiniguchi River all the way back to Matagamasi put-in

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Logistics:

See the Ottertooth map showing  Chiniguchi Access.  It details the main road access points and the nearby lodges. The page was last updated in 2006 but is still useful. Four parking/put-in options are highlighted –

1. the public put-in (the MNR boat launch) on Matagamasi Lake. Parking can be tight during prime summer. It is free. See below for a sat image of the area.
2. The Sportsman’s Lodge on Kukagami Lake with a shuttle to the Matagamasi Lake option #1 put-in. We paid $10. a day to leave our vehicle at the Lodge. Jim Stewart is the new owner.
3. The Lakeland Lodge on Rioux’s Island in Wanapitei Lake’s Portage Bay. The gated parking lot is on the mainland and the current fee is $2. a day. It is a short paddle and portage into Matagamasi Lake.
4. Rolly Jonas’ Lodge at the south end of Maskinonge Lake. The current charge is $8. The Temagami Outpost (what was known as the Taylor Statten Camp Oupost until 2015), a lodge at the top end of Maskinonge Lake, also uses the Jonas Lodge parking area. See here for an Ottertooth map with the road to the Jonas Lodge.

We went up Hwy 69 to just south of Sudbury and then turned right onto Hwy 537 to access Hwy 17. Going east on 17, we soon got to the turn-off for Kukagami Lake. [See here for the Google Maps view.]

The put-in for our trip was the public put-in at the south end of Matagamasi Lake.  There is a parking area (option #1) that many paddlers use for their Chiniguchi loop trip. In the summer,  parking spots can be scarce. Annoyed owners of nearby cottages can up the tension level. The lot is also not monitored, so vandalism is a potential issue.

We went with Option #2 – we left our vehicle at the Sportsman’s Lodge on Kukagami Lake.  The lodge’s new owner, Jim Stewart,  put the canoe and gear on his truck trailer and off we went to the Matagamasi (Ma tog a ma see) put-in, about fifteen minutes away.

The extra bit of peace of mind cost us $130 ($10 a day for parking and $50 for the shuttle), which is easy enough to rationalize, given the trip’s overall cost!

A post-trip comment by a fellow poster on the myccr forum pointed out a shuttle-free option!

• A 9-km. paddle to the north end of Kukagami Lake
• followed by a portage (either 175 or 465 m) into Doon Lake and then
• another 1100-meter carry to Matagamasi Lake.

The $50. shuttle made for a shorter and easier Day 1. We would have some longer portages (1500 and 1100 meters) three days later when we left the Chiniguchi River system for the Sturgeon River.

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Maps:

We used the Natural Resources Canada topo maps – both the archived maps and the up-to-date ones found on the Toporama website.  For specific portage and campsite info, we turned to the Chiniguchi area maps on the Ottertooth website, a goldmine of canoe-tripping info on the Greater Temagami Area.

Natural Resources Canada 1:50,000 Topos

Click on the topo map sheet titles below to download –

• • • 041 I 10 Capreol 
    • 041 I 15 Milnet
    • 041 P 02 Pilgrim Creek
    • 041 P 01 Obabika Lake
    • 041 I 16 Lake Temagami
    • 041 I 09 Glen Afton

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David Crawshay’s Topo Canada iOS App

David Crawshay’s free Topo Canada iOS App for iPhone enables you to download all of the above to your iPhone.  While leaving the iPhone on all day to use as your primary GPS device would eat up battery power like crazy, it is very useful to make a quick confirmation that you are indeed where you think you are! Download Crawshay’s app here.

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ATLOGIS Canada Topo Maps for Android OS

There is an Android OS app from a German app developer similar to Crawshay’s Topo Canada iOS app. However, it costs $14. U.S.  Given its usefulness, the one-time cost is a worthwhile investment that will save you time and aggravation. Click here to access the Google App Store page –

Note: The free version of the app may be enough for your purpose.

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Toporama Canada Online Map:

Toporama is NRC’s modern version of the archived topo sheets.  It is a seamless map of the entire country and allows you to extract additional information and features from the map.

Access the Toporama website here.

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Ottertooth’s Chiniguchi Maps

• • • Chiniguchi Canoe Area Overview Map
    • Middle Tracks (Matagamasi to N of Chiniguchi Lake)
    • Northern Tracks (Stouffer Lake and Parsons Lake access to Sturgeon R)
    • Kelly Lake Crossovers (two options from the Sturgeon R to Maskinonge L.)
    • Southern Tracks (from Maskinonge Lake to Kukagami Lake)

Also worth checking out is the Ottertooth map showing  Chiniguchi Access.  It details the main road access points and the nearby lodges.

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Other useful map sources include:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• The Chrismar Adventure Map –Temagami 4 – Northwest & Sturgeon River Area.  A 1:90000 Sturgeon River map is included.
• The Hap Wilson guidebook Temagami: A Wilderness Paradise.  Its annotated maps make clear exactly what the route involves.
• the 2010 digital copy of Jeff’s Temagami map (version 1.0- i.e. the only one)

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Parks and Backcountry Camping Fees:

The route passes through an assortment of Crown Land designations. They are:

1. Chiniguchi Waterway Park – established in 2006, the park includes most of the Ciniguchi River system, except for Chiniguchi Lake itself, the south end of Matagamasi Lake, and the section of the river from the bottom of Maskinonge Lake to the Sturgeon River. It does, however, include the Gawasi to Kelly Lake route to the Sturgeon. Click on the title to access an Otterooth map.  Since it is a non-operating park, there is no camping fee.
2. Wolf Lake Forest Reserve. The reserve includes most of Dewdney Lake, Wolf Lake, and the north end of Silvester Lake. There is no camping fee. The special designation presumably allows mining exploration to continue while protecting the old-growth forest at the same time!
3. Crown Land labelled Enhanced Management Area on the Crown Land Use Policy Atlas webpage. It is the stretch from the south end of Chiniguchi Lake to just before the Sturgeon River),
4. Sturgeon River Provincial Park. Backcountry camping permits are only required for the Sturgeon River section of the route.  Instead of the usual fee per person, you are charged a set fee for the campsite, no matter how many people. The bigger your group – the maximum is 6 – the cheaper it gets!  Plan on 2 nights for your trip down the Sturgeon.

Motorboat Traffic:

We did not see any motor boats on Matagamasi Lake, Chiniguchi Lake, or Maskinonge Lake. Perhaps it was because of the overcast to rainy weather during our mid-September visit. Presumably, motorboats are allowed in the bottom half of Matagamasi and all of Chiniguchi, Maskinonge, and KukagamiLakes.

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Day 1: Matagamasi Put-In to Northeast Arm

• Distance:  7.8 km.
• Time: 11:40 to 13:30
• Rapids:Portages: 0
• Weather: overcast/cloudy until 4 and then light rain; heavy rain after 10 p.m.
• Sightings: no motor boats; a 2-canoe party near the end of their trip.
• Campsite: Matagamasi Lake across from the pictograph site
• Natural Resources Canada archived 1:50000 topo maps: 041 I 10 Capreol; 041 I 15 Milnet
•  See NRC’s Toporama (here) for its current interactive coloured mapping and print what you need.
• Ottertooth Map: The Middle Tracks
• GPS track from our Garmin eTrex 20 in my Dropbox folder.

We left downtown Toronto around 5:30 a.m., and by 11 we were at the Sportsman’s Lodge on Kukagami Lake. Another hour and we were on the water after the Lodge owner Jim Stewart shuttled us over to the put-in at the bottom of Matagamasi Lake.

Our objective for this first day out was the campsite on an east side point across from the Matagamasi Lake pictograph site. According to the note on the Ottertooth map, it is the second largest site in Temagami, presumably surpassed only by the Diamond Lake pictograph site.

As we paddled up the lake, we passed by two canoes whose German paddlers were headed for the landing.  Jim Stewart had mentioned that they were due early this afternoon and that he was shuttling them back to his Lodge on Kukagami.

An hour or so after leaving the put-in spot at the south end of Matagamasi Lake, we were paddling along the vertical rock face looking for the images “painted” by some Anishinaabe shaman or vision quester some two or three hundred years ago. On display were:

• a human figure with outstretched arms,
• an animal figure (“wolf-like”?), and
• a smudge – perhaps an otter or beaver skin image? – a few inches higher and to the left.

We had as our guide a drawing by Selwyn Dewdney from his visit in the mid-1960s.

Selwyn Dewdney:

The first edition of Selwyn Dewdney’s Indian Rock Paintings of the Great Lakes was published in 1962. (Click on the title to access an online copy.) Five years later, a second edition appeared in which Dewdney presented details on another 160 pictograph sites. It included this passage on pictograph sites in the Gogama area in general and Matagamasi in particular –

[Click here to access a pdf file of the additional 2nd. Ed. material.]

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We noted a cross-like shape just to the west of the panel with the three images. It is perhaps a simple drawing of Animikii (The Thunderbird) or of the symbol the strange newcomers to the land, especially the men in black robes, seemed to attach much power to.

The image below is from the west end of the Anishinaabe world – a pictograph on the Bloodvein River in Manitoba with similar cross or thunderbird paintings.

I was under the impression that this was the total number of images to be seen!

On our way to Wolf Lake the next morning, we passed by the rock face again and found more! This certainly made sense, given the note on the Ottertooth map (The Middle Tracks), which describes the site as the second largest in the Temagami area.

Our campsite was up by 2;30, hurried up by some drizzle that would become a light rain by 4 and go on all evening and into the next day.  Our double tarp setup – one over our tent for peace of mind and the other over our lounging/dining area – is visible in the image above!

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Day 2: Northeast Arm To Wolf Lake

• Distance:  14 km.
• Time: 8:45 start-2:30 finish
• Rapids:Portages: 2 – 250 meters and 340 meters to Silvester Lake
• Weather: rain overnight, more around 6 a.m. thru breakfast; overcast during the day; thunderstorm and massive rain dump circa 4:00 p.m. followed by a couple of hours of visible sun! More rain overnight
• Sightings: 2 canoes out of Silvester, 1 into Silvester (we would meet again!), 1 on Wolf Lake and a group of 4 who camped on the clifftop site
• Campsite: small island across from the cliff top (very nice) campsite
• Natural Resources Canada archived 1:50000 topo maps: 041 I 10:  041 I 15 Milnet
•  See NRC’s Toporama (here) for its current interactive coloured mapping and print what you need.
• GPS track from our Garmin eTrex 20

It was raining when we woke up around 6; it would continue until about 8:30. By the time we left the campsite and headed back to the pictograph site on the other side, it had stopped. We would have an overcast sky and the occasional drizzle for the next few hours.

The map below shows our route to our Wolf Lake campsite, which we would get to by 2:30 or so.

But first…

A Return To the Matagamasi Picto Site:

We decided to paddle by the rock face again for another look at the small collection of images and smudges we mistakenly thought made up the site.

We came at the site a bit further to the east and found a few pictographs we hadn’t even looked for the previous afternoon.

The East Panel:

As we approached, drawings of animals – a moose?- and a  canoe with paddlers and other difficult-to-say markings popped out of the rock.

A bit further down, we came across what looked like a set of four vertical lines. They are often described as tally marks, and the guess is that something is being counted.

• Could it be the number of days the vision quester has been out?
• Or perhaps it is nothing more than exposed bits of the underlying iron oxide rock stain?

We paddled back to the panel of images/shapes we had seen the afternoon before.

The West Panel:

As we continued west, we spotted the marking pictured below. It is about 15 cm. long and is either a faded “painted” image or a natural rock stain. The absence of more natural rock stain nearby makes the former more likely.

From Matagamasi Lake to Silvester Lake – 

We faced our first portages when we got to the north end of Matagamasi Lake. Since the Lake is a part of the Chiniguchi River system and we were going upriver to its source. there would be no running of rapids!  Instead, there is a 340-meter carry out of Matagamasi to an open stretch of water, which leads to a second portage, 405- or-so meters into Silvester Lake.

The bit of the Natural Resources Canada topo below indicates a historical portage – the Toenail – that no longer exists.

The First Portage Up To Silvester Lake

As we paddled to the northwest end of Matagamasi Lake, we came to the first portage of the trip, the 340-meter (approx.) carry.

The Ottertooth map notes that it can be run or lined in high water. A look upriver at the boulder garden and low water quickly nixed the lining/tracking option. It was mid-September, and water levels were apparently much lower than usual.

We found a walkable trail that made our first portage an easy one. The water level goes from 268m on the Matagamasilake end to 274m at the north end of portage – a 7-meter gain,  Forty minutes later and a bit of time to snap some photos, our canoe was loaded, and we were ready to push off from the put-in spot.

The 2nd Portage From Matagamasi To Silvester

A short paddle up a wider section of the river brought us to the next carry, a much steeper and somewhat longer haul up to Silvester Lake. The Ottertooth map gives it the name Toenail Portage. We did meet two canoe groups as we neared the take-out for P02. One canoe was headed down to the portage we had just done; the other couple’s canoe sat at the take-out spot while they went bushwhacking with their dog along the river.  We assumed they were headed to a spot on the west side of the river known as Paradise Lagoon.

While the topo map above does not indicate anything other than a very narrow section of the Chiniguchi River, the satellite image below shows the sizable side pool on the river’s west side. Given the lack of map detail on most maps in use, it is easy to see how the lagoon could have been missed by canoe trippers coming up or down the Chiniguchi.

On the portage trail, we stopped to read an 8″x11″ poster that someone had thumbtacked on the inside of a protective wooden container. It encourages canoe trippers – and visitors to Paradise Lagoon! – to get involved in the movement to save the area from the impact of ongoing mining activity. The next day we’d see a similar poster/container on the portage trail from Wolf to Dewdney.

When we finished the portage, we set up our Helinox chairs at the south end of Silvester Lake.  While having a lunch break, we were surprised by a couple of paddlers also finishing their portage upriver.  We moved our gear and canoe aside to give them some space! After a brief chat,  they continued to Wolf Lake while we packed up and paddled over to the river’s west bank. We found there a trail that led us to the north end of Paradise Lagoon.

Paradise Lagoon:

We reached the lagoon at the spot indicated by the red arrow below.

This is the view we had from our rock-top vantage point:

What we did not see was the falls tumbling down to our left from our rock-top vantage point. Given the low late-season water levels, there probably was no more than a trickle.

A bit of scrambling down the east side of the lagoon over rocks and we had a different perspective of the lagoon –

This panorama shot captures yet more of the lagoon from the south end.

When we got back home, I googled Paradise Lagoon and saw that we had missed getting a much more dramatic shot. This one from a Bill Steer article on the Northern Ontario Travel website shows what our views do not include!

This image on the Wikipedia site is even more awesome. In fact, it had me wondering if we had even been at the Lagoon at all!

So – a double miss on our part! No water tumbling down and the wrong vantage point! Still, it is a magical spot worth the effort of getting there.  The YouTube videos showing people swimming in the pool and diving off the high rock undoubtedly means even more visitors, who can access the lagoon from the road to the west. We did see empty beer cans and other litter off the trail.

Looking For A Wolf Lake Island Campsite:

Once back at the canoe, we paddled up Silvester and the swifts dividing it from Wolf Lake and then headed up the lake’s west shore to the two indicated campsites. The southernmost one looked okay, but we kept on to the one a bit further up when we spotted a canoe with a paddler and his dog.  A brief chat told us that the site was taken, but there was another one just across the lake and one on the nearby island.

We paddled across the lake to the campsite marker at the bottom of a steep trail that we walked up to get to the campsite.  It is a bit of a carry, but the reward is a fantastic view of the lake with the bonus of a west view, perfect for the end of the day. It is the premier Wolf Lake campsite.

Back at the canoe, we paddled along the shore to see if there was a way we could eliminate the 100-meter carry up the steep access trail. There was! The site can be reached via a rough trail from the water immediately below. While it is much shorter,  it is also much steeper!

A two-minute paddle away was the island site we had been told about. Before we committed to hauling our gear up to the cliff top, we figured we’d check it out first.

We were almost there when the sky turned dark, and we heard a crack of thunder. A quick look at the island camp spot and we found this –

• a decent and fairly sheltered tent site
• room for our four-person MEC Wanderer,
• a large fire pit that showed signs of frequent use
• some space  to put up a second 10’x14′ tarp
• lots of nicely-spaced trees to use to tie down the two tarps

The sky got even darker, and another bit of thunder was all we needed to decide that we’d be setting up camp on the island! Within five minutes, our tent was up. Another ten minutes and the two tarps were up – one over the tent to take the brunt of the soon-to-arrive rain and the other over our Helinox chairs by the fire pit.

No sooner did we have everything up and our gear tucked away than it started to rain – a massive downpour that we would have been caught in had we decided to paddle back to that premier campsite on top of the cliff!

An hour later, the rain had stopped.  We packed away the lunch stuff, emptied our coffee cups, and did a tour of our island domain.  After setting up a designated toilet spot complete with a biodegradable bag so we could take the contributions with us the next morning, we went for an empty-canoe paddle up and down the east side of the lake.

Our first destination – the cliff and talus just across from our island.

When we got to the shore by the talus, I hopped out. I was curious about some of what I thought might be pictographs on the vertical rock face.

It was the spot on the right-hand side of the image below that I was headed to. My 6′ frame is overwhelmed by the cliff’s height, whose powerful presence could have attracted a shaman or a young Anishinaabe vision quester looking for the right spot to leave his image – a thunderbird, a clan totem, a personal protector animal image, or some other mark – with the ochre powder in his pouch or medicine bag.

Before I had even scrambled up to the spot, Max had zoomed in to 710mm with his Sony HX80 for this shot of the faux pictos!

Here are images of a couple of other reddish stains I found as I scrambled up the rock –

More natural iron oxide stains on the rock – the blood colour was right, and if you wanted to, you could turn these into painted images and provide some meaning to them. Later, along the east shore, we would see more examples.

Max paddled down the shore a bit, and I got this shot of him sitting at the stern end of the canoe. The sun was a welcome addition to the scene, and it came just a couple of hours after that rain!

We saw four canoes coming up the lake as we returned from our evening paddle. We wondered where they had been when the rain started. By the time we had beached the canoe on our island, they had pulled up to the cliff campsite. After walking the same signed 100-meter portage trail up to the site from the south, they also figured out that landing just below the site and doing the steep haul up would be better.

Soon there were four overturned canoes on the rocks below the campsite, and they were busy setting up camp. The red arrow in the image below marks the location of their cliff campsite, 140 meters in a straight line from the shore of our island site.

Day Two had been an interesting mix of pictographs, portages, Paradise lagoon, a massive thunderstorm, and the imposing cliff face on the NE corner of Wolf Lake. We were definitely easing into a canoe-tripping frame of mind.  Who knew that what we’ve been doing for the past forty years was nature bathing!

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Day 3: Wolf L. To The Top of Chiniguchi L.

• Distance:  17 km.
• Time: 8:30 start – 16:00 finish
• Rapids/Portages:
• Weather: partly cloudy with occasional sunshine during the day
• Sightings: 1 tandem and a group of 4 at the end of the day
• Campsite: 
• Natural Resources Canada archived 1:50000 topo: 041 I 15 Milnet
•  See NRC’s Toporama for its current interactive coloured maps and print what you need.
• GPS track from our Garmin eTrex 20-

Leaving Our Island Campsite:

While our tarps were wet from the overnight rain, we were able to pack away the dry tent and enjoy a few rays of the early morning sun as we had breakfast and looked across the water to the clifftop campsite crew as they showed signs of stirring.

On tap for the day were a couple of portages to Chiniguchi Lake and then a paddle up the lake to what we hoped would be a decent campsite. First up –

The Portage  Into Dewdney Lake:

A well-used trail took us from the top end of Wolf over the logging road and then up to Dewdney Lake.  As we crossed the road, we did notice a vehicle tucked on the side of the road to the west. It may have belonged to the couple with the dog we had spoken to the afternoon before. Talk about easy access to a multiple-day Wolf Lake campsite!

Once on Dewdney,  it was a quick paddle to our second – and last! – portage of the day, the one into Chiniguchi Lake.

The Portage Into Chiniguchi Lake From Dewdney

The route from the Matagamasi put-in up to Chiniguchi Lake is well-travelled. If you see other paddlers, it is mostly like that it will be on this stretch.  As a result, the portages are easy to find and well-used. As we approached the take-out spot at the top of Dewdney lake, we met a couple of paddlers heading up to Chiniguchi Lake.  With their single carry, they were soon ahead of us as we moved our canoe and gear with our 1 1/2 carry system!

Once on Chiniguchi Lake, we followed the shoreline as it bends gradually to the northeast. A moderate wind from the northwest meant we had to put more oomph into our strokes as we approached the next point of interest on our Chinguchi tour.

Oddly, now that we were on Chiniguchi Lake, we were no longer in Chiniguchi Waterway Park! From the south end of the Lake, almost to the Sturgeon River, we would be on Crown Land.

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The Pictograph Site On Chiniguchi Lake

The rock face pictured below hosts a humble collection of almost-gone pictographs. Among them, we were able to discern a couple of canoes and some geometric forms and perhaps a very simple rendition of a Thunderbird image.

The Ottertooth map (The Middle Tracks) includes this note about the site – (Rediscovered 2008).

You have to wonder how the site could have been forgotten, given its location next to a popular campsite on a frequently-visited lake! Then again, Selwyn Dewdney was not aware of the site in the 1960s, in spite of his many contacts and the interviews he conducted with local people, Indigenous and non-.

Accentuating the red hue in Adobe Lightroom – an attempt at an app pictograph researchers use called DStretch – resulted in this view:

The Horned Snake (Michi-ginebig) played a significant role in Ojibwe mythology.  If it is indeed a Michi-ginebig image, it looks like the painter started off strong with lots of paint and then ran out near the end! Then again, it could be two images – a U-shape and a, let’s say, flat-bottomed canoe with two paddlers! The human impulse is to create meaning, even when there is none.

The cross with a horizontal line on the top pointing to the left could be a crude representation of Animikii, the Thunderbird, next to Gitchi-Manitou, the most powerful of spirits. From the beak pointing to the left to the horizontal line in the middle representing the wings…

To the left of the images discussed above are two vertical slash marks joined at the bottom, forming a V-shape.

A little bit further on are more marks that I did not get a good overview photo of – two zig-zag lines and what may be a human figure.  If you see the zig zags as serpents, creating a story connecting them in their role as messengers of the manitous as they bring medicine and wisdom to the petitioning shaman would be easy enough!

Just to the north of the pictograph site is a designated campsite.  Sitting there was the couple we had met on the exit from Dewdney.  They had decided that this was their campsite for their very short paddling day.  Not that ours would be much longer!

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The Red Pine Point Campsite on Chiniguchi Lake:

Two kilometres northeast of the pictograph site, we pulled up to a marked campsite on a point after deciding that we wouldn’t be scouting out McConnell Bay and its beach area. We were amazed at the size of the red pines towering above our tent; the one that Max is hugging below must have been 20 meters tall. Long may it stand!

Later that evening, near dusk, we watched from our campsite on the point as the four canoes from the previous day’s Wolf Lake clifftop campsite floated by.  They were on their way to the popular beach campsite on McConnell Bay.

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Day 4: Chiniguchi Lake to Sturgeon River

• • Distance:  12 km.
  • Time: 8:40 start – 15:30 finish
  • Rapids:Portages: 3 for a total of 3300 m
  • Weather: mixed sun and cloud with rain in the evening and overnight
  • Sightings: no paddlers; a few ducks and other birds
  • Campsite: End of the Parsons to Sturgeon Portage
  • Natural Resources Canada archived 1:50000 topo maps: 041 I 15 Milnet; 041 P 02
  •  See NRC’s Toporama (here) for its current interactive coloured mapping and print what you need.
  • GPS track from our Garmin eTrex 20

I crawled out of the tent just before dawn and found the lake and surroundings bathed in a fine mist. To the west of the campsite is the island labelled Ranger Island on the Ottertooth map. Within a few minutes, I got the shots above and below. The sun had made an appearance!

Our day began with an easy lift-over into Sawhorse Lake, which along with White Rock and Redpine Lakes, makes up the headwaters of the Chiniguchi River system.

The Lift-Over Into Sawhorse Lake From Chiniguchi Lake:

The tree stumps in Sawhorse reminded us of Sucker Gut Lake or Willow Island Lake in the Temagami area.  While they can be explained by the mid-1920s construction of the Mattawapika Dam, we are not sure of the cause of the Sawhorse flooding.

From Sawhorse Lake, we still had a bit more work before we got to Button Lake. The 585-meter portage from Sawhorse to Adelaide took us 45 minutes.  We were happy to just paddle into Button Lake without having to get out of the canoe and do a lift-over.

From Button Lake, we would be heading east for the Sturgeon River via a couple of longer but easy-to-walk logging road portages.

We had originally planned to enter the Sturgeon via the route shown with the broken black line on the map above. We had come down the Sturgeon from Stull Creek about a decade before and remembered the dozen or so C1 and C2 rapids that go down all the way to the Pilgrim Triangle area. Unsure about water levels in mid-September, we figured going down could be a real grind.

So instead, at Button Lake, we would head east to Parsons Lake and the Sturgeon. The complication – two portages totalling 2.6 kilometers. The positive – no bushwhacking needed! They are on gravel logging roads and fairly flat. They are also in much better than typical logging road shape.

At the start of the portage, I did something I usually do not bother with – I took off my LL Bean boots and put on my hiking boots.  The better outsole and the much better ankle support made it easy to rationalize the few minutes it took to do the change.

We did the portage in three 500-meter stages using our carry-and-a-half system. It has Max carry one canoe pack and one duffel to the end while I carry the other pack and duffel and strapped-together paddles to what we figure is the halfway point. While I drop my load off there and head back for the canoe and my camera pack, Max finishes the carry and returns to pick up the stuff I had dropped off. If we both arrive at the halfway point (in this case, 250 meters) at the same time, we know our estimate was pretty good.

Once at the Parsons Lake end of the portage, we pushed off with the intent of stopping for the first decent lunch spot.  It is  4.5 km. from one end of Parsons to the other; we were about halfway down when we stopped for our lunch break.  Along the way, we did paddle in closer to check out potential shaman’s iron oxide paint on rock but came up with nothing more than natural iron oxide stains.

Parsons Lake is likely named after J. L.Rowlett Parsons, the geologist with Exploration Survey Party Number 3, whose report is included in the 1901 Report of the Survey and Exploration of Northern Ontario commissioned by the Department of Crown lands for Ontario. The task was to catalogue the mineral, lumber, hydroelectric, and agricultural resources. In his part of the report, the lake is described (p.100) but does not have a name. [See here for the report. Parson’s name is at the end of his contribution to the Report on p.113]

On tap for the afternoon was the second portage, a shorter 1100-meter carry down yet more fairly flat gravel road.

With the three paddles strapped together and the life jacket soon to be attached to a canoe pack, the haul to the campsite on the banks of the Sturgeon was set. [We usually bring four paddles, but for this short trip figured we could get by with three and eliminate some weight!]

The campsite is in a clearing at the end of the road with ample space for several tents. Given the weather forecast, we set up both tarps, one over the tent and another to the side. It would rain a bit that evening and overnight and more when we got up the next morning! The tarps definitely earned their keep on this trip.

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Day 5: Sturgeon River To Below Lower Goose Falls

• • • Distance:  26 km.
    • Time: 9:40 start – 16:45 finish
    • Rapids:Portages: swifts and Class 1-
    • Weather: light rain in the morning; overcast in the afternoon; rain overnight
    • Sightings: no humans; no moose or bear; one chipmunk; some ducks
    • Campsite: a rough camp on a high sand bank below Lower Goose Falls
    • Natural Resources Canada archived 1:50000 topo maps: 041 P 02; 041 I 15; 041 I 16
    •  See NRC’s Toporama (here) for its current interactive coloured mapping and print what you need.
    • GPS track from our Garmin eTrex 20

A late start to the day, thanks to a solid rain that began around 6 a.m. and continued until about 9:30. We had put up both tarps the afternoon before, so we were able to take down the tent without getting it wet.  With the tent down, we parked our packs and duffels there while we had breakfast under the nearby apple green tarp.  This was one of those mornings when we had a second cup of coffee while we waited for the rain to stop. We finally put our canoe in the Sturgeon water at 9:30 in a light drizzle which would end an hour later.

It is 14.4 kilometers from the Parsons-Strugeon trailhead to Upper Goose Falls.  We got there shortly before one, having spent the morning benefitting from the swifts and class 1 rapids that sped things up. We were encouraged by the water level; it was not as low as we had expected.

At 1, we were having lunch at bottom of the 80-meter portage around Upper Goose Falls. There is an A+ campsite at the top of the falls, but the wind was blowing hard enough that we went for the relative shelter of a spot down by the river.

 

Until Upper Goose Falls, the Sturgeon is relatively straight. Below the Falls, the river’s character changes. Over the millennia, it has carved its way through a massive glacial sand deposit. On the second map above, the Obabika river comes from the NE and merges with the Sturgeon just below the Falls. Below this point, the river meanders wildly and forward progress means paddling in all compass directions!

An hour after leaving Upper Goose Falls, we had covered 7 kilometers and were unloading our canoe at the top of our next portage, the one around Lower Goose Falls.

The 215-meter portage took us up to the road and then down a side road back to the river. There is a campsite below the falls, but we still had a few kilometers in our paddles, so we decided to push on a bit.

There are no official designated campsites on the Sturgeon from Lower Goose to the portage take-out spot for Kelly Lake.  This does not mean, however, that there is nowhere to camp! We passed by a number of potential spots to put up our tent before settling on one about 4.5 kilometers from Lower Goose.

While the campsite was totally exposed, it was relatively flat.  It took about twenty minutes to carve out a spot for our MEC 4-person Wanderer.  The canoe was flipped over to serve as a handy table.  Before we crawled into the tent for the night, we set up the tarp to provide an extra layer of protection from the expected overnight rain.

We had covered 26 kilometers on our first day on the Sturgeon. The next day we would put in a similar distance on our way to the portage that would be our exit from this meandering stretch of the Sturgeon.

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Day 6: From Below Lower Goose Falls To Kelly Lake

• • • • • Distance: 31 km.
        • Time: 9:25 start – 16:30 finish
        • Rapids:Portages: 1 into Kelly Lake
        • Weather: mostly overcast with some rain in the morning
        • Sightings: the couple we had met on Day 2 on Silvester Lake
        • Campsite: the signed cs on Kelly Lake
        • Natural Resources Canada archived 1:50000 topo maps: 041 I 16 Lake Temagami.
        •  See NRC’s Toporama (here) for its current interactive coloured mapping and print what you need.
        • GPS track from our Garmin eTrex 20

It was raining when we woke up around 6:30.  We listened to the raindrops for a half hour before agreeing we might as well face the day.  Given our location, we had not set up the second tarp as a dry spot for our gear and for breakfast after we took down the tent.

Max proposed doing something we had discussed before but never tried. We took down the inner tent while leaving the poles and the fly so that we would have a dry area to keep some of our gear – the rest would go under the canoe – and provide us with a  dry breakfast shelter.

It worked out as planned. Even better, when it was time to go, the rain had stopped. The rest of the day was mostly overcast as we meandered our way south – and east and west and north! – to the portage trail that would take us from the Sturgeon to Kelly Lake,

Halfway through the day, we stopped for lunch on a grass-covered sandbank up from the river.  It would also have made an acceptable tent spot had it been later in the day. We saw a number of spots like this on our trip down the Sturgeon from Parsons Lake to Kelly Lake. There is certainly no need to feel apprehensive about not finding an impromptu campsite as you come down this stretch.

The Portage Into Kelly Lake:

 

The take-out spot for the 440-meter portage to Kelly Lake is difficult to miss. It begins at the mouth of Kelly Creek, across which we found the downed tree trunk you see in the image below. Once over it, the portage crosses Kelly Creek – almost non-existent on our trip – and then up a steep sand embankment to a flat open area at the top of a 25-meter slope.  The plateau was apparently the location of a farm owned by the Kelly Brothers some time ago.

From the clearing above the creek bed, the trail heads east for perhaps 130 meters before leaving the main trail – the 3.5 km. portage that takes you straight to Maskinonge Lake. We were able to find it thanks to a few strands of orange prospectors’ tape. The trail showed little sign of having been used even though it was mid-September.

We turned in at the one signed campsite once we got to Kelly Lake. It is about halfway down the lake on the west side. Like the portage trail, it did not look like it had been used much in the past few months.  Up went the tent and the two tarps – more rain was forecast for the evening, and we were ready!

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Day 7: Kelly Lake To Carafel Lake

• • • • • • • Distance:  13 km.
            • Time: 10:10 start – 16:00 finish
            • Rapids:Portages: 3 portages (P) and a few beaver dams (BD)
            • Weather: overcast; occasional drizzle
            • Campsite: on Carafel Lake
            • Natural Resources Canada archived 1:50000 topo maps: 041 I 16 Lake Temagami; o41 I 09; 041 I 10
            •  See NRC’s Toporama (here) for its current interactive coloured mapping and print what you need.
            • Ottertooth Maps: 
              • • Kelly Lake Crossovers (two options from the Sturgeon R to Maskinonge L.)
                • Southern Tracks (from Maskinonge Lake to Kukagami Lake)
            • GPS track from our Garmin eTrex 20

it is 25 kilometers from Kelly Lake to Kukagami Lake.  We had two days to deal with the numerous beaver dams and short portages that would get us there. First, we had to get to Maskinonge Lake; then, we would use the Carafel Creek/Lake route to Kukagam Lake.

Another rainy start to the day had us delaying until 10 before pushing off and heading for the south end of Kelly Lake.  Waiting was the first of the day’s obstacles, a beaver dam. It took us a half-hour to get to Gamagowong Lake.

At the west end of Gamagowong Lake, we emptied the canoe for the start of a 310-meter portage into teardrop-sized Gagnon Lake.

Note: While Gagnon and Gamagowong Lakes flow east into Kelly Lake and down Kelly Creek into the Sturgeon River, Gawasi Lake empties into the Chiniguchi River system’s Maskinonge Lake. 

Once on Gagnon Lake, we headed for the far shore for another portage, the 400-meter carry into Gawasi Lake.

At the west end of Gawasi, we spent fifteen minutes dealing with two more beaver dams before we slipped into Maskinonge Lake.  It had taken us about three hours to deal with the various impediments to easy forward paddling!  Shortly after turning south and heading down the lake, we pulled ashore.  It was time for lunch – and that second cup of filtered coffee!

The Anishinaabe Oirigin of the name Maskinonge

The name “muskellunge” originates from the Ojibwe words maashkinoozhe (meaning “great fish”), maskinoše or mashkinonge (meaning “big pike” or “ugly pike^[2]“) and the Algonquin word maskinunga, which are borrowed into the Canadian French words masquinongé or maskinongé.

 [source:Wikipedia]

 

Sitting on the shore of Maskinonge Lake, we were returning to the Chiniguchi River system on which we had started our little canoe trip.  From our Matagamasi Lake put-in we had gone up to its headwaters in Sawhorse Lake. We left it there to reach the Sturgeon River via the Parsons Lake route.

Had we paddled up Maskinonge to Lower Matagamasi and back to our put-in at the south end of Matagamasi, that would have closed the circle! Instead, we looked from our lunch spot to the southwest for the start of the last leg of our journey, the Carafel Creek/Lake route that would take us back to the Sportsman’s Inn on Kukagami’s Klondike Bay.

Like Gawasi Lake, Kukagami and Carafel Lakes empty into Maskinonge Lake as the Chiniguchi makes its way to Murray Lake before merging with the Sturgeon.

Another beaver dam, a short portage, and a lift-over were waiting for us.  The terrain had wetlands feel to it as we pushed on to Carafel Lake, and one of the three campsites indicated.

Along the way, we had our major wildlife sighting of the trip, a turtle sitting on a floating log.

Getting around the collapsed bridge was our one portage of the afternoon. Once on the other side, we took a few moments to set up a photo that has become a staple on each canoe trip. That would be an action shot of Max, the stern paddler, at work (or is that play?) that I send to Lila.

A last mini-portage and we were on Carafel Lake.  The Ottertooth map (Southern Track) indicates three sites; we headed for the first one, located on the north shore of the lake. It was an excellent site that could host a large canoe group. We had it to ourselves!

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Day 8: Carafel Lake To Kukagami Lake (Sportsman’s Inn)

• Distance: 12 km.
• Time: 8:35 start – 12:45 finish
• Rapids:Portages: 5
• Weather: mostly cloudy with some rain
• Natural Resources Canada archived 1:50000 topo maps:  o41 I 09; 041 I 10
•  See NRC’s Toporama (here) for its current interactive coloured mapping and print what you need.
• GPS track from our Garmin eTrex 20

After breakfast under the tarp, thanks to an early morning shower, we set off for our half-day on the water. It would include the 4 portages indicated on the map seen above. This was one of those times when the tiny screen of the Etrex 20 exacted a price. Unable to get a fuller picture of exactly where we were, we spent 45 minutes pushing through 5″ of water in the wrong direction.

I finally pulled out my iPhone and opened David Crawshay’s Topo Canada app. Within a minute, we were on track – i.e. north! That brought us to the first and worst of the day’s portages, the 440-meter carry out of Carafel Lake. We were at the top of the portage an hour and a half after starting.  The other three came and went much faster, and by 11:30, we were in Outlet Bay.

Kukagami Lake was fairly calm as we paddled down to the narrow peninsula that frames the east side of Klondike Bay.  A 45-meter portage across the peninsula and another 700 meters across the bay, and we were on the sandy beach below the Sportsman’s Inn on the Bay’s north shore.

After retrieving the car keys, we backed up the vehicle as close as we could and then hauled the gear up from the shore.  Once everything was loaded, we took up the offer of a shower, which was definitely needed after a week of haphazard cleanliness!

While the weather was not what we were hoping for, the trip was still an excellent little adventure. It got us to a southwest corner of the greater Temagami area after a half-dozen trips in the northern half. As we drove down Highway 17 back to southern Ontario, we had all sorts of highlights to go over –

• The Matagamasi pictograph site
• Paradise Lagoon
• Wolf Lake rock face and island campsite
• Chiniguchi Lake pictograph site
• the 2.6 kilometers of logging road portages from Button to the Sturgeon via Parsons Lake
• the easy C1 rapids and shifts below the Pilgrims’ Triangle
• Upper Goose Falls
• Lower Goose Falls
• the glacial sand deposits of the lower Sturgeon
• Carafel Creek/Lake

We are happy to have the time and the good health and fitness to have experienced them all.

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Maps:

Natural Resources Canada 1:50,000 topos

Click on the map titles below to download –

• • • • • 041 I 10 Capreol 
        • 041 I 15 Milnet
        • 041 P 02 Pilgrim Creek
        • 041 P 01 Obabika Lake
        • 041 I 16 Lake Temagami
        • 041 I 09 Glen Afton

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Ottertooth’s Chiniguchi Maps

Middle Tracks (Matagamasi to N of Chiniguchi Lake)

Northern Tracks (Stouffer Lake and Parsons Lake access to Sturgeon R)

Kelly Lake Crossovers (two options from the Sturgeon R to Maskinonge L.)

Southern Tracks (from Maskinonge Lake to Kukagami Lake)

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For more of our Temagami-area posts, check out any one of these – 

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1. Montreal River/ Smoothwater Lake/ Scarecrow Lake/ Sturgeon River/ Wawiagama/ Obabika Lake/ Diamond Lake/ Tupper Lake etc.

Temagami: Paddling From Peak to Peak (Ishpatina Ridge to Maple Mtn.)

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2. Lake Temagami/Obabika L. / Chee-skon L. / Bob L./ Diamond L./ Wakimika L./

Early Autumn Canoeing In The Heart Of Temagami

 A Return Visit To Temagami’s Diamond Lake Pictograph Site

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3. Ferguson Bay/Diamond Lake/ Lady Evelyn Lake/ Hobart Lake/Tupper Lake

Paddling To Temagami’s Maple Mountain

back to the top

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4. The Lady Evelyn From Top To Bottom

Temagami’s Lady Evelyn River From Top To Bottom: Introduction and a Bit of History

The Lady Evelyn River From Top To Bottom: Route Options, Maps, Shuttles, Permits, And More

Day 1 – To the Put-In And Up The Montreal River To Smoothwater Lake

Day 2 – From Smoothwater Lake To An “It’ll Do” CS  On Lady Evelyn’s South Branch

Day 3 – From Our “It’ll Do” Campsite To Florence Lake

Day 4 – On Florence Lake

Day 5 – From Florence Lake To Just Below The Forks of the Lady Evelyn

Day 6 – From Just Below The Forks to Macpherson Lake Island CS

Day 7 – From Macpherson Lake To The South Channel’s Bridal Veil Falls

Day 8 – From Bridal Veil Falls To The Bottom of the South Channel

Day 9 – From The South Channel To The West End of Lady Evelyn Lake

Days 10 & 11 – From The West End of Lady Evelyn lake to Mowat Landing

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5. Random Temagami-Related Posts

Temagami’s Lady Evelyn of the Lake – Who Was She?

Robert Bell’s Lady Dufferin Lake: It’s Not Where You Think It Is!

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It was an overcast morning in Toronto’s Riverdale neighbourhood, and the ground was still wet from the drizzle of Halloween night. Skuggi, our nine-month-old Icelandic Sheepdog,  and I set off for our big walk of the day, a four to five-kilometer ramble punctuated with visits to three off-leash dog areas. It takes us about an hour and a half, though the actual walking time is about an hour.

First up was Withrow Dog Park, just around the corner from our house. Skuggi usually has a good time playing with the other dogs there.

 

After our brief visit, we headed for the gate at the park’s northwest corner. We walked along Hogarth Avenue to the off-leash area behind the swimming pool off Broadview Avenue.

Along the way, we took in the decorative – and often pretty tacky – Halloween props from the night before. Soon they’ll be gone, and so will the leaves.

In a week or so, we slip into that six-month period where Toronto takes on a dreary grey look, only brightened up by the occasional snowfall. On our walk, it was clear that we were already past prime vibrant fall colour. A day with strong winds and the remaining leaves will fall to the ground too.

Broadview Avenue has one of the finest panoramic views of downtown. We lingered for a few minutes while Skuggi snacked on some of his breakfast kibble. Then it was time to head to the off-leash area behind the ice skating rink and swimming pool complex at the corner of Broadview and Hogarth.

We met up with Stanley and Martha, a new addition to the neighbourhood’s dog community. That is young Martha with Skuggi in the pic below, with Sal(ami) tucked behind.

As I knelt down to get a better angle for the shot below, I lost sight of where Skuggi was.  While Martha’s head was back in the hole she was happily digging, it soon registered that Skuggi was also in the image, gathering essential information!

Skuggi and I  headed down to the path that runs north to south to the footbridge across the Don Valley.

On this day, it was very quiet on the other side of the valley in the large off-leash area. Before heading home, we walked along the fence to the southern end to use the water fountain.

Back to our street and more leaves on display. If there is one thing that makes the late fall and winter more bearable, it is, oddly enough, the occasional snowstorm that blankets the neighbourhood in ten centimeters (or more!) of snow.  Close by are two of the best tobogganing hills in the city – and spitzes like Skuggi love jumping around in the snow!

Later that morning, Skuggi was out in the backyard.  He was on the lookout for out-of-control squirrels. They were taunting him from the safety of the tree branches he is staring up at! Note his “I’ll get back to you in a minute” when I call him back!

 

For more pix of leaves and Icelandic Sheepdogs, check out this post –

The Last Of Autumn’s Colours – A Walk Up Toronto’s Don Valley To Mud Creek

 

Table of Contents

• Our Five-Day Climbing Itinerary
• Day 1 – Getting To Ishinca  Base Camp
• Refugio Ishinca and The Tenting Area
• Day 2 – Climbing Ishinca
• Days 3 and 4 – To The Top of Tocllaraju
• Back In Huaraz
• Some Useful Planning Links
• Finding Accommodation In Huaraz

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Our Five-Day Climbing Itinerary:

• Day 1 – vehicle from Huaraz (3052m)  to Collon and walk up to our tent Base Camp (4350m) near the Refugio Ishinca
• Day 2 – climb Ishinca (5530)/rest in the afternoon
• Day 3- late start/ climb up to Tocllaraju High Camp (5300m)
• Day 4 – Tocllaraju summit (6034m) and return to Base Camp
• Day 5 – walk out to Collon and drive back to Huaraz (3052)

Back in Huaraz after our Santa Cruz trek and climb of Nevado Pisco,

The Santa Cruz Trek and Pisco Climb In the Peruvian Andes

we had a day to relax and get ready for the next chapter in our Peruvian Andes adventure! My climbing partner and I were heading to the Ishinca Valley with a couple of new objectives –

• Nevado Ishinca (5530) as a warm-up
• Tocllaraju (6034m.)

Look at the list below for the Top 10 peaks in North America. Our two Cordillera Blanca peaks would not be out of place!

• Tocllaraju would rank #2 above Mount Logan, Canada’s highest peak and
• Ishinca just above Mount Saint Elias #4!

The thing to note is that they are only two moderate peaks of the eighty 5000+m  that the Cordillera Blanca has for keen mountaineers. Tocllaraju ranks 17th highest peak in the Cordillera.

The two Cesars – El Guia (y el jefe) Cesar Vargas and Cesar El Cuchinero – were in charge of the trip. They had done an A+ job on our just-finished ten-day Santa Cruz Trek and Pisco climb.

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Day 1 – Getting To Ishinca  Base Camp

The Ishinca Valley is a short drive up the highway from Huaraz to Collon and then a rough road up the bottom of the valley for a short section. This makes it one of the easier to get to climbing destinations in the Cordillera Blanca. At the end of the road, Cesar, the guide, took care of the National Park sign-in procedures, and we were met by a village donkey team that hauled our supplies up the valley to Base Camp. Meanwhile, we did the 15-kilometer walk in about four hours. [Apple Maps has an Ishinca Trek trail indicated in Satellite view.]

As we made our way on the dirt path, the tree cover provided shade for the first couple of hours. As we neared the top of the valley, the bush was replaced by rock rubble and grass. Once out of the wooded lower part of the valley, we stopped for a break. I looked back and got the following shot –

Then I looked up the valley – snow on the peaks ahead but no view of Base Camp yet.

By mid-afternoon, we were there. The shot below (taken two days later from above the valley)  shows the Refugio (the white structure a bit lower than the center of the image) and the nearby tenting area.

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Note: Since I made this trip, the nearby settlement of Pashpa has become another access point to the Quebrada Ishinca, perhaps the preferred one since the hike is a bit shorter (11 km instead of 14). In the end, if you are on an organized trip, your agency will decide which one to use – Collon or Pashpa. 

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Refugio Ishinca and The Tenting Area

The Refugio Ishinca

The 70-bed dormitory-style Refugio is mainly used by independent travellers and is open from May 1 to September 30. It also has a cafeteria which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. A bed costs 50 sol a night (about $13. U.S.). See here for the Refugio web page. While I never went over to the Refugio,  some people made the short walk to use the toilet facilities.

A taxi ride from Huaraz to the trailhead, a bed at the Refugio, and climbs of a few moderate peaks nearby are certainly feasible if you have come prepared.

Here is what is on the menu at the top of Quebrada Ishinca:

• Ranrapalca 6,162
• Palcaraju 6,272
• Tocllaraju 6034
• Ishinca 5530
• Urus  Oeste 5450
• Urus Central 5494
• Urus Este 5420

There are lots of choices for a keen peak bagger – and all are higher than all but four of the North American peaks!

The Tenting Area

Our Peruvian Andes Adventures crew set up the tents – one for each of the two clients, a cook tent, a dining tent, a toilet tent, a tent for the guide, one for the cook, and one for the porter. I prefer sleeping in a tent, far enough away from the noise and commotion of Refugio Ishinca’s dormitory.

Nearby the tenting area is a concrete basin with a metal water spout, providing tenting parties with clean water from up the hill.

When we got to the tenting area, there were three groups there. Two were from Canada. The guide/leader of one team was from Banff, Alberta; the other guide, whom I had climbed with before, was from Golden, B.C. I also knew a few clients, having been on Alpine Club of Canada climbs with them.

Sitting in the Quebrada Ishinca surrounded mostly by Canadians! As you can see in the image above, the meadows are pretty much empty of tents. Our Camp was on the right side of the image. Apparently, during prime season, there are dozens of parties at one time, and the camping area gets quite messy, thanks to litter and inadequate toilet management. We were there at the end of May/ the beginning of June, still very early in the season.

A few minutes later, the mist cleared, and Tocllaraju appeared. I felt again that mix of awe and anticipation (and apprehension!) as I contemplated its west face and wondered just how we would be climbing to the top.

To that point, my highest – and most challenging – climb had been Mt. Assiniboine (3618m) in the Canadian Rockies. Tocllaraju was 1400 meters higher!

While Ishinca is rated a P.D.-, Tocllaraju gets an A.D. (Assez Difficil/Difficult Enough) or D (Difficult).

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Day 2 – Climbing Ishinca:

Ishinca is a great climb for those who do not have much mountaineering experience, or for those looking to get acclimatized before going on to bigger things. It is primarily a snow walk on glacier sloped until the final 100 meters, which steepens enough that you could fall if you are not paying attention. [Johnson, 156 of 1st Ed.]

Many agencies combine the Tocllaraju climb with a climb of Ishinca the day before to give their clients some extra acclimatization time – and probably to see how comfortable they are with glacier walking and low-grade scrambling on rock and ice. Our previous ten days on the Santa Cruz trek, followed by our Pisco (5752m) climb, meant we were already well acclimatized. The Ishinca climb is rated a P.D.- (French grading system); crampons, an ice axe, and a harness are required!

It was still dark when we set off on the second morning for our climb. An earlier start meant the glacier/snow section would less likely be soft and mushy, and the walking would be easier. As the above satellite view makes clear, two-thirds of the route is below the toe of the glacier.

I took very few photos, thanks to the hassle of taking my DSLR out of my backpack every time I wanted to frame an image. It was usually during a break when I would haul it out and snap a few shots while munching a Clif Bar and sipping some water.

As we approached the top, there was a sudden change in the weather, and we lost visibility as the mist enveloped us. So – no panoramas from Ishinca top…just the satisfaction of knowing we had improved our acclimatization level with our 1000-meter ascent.

After a brief rest out of the wind on top, we headed down, following the tracks we had made coming up. It is about 6 km from Base Camp to the top via the N.W. route, so we were looking at a 12 km. day by the time we got back to Camp.

We got back in the mid-afternoon from Nevado Ishinca and took it easy for the rest of the day, knowing the next day we would walk up to the biggest challenge of the past two weeks.

This Wikiloc upload – Nevado Ishinca 2016 – has a GPX/KML track from Base Camp to the summit. They chose to go up the southwest slope instead of the northwest slope we ascended. Click on the title or the image below to access it.

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Days 3 and 4 – To The Top of Tocllaraju

Tocllaraju is one of the most beautiful mountains in the range. It is a challenging peak yet not too difficult for a first 6000+ peak. Adventurous yet moderate ice climbing and an exposed ridge lead to a perfect summit. [Johnson, 1st Ed.,150]

Tocllaraju’s normal route – the northwest ridge –  gets a grade of A.D. to D, thanks mainly to the final stretch up to the relatively steep and icy summit pyramid.

10:00  We left Base Camp, following the route indicated on the satellite image above. Easy initial walking on a trail was followed by scrambling up more vertical sections of boulders. Some groups make their High Camp just before the toe of the glacier on the exposed rock. The boulders provide shelter in windy conditions.

We kept going and made Camp near or slightly above the spot marked on the image. It is about 1000 meters from Base Camp to our High Camp.

When we got there, I looked over to Isihinca and Ranrapalca and got the shot below.

See here for the Google Earth satellite view of the above image.

14:30   We arrived at the high camp location, and the tents were up soon after. Another climbing party, whose clients were from Austria, shared the spectacular view with us.

18:00 We had a bit to eat, and then it was time to lay down and get a bit of sleep before our 1:00 a.m. breakfast call and climb to the top.

It started snowing, and the temperature dropped to about -5 degrees C. I didn’t get much sleep since I was so hyped about our upcoming challenge.

Until we reached the summit, those photos of our tent were the last I took!

The start of the climb had not been without its drama.

2:00 We left Camp with a bitter wind blowing and below freezing temperature.

3:30 Angelica decided she could not go on anymore- her feet were freezing. Her three-season La Sportiva Trangos were perhaps not the best boots, given the below-zero conditions when we set off.

4:15 We walked her back down to the tent where Miguel, the porter, took over.

Angelica was okay, but we were left with a decision-

• head down to base camp or
• go back up.

I’m glad that Cesar didn’t pull the plug on the summit attempt and indulged me when I said- “I feel good. Let’s go.” And that’s what we did.

4:20  Cesar and I turned back to the mountain and retraced our path to below the bergshrund where we had been at 3:30. We were followed by the Austrian crew, who had postponed their own start when they saw us coming down the hill at 3:30.

10:30  We were up on the top after some difficult (for me)  slogging and, in the last hour to the summit itself, much counting of steps (thirty at a time!)  and frequent breaks. A couple of pitches with a 50-60 degree slope made the final section below the summit “interesting”.

Cesar was very patient. When the time came for the bit of technical stuff just below the summit, he made sure that I, as well as the climbers in the other party, were safe and secure on our ropes as he scampered up and set up anchors. A slip there would not end well.

And here – 15 hours later, on the top of Tocllaraju, the first shot after that tent shot above – a shot of mi Guia muy simpatico Casar Vargas. It would not have been possible without his skill and experience on this mountain.

After a short break, it was the down trip. As the saying goes, “When you are at the summit, you’re only halfway there!” Not the time to relax and get careless.   Following the visible trail created by two climbing teams meant we would avoid the bergschrunds and the crevasses on our way down. First up was the rappel down the stretch of 55º icy slope.

13:00 When we got back to High Camp near the bottom of the snow, we saw that the porter and Angelica had already headed back, along with the tents and everything else. We took a little break, drank water, had a snack, and continued our descent.

When I saw the Refugio that I framed in the image below, I felt a combination of triumph and relief that I had actually made it.

15:30  We were back at base camp. On the way, I passed through the tent sites where the two Canadian groups were; by then, I was all but delirious. When I got to my tent, I  immediately crawled into my sleeping bag. It was the most physically drained that I had ever felt!

17:30 . Angelica came to get me up for supper. I told her I would pass but asked her for some water. She returned with my full Nalgene bottle, and after drinking a cup or two, I went back to sleep

6:30  I crawled out of my tent for breakfast the next morning, feeling much better than I had twelve hours before! I stood outside my tent and looked back up at where we had been less than twenty-four hours ago. I had managed to climb a 6000-meter peak!

After a leisurely breakfast, we headed down the Quebrada Ishinca to the vehicle that would take us back to Huaraz. As with everything else on this Peruvian Andes Adventures-organized trip, the vehicle was waiting.

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Back In Huaraz

2:00 p.m. We were soon back in Huaraz, perhaps the #1 mountain town in all of the Andes, thanks to the specialized services its climbing outfitters can provide and the mountains that they have nearby.

The Peruvian Andes crew dropped me off at Olaza’s Guesthouse. The two weeks just spent in and out of Huaraz were such a high that I knew I’d be coming back to this mountain town for more of the Cordillera Blanca.

Huaraz looks like a ramshackle town, thanks to the Great Peruvian Earthquake of 1970, which took many lives and destroyed most of the town’s main buildings. What it lacks in charming buildings, it makes up in the welcoming nature of the tourism economy its citizens have created in the past fifty years. It is just a great place to be – and is the starting point of countless incredible mountain treks and climbs.

Two years later- after a trip that brought me to three of Ecuador’s highest peaks- I was back in Huaraz again. This time I did a fifteen-day HuayHuash Circuit with Peruvian Andes Adventures.

Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit: South America’s Finest High-Altitude Trek

Peru’s Huayhuash Circuit: South America’s Finest High-Altitude Trek

I smiled when I saw Cesar the cook again- and learned that Cesar’s younger brother Miguel would be our guide for this visit to a mountain range made more famous by Touching the Void, the British climber’s gripping account of his adventure on the slopes of Siula Grande.

 

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Some Useful Planning Links:

Brad Johnson’s Classic Climbs of the Cordillera Blanca

The Cordillera Blanca is second only to the Himalayas in the number of high-altitude climbing objectives. More than any other book, Brad Johnson’s is THE book that captures the grandeur of the Peruvian Andes.

With its photographs, maps, detailed route outlines, and text, the book provides the information needed to understand what is involved in climbing the various peaks that make up this fairly compact yet majestic mountain range.

The 1st. Ed came out in 2003. It was a finalist (though not one of the ultimate prize winners) at the 2003 Banff Mountain Book Festival. I bought the book in 2007 in my search for info on a trek or climb that I could add to my visit to Machu Picchu. The book opened up a world of possibilities that I had not considered before. In 2009, a updated and revised 2nd Edition was released.

There is one problem: the book is difficult to find and does not exist in digital form.

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Summit Post

This website hosts reports by climbers from around the world. It is an excellent source of inspiration for new climbing destinations.  The Cordillera Blanca is well covered. Of course, Tocllaraju and Ishinca are there. The site is worth visiting just for the stunning images the climbers have uploaded – but there is much more detailed and helpful information.

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Finding A Reliable Outfitter/Guide Agency

Peruvian Andes Adventures is not the only outfitter/guide service in Huaraz that can make your trip happen for you. In fact, it was inexplicably not even mentioned in the last Lonely Planet Peru guidebook I looked at!

The two adventures they arranged for me:

1. the Santa Cruz Trek with a climb of Pisco add-on
2. climbs of Ishinca and Tocllaraju

were both A+. Excellent logistics and equipment; food was plentiful, well-prepared, and even vegetarian-friendly; the guides were skilled and experienced. The Morales family owns the company and goes out of its way to make your stay in the Huaraz area memorable and hassle-free. They even picked me up at the bus station and drove me to the guesthouse I was staying at!

I was so impressed that I used Peruvian Andes for a 16-day Cordillera Huayhuash trek a couple of years later  – and they earned another A+. Check out their TripAdvisor score to see if I am the only one enthused with their level of service –

TripAdvisor Reviews of Peruvian Andes Adventure

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Finding Accommodation In Huaraz

Huaraz has lots of reasonably-priced accommodations for visiting hikers and climbers. booking.com or TripAdvisor will turn up some great choices. Read the more recent reviews to see if the quality has slipped or not.

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On my Ishinca trip, I stayed at Olaza’s Bed and Breakfast and was 100% pleased with my stay. See the TripAdvisor Reviews for what others think.

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During my second visit to do the Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit, I stayed at the Morales Guesthouse. It also proved to be a convenient base for my three weeks there. Here is their latest TripAdvisor score  –

Amazingly, the area of town where it is located managed to escape the devastation of the 1970 earthquake- so you get to walk the quaint colonial streets nearby.

The hotels and guesthouses are used to storing your left luggage while you are out on a trek, so no worries there.