Paddling in circles

I am heading out soon (about 24 hours) for my Summer solo trip, expecting to be on the water for about 3 weeks.

As you may know I have a preference for river trips where the current does some of the work and the excitement level is greater than it is for flat water trips. That said, in recent years I have done some lake or mostly lake trips and they are not that bad after all.

This year I'm heading to the "big crater", since that might not mean much I will provide some details.

The Manicouagan Reservoir which is located in eastern Quebec is in the remnants of a massive meteor strike about 200 million years ago which eventually created two large crescent shaped lakes. In late 1960's Quebec Hydro constructed the Manic-5 (Daniel-Johnson) Dam (one of the largest dams in the world) creating the reservoir by joining those two crescent lakes.



Prior to the dam it looked like this



What it looks like now



I will be paddling around the huge island in the middle a distance of close to 200km.

There is a lot of online info about the reservoir, much of it related to the geology of the area with only a little info about paddling. What few reports there are talk about paddling in kayaks, many comment on it's unsuitability for open canoes due to the potential for bad weather (wind) that can make it dangerous. Other comments are about the swarms of bugs and freezing temperatures even in mid-summer. The bugs I can deal with, the cold is not a problem, the wind on the other hand is a concern especially when crossing the open water to get to and from the centre island. The area is frequently subject to storms appearing out of nowhere.

Although I could normally easily cover the distance in 10 days or less I expect to be wind bound at least half the time so I am prepared to take about three weeks to complete. If the conditions permit, I will add to the distance by exploring some of the rivers that flow into the northern part and the big bay that cuts into the centre island where Mont Babel towers 2000 feet above the level of the water. I have driven past the reservoir several times on my way to Labrador for previous trips, the scenery can be spectacular when it's not obscured by cloud or fog. There are many areas with cliffs as much as 800 feet high along the shore of the island (the outer shore line is more "flat" than the island). I plan to get over to the island and spend most of my time paddling close to the shore to avoid windy conditions as much as possible. Of course being a circle the best I can hope for is that I luck out and don't end up battling headwinds all the time. I'm not sure if I will paddle clockwise or counter clockwise, I will probably just pick whichever way seems best on the first or second day.

You can follow my progress on my tracking page: https://share.garmin.com/Grumpy

I will try to post update messages every day or two via my InReach satellite communicator, I can also receive weather information via InReach, hopefully that will tell me if it's a good day to paddle or best to stay in camp and wait for better conditions. I usually don't mind a layover day but it can get tedious if I get stuck for more than one day especially when conditions make wandering around on land unpleasant forcing me to stay cooped up in my tent.

I want to be back home in time to watch most of the "action" from the Paris Olympics, pretty sure I'll be too late for the opening ceremonies but in time to see most of events that I'm actually interested in.

I’ve seen this lake on a map and have always wondered what it would be like in person. I’m really looking forward to this trip report and pictures!

Very cool. Scale is always a bit difficult for me to grasp from an aerial photo but that looks like an awesome place to paddle.

I'll only be able to follow along for a week before I head to the bush myself and I've considered sharing the inReach tracking link this trip. I'm curious as to how you'd post the daily update message. I send an "all clear" nightly via text message but wasn't aware that it can be sent to a website.

The update messages will only appear on Mapshare, it's possible to also send them to faceplant or Elon's abomination but I don't do either. If you want them to show up on your own website you can use a widget to embed the twits or book messages on it. Although I've had a a twitter account for years I only read other peoples posts (occasionally) I have never posted and have only 1 follower who I think is a Russian bot. I don't have any account on the book, swore I never would, I don't really want to keep in touch with my high school "friends" or be absorbed by the metaverse.

I also send (free) preset messages (you can only have 3 presets and they have to be written beforehand and can't be changed without an internet connection) to my close friends/followers plus a copy that can also been seen on Mapshare. Even my good friends get tired of receiving "Camping here for the night" or "setting off for the day" every day (I have one for layover days as well!)

I usually allow messages to be sent to me via Mapshare, it's a bit risky but I rarely get very many of these.

What really kills me is when users send a message that is just a few characters too long so they get split up and count as 2 against my allotment. One friend who usually sends me one message in the first few days that consists of nothing more than "cool" or "you are crazy" and then complains because I don't reply.

I sometimes paddle with a guy who always has the unlimited plan on his InReach, seems like in camp he spends most of his time with a back and forth with his wife, that does get annoying real fast.

As far as the Password, that restricts who can view the Mapshare page, I encourage anyone to follow me so I don't use a password.

My primary use of the InReach is the weather forecasts, for most trips I get one every few days, on this trip because weather will be a major issue I will probably get one almost every morning so I can decide if it's safe to travel, right now on Windy.com it's looking great until at least the 15th, of course wind speed predictions for 8 days in the future are not to be relied upon.

I always thought that would be interesting to paddle. Can’t wait for the updates.
Jim

Excellent idea, I'm really looking forward to this one. I've looked at that thing on the map for years. Can't wait for your trip report.

Like others I've seen this one on the map and wondered about it. Looking forward to hearing about it.

Safe travels

Looking forward to this. Don't wear any iron, as that gigantic buried meteor may be magnetic and suck you into middle Earth.

As a righty, I think I'd be tempted to paddle counterclockwise along the island shore unless it was continuously cliffy with dangerous rebound wave potential.

Unfortunately my partner (not coming on this trip) has some health issues. I don't feel it's a good idea to wander off to the wilderness so I am postponing this trip. I will try again possibly in August or if not maybe 2025.

At this time I do not know how serious the situation is but when her doctor calls here on a Sunday afternoon it can't be good.

Sorry to hear that @recped. I hope everything turns out alright.

I am so sorry to hear this. Take care and may things go well for your partner.

Best wishes for your partner, @recped. Just curious, what solo canoe were you going to use on this lake of unpredictable wind and wave conditions?

Sorry to hear about the postponement. I was wondering about the "late start" when I checked your mapshare this morning & you weren't mobile.

Hope all goes well at home and you make the trip in the Fall.

Glenn MacGrady said:

Best wishes for your partner, @recped. Just curious, what solo canoe were you going to use on this lake of unpredictable wind and wave conditions?

Click to expand...

I was limited in choice because most of my boats need at least some repairs. It came down to my beat up old MR Guide for which I have a full spray deck (made by the guy who made them for Trailhead for all their organized arctic tripping groups in the 70's/80's) or the Mohawk XL14 that I have been using for river trips for the past 10 years.

I settled on the Mohawk, it's very deep with blunt ends, rides the waves really well. Of course on a lake it's slow plus not great in the wind but it's safe, I've paddled a number of big lakes on some of my extended river trips like 150km across the Smallwood Reservoir in 2018 plus many smaller lakes that require 10 to 20km open crossing where you are always at least 5km from shore in every direction.

When I'm solo I have the advantage of no set schedule so I just go a bit slower than I would with current. If the wind means I'm hardly getting anywhere I just camp and wait it out, in early/mid summer the reservoir is down from peak levels so one rarely has to go far to find something feasible.

The Guide just slices through waves, having the deck installed, would be mandatory and I'm not really fond of them. I thought they were great when my skill/boat level peaked at C2, when I got a proper ww boat and learned how to run C3/4 I realized I didn't need decks. I was planning to take my drysuit for any open crossings, I can paddle that Mohawk when it's nearly full of water but not too far especially if there are winds/waves.

For emergencies there is one outfitter on the lake that has a couple of Zodiacs that could be called upon so if you can get to shore even if you lost your boat and gear you could get picked up within a few days, a lot cheaper than getting a chopper (been there, done that).

I bet if I asked I would be told the XL14 was a completely unsuitable boat for this purpose!

Sorry to hear the bad news, hope all ends well.
I would have been one to question the XL14 for lake travel but you have certainly proven with your experiences the adage that “a man with an opinion is not at the mercy of a man with the facts.” Looking forward to the eventual trip report.

I have been dreaming of a trip around the "Eye of Quebec" since I first accidentally saw it on a map and wondered what it was. When I realized that it was a big lake, and then realized how big it actually was, I decided to postpone any trip planning until I had retired and was able to talk a good crew into joining me. That is still some years ahead of me, but very much near the top of my bucket list.

Sorry to hear of your partner's health problems and hope that it all resolves favorably. And if you end up doing the trip I am very much looking forward to your trip report.

-rs