Fond Du Lac River, Saskatchewan (and rivers like it)

Hello all,

I might put my road trip plans to Newfoundland on hold for a year or so. Since that is a driving trip I can probably do this in the future, and I'm still feeling pretty good so I was thinking about doing a solo canoe trip. The Fon Du Lac has been on the fringe of my radar for awhile. Searched on here and another site but not finding a ton of trip reports. (Operator error most likely) I loved driving to Yellowknife last summer so this trip looks like a driving breeze. No outfitter on this, and I know I'll have a couple of logistical things to navigate for put-in and take-out but it seems pretty straight-forward.

Any information would be appreciated. If there are other rivers of similar characteristics/geography I am open to those ideas as well.

Thank you!

This guidebook by Laurel Archer includes the Fond du Lac, and other nearby trips.

PaddlingPitt said:

This guidebook by Laurel Archer includes the Fond du Lac, and other nearby trips.

Laurel Archer

Laurel Archer is a writer and outdoor adventure guide, as well as a canoe, kayak and outdoor leadership instructor.

www.laurelarcher.com

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Yes, thank you Michael, I ordered it earlier today.

By most accounts, the drive from La Ronge to Points North is not a breeze, but mostly arduous and slow.

Which part of the Fond Du Lac are you looking at?

The Fond du Lac is an amazing river, one of my favourites. It’s a pretty easy river to access and now that the highway between Points North and Stoney Rapids is an easy 2 hour drive, the trip can be done without a bush plane if you’re up to some big lake travel. There’s lots of friendly locals up there looking for extra cash who’d help you with a vehicle shuttle. Scott’s General store could point you in the right direction.
The Porcupine is another great river in the area with similar camping opportunities (exceptional), better whitewater, but lacks the elusive walleye fishing that the FdL has. The Porcupine isn’t as scary as Archer makes it out to be in her book, I paddled it with my young family and don’t recall any nervous moments. Another bonus to the Porcupine is it sees way less groups in a season, chances are good you’ll run into someone on the FdL while only a few groups do the Porcupine each year.
It looks like we’ll be getting lots of snow in Northern Sask this winter so water levels should hopefully be better than the past couple of years.

PaddlingPitt said:

By most accounts, the drive from La Ronge to Points North is not a breeze, but mostly arduous and slow.

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It's been almost 10 years since I drove that road but I found it to be a good drive. Granted, I didn't go all the way to Points North. I stopped at Hidden Bay at Wollaston lake. As I recall that was about 200 miles and Points North was another 50 or so. I have heard the road degrades passed Hidden Bay.

The section I did was plenty wide and pretty smooth. I think I averaged around 50mph and there was plenty of room when mining trucks passed in the other direction. They all moved over and gave room (except for the one driving down the center of the road at 1am).

Overall I enjoyed the entire drive across SK. There are tons of paddling opportunities in that area.

Alan

Alan Gage said:

I have heard the road degrades passed Hidden Bay.

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Funny enough, that’s not the case now. The best part of the entire trip from LaRonge to Stoney is from Points onward to Stoney. As soon as you turn off from Hidden Bay, the road widens considerably and its well maintained. They’ve put a lot of work into it. The worst section is from Southend to Wollaston where the road is narrowest and the locals drive recklessly.
Sadly, the Sask government decided not to protect the Hidden Bay campground from fires a few years ago and now it basically doesn’t exist. It’s a disgusting mess full of garbage.

Rubbaboo said:

Sadly, the Sask government decided not to protect the Hidden Bay campground from fires a few years ago and now it basically doesn’t exist. It’s a disgusting mess full of garbage.

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I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't even know it was there and was pleasantly surprised to show up and find it. I was the only one there.

Alan

recped said:

Which part of the Fond Du Lac are you looking at?

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Unsure at this point - I have ordered a guidebook to start the process. I am thinking 2 weeks in the first part of September, conditions permitting.

Any thoughts on a route are greatly appreciated!

Keeled Over said:

Unsure at this point - I have ordered a guidebook to start the process. I am thinking 2 weeks in the first part of September, conditions permitting.

Any thoughts on a route are greatly appreciated!

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In September the weather could well turn cold, overcast and rainy. Just something to think about.

2 weeks on the FdL is basically the trip Archer describes in her book with a flight into the outlet out of Wollaston to where the river dumps into Black Lake. Another option is to do the Waterfound with a vehicle shuttle into Waterbury lake and then a plane pickup at Black Lake. You could also get on the Waterfound at the bridge where the highway crosses it and paddle out to the community of Black Lake and avoid a plane ride (2 weeks would be enough if the Black Lake cooperates). The weather that time of year that far north is either glorious or miserable.
Anyway you go there’s lots of spots like this.


Here’s what the Hidden Bay campground looks like now, this was one of the few clean spots left. There’s garbage and human poop everywhere, my dog loved it! Hopefully the gov does something with it to restore it for my kids to use someday. It was by far the nicest provincial campground I’ve been to.



For the most part, this is what the highway past Points looks like, there’s a few sections it narrows to wind through some lakes and a few low sandy spots where you have to ease off the throttle. The only bad part of it is the pink processed “gravel” they use comes from a mine from around the Stoney and it’s pretty sharp edged and hard on your tires, your treads will take a beating.

Thank you everyone for your input - exactly what I needed.

One concern that I had, and that Erica points out above, is the timing. I'm not too worried about cold per say, but wouldn't want to be too cold. I have seen graphs for average daytime temps up there in the 50's - 60's which is fine and the pm's get down to the 40's. This is all good for me, but I would prefer not to wear my dry suit the entire trip.

Pure speculation request - if I go in August, what kind of traffic could I encounter? Doable without a dry suit? I would think so, but then again I don't know what I don't know.

Thanks all.

Keeled Over said:

I am thinking 2 weeks in the first part of September, conditions permitting.

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I think that's maybe not a good idea. I spent the first two weeks of September in that area and it was very cold, wet, and windy. I also spent all of August in that area on the same trip and while it also had some cold and wet weather overall August felt like autumn, not summer.

Alan

Alan Gage said:

I think that's maybe not a good idea. I spent the first two weeks of September in that area and it was very cold, wet, and windy. I also spent all of August in that area on the same trip and while it also had some cold and wet weather overall August felt like autumn, not summer.

Alan

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Thank you Alan!

Here is a short YouTube video from a solo Waterfound/ Fond du Lac trip in September of 2022. The paddler was a guide from CRCO in Missinipe.


If you are considering flying in or out, note that "Wings over Kissising", not Osprey WIngs, is now the float operator at Points North.

If you take out at the Porcupine junction, rather than Black Lake, it's still worth paddling downstream a bit for a look at Burr Falls.

Burr Falls



Black Lake

-wjmc

Thanks for all of the replies folks - really helps out - getting all jacked up for the trip.

Question - do I need to pay fees for each nite in the backcounty on the FDL? We did in Wabakimi but that is a park, and in Ontario.

Thank you!

Pretty sure non residents of Canada need a permit to camp on crown lands, it’s like 10$ a night. The chance of running into anyone enforcing it up there though would be slim but you never know, there’s COs and RCMP stations in Stoney.

I think it depends on the province you will be in. On an August trip those of us from the states had to get Crown Land camping permits with a daily fee/person (about $10/day after conversion to USD) and our Canadian friends didn’t need them. We were in NW Ontario on Crown Lands. In 2023 I was on a two week trip in Manitoba on Crown Lands and there was no fee for non-residents of Canada.

I paddled the Waterfound-Fond du Lac late August-early Sept in 2005. We had a couple marginal days, rest of the trip was beautiful. Some nights a little below freezing. We chose the Waterfound because we could drive into Waterbury Lake and fly back to Points North from Black Lake. Burr Falls is worth a visit. Equinoxes have better northern lights and in northern SK you'll be in the max auroral band.