Any Advice On 8-10 Day Wabakimi Route

[mwaalen]

In the beginning stages of planning on a tandem trip this early Sept or thereabouts. Looking for any advice or suggestions given the following...Have not been in this partucular park. Will most likely enter the South side via rail. We will avoid all whitewater if possible. A mile-long portage is do-able. Certainly want to avoid bears if they happen to be concentrated in certain areas as would rather not hang the food pack. Would rather not see another human. Can cover 15km per day weather permitting and portages aren't monsterous.

Wishful thinking??

I know there are other route planning resources but thought I would start here.

Thanks!

 

[mwaalen]

Another Wabakimi question...We are most used to late summer water temp in Quetico and spend the entire trip with wet feet however never a problem. Any thoughts on this approach for Wabakimi the 1st two weeks of Sept?? Would it depend on the route?

 

[Gamma1214]

I waded most of the Steel River (not far South of Wabakimi) in Sept of last year and had no issues w/ wet feet. I did, however, wake up one morning (probably Sept. 8th) with ice on the outside of the tent & sand frozen to the bottom of the overturned canoe so having something warm & dry to change into is a great idea.

 

[mwaalen]

Thanks for the insight Gamma1214. We are packing more clothes this trip for sure. Actually adding a 3rd pack with the upside of having the collective load spread out. No more 60lb packs.

 

[jdeerfoot]

Just got back from a 7 day trip to the Crown Lands west of Wabakimi PP with Canadian friends from the Wabakimi Project days. One of them picked a route he did in 2009 or 2010. By day 2 it was apparent we could not proceed further as the portages had grown in and were impassable for us with a just a hatchet and hand saws. So we retreated to a great island campsite on Harold Lk. The first 3 days of the trip were perfect - mild temps, sunny with low humidity. The second 3 days we were wind bound on the island with temps in the 50’s and alternating rain/mist. The area probably received 3 inches of rain or more. The First Nations guy who shuttled our vehicles and securely stored them for us told us they had no rain for the previous 2 weeks. All in all a nice trip with some friends I haven’t seen in years.

Regarding bears in the bush you shouldn’t have any trouble. For the 15 years I have traveled there we always kept the food barrels under the tarp without incident. Regarding clothing and sleeping bags, I would always prepare for possible temps below 50 degrees.

 

[recped]

@jdeerfoot

Curious what your planned route was? I camped at the portage from Harris to Harold in 2017, my first night of a 46 day trip ending at Fort Albany on James Bay. All the ports getting to Savant Lake were pretty overgrown, I did a small amount of clearing but didn't bring my big snips. The trails were fairly easy to follow by feel even when the visibility was poor.

 

[jdeerfoot]

We started with a drop off at the south end of Harris Lk and continued on into Harold Lk, staying the first night on the 5 star campsite on a small island about half way up the lake. The next day we went into Handy Lk intending to connect to the South Arm of Savant Lk. Unfortunately, the intended route SE out of north end of Handy became impassable. We were equipped with a folding handsaw and a few small handsaws when what we needed would have been the chainsaw we carried on Wabakimi Project trips. Several of our party bushwhacked ahead and found the intended route to be totally grown in. We had intended to continue east through the south end of Savant Lk for an eventual road pickup on Hwy 702.

As a result, we retreated to the nice island campsite on Harold Lk. This turned out to be fortunate since the next day the rains, wind and low temperatures came and continued for 3 days. On the final day of our trip we paddled back to our original departure point for a road pickup.

The guy who put this route together had done it with the Wabakimi Project in 2009 and thought we might still be able to make our way through.

When you said you camped on the port between Harris and Harold, I was surprised at how much bear scat on it when we went back through it just a week later. It is a nice portage taking advantage of the old 2 track someone had done a lot of work putting in sometime this the past.

 

[mwaalen]

Copy all that on bears and clothes. I think we are ready. Counting down the days...