Info on Chivelston, Harris & Harold Lakes outside Wabakimi?

[Gamma1214]

I'm starting to plan for 2025 and thinking of a mid August / early September trip in the Wabakimi area. (hopefully this past July's bugs are dead by then)

At this point, I'm considering parking in Armstrong and taking the train to Chivelston Lake (just East of the Savant Lake stop). From there, go North through Harris and Harold lakes to Savant lake and follow the Savant River to the Palisade River which can get me to Whitewater Lake. I'll check out whatever is left of the Wendell Beckwith cabins then head to Whiteclay lake, go up the Raymond River, check the pictographs on Cliff Lake and exit via Moonshine, Big Lake and Little Caribou.

My understanding is that this loop should reduce cost by starting & finishing on crown land instead of the being inside the Provincial park the whole time, it will pass through some rarely visited areas with incredible scenery, pictographs in at least 2 locations and some good fishing. The trade-off for this is that some of the lakes are huge and the portages might be rough or non-existent.

One thing I really like is that, if the portages turn out to be total bush-whacking, I'll have lots of options to shorten the route when I get to Whitewater (I have 2 weeks vacation from work but I'm figuring on taking an additional week without pay so I'll have 3 weeks at my disposal)

I've contacted Friends of Wabakimi (@jdeerfoot has been especially helpful), Ramblin' Boy, the Saugeen First Nation and Mattice Lake Outfitters for information on the state of the portages between the rail line and Savant (almost certain to be the least traveled section of the proposed route) but, so far, I've not been able to get any information and Google searches have yielded nothing.

(I've been hesitant to contact Bruce Hyer. Although I suspect he may have the best maps and information, he's also pricey and I don't want to waste his time unless I'm willing to cough up the $500 that seems to be his starting point)

Both Paddleplanner & the FOW planning map show portages existing but that's certainly no guarantee... Does anybody here have insight or an idea of where else to look for info?

Unless someone talks me out of it, I'll probably have the train dump me off & see what I find but I'd like to know that there's a reasonable chance of getting through. (and, yes, I'll post the inReach link here so you can follow along / speculate on difficulty / be glad you're not me... hell, maybe we can have a fundraiser with a "how far does he get / does he bail out via Smoothrock or press the SOS button" pool...)

 

[Gamma1214]

I haven't updated this thread in awhile but I'm still researching and thinking that I'll give it a shot.

Logistics at the Armstrong end seem easy enough. I talked to Matt at Red Granite Inn and he tells me that they only have 5 units for rent but Sat & Sunday are their lightest days. They're a 5 minute walk to the train station and there is a good place to grab breakfast (Gail's grill & Bakery) on the way. (open at 7am and the train is due at 9am so should be plenty of time to eat and portage to the station).

In addition, Red Granite Inn is about 6km (4 miles) from the parking area at Little Caribou Lake so I should be able to dump my gear at the hotel, drive my truck to the take-out and hoof it back to town. (Matt offered to help shuttle if needed but it's only 4 miles... might take him up on it if it's getting late...)

Incidentally, David Jackson seems to think that the portages will be relatively clear and they're more difficult to find than they are to navigate (he tells me that he's never paddled Chivelston, however, and his first hand knowledge begins at Harris.)

I continue to be impressed by how helpful everyone I've contacted has been.

 

[recped]

Incidentally, David Jackson seems to think that the portages will be relatively clear and they're more difficult to find than they are to navigate (he tells me that he's never paddled Chivelston, however, and his first hand knowledge begins at Harris.)

That describes what I encountered on my trip from Harris Lake. It's a common thing that I have experienced on many trips in the boreal forest zones. The alders and other stuff grow really fast and obscure the take out locations and blazes if the exist become invisible with dead fall etc covering the first 5 - 10m into the bush.

All part of the thrill of the journey!

 

[jdeerfoot]

Reaped is correct. In the Wabakimi Project we learned to look for old portages by landing at likely locations and going into the bush and start walking back and forth looking for old blazes and trail tread. Portage openings on the shoreline would fill in quickly because they got sufficient light and often the trails became apparent not too far in from the landing.

One thing that always amazed me was how close to potential danger on rivers the portage landings were at falls and rapids. They were often at about the last possible place to exit the river before you would be in real trouble.

 

[Gamma1214]

Quick update: I received maps for the route (and an alternate exit from Whitewater skipping the Raymond River & Cliff Lake) from Laurence at Wabakimimaps.com and I'm, again, grateful for @memaquay's excellent maps the past 2 years. Don't get me wrong; the maps look great and should be enough to get through the route, they're very reasonably priced, tailored specifically to the route that I proposed and they're even laminated.



I am wondering about the scale, however, and wondering if I should look for some topos that show the area better. I'm actually undecided on this as water is pretty flat so the contour lines won't mean much except to (possibly) help verify my location or if I would have to hoof it out of there because I got unbelievably stupid & destroyed my canoe.

My understanding is that the map books available from Friends of Wabakimi are smaller scale but the upside is that they would show the entire area (I'll need 4 of the 5 books to cover all of the route) instead of my specific route.

Although I really would like longitude & latitude lines on the map to help with GPS location, my gut says that these should be sufficient but I'm curious what others here would do.

 

[memaquay]

Interesting, do the Wabakimi maps not provided waypoints for ports and campsites? I have a collection of canadian topos 1:50 in digital form somewhere, it will take me a few days to find them, but I'll internet them to you.

 

[recped]

Interesting, do the Wabakimi maps not provided waypoints for ports and campsites? I have a collection of canadian topos 1:50 in digital form somewhere, it will take me a few days to find them, but I'll internet them to you.

I sent topo maps of the area to @Gamma1214 this morning.

 

[Gamma1214]

The maps from wabakimimaps.com show campsites as black triangles & portages in red w/ length notation but no GPS coordinates or campsite / portage notes such as I've had for the past 2 trips (thanks again, mem... You've, obviously, spoiled me)

I assume that both length of ports & locations of ports & camps are approximate but I'm not terribly worried about that. During the trip, I'll drop waypoints w/ the inReach as I enter & exit ports and visit as many campsites as I can find. I can then add that info to the TR (& also update Laurence) in case anyone else wants to try this.

The thing that bothers me is the lack of topography. As stated above, recped sent me some maps from the start of his trip via email and I like the scale & topo lines. I've also noticed that paddleplanner shows more campsites than the new maps so I think I'll spend some time to modify some CalTopo or Garmin topo maps, adding ports & campsites from both the maps I got last week & paddleplanner. That way, I'll have as much info as possible and my only worry will be actually finding the stuff along the shoreline.

To mem & recped: Are the CalTopo & Garmin maps that you use free or should I buy a subscription / software?

 

[recped]

I only use the free version of Caltopo. Because I used it so much a few years ago I paid for the basic sub (they call it mobile) but it added nothing that I was interested in. To get some usable bonus features you need the $50 or $100 subs and even for those most of the extras are only available for the lower 48.

As far as Garmin maps, I think they are almost useless, I have their Canada Topo 4 edition but the maps are nowhere near as good as the classic Government Of Canada Topo maps that CalTopo uses. I use the now ancient Gamin Mapsource utility to download the data from my GPS, I do a little bit of cleaning up work on them and then transfer the results (tracks, waypoints etc.) to CalTopo.

 

[Erica]

Reaped is correct. In the Wabakimi Project we learned to look for old portages by landing at likely locations and going into the bush and start walking back and forth looking for old blazes and trail tread. Portage openings on the shoreline would fill in quickly because they got sufficient light and often the trails became apparent not too far in from the landing.

One thing that always amazed me was how close to potential danger on rivers the portage landings were at falls and rapids. They were often at about the last possible place to exit the river before you would be in real trouble.

I agree. I've run into places where no apparent portage is visible from the water and you know there must be one because there is a 50 ft drop coming just ahead. Like Jdeerfoot, I found portages at the last possible place to exit before going over the falls. I discovered this by getting out way ahead of the falls, walking along the river and then stumbling on the portage trail. Those ports also ended at the first split second you might get back on the water, no matter how fast the water was moving or how slippery the shore.

Besides that, it was a matter of getting out and beating back behind the alders or labrador tea until you got to the woods. Then, a trail would often appear. If the trail is a long one, and if it runs through a cut over area, I sometimes would lose it. Hence I carry hunter's orange flagging tape to make sure I don't lose myself, or my packs.