It is probably a fair assumption that because there is no mention of the fishing, that fishing was not a primary goal for the trip. Rather they were just scoping the route to warn us that no sane persons would attempt such a voyage if fishing was to be a goal...

Thanks for the specific details on the creeks. It will be great to look back on in future years and establishes a benchmark for a very dry year.

Another day trip I did was from Carroll to Terry and Wanda. I never made it to either of those two named lakes but I did make it as far as the second unnamed lake from Carroll to Terry. There was plenty of water in the creek from Carroll to the first unnamed lake and then plenty of water in the creek from the first unnamed to the second unnamed lake but it is a looooong paddle in a solo canoe on a windy day including the seven portages to get that far. I stopped and turned around at the second unnamed lake when faced with a 75 yard slog through cattails and muck to reach the inflow of the creek that continues on to Terry. Even in the best of conditions I would recommend most should plan a full days travel to get from Wanda to Carroll or the reverse, especially with a full load.

I also did a day trip into the burn area around Haven and Jigsaw. To get there I had to travel the creek from Hanson to Cyclops. Some sections I could tow, some I had to carry but none of it could I paddle even in a solo. I would estimate the total distance covered to be less than 2K. The creek bottom here was very firm and relatively easy walking and carrying.

Quote:


I believe the English translation of this Native People's word is FUBAR

Now for the real question?
Did you guys leave those lakes as barren as the one's  you fished out in the Q, or what

Yes, going thru the upper Wanipigow on the way out in a tandem was a tough haul, as KF surmised (he was ahead of us by at least a couple hours leaving Crystal and more than that by the time we hit Siderock.

Tim and I were expecting a pretty quick trip thru.  Figured the water levels were down a little but probably not much.  The workign theory was that we'd more than make up any time lost to lower water levels due to greatly increased portaging speed at the end of the trip.  The last few days of the trip we'd been much faster on the portages than on the first day, when we were actually pretty tired going in and much more heavily laden with food.

My tandem took a real beating.  Fortunately it is already well-used and I'm long past worrying about cosmetics.  I even told Tim not to worry if we ended up cracking a rib or something as any such damage is easily repaired. 

Water levels had dropped so far that at one point nothing looked familiar and I had to pull out the map and double-check to see that we didn't make a wrong turn at Albaquerque, as Bugs would say.  The map said there was no chance of that.

Getting thru the rock gardens was a real issue in the tandem.  Twice we had to unload packs and carry the canoe a short ways to get past tangles of rocks that we'd easily slipped thru (with some scraping) on the way in.  As KF noted, there was lots of walking and dragging/towing of the canoe over shallow stretches.  Frustrating because you'd walk/drag for 10 yards, the water would deepen enough to make it somewhat impractical, ho;p back in, canoe 10 yards, bottom out again, get out, walk, back in, paddle, wash/rinse/repeat about 15 or 20 times (or so it seemed, anyway).

Partway down the river, Tim found a rock with my red paint on top of it sitting about 3" out of the water.  I'd guess the river had dropped a good 8" during our trip based on that.

I would most likely NOT repeat this route in low water conditions again and certainly not if I had any vanity at all about the appearance of my canoe.

We left Crystal Lake about 3:00 and I think we pulled into our campsite on Siderock about 8:30.  I'd estimated it would take 4 hours, tops, on the return and I entertained hopes it might be less.

We were OK going in at Garner this year, but did a tiny bit of dragging coming out (we were in solo canoes).  The portage crew coming in (as we were going out) said they had been doing a fair amount of dragging with their tandem.  I don't think it had dropped a foot; more like 6-8 inches.

dd

Thanks KF, That is just what I wanted to know. So even in pretty severe times the canoe could be pulled through.

Marten,
Apparently we had been spoiled during our trip upstream on the Wanipigow from Siderock to Crystal as there was plenty of water (a foot or more even in the shallow sections) for paddling to each of about 9 portages.
Eight days later returning downstream found me wading through long sections with six inches or less of water. Progress through these sections was about equal whether paddling or walking. Most of the section east of the small lake between Siderock and Crystal has a sandy firm bottom so walking and towing a loaded canoe while slow was a reasonable mode of travel. The section just west of the small lake is more rocky so that walking becomes treacherous to feet and legs as well as the bottom of a loaded canoe. I was in a solo so some of the skinniest passages were still possible with some scraping. Snowdog and partner were in a tandem and I'm sure they had many more problems getting through this area than I. We left alot of red on the rocks here and curiously there was none visible from our route through here just eight days prior. The eight days between our trips up and down the Wanipigow were very dry and only experienced one or two brief thundershowers.

Can you give me a few specifics about how low the water was on the Wanipigow and any other creeks you used.