Lower Basswood Falls on a trip with the highest water I've witnessed.

That does look a lot like the spill-out into Sturgeon Narrows, fooled me for sure.

  I've never seen Split Rock like that, but I'd like too.

cyclones30 wrote on Feb 11^th, 2020 at 2:26am:

No. Sorry to confuse folks. That's Split Rock Falls. For those that know it, that's how high the water was that spring.

cyclones30 wrote on Feb 11^th, 2020 at 2:26am:


  This is a great illustration of how water levels mean everything in places like that. That is the outflow to Sturgeon!  Hard to imagine you could ever paddle up there but you can IF the conditions are right.

  I've seen Chatterton falls after heavy winter snowmelt be roaring just like that. The year I took the Staircase was a high water spring. I paddled right over to Chatterton falls. Within a 1/4 mi of the falls the current was so strong, there were whirlpools forming and you couldn't paddle to the base of falls unless you hugged either shoreling. You could hear the falls roaring all the way across the lake.

My FUBAR trip the water level was low, you could easily paddle almost right up to the spill-out. The falls were not roaring but just a low rumble.

High water years you have all that water spilling from the falls that empty into Chatterton down into Russell then out the spillway with tremendous volume and force to then empty into Sturgeon Narrows then west and down the Maligne River. The difference in snowmelt affects all those areas greatly.

db wrote on Feb 10^th, 2020 at 10:26pm:


Is that Chatterton? Unless that's an insanely high water version of Russell to Sturgeon flow...

The year I did the infamous Staircase Portage into Russell, I came out through the spill out. Not as bad as this pic, but powerful enough it pushed me 100 yds down the chute like a roller coaster ride. 

I found it!

This shot was from the spring trip I couldn't get past the first island in the outflow from Russell to Sturgeon and decided to try the 'you gotta be kidding me' lower portage.
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PhantomJug wrote on Feb 7^th, 2020 at 6:58pm:


Yep, I made my scribbles on it.

Thanks everyone for the tips and things to look for!

I’ve paddled up the Russell river several times over the years, always as a tandem. We haven’t done the Staircase or the short portage but the short portage could be a lift over or lined. If you’re going in late summer or early Fall, water levels should not be an issue.

Good waldos at the top of the outflow in Russell. Also, behind the island at the bottom of the outflow.

Mad_Mat wrote on Feb 7^th, 2020 at 10:19pm:


  Agreed. The first time I used the portage when I couldn't paddle-up, that flat rock area wasn't even visible.

  I used that steeper portage, which was a pain because there wasn't enough room to unload your gear and pull the canoe out of the water at the same time.

Yup, water levels play a major role in a lot of places.
That's why you always want a Plan B if possible?