Am I foolish to consider paddling up the Maligne River this spring; from Lac La Croix and into Poobah?  Does the river run so fast in the spring that paddling is prohibitive?

puckster

I have never paddled that route but I have friend that has done the Hunter's Island loop several times. I will ask him the next time we talk what his opinion would be.

Puckster,

I am planning on a Twin Falls Entry July 2nd and heading up the Maligne River to Poobah. I have never gone up the Maligne.

I have talked to a few who have gone up the Maligne and they say going up river in early spring can be troublesome.

I don't think it will be too swift over the 4th but you never know. I have heard folks having a Plan B (alternate route) when they are thinking of going up the Maligne in early June, just in case the river is too high and running too fast.

Hope some veterans that have done the Maligne can chime in and give us their thoughts.

I think it will depend on the kind of winter they have up there?
Been down the Maligne 2 x, never paddled up.
Both times in Mid-May. 1 x the water level was "low" by normal snow melt levels,
 
The other time the current was really moving.
The portages were all flooded out.
In spots you could see "whirl pools" and if you got into one, you could feel the power of that current.
I remember thinking I was glad I wasn't coming upstream. :-/

I'm sure it's been done in high water conditions with the right people, but I would definitively have a plan B. :thumbup

Depends on the craft you are paddling, and if you are solo or tandem.  I do not have much difficulty if in a kayak and creeping up along the shore taking advantage of the back currents.  ST is right about amount of winter snow/melt and spring rains making the river high or low.

I've gone up at the walleye opener, water levels and current were not a problem that year. The poplar/birch trees were leafing up during the trip, starting as bare limbs at first. There was some snow around.
It sounds like it's been higher on other years.

In Sept 2014 I picked up a new Chrismar map.  The ranger said they had added another portage on the north side of the river to help people get past some swift spring water, but it wasn't on the map I bought. She showed me a hand drawn map of it and it was above Poohbah Ck and before some of the older portages. Longer compared to the ones around the rapids, you'd  still need to do those too at the rapids. I think it skips a swift we could paddle when we did it.

Perhaps the park could post a pic of the portage map here, or get some coordinates of the portage.

I went up the Maligne and into Poohbah on June 1 of 2014.  This was some of the highest water in recent years. It was a tough paddle upstream but doable.  We mainly stuck close to the river right and were able to avoid most swifts. Use care around the falls area.  This was my first time to Poobah. The trip up took longer than anticipated.  Figure on 10 to 12 hours paddling upstream if the water is high.  Once you get to Poobah creek the paddling is easier.  We were using a 17 royalex mad river revelation canoe.  I would have preferred a lighter boat. There are at least 3 relatively short portages on Poobah creek that are wet and soggy - but more of an irritant than difficult.  Poohbah Lake is great for fishing. We did outstanding on SM bass, (several trophies) walleye, and pike.  Biggest pike was around 35 inches but we did see larger pike.  Our only disappointment was no lake trout. We tried hard a few times for them but could not get hits or locate them.  A fish locator is handy on this lake. Poohbah is a big lake.  We camped on the second main point of the second bay in on the right. This was a nice campsite. You almost need to pick what parts of the lake you want to fish and camp in that area because it is too big to move around easily all day long. Wind was a problem on 2 days. We fished, but were limited in where we could safely go.  Bottom line. You will work hard to move up the river but it is doable and generally safe. It will also likely be slower in the spring do to higher water and keep that in mind in your planning.  I think the fishing quality was definitely worth it.  Best,  Sergeant Rock.

Thanks for the great info. 

I may reconsider this route for an early June trip!

Puckster