Wally,

There are only two ways into Wabakimi: flying or travelling via train. I think most paddlers go via the train to save money, but then you're stuck with only two choices for put-ins.

Each beaver will carry two people with enough gear for two weeks, and otters should be able to carry double that. The tourist business has slacked off in recent years, so you should be able to book a plane without much notice.

Be very careful when selecting a lodge or outpost cabin, if you go that route. Many are very nice, but some of are downright horrible. Leaky, dark, mice-infested, ugly pits! Try Mattice Lake Outfitters in Armstrong. They operate both planes and outpost cabins of the highest quality. The owner, Don, is a great guy

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The biggest problem with Wabakimi is that there is no official portage map. There are older section sheets, but they're not overly accurate and sometimes downright incorrect. I spent two weeks last summer as part of a larger project (continueing this year) of clearing and mapping portages, reblazing, and re-opening closed routes. Hopefully by early 2007 a new selection of section sheets will be available for public sale, but for now they're only in notes. Most outfitters will have they're own favorite routes and will be able to give you good info on those.

It really is a beautiful park. In 15 days we only saw people on the first and last days. Otherwise we were alone. Something that will never happen in the BW.

Here are some pix, including one of one of the worst outpost cabin sites.

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Chuck

Wabakimi is a lot tougher for portaging that the BW/Q simply because many of the portages are not maintained. Rumors have it that certain well-connected outpost owners don't want canoeists ruining the solitude of their clients and have struck a deal with the park super. Don't know if it's true, but a good story. The portage where we dropped the canoe down the cliff is an historic fur-trading route and had not been used in years...maybe 20. It took us a hour to even find the portage, another couple to connect together the old blazes and a couple more to clear and/or reroute the portage. It's now open and well blazed!

I've never taken the train, but know others who've taken it from Winnipeg which is a pretty long ride. I would think that from Armstrong it's only an hour, or two to the first put-in. The timetable is a bit loose for the train, but the benefits of being able to get on or off anywhere along the tracks is probably worth it.

Chuck