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To see my YouTube video report: plug in Oregon Dave Woodland in YouTube and it'll pop up.
Naomi and I left Oregon and drove north to Waterton Lakes National Park, and did a strenuous day hike. Very cool place. Driving through the very bottom of Saskatchewan, the mottled highway we were on gave way to gravel so we detoured north and eventually south to Grasslands National Park, where we stayed two nights in a Teepee, did another strenuous hike, after an encounter with a buffalo and prairie dog city….made our way to Red Lake, ON. Made contact with our outfitter (Albert Rogalinski-Goldseekers Canoe Outfitting) who provided marked up maps, a SPOT, and arranged our flight in via Chimo in one of their Otters.
Sept. 7 to 14, 2016: Starting in the bottom of Donald Lake, and canoed into wrong bay before I got our bearing, we made it down to Black Otter Lake…where that evening I discovered my fishing gear bag didn’t make it off the plane, tho I had rods in my pack. WTF? We canoed back to our lunch spot on Donald…no not there. We knew that our plane had dropped off a group at the North end of Donald right before us…so next day we battled wind and waves to the Wamserville cabins & private lodge…and a really nice guy, Rick Young, from Iowa…gave us two reels and a supply of jigs, tails, a spoon, stringer. I’d really like to send him a huge thank you if I figure out how.
The Gammon River route has pretty good sized lakes….good fishing below the falls and rapids. Fortunately, the weather was good enough and wind didn’t bother us (except for some rollers on Onnie) Lots of moose sign, but saw just one..briefly—coming down to the channel, then huffed loudly and went back into the woods. Observed a beaver family, lodge from camp; including the two little ones…lots of beaver. All the outposts were zipped up tight, and we saw no one for the rest of the trip. Pictographs on Hansen-very cool. There’s boats stashed at several portages, sometimes getting in way of the portage; one in particular—I sent Claire a picture of that.
We did this route because a big fire in June burned much of the prime canoe area in the south of WCPP. (out of Leano) Going back and doing that in a few years is on our to-do list.
I want to explore more of northern Ontario, WCPP, Opasquia, Wabakimi; but gosh running into outposts/stashed boats in the middle of a wildnerness, makes it less wilderness. Somehow they got those out of Quetico, but I see its part of the economy and culture further north.
After we drove to Thunder Bay and stayed at the Cozy Cove B&B north of there, rested and and repacked for Trip 2 in the BWCA. Had a chance to drop in on Uncle Phil (unexpectedly) and got caught up on the workings of the Wabakimi Project since I was there Week One this year.
On to Grand Marais for lunch and dinner at the Angry Trout Café; our annual pilgrimage to some of the best eating in North America, IMHO. Fresh caught whitefish and herring, flash grilled with their special sauce.
Trip 2 was a partial redo of our Isabella River Trip from 2014, but started on brushy Hog Creek, into Perent Lake, then wind bound for a day, then the multi-portage Perent River, eventually to Isabella Lake-where unexpectedly had the hardest time finding the Isabella River—(lesson-don’t argue with the compass!)— made it to Quadga not long before dusk…On the Isabella 126 rod portage, encountered a fellow (late 50s) on a solo, struggling with his canoe, said he hurt his back, couldn’t lift it —wanted to make the Rice Lake camp site and recover. On my way back I picked up his canoe and carried 100 rods to the end (my mitzvah for the day). He said he could carry his packs—tho it looked like a struggle for him….did tell him when we’d be coming out of Quadqa and out the Little Isabella River (his car was at the Snake River entry point), if he wanted to follow us out and I’d drive him over; but that didn’t happen. So I hope he recovered and made it out OK.
The Little Isabella River is winding picturesque and fun stream, several beaver dams to lift over, portage around; and lots of beaver obstructions that others have make a hole it; that powered through (mostly). I’ve been reading Sig Olson’s “The Singing Wilderness” and he writes about brook trout fly fishing on the Isabella—I think he’s talking about the Little Isabella River.
The bottom of my Bell Northwind (very used) canoe took a beating on this trip, have got more cracks along the inside seam next to the bottom foam pad…so planning on repairs, coating, Kevlar strips..etc.
Driving home, stopped in the Badlands, hiked again; and Yellowstone to see Old Faithful and walk around the different geysers. Coming and going we saw lots of wildlife, antelope often; the elk have taken up residence in Mammoth Springs like they own the place.
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Gammon River Route (Read 6526 times)
