TATACHIKAPIKA RIVER CANOE TRIP

This past May, we had the pleasure of paddling this hidden gem of a river. Not too well known and remote, the Tat numerous runnable rapids.

The Tatachikapika River starts north of Gogama and eventually flows into the Mattagami River closer to Timmins. It is a spring river and must be run early before it gets too dry.

It was quite obvious from the overgrowth on the portages and campsites that this is a very seldom used river. I don't really understand why, since the days are easy and the whitewater wonderful.

I would like to say a special thank you to Jen and Carol at Timmins Adventure Tour. They were great at arranging our shuttle and finding us an excellent take out for our trip.

This river I will certainly be doing again.

Check out my Pages section for the entire trip report.

Camping in burnt out forest.

An overcast spring day.

One of many exciting rapids.

Typical rapid.

Yours truly.

4 M CIRCLE / DIVIDING LAKE CANOE TRIP

This past July, we did another lost canoe route in the Gogama area, the 4 M / Diving Lake trip. This was a very scenic trip, with some excellent runnable rapids.

Like all these routes, however, no maintenance work has been done in a long time. Because of this, you will find overgrown or lost campsites and portages that are a shambles of down trees.

On the other hand, this ensures the remoteness of the trip, the lack of people, and adds to the spectacular beauty.

I would like to give a special thanks to Dan and Don, the owners of Dividing Lake Lodge. They were more than accommodating for us to leave our vehicle with them instead of the MNR launch on Dividing Lake. You can even make arrangements to camp there your first night or arrange a shuttle if you are not doing this trip as a loop. Contact them at DividingLakeLodge@hotmail.com.

Put-in at Dividing Lake Lodge.

Leaving Dividing Lake at P1.

Boyz Canoe Trip 2016 - Sunday Creek, Algonquin Park

The Boyz get together once or twice a year. The four of us, John, Peter, Steve, and me have been paddling together for over 3 decades! Lately, however, many of these get-togethers have been based at the cottage with daytrips of paddling or hiking.

This year we decided to do a canoe trip, for old time’s sake. The trip would be short and easy and involve a little fishing. So in early July, we headed up Sunday Creek in Algonquin Park. It’s not a long paddle to the last lake, Farm Lake and involves no portages, only a couple of beaver dam lift-overs.

We set up camp on a nice island. Most of the three days was spend eating and reminiscing about other trips. We did spend a chunk of time paddling and floating around in the canoes. Steve pretended to fish. I say pretended since he didn’t even get a bite.

Time passed and it was a fun, relaxing trip with old friends.

We ended the trip back at the cottage where Steve preceded to catch fish from right off our dock. I wonder where he may want Boyz Weekend next year?

Here is the link to the photos: Boyz Canoe Trip - 2016

John with his spiffy orange shirt.

Paddling up Sunday Creek.

Time To Get Caught Up

Well, it has been a long time since I wrote in this blog. It has been a very busy season filled with paddling, canoe trip, and even trips farther abroad.

The cottage is closed for the season so now there will be more free time for blog writing. Hopefully over the next few weeks I will get caught up and the trips of 2106.

I’m not sure yet as to which order they will appear, but they may just be random.

Looking forward to reminiscing.

Fall Boyz Weekend - A Snowy Adventure

It is fall and that means Fall Boyz Weekend!

For years, we used to do a fall canoe trip. And every year, the weather was absolutely miserable. The trip was spent in many layers of fleece covered by a layer of Goretex. We finally gave up and moved Fall Boyz Weekend to the cottage.

The weather traditions continued each year with us getting rained/snowed on as we went out for paddles. At least now we could return to a warm cottage and enjoy a nice dinner and a couple of beverages.

Even though this fall has been warm and sunny, Fall Boyz Weekend followed its predictable course. This year we got to enjoy a nice layer of snow. This didn’t stop us from going out, and it sure was nice to have a warm place to return to.

I don’t think we would know what to do if we had a Fall Boyz Weekend with sunny, warm weekend. We’ll keep trying until we find out.

What To Do When You Can't Paddle

Well, it’s getting late in the paddling season. Hiking has taken the place of paddling, enjoying some other area and the fall colours. The weather this fall has been fantastic.

So what is a guy to do when paddling is still on his mind? Well, fix canoes of course.

This past while, me good friend John and myself have been replacing the gunwales and other woodwork on a couple of canoes. It’s a good time to spend together and reminisce about past canoe trips and hopefully, future ones.

The weather has turned cold and the boats, not quite finished, have been put away for the winter. They will have to be completed in the spring. Not a bad thing to look forward to as winter approaches.

Boyz Trip to the Cottage

Well, after it not happening last year, we finally got away for Boyz Trip to the Cottage. The Boyz are now down to 4 of us, but we have been paddling together for decades, everything from whitewater day trips to extended canoe trips, and everything in between.

We used to go on an annual fall canoe trip, but after 10 years in a row of the worst weather possible, it changed to a fall trip to the cottage. It has been a long time since we have done a canoe trip together but we usually get 2 getaways a year to the cottage for some paddling, sitting on the porch, and generally just catching up.

What we do when we get together has changed over the decades, but that is not important. What is important is that we still get together.