(PIC HEAVY) Expedition through Northern Ontario
Hey guys,
Its been a looong while since I've been on this site, been very busy either tending the trapline, hunting, fishing or working. Non stop things to do, and not much time to get on here and post things.
So last summer/fall, myself and a good friend (Ian) decided we were going to tackle a journey that we both wanted to do, and just needed to decide on a trip plan. This is basically the best time in our lives for us to do this as we have no restrictions, minus the amount holidays we needed to secure from our bosses. Thankfully they we're co-operative with us and we got the time we needed for this trip. I booked my holidays last fall in hopes I would be the first to select the time I wanted and nobody else would bump me….and also because it helps us plan everything out properly. A trip like this is not one you slap together a few days before hand. We planned this for months and spent many nights meticulously going over our gear, meal plans and maps to make sure it all went down without a hitch.
We are only two guys taking one canoe for over 400 kilometres through some of the most remote, desolate places ontario has to offer, and we wanted to make sure we did everything right…..theres no help out there if we needed it, so we had to make sure we were self reliant. We did carry a SPOT messenger, but would only use it if one or both of our lives were in immediate danger. If we wrecked the canoe, or lost our gear or something like that, we would have to find a way out since our lives wouldn't be in danger at that moment. Both of us carried survival and emergency gear on our person at all times, and we knew how to use it. Both of us are experienced outdoorsman, having been born and raised in the north, we know our way around this land pretty well. We are both avid hunters, trappers, fishermen and canoeists. The bush is our home, and we only spend time in civilization because we are basically forced to lol.
Anyways, after looking at many maps and rivers, we decided to tackle the Missinaibi river. We would start on hiway 11 at Mattice, and paddle north to Moosonee. Sounds like a plan. Unlike most other canoeists (Not all), we were a little more serious about fishing. We didn't pack telescopic rods, but rather 3 piece rods made by fenwick (Methods). These were GREAT rods, nice action with good backbone for a mammoth walleye and sturgeon we were hoping to bury our hooks into.
After spending all winter with most of my gear tossed and spread out all over the basement floor (an organized mess), I finally had everything narrowed down to the final items that I would absolutely need. We each had a 115 litre backpack for our gear, and a 60L barrel for food. Careful planning for 6 months allowed all my food to be packed into my barrel which weighed in at roughly 65 pounds when fully loaded (with Ostrum Harness). My 115L eureka canoe pack held all my gear and the roll up top kept everything bone dry. This bag weighed in around 60 lbs. The 17' nova craft prospector would handle this load with ease.
Many phone calls later with Ian, we think we have everything figured out and planned, right down to the last detail. As the launch day gets closer, we get uncontrollably anxious, its like nothing I've felt before. The anticipation of pushing off, and not seeing another soul for weeks as we push our way down this mighty river, through some of the most beautiful of canadian boreal forest, was unreal to say the least. That feeling was with me day and night, at home and at work. It was getting to the point of being dangerous to me lol. I was lacking sleep from excitement, and day dreaming at work, which can be dangerous in my trade. I tried my hardest to stay focused, but with my dream trip about to happen in a few weeks time, it was extremely difficult.
As the days passed by, the trip was getting closer. Within the last week before our start date, I couldn't take it anymore. I called Ian and as we were talking, we agreed to extend our trip by adding an extra two days (which turned out to be three lol). I wanted to do this trip very badly, and 315kms was just not enough. I wanted something more. So our new start point would be roughly half way between chapleau and hearst. This is more like it. I would have liked to start right from chapleau, or lake superior for that matter, but we couldn't get the time off that we would have needed to complete such a journey.
I can't ramble on anymore, so Im just gonna get right to it. We got into some really good fish, untouched by everyone except for the canoeists as this is the only way in, other than airplane. But the best spots are unknown to those who fly………if only they knew what they were missing.
Here's a few pics that I hope you enjoy, maybe you will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed the "work" involved to create them lol.
Some eaters for supper
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I didnt think we would get bass that far north, but we caught some nice ones like this, and TONS of smaller stuff. At one spot, it was literally almost one fish per cast. Never seen anything like it...
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Some of the nicer ones (All released to swim another day, and get BIGGER!!!)
Ians first cast at this location revealed a 6lb walleye (2nd pic down). A welcome sight after a long day of paddling. Many other "multi-pound" walleye were dragged out of this honey hole, as well as countless eaters (Mainly because niether of us can count higher than 4 haha just kidding).
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This was our campsite where we hit the walleye honey hole....Worst but best campsite of the whole trip if you know what I mean
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Here is one fish you guys can ID for me….Ive never seen one of these in my life, we kinda figured it was a creek chub of some sort, we caught quite a few….they were delicious.
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Here is one of our breakfasts.....Bannock.
Bring dry ingredients in a ziploc (already portion sized), add water and mix to a workable dough. Peel a tag alder, poplar, willow or whatever you have handy, and pre-heat it near the fire. Once the stick is nice and warm or even hot, roll the dough out into a long slender "tube" about 1" thick. Wrap the dough around the stick in a spiral and place the stick back in the ground near the fire. There you have a very easy breakfast. Top with peanut butter and jam, (I like just peanut butter), and make yourself a coffee or tea and you have yourself a gourmet breakfast lol. Doesnt look like much, but I had a hard time eating it all. (One per person)
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This is how we got our water for the duration of the trip. During the hot sunny days, we would go through quite a bit of water, and if we pulled over everytime we needed a drink, we would have gotten nowhere. So one guy would pump using an MSR mini works filter (Which work fantastic), while the other guy would paddle. These little filters (Pressurized chamber pushing water through a ceramic filter) are in-valuable on trips like this. You couldnt possibly carry the amount of water needed, and this is the safest way other than boiling....but obviously we didnt have time for that.
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A few pics from the statue in Mattice when we arrived three days into our trip.
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This is how the guy in the front, gets to be the guy in the back (without switching seats). I was the bow operator for the trip, and I wanted to paddle stern sometimes, so I sat on he nose, while Ian either pumped water, cooked bannock in a frying pan, or made us some JELLO PUDDIN!!! Ian was designated CANOE CHEF!!!
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Sometimes Ian would not make me anything to eat, so I was left to fend for myself....And it should be noted that the other main reason we never pulled over for lunch during the day, was MOSQUITOS. The bugs on this trip in early june were INSANE. We were paddling right through the heart of the james bay lowlands...Swamp, standing water, MUSKEG, moss, its basically mosquito heaven.
So in desperation for food, I needed to get to my food barrel which was closer to Ian than it was to me. He left me no other choice
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Sometimes we had too much fun.....Here I am in my boxers, with my burnt socks, releasing a fish....lol (we found a dead fish folks, no worries haha)
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This is me on day 3 I believe....Felt like I got run over by a truck, headache, runny nose, sore all over. And no, it wasnt the water, must have picked up something when we were in mcdonalds during our last night in town (kapuskasing). Was tough sleeping that night, soaked my whole sleeping bag with sweat, I guess I had a fever. It slowed me down physically, but not mentally. I was still having a great time, and enjoying everything this river had to offer.
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This is the set of rapids right before our campsite on that same night. Picture was taken from the same spot as the one above, just turned to the left (We were on an island when I was laying down in the pic above). We would have ran these rapids if it werent so close to dark. If something happened at that time of night, it may have been a tough night getting everything out of the river, and all our gear back to a campsite. Not something I really wanted to be doing when I had almost zero energy. SO we passed, and lined the canoe down the opposite side of the island where it was quieter.
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Getting some hang time in the prospector
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Here we are messing around, before bringing the canoe high and dry for the night
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And some scenic pics
Entrance to Hells Gate canyon
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Gravestone many miles from nowhere. Pretty cool (you can google this if you want to read about it. I think there is some info and controversy about this guy)
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Over 1km of swifts and "Class I Tech" rapids...required a scout of top section, ran, then pulled out in an eddy (bailed water from the bottom of the canoe), and scouted the lower section before running as well. Fun stuff!!
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Arctic Tern eggs!
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Here is the lovely day of portaging…..20-25kms worth. YEEEEEHAWWWW!!!!!!
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Here is some of the company we had (Pretty much everyday!)
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So Ian is pretty much a bear whisperer haha….He called this one right in, we had him swimming across the river directly towards us. Yes folks, if someone says you can't call a bear, they don't know bears! Just look at his eyes, he wanted to come pay us a visit!
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Here is a pic of me playing an active role in wildlife conservation… Do you part to keep our heritage alive folks, Feed the bugs so other carnivores can live happily ever after!
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This is the beginning of the MOOSE RIVER. Its a huge river, with unbelievable current. You would think a river that averages over 1km wide, and up to over 5km at the widest part, would have slow to non-existent current....Well you would be wrong. Terribly wrong. Some sections of this river where the nearest bank was almost a kilometer away, had us navigating some solid class III sized waves (Without the technical part of dodging rocks and ledges obviously). It was a little scary to be honest. The thought of swamping way the hell out here didnt seem like a good thing. Especially trying to fight that current. It almost catches you off guard. You are so used to paddling a big river, with fast current, but all of a sudden there is a channel (unknown to you) right below your boat and all the water is being pushed through it, creating these 3-4 foot swells. Basically a wavetrain in the middle of the river. Kept our hearts pumping, and really made us pay attention to what the heck we were doing. I may be able to get a snapshot of the wave action from one of mine or Ian's gopro videos for you guys to see. That bridge you see is the ONR's "Moose River Crossing".
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Here is Moosonee on the horizon (look closely)
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And here we are, at our destination 13 days later!!
Ian bringing the canoe across town to the train station. He told me he got some strange looks from some folks, and some other people seemed to give a nod of approval lol.
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Here is a view of the mighty Moose from the polar bear express on the way back home
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That about wraps it up!!! Hope you all enjoy the pics, and somewhat chopped up story about it! With any luck, next year we'll hit the 1000km mark on Ontario's longest river……Stay tuned lol
