You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?

8/27/2015 12:25 pm  #1


Smoke-Bonnechere-Head-Cache Loop

Hey everyone!

Mid October, 3 of us are planning on doing Smoke, Ragged, Big Porc to Bonnechere (Night 1), to Phipps, Kirkwood, Pardee, Harness to Head (Night 2 & 3), seeing as how we have the time and are up for it, instead of doing the 1600m to Cache, we figured it would be much more scenic and fun to do Head Cr /Madawaska to Cache, Sherrif Pond to Little Head (Night 4), to Kootchie back to Smoke.

My questions is: Is Head Cr/Madawaska up to Cache doable in mid October? How is the paddle up stream at that time of year?

Thank you!

Last edited by MatteoP (8/27/2015 12:48 pm)

 

8/27/2015 3:56 pm  #2


Re: Smoke-Bonnechere-Head-Cache Loop

I would like to know the same thing.  I've decided to do a similar loop the last few days of September, but start/finishg from Cache and looping down through North Grace.  The creeks add 2-1/2 hours to the last day, but they look more interesting than the portage.

 

8/28/2015 7:14 am  #3


Re: Smoke-Bonnechere-Head-Cache Loop

Just a reminder that water levels can vary dramatically by late summer and into fall. Neeland experienced them in his September 2012 trip .. https://neelands.smugmug.com/Canoe-trips/Ragged-Big-Porcupine-Lakes/ 

Here's a shot he took on that trip of the Ragged Lake approach to the portage to Big Porc, followed a shot I took of the situation in late June of this year ...



 

8/28/2015 7:31 am  #4


Re: Smoke-Bonnechere-Head-Cache Loop

Thank you Barry! I guess only time will tell...

     Thread Starter
 

8/28/2015 10:01 am  #5


Re: Smoke-Bonnechere-Head-Cache Loop

Water levels are definitely in flux even as we speak, and it's not as simply linear as water getting lower throughout the summer. If you look at the park advisories map, the west end and corridor are covered with low water advisories that went up before all the rain the park got last week. As I mentioned on the Trip Reports forum, the advisory for the pond between Parkside Bay and Claude Lake was removed after I paddled through it and reported my easy trip to the park. So some of the other "low water" ponds and creeks may have filled up as well but without being reported. Hard to say what the fall will bring, it's often at least a little rainy, which would help.

Having said all that, even with all the low water advisories up this month there was none for Head Creek or the upper Mad, and especially the latter is very easy to monitor. So maybe they're not so susceptible to low water. And if you do hit impossible sections of the Mad, you can portage parts of the bike trail (a nice, flat, obstacle-free rail bed) past it; if Head is impassable, you haven't invested much yet and you can turn back and take the portage to Cache.

I've paddled the Mad from Lo2R to Cache, it was June and there were certainly no low water issues, but it's a twisty and sometimes confusing creek that can take a lot of time, though I *think* the worst parts were downstream of where you'll be, could be remembering wrong. Give yourself an early start that day.

 

8/28/2015 10:05 am  #6


Re: Smoke-Bonnechere-Head-Cache Loop

Will do! Thank you.

     Thread Starter
 

Board footera

LNT Canada is a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting responsible outdoor recreation through education, research and partnerships.