Hi guys,
 
I have been very grateful for all the various trip reports that I use to research my routes and destinations so I wanted to give back by posting my first trip report.
 
The Plan:
The dog and I will drive up and pick up a canoe at Swift South River (Keewaydin 16 Kevlar Fusion ~38 pounds) when they open at 9 am Thursday May 18 then launch at Kiosk, Access 29. Paddle and portage for about 8 hours to reach the NW campsite on North Raven Lake. Stay for 3 nights and retrace our route back to Kiosk on Sunday May 21.
 
Motivation:
I like to find quite lakes all to myself and explore parts of the park that I have not seen before. Also, I prefer a single long day of travel to get in to (and out from) my destination and stay put for multiple days so I can be comfortable in my camp and relax around a roaring fire.
 
Research:
I saw North Raven Lake on Jeff’s maps and it is a good size at about 300 m by 800 m with 4 low maintenance sites. This report stated how the water was nice with a clear rocky bottom and the NW site was also nice:
 
http://www.network54.com/Forum/352882/thread/1211158751/Back+from+Birchcliffe+Cabin(5.1mb+of+images)
 
However, the “straight forward” route would take about 10 hours according to Jeff’s Maps and this trip report indicates that upper portion of Maple Creek may be choked with alder:
 
http://www.markinthepark.com/old_website/triplogs_11d9_10_11.htm
 
Perhaps alder wouldn’t be a problem in the spring? I noticed a logging road passing near North Raven Lake so I searched google satellite images and could see that there was a smaller, likely closed, logging road leading from the larger road and bisecting the Maple Creek to Skuce Lake portage. That is how I planned to get in.
 
Pre-Trip:
The first day forecast called for moderately strong winds from the SW, not good for paddling the big lake to the first portage. Also, a thunderstorm was expected around 4 pm, well before I could make it to North Raven. As a backup I checked the reservations website and noted that Enables would be totally unoccupied on the first night. The forecast for Sunday’s trip out also showed rain starting in the morning but otherwise no rain for the bulk of my stay.
 
The Trip:
The wind was strong and in my face such that I made very slow progress. After a long while I wizened up to the fact that I could make much better progress by sitting on the canoe floor in order to reduce wind resistance. I also insisted on my dog keeping her head down too. Eventually I got to where the first portage was supposed to be but I couldn’t find it. After much searching I found the sign floating in the water. Some more time revealed a slight watery path up to a muddy landing. I found it but it took 2 hours rather than the planned 1 hour.
 
I made my way down the maple creek portages where somewhere in the middle I passed a solo tripper going the other way. The dog was too laden down carrying my water, fuel, and rum to go over and be a problem. She would be the last person I saw until I was returning through Maple Lake 3 days later. Wind on Maple Lake was a bit strong but not bad. More concerning was the darkening sky. I pushed on to Erables, to the beautiful site on the eastern shore about a third of the way down the lake. The wind was getting stronger and light drops could be felt. I quickly set up the tarp and we tried to stay dry underneath with our stuff. I cursed the inexpensive nylon tarp when one of the sewn anchors ripped off, but I guess I didn’t want to pay more than twice as much for a MEC scout tarp just to get it full of burn holes. I grabbed the loose end and we huddled underneath until the storm mostly passed, about 45 minutes after it started. Stayed the night here and had a nice fire with some big dry logs that I chopped to size with my 24” Irwin Marathon saw and 28” Fiskars splitting axe.
 
The next day’s winds were less strong so I continued down into Maple Creek, hitting several blow downs and beaver dams before finding my unused logging road clearly visible (the portage is signed at the crossing) half way down the portage to Skuce Lake. The road was only about as wide as a pickup truck and much of it was covered in foot high pines. Also, there was about three blowdowns that required going around, over, or under. After about 1000 m I was at the larger logging road which was wider and seemed that it would be passable for vehicles. About half way through the required 1250 m I came to a 60 m flooded section that I thought I might be able to walk through but I changed my mind once the water came up to my knees. I was scared that there may be some kind on dip at a hidden stream bed under the murky water and I actually wondered for a while what I should do until I realized that I had a canoe on my head. Eventually I got to a big hill that kept going up and just before the top a little stream was running across and down to a lake. North Raven Lake! The hill was a little steep in parts but not bad if you followed closely to the stream, on the south side of it. I planned that this short 80 m bushwhack would require a double carry but it was doable in one. I explored the lake a bit and could not find the portage to Coral Lake. I went to my site and on this smallish lake the wind was giving me a hard time before I landed and put away the canoe for the next two nights.
 
The site was pretty good for my purposes with a nice view of the big hill. I noticed that somebody cut down the medium large tree that was clearly visible on the middle of the site’s shore line, as seen in the trip report I referenced above. The site was littered by a ton of mostly small deadfall but I had to cut and break branches from a large deadfall in order to get clear access to the thunderbox. Unfortunately the wind was a little breezy and I experienced a chilling sensation for the duration of my trip where it would come from the north east end of the lake and blow up into my site.
 
Within 15 minutes of arriving I heard a motorized vehicle, likely an ATV, on the south side of the lake along with some faint voices. The noise seemed to track up the big hill and then north on the road I had used to get in. Disappointing, but that was only disturbance I had while staying there.
 
On Sunday I left at exactly 8 am and started to feel the rain drops as I pulled up to the shore to start the bushwhack up to the road. Not far down the road I found two interesting artifacts that were not there when I passed earlier. First was a large poly tarp bundled by a rope. The second sort of looked like an ATV fender or something but I’m not sure as I didn’t stop to check it out. Perhaps these items fell off the ATV and ended up square in the middle of the road? Light rain was still falling when I reached Maple Creek so I put on pants and my bug shirt and paddled on. The short portage from Erables to Maple Lake didn’t give my arms an adequate rest so I was craving the long string of portages leading out to Kiosk. At the north end of Maple I saw a father and son at a site on shore and after going down the wrong bay I saw a guy at the portage to Maple Creek. One asked if I needed help getting out but I turned him down … I was waiting for him to go to make sure my dog wouldn’t bother him. Started down the trail and just around the corner was the guy and his buddy and they just started to head down the trail themselves. Not wanting to walk behind someone, we ran for a bit to get up well ahead and then never saw another person until we landed at Kiosk. Maple creek had very high water and had a good current such that it looked like I was flying down the creek at a very fast pace. The trip out only took 7 hours.