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Hi All,
Was a member here a few years back and enjoyed the board and members. Like the new format now and getting the mid winter itch to do some planning for next years trips. My wife and I started an annual 4-6 night trip in May approximately 5 years ago. Each year we experiment with new routes and love to get into the heart of the park for its remoteness and perhaps even sample the local trout population. This year I have planned a route we have been looking at for a few years and would be looking for any advice from those of you who have travelled it.
Day 1; Water Taxi up Opeongo through Crow River and camp on Hogan
Day 2: Down the Little Madawaska to Radiant
Day 3: Down the Petawawa to the Crow and Up to Lavaque
Day 4: Lavaque to Lavieille
Day 5: Lavielle to Dickson
Day 6: Dickson to Opeongo and Wtaer taxi Out.
Looking for any thoughts / suggestions / considerations for the loop. Unfortunately given our schedules we will likely be heading in May 1st which is earlier than normal but with this winter so far compared to the last two I am less concerned - assuming / anticipating ice out / peak freshet occurs mid - April. We have completed all parts previously with the exception of Phillip to Lavaque stretch but always looking for suggestions. I have tried to put the push on the miles for days 1 to 3 and then have very easy days at the end in case we have a windbound day we could always make up the time at the end. Anyone have experience either going down the Pet or up the Crow that early in the season? We would be portaging everything to keep things as safe as possible given the cold water temps. Any standout campsite along the route?
Thanks in advance and looking forward to contributing to the board again.
Jon P
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Hi jonp. That's a great route you have planned. I did a good chunk of that route last year on two separate trips. The Opeongo/Proulx portage is a good one and you should be into Big Crow in about 3 hours max. The portage into Hogan is also pretty good but you'll be doing more uphill walking than down.
I haven't done the Little Madawaska in years but i do remember it being a beautiful paddle and the portage into Radiant is a good one being downhill all the way. Radiant is a great lake and I enjoy the beach sites on the north side of the lake. The old Odenback station area is also good to explore.
You could run some of the rapids down to the Crow River junction if you have experience doing that. The Squirrel Rapids are an easy run. The Big Saywer/Battery is technical and there could be some big waves early in the season. The Cascades/Whitehorse I've run but have also dumped right at the end. The others I've always portaged.
The Crow R. is a nice paddle but you'll be going upstream but it's definitely doable. The two big portages will be a steady uphill haul. Lavaque to Lavieille will be a really short day as it will only take you about 3 hours provided you are single carrying portages and where you end up on Lavieille. My solo trip from last year covered this section of the Crow and Lavieille so check out my blog for more detailed info.
Lavieille down to Dickson is easy provided you don't have a strong headwind. The Dickson/Bonfield portage is pretty good and one carry should take you just over an hour.
Sounds like a great trip.
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Awesome loop!!!
Regarding the Phillip to Lavaque bit. In order to get from Hogan to Radiant in a day you will probably want to camp at the east end of Hogan. From the east end it is 27km including 6 1/2k of portaging to radiant. On Radiant I would choose to camp on the north shore east of the North River.
An experienced tripper can: run Squirrel Raps; Portage Big Sawyer; run the swift at the 70m portage; Portage Cascade raps via the rail line on the north side of the river; Portage Francis; Run Kildeer.
While I haven't camped on either I have been told to pick Mallic over Lavaque for camping.
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I have done the Radiant-Lavieille section of this loop on two separate occasions, 20 years apart. What I remember from the most recent trip (2009) is the roughness of the portages along both the Pet and the Crow. Be prepared for uneven, rock strewn terrain, difficult and sometimes treacherous footing. Many of the landings and put-ins are also challenging and may be made worse by spring flood. Just some general thoughts--I also note that the 20-year gap between trips doubtless contributed to my harsher impressions the 2nd time through. Don't get me wrong though--beautiful country. There's something magical in the confluence of rivers and this section has two of them. Amazing!
I'll throw my hat in with the others re. the beach sites on the north shore of Radiant. However, some of these are more exposed than others and may be less than ideal in the event of early spring westerlies.
Enjoy!
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Thanks everyone for the great replies.
Lots of information to consider and glad that it sounds that I haven't planned a terrible route! Will definitely have to check out the site along the north side of Radiant as suggested below by all.
Tripper / Martin G - Thanks for the heads up on the rapids and we will scout based on runoff conditions, but will likely just portage to avoid risk of "dampening" an already long day.
Martin G - Yes, plan is to get to the East end of Hogan on day 1 provided the wind cooperates. We made it to the west end last year on day 1 by about 5:00pm but was running on fumes after very little sleep trying to get everything finished off to leave the day before.
Trillium 16 - Thanks for the heads up on the rockiness of the Crow / Pet portages. I have heard that about the 1210m and 2475m below Lavaque. Hopefully the easy fourth day will give us a chance to rest some sore muscles.
Now only thing to do is not go crazy waiting the 2.5 months until the trip!
Jon P
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Hey Jon. The 1210m and 2475m portages on the Crow probably have the best portage landings. Trillium is right though, some of the other along that section of the Crow have pretty poor landings. Here are the upstream and downstream landings on the 250m portage just east of Malic Lake.
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Hey there JonP - Great tour you guys are planning! I did a trip that took me most of this section 2 Summers ago and had a great trip. I've never been up the Little Mad to Radiant, and I heard it's quite the adventure. Some excellent tips on here for camp choices.
One more, if you don't make it to East Hogan would be the Island site just as you come out onto Hogan. It's hidden in behind and faces East. Great shelter and wide open area. Also a pretty nice pebble beach.
We went from Radiant to Lavieille in one day which was a 12/14 hr grind. It would have been nice to stop along the way as I heard there's some GREAT fishing opportunities on Mallic and Lavasque. We did check out both sites, and found Mallic more desirable over Lavasque.
Have a really great trip and keep us in the loop how it went!
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Thanks Tripper. I was thinking rocky portages but yep those are some pretty rocky landings as well. Guess I may need to learn how to redo the epoxy layer on my Souris River sooner than later...
JB, Thanks for the island site suggestion. We actually stayed on that first island as you come into Hogan last year (albeit on the site on the south side). I explored the site to the north of the island and agree both are great sites. Interesting as it appeared there was a ground fire through much of the island than had singed a lot of trees for a couple hundred metres in all directions (it appeared to be a least a few years ago). Pretty easy to see how it could happen with the prevailing winds down Hogan but a good reminder to make sure campfires are always attended / extinguished upon turning in for the night / leaving a site.
Thanks all for the input and discussion.
Jon P
Thread StarterThe site on the North side of the island on Hogan (the one with the staircase) did suffer a fire in I believe 2012 that was totally preventable.
Someone decided to relocate the evening campfire a little closer to the point and caught the underground root structure on fire spreading and taking down the odd tree and ground cover as it spread and surfaced and it is just a matter of time until a few more trees fall.
A shame really, for a couple of reasons, this is probably my favorite site in the Park
Here are some random shots from around the site taken the Summer of 2014.
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