I'm literally incapable of taking it easy between campsites - getting to my destination is the only conceivable goal. Waterfall ten minutes off my route? Nope, not gonna happen. Set up a camera on land and film myself paddling away? That would waste time. I can't even take it easy on my campsite in the morning. I get up, eat breakfast, pack up and get on the water. Doesn't matter if it's a short travel day - I can't sit around if I have somewhere to be. 

I'm not proud of it mind you - I'd like to break this curse. But it's beyond my ability. 

As always, your writing style is a super fun and enjoyable read. Thanks for posting this Drew!

Great video. Looks like those kids had it pretty rough even before the shooting. I hope they continue to get the help they need. 

Thanks Drew! The other half of the trip will be up in a couple of hours. 

oldboyscout wrote:

I watched this on your youtube channel on the weekend!!
Excellent as always; I like your new editing style very much, even though in January I don't mind viewing three hours of trip videos at a time.

Thanks oldboyscout! It's definitely a long, long time until camping season right now. I pass the time watching trip videos and making my own, but unfortunately I didn't get many trips in last year. I'll have to make up for it this camping season!

Zemantics wrote:

I assume I'm speaking for others, as well, in saying I'm disappointed this wasn't a fishing report...

Just teasing. This is a great route. I did a few years back in reverse of yours during early May and remember thinking to myself how I wouldn't want to do the Round -> Booth direction in full foliage. The trail road along some ridges at one point that I could imagine being swallowed up by brush in full growth.

I assume you stayed on the "point site" on Round? Those other sites could use some work... 

It's been a long time since I've taken a fishing rod on a camping trip, but I've been telling myself for years that it's time to get back into it. Maybe one day it'll even happen! Yes, that's the point site on Round - as you say, the other sites leave a lot to be desired. 

As you all no doubt know, Dickson was finally reopened to camping in mid-June after a seven year closure due to a blue-green algae bloom. I decided to make a trip around that in order to spend a couple nights there. My loop was through the Shall Lake access point, with nights on Booth, Round Island, Dickson and McKaskill over six days. The portages between Booth and Round Island remained much as I remembered them from my last trip through there, with a mix of "not too bad" and "where the @#$@# is the trail?". The long portage from Round Island to Dickson was actually pretty decent, although the other direction would have been a different story. Dickson itself... eh. The lake is beautiful, but I had a hell of a time finding a campsite I wanted to spend time on. 

The only people I saw on Dickson (and I checked out pretty much every campsite on the lake) were a pair of MNR employees who had been flown in. I chatted with them for a while but didn't get into what they were doing there. Best guess is they were testing the water and probably pulling up some fish to check toxicity levels. The portages between Dickson and McKaskill are actually pretty decent, aside from some super dodgy boardwalk in places - my foot actually went through in one spot, after which I decided I'd rather trudge through the muck than break my ankle.  The portage out of McKaskill (technically out of Dove) to Shrew, one I've done before, almost broke me this time around. It was early, everything was wet, the bugs were out in force and there were a couple of nasty climbs that just killed me that morning. But all in all it was a great trip, and I ended up having a fantastic rest day on a beautiful campsite on Dickson. 

This 15 minute video covers Days 1 and 2 - the Shall Lake access point to Booth, and then on to Round Island. Part 2 will cover the rest of the trip and will be online tomorrow, I'm just finishing it up now. 

Hope you enjoy it!




 

keg wrote:

I'm not a Kayak camper but I'd take the Crow river over Opeongo and the Bonfield-Dickson.  Either way, 12 nights sound good so there's no wrong answer.

I have no issue with the Crow River, I've been up and down that a few times. But yeah, I think my logic of camping on Opeongo because I somehow feel obligated to is a little questionable. I think I'd rather stay interior. 

Evan Briden wrote:

Is there a particular reason you chose the direction of travel? I would go down the nip, and down the Pet instead. It will make a few of those portages around cedar much more enjoyable. Portaging into the Nip is also much easier coming from Whiskey Jack. It will make most of the paddling at the end of the trip into the wind though, just curious as to your decision.

Either way, looks epic, can't wait to hear about it!

The direction of travel was mostly based on the long paddle across Opeongo, where I'd much rather have the wind at my back. Since it seems likely I'll skip Opeongo entirely, I may well reverse the loop. Thanks Evan!

David Creek was barely wider than my kayak in places, but I didn't have any depth/dragging issues in mid-July (or any recollection of being close to bottoming out). The 3.5 km portage used to be a logging road. While it was well on its way to being reclaimed when I was through there it was still a very, very easy portage considering its length. You can certainly go upstream on the Tim after portaging into it it from Queer, but there's some current, it's super windy, and there will be some obstacles. 

Of the two routes David Creek and the 3.5 km portage is probably the easier and shorter of the two, unless David Creek ends up being dry of course - but that's pretty unlikely if you're planning a spring trip.