I thought I would see this portage on the 1941 Arthur Brown map but it doesn't show the easternmost 20 miles of the park.   It shows Wagtail and Keneu Lake.   The western end of Eustache which should appear on the map and the portage don't appear.   The 1925 Arthur Brown map does show Eustache but not the portage.

Knox On Woods wrote:

I use the MEC silicon guide tarp the larger of the 2 sizes and it has become one of my favorite pieces of gear.  Never have I had any issues with it. lots of tie out points easy to pack up into its stuff sack with room for ropes. It has held up through heavy rains and wind leaving us dry and cozy.  I have never tried a Aqua Quest tarp but have heard good things about them as well. Just thought I would share my experience with the MEC tarp.

I have the same tarp which must be 15 or more years old and still going strong!
 

We spent Wednesday night and Thursday night last week on Rock Lake.   This is normally a busy lake with the campground, dozens of leasehold cabins and of course the interior campsites.  It was a real pleasure to be there in early November and we actually never saw anyone else there during our three day stay.   We picked campsite #3 which was a beautiful site and also had the advantage of providing a view of the early sunrise and sunset.  As this was to be a no portaging trip we were able to bring along our folding table and a couple of camping chairs.

On Thursday we did a day trip to Galeairy Lake.   It has been decades since I have been on that lake and I had no memory that there are some nice campsites in the west end of the lake.  Since the lake extends out of the park to Whitney it is open to motorboats.   We did see one motorboat while we were there and I would have to assume there is a lot more boat traffic in the summer months.

There is no guarantee of good weather in November so we have been really blessed with warm weather this year through most of October and early November.

swedish pimple wrote:

 the last time i was in your hiking boots and showed up at a permit office without a permit,, the person working there handed me the phone after they dialled  the reservation number and told me to make a reservation,, just like that,, i did not feel a thing!!!   
     perhaps things have changed,, and this was pre covid 

Permit offices should be able to issue a permit without a prior reservation but I can see a trend away from providing that service as a way to streamline the operations of the permit offices.   We were at Sandbanks PP recently and I believe they had signage indicating that you had to have a booking before coming to the gate.   Considering how busy that park is I can see them not wanting to have to deal with people who don't already have a reservation.  Kind of annoying having to pay a reservation fee knowing they are not full.

We also saw this in Nova Scotia the year before Covid.   The park attendant could not give us a site -- we had to go into a room beside the office and call the reservation service.

It was great touring the Yukon this summer.   All campsites are available first come first served (no reservation system) and only $20 a night which included firewood.
 

It sure is nice that information about the ice conditions is much more readily available than it was a few decades ago.   I remember coming up to Algonquin the first weekend in May one year in the 1980's to go backpacking on the Highland Trail and finding that the lakes were still ice covered.  I saw a few cars on the highway carrying canoes and one couple went out on the Highland Trail using the canoe packs they had and leaving their canoe on their vehicle in the parking lot.

Opalescent

RobW wrote:

We portaged the next rapid which is Little Thompson, but it has me thinking more of getting a different canoe for whitewater trips.



 

Your boat did look a little small for the load you had.   The boat my wife and I were paddling when we saw you preparing to depart from the Travers access point was a Swift Yukon which is a whitewater design intended for long whitewater trips.  It's a pretty big canoe and while it has never been on a whitewater trip it is a good boat for family trips or no-portaging trips where we want to carry a lot of extra stuff.

Many years ago I did that route as a day trip early in October.  Water levels were good on Rock Creek.   Instead of portaging to Gordon Lake I continued down Rock Creek figuring that if things got too dicey I would be close to the road.   It was more beaver dams followed by a short swift until I came to one beaver dam where the creek made a sharp right turn downstream.  Regrettably I did not scout around the corner before running it and there was enough of a dropoff that I wound up going for a swim.   fortunately, that was the last obstacle on the creek and after a short paddle I was back at the car and changed into dry clothes. I'd certainly choose the creek route again, albeit with more care, than the over 2km of portaging via Gordon Lake.