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Hi all - looking for some trip planning advice.
My girlfriend and I are planning a 4 night trip starting from Access Point 3 (Magnetawan), down the Petawawa to McIntosh Marsh/Grassy Bay, over to Brule Lake, up To Rain Lake, then back to the same access point. 
We're looking for some advice as to whether or not this trip is doable in four nights. Our biggest concern is the day from Brule to Rain Lake, and that lesser maintained portage. The Ontario Parks reservation site gives a pop up warning when I try to go from Brule to Rain in one day. We're planning on going in August, so hopefully that portage will be mostly clear by then. Do you think we'll be able to get there in one day?
Regarding our experience level, we have no concerns about paddling long distances, but we try not to push ourselves too much on a portage (but we are ok with some difficulty). We completed the Rock-Louisa Loop last year, and the 3km portage at the end of our trip, with little difficulty. Open to any other comments or suggestions about this route. If four nights is not doable, we're open to completing it in five instead.
Last edited by benji (1/24/2021 12:02 pm)
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Based on your description of abilities That’s very doable in 4 nights. It’s a great section of the park.
You won’t regret adding a rest day in there. Perhaps move night two onto white trout and spend 2 nights there.
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I did a similar route in 2019 except instead of going to Brule I went back up through Timberwolf. You can see the full trip report here:
I did it in 5 nights but I spent 3 nights on White Trout, so 4 travel days total (with double carrying each portage).
I don't know about the section of the route from McIntosh > Brule > Rain, but distance wise it should definitely be doable especially if you're single carrying.
If you don't want to push yourself too hard on the portaging like you mentioned, maybe cut out Brule and do the loop that I did (circle back up through Timberwolf/Misty). The 3km from Louisa > Rock you're using for reference is long, but it's an easy portage... I would guess the unmaintained portages on your planned route will be more difficult than that one. Plus this trip has a lot more portages than the Rock > Louisa loop which you should factor in... all of the loading/unloading, flipping the canoe etc. is more tiresome if you need to do it 20 times vs 5 times.
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trippythings wrote:
I did a similar route in 2019 except instead of going to Brule I went back up through Timberwolf. You can see the full trip report here:
I did it in 5 nights but I spent 3 nights on White Trout, so 4 travel days total (with double carrying each portage).
I don't know about the section of the route from McIntosh > Brule > Rain, but distance wise it should definitely be doable especially if you're single carrying.
If you don't want to push yourself too hard on the portaging like you mentioned, maybe cut out Brule and do the loop that I did (circle back up through Timberwolf/Misty). The 3km from Louisa > Rock you're using for reference is long, but it's an easy portage... I would guess the unmaintained portages on your planned route will be more difficult than that one. Plus this trip has a lot more portages than the Rock > Louisa loop which you should factor in... all of the loading/unloading, flipping the canoe etc. is more tiresome if you need to do it 20 times vs 5 times.
I thought the distance looked doable too, but when I double checked by going to the Ontario Parks reservation site, it gave me one of those distance warnings between Brule and Rain. I guess the system considers worst case if we'd end up double carrying on a lesser maintained route?
I'd hope it would be a bit better maintained by August.
Also - based on your trip report and that you went upstream, I gather this section of the Petawawa is quite still? I'm aware it's nothing like the rapid area of the Petawawa, but I thought there'd still be some movement to the river.
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I thought the distance looked doable too, but when I double checked by going to the Ontario Parks reservation site, it gave me one of those distance warnings between Brule and Rain. I guess the system considers worst case if we'd end up double carrying on a lesser maintained route?
I'd hope it would be a bit better maintained by August.
Also - based on your trip report and that you went upstream, I gather this section of the Petawawa is quite still? I'm aware it's nothing like the rapid area of the Petawawa, but I thought there'd still be some movement to the river.
No idea how the system determines when to give a warning, but a lot of the time it just doesn't make sense. Rock > North Grace is 5hrs if you single carry (8hrs if double carry) and it won't let you book that at all. But Canoe > Otterslide is 7hrs if you single carry (8hrs if double carry) and it lets you book that with a warning.
When I did that trip it was incredibly low water levels, so there was some dragging and dams to carry over, but the current was no issue at all. Even if water levels were higher, it still wouldn't be an issue.
Stick with your original route if you're ok with the number and length of portages I was just suggesting the shorter option in case you wanted something a bit easier.
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Consider camping on Misty lake vs. Misty Forks. It's a beautiful lake in the park and Misty to Grassy Bay is not a hard trek.
The first site in Grassy Bay directly south of the portage from the Pet is great, although you might want to paddle out to grab water that is easier to filter. Maybe consider getting a site on White Trout, also a beauty lake in the park with many great sites.
The cliff site on Brule is awesome, other than the box being a little less private to the main camp area than you'd like.
Looks like a great trip.
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This is doable for sure. Stayed on that site on Misty Fork back in 2011. Its not a great site but after a long day of paddling it doesn't really matter. I agree with TripperMike the site directly across from Pet portage is really nice. The Brule lake site is up about 12, from the water and makes for some tough fishing from the shore. Its a nice site and nice fire pit. Really enjoy this part of the park. Good luck with your planning!
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I've done a similar loop but started at rain. That first day is doable. Long, but doable. I would much rather opt for the bigger lakes and drop down through Queer to the Pet. That section of the Pet is meandering, monotonous and boring IMO LOL!!. Brule is a beautiful lake. Try not to remove it from the agenda. The route from Brule back to rain is pretty cool. We stopped at the Cranebill campsite for lunch.Great spot.
Last edited by Shayne74 (1/27/2021 8:34 pm)
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