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3/02/2016 12:22 pm  #1


Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

Hey guys.

Long time lurker, I've been camping my whole life and did my first portage/canoe trip in algonquin last year with some buds. We put in at achray, and came out at A38. We took 4 days to explore and take our time, no portages were too long and we enjoyed every minute of it. (Although now we know to pack lighter ;)) We loved the falls, the canyon, the park, really grateful for the help/advice you guys gave me as a community on the last trip in regards to equipment, location, rentals etc.

Now we are looking to plan our next adventure.

Since we were mostly on lakes last time, we would really love to get to experience river canoeing.

Option 1: TIm River. We would put in at acces 2, make our way to rosebary,and possibly out to shippagew. What I am wondering is how much time approximately would it take day wise at a comfortable pace to make it to shippagew? Also, is the current strong? Can we simply paddle back down the tim.

Another option would be the Petawawa river. But from what I`ve heard it is quite quick and dangerous? we are mediocre paddlers.

I have also heard good stuff about crow river. Yet again my knowledge is very limited.


Any input on our loop, or a great river loop would be amazing.

thanks in advance for the help

Rob
 

 

3/02/2016 1:55 pm  #2


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

The Tim River has little current and can easily be paddled both directions, if anything what you'd worry about is certain sections being very narrow and clogged during the low-water season.

For the Petawawa you'd have to be more specific. The Petawawa runs across the entire park, and develops from a quiet marshy creek with little current in the west to a large moving river with some intense rapids in the east. Safety isn't so much the issue since all the rapids have portages you can use to bypass them if you're not skilled in whitewater canoeing, but if that's the case, it's not going to be much fun doing a section of the Pet that's more portaging than paddling for you.

Edited to add: For specific recommendations, tell us how long your trip would be, when in the year if that's decided, whether or not you want a loop route, and where you're coming from... if you went to Achray before and are now considering the Tim, that means you're fine with both the east and west ends of the park, even though it probably makes something like a 3 hour difference to your driving time?

Last edited by DanPM (3/02/2016 1:59 pm)

 

3/02/2016 2:09 pm  #3


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

Here's my response on the other forum you posted on.

The Tim River is one of my favourite small rivers. Here's a full description.
http://myselfreliance.com/tim-river-alg ... cial-park/
https://www.facebook.com/algonquinparklakesandrivers/

Another option in the park is the Nipissing River.
http://myselfreliance.com/tim-river-spr ... rip-day-1/

If you're not experienced with whitewater rivers, even if just landing at portages above rapids, then I suggest staying away from the lower Petawawa. The upper Pet is fine.

 

3/02/2016 4:26 pm  #4


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

DanPM wrote:

The Tim River has little current and can easily be paddled both directions, if anything what you'd worry about is certain sections being very narrow and clogged during the low-water season.

For the Petawawa you'd have to be more specific. The Petawawa runs across the entire park, and develops from a quiet marshy creek with little current in the west to a large moving river with some intense rapids in the east. Safety isn't so much the issue since all the rapids have portages you can use to bypass them if you're not skilled in whitewater canoeing, but if that's the case, it's not going to be much fun doing a section of the Pet that's more portaging than paddling for you.

Edited to add: For specific recommendations, tell us how long your trip would be, when in the year if that's decided, whether or not you want a loop route, and where you're coming from... if you went to Achray before and are now considering the Tim, that means you're fine with both the east and west ends of the park, even though it probably makes something like a 3 hour difference to your driving time?

Thanks for the advice about the petawawa. I'll have to take a look at where it starts on the west side to see if theres a good potential route for us. You're entirely right about the east side of the Petawawa though, we aren't interested  in spending more time portaging then paddling. No white water experience so we prefer to stay away.

The trip will be 4-5 days, depending on which route we choose to do, 5 days being the maximum. Doesn't matter to us whether its a loop or we have to trek back where we came from. 

Honestly Travel distance/time isn't a factor in this trip. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to achray from ottawa, and google maps says about 5hours to get to access point 2. 1.5 hours extra is doable for us. If we need to drive a few extra hours to get the trip we want (mostly calm river) we are definately ready to do so.

We will be doing the trip in spring.. mid/end of may at the absolute latest.

Another river I will be doing a bit of research on is the Nipissing, someone else suggested it
Thanks for the help!

Rob


 

Last edited by guitarsandcanoes (3/02/2016 4:27 pm)

     Thread Starter
 

3/02/2016 4:27 pm  #5


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

My Self Reliance wrote:

Here's my response on the other forum you posted on.

The Tim River is one of my favourite small rivers. Here's a full description.
http://myselfreliance.com/tim-river-alg ... cial-park/
https://www.facebook.com/algonquinparklakesandrivers/

Another option in the park is the Nipissing River.
http://myselfreliance.com/tim-river-spr ... rip-day-1/

If you're not experienced with whitewater rivers, even if just landing at portages above rapids, then I suggest staying away from the lower Petawawa. The upper Pet is fine.

 

Thanks for the info! I will be checking these tonight

     Thread Starter
 

3/02/2016 4:38 pm  #6


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

For the upper (western) reaches of the Petawawa, you'd most likely start from Magnetawan (access point 3, which is near 2), head through Hambone and Daisy, and proceed down the Pet. Very nice area in the spring with lots of wildlife. If you wanted to you could make a loop or a partial loop incorporating pieces of the Petawawa, the Tim, and/or McIntosh Creek.

I've also done a loop from the Tim access point, north to Big Bob, then down the Nipissing, up Loontail and Latour Creeks to Rosebary Lake, then rup the Tim River back to the access point. Lots of calm river travel, but I didn't like it, because that section of the Nipissing (between the Big Bob portage and Loontail Creek) is so choked up with alders it feels like a bushwhack. Maybe in May it will feel less oppressive with less leaves out, or maybe it's been cut back a bit, I don't know. For my part I probably won't do that section of the Nip again... if I wanted to head farther downstream on the Nip, I'd use the Tim and Latour/Loontail to get there.

Last edited by DanPM (3/02/2016 4:38 pm)

 

3/17/2016 9:25 am  #7


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

Hopefully this will count as an acceptable hijacking of this thread. I'm planning a trip on the Tim River and didn't want to start a parallel thread when this one is already here.

My plan is to do a 4 night trip with my buddy to do some trout fishing on April 23 - 26. I was thinking we would camp on Tim Lake on the 22nd (no fishing obviously). Make camp on Rosebary on the 23rd, and Sittingman Lake on the 24th. Our final night on the 25th will be back on Rosebary and then out of the park on the 26th. 

Any thoughts on this plan for that time of year? Things we should be aware of? Should we expect lots of traffic on the water? Also, would you make any adjustments to the trip? We are certainly capable of travelling a much further distance, and if we would likely have better fishing and/or more beautiful sights I would be happy to do so. 

Appreciate any of your thoughts.

 

3/17/2016 3:40 pm  #8


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

RC; I found the river between Tim lake and Rosebary very winding, very narrow in places and lots of beaver dams to cross, so fairly slow travel from Tim lake. The short portage has one quite steep side.Took us about 3/12 hours  to paddle.This was last fall in good water levels. Can't speak to any other part, as our destination was Rosebary.

 

3/17/2016 4:14 pm  #9


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

Very little traffic on those dates.  Don't expect to catch much on that route though, except maybe on Sittingman.

 

3/17/2016 5:27 pm  #10


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

My Self Reliance wrote:

Very little traffic on those dates. Don't expect to catch much on that route though, except maybe on Sittingman.

Would there not be some brookie action along the Tim itself in places? I've heard of some big lakers in Rosebary, though probably not in high numbers.

 

3/17/2016 6:40 pm  #11


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

​There are brookies between Tim and Rosebary. While it wasn't me, this beauty was caught along that stretch. 



If you are spending some time on Sittingman or perhaps a little further on, and you're feeling adventurous look North of the canoe route. Some good lakes and creeks in the area. 

 

3/17/2016 9:43 pm  #12


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

My Self Reliance wrote:

Very little traffic on those dates. Don't expect to catch much on that route though, except maybe on Sittingman.

On your website you write, "It's scenic, secluded with less traffic than other locations in the park, full of Brook Trout, harbours plentiful wildlife and is surrounded by beautiful forests." To be honest this description is one of the things that made me consider this route for my destination. Is it only further along the Tim that this becomes true?

MartinG wrote:

If you are spending time on Sittingman or perhaps a little further on, and you are feeling adventurous look North of the canoe route. Some good lakes and creeks in the area.

Thank you for the heads up. We would definitely be able to make our way into Devine lake and depending on conditions could even try to make our way into Saw-Whet Lake. From what I can tell from Jeff's Map these are the only relatively close lakes that also hold fish. Are they the ones you were thinking of?


Thanks for all the replies everyone.

 

3/18/2016 8:33 am  #13


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

Jeff's fishing notes are the result of input from a bunch of different resources including ministry data and individual experience. They are not exhaustive. All I am saying, is that by being creative you can access some potentially productive spots that receive very little pressure. 

 

3/18/2016 9:44 am  #14


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

"On your website you write, "It's scenic, secluded with less traffic than other locations in the park, full of Brook Trout, harbours plentiful wildlife and is surrounded by beautiful forests." To be honest this description is one of the things that made me consider this route for my destination. Is it only further along the Tim that this becomes true?"

Hehe, what Martin says. 🙂  Seek and ye shall find.

While I'm sure those first two lakes cough up trout to the dedicated or lucky, I wouldn't consider them "fishing" destinations.  Beautiful and lots of wildlife though. 
The creeks and rivers are good, but think of them more like southern Ontario rivers and fish them stealthily. You will be rewarded if you can do that and other canoes don't spook the trout.  The suckers will be spawning, so don't get too excited when you see some trout sized fish swim under the boat!  Brookies will feed on sucker roe, which could give you an indication of where and how to fish - or not.

 

3/18/2016 2:37 pm  #15


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

The various rivers of the interior typically offer the highest number of trout caught per rod-hour of time fished.  You will generally find the smaller rivers hold smaller trout and as the river grows in size, the biomass will support larger trout. So as you get towards the geographic center of the park the Nipissing, Tim, Crow and Petawawa can hold a fair number of fish, some of them of good sized.  The Tim might be the exception to this...I've not traveled it upstream of Shippagew but I expect that the fish in there are somewhat smaller since the "river" appears more to be a "stream".

To compensate for "small" fish, we normally fish with ultralight tackle - if you do luck into a lake trout it makes for a great battle and the small 10" trout put up a respectable fight with 4 lb. test and a spinner, small tube jig or tiny stick bait.  The other benefit of ultralight...they are small, compact and lightweight to portage so every bit of your fishing tackle takes on a portage-friendly characteristic.

The lakes require patience, skill and luck to hit trout.  Some days are good, others challenging.  We've found our best luck around dusk and dawn...which often fits in well to tripping timing.  Fish at first light, return to break camp, travel and troll (with occasional casts at "hot" looking spots), make camp, have dinner and head out to fish again.  The warmer the water, the deeper you need to fish.  April/May - usually within 3-10' of the surface, July/August - as deep as 15-40' may be required.  Also, use your observation of above-water terrain that might indicate submerged terrain...so a peninsula that projects out into the lake likely continues further underwater and could be a good point to troll over or cast/jig around since trout will come to the structure that attracts bait fish.

We use all barbless (pinch the barbs down with needle-nosed pliers) and release at least 90% of the trout we catch; also, handle the fish with a wet hand and avoid removing them from the water for anything more than a brief moment for a quick snapshot.

 

3/18/2016 8:38 pm  #16


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

You're no fun

 

3/31/2016 12:29 pm  #17


Re: Tim River Questions/Trip suggestions

You mentioned possibly trying the Crow river; Given your self-described inexperience I'd leave that trip for a few years down the road.  The stretch from Proulx to Little Crow is nice and slow but by the time you get to the east side of Lavieille....well I have some pictures somewhere of my group "portaging" in waist-high water because of how high the river rises in the spring... it can be quite challenging. 

 

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