I came up with the idea for this trip over the winter when I first got a look at Jeff’s V6 maps. On the map was a new note about the Chit Lake Cabin.



I have been intrigued with the area for years. It’s such a large part of the Park with no routes going through it. My dad talked about cross country skiing in the area around the wildlife research station in the 80’s. I’ve also heard anecdotal stories that the area is crisscrossed with trails from generations of field research. The route I always imagined starts at Hailstorm Bay on Lake Opeongo. Bushwacking through to Hailstorm and Crossbill lakes, before paddling down the North Madawaska. Honestly, it looks rough. The bushwhacks would be passing through some pretty low country. Likely to be covered in dense Alder, Black Spruce and Balsam.

Jeff’s v6 map shows another possibility. One new feature of the map is the varying width of creeks and rivers. The thickness of a creeks line on the map provides a clue to the navigability of the creek. Previous trips on similar creeks told me Red Fox Creek was big enough to float a boat. That combined with aerial imagery convinced me that this route to the cabin was worth a try.



It didn’t take too many messages back and forth with Peek to convince him to join me. After all, this is the only remaining cabin in the Park that Peek hasn’t seen.

We knew this trip had to take place right after ice out. We needed high water in the creeks and wanted to hit the bush before any leaves were out. So, in mid April Peek and I set out on the Quest for Chit Lake Cabin. Starting quite inauspiciously at the Algonquin Sanitation Station. The trip kicked off with a 4.4 km portage. We saddled up in the parking lot that only weeks earlier had been used by Snow Forest Adventures as the coral space for Dog Sledding Tours.



The portage is long but otherwise not bad. Peek and I were packing light. We single carried everything. Swapping the boat back and forth every kilometre or so. Jeffs Map mentions a creek without a bridge that you have to cross. This is a significant creek. I can’t imagine there was ever a bridge across it.



A short while later we crossed another creek with fast moving water. This one could remain open all year. Which might be why there is a Dog Sled camp just west of the trail where it crosses the creek.







It took us about an hour and a half to get to Black Fox Lake. We toured the lake to mark the campsite and mark the portage over to Silver Fox Lake for Jeff. Not much to report about either of these lakes. The campsite is meh at best. 



The next portage between Black Fox and Red Fox is pretty easy. Most of it is on an old road. At the end of the road the portage goes down a steep hill and into a thicket of dense trees before putting in at Red Fox Lake. Red Fox Lake was quite pretty with big hills on either side of this very small lake. A small clear creek opens east of the lake and meanders into an enticing looking valley. Whenever I see these creeks I want to explore them. Wondering what is beyond each turn as it burrows deeper into the valley beyond.



I paddled the Creek between Red Fox and Hiram Lake. Peek walked the portage, marking it for Jeff. The creek is beautiful! Small metal squares nailed to trees indicate it is part of a winter trail network for the Dog Sledding Groups. I imagine this would be a great spot for Brook Trout in a few weeks time.



We camped on the point site on Hiram Lake. An Okay little site. It has a decent but small fire pit and space for two semi level small tents. Directly across the lake from our site we could see a large clearing. But there wasn’t a marked campsite at that spot. Intrigued, we paddled over and discovered a very large Dog Sled Camp. 4 large canvas tents on wood platforms and a couple of dozen kennels. Interesting and very significant operation. I felt a little bad for Snow Forest Adventures. They must invest so much time, money and resources into the dogsledding tours in Algonquin. Only to get shit winters like our last one. Seems like a short ‘growing season’ and a tough way to make a living. 







Staving off the chill as temps dropped down to -4 that night. 

The next day we broke camp and headed towards White Gull Lake. The campsite at the Hiram side of the Portage has been obliterated by a fire. It looks like lightning took it out years ago. It should be removed from the map. Not a viable place to stay.





The trail to White Gull is again pretty easy and open. I thought this lake was the nicest of the route. A big lake compared to the others. It is at the height of the watershed and is surrounded by hills. The one campsite on White Gull is small but nice. It has a great little fire pit and good rocks for sunning on or swimming from. The water was much clearer than Hiram or the Fox lakes. If you are up for the hike in, this would be a great place to get some solitude for a few days.  





After White Gull the bushwhacking begins. The trails to Twinstone and Dutchboy are clearly used in the winter. Again metal signs mark them for use by Dog Sleds. But there is a reason why the trail to Twinstone is only used in the winter. It goes through a swamp. And the Twinstone end is on a floating bog. There was no way to get around the waterlogged ground. I had drypants on so it didn’t bother me but Peek had to walk through a swamp of freezing cold ankle deep water. Twinstone itself is tiny but interesting. Both sides of the lake are flanked by giant rocks.


Trail to Twinstone



This boat is not on dry ground.

The portage from Twinstone to Dutchboy was more challenging. Both ends are easy and clear to see. But the middle is a bit of a mess. Blowdowns have obliterated parts of the trail. And it did not take the straight route we expected. After a few detours we found the end of the trail and were on Dutchboy in good time. Dutchboy is sort of a non lake. Nothing to look at or talk about. We didn’t really find the portage out of Dutchboy.  Again, downed trees obscured the original routes. We just crashed 50 metres or so to the road. 

The next section of our route was easy. 2-3km of walking on level, clear solid roads. We switched the boat back and forth and enjoyed walking on crushed leaves through an open forest for 45 minutes or so. Eventually the roads end. The last part of our route involved side hilling off trail towards Penaish Creek. 







We wanted to stay clear of the low lying area around the creek. We found and followed very old logging and animal trails. Eventually the steep sides of the valley forced us down into the thicket beside the creek. Luckily as we got pushed down into the valley, low and behold, a footpath. Clearly more than just an animal trail. At one time or another this must have been a portage or trail to Penaish lake. We followed the path until we could see Onaway Lake, then crashed through some blowdown until we arrived at the shore. Success! I expected this to be the most difficult part of the trip. It had been less than 2 hours since we left Dutchboy Lake. There couldn’t have been a better outcome for such an unknown route.



The next stage of out trip was to paddle down Penaish Creek, Red Fox Creek and the North Madawaska River. As anticipated the creek itself was fine. For the most part a nice open paddle all the way to Chit Lake. There is a rough spot where Penaish Creek joins RedFox Creek. Alder closes in on the river blocking the way forward. Thankfully that only happened on a handful of occasions. With dry pants on I was able to get out, wade the boat and force it through the most difficult spots. There were also a couple of swifts and beaver dams to navigate but nothing unusual. 



Most of the little lakes along the route were beautiful. Often with towering hills on one or more sides of the lake. It took very little time before we found our selves on the section of creek that was supposed to be home to the cabin. We paddled past the spot where it was marked on the map. At first we though maybe we missed it. Or perhaps it had been removed. But after a few more bends in the creek it came into view about 800 metres further down the river.





The cabin is perched on a hill at a bend in the river by a small rapid. It is positioned perfectly to provide a spectacular view worthy of a Tom Thomson painting. While the cabin is used by the wildlife research station we couldn’t find much more information about it. There is no guest or log book with a history of the place. It doesn’t appear in Sandy Gage’s book, "A Few Rustic Huts". A plaque on the side of the cabin speaks of reconstruction in 2006. It clearly has a new floor, new windows and a new roof. But it looks a bit like a job abandoned before completion. There is no door or deck at the front. The wood stove hasn’t been connected. Gables ends and window framing incomplete. I hope someone is taking this project to completion. It is a beautiful spot. Would be a shame to see it fall into disrepair.



We took a break to eat at the cabin before pushing on. But while we were there a snow squall came through and we were treated to two different seasons inside of an hour or so. It was magical.





Shortly after we packed up and headed downstream. It was only 6km to the wildlife research station on Sasajewan Lake. Downstream of the cabin and for the next couple of kilometers Fox Creek turns into shallow, rocky, unrunnable rapids. We briefly looked for a portage. There were a number of trails that lead away from the cabin, perpendicular to the creek. But nothing obvious running alongside the creek. So, we started down the river. Hoping to run, wade or line what we could.





It became obvious after a short distance that this was not going to be easy. We had to grind out some terribly rocky bushwhack portages and wade or line in the frigid water. Just before a left turn in the river we finally found a trail on the north side. It was a clear well used trail. Lots of blow downs but obviously the path people use to get to the cabin. Once on this trail it took us no time to portage down stream past the remaining rapids to a wetland where Red Fox Creek flows into the North Madawaska river.





After joining the river it is an easy paddle to Sasajewun Lake. There were two more rapids we had to wade before the river empties into the lake. Sasajewun Lake is very shallow. Judging by all the dead stumps clinging to ground well out from shore it consists of flooded land bordering the North Madawaska River. We paddled on through the lake and past the buildings for the Research station. A couple were larger log cabins. Some visible from the water were very small one room cabins. We landed at the dam at the foot of Sasajewun Lake.





The dam is set at the head of a very impressive water fall. This would have been a gorgeous spot a hundred years ago. From here, we had a choice to do a bushwhack portage around the dam and keep paddling the creek towards highway 60 or portage the road. By this point we had our fill of creek work and didn’t really feel like struggling with our gear around the dam and waterfall. Instead, we just chose to portage the road all the way to the Highway.

We expected people to come out of the research station to ask what we were doing. We saw a few cars and some of the buildings were clearly occupied, but no one seemed to notice us. As we portaged the road towards HWY 60 two Ontario Parks trucks passed us with a wave. No one really cared that we were in the area. A bit unexpected given that big sign at the research station gate saying no unauthorized personnel beyond this point. Once we got to the highway we walked east a short distance to where Peek’s car was parked at the Lake of Two Rivers Hiking trail parking lot. We loaded up the canoe and drove 5 km back to the Sanitation Station where my car was waiting. 

All in all a really cool little trip! And another beautiful unexplored part of Algonquin.