Tim to Rosebury isn't full of dams. Pretty easy trip.

You might consider something out of Cedar, Kiosk, or K-mog; all have some easy options.  My last recovery trip was Cedar to Cauchon.  Almost no portages, just have the prevailing winds to worry about.

If you decide to leave from Tim River access there are a few beaver dams but as others have said it's pretty easy overall. The far site on Longbow is beautiful and worth the extra travel time  to get to in  my opinion.  

We're all getting older but just tailor your expectations to your ability. You can cover a lot of area without having to portage and still get in to the backcountry. Checkout putting in at Kawaywaymog (Kmog). Pretty area, lots of options, and you can portage, not portage. You could plan not to portage and just hike a portage for a day trip, with/without gear, to see how your feeling. I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed this area and how easy it is to get in/out. Not a fan of Tim/Rosebary. Painfully winding river, endless switch backing, not much to see in terms of landscape. That's just my experience. I think we pulled over about 6 or 7 beaver dams when we went through but that is a seasonal issue. 

Last edited by FredForest (11/05/2025 10:21 am)

Thank you all for your suggestions and comments.  I really appreciate it.  

My favorite Tim memory comes from scouting days in the 80's.  We had just started our trip, were winding down the Tim, when something large and in charge gave with a super-menacing vocalization from just beyond the small brush on the shore.  It was hidden from view, so we never saw it, we just heard the sound.  None of us could tell if it was a bear or a moose, but whatever it was, the warning was well taken, and we set a speed record paddling for the ensuing minute.

I'll take a look at all these areas.  One other I had considered was the Rock/Penn area, because that's long on paddling, short on portaging, but I've never been to that area before so I don't know the brutality level of the portages.

FYI It's never too early. I'm usually thinking of my next trip before the current one starts. 

I'm big on base-camping or 'hub and spoke'.  The amount of time it takes to tear down, pack up, travel and set up camp again is better used having a coffee, casting a line, reading, paddling and seeing the surroundings with a light load.

I have been quite pleased with my route 60 experiences - from Canoe lake north to Burnt Island and south thru Ragged to Bonnechere were both beautiful areas and while there are more folks around, that's not a bad thing when you would like a safety net nearby.

Thank you all so much for the suggestions.  I'll be pouring through all these recommendations (since I've nothing better to do!).  

I've fallen with the canoe twice, once when I was 16, once when I was 50 (my next scheduled fall with the canoe will be when I'm 84.)  The one that happened when I was 50...I hadn't thought of this until SS's post, but it was very similar to the way I fell in September.  When I was 50, I rolled my ankle on a very small, nearly invisible nub of a root on a cart-path-wide portage, on level ground, and I just crumpled.  The difference was just the direction my ankle rolled.  With the backpack, I've gone down a handful of times over the years, almost always in a controlled way where I can kind of sit down.  Still, I think about some of the portage terrain....I've tried to be careful, but it can happen so easily and so quickly.  I'm 60, I still have some canoe tripping ahead of me, but I'm going to take this like a bit of a wakeup call.  Had I done this in the park....what a mess.  What an absolute mess.  Would need help getting out, stuff would be abandoned until somehow it magically gets retrieved, I'd unable to drive home the 6 hours or whatever home, etc.  What an absolute, total mess that would be.  Plus it hurts to do it.  A lot.  I'm still in PT, 2 months later I am walking without a crutch, but I still limp. Still a bit swollen, still lack full range of motion...I've made a lot of improvement, but am still a work in progress.

The thing is, I'm not ready or willing to hang up my paddle.  We all acknowledge the possibility of injury when we push off from shore. I wiped out in my back yard, not on a canoe trip.  Injury like this can happen anywhere.  I've always tried to be careful about injury-risk on my trips (not rushing, taking care on bad terrain, not overloading myself, etc.), and now part of being careful about injury-risk will include route selection.